Dyno runs prove nothing about intake mods! Do they? What does?

[Brian M Kennedy <kennedy@xxxxxx>]

In different notes, mark kibort repeatedly has written:
> The ERAM is proven on the dyno, please tell me what Im missing.   
....
> Why is it so hard to accept a dyno run.   I just can't get over the
> resistance of the reality of
> what works.

Here's my problem with your dyno gains...  the car is sitting still!

Consider a well-designed ram-air kit with a huge properly designed
intake funnel.  It would show no gains in a dyno test.  But at 60mph,
the ram-air intake might actually provide a huge positive effect.
Maybe.  The dyno won't tell us, though.

Consider heat shields.  They may show much bigger gains in dyno tests
than in real driving.  Why?  Because in real driving, the natural air
flow through the engine may prevent any significant heat up of the air
due to the engine.  Maybe.  The dyno won't tell us, though.

Consider your ERAM fan.  Sitting still it may provide the gains you
claim.  But at 60mph, there's a reasonable chance that your fan will
actually be slowing down the air rather than speeding it up.  A dyno
run tells me nothing interesting, except perhaps for a brief time
after I floor it from a standing start.

In fact, I'd expect that a huge fan installed on the front of the car
forcing air past the car at 40mph would indeed show gains in a dyno 
run.  Of course, such a thing would be a major performance loss in 
real use.

So, in general, dyno runs to test bolt-on intake mods are fairly 
useless -- unless your dyno is in a windtunnel.


> What do I have to do for you guys???

Good question, actually.  I'd like to hear from others how to best
test intake mods.

> 1  .   Ive dynoed,

As discussed above, relatively unenlightening for an intake mod.

> 2.    Ive seen the track times go down as Ive videoed every lap Ive ever
> taken, and Ive taken a lot.

No offense, but that's way too subjective.  You are selling the thing afterall. 
Even people who have bought it can _honestly_ see gains that simply aren't there --
they _want_ to see them.  

Further, most people's times tend to go down anyway; so its
pretty easy to get misled by such comparisons unless they are done
scientifically.

Perhaps if you gave it to several top M3 drivers for a season.  If they
are still using it by the end of the season, then its probably a net gain.
The remaining question would be are they willing to pay the $$ price to
use it the next season.


> 3.  Ive done 60-100 tests for 20 cars and logged results   (bmws, 911
> tubos, 993s, 928s, 928S4s, fiats, vets, vipers and mustangs)

Do you mean you've tested acceleration from 60mph to 100mph?  Or do you mean you've
done somewhere between 60 and 100 tests?

Assuming the former, that could be interesting.  However, the driver and the timer
cannot be you (no offense; the subconcious is a powerful thing).  And a fair amount
of scientific rigor will be necessary since even small error could overwhelm the
level of gains we are looking for here.

In any case, I'd like to see those results with a description of how the tests were
conducted.

One point, however; for my E36 M3, only tests on that would be relevant.  The engine
is limited by the size of the inlet valves; it is unclear that any minor pressure
change outside will actually speed air flow through the valve.  Few other cars are
bottlenecked at the same place.

=====

So, I'd like to hear from the digest:

	How do you best test an intake mod given that you don't
	have a dyno in a wind tunnel?

Thanks,

Brian

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