I found a local shop that will give you 3 runs on the dyno for $60. I talked with the guy and he says he uses a Dynojet dyno. As of now all I know is it will provide wheel hp and torque.

I have an 06 JCW that I am curious if it is actually putting out what they claim. Or at least close to it. Based on drive line loss. The only mod I have done is add a Milltek exhaust. I believe I shouldn't loose any power using the Milltek over the JCW exhaust.

Any advice on what to ask or look for while there? Maybe an idea what I should be showing on a dyno? I'll post the sheet tomorrow. Assuming I get a sheet but I will ask for one if not.

This will be my first dyno. These MINI's will have you doing things you never thought about doing.

<edit> Almost forgot. I have 215/45/17 tires which are just a little larger in diameter than stock. Will this cause any change in the results?

 

Check the "Dyno information" thread that's less than a month old. Lot's of good infdo there.

 

I searched other threads and did not see that one. Thanks.

 

Heat soak is an issue. Spray the intercooler with a sprayer (they should have one), otherwise you will be rather dissapointed with your runs.

 

ask them if they are giving you the air/ fuel ratio also for 60 dollars.i think you will find it will cost you more money. good luck!

 

Noted.

I'll carry a sprayer of some sort with some extra cold water in case they have nothing.

 

I've recently been thinking about a dyno run too, since the addition of a CAI a few weeks ago. SB's question and the advice that follows, prompts the question:

What is the purpose of a dyno run? to a) provide a good indication of your cars' abilities, or b) get a neat piece of paper with impressive numbers on it?

If "a", then wouldn't one want their car to be in a "normal" condition during testing? ie, the way it will be in normal use?

If "b", wouldn't the "numbers" be inaccurate? That is, I don't think SB will be in the habit of spraying down the IC at every stoplight.

Not trying to flame anyone, just figure things out- I'd never even heard of a "dyno" before joining NAM. I don't even really know how it works... I'm still learning!

 

There are several different dyno machines and equipment. The way the shop is set up will have an affect. How efficient the air source (fan) is. What the temperature and humidity are. Then there are various softwares and settings.

I used Dynojet Research. and used the correction smoothing factor of: SAE 3. There are other correction factors: Uncorrected, SAE, DIN, EEC, STD, JIS, and maybe more.

Just remember that whatever results you get are really only meaniful to you and your MINI. You can not compare your numbers to someone elses, unless you use the same equipment, same correction factor, and ambient conditions.

The dyno should be used as a tool to establish a baseline for your MINI. Then as you do mods or anything else, you can see what affect it had. Also remember that you still need to consider the considions and setting each time and correct or adjust for them i they differ from the last dyno. A cooler day, or less humidiy, or a smaller fan, or even an open door can have some affect on the results.

 

The thing is that on a dyno you're not getting the airflow over the intercooler that you would be on the road. Even using fans, you can't quite recreate the flow. Thus the water is a substitute.
It's a good point, though, as there's no real way to control/compare the deltas caused by lack of airflow, or adding water.
So 'real' is not attainable, only numbers based on certain conditions.

 

mini pooper, it should be a good enough base line to see if the JCW is actually performing. Correct?

Here is what I am after. The JCW feels to have the same power as my previous MCS when I only had the intake and exhaust on it. The same wheels and tires on this JCW were used on my previous MCS. After adding a pulley to the MCS the car had more lower end pull. The JCW lacks in that area and really doesn't feel it starts pulling until just above 3k rpm like the MCS without the pulley. Enough so that I am working on getting an accurate measurement of the pulley. To see if it is in fact a JCW pulley and not a normal pulley mistakenly put on at the factory.

 

Here are the results. The temperatures are high but the humidity was low and the intercooler stayed cool to the touch. I was wrong. It was only two runs. He ran it in 4th gear.

 

SB,

You can download the software and get your dyno people to send you your dyno file. Then you can "play" with it by changing the correction factors and "smoothing rates". This way if you see another dyno sheet you can make sure those factors are the same, then compare the graphs

 

SB,
Those numbers do infact look more like a stock MCS. You should be up in the 180+ HP range with the JCW kit. Definately worth looking into to make sure it's correct!

BTW, about 3 weeks ago, drove back to back my stock 06 JCW and a friends 05 MCS w/JCW exhaust and mine was noticably quicker. Mine starts pulling around 2300 rpm and then I get another boost around 4500-5000rpm that I didn't notice in the MCS. I have however, noticed that the heat is taking a toll on my performance vs during spring when I picked up my car, so I'm hoping it will be even better during fall and winter. Of course my friends MCS was affected by the same heat, so it was a valid comparison.

 

your dyno chart looks exactly like my car with CAI and exhaust. I think I made like 163 ir 164. Should be more with a JCW, especially if you were on a dyno jet and not a mustang dyno. -- Johan

 

There are lots of environmental factors that can change the result of a dyno. The driver's approach to the throttle and shifting and ambient air temp are the two biggest. But also, the dyno itself has a number of adjustments that can make the results vary.

Because of this the usefulness of dynos (and even with my preference, in-car performance computers) is mostly to help you judge what differences the specific changes to your car have made to performance. Comparing your car's horsepower and torque results with other cars is often disappointing and misleading.

So what you have now is a baseline. The next time you have a mod done on your car, you can test the differences with another dyno session and see what has really changed.

Btw, which JCW kits are installed on your car?

Best,

-- Don

 

The factory installed JCW kit plus Milltek. I've decided to reinstall the JCW exhaust this coming weekend to see if the car doesn't like the Milltek.

 

Dibs on the Milltek if you decide to sell it! hehe!

 

Miltech's exaust is one of the most free flow exausts available, while JCW's is one of the most restrictive.

There might be a tuning difference, but unless you have headers and larger than standard exhaust valves, my guess is that the difference would only matter to your cat.

Best,

-- Don

 

Oh, I love the Milltek and its performance on my other car. Just to be a little more credible I'm going back with the JCW for my other two runs. I plan to get two more runs at seperate places and hopefully different temperatures to see how it reacts. I feel if three seperate dynos at different temps provide very near results then maybe I'll have leg to stand on when I go to the dealer to find out what may be wrong.

I don't know if that will be good enough but I know I can't just walk in a dealer and say my cars not quick as I think it should be. They'll just look and laugh.

Another thing I need to find out is the exact drive line loss. It is said to be 12%. I found this on the forum but I need to find something more credible with that percentage as well.

 

See my web site and read "Dyno Warnings!"

 

Those numbers do look pretty low.. I just had my car on a DynaPack a couple days ago, about 88-90 degrees in the shop and without ice but with a blower I put down 185 with an HDI intake, 17% pulley, MTH, and coil/wires/plugs..

You may need to let the car cool down and make sure they've got a good blower to keep the air moving..

Edit: Sorry.. that was after the Saclam exhaust was on.. I believe I was at 179 before the exhaust. I'm taking it back in a couple weeks to see how the ECU has adapted to the exhaust... and see how much more power I've picked up.

Another Edit: My dyno plot from 2 days ago..