4wd Dyno Cell Project - Build Log, discussion & Pictures.
23 November 2012, 01:19 AM
#32
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Slowly but surely its coming together...
Soundproofing system and final facias are all but finished, HD camera system in and working and the first coat of paint is drying on the floor as I type.
Yesterday...
Today...
Soundproofing system and final facias are all but finished, HD camera system in and working and the first coat of paint is drying on the floor as I type.
Yesterday...
Today...
07 December 2012, 11:13 AM
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The final piece of the dyno cell puzzle has landed. The pair of in wall cell extraction fans.
Two of these should keep things cool.
However, that's the only positive news today. I have just been informed by Dyno Dynamics that there has been some **** up with paperwork and in fact my Dyno is STILL in Australia and not on the boat as I was told.
We are now considering cancelling and getting the Superflo as they can deliver it very quickly and we are throwing away rent and time here like its gone out of fashion... the other annoying thing is the amount of adverts we have run in 4 national magazines telling people its open in January. And they have all gone to press.
Disappointed to say the very least.
My new and unopened bottle of Honey JD hasn't a chance against me tonight... I may not even add any coke to it! LOL 
Two of these should keep things cool.
However, that's the only positive news today. I have just been informed by Dyno Dynamics that there has been some **** up with paperwork and in fact my Dyno is STILL in Australia and not on the boat as I was told.
We are now considering cancelling and getting the Superflo as they can deliver it very quickly and we are throwing away rent and time here like its gone out of fashion... the other annoying thing is the amount of adverts we have run in 4 national magazines telling people its open in January. And they have all gone to press.
Disappointed to say the very least.
My new and unopened bottle of Honey JD hasn't a chance against me tonight... I may not even add any coke to it! LOL
07 December 2012, 11:34 AM
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Bit of bad news by there bud, especially now your advertised! Is there much difference between DD and the others then Stu? Or is DD regarded as the most reliable / honest if you like with results, figures etc.
07 December 2012, 11:43 AM
#39
The final piece of the dyno cell puzzle has landed. The pair of in wall cell extraction fans.
Two of these should keep things cool.
However, that's the only positive news today. I have just been informed by Dyno Dynamics that there has been some **** up with paperwork and in fact my Dyno is STILL in Australia and not on the boat as I was told.
We are now considering cancelling and getting the Superflo as they can deliver it very quickly and we are throwing away rent and time here like its gone out of fashion... the other annoying thing is the amount of adverts we have run in 4 national magazines telling people its open in January. And they have all gone to press.
Disappointed to say the very least.
My new and unopened bottle of Honey JD hasn't a chance against me tonight... I may not even add any coke to it! LOL
Two of these should keep things cool.
However, that's the only positive news today. I have just been informed by Dyno Dynamics that there has been some **** up with paperwork and in fact my Dyno is STILL in Australia and not on the boat as I was told.
We are now considering cancelling and getting the Superflo as they can deliver it very quickly and we are throwing away rent and time here like its gone out of fashion... the other annoying thing is the amount of adverts we have run in 4 national magazines telling people its open in January. And they have all gone to press.
Disappointed to say the very least.
My new and unopened bottle of Honey JD hasn't a chance against me tonight... I may not even add any coke to it! LOL
Australia is such an over-regulated country - so your tale of woe comes as no great surprise.
Source it elsewhere and get rolling.
The idea of business is to get income and cut costs, not the other way around.
Enjoy your JD, but I'd lay off the coke for now - maybe wait until you have something more to celebrate.
27 March 2013, 11:59 PM
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Hi guys,
Sorry for the lack of updates, in all honesty, towards the **** end of last year I totally and utterly lost heart with the project due to all the crappy delays and aggro.
I lost heart so much that I didn't even walk into the dyno building until MARCH this year!
I've also had a few personal issues, split up with the missus and, allied to a pretty worrying health problem, it has to be said that so far, 2013 isn't my year, but ho hum, onwards we go... lets have an update.
A few images of the interior rooms. I don't have a wide angle lens to get good shots but you can see the colour scheme and carpets I guess.
The dyno arrives... a real sight for sore eyes after the 8 month wait!
Lots of unpacking and assembling follows...
Big *** 20'000cfm engine cooling fan.
And big *** 20'000cfm cell extraction fan. (We are running two of these, but the wall needs some work to get 2 in so we are running the one for now.)
Probably a good time to actually get the cell extraction fan wiring finished actually?
And finally, we roll a car on to see if it works.
View from the dyno viewing area in reception.
She works.
Tomorrow we want to get about 100 little jobs finished off and do some wiring tweaks as I don't want to be able to see any wires in here. I hate wires and will be making some adjustments to the way they are routed as standard.
Then I need to get the differential pressure sensors working so we can balance the fan inlet and outlet volumes to keep the cell at atmospheric pressure. This will ultimately be automated, but for now its manual.
So many things to do, but thankfully, the bulk of the work is now done. Bedtime for me - will do some more updates tomorrow.
Sorry for the lack of updates, in all honesty, towards the **** end of last year I totally and utterly lost heart with the project due to all the crappy delays and aggro.
I lost heart so much that I didn't even walk into the dyno building until MARCH this year!
I've also had a few personal issues, split up with the missus and, allied to a pretty worrying health problem, it has to be said that so far, 2013 isn't my year, but ho hum, onwards we go... lets have an update.
A few images of the interior rooms. I don't have a wide angle lens to get good shots but you can see the colour scheme and carpets I guess.
The dyno arrives... a real sight for sore eyes after the 8 month wait!
Lots of unpacking and assembling follows...
Big *** 20'000cfm engine cooling fan.
And big *** 20'000cfm cell extraction fan. (We are running two of these, but the wall needs some work to get 2 in so we are running the one for now.)
Probably a good time to actually get the cell extraction fan wiring finished actually?
And finally, we roll a car on to see if it works.
View from the dyno viewing area in reception.
She works.
Tomorrow we want to get about 100 little jobs finished off and do some wiring tweaks as I don't want to be able to see any wires in here. I hate wires and will be making some adjustments to the way they are routed as standard.
Then I need to get the differential pressure sensors working so we can balance the fan inlet and outlet volumes to keep the cell at atmospheric pressure. This will ultimately be automated, but for now its manual.
So many things to do, but thankfully, the bulk of the work is now done. Bedtime for me - will do some more updates tomorrow.
28 March 2013, 08:55 AM
#41
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Brilliant, love threads like these,
Just shows what can be done with a bit of graft and vision
Looks fantastic
In one pic it looks like a film set from an Alien movie
Hope it all goes well from here
Just shows what can be done with a bit of graft and vision
Looks fantastic
In one pic it looks like a film set from an Alien movie
Hope it all goes well from here
30 March 2013, 11:18 AM
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Thanks for the kind words guys, really appreciate them.
Its been a hell of a couple of days but we finally have the cell fans balanced out and can vary them anywhere I like from positive pressure to negative pressure. They are now balanced so that during mapping the cell is ever so slightly negative so as to ensure all fumes leave vie the correct route. Its very windy, very cold and quite noisy, but there are no fumes whatsoever and with the fans all running we couldnt actually get Ronnies Time Attack car to warm up so we had to leave them off to get it up to temperature, a really good start.
Took a few pictures of further progress and a quick video in the dark after mapping Ronnies (Because were all still kids at heart right? LOL)
We used a Civic Type R to check calibration before we started the run. All was well as you would expect.
Then we put Ronnies TA car on as we had to get that finished as hes racing this weekend, so we had to work yesterday too.
You can see here how the high power tie down system works. It pulls the rear axle vertically downwards into the roller bed.
This view shows the reception viewing area window.
A few tests in here saw the peak sound level as 80db. Impressive when running a car with an unsilenced side exit.
One or our two 48" viewing screens. (second one will be fitted next week)
Side shot showing the cell extraction fans size. (Grilles need sorting yet)
(Second fans on hold for now as we have too much other stuff to do)
Wire free area both sides now.
Will be improved further but for now we need to earn some money from this thing. LOL
View of the control boom.
All engine bay sensor wires extend through this and out of the top so we have nothing draped across floors or engine bays.
I meant to get pics of the automatic weather station and the cell pressure monitoring stuff too but seem to have forgotten.
Will get some Tuesday when I go back in.
All the automation works perfectly so we can control every aspect of the cell from within the car via remote control including all dyno software, activation of exhaust, engine and cell fans and even the dyno's 3 phase power too in case we have a radiator let go and start dumping water near the retarders, we can shut the dyno power off the second we see steam if deemed necessary.
The biggest issues to overcome right now are getting vehicles on and off. We totally overlooked the fact that the cell is almost 8" higher than the outside car park so the ramp angle is too acute and very low vehicles are grounding. Will probbaly have to concrete the run in area to level it up. Cant believe I overlooked that, what a bloody idiot! Manage to get a cell built to this specification with not a single problem, its mm perfect, but paid no attention at all to outside the door. muppet.
Still - its been a steep learning curve and its gone pretty damn well otherwise, so I am not too angry with myself.
Its been a hell of a couple of days but we finally have the cell fans balanced out and can vary them anywhere I like from positive pressure to negative pressure. They are now balanced so that during mapping the cell is ever so slightly negative so as to ensure all fumes leave vie the correct route. Its very windy, very cold and quite noisy, but there are no fumes whatsoever and with the fans all running we couldnt actually get Ronnies Time Attack car to warm up so we had to leave them off to get it up to temperature, a really good start.
Took a few pictures of further progress and a quick video in the dark after mapping Ronnies (Because were all still kids at heart right? LOL)
We used a Civic Type R to check calibration before we started the run. All was well as you would expect.
Then we put Ronnies TA car on as we had to get that finished as hes racing this weekend, so we had to work yesterday too.
You can see here how the high power tie down system works. It pulls the rear axle vertically downwards into the roller bed.
This view shows the reception viewing area window.
A few tests in here saw the peak sound level as 80db. Impressive when running a car with an unsilenced side exit.
One or our two 48" viewing screens. (second one will be fitted next week)
Side shot showing the cell extraction fans size. (Grilles need sorting yet)
(Second fans on hold for now as we have too much other stuff to do)
Wire free area both sides now.
Will be improved further but for now we need to earn some money from this thing. LOL
View of the control boom.
All engine bay sensor wires extend through this and out of the top so we have nothing draped across floors or engine bays.
I meant to get pics of the automatic weather station and the cell pressure monitoring stuff too but seem to have forgotten.
Will get some Tuesday when I go back in.
All the automation works perfectly so we can control every aspect of the cell from within the car via remote control including all dyno software, activation of exhaust, engine and cell fans and even the dyno's 3 phase power too in case we have a radiator let go and start dumping water near the retarders, we can shut the dyno power off the second we see steam if deemed necessary.
The biggest issues to overcome right now are getting vehicles on and off. We totally overlooked the fact that the cell is almost 8" higher than the outside car park so the ramp angle is too acute and very low vehicles are grounding. Will probbaly have to concrete the run in area to level it up. Cant believe I overlooked that, what a bloody idiot! Manage to get a cell built to this specification with not a single problem, its mm perfect, but paid no attention at all to outside the door. muppet.
Still - its been a steep learning curve and its gone pretty damn well otherwise, so I am not too angry with myself.
Last edited by Evolution Stu; 30 March 2013 at 11:27 AM.
30 March 2013, 11:23 AM
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And a quick 45 second video of a turbo in the dark, because were all still big kids who love to see a hot turbo right? LOL
30 March 2013, 11:49 AM
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Just found a nice image on my phone of the road speed tuning screen.
This screen allows us to set a road speed the vehicle cant exceed and it will then keep us at that speed no matter what power we develop. This is where you do most mapping as you just press the arrow key to go up 1mph, let it stabilise for a second, tweak the fuel or spark table for AFR / Tractive effort to your requirements then hit the arrow key to move to the next load /speed site.
This shows the view from inside the car when live mapping. This particular screen shows live data along the bottom of:
And the most usefull data is on the main bar graphs, they are:
This screen allows us to set a road speed the vehicle cant exceed and it will then keep us at that speed no matter what power we develop. This is where you do most mapping as you just press the arrow key to go up 1mph, let it stabilise for a second, tweak the fuel or spark table for AFR / Tractive effort to your requirements then hit the arrow key to move to the next load /speed site.
This shows the view from inside the car when live mapping. This particular screen shows live data along the bottom of:
- Air temp
- Boost pressure
- Road Speed
- Engine speed
- Lambda
- AFR
And the most usefull data is on the main bar graphs, they are:
- Power
- Tractive Effort
- Speed
Last edited by Evolution Stu; 30 March 2013 at 11:52 AM.
30 March 2013, 01:48 PM
#47
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We extended the ramps on our DD dyno. It doesn't matter how low you think they can get some cars, somebody comes in with one lower than that!
Never mind Sleeping Policemen, I don't know how some of them get over white lines..
Incidentally, the boxes the dyno came in are really handy! Log store, chicken runs, you name it.
Never mind Sleeping Policemen, I don't know how some of them get over white lines..
Incidentally, the boxes the dyno came in are really handy! Log store, chicken runs, you name it.
Last edited by Alan Jeffery; 30 March 2013 at 01:53 PM.
30 March 2013, 06:19 PM
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Incidentally, the boxes the dyno came in are really handy! Log store, chicken runs, you name it.
02 April 2013, 09:05 PM
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Phew - Its been a long week and there's many a late night to go. (I expect to be here until 4am tonight as well, chatting to the Ausies) but we are in and running, finally.
Got some good pictures and a video to add to this topic now.
We all love the Mustang badge! This ones about to be hit with 20'000cfm of outside air.
If you stand here it blows all your damn clothes off!
I like this view of the front of the cell.
The screen most used when mapping.
The "jesus" straps as I call them, go here on powerful vehicles.
The auto weather station is in charge of sending constant updates to the dyno about barometric pressure, relative humidity and cell air temperature.
Without that data on every run, you cannot get accuracy or consistency between runs especially on different days.
My first thought when I saw this shot was. "I wish I had swept up"
But more importantly, as of a couple of hours ago there is now a second identical screen on that right hand wall for easier viewing from the drivers seat. We can also run different programs on each screen, and flick them to video camera mode to help us navigate on and off the dyno.
Awesome cars... for no real reason than they just are what they are.
Agricultural and reliable.
The first idiot to put his brew on here will get a kick up the ****. Even if its me!
A Mustang wheel doing 130mph. Keep clear!
The reception and viewing area. Just needs seats and some signage and its done.
Got some good pictures and a video to add to this topic now.
We all love the Mustang badge! This ones about to be hit with 20'000cfm of outside air.
If you stand here it blows all your damn clothes off!
I like this view of the front of the cell.
The screen most used when mapping.
The "jesus" straps as I call them, go here on powerful vehicles.
The auto weather station is in charge of sending constant updates to the dyno about barometric pressure, relative humidity and cell air temperature.
Without that data on every run, you cannot get accuracy or consistency between runs especially on different days.
My first thought when I saw this shot was. "I wish I had swept up"
But more importantly, as of a couple of hours ago there is now a second identical screen on that right hand wall for easier viewing from the drivers seat. We can also run different programs on each screen, and flick them to video camera mode to help us navigate on and off the dyno.
Awesome cars... for no real reason than they just are what they are.
Agricultural and reliable.
The first idiot to put his brew on here will get a kick up the ****. Even if its me!
A Mustang wheel doing 130mph. Keep clear!
The reception and viewing area. Just needs seats and some signage and its done.
Last edited by Evolution Stu; 02 April 2013 at 09:09 PM.
04 April 2013, 08:48 PM
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Thanks guys - I am very pleased with how its turned out.
I guess this topic is coming to its natural conclusion now but I guess no dyno cell build topic would be complete without seeing how the graphing and software works, so...
Been sorting the graphing outputs today and thought I would post a few up.
This is the screen you would do most of your mapping in.
Any of the data boxes below can be changed to display anything you want, I kind of like how I have it set now, but you can save the layouts you want and load them later, so we have layouts for petrol, turbo and diesel setup so far. On some vehicles we may want torque split between axles displayed or maybe fuel rail pressure for example.
I can also graph anything that comes out of an OBD2 port (That varies from car to car) so here are a few usefull ones.
They look a bit different out of a printer as they have other date below the screen, but you get the idea.
As an aside, James wrapped the collectors today as they got bloody hot mapping a Mazda this morning and they radiate massive heat. They look awesome now.
I guess this topic is coming to its natural conclusion now but I guess no dyno cell build topic would be complete without seeing how the graphing and software works, so...
Been sorting the graphing outputs today and thought I would post a few up.
This is the screen you would do most of your mapping in.
Any of the data boxes below can be changed to display anything you want, I kind of like how I have it set now, but you can save the layouts you want and load them later, so we have layouts for petrol, turbo and diesel setup so far. On some vehicles we may want torque split between axles displayed or maybe fuel rail pressure for example.
I can also graph anything that comes out of an OBD2 port (That varies from car to car) so here are a few usefull ones.
They look a bit different out of a printer as they have other date below the screen, but you get the idea.
As an aside, James wrapped the collectors today as they got bloody hot mapping a Mazda this morning and they radiate massive heat. They look awesome now.
Last edited by Evolution Stu; 04 April 2013 at 08:50 PM.
07 April 2013, 01:10 PM
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Thanks guys.
Just ordered some race ramps to extend the standard runners and hopefully fix my 8" drop problem, that will cheer me up no end if it works as i am not at all happy using pieces of bloody wood after all this investment. LOL
Just ordered some race ramps to extend the standard runners and hopefully fix my 8" drop problem, that will cheer me up no end if it works as i am not at all happy using pieces of bloody wood after all this investment. LOL
10 April 2013, 10:59 AM
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I did some cell temperature control testing a couple of nights ago on that new Fiesta ST 180.
All cell doors remained closed and the fan speeds set to keep the cell 0.25" negative to ensure all fumes are evacuated properly.
I then did ten runs back to back and monitored the cell temp on the graph to see how much heat is added to the cell and engine bay during ten back to back flat out runs at 180bhp.
The results are as follows.
Less than 1.5 deg Celcius cell temp rise over ten flat out runs.
These will be repeated at different power levels so we can figure out the best fan speeds for different power vehicles to ensure as much latent heat is removed as possible.
The results so far have met my design brief perfectly.
Power is at the wheels by the way.
All cell doors remained closed and the fan speeds set to keep the cell 0.25" negative to ensure all fumes are evacuated properly.
I then did ten runs back to back and monitored the cell temp on the graph to see how much heat is added to the cell and engine bay during ten back to back flat out runs at 180bhp.
The results are as follows.
Less than 1.5 deg Celcius cell temp rise over ten flat out runs.
These will be repeated at different power levels so we can figure out the best fan speeds for different power vehicles to ensure as much latent heat is removed as possible.
The results so far have met my design brief perfectly.
Power is at the wheels by the way.
Last edited by Evolution Stu; 10 April 2013 at 11:01 AM.
28 April 2013, 07:47 AM
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**Update**
Its pretty much all together now. Done over 500 runs so far and all little quirks ironed out now. My cell air balancers are inadequate so I need to install some more of those, but other than that, we are firing on all 8.
A couple of images.
Reception virtually finished.
Dyno Cell virtually finished.
Its pretty much all together now. Done over 500 runs so far and all little quirks ironed out now. My cell air balancers are inadequate so I need to install some more of those, but other than that, we are firing on all 8.
A couple of images.
Reception virtually finished.
Dyno Cell virtually finished.
