Mechtronics Dyno Run 1

My first run on the dynamometer was at a local speed shop called Mechtronics. They run a top notch facility and are very professional and knowledgeable. After being at their operation, which is run out of their home, I now know what my dream garage will look like. Below, my car is pictured just before it was strapped in for the runs. Notice the small turbine fan in front of the car. Mechtronics took the time to get this fan in place so that I would get ample cooling effect by forcing air into the intercooler scoop. I felt this really helped in addition to the large axial fan that was wheeled in front of the car a little later.

For the runs, I had the car sort of "detuned" so I could get a feel for what it does on a day to day basis.  My street trim package includes a Thrasher 92 performance chip, 93 octane gas, and about 15.5 psi of boost.  I set the fuel pressure at 42 psi with the vacuum off and remained conservative with the boost since I didn't have a scan tool handy and I wasn't really sure what to expect.

Here is the 1987 Buick all strapped in and ready to go.  The addition of the large fan in front allowed the engine to run cool by simulating airflow at speed.  There is also a smaller turbine fan in front directed right at the intercooler scoop below the bumper.  We planned on making four runs with the Buick in this trim just to get an idea of what was happening under the hood.  I made some last minute adjustments to the fuel pressure so that the car would be farther away from the ragged edge.  I wasn't planning on going all out since I didn't have a scan tool with me and I couldn't measure O2 volts.The squirrel fan just wasn't enough, so a larger axial fan was used to generate more airflow for the intercooler to work with.

Ear plugs were donned and the car underwent it's first experience on the DynoJet Dynamometer.  All runs below were with a Thrasher 92 street chip and pump gas. It was about 90 degrees in the dyno room at the time and the car was running a little warmer than it normally does on the street.

The Results

The first run was run netted about 332hp at the rear wheels. It was noted that we were only seeing 14 psi of boost at maximum, which was lower than I thought I had it set. I turned the actuator arm a turn and we waited a bit for the engine to cool down. I kept the fuel pressure at 42 psi with the vacuum line off, which is probably a tad rich.

The next run we saw about 16psi of boost and horsepower went up to 366. I thought I had given it enough, but the boost still wasn't where it could have been. After some more time cooling off, I inched it up a little more.

The final run of the day saw us at 405hp at the rear wheels on very conservative settings and pump gas. I was pretty happy with that, but it just gave me the itch to want to squeeze more street performance out of the car. I am not very interested in turning up the wick with more boost and race gas since my car is primarily street driven.