to answer the first question, its free for me , my boss is a engine builder/dyno tuner so when it fits in with the shedual i can put my car up on the dyno at any time.
best so far is 93rwhp out of the A15 with a 63 series 5 speed and h165 diff, averaged at 91rwhp.
but for the public its around about 140 an hour. but ABSOLUTLY everything is done whilst its on the dyno, no stuffing round. esspecially not at that price

True dazza the freeway tune is realisitic - the only problem is in 2nd gear (which I did most of my tuning) that you got to the end of the rev range really quickly!

It was too dangerous to get away with 3rd or 4th gear runs.....4th would have been around 200kph!

So with a very quick run through the rev range it was difficult to get a true idea of the fuelling situation and what it would be like on a race track through the rev range in 4th.

But it definitely ended up pretty well - the car I tuned (an R31 2 door with a RB25DET) was quite fast.

EDIT: Also seeing the mainline dyno it looks OK - the Dynapack was good because you didn't drive onto it, you took the wheels off and bolted the dyno up in their place.

nothing wrong with a freeway tune. at least its a real world situation. i would go so far as to say all tunes should be finished by actually driving the car. we dont race dynos do we! (well maybe some do)
dazza

I have had my cars done on Dyno Dynamics and Maineline dyno. The Maineline dyno to me looked more honest and the tuner was able to get it right first time. the other good thing about Maineline is that they are made in Australia and would have a better support network to be able to rely on.
then again some times it can be a great unit but a bad operator

Yeah I found the only weakness with most of these units was the limitation of the software.

I think you could dump the raw data down and line it up with the logging in your engine computer as well (that was what I was going to do).

At the time - I was heaving into engine management tuning I ended up doing a 'freeway' tune. Up and down a freeway with a trade plate....not really quite as effective as a dyno - as runs were in 2nd or 3rd gear. But in the end cheaper for me than buying a dyno.

I agree with the accuracy of the Dynapack - the claim is you can see the dip in torque when the headlights come on! And much more repeatable when you don't have to worry about strapping the car down or the tyre pressures.

When I got my $50K quote was in 2003, that was for rear wheels only...but there might have been some more extras (like software of something) that weren't included at that point...can't quite remember.

Still cheaper than a dyno dynamics!

Absolutely, takes a huge amount of time to get tune right. Not too long maybe for a basic fuel and ign map thats way safe. But to tune for best mean/lean torque and optimal ign. as well as getting all the compensation maps right (cold start, batt voltage, accel enrich, baro etc). Days or weeks probably.

Im waiting for a couple of things to unfold before i can buy up. Might be well into 09.

Its interesting to hear what people are being charged. I wouldn`t have the same overheads and would think $65./ hour max.


Edit: MIldman, I priced a dynapack a couple of years ago and was told $50,000 USD (they sell the unit in USD)at the time was $78,000 oz. Called again when the oz $ was .95US and they had put the price up to suit. Not happy!
Anyway it was the best dyno for sensitivity/ repeatability i could find, although i think the dynalog software (designed by Andrew Elder) a lot better. A friend has this on his engine dyno and has exelent logging capabilities.

it takes the factory guys a year of tweaking to get a new model fully mapped.
they go to saudi ,alaska our outback,canada to test for extremes of weather
you only get 20 seconds to fiddle with the cold start settings then you have to wait until engine is stone cold again
thats the good thing about DIY you get to fine tune

the place i work for used to fly a guy out from the US to tune our fuel funny car at $10k a meeting but its cheaper than a $70k engine blowup
dazza

I had the same thought a few years ago sikyne and through my research and going and getting demos from Dynapak and the competitors (Dyno Dynamics) I was totally sold on the Dynapack too....just the then $50K price tag stopped me from purchasing.

A dyno run that I thought would take about 15min it would be fair to charge $50 I thought (maybe that should be more now).

Would $100 an hour be reasonable....hmm maybe (just trying to gauge my own tight-arse-meter).

I calculated that it would probably take 5 years to pay it back - 3 if I went hardcore.....but at the time i decided not to give up my day job.

i had a basic dyno tune for $170, i only have stock computer so there only so much they could do. $100 an hour sounds about right, thats what i have heard from a few different places in adelaide.

Last time i had my car tuned it cost me 100 bucks an hour if that helps would be awsome to have you own dyno but I tuned my car myself fist time around took me 7 hours to get it right! Luckly i used a mate's dyno and it only cost me a slab