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Drivers Club are arranging a BHP Test and are inviting anyone from the MK1 Club. They need minimum 10 cars and have 7 so far including myself. Anyone else fancy coming?
Held at Hayes Engineering, Erith, Kent DA8 1QL Meeting outside for 09.00 and it will cost £40.00
Put your car on the rolling road and have your BHP tested. Should last a couple of hours so if weather permits may have a drive afterwards or head to the pub if its wet.
hmm not sure ill have anything worth poutting on but i shall come along for a watch
Only a couple of days to go and still no one else interested?
Only myself and Simon Barker plus his mate representing the MK1 club so far.
It's not too late, Just post a return or email me to say you're coming then turn up on Saturday
Alan
Saturday morning and five MR2’s plus a Mustang were waiting for the Dyno testing to commence. Mine was the only MK1 in this group as Simon had bought his MK3 with him. Interestingly there was not two MR2’s the same to be tested. There was the MK1, a Mk3, Mk2 NA in standard form, a Mk2 with turbo conversion and Mk2 V6 conversion. The latter two Mk2’s both modified by Woodsport. I’m not sure where the Mustang came from but I believe it belonged to a Drivers club member.
Everyone was slightly apprehensive about the testing, having not witnessed one before and thinking the engines are going to be thrashed and cause some damage. The guy undertaking the testing assured us that he has not had an engine blow up on him (yet!)
The testing was arranged according to the predicted power output of the cars so the Mk1 was the first on the rolling road. It took a few minutes to secure the car and set it up with the car being put in gear with the engine running at about 2500 to 3000 rpm to calibrate the computer. Once ready, full power was applied until 7000 rpm was achieved then the power was released back to idle. At this point the computer displayed the bhp power output, torque and fuelling ratio in a graph format on a large TV screen. This was repeated twice and the highest output recorded. I was quite surprised and relieved at how smooth the car behaved under these conditions. With no wind or road noise that we are used to when driving on road surfaces the engine sounded great. After the test the tester explained the results. 113.5 bhp at the fly wheel and just over 100 lb/ft Torque with a good air fuel ratio, slightly rich at max power. He also told me that my ultimate time for changing gear was at 6250 rpm. However, I don’t get many opportunities to get the revs up that high on public roads! Considering this is a standard engine which is 25 years old with 90K miles I thought was pretty Ok and was well pleased with the result.
The Mk3 and Mk2 NA took their turn with similar results by means of achieving max power just below the manufacturer’s data. The Mustang took the test next and achieved a credible 260 bhp with 320 lb/ft from it 5.0L V8. “Very impressive”.
The climax to the morning was a show down between Lukes 2.0L turbo and Richards 3.0L V6 Mk2’s. Both cars have had lots of love and money splashed on them and there was a bit of rivalry between the two of them. The 2.0L turbo went first and achieved the best result of 214 bhp on it’s first run. The 3.0L V6 went on and achieved a max 191 bhp. Richard was gutted. However, he was heartened when he saw the performance results provided by the computer. Each car had very different performance curves, The turbo reached its optimum power at just 5000rpm with the V6 having much more torque and a steady power increase as the revs increased so in all, the equivalent speed should be about equal.
The morning was finished off with a bacon roll and mug of tea in a nearby café before bidding farewell. A big thanks to the Drivers Club for organizing the BHP rolling road and making us feel welcome.
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Brilliant write-up Alan. Thanks so much for taking time and trouble to do this. We had a big family wedding that day so couldn't be there but wondered how they would get on. Remember last year Richard's V6 only pulled about 178 bhp on the dyno but since then he's had a new exhaust custom made with vastly improved gas flow around the manifolds. Well for whatever reason he's up 13 bhp on that now and as you say ...bags of torque.
Good to see son Mark is still on the MR2 scene even though he's now left home and with his own place.
Thanks for the compliment Andy. I try and give a good description of what happens when we go out so others know what happens, Yes Mark is still on the scene and is very happy in his new place. it's only a couple of miles away from where we live so we still see him lots. See you at the Kent run maybe.