My First Dyno...

[Slick61]

oy vey... whatta day. Left work early, telling my boss I had an appointment to take the car into the shop... didn't tell him I was taking the Cobra in for dyno testing... (sssshhhhh!)

Man, it's more work than I thought it would be... I'm BEAT.

Got there at 2... was about 3 by the time we got the beast onto the dyno. We finally finished around 7 PM. He gave me instructions, as he informed me that I would be doing the driving (mistake number one). Must've done about a dozen runs, but only a couple were decent... the best one was with no load on the rollers. He had told me to be careful about missing shifts- and I kinda laughed. The laughter stopped once I had to do it! I bounced off the rev limiter once or twice. Felt like a total dufus after the first few runs.
Part of it may have been the synchros, but most likely the major part was my shifting techique (or lack thereof)... kept trying to shift too fast. I need more seat time. Was definitely a learning experience. It's not as easy as it looks. And of course, I was more than a little nervous as I'd never redlined it before (thankfully, I brought earplugs).

Previous dyno sheets didn't show the air/fuel mixture, so main objective was to get a good baseline reading & go from there. Was running WAY rich.

Ended up bumping up the timing about 3 degrees if memory serves... re-jetted the carb several times (4 I think) to put the fuel where the engine liked it- on the high end of the secondary I think... am still a little woozy from the fumes!

Even with my crappy driving skills.. the engine performance pretty much stayed the same after the timing & jet changes (~450 hp/tq @ wheels).

I can't say enough good about HotWeyer Performance in Canyon Country, CA!

Corey Weyer's been building race engines for 20 years. He put up with my inexperience and my boneheaded questions. He was patient from start to finish, took great care while working on/around my car, and is truly a class act. Quality work at a reasonable price. I recommend him highly to any who need dyno/tuning services. I'm not easily nor often impressed... this was a pleasant surprise!

Now if I can just get the smell of gas out of my nose!

Next up... fix my non-functioning brake lights. Then I can start addressing the vacuum issue (lack thereof) for the brakes. Am going to try a reservoir can first, but may end up going with a pump. We'll see...