Engine Dyno Tuning and Install
Saturday, February 28th, 2009As promised, here are pics and vids of the dyno adventure.
It was a long day, but a successful one. Once we finally were able to try to run the engine it pretty much started up instantly – Brian (the guy running the dyno) jumped in surprise. I don’t think that happens often. Every pull was strong, and we got a great tune out of it by the end of the day. This program was then copied over to my PCM so the engine is ready to rock. 623.8HP @ 6200, 572.8ft-lbs @ 5100. The engine has loads of torque and never goes below 500ft-lbs from 4000 through 6400rpms. It’s average torque from 4400-6400rpm was 555.8.
When we got to Hitech Motorsports we had to drain the oil out and change the windage tray from the LS2 version to a newer LS7 version. Brian informed us that the longer pistons may hit the ribs on the LS2 windage tray, so we swapped that out. After getting the engine mounted in the dyno one of the main power cables on the dyno shorted. It could have ended up very bad, but luckily Brian was able to fix it and get us running. This motor was previously a dry-sump configuration, so we had to take off the valve covers to fill it with oil (afterwards Hitech traded me my valve cover without an oil fill port for one that does). This wasn’t a pain since we had to take off the intake manifold to rotate it back to its normal configuration anyways due to the engine dyno not being compatible with a rear facing intake manifold. Minor drama, long day, very successful. It is comforting to know that this engine will run great once the time comes. GREAT work, Erik.
Once we finally got back to the garage we ate some great stew my wife made Erik and I, unloaded the engine, installed the motor mounts, put on the clutch pressure plate and flywheel, and got it set in. Finally! Thanks for the help, Josh!
Videos:
619hp/572ft-lb: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5R85J2MoiI
624hp/572ft-lb: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aI84UrTeKs