DPR Dyno Day 1999
Dyno Results

By Rich Ying

[Put into HTML format by Mike Mager]

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Observations and Comments about the turbocharged engines

Chris Allen's engine delivers HP fast but drops after 4600 to around 250 or 225 HP at 6500. I'm not familiar with turbos but thought this was unusual. Is this typical for high output turbos? My memory is fading on the specifics but I thought Searl's did something similar to Chris' also. Both of these engines were putting out monster horsepower but why do they peak early and drop off well below the NA peak of 6400? The other turbos with lesser power output behaved more like your typical NA engine in that they had a very similar power band curve shape. I am obviously missing some numbers because you turbo guys were first on the dyno - I had not gotten my data gathering process down yet.

Observations and Comments about the NA engines:

The GA16DE engines have a flat and wide torque band thanks to the variable cam timing. It looked similar to the VTEC type engine. In fact, they are putting out equal power to my old Cosworth Vega (1976) that had a 2 liter engine & 16 valves & fuel injection!

Some of the stock SR20DEs had some pretty darn good outputs. Stock output at the wheels is about 120 but a number of cars were in the mid 120's and some in the high 120's or low 130's with just an intake or exhaust or a JWT ECU!

The Stillen header Tri-Y doesn't seem to be all that bad. By far, the preferred header was Hot Shot. There were only 2 cars with the Stillen tri-y header and one was an automatic. We didn't have a stock SR20DE with an automatic to compare. Mine had the manual transmission and the engine output was approximately 140 hp (139.9) to the wheels. The other cars with like mods but with the Hot Shot header were in the hp range of 136 to 142. Corey Taguchi's 200SX did 146 but, he has JWT cams also. Would love to compare results with Bay Area Dyno day if the info were available.

My recollection of the HS headered engines is that they had higher output above the peak power rpm point (typically 6400) when compared with the single Stillen manual transmission example. Fortunately, Bryant Woo provided his data from the DPR Dyno day and my recollection may not be correct. Power at 7000 with his engine is 128.1 where with my Stillen equiped engine, it was right there with 127.5 - 128 (interpolated from the power plot). I still need to see other NA results before I can conclude them being equal. The Stillen seems to peak earlier at 6000 rpm.

Seeing the before and after of the CAI addition to Ken Nord's essentially stock engine proved to be me that it is a benefit. Specifically, the power benefit appears above 4000 rpm and there is a net gain average of about 3-4 hp. Below 4000, there is a slight loss of about 1-2 hp in some rpm spots and in other rpm areas, it is equal to the original.

There were 2 cars with the JET ECU. They definitely did not help. In fact, with the mods they had, they should have conservatively been in the 130+ range but neither were. Personally, I would retest with a stock ECU to see if there is an improvement. If there is a significant improvement, I would go back to JET and get my money back or suggest that they make a rapid improvement in their unit. I would also let them know that the results of their product will be public - in other words give them an opportunity to rectify their marginal product. (if they can)

All in all, it was worth the 2000 mile round trip journey for this. Dan Paramore is quite an interesting person with some excellent advice and philosophy about engine improvements. He definitely has a plan. Was impressed with his methodology - meticulous and well thought out. Glad to have him on the SR20DE team.

Modifications key:

A=Apex; AC = Accel; C=Custom; G=Greddy; H=HKS; HS=Hot Shot; J=JWT; MC=MagnaCore; MF=Magna Flow; N=Nology; PR=Place Racing; R=Remus; S=Stillen; SE=Sebring; V=Vitek; W=Walker;

Note: All runs (except for Mike K.'s) were performed on 3/13/99 on DPR's Dynojet Model 248C. Barometer: 29.48 in. Hg.

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