X-Falcon Dyno Day at Jakes Performance

Car clubs can be great fun, even when they are virtual car clubs like XFalcon.com. I dont get out much with XFalcon folks, since most Canberra based car shows require my attendance with the Leyland P76, but the Dyno Day organised by Bill, didn't conflict with anything and seemed like a whole lot of fun.

This is definitely the right carpark.

Ran the Pano through the carwash before turning up (back was still full of P76 parts though).

 Xfalcon needed a minimum of 20 cars to make it economical, so some non-Xfalcons came along for a dyno session. It started at 9.30AM, but I didn't get there until about 10. 

 Sweet XY

 I dont even like Commodores, but this black one is just nasty.

 Bills 87 XF Falcon. I like the mags, stock Falcon mags from an EF I think.

Those were the cars OUTSIDE Jakes Performance, his yard had some really nice performance cars parked behind its lockable gates. I think he shares premises with a VW mechanic as there were type 3's and Kombis all over the place.

 The matt black paint job on this Datsun makes a very dull car look great. 

 Porsche 928 - classic 80's V8 euro-muscle. Only Porsche worth owning as you cant road register a 917 etc. 

 Havent seen a Gemini wagon for years. 

 Clever and stylish paint job

 Interesting old XE, i think wearing XB GS Falcon rims.

 Sadly I missed this car on the dyno.

 Bill and his daughter balancing books, taking care of paperwork and cooking snags.

 Poor bloke hardly had time to watch cars on the dyno! Didnt burn one snag either!

Sadly, part of the reason for people going along was to raise money for a local Xfalcon member Craig aka Vyl - who suffered a brain bleed a few weeks back and is in Canberra hospital in a coma. Donations were taken at the Dyno Day, and a BBQ has been organised for the 28th of Nov. I've met Vyl a few times and he was friendly and helpful with advice -  and he was looking forward to coming over from Yass for the dyno day in hi Pro-comp equipped yellow XE. He was missed.  

 Into Jakes performance workshop and the business end of the day - those pads are for the front wheels of the car, so that the car can brake as it comes on and of the dyno. 

 Dyno - you park your rear wheels, Jake ties you down with hooks, connect some equipment, fires up his PC and off you go.

 Dyno diagnostic equipment, PC and displays. 

 Air blower, parked in front of your radiator so your car doesn't overheat when doing 7500 RPM while standing still.

Screen shot of a cars numbers post Dyno run

Some sort of sensor in a cars exhaust.

DB ratings also recorded, highest on day was 136 apparently.

 Cool Yamaha parked in the corner

 Mazda RX8 - sounded really good, even at idle. 

 Nice XF parked on Dyno for its run

 Cool tshirt

 Lots of Solo men at Jakes. 

 LOTS of Solo men...

Must be proud of a broken Snap-On clock!

 The dyno tells no lies.

 XFalc's 40 bucks per car for 3 runs was a veritable bargain. 

 Good turnout on the day, about 50 people i'd estimate over the time I was there.

 Finally my turn came around. I had not ticked the 'take it easy and dont rev it past x rpm box' as I was keen to see what the car would do. It's got a mystery to me 302 Windsor, and still runs the 6 cyl diff. 

 Jake ran it up and jumped out a few times to fiddle with the gas flow. He reckons it was running too lean. 

 First run was 91 kw, after adjustment, 100.4 kw - a 10% power gain. Not too good for a V8, but a good base to start from. After I fit the twin turbo 351C it should run better numbers. if i get caught speeding I shall use as my defence that the engine is at its most efficient when Im doing 145 KMH, and I was thinking of the planet...

 This was my favourite car on the day. A really tasteful XD ute, running a 351C. 

 It ran some big numbers too, around 350 Kw from memory.

 A little smoky at 7000 rpm

 It took about 5 minutes between cars as they came in and reversed back out. Some people decide to park right in the gate as well, which made it dicey backing out, especially in the XF V8 Pano, renowned for its fabulous blind spots. 

 After the ute, this was a fave as well. XE ESP Ghia, running a 393 Cleveland, drag slicks etc. Road registered drag car effectively. 

 Immaculate engine bay, chock full of name performance kit.

 After its first run, it was tied down, and a few blokes sat in the boot. The problem was that with the drag slicks and the amount of horsepower going through the rear wheels, the dyno rollers couldn't grip properly - which means the 429 kw I saw on the screen may not be its true peak kw number...

Mickey Thompson drag slick - check, Centerline mag - check, Strange axles and diff - check. Not your Grandpas XE.

Update: Youtube video of the XE ESP Ghia on the dyno!

I had to leave around 1PM, so i didnt do any more runs, but I had a great day and enjoyed listening to insane engines and watching the numbers. The dyno tells no lies, and can be  useful tool to find performance gains in your car. It was good to catch up with fellow motorheads and talk cars all morning. I see the Xfalcon folks less than the P76 folks, but they are definitely more active on the interwebs. The forum is already filling up with scanned dyno sheets and photos. Bill did a great job organising the whole thing, and Jake gave some great advice to each cars owner after each run. I look forward to the next Dyno day.