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. 

Belconnen ABS and Westfield New Bus Station - sneak preview

On Tuesday 9 November I joined four other members of the Belconnen Community Council for a sneak preview of the new Belconnen Bus station infrastructure. We were shown the new bus station adjacent to the A.B.S building and the new Westfield Belconnen Bus Station. The tour was provided by three reps from ACT Roads. Access was limited in some areas due to continuing construction work.

Important - This post does not represent the views of the Belconnen Community Council, this post contains only my views.

 ABS bus station looking towards Westfield end. 

 ABS bus station looking towards Labor Club end.

 Middle section, facing the remnants of the Cameron offices.

 All previous bus interchange infrastructure completely removed, road lowered. No more wheelchair access from the Labor club end. 

 New entrance, at Westfield end, just off Benjamin Way. Almost at street level, making wheelchair access and shopping trolleys easier to get to bus station. There are two other entrances, one next to the ABS office, and one onto Benjamin Way.

 New carpark off Benjamin Way, right next to ABS bus station. This space is intended to be sold off, so carpark is fairly temporary. 

Not sure if its short or long term parking. I did ask some questions about Park and Ride, and its clear that the ACT Government dont view it as a real winner. I suggested they tie Park and Ride with the Expresso services.

 Work continues at a great rate. I hope they make their weekend deadline. 

 Behind the covered bus stop on the ABS side will be a large bike locker facility, with swipe card access etc. That large fence is to stop people running across the road to get the bus they are about to miss. Its a very open area, and cover is inadequate for prospective passengers. 

 Cameras on poles to provide a sense of security. This will bring crime to a stop. 

 The clearly inadequate bus shelters are provided by Adshel. There are two adshel ad displays in each shelter, one will provide ads to entertain people waiting for a bus, the other will provide a timetable. I asked what about the real time information we were told would be provided, and was advised that it isnt ready yet. There is apparently a net link and power supplied to this adshel display so at some point in the future, a real time display could be fitted. 

 We then jumped in cars and took the bus trip up to the Westfield Bus Station. This is the view from Benjamin way, as you approach Lathlain St. Off to the right is the Bus Station. This road is shared with cars and provides access to the carparking for Westfield - I see future congestion right here. 

First look at the Westfield Belconnen Bus station. This place is going to get crowded, and when it rains, the rain will just whip in through the inadequate cover. 

 This end is also incomplete, no seats, no timetables, you can see how little has been spent on this compared to the commercial space Westfield will rent to tenants.

The end facing Immigration, another big fence that stops people crossing over from one side to another, its a very narrow exit/entry point and faces onto a road that also has cars traveling on it. No traffic light to provide priority to buses exiting/entering the bus station.

 Facing the Westfield entrance from the Immigration end.

 New Westfield building, one small shopfront will host a MyWay store, the rest is commercial space.

The exit facing up towards Lathlain St and on to the Belconnen Bus sheds.  Buses coming down from the Bus Sheds will turn LEFT onto Lathlain St travel 50 metres, stop in the middle of Lathlain St, roughly in front of the Police station carpark exit, and cross when traffic allows it into the Westfield Belconnen Bus Station. I do not know why. It is illogical. 

Inside the actual bus lounge. None of this is ready, it may be by the 13th, but the shops will not be fitted out in time, and there is no real time display. 

At the right is one of the exits to the actual shopping centre, and also to bathrooms. This bus lounge area is supposed to be open while bus services are running, but I dont know how that applies to prospective tenants in the lounge. 

This is the exit from the lounge to the traffic light/walk signal that leads to one side of the bus stops. It is not covered - you will get wet when it rains while racing for your bus. 

Westfield end facing towards Immigration. The Westfield Bus station has far more work to do than the ABS section. 

Conclusions - There is much work to be completed before the opening date, and it is very disappointing that many of the things that were promised have not been delivered.

The cover at both sites for passengers is completely inadequate. The Adshel shelters are not adequate, and the Westfield Bus station has no sides to prevent rain. The best bus shelter design I've seen is in Gungahlin Town centre, and could easily have been installed in Belconnen at both sites. There was also supposed to be cover from the bus lounge to the bus stops, and this has not eventuated.

I'm disappointed the real time displays are not installed. I think that relying on bus timetables, when the buses are notoriously unreliable time wise, is going to lead people to miss the bus once and never use the bus lounge again. It is infuriating when your bus just doesn't turn up - especially on weekends when the service is hit and miss anyway - and at least with real time displays, you could wait in comfort for the extra hour.

By separating each side with those enormous fences, people may be safer, but it negates the advantage of the old interchange design. How many times have people raced from one side of the platform to the other to catch the connecting bus? There's a reason the interchange was designed that way! Unless Action work really hard to better integrate their services (which is where real time displays would help everyone) there will continue to be frustrated passengers. Im not sure people will wait for a green walk signal either, if they face an hour wait for a bus they are about to miss.

The bus lounge may be a winner, and its clear that far more investment has been made by Westfield to the commercial space than to the actual transport infrastructure. Skimping on 40 feet of cover from the bus lounge exit to the actual platforms, is a good example of this underinvestment. Im hoping this can be rectified.

I am optimistic that this new infrastructure will attract extra passengers to the public transport system. It places better public transport connections at the supermarket and cinema end of the shopping centre than the old interchange, and the bus lounge with security and services provided by Westfield provides a safer environment for post 5 PM services. Business's in Belconnen on the Lathlain St end should also experience more passing trade due to better public transport access.

Many of my observations in this post which appear critical are minor flaws which can be corrected. Both the ABS bus station and the Westfield Bus Lounge and bus station will be with us for many years. Im hoping that investment is continued so that they are not allowed to run down like the old interchange.

I should also repeat, that these are my views and not those of the Belconnen Community Council.

Related posts:

Belconnen Bus Infrastructure - One week on

MyWay - RFID ticketing system for ACTION

Privatising ACTION

1999 to 2010 - No vision on transport issues in Canberra