Positive earth car on modern rolling road/dyno?
Discussion
This maybe a really stupid question to those in the 'know' but here goes.
I have a 1960 Daimler Dart/SP250. Last year I rebuilt the engine and fitted Pertronix electronic ignition and had the distributor rebuilt/reconditioned. (By the way FWIW, I live in the USA, but originally from the UK). Apart from that the rebuild was to standard engine specs, ie no other mods/upgrades.
The car is running well, the ignition/timing was statically set and the carbs (rebuilt) and set by ear and with a synchroniser. I have over 2000 miles on it now, so its pretty much run in. There is no data for the Daimler engine timing available with regard to dynamic timing etc so I am told.
I was wondering if it would gain me anything if only for peace of mind that its timed/tuned properly by putting the car on a rolling road/dyno for an hour or so. But, I am not sure if having a positive earth electrical system would give problems with the dyno equipment etc. Does anyone have any experience on putting a positive earth classic on a dyno?
Or am I just going to waste my time and money?
I would have to be on hand with the tuning because a US dyno garage/tuning centre would have absolutely no clue how to adjust and tune such a car.
I will also post this to the classics section of the forum.
Thanks for any experience or input as to whether this is worthwhile.
I have a 1960 Daimler Dart/SP250. Last year I rebuilt the engine and fitted Pertronix electronic ignition and had the distributor rebuilt/reconditioned. (By the way FWIW, I live in the USA, but originally from the UK). Apart from that the rebuild was to standard engine specs, ie no other mods/upgrades.
The car is running well, the ignition/timing was statically set and the carbs (rebuilt) and set by ear and with a synchroniser. I have over 2000 miles on it now, so its pretty much run in. There is no data for the Daimler engine timing available with regard to dynamic timing etc so I am told.
I was wondering if it would gain me anything if only for peace of mind that its timed/tuned properly by putting the car on a rolling road/dyno for an hour or so. But, I am not sure if having a positive earth electrical system would give problems with the dyno equipment etc. Does anyone have any experience on putting a positive earth classic on a dyno?
Or am I just going to waste my time and money?
I would have to be on hand with the tuning because a US dyno garage/tuning centre would have absolutely no clue how to adjust and tune such a car.
I will also post this to the classics section of the forum.
Thanks for any experience or input as to whether this is worthwhile.
If all you can adjust is ignition timing...and thats just a case of swinging the dizzy I assume ??
Any tuner with half a brain should be able to check and optimise timing with what you have quite easily. Chassis earth shouldnt really matter
Although often that can be difficult to find here....but in the US still they like antiquated engines with dizzy's etc, so anyone who's been workiong at engines etc for a long time, should be ok.
Any tuner with half a brain should be able to check and optimise timing with what you have quite easily. Chassis earth shouldnt really matter
Although often that can be difficult to find here....but in the US still they like antiquated engines with dizzy's etc, so anyone who's been workiong at engines etc for a long time, should be ok.
Thank you comments that there is some benefit to a rolling road/dyno session, even for such a basic car. I think the only way to go will be to find a rolling road tuner that is prepared to run the equipment but let myself and very knowledgable friend make the adjustments. Most, no make that 99 percent of Americans in my neck of the woods (South Carolina) would only know how to work on a Chevy or Ford V8. The idea of working on a British car puts the fear of god into most of them.
If I have any success I will re-post and video the efforts. In the meantime here is a link to me enjoying the Daimler on a back road before the engine rebuild. I was with a couple of friends for a Sunday morning drive, one in his E-Type the other (not shown in the video clip) in his 2005 Ford GT.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8dZGmQa8vc
If I have any success I will re-post and video the efforts. In the meantime here is a link to me enjoying the Daimler on a back road before the engine rebuild. I was with a couple of friends for a Sunday morning drive, one in his E-Type the other (not shown in the video clip) in his 2005 Ford GT.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8dZGmQa8vc
If the engine is standard I can't see much point in doing anything other than using the stock timing setting, especially with an engine in such a low state of tune which won't really be very sensitive to ignition timing anyway. Even if you find the odd bhp or two you aren't going to feel it on the road. If it runs fine I'd save my money.
Lovely engine btw. I rebuilt one for a customer about 15 years ago and I think it still ranks as my favourite rebuild. Beautiful quality block castings although the heads had suffered badly from corrosion round the waterways due to the high magnesium content of the alloy and I got them welded up and then machined them back to the standard shape on the mill. Hopefully they'll now be good again for the next 40 years of service. The crank was also a work of art with its drilled pins and sludge traps covered with screw in plugs.
I found quite a difference in block height on the two sides of the V so being absurdly anally retentive I made up a special jig to pivot the block on the mill around its main bearings and decked them both to exactly the same height to equalise the compression ratios although I'm sure neither the engine nor the owner would have really noticed the difference. Still at least I knew it was right which is generally what matters most to me.
I also got a bad case of the jitters doing my first ever rope seal on the crank but I must have got the packing and greasing just right because it didn't leak thank god.
I was promised a drive once it was run in but never heard back of course. Customers eh? No doubt he'd have been back fast enough if anything had been wrong.
Lovely engine btw. I rebuilt one for a customer about 15 years ago and I think it still ranks as my favourite rebuild. Beautiful quality block castings although the heads had suffered badly from corrosion round the waterways due to the high magnesium content of the alloy and I got them welded up and then machined them back to the standard shape on the mill. Hopefully they'll now be good again for the next 40 years of service. The crank was also a work of art with its drilled pins and sludge traps covered with screw in plugs.
I found quite a difference in block height on the two sides of the V so being absurdly anally retentive I made up a special jig to pivot the block on the mill around its main bearings and decked them both to exactly the same height to equalise the compression ratios although I'm sure neither the engine nor the owner would have really noticed the difference. Still at least I knew it was right which is generally what matters most to me.
I also got a bad case of the jitters doing my first ever rope seal on the crank but I must have got the packing and greasing just right because it didn't leak thank god.
I was promised a drive once it was run in but never heard back of course. Customers eh? No doubt he'd have been back fast enough if anything had been wrong.
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