Flow Bench Using Shop Vac's and Black Box

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I finally got this guy running. The flow bench side is built using Bruce's plans but modified in that I do not have the cabinet side for motors. I plumbed 2 shop vacuums into the side of the bottom chamber. I am using orifice plates in the middle divider just like the plans. I had uploaded pictures of how I am mounting cylinder heads on it. I am using a 36" inclined water manometer with 12" rise. I have also hooked up my Performance Trends Black Box and calibrated it to this bench. The Black Box reading in the Port Flow Analyzer software is with in .2 " H2O reading that I got with the inclined manometer. THANKS ED! Your work is right on!!!! I am thrilled with the performance of this bench. Verticle manometer reading and inclined are much more stable and smoother that trying to use the orifice in a tube. The Port Flow Analyzer software that comes with the Black Box from Performance Trends is also very good and has a section for doing port velocity mapping. You can get an option on the Black Box so you can also hook you pitot tubes to it and read directly into the program also. There are very good instructions on how to do calibrations and corrections in the manual. I really like the electronics side of this.

John

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This is an addendum to the first post. I just ran a full test head using all my orifce plates. When you have the Black Box calibrated it gives a percentage readout that matches your inclined manometer. I thought that was cool. This orifice plate bench is so much better than what I was using. Much more sensitive to port changes etc. With the Black Box and Port Flow Analyzer you get numerous options on how you want to do your tests and reports. I am just tickled as a mule eating briars.

[Tony]

Great work there John. It sounds like you have a very good combination there.

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Here is a picture of the Clippard valve plumbed into my bench. There are also lines going to the Black Box. The Clippard valve works great.

John

[thomasvaught-1]

Used those for the first time (3-way) about 10 years ago. Still working fine on a buddy's bench!

Tom Vaught

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I am making progress. Here is a picture of the new intake adaptor I have made for my Dart Iron Eagle 180 heads. You can see how much taller I am making the ports. There is a major choke at the push rod. I will have the port .200" taller and .100" wider at pushrod. I am hoping this will slow the velocity down some. This adaptor is made from 3/4" thick gray PVC, one of my favorite materials to work with. Easy to machine and not brittle like plexiglas. It will also glue with PVC glue.

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I am looking for advice. I am flowing through this bench using the 2 shop vac's and I can pull 10" through my SBC heads at 260 cfm. I was flowing at 6" so I would have some reserve, but at some urging flowed at 10" and noticed a change of course. As we have been discussing on this forum it really would be better to flow at 28" at least. I am ordering 8 of the surplus vacuum motors. On my bench where I have the shop vac's plumbed I use two 2" Van Stone PVC flanges. I calculate that these should each flow about 295 cfm. So if I just build a flow box to house the motors like the motor box side in Bruce's plans and just plumb it through the 2" PVC tubing will that be enough capacity? It would be a total of about 590 cfm. Or should I just redo the size of the holes. 2 three inch would be aroung 1320 cfm and one 4" would be around 1170 cfm. Is 590 cfm enough or would it restrict the motors? What is your input?

[thomasvaught-1]

You need to use some clay to match your radiused adaptor MUCH CLOSER to the actual port opening.

A .015" ledge is enough to cause some flow disruption. You have a large disruption at the top of your port.

Tom Vaught

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Tom,
I kind of misled everybody with that picture of the inlet adaptor. I never flowed it that way. I was marking the port to match the flow adaptor when I took that picture. All my flow data was with the port match right to the flow adaptor.

I also want to report that I flowed the same head at 10" three days in a row to see how well my setup repeats. All three days average within .48% of each other, I am happy

[bruce]

John, What Model # Clippard valve did you buy? I was just looking them over on their site.

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Bruce,
It is the MTV-5 it uses the 10-32X1/8" barbs. I bought them all locally which was a lot cheaper as I did not have to pay shipping, just tax. I think it was $16.95 + tax and then the hose barbs were a little extra. It works great and I plumbed it like was described on the forum. I bought them from Raumland Systems. They are a national chain but here in Midvale, Utah they are at 7027 South 400 West - sip of 84047 and their phone is 801-563-0500. There may be one close to you.

John

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Maybe they are only local here in Utah but here is their web site http://www.raumland.com/

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Performance Trends Black Box update: I am going to update my bench with at least 4 vacuum motors. I wanted to make sure that the Black Box had capacity so I emailed Kevin at Performance Trends and these are the specs he gave me. For the Verticle Test Pressure readings the BB has a 5 psi sensor giving a total range of 140" H2O. He said in reality a range closer to 130" H2O. The BB reads both + and - reading so you do not have to switch direction when you change from intake to exhaust. This means you would have to cut the range for each direction in half so you can flow at a test pressure of 65" H2O and possibly 70" H2O. For the inclined manometer reading you can test at a + or - 14" H2O. My orifices are calibrated for 12" H2O so I am in range. I hope that helps.

John

J[B][U]

[77-1212596771]

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I just bought mine locally here in Midvale, Utah USA for $16.95 USD - Clippord has an online web site Where are located? Maybe I could get one and send to you - do you use paypal?

John