by 84-1074663779 » Thu Jan 27, 2005 4:24 pm
I have wondered about this too.
It seems that some of the big differences between power figures measured on different chassis dynos might have a lot to do with how efficiently the power is coupled between the tyres and the rollers. If all you want to do is place some different controlled loads on the engine for tuning purposes, then it does not really matter where the power actually goes.
On the other hand, if you need to very accurately measure tractive horsepower, that is a very different requirement. The rollers need to be as large as possible and have a non slip surface. Some nice wide sticky slicks might help too.
Wedging the tyres between two small rollers, or adding massive extra weight, is only going to eat up power deforming the tyres so they will not slip. For most accurate power measurement a hub dyno is going to be more consistently reliable, but that might not be so convenient to use.
I suppose it comes down to what you really expect from your chassis dyno.