Hey can anyone give me there opinions on wether or not to dyno engines, is it a waste of money or not. Also can a dyno and a dyno guy do a accurate job on a marine engine set up compared to a drag race engine. Most engine builders around me are drag race guys or circle trackers I live in Indy and they want between 500 and 1000 to dyno one. I know there are allot of variables but just wandering everyones opinion. I have a .060 over 454 with a 4.25 stroke with dart alm heads alm intake about 9.8 comp. the guys who built it said it would dyno around 625hp but have no dyno so Id have to go to someone else to dyno it. Thanks for a great web site

Yes a dyno is worth the expense to set up a new engine. Nothing worse than rigging it in the boat and something isn't right.

Most shops cannot dyno a marine engine exactly like it is in the boat with wet exhaust and everything hooked up, but even then it is money well spent.

Make sure you use your fuel system, intake, carb etc... Try to feed the cooling system through your sea water pump with all accessories attached. How much was the engine rebuild...more than $ 500.00 - $1000.00 I expect.
$ 500.00 to $ 650.00 is standard for a day on the dyno.

Just dynod mine with all accessories except power steering pump and with my headers. 1036 HP at 6000 RPM, 1004 Ft Lbs at 4400 RPM.

What Pantera28 said....

Plus, I'd say circle track is way closer to marine than drag racing is, due to long hauls with the engine "working" in both worlds. I'd call or stop in and talk to the dyno shops in your area and get a feel for them, and their experience with marine engines. And or their willingness to work with you relative to a marine application.

I'm having my engine dyno'd this coming Wednesday. I found a marine builder with a dyno, and considering our conversations he seems very detailed. I'm diving +,-185 miles ONE WAY, to have my engine dyno'd by a marine friendly shop. Marine dyno is that imprtant to me.

Good luck !!

A boat is not a dyno, Trust me it is money well spent......

You ever try making jet swaps on a busy lake on a Saturday afternoon? Ever need a tool or a fitting or some tiny part that you didn't load into the truck and then onto the boat? Do you know of any lakes in your area minutes if not steps away from the stuff you need? Dynos can be lifesavers.

Try trying to find a jet after ya drop it in the bilge, i spent a whole summer trying to tune...Cost me 700 bucks this year and i know it is right...

yes i got my motor done no fooling with your motor just put it in you can check to see if the dyno is rigth take rpm times by tork then dived by 5252 that number will be same as your hp number at that rpm i did it to mine it was rigth on . my buddy races boats he had 800hp did math the motors 150hp off not happy camper

I just had my new engines dynoed at Dean Nickerson's shop. I had a little debate with the shop that is doing my work because the engines were almost ready to go in and it was going to set the schedule back. I felt very strongly that I wanted to have them dynoed for 3 reasons, to make sure there were no unforeseen problems, to get the set up optimized and I really wanted to know what they actually produced.

As it turned out, there were vacuum leaks on both of the intake manifolds that required removing the manifolds and filling some extra bolt holes. The belts on the Prochargers slipped unless they were really tightened and one off the adjusters broke in the process. That was something that you couldn't really tell except on the dyno. I gained around 50 hp from the initial set up and I got some break in time on the engines.

In the end, with scheduling problems and such, it set my schedule back at least a month, but how much of a pain in the ass would it have been to get the thing in the water and then have to pull the tops back off the engines? Now I know that they are right.

It ended up being 1-1/2 days of dyno time with the issues and $2157, an expensive bargain!

it is definately worth while... but make sure that if the guy who dyno's your motors aren't marine guys that they get it set up right with the correct air to fuel ratio's... I took my engines to the dyno shop and had where I wanted them set at and the dyno operator was a drag guy .. he did a great job, but had NEVER set up an engine to run SOOO rich...
remember this is not going down a track for 10 seconds...

Don

Lots of bennefits of dyno testing...oil leaks, more accurate carb jetting/tuning, EGT's, etc, and other vital signs. The chances are that it will be better and much more in your favor.....if there is something that is going to go wrong, then it's best to find/catch the gremblins on the dyno rather than after the engine(s) have been installed in the boat as some have mentioned. It's really peace of mind.