Crazy right? Well I had been wanting to get a 2wd chassis dyno for a while now. Mostly to do my own stuff and to work on side projects. Dynos aren't exactly cheap but used ones can be sort of affordable and I had been saving for a long time. The original thought was to buy a small dyno and set it up in the shop that I share with my brother. Most of the double small roller style dynos are portable and can be wheeled around so I was planning on wheeling it into position, bolting it to the floor and then unbolting it and wheeling back out of the way when done. I found a really good deal on a dyno in Texas but missed it by a day which in the end was probably better to not have to drive all the way out to east Texas and back. I continued to look and look and look and found an AWD chassis dyno that was for sale in Northern California and it was going for only a bit more than what I had budgeted to spend on a 2wd dyno. I drove up once by myself to check it out, struck a deal and a week later came back with a trailer to take it home.
Having an AWD dyno meant having twice as much dyno which meant taking up twice as much room. I had decided to put one half of the dyno in long term storage and was just going to setup the other half in our shop. I was most of the way through getting everything setup when I came across a killer deal on a 1300 sq ft shop in Costa Mesa that was already setup for automotive use so it had lifts, a big air compressor, air lines everywhere, 120/240 single phase power with tons of outlets and even three phase power. I went and check it out, struck a deal and have now completely setup the dyno in its full AWD capacity.
One of the requirements of the rental lease was having to get liability insurance which proved to be pretty difficult for someone with no claims history. At this point, after having spent so much money and getting so deeply involved, it just made sense to establish a business entity and basically just go into business which is what I've done. I've actually been setup for a couple of months now and have just been waiting to get insurance (which I finally did) before I officially announce that I've opened a dyno shop and start taking on projects. I do still work full time at AEM and will be running my shop as purely a side business in the foreseeable future. I was relieved of my rookie orientation duties by the new board which I think also marks the end of me being a starter and inspector as well (although I might still inspect at Speed Week but I dunno yet) which frees me up to put more time towards supporting customers. I'm looking forward to enjoying racing as a spectator/participant after having worked as volunteer for the last 15 years.
My primary speciality is the installation, setup and tuning of stand alone engine management systems including custom wiring harnesses, fuel system construction, and anything else that might be necessary for any particular application. I don't have a niche per se because I like everything and I want to put EFI on everything I can! So I'm not a Chevy guy or a Ford guy or a import guy or a vintage guy or a whatever guy… if you have something that you want to put EFI on let me know. Even motorcycles or other non-car/truck vehicles. Even watercraft. Secondary to being an EMS guy, just having the dyno means having a great tuning tool for any vehicle whether it have EFI or carbs or mechanical injection or whatever. So, if you're in Southern California and need chassis dyno time let me know. I have very competitive rates because I have very low overhead and this is just a side business. It's not like this is my only source of income and I'm fighting for every dollar I make so I can put food on the table. This is just a side business that lets me help people with their fun projects. I can also do data acquisition, full car wiring, engine swaps, EFI retrofits (wanna put EFI on your hot rod/race car/daily driver?), fabrication, etc etc.
So there you have it. Oh and the name of my business is Black Line Industries. Kind of gives homage to what's had such a large influence on shaping my life even though the black lines are gone now.
