Thanks, guys.
Ron - I could download the audio track into ProTools, an audio recording program, and probably break it down to each pulse, but given that the recording method was fairly low resolution, the room was very live, with lots of audio reflection, and the microphones were simple, built-in condensers intended for consumer use, I doubt if I could get it to reveal anything of consequence.
Mike - THE Harold Bettes? As in "huntin' for signs " Harold?
I'll drop him a PM - Hope he's doing well. He's a sharp mind.
Here's a good link regarding HP loss at the rear wheels - it's in an old forum that Harold used to write on, and gives a pretty concise outline regarding drivetrain loss issues.
http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=116240Yeah, I'll pick up the book.
A point Mark Wolbrink brought up during the session was he wondered if the drums were loaded correctly. Any thoughts?
I like to think I'm still capable of checking my ego at the door, and I want to get this right, so I've got to ask myself, is the dyno lying, or are my senses completely off base with this one?
Regarding the mixture - At about 52 seconds into the second video, the car fires up, and there's a little whiff of white smoke on fire up, which clears right away. If the mixture was rich - 10:1 or better - I should be seeing black smoke. And as poorly as it idles with 310 degrees of duration, I would expect it to load up the plugs, which are 2 heat ranges colder than stock. I should also see a lot of black soot in the exhaust pipe. I wiped out the end of the exhaust pipe with a white paper towel, and pulled out a light dusting of dry, gray soot.
I pulled the plugs after each run. They were gray/tan, and looked like a textbook picture of what a "normal" plug should look like.
The line on the A/F ratio on the graph is flat as Kansas, which means one of two things - either it was reading a mixture so wrong that it failed to produce anything other than a line representing the limits of its readout capabilities, or it wasn't working at all. If it was indeed higher than 10:1 A/F, certainly the exhaust and plugs should have indicated that, so my inclination, for the time being, is to suspect that the sniffer was malfunctioning.
Regarding the spikes in the graph. If indeed, the power output of the engine was as erratic as the line indicates, and the graph is indicating numerous wild swings of 15 hp in a 700 rpm band in 4th gear, wouldn't that rattle the living hades out of the drivetrain? My foot was planted, I was sitting on an unpadded aluminum seat with my hand on the shifter - about as physically intimate with this thing as I could be with my clothes on. From the driver's seat, it was smooth and uneventful. Other than the shifts, I'm not seeing any undue bobbing in the car during the runs. I would think one would be able to see a 25% swing in horsepower application in the video.
Maybe I don't know what a misfire sounds like - I clearly hear it stumbling before it gets on the cam, but I'm not hearing it once the head starts flowing. Can someone tell me what I should be listening to?
Again, everyone, thanks for the input - it's been a steep learning curve.
