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Dyno Difference
Q: I’d like to have my sled dyno tested, but I’m not sure if I should use an engine dyno or a track dyno. What’s the difference?
– phddrifter3
A: The name says it all! The engine dyno measures the horsepower, torque, etc., that your engine puts out. It’s a great way to determine how different variables (temperature, airflow and more) affect your engine’s performance. You can also see how different engine performance products (turbos, superchargers, etc.) enhance your engine’s power output.
A track dyno measures the amount of power being transferred to the surface you’re riding on. Power to the snow is what wins races! It’s why sleds with lower engine HP numbers can be quicker down the track than another sled with higher engine HP numbers. It’s also where you can really start fine tuning your machine with clutching, gearing, jetting and more to figure out the exact setup that gets you the most power to the ground.
In either case, it’s extremely important that your sled be in good running order before you bring it to your local dyno shop in order for you to get your money’s worth. A dyno session is not the time for maintenance! There are a lot more nuances between these two types of dynos. No worries though, we’ll have more on this subject in an upcoming issue of
American Snowmobiler!
– Experts
Experts Challenged on HP
Q: Got your latest issue (
Oct. 2015). The horsepower numbers you gave on the AXYS 800 H.O. are low and wrong. We dynoed six of them and they range from 152-156 HP. Get your facts right before you publish!
– Brad, London, Ont.
A: Brad, thanks for reading so closely! We’ve had this particular engine dynoed several times, and on different dynos, so we don’t doubt your findings on your own particular dyno. Both DynoTech Research in Batavia, N.Y., and Aaen Performance in Racine, Wis., have done dynos on this sled, along with
AmSnow. We always take our published HP numbers from third-party independent dyno shops (in this case, the stats were from DynoTech Research, which does much of our dyno testing for the season, prior to our New York Shootout).
It’s important to note that these published HP numbers were taken from a sled that had not been through the extended OEM break-in process. At the New York Shootout, we take an “out-of-the-box” measurement, which often accounts for lower HP numbers on the dyno, but it’s the only way we can ensure a dyno measurement without any tampering from the manufacturers or performance shops for this event. Basically, we want to keep a level playing field across all the manufacturers since they all have new sleds at this event.
In addition, we published an article on this Polaris engine in our January 2015 issue (p.22) showing the HP post break-in, which was exactly in line with your findings.
– Experts