My $30 Flow Bench Kit
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My $30 Flow Bench Kit
Since its time to start measuring and adjusting port flows I decided to make a trip to lowes to buy some plumbing for a frankenstein project I have been thinking about for a while.
At the heart of my beast is the cannibalized pump from an extra shop vac I had hanging around.
The first thing I needed to do was build a basic flow measurement pipe to determine how much air this thing could move. If it couldn't flow more than a hundred CFM it would be useless for testing my ports and manifold.
Fortunately my home made manometer registered a dynamic pressure of about 2.4" which represents an unrestricted flow of 140 CFM through the test pipe. Thats more than enough flow to test a port on a 550 cc cylinder.
That means in the next few days I will have my own DIY flow bench in my garage.
The plan is to connect the pump to the valve which will be connected to the flow measurement pipe that connects to the test bench.
This will allow me to accurately measure the flow for each port for a certain pressure differential.
I will update this thread as I make more progress with my PVC, cardboard and duct tape creation.
At the heart of my beast is the cannibalized pump from an extra shop vac I had hanging around.
The first thing I needed to do was build a basic flow measurement pipe to determine how much air this thing could move. If it couldn't flow more than a hundred CFM it would be useless for testing my ports and manifold.
Fortunately my home made manometer registered a dynamic pressure of about 2.4" which represents an unrestricted flow of 140 CFM through the test pipe. Thats more than enough flow to test a port on a 550 cc cylinder.
That means in the next few days I will have my own DIY flow bench in my garage.
The plan is to connect the pump to the valve which will be connected to the flow measurement pipe that connects to the test bench.
This will allow me to accurately measure the flow for each port for a certain pressure differential.
I will update this thread as I make more progress with my PVC, cardboard and duct tape creation.
slow
Joined: Dec 2004
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That is pretty cool, I love these types of DIY projects.
The accuracy of the flow bench probobly won't matter much, as long as it has decent precision. I'm guessing it will be used to measure *changes* in flow from porting, etc, so the actual number dosen't matter much, as long as you note how much the flow increased/decreased, from "stock" you can get a good idea of how well it works.
Keep us updated. Pretty neat project.
The accuracy of the flow bench probobly won't matter much, as long as it has decent precision. I'm guessing it will be used to measure *changes* in flow from porting, etc, so the actual number dosen't matter much, as long as you note how much the flow increased/decreased, from "stock" you can get a good idea of how well it works.
Keep us updated. Pretty neat project.
PSSHHH x2
Joined: Apr 2002
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....dude....tony....when your done with that, i want to patent it as a cock enlarger 
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El Pendejo Loco
2002 Suzuki Hayabusa
1507 "dry" block
Brocks megaphone
Spencercycle 10" swingarm
MPS auto shifter
Hays convertible clutch
Yea, that about sums it up...
El Pendejo Loco
2002 Suzuki Hayabusa
1507 "dry" block
Brocks megaphone
Spencercycle 10" swingarm
MPS auto shifter
Hays convertible clutch
Yea, that about sums it up...
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Well, I realized since I posted this that I was I incorrectly reading my manometer.
The correct column height was actually 4.8" which represents an unrestricted flow of 280 CFM.
With that much flow this will be just as accurate as a professional apparatus would and will give the same kind of comparable readings (ie CFM @ X inches of H2O).
I am not doing this to be able to compare before and after numbers though. This is for the purpose of making sure that all the head and manifold ports have the same numbers so that my air fuel mixture is the same in all cylinders.
Between this and matching chamber volumes I am currently obsessing on perfect volumetric symmetry.
The correct column height was actually 4.8" which represents an unrestricted flow of 280 CFM.
With that much flow this will be just as accurate as a professional apparatus would and will give the same kind of comparable readings (ie CFM @ X inches of H2O).
I am not doing this to be able to compare before and after numbers though. This is for the purpose of making sure that all the head and manifold ports have the same numbers so that my air fuel mixture is the same in all cylinders.
Between this and matching chamber volumes I am currently obsessing on perfect volumetric symmetry.
Last edited by 0HP930; 12-29-2004 at 05:04 PM.
TR Balla Donor Supreme
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It's cool, but I think you need a girlfriend.
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"If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough horsepower"
-Mark Donohue
"If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough horsepower"
-Mark Donohue
TR Balla Donor Supreme
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And you need to show a pic of a carrera manifold so people understand whot you are trying to measure,,,
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"If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough horsepower"
-Mark Donohue
"If you can make black marks on a straight from the time you turn out of a corner until the braking point of the next turn, then you have enough horsepower"
-Mark Donohue
