Bummed by dyno results - 2017 A10 2650
 

My son and I upgraded our 2017 A10 ZL1 with a Magnusson 2650R as our covid father son project. We took it to the dyno to see what it's at for power and the numbers came back a lot lower than I was expecting, pretty bummed about it actually.

Mods on the car:

• Standard Rotofab (not big gulp)
• AWE Touring cat back exhaust
• Soler performance ported throttle body (stock size)

Other details:

• Mileage: 22,000
• 92 pump gas
• Stock lower pulley, upper 90mm, throttle body 90mm
• Runs were done in 6th gear
• I don't have a baseline unfortunately, the shop pulled up a baseline for another customer (same car) and it was 547WHP SAE (about what I'd expect for stock)
• Dynojet AWD using SAE, smoothing factor 5

Results

• First run (#004) was using the Magnuson canned tune, other run is after a custom tune. I was hoping for 650-670 but came out at 622. A 75HP increase.
  
• Interesting the curve flattens at 6K RPM, perhaps that's normal? :noidea:
  
• The boost appeared to hit 15psi, much higher than I expected?? Going in I was thinking of ways to get to 11-13psi, potentially going to an 85mm upper pulley but with the boost showing 15 it doesn't seem like I should touch it. :noidea:
  
• The custom tune definitely added more under the curve for torque in the lower end which I can definitely feel.

Plans from here:

I think I need to open things up to get more airflow so :

• Open up the snout, go to 103mm throttle body
• Consider headers and high flow cats

Goal: 680-700 WHP on 92 pump gas (for now)

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You need to open it up and let it breathe. Your jamming more boost down it and have a restriction on the other end.

You should add headers and a larger throttle body.

I did 660 with 2650 swap with headers.

Boost will also be high 15-16psi. That may be too much on 92. Are you getting knock retard ?

Seems low. I did 667 SAE with a 2300, NW 103, and a Big Gulp. This was with the supplied pulley at 12psi on 91 octane. I run a completely stock exhaust system.

Dynos differ though...

Agreed. You need to allow the engine to compensate for the boost in air flow. A larger TB and LTs, GISI style cats and a free flowing exhaust.

My car's stock, except for what I note otherwise:

With the Maggie 90mm, and some typical intake-type stuff, I'm seeing 15-psi regularly, and when it's cold and dry, could get to 16 here and there. I've seen more than 19-psi spikes in really cold and dry weather (I'm also about sea level) but those were only a couple times with a little different deal. I have a ported (non-103mm) snout and the inlet is probably improved, even though I'm still seeing about 1.5" of vacuum at WOT. Magnuson, if I recall, call for about 14-psi with their kit with a 90, and I think that is quoted for the OEM intake box.

With a little Racegas concentrate (whole 30-oz can), I'm blending 91-octane to about 93, and getting good timing. I believe 6th gear is going to report 20-30 less than 7th, so make sure you're referencing relative data.

If I recall, the car Magnuson validated for CARB (M6-car) dyno'd around 640, so being an A10, your numbers don't seem bad, IMO. Not having a baseline doesn't quite give you a great comparison, but I doubt you have anything to worry about. I hear the Magnuson tune is quite conservative, and I can feet the TM kick-in, so there are improvements that can probably be found.

JMO

Dyno numbers should only be used to measure gains. They are different no matter the time of day, weather and dyno used. How does your butt dyno feel? And yes headers will make a HUGE difference. No cats obvi.

There was some knock on initial runs and it would drop the curve at the top end but after tuning it wasn't showing up again.

Thanks, I was wondering about the gear playing into it being lower. The next time I go I'll do a comparison run in 6th and then in 7th if I can.

Compared to before without the 2650, it definitely feels faster and loses traction easier than before. The canned tuned seem give most of the power increase at higher RPM ranges, very manageable in lower ranges. The custom tune brings on the power much earlier and it feels even more responsive/aggressive. From the butt dyno perspective it feels great, sounds great. I just want to make sure I get a better ROI on going to the 2650 so looks like I'll need to invest in the air flow around it.



Question: if I go to the 103 throttle body and snout, would my standard rotofab connect with it or will I need an adapter? Just wondering if I can do this in stages. That said, I may just save up and big gulp, tb, and headers all at the same time.

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Big gulp not needed at your power level. It did nothing for me when i tried it at this power level. Go with the TB upgrade and headers, maybe even a larger upper pulley to drop boost a bit. More then likely he had to drop timing quite a bit which is another reason your making less power.

Big Gulp likely won't start to matter until you get to about 700whp or above. I concur that this setup needs a NW 103mm TB and 2" headers.

Car is begging for long tubes and a 103mm TB

Yep.

With the headers and throttle body, boost should go down with less restriction from what I've read, please correct me if I'm wrong. Knock out 2 birds with one stone if your also after lowering the boost

It will drop slightly. But no cam or headwork with that 90m pulley, hes looking at an easy 15-16psi. I was hitting 16 on pretty much same setup but with headers. Temp/Elevation does matter too.


Any cam or other work in the future planned? That's when shell really open up. I dropped about 3lbs boost after cam/heads then added a 10% lower and i'm in the 14-15 range now.

I'm not sure about doing a cam. I know it's probably the easiest way to get fuel to break past 700WHP but I'm not yet ready to open the engine internals and I'm not a fan of the motor boat sound that comes with it. Cool for some, not entirely my thing. That said, I will likely convince myself once I get used to the 670-700 power range. Never say never goes the saying right : )