Dyno testing?

[MIGHTY 8]

Hello everyone,

Another "noobie" question so please bear with me.
At the moment, there is nothing mechanically wrong with my car. And I am very pleased with the mechanic I do source when there is need for attention.
However, as good as my mechanic is in getting the car in running condition, for performance "tuning", does one need to source a good shop that both does Dyno runs and do these places typically also work on the cars being dyno'd to get them to peak performance?
I've never been to a Dyno shop before so am curious about the whole se up.

Thank you

[Daniel]

A lot of Dyno shops will fine tune your car for a fee but that may depend on what they may or may not work
on . Since fiats are a bit on the exotic side some guys might not touch it . What year is your car you could be
better off tuning the car yourself just by following some simple steps off this site .

[So Cal Mark]

dyno testing is invaluable for determining fuel mixture and spark advance. Most shops now specialize in ecu remapping, so make sure the shop you choose even knows what a Weber carb is

[MIGHTY 8]

Thank you guys for your informative responses.

I sort of figured that our cars...simple as they may be compared to newer stuff...are paradoxically untouchable to today's computer genious tech. Cue in "Fast and the Furious."

I should learn to leave things alone, as I mentioned earlier. I'm currently at the "If it ain't broke DONT FIX IT!" stage. But I just can't shake the feeling that's there's more power lurking IN there somewhere just waiting to come out!

On my bucket list.....sure I would love to learn to do this myself. But I turn myself off to the idea after spending 20 minutes the other day just changing out my windshield wipers!

[TX82FIAT]

I agree that a dyno is a great way to get your fuel/air correct. However, if the car is running smooth, the exhaust is normal across a wide rpm range, and gas mileage is within a normal area on a stock car then i would not worry to much about dyno time for a better tune. Not real good with carbs and some guys on this forum can adjust the carbs while sleeping. The carb is not a "set it and forget it" proposition depending on where you live. Therefore, the money spent on a dyno for a stock car running as designed is your call.

The feeling that the car has should have more power under the hood in stock form is normal. The car is sporty for its period of time. It is sporty today for the feel of the ride. However, by todays standards..... I would enjoy the ride for what it is and not worrry too much about a couple extra ponies from the tune on a +- 100 HP car.

[So Cal Mark]

au contraire, the lower the hp, the greater the effect of increases. When we held our dyno day in So Cal, we picked up 7hp on a couple of FI cars that were running fine but woke up when we tweaked the afm and timing. A 7% increase at the rear wheels is very noticeable. While you may think your car is running fine, the dyno will expose full throttle situations that can end up damaging a motor. So if you drive your car hard, even occassionally, it's worth seeing what's coming out the tailpipe

[vandor]

Not sure what year Spider you have and what adjustments could be made, but likely your biggest problem will be finding a shop that has a clue about what/how to adjust on your car.