To test and develop an engine , a gearbox or other components separated from a car, I built this test chassis. The idea was to make a kind of a movable workbench to put an engine on, with the possibility to put it on the Dyno also, and test it in the way as if the engine was in the car.
For that reason the same axle, prop shaft and tire size are used.
12v and petrol comes from our movable petrol / power cart including battery, pump, etc.
To “feel” the engine I made a simple seat onto the prop shaft cover..
The basic chassis is made of simple steel tube with 2 industrial wheels in the front and the axle on the other end.
The original sub-frame and axle in place, now the chassis is easy to push around.
To create the same inertia, next to the wheels also the (empty) drums are in place.
The axle and the sub-frame are bolt-on for an easy taking apart and storage.
To continue building, first the engine had to be put onto the sub-frame.
From here measuring the gearbox brackets ext. went straight forward.
Some details of the Gearbox mounting and the third engine mounting stabilizer.
Using an original sub-frame gives me the opportunity to connect a section of an inner-wing, including chassis rail (from a wrecked car) to see how much clearance I have to design and build a tubular manifold.
Doing this in a car is much more work, engine in, engine out, in, out, etc., etc.
New propshaft bearing.
You don’t want a prop shaft at 8000 rpm flying around.
Simple but rigid construction.
To prime the engine, with this long bar the oil-pump is powered separately.
If the pump starts to operate, you feel how much force is already needed by this still very low rpm the drill can produce.
The first test runs were very encouraging, the chassis is very stable, no flex at all. The in-line propshaft ext showed no problems. Because the engine and the radiator are total uncovered, the cooling is perfect, even with the small blower unit.
The “feel” is not much different than with the racing car on the dyno, you feel every vibration, which is an extra source of information.
The only problem so far is the weight of the rear, actually only the axle and me. A complete car puts much more pressure on the tires, so in the lower gears there was slippage.
I will have to add some weight to the chassis to overcome this.
One happy Dyno operator sitting on his chair
(this came from the thrift, by now it turns out to have been a valuable danish design chair before I wrecked it)
This street engine makes
175-Din Hp and 195 Nm
