Dyno shop questions......feedback needed

[96SEChick]

OK, my boyfriend and I are getting ready to work on opening a dyno shop here in Tulsa. No competition, except for the asshole who will only dyno GM vehicles if you have him performance tune them--his absolute lowest price is $650--so, definitely--no competition. And, he won't do dyno days because he doesn't want to work on the weekends!!

I would like some feedback from you guys & gals though on how deep we should go into this--dyno shop only? or full-fledged performance shop? Here are some questions I've been thinking about, and I couldn't think of anybody better to ask than the wonderful car-enthusiasts here!

My questions are--as performance car enthusiasts--what do you want out of a dyno shop? Would you want to be able to tune your car there as well? Would you want to be able to purchase performance parts there? Would you want the ability to order specialty items from there and have them installed as well?

How much do your local dyno shops charge for 1 pull, or 3 pulls? Do they do performance work there?--or do they refer you to other performance shops?

We're probably going to start out with a 2WD dyno, but if the price is right from DynoJet, we may go ahead and go with an AWD dyno--since there isn't one anywhere in Oklahoma--the nearest one, from what I've heard, is in Dallas. We're most definitely going to get a motorcycle dyno--they're inexpensive to buy, and there's only 1 shop in Tulsa with one and they charge $100/3pulls, so we can do pretty well charging only $75-$80/3pulls once we get our name out there.

Eventually (hopefully within a year) we will build a portable dyno to take to the drags, SCCA events, and car club meetings out the wazooooo.

Anybody have any feedback for what they'd expect their dyno shop to be able to do for car enthusiasts? I brought the idea of opening a shop up to Chris late last week, and we're going totally gung-ho on this idea and spending every waking spare minute doing research, so I thought I'd ask you guys what you thought.

Thanks a bunch!!

[Jeff240sx]

Locally, it's about $60 for strap-up and 3 pulls. I've been quoted $100/hr for wideband dyno tuning... but I don't know if that's a hook-up or not, because other people have been quoted $200/hr + $40/hr for the wideband.
Most dyno shops are just that... dyno shops. Also, engine building goes on there. To build an engine, you'll need part hookups from manufacturers, and if you have the money to keep inventory, then you might-as-well sell stuff. It'll give you a better price on engine stuff.
-Jeff

[DuffMan]

One thing you might want to think about is getting the equpment and training to do ECU tuning for various vehicles.

My friend is getting his WRX tuned at a local shop and it's costing $650, which is a lot of money for the shop for one hour of work, but it's still cheaper then sending it out to a place, and is more effective than a generic program.

For some makes, this isn't going to be possible without a lot of reasearch (like Nissan) but for other vehicles like domestics, the equpment is already available. Like if Hondas are popular in your area, you could get the software to tune Hondata systems. Also maybe learn how to tune some of the popular stand-alone ecus.

It's something that would take some research and training, but when people come in and shell out the bucks for professional tuning, it will pay off big time.

[96SEChick]

Thanks guys! We are probably going to also do aftermarket performance parts--since I've gotten connections with Nissan guys from being on here so long, and he has strong connections w/ F-bodies. I'm going to be doing more research on different car makes, and get on different forums for Hondas, Subarus, Toyotas, Fords, etc and get in good with the people there to find out where they get their good deals so I can contact them as well.

I've pretty much talked him into wanting to do exhausts, headers, intakes, etc (basically everything to do with airflow and backpressure), and I'm working on talking him into going as far as turbo and supercharger installs, which will then require doing fuel systems, sending engines off to machinists & sending ECU's off for upgrading, and he's starting to go for that also.

He knows a crapload about cars, except for engines--he's always had his brother do engine work--so he's going to become ASE certified, then I will do the same when he's done. I actually know a bit more about engines than he does! :scary: I told him I want to be part of doing turbo installs--he laughed and said probably in a year or so! :D

This will start out as a strictly dyno shop, but I know it will grow to be a very large business--nobody here in town is a strictly performance shop. And yes--you know I will try to give you guys deals on parts, since I will be working closely with many aftermarket dealers (enjuku was the first to come to mind--jwt may be next :D )!

[240 2NR]

My friend is actually in the process of getting one going in Madison WI right now. He actually has a chassis dyno from his grandfather, but he's still looking at around $10k to get the software and interface up and running.

As far as what I would expect out of a shop, mostly a well qualified person running the shop. Yes they should be qualified at strapping my car to the dyno, and making it go, but more importantly, if I'm paying for tuning time, I want someone there who knows how to tune a car using a dyno (since it is a specialized tool for doing just that, as well as it's more common use of producing pieces of paper with bragging rights printed on them). Now granted I plan to do my homework and go in with a plan before laying down $100 for my tuning hour, but at the same time I feel I'm paying for his (or her skills) as much as I'm paying for the dyno time. Let's face it, No matter how much time I spend reading books it's not the same as actually doing it so the easier the shop onwer can make the experience the better.

In the end his plan is to get the dyno going and down the road invest in a wideband exhaust analyzer (very cool if you read the latest GRM). Honestly it seems like a solid plan. With 10 hours of tuning time per month at $100 per hour it would be paid for inside of 10 months. Hardly a difficult task.

I think getting the word out and being racer friendly will get you a lot of business. Try to stock common universal products that people would be interested to make a little extra on the side (a good selection of synthetic oil comes to mind since most stores rarely carry a good selection or much stock)

Good luck, good race shops are hard to find and seem to command justifiably high prices for their services. It's so frustrating to walk into a "tuner" shop and be greated with ignorant and annoying sales people after you've been a good performance shop with knowledgable salespeople and *quality* parts.

Oh, a good laser alignment shop that doesn't charge out the ass for lowered cars would be a blessing as well.