At the heart of my own flowtester, like Joost, I also utilise the AudieTech "Flowquick" tester.
I've had mine since 2007 and it's been nothing but a boon, very fast to get measurements and very repeatable.
Although it's not as stable as the Superflow bench would be so it makes evaluating seat alterations harder, but on the whole for what it cost it's a fine little instrument.
Here's a photo of my current setup.
At the base is the plenum/damper, made from heavy gauge marine ply, glued and screwed to stop it getting blown apart and on which mounts the adaptor for the heads to sit on.
I fitted a steel plate to the top to make it more rugged and to take the fixings for the head adaptor.
Flow direction is simply altered by swapping the induction side of the vacuum to the exhaust and the relevant switches on the side panel flipped over, then a recalibration using the sharp edge orifice.
I use the same method each time so I can correlate one set of results against another and it seems to work very well.
I've retested a port or head months later and its still almost dead-on to what it was previously.
- My basic setup mounted to the wall.
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The calibration tube with the sharp edge orifice inside.
- Calibration tube.
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The tester is connected to a laptop computer and the proprietory software does most of the work for you.
All you need do is open the valve a set amount using a dial gauge and an opening fixture and press a button to log the data.
- Data connector and data log button.
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My most used opening fixture is made simply from a piece of tube, with two spaced holes to line up on the centre of the tappet and two fine pitch screws with machined tops for the dial gauge to register against.
The screws bear against a couple of threaded inserts inside the tube.
The tube part is bolted up in the bearing saddles for the head on test.
- Opening fixture.
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A closer look at the tester.
You have several options with it, measurements in metric or imperial at the flick of a switch, including a handy "actual" flow position.
- Flowtester in closeup.
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A head on test for bare port flows.
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This is a Mazda intake manifold.
I'm blowing air through it to check how much flows through each runner, blocking each one off as i uncover the others one at a time.
- Intake manifold on test.
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Regarding the seat cutters, I bought a set of Neway cutters some time ago and found them to be very easy to use and get great results with.
I know Guy swears by the PEG10 and I did buy one second hand and had it serviced but I simply couldnt seem to relax with it.
If I'm honest, it scared me! It goes so fast.
It's a fantastic tool though, if you've never experienced one it's an eye opener to see how it works.
However, I couldn't relax with it so I sold that and bought a Mira valve seat cutter, made in Switzerland which uses "formtools" to generate single or multiple angles in one pass.
Took me ages to save enough to buy one but it really does suit me down to the ground, makes no noise and seems more controllable to me.
Who would have thought that cutting valve seats could be so therapeutic?
The only thing that I've found you must ensure is adhered to when using this is that the pilot which rotates inside the guide must be as snug a fit as possible to give an accurate seat and i always oil them to ensure theyre lubricated as well to prevent sticking.
- Mira, hand cranked seat cutter.
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- Recut seat, opened out to true valve seat diameter, with 45 seat, 75 bottom and parallel throat cut done with the Mira.
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