real time dyno?

[tom cloud]

>
>All this dyno talk has me wondering....
>
>The strain gauge on the driveshaft sure seems like a interesting way
>to measure torque (at least relative) in real time, although wiring
>problems would seem to preclude it.

..........  but how/where to get the torque reading?  The motor mount
>suggestion sounds feasible, anyone care to elaborate?  Can anyone see 
>any fatal flaws in the concept?

>Mike Fahrion                mfahrion at bb-elec.com      http://www.bb-elec.com/

Mike,

I've thought about this off and on for a long time.  Still think, for
most, acceleration is what you want to know.  But, compression /
expansion of motor mounts results from torque and hp from torque
over time.  To work best, one would have to machine some mounts.
Typical load cells are "S" shaped with a pair of strain gages
to detect their combination elongation / narrowing.  Could put
load cell / motor mount on both sides of engine and "add" the
outputs to get greater voltage with engine twisting (torque).

I would think the error from the transmission mount would be
reasonable constant and could be factored out.  How would it
be calibrated???

tom cloud