Flow bench?

Buffalo444 · Apr 26, 2013

How much does a flow bench cost and where would you get one? Is it possible to build one at home?

Tim @ P.I.S. · Apr 27, 2013

Commercial units run about $30k

Yes they can be built, but they still are not cheap. It is no where near worth wild just for your own or even a dozen sets of injectors to recoup the cost.

Groomzybanshee · Apr 27, 2013

You should be a little more specific. Are you wanting a flow bench for injectors, heads or?

Buffalo444 · Apr 27, 2013

Tim @ P.I.S. said:
Commercial units run about $30k

Yes they can be built, but they still are not cheap. It is no where near worth wild just for your own or even a dozen sets of injectors to recoup the cost.

Wow. I had no idea they were that expensive. I guess its more cost effective just to pay someone with one to flow your injectors?

sent from the passenger seats of the goose.

Buffalo444 · Apr 27, 2013

Sorry, I meant injectors. Should have said that first.

sent from the passenger seats of the goose.

PowerstrokeJunkie · Apr 27, 2013

it is basically one cylinder head with the necessary Electric driven pumps for fuel and oil and electronics to control it, and a way to measure the fuel that comes out of the injector tips

Buffalo444 · Apr 27, 2013

PowerstrokeJunkie said:
it is basically one cylinder head with the necessary Electric driven pumps for fuel and oil and electronics to control it, and a way to measure the fuel that comes out of the injector tips

I figured as much. Why would it be so expensive then? 3000 psi hydraulic pump, 100 psi fuel pump, chunck of a head, beaker measured in cc's, and a cobbled wiring harness with a power supply and idm and controller to have it run 1000 cycles.... what am I missing?

sent from the passenger seats of the goose.

Buffalo444 · Apr 28, 2013

Bump

sent from the passenger seats of the goose.

907DAVE · Apr 28, 2013

That's basically it besides some temperature stuff, the fuel and oil should be at normal operating temp.

Buffalo444 · Apr 28, 2013

907DAVE said:
That's basically it besides some temperature stuff, the fuel and oil should be at normal operating temp.

what are those temps?

Buffalo444 · Apr 28, 2013

JD3020 · Apr 28, 2013

I'd call up an injector shop tomorrow and talk to them, maybe they'd give ya some advice. I'd say the most challenging thing would be the electronics.

PowerstrokeJunkie · Apr 28, 2013

Well normal oil temperature is 180-200*, i'd say fuel would be room temperature it will heat itself some going through the head.

Justin@DP-Tuner · Apr 28, 2013

Buffalo444 said:
what are those temps?

192-195* for oil. I am not sure about the fuel though. Maybe someone will chime in with that info.

JD3020 said:
I'd call up an injector shop tomorrow and talk to them, maybe they'd give ya some advice. I'd say the most challenging thing would be the electronics.

I agree. I think building it is feasible for the average Joe with knowledge on how the system works, but controlling it would be a different story.

Buffalo444 · Apr 28, 2013

JD3020 said:
I'd call up an injector shop tomorrow and talk to them, maybe they'd give ya some advice. I'd say the most challenging thing would be the electronics.

Thats what I'm thinking too. But I figure as long as I could get some sort of set up to launch 1000 signals to the IDM and hit the solenoid 1000 times, then it should be doable.

PowerstrokeJunkie said:
Well normal oil temperature is 180-200*, i'd say fuel would be room temperature it will heat itself some going through the head.

I think I'd have the oil heated to 190* and then the fuel to maybe 100* or so.

Justin@DP-Tuner said:
192-195* for oil. I am not sure about the fuel though. Maybe someone will chime in with that info.

I agree. I think building it is feasible for the average Joe with knowledge on how the system works, but controlling it would be a different story.

I think I might give it a whirl. Need to find a junk 7.3 head to lop off a chunk, but other than that I think other stuff should be manageable.

JD3020 · Apr 28, 2013

Buffalo444 said:
Thats what I'm thinking too. But I figure as long as I could get some sort of set up to launch 1000 signals to the IDM and hit the solenoid 1000 times, then it should be doable.

I think I might give it a whirl. Need to find a junk 7.3 head to lop off a chunk, but other than that I think other stuff should be manageable.

Why chop up a head? Seems like that'd be making a lot more work for ya.

Buffalo444 · Apr 28, 2013

JD3020 said:
Why chop up a head? Seems like that'd be making a lot more work for ya.

Just lop off one cylinder. if not, I have to plug the other three injector holes.

JD3020 · Apr 28, 2013

Buffalo444 said:
Just lop off one cylinder. if not, I have to plug the other three injector holes.

If you lop off one cylinder, you'll still have an oil and fuel rail to plug. And i doubt that oil rail would be fun to plug.

I know Unlimiteds set-up is a whole head, run 4 injectors at once. Should be able to wire it up to were all injectors are feeding off the same "trigger" wire, so they are all firing exactly the same.

Buffalo444 · Apr 28, 2013

My idea was to weld a steel block over the rails and tap/machine a fitting over it so I could use that as a supply. My biggest issue with using a full head is it would need 4 injectors in it at once, which i suppose I could just slap 3 junk injectors into the un-used holes and only hook up the one injector I was using to check the flow, then if I liked what I saw with the one I could use all 4 to check a set in two tries.

DZL JIM · Apr 29, 2013

The mechanics are pretty simple, but costs to get good reliable parts will add up.

The electronics need to be dead-nuts accurate every time to be able to exactly duplicate each firing event.
THIS will be your biggest hurdle. The IDM is a very complicated piece of equipment, it's not just a matter of throwing a switch on and off really fast.