Well, I'd say you've set the bar now. Pics or ban, my friend. Best get back to it.

Act 5: The Fail is Strong With This One.

Thou mayest recall that did I lament the telephone ought be my future guide in these proceedings. Verily, have I failed my own advice to heed. And failure is my lot and my companion , lo this sunny afternoon.

"Mech-Tech Motorsports in Escondido," said James as he set his Martini upon the table. "For they art great in the ways of tuning, and well-equipped with a dyno indeed." My story had I related unto him during the course of our regular Thursday festivities, being sufficient of food and drink they are. And knowing that vast sums of money had he squandered upon his $30,000 1991 Camaro, and that some proportion of this money for dyno services has been required, did to his advice merit I ascribe. For the Twentieth of April is nearly upon us, being the date of The Puke, which each year is the San Diego Miata Club's greatest assault upon the mountains and the canyons too, that much rubber be wasted and much fuel consumed, and yet that I should participate once more must my engine be tuned without delay.

Thus in the place of the mid-day meal did I embark once more upon the road, to Escondido, being not a great distance from my place of business. My approach was met with signs of hope and reassurance, for many were the race cars and dune buggies situation within and without this small shoppe, and a VW dragster as well.

"Sir," spake I unto the man whose shirt bore the name of Jim, " I see that thou art a most accomplished fabricator of racing cars. Lo, that I behold before me a Haltech ECU upon this Pinto engine mounted, a great tuner thou must also be. And hark, that a dyno my eyes reveal before me! I beg of you sir, that my friend and I would beset upon its rollers and be held many times in a constant state of load, that our Megasquirts, not so different from thine own engine management, be tuned."

"We're not set up for steady-state tuning."

"I am foiled! Surely, though thy dyno be a DynoJet model 224x, must not the optional Eddy Current Brake with Integrated Load Cell be fitted? Why else a 224x would thy posses?"

"Can't help ya."

"Sons of a Motherless Goat; There is surely not one steady-state dyno in all of North County!"

"These aren't the rollers you're looking for," spake he, and in a curious fashion quickly his hand flashed before my eyes. "These aren't the rollers I'm looking for" I said, or rather heard myself to say, as though an observer of my own actions detached, yet aware.

"You can go about your business."

"I can go about my business."

"Move along."

"Move along, move along."

I'm going to be awake all weekend waiting for the next chapter of this story.

In all seriousness, can someone please explain this to me? Why on earth would a shop spend God only knows how many thousands of dollars for a dyno and NOT get one with a brake and a steady-state load cell?

because you dont need it to tune fairly well.

1 baseline run
2 fuel tuning run (autotune) gets you 95% there
3 baseline 2
4 adjust timing and run again. see where you lose/gain and readjust so it's all gain
5 baseline 3
etc.

it doesn't take long to re-run a dynojet dyno pull.

and when you consider the cost of the dynojet compared to the ones you like--it's significant (3-5x?). and the number of customers who do a simple pull versus hardcore tuning, it comes down to dollars I guess.