flowbench follies

A flow bench is A static testing instrument. they DO NOT make horse power

It was a cool project and it showed a bunch of people that benches are pretty close to each other when checked with a standard orifice type of gauge.

274 to 309.8 isn't all that close.

ive owned a flow bench(2 different ones) since 1992.

after i had that first one about 2 years i decided that while it could be interesting to read about flow results gleaned from other shops using other benches.......the only numbers i really put any stock into were the ones i got from my own bench.

when i bought the second bench about a year and a half ago, i kept the first one on hand while i got used to the new one, and to be able to compare some heads in the event that the new bench showed numbers that didnt seem right.

once i got used to what to expect from the new bench, the old one got sold.......and now i'm at the point where i'm only concerned with the results that come off the new bench.

i still like reading the results that other people get, but i dont really consider their numbers and mine something that can be compared as truely "apples to apples".

on the other hand......even with as much variation as ive seen between flow benches.......it doesnt hold a candle to how much variation ive seen between different dynos......but thats really a whole 'nuther topic.

I still like to hear about flow numbers but, only
compare numbers from my own bench.

I always flow a head befor and after porting a head and if it is a head I never played with befor I probably have it on the bench 6-10 times. Its only another tool but if you have the time its time well spent. Instead of posting posting flow numbers I would rather see how many cfm you picked up on any given head on your bench. example(head flowed 267cfm@28 befor and 298cfm@28 after.

pittsburghracer hit the nail on the head.a flowbench is nothing more than a tool.i've
worked at a major speed shop for 20yrs,and
can tell you that it's easy to get caught
up in flow numbers.you can make a head flow
what ever you want buy just changing the
inches of h2o or cfm. even the type of
stand you use can effect your outcome.
benches are going to read different. the
most important thing is to flow it before
and after any work using the same settings
and fixtures.i've worked on heads that flow
great but wouldn't go down the track.the
bench just lets you know if your going in
the right direction.