Just looking for some advie on an engine dyno I am trying to make. looking into alternative load devices, Water brake AC motor/invertor. Can anybody offer any advice on sourcing a water brake capable of around 170 HP ? Also can anybody offer some advice on the use of a fluid coupling converted to a water brake ?  Any how to control the torque on such an item?  Thanks in anticipation of some advice.

There are a lot of dynamometer manufacturer's that have water-brake models in the 170 bhp range.  You will need a cold water supply with 30-60 psig flowing 8-9 gallons per minute (approx 1 GPM per 20 hp), depending on the manufacturer and design. You can run the water inlet valve(needle valve) manually or setup an actuator and PID loop to automate it.

A dyno typically works like a pump (or mechanically like a generator).  The housing (stator) side doesn't rotate, it sits on bearings on the dyno shaft (which the engine or motor drives) and it attached to the load cell to measure torque and keep it from rotating around the shaft.  The shaft is fixed to the impeller (rotor) which spin as an assembly inside the housing.  The water enters near the top of the housing and exits the bottom.  Hope this is clear.

Your description is exactly what I am in the process of making at the moment, But how can you control the level of water within the brake/pump? By controlling the water flow on the output side/bottom of the pump? or controlling the pressure in? or controlling the flow in?. If the water flow was not regulated in any way I presume the water level in the brake would not be constant therfore not stable enough for power monitoring/ trending, But sounds like we are in the right track.

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