The 0 $ dyno

[S800Racer]

OK, it's not 100% accurate and it will not give any HP numbers but you can test mods to see if you have any gain. Here's the method:

- find a nice straight piece of road with good visibility and at least a 55 mph speed limit. It works best if the road is uphill.
- find a good roadside marker as your starting point.
- when traffic clears, roll to the starting point in 3rd gear at 2000rpm. (setting the cruise control for 2000rpm will give you a good consistent "launch" at 2000rpm)
- hit the stopwatch and floor the throttle at the same time.
- If you have enough road and a 65-70mph speed limit, stop the time when you reach redline. The best road I have near my house is a 55mph zone so I am stopping the watch at 6000rpm to avoid pissing off people that live on that road or getting a ticket.

There you have it. The only factor that you really don't control is air condition.

I tried the same method with 2nd gear 2000rpm to redline but it was hard to get consistent times (varied from 6.1 to 6.5 sec). I found I could get much more consistent times using 3rd from 2000-6000rpm (very repeatable 12.2). Of course your times will be different on a different road. Again, it helps to find an uphill road to lengthen the time, giving more margin for error.

[S800Racer]

Originally posted by S800Racer
Here's the method:

- find a nice straight piece of road with good visibility and at least a 55 mph speed limit. It works best if the road is uphill.
- find a good roadside marker as your starting point.
- when traffic clears, roll to the starting point in 3rd gear at 2000rpm. (setting the cruise control for 2000rpm will give you a good consistent "launch" at 2000rpm)

My bad, the cruise will not set at 2000rpm in third (too slow). :o It will set at 2500rpm.

[civicSIracer]

and what is that sposed to do..i just dont get it?

[S800Racer]

Originally posted by civicSIracer
and what is that sposed to do..i just dont get it?

'sposed to tell you if your latest mod makes your car faster or just makes more noise. Here's how:

find a location to do the "0$ dyno" routine and get a baseline time for your car. Let's say it takes 10.0 sec. to go from 2500 to 6500 rpm.

Then you perform some new mod. to your car. CAI, midpipe, Hondata,
whatever.

go back to your test area after the mod and run it again.
1) If it still takes 12.0 sec to go from 2500 to 6500, your latest mod added no power to your cars engine.
2) let's say you improve your time to 9.5 sec. that is a 5% improvement (which would be a substantial gain)

The point is to be able to get some idea of how much any modification or change adds to the performance of your car without spending $ for dyno time. Of course it is not as accurate and will not give torque and HP numbers.

[S800Racer]

Originally posted by S800Racer


Let's say it takes 10.0 sec. to go from 2500 to 6500 rpm.

go back to your test area after the mod and run it again.
1) If it still takes 12.0 sec to go from 2500 to 6500, your latest mod added no power to your cars engine.
2) let's say you improve your time to 9.5 sec. that is a 5% improvement (which would be a substantial gain)


Oops!:o I typed in a wrong number. should read "If it still takes 10.0 sec...."

[RedVRy81]

cool deal man.....you from winston-salem nc?