See the bottom of the other dyno thread for some of the results from our runs this weekend (click here).

Thought I'd post these before I flew out of town and lost my high speed internet. Had a fun meet in Charlotte this weekend (even though I had to work (on phone) for half of it) with Dex, Bitkahuna, Dr Rick, Krista (my GF), Avery (Dr Rick's bud with 1st gen GS) and Shawn (YellowIS).

I'll find a better way to host these so they launch better later, and there are more/better videos coming from Dr Rick. These are 15 sec short clips from my Sony digital camera with some of our cars on the dyno.

Click here for an index of short dyno videos. Best way to access them if they don't launch immediately is to right click and select open in new window.

Dr Rick's cool green GS is on the dyno and is missing from the pic below. BTW, that little white Ford Focus beside my car has 302 RWHP (turbo and nitrous).

 

Muchos gracias, Dave! Hopefully those videos give people an idea of just how freaking loud it was in there.

Think that's FWHP.

 

That's cool, I can't believe they let the owners run the car when on the dyno, I've been at a couple of dyno shops here, and it's usually the mechanic that takes on the car.

Nice clips.

 

Yeah you guys are lucky...is wish I could have been the one dynoing my car, I would have got more horses out of it...

 

I was there also this weekend with my RX300 towing my focus up there for TurboTom to work his magic on it. Tom's white ford focus has FWHP and there is no nitrous on it. He took me for a ride in it and it does haul some ***, but it will be faster in a few months.

 

i dont share that opinion. for one thing i know that i screwed up on the runs b/c i wasnt experienced enough to get into the gas without a kickdown. secondly, i was scared as hell, notice the seatbelt being worn below. and C, having one guy do all of the cars could have taken out that variable. dex increased his torque by 20 ft/lbs on his second set of pulls, by simply being able to go full throttle faster. but i do agree that its one thing that i can take off my "things yet to do" list. just wish i hadnt gone first


Doc

 

You should definitely have come up and introduced yourself as a fellow CL member!!! I saw a couple of RX's hauling stuff in and out of there. Yours is the blue Focus that had a blown engine due to a cheap turbo kit? We would have talked you into putting your RX up on the dyno too!

Yeah yeah, I know its FWHP. One little mistake and everybody jumps on you. Jeez!

I could have sworn he said it had some funny gas in it... it had a cool little Greddy button installed on the wheel - what was that for?

Rick - the look of concentration on your face in that pic is worth at least 10 ft lbs of torque in my book.

 

Nice pics and vids. Thanks for posting!!!

 

Standing there and watching/listening to your GS's dyno was pretty cool. I was wondering why the guy with the huge *** Lowenhart wheels, didn't put the stock ones back on for the dyno runs. Those wheels have to weigh a ton compared to the stock wheels, and that's more rotational mass which means more loss from crank HP to wheel HP.

 

That was me. Can I use your terminology when describing my wheels to others? "Huge ***" sounds really cool.

Anyway, I have heard the theory about unsprung weight and rotational mass as it affects hp & tq, although a little muddy, so I asked Tony about it, and in not so many words, he dismissed the notion about lighter wheels affecting hp output, so, I didn't push him on it.

He quoted from experience where several guys had invested in lightweight this and that, especially wheels, then re-dynoed, only to see very meager gains in output numbers, if at all. So, either he didn't believe in the theory, or didn't understand it.

If you understand it enough to fully explain, I'd love a quick lesson.

That being said, even if the OEM 17s would have given me better numbers, it would not have mattered much to me. I don't run 17s on the street, and would want a true representation of output per street variables. When leads me to my personal theory about prepping for output tests..........

Kinda like bench racing, or gutting your car to get a great time; I want to have real world criteria built into the mix, instead of having to say, yeah, well, if I had my 17s on, I'd tax that *** like the IRS, or, yeah, well, hold on dude, let me take out my spare, lower the air in my tires, get some race gas, and meet me back here in a couple of hours......

Hey, I [b]do[/i] want the best times and outputs, I just want them to be representative of what I can duplicate on the street. Its kinda like be an All-American on the driving range, then you can't keep it in front of you on the course.

I'm more intersted in what my car will do as I leave my carport with no prep; no false sense of confidence i.e. everyday status.

 

I can see your point of view, but for me, I'd rather have the lightest tires/rims on the car for the dyno and at the strip. It also has something to do with bragging rights I guess. When I enter my car in a car show I can post the highest dyno results and lowest 1/4 mile times I have regardless of what tires/rims I used to get them.

I really don't know everything about the dynamics of why you create more HP with lighter wheels and tires, I just know it has to do with the inertia needed to get those tires moving. How much do those "huge ***" Lowenhart wheels weigh anyways? Those were 19s right?

 

I see and can agreee with your point as well.

Weights: The R: 19x9.5s = 28.5
F: 18x8.5 = 27.3

Thanks Dennis @ Wheel Kinetics for the info!

So, yep, a little on the heavy.

 

And it's not just rim weight, but also tire weight - your 275/35-19s probably weigh a good bit more than a stock 235/45-17.

I'm not convinced heavy rims/tires would affect RWHP as we discussed Dex, but I can see how it would affect torque because you basically need more torque to move (twist) a heavier mass.