Quote:
Originally Posted by Critter
67_C-30, definitely. We are in agreeance. The point being that if you want to max out your horsepower you have to tune the engine, that can be on a chassis dyno or at the track. The track may even be a little better at achieving real world power but it is much, much more inconvenient. Engine dynos are great but they don't really get you all the way there. The engine needs to be in the car/truck to really optimize everything. However, I would never tell people they HAVE to have their engine tuned (dyno or track) for it to be a fun/well running vehicle. You can do a lot by ear, nose and seat of the pants as long as you know what un-burnt fuel smells like. If its just a cruiser or daily driver then you don't really have to mess with hard core track or dyno tuning. Good conversation here, by the way!
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I totally agree - great discussion! I'll also add that car/truck's suspension has to be working at the track to achieve the numbers, and that's where a dyno has an advantage IMO.
As far as not needing track or dyno tuning, that's the truth for the vast majority of people out there. Most people that have never stomped a true 400 HP car/truck on a set of tires that sticking have no clue of how strong that actually is. I've given guys rides in some of our street/strip cars that had big block Chevelles and Camaros back in the day that had no clue how fast an 11 or 12 second car really is.
My '82 Z28 ran a best of an 11.18 @ 121 on motor with a stout 383 stroker. A guy I know that was always talking about how fast a 425 HP 427 Vette he used to have was, and that "He wouldn't even fool with a small block". I took him for a ride my Camaro one day, and there's an adandoned cotton mill down the road from us that has nearly straight road that nearly a 1/4 mile long before it goes into a slight curve. There's never any traffic down there, so we called it our "proving grounds".-lol I ran ET Streets when I drove the car at the time, so I went down there, stopped and did pretty good little burnout enough to get the tires sticky. I rolled forward a little bit and pulled it up on the stall, and mashed it. It hunched just a little immediately, but hooked pretty hard for it being on the street. I turned her up to 6800 in first and second and let out at about 5000 in 3rd. My buddy was hanging on to the armrest and console and wasn't saying anything at first. I asked him if was OK, and was just nodding his head and laughing after a few seconds. I asked him how he felt about a small block after that. He just said "Yeah, I guess things have changed". He said "I've never felt a car pull like that, and I didn't think a N/A small block could run like that!". I told that my small block wasn't even radical and that were a whole lot of them out faster than mine.
To make a long story short, he had a rectangular port, solid lifter BBC, but it was in a car on street tires, with a stock converter. He had never felt a tuned car putting a lot of power to the ground. His idea of fast was way off because he'd never been in a truly fast car. The majority of people fall into this category.