How Much Horsepower Do You Really Have?
From age 18 to 80 you hear the comment, my car puts out "X" amount of horsepower. But did you know that even when a car is rated by the factory at a certain horsepower, by either the sticker from the factory or on the invoice it doesn't mean a thing. Why is that? Because no auto maker puts every vehicle on a dynamometer which precisely measure both horsepower and torque. A chassis dynamometer is best, simply because horsepower is measured at the rear wheels. Why is that? Certain amounts are lost through the transmission drivetrain, etc. it is not unusual to find 300 hp at the flywheel and less than 275 hp at the rear wheels. A chassis dyno in the hands of a skilled operator will do many things.
1. It will give you a true baseline off actual horsepower and torque at the wheels. You cannot really begin to tune unless you actually know what you start with.
2. Depending upon when you need a test. In the upper Midwest it is no fun to take a vehicle out on roads that may or may not be slick to try and get the baseline. With a chassis dyno you can test in all kinds of weather. Our goes up to 2,000 hp and 200 mph in recreating a WOT testing (wide open throttle).
3. Our service is portable. What that means is if you cannot come to us, we can come to you. Say you have put together a Stock Eliminator drag car, or a Wissota Modified and your shop is say a 32x80 building. We can bring the dyno to you and test your car there. You can even call some of your racing friends to bring their vehicles over as well in February and see what your new crate engine does in the terms of performance. It will make winter shorter.
4. Our dyno is trailered to Swap Meets, Car Shows and Town Celebrations that have smaller car shows and we offer a show price to dyno, throughout Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Northern Illinois and North Dakota.
5. Your car club might like to invite us to your show or cruise in and use us as a way to attract new members to your club.
6. You will receive a printout of horsepower, torque and air/flow during what is called a "pull". This is your actual certification of what your car has for HP and Torque. You might like to display this on a plaque with your car.
7. If you are a serious racer, it is a lot easier to o a couple of runs on the dyno and if the car does not run as expected, at least you are not doing it in front of 1,000 folks at the drag strip. We don't have to do your engine work to test with us.
8. We are a confidential operation. While we keep stats on your car so you can call us for a replacement if you should lose or misplace your copy, our lips our sealed. We may indicate that you have tested with us but if others want to know your numbers, they must contact you, we will never give out that info. In fact if you should call us by phone, we will look up your phone number and call you back rather than just give out your stats. We want to be your Dyno Shop.
NHRA member; NMRA; member, DRAW member;
SE Ford Club member, Performance Ford Club member.
Hoping this year to join MSRA and RFC.