Limited Late Model HP question

[perfconn]

Right on Bill.Some of these dudes will believe anything they are told.Tony Barker came to me once and asked what he could do about these engine builders making all these fabulous hp claims about their SUPR spec engines.I told him if they were stupid enough to believe them then there was nothing he could do except outrun them.

[King1]

Jason at vic hill's educated me on that outrageous hp#. I took my motor to him to be dyno'd and the 6t from West Virginia was on the dyno. It's real # was not all that fabulous (neither was mine) but when you calculate conditions at sea level which is what they call "calculated horse power" then it made the #'s that are generally the topic of discussion. Like I said above my 436 all steel motor made 639 it's true # was 574. Cropper was always the world's worst for throwing out 900 ponies and only giving you 720. I think that people who race check books and get in male reproductive organ measuring contests like to see those numbers, people who are educated and know about the biz are more concerned about drivability. My motor from clements when it was new made 867, I can assure you it did not feel like 867. 445 sb2.2

[President Clinton]

I don't own a dyno, but I have owned Steel and Aluminum engines from top builders. All I can go by is their reputation???? So I guess I am politely saying I am done with this. I will continue to spend my money on the paperwork they provide me not internet advice. Thanks for trying to help me,

[let-r-eat]

There are tons of 550hp, claimed 800hp engines out there. Tons of em.

[swingarm4life]

Ours from Vic Hill made 565

[Bubstr]

Horsepower can peak at a certain RPM, but over all how long are you in that RPM. It's the average of where in the RPM range that you run, that says good power or not. Throw peak HP numbers out and look at power curve or profile. Usable horsepower. That big HP number means Zip. Think about how much of the time on track, that you are on the go pedal at that magic RPM number. Not much of the time your racing.

This is why the spread bore engines are popular. Big cubic inches, capable of 1000 hp, detuned to make a flatter power curve. Results are more HP over more RPM and not peaky to break traction.

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

Even "reputable" engine builders juice their dyno numbers. The numbers on here, discussed by some, are flat out impossible and do not follow laws of thermodynamics and fluid mechanics.

[billetbirdcage]

Customer of mine bought a 800 lap engine from a big name racer that was originally built new and just freshened by the well known big name engine builder and now only had dyno time on it. He pretty much dealt with the engine builder and got all the specs, numbers, and etc and only talked to the racer to agree on price as the engine was still at the engine builders. He bought everything: carb, headers, and etc used during dynoing besides the dry sump system. The engine was supposedly making 890HP.

Fast forward 3 days when the engine was shipped from the engine builder to my customer who just happens to be friends with Ricky Stenhouse so the engine was never un-crated and sent over to Ricky SR and he dyno'ed it.

The engine never broke 800HP. Now remember nothing needed to be changed as it was exactly how it was dyno'ed besides a little jetting do to differences in air quality due to different weather conditions between the 2 places and times. Now the engine was a nice piece and had really good parts in it as was told but was not all that drivable and certainly didn't make the power even taking into dyno variations.

[RCJ]

When talking hp numbers you should know the SAE calibration numbers,I believe there are 3.This takes the raw numbers and converts it to a standard sea level ,baro ,and temp.I've had motors from 4 different builders and with the right SAE they all matched what they said.My imca spec motors made 580,took the same motor with no regard for rules(still 360 flat top) made 690.

[LeafMaster41]

It was the same way when I ran karts back in the day, builders claiming things. I think this is what led to a certain crate series outlawing blueprinting because some crook was telling people he could get them 100+ more horsepower and they believed him and spent stupid money for nothing. Then the series felt they needed to save people from spending money(kinda liberal way of thinking if you ask me). I say let dopes be dopes. Anyway the, 550-600 was pretty much what i was thinking was right, just curious as to what others were seeing. Thanks.

[perfconn]

On the Stutska Dyno that I use there are two factors that you can change to make the Dyno say anything you want.One is the inertia factor and the other is the correction factor that the weather station says to use.The correction factor takes into account the ambient air temperature and the barometric pressure.If you have dynoed hundreds of engines you know what to expect out of them but you can still get surprised sometimes.Dynoed an sb2.2 last week with three different carburetors.To my surprise one of the carburetors(Taco) was 30hp better than the other two & they were not bad.I said all that to say,I don't race dynos but they are useful tools as long as they are used properly.Let me also say that I talked to John Lafond at B&B about that dudes engine & John said he warned him about throwing out big numbers for sales purposes.

[a25rjr]

Even "reputable" engine builders juice their dyno numbers. The numbers on here, discussed by some, are flat out impossible and do not follow laws of thermodynamics and fluid mechanics.

Didn't you drive one of these limited lm's down here in the South?

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

Didn't you drive one of these limited lm's down here in the South?

No. Just wrenched on some.

[old17ford]

No. Just wrenched on some.

And a good wrench man he was . Wish he was still down here !

[swingarm4life]

He's got Mastersbuilt in his screen name, but i happen to know he still has a soft spot for them swingarm cars from indiana!