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Hello everyone. I have a 2002 Camaro Z28 that I've owned for just over 2 years. The previous owner had a Professional Products Typhoon 2 intake w/fuel rails, and Edelbrock throttle body, a K&N PAIK and a Magnaflow muffler installed on the car when I purchased it from him. I had the car tuned not long after buying the car to help smooth it out. This was done back in April of 2016. My RWHP was 303 at that time. In December of 2016, I had some bolt on installed in which I informed the tech that I had a specific number that I wanted to hit at the rear wheels. He asked me what my budget was and then he put a package together to get me there. These included the following:
Speed Engineering 1 7/8 inch long tube headers Speed Engineering 3 inch off road y-pipe BTR Stage 2 camshaft kit PTC 3200 Stall Converter AEM 320 LPH Heavy Duty Fuel Pump NGK TR6 Spark Plugs (#4177) 2 Bosch O2 sensors left & right upstreams (before the cats) and extensions HRI (Hubbard Racing Inc.) Trans Cooler
The car was then sent to the tuner that the auto tech uses who installed the above mentioned parts on my car. I was told that his tuner uses the Dyno Dynamics Dynometer (aka The Heartbreaker). Their dyno read 330RWHP (my number that I wanted to hit was 400RWHP). I was then told that to convert that to Dyno Jet numbers, you multipy the 330 by 1.12 which would give me just under 370RWHP, which is still under the number that I wanted to hit. Well about 3 weeks ago I had an LS6 intake, LS7 lifters and a set of stock 243 heads installed (also a high pressure power steering line but no HP gains there I know). I talked to a few people and they thought that I should see about a 20HP gain or so with the intake and heads. So then I took my car to get retuned on 07/15/2017 and my numbers were 341.8 with an unlocked converter and 357.1 with a locked converter. I only gained 54RWHP from my base tune and 24RWHP compared to "The Heartbreaker" dyno!! The guy I just took my car to to do the tune did say that his dyno has been reading a little low but he didn't say by how much. He also said the he noticed some converter slip which he said would contribute to a 1% to 2% decrease in RWHP. I'm going to get in touch with the auto tech who installed the converter back in December of last year and see what he has to say about the converter slippage. Does anyone with experience know if my numbers are about right? Or are they too low? My car is an automatic with under 113k miles on it. I appreciate any information/thoughts/suggestions in advance. Also, I do not and will not track the car. This is my daily driver with over 99% of the driving done in the city. Once again, thank you.
Last edited by den_hart; Jul 15, 2017 at 10:39 PM.
I never go by the dyno numbers but yes those numbers are lower than usual for those mods. When you got the car did you check the compression and things in general?
Hello HCI. I think those numbers are low as well. Another performance tech drove my car before I had the intake, lifters and heads installed and he thought that if I was't already over 400RWHP, I was pretty close to it! I'm not sure what all the tuner guy checked on my car this time. He has been pretty thorough before and with other people's cars.
I realize you don't want to run this car at the track, but you should seriously consider it one time if the car and tune are in proper order. The trap speed will be the true indicator of the power that its making. I've seen too many dynos all over the map to put any real trust in them
Hello HCI. I'm not brave enough to put it on the track to be honest. This is my daily driver and only vehicle. If I break it or me or do something worse, then I'm screwed. So going by the dyno numbers is the only thing I have. I'm just really disheartened that the numbers are showing so low after all of the money and upgrades have been done to it. And I'm wanting to keep it na since once again, most of my driving is in the city.
HCI, yes I have thought of that as well. I'm going to be looking for someone close that will reply back to me. I tried 2 other places before going to the place that I did because the other 2 didn't reply back after weeks of waiting.
Trying all of that on stock inj isnt going to work, and that aem pump is just a pump...you should have done the hotwire harness as well for it.
Im not sure why anyone would recommend that pump over a racetronix or aeromotive or granatelli even honestly. And the speed eng headers are nice...but they are a cheap chinese header so you cannot expect much.
Few issues that need to be addressed and maybe itll gain but hard to say.
I was told by more than one tech that the stock fuel injector are still good for the build that I have. I was thinking about going to 36# injectors but I was told that I didn't need them. As far as the fuel pump goes, that is what the tech chose in the package for me to have installed for the number that I was wanting to hit. I've heard many good things about the Speed Engineering headers and ORY. And once again, that is what the tech chose to get me to where I wanted to be. Obviously that hasn't happened even with further upgrades installed.
Yes big hammer I know that numbers don't mean anything if the car doesn't run like you want it to or like it should. I was just wondering if there are any people here that may have any thoughts or suggestions on what could be the problem or any thing.
243 heads are a decent upgrade but I think you missed an opportunity to make the best of it by getting them reworked (port and performance valve job). Just as hammer said don't get to worked up over the dyno numbers.
And the speed eng headers are nice...but they are a cheap chinese header so you cannot expect much.
They are actually pretty damn nice headers for the money, I bought a set of them and believe or not the build quality/finish was better than my Stainless Works headers. We also put a set on my Son-inlaws 73 Nova and they fit great and they are polished so they looks great, I couldn't find anything to complain about.
I'm sure they are copies of someone else's headers but the welds were very nice and bends were great. They also have something you don't see on cheap headers, A merge spike.
Hello HCI. Here is a picture of my dyno sheet! And LLL...yes I know that getting the 243 heads ported and polished would have gotten me about 20HP more but that is expensive and I've already put about $7k in parts and labor into this motor that was supposed to be where I wanted it already.
It's peaking a little higher than I would expect with your setup, and the blue line run, but other than that nothing looks odd. I'd ask your tuner a few questions such as what's the timing and afr at. Also, it was mentioned above about the fuel pump and injectors. I'd wanna know the cycle duty of that as well. It is very possible that this is just a low reading dyno and that your setup is fine. I've seen that happen many times before
Hello HCI. As I said, the tuner did say his dyno is reading a little low but he didn't say by how much. I do have the stock fuel injectors and the tuner said that they are running at about 80% to 85% I believe. And as far as the converter slippage, he said that that would contribute to about a 1% to 2% loss in HP which would be 3.5-7HP. I was wondering if anyone else has a comparable set up to mine and what their numbers are? I'm off by quite a bit from what I told the tech that I was wanting compared to what I actually have according to the last dyno and tune that I just posted.
Let me ask you a question... do you have any apprehensions about making a full wide open throttle blast out on the street? If the answer is no, then it's no different than going to track, except you'll know exactly how fast your car truly is, and that's EXACTLY the kind of info that's needed here. Just do a fairly easy launch (to not push the 10 bolt too hard) and it's no different than doing a blast on the street.
I don't think theres anything wrong with the setup......more an issue with the dyno. Dyno's can be WAY off especially if they're not calibrated correctly and the input data about your car isnt accurate. I also agree that the stock injectors should well be maxxed out. I was at almost 100% duty cycle cam only. It would be nice to know timing and A/F as well.
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At A Loss With HP Dyno Numbers!! 
