Disappointed in Dyno Run- 353 RWHP

[04SVT]

To say the least, I'm rather disappointed in the results of my first Dyno run today. After adding the K&N Cold Air Intake, Super Chips Tuner, and a Flowmaster American Thunder Cat Back my 04Cobra only dynoed at 353 RWHP. I went to FORDSPEED in Clearwater, FL who uses a DynoJET.

The mechanic said only having 800 miles on the engine could be a partial explanation but he did say according to the fuel/air data, my car is running too rich with the SuperChips program.

Anyone else having a problem with their Super Chips Tuner?

I know you can't go by the HP claims of K&N, FlowMaster, and SuperChips but I was really hoping for a better number. If I have 353 RWHP, what would that translate into crank HP. It doesn't seem like I gained much of a HP gain at all with the mods I added. (although it feels much faster)

The mechanic said he had an 03 Cobra with 13K miles who dialed in 368 RWHP completely stock!!!!! (did not need to hear that!)
Any thoughts?? What are some of you guys dyno results?

[04SVT]

I noticed the mechanic only ran my car up to 6500 RPM's. With the Super Chips tuner the rev limiter will let the engine rev safely to 7500. If he had run it up to 7500RPMs would that have made a difference in the final RWHP rating?

The mechanic suggested to remove the superChips tuner and go with a fully adustable SuperTuner (different brand) He can adjust up to 300 setting and dial it in perfect to my set up and update as I add more goodies. My next mods are to add a bigger throttle body, headers, custom H-Pipe, pulley for the S/C, and 410 gears. My initial goal was to have around 450 RWHP.

[Big T]

That sounds awfully low. Did you notice a big increase in power when you installed the sct program? I could feel the difference in power with my TB, CAI, and exhaust but when I programmed the sct tune in, I immediately noticed a huge difference in power. I was very impressed. Who did you get the tuner from?

[cobrabitn]

Stock, I dynoed 365 rwhp and 355 rwtq. Sorry...

With 2 mods, it was right at 400 rwhp.

[Firme]

Well, you should have that kinda power stock...

having said that, it is always good to get a Baseline Dyno STOCK before modding to make sure you are not starting out with a problem.

I would take off the Super Chips and try again. IMO the Super Chips is one of the best out there, but A: You do not have enough mods to warrant a Tune B: you could have the best chip in the world, but a bad tune is a bad tune, if you are running too rich, you are not utilitzing the cars potential, again YOU DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH MODS TO WARRANT A CHIP YET, and the stock 04 runs rich as it is from the factory, no need to run it richer YET.

If anything, you should get the superchips dynotunned. I hate to tell you this, but PLEASE seek a better mechanic/shop, especially one that is more reputable with 03/04 Cobras. You're mechanic not only seems to NOT know much of anything about your car, but is leaning toward wasting your money and possibly harming the car.

BTW, the mileage has nothing to do with the low numbers, you just need to take the Chip/Tune off and back to stock, and start form there. These cars, and their tune are pretty sophisticated, a mechanic need to really know what he is doing to get the job done. Alot of shopsu use trial and and error, and plenty of people have their car ruined by letting people who don't know about them work on them..... When the Kenny Bell first came out, there was plenty of Texas Folks blowing up their enigines and whinning on SVT Performance on how Ford put inferior parts on the car, but if you asked the right the questions, you would find that they were in denial that they let a bad tuner work on their car... all of them were leaning out and frying the engine... they did not understand, that there was more to just having a good tune on the dyno.. as I have posted this a dozen times.. to understand read this... http://www.svtcobraclub.com/forums/s...ead.php?t=5909 note the part about poeple "Cheating" the tune and setting a default on the dyno that would lean our with better air.

the wiser and learned bunch now, are getting correct tunes, and running damn near 800+ rwhp with stock longblocks...

sorry about the rant and runon post, but I just don't want people to get misinformation, and thinks its their car, or a product that is otherwise good.

[ORANGE CRUSH]

Yeah! What Firme said.


Look at my stock numbers on my sig. Will dyno agian on Dec 11 and will post.

[04SVT]

I appreciate the feedback!
I added my 3 mods a week apart so I could feel what each one added individually. I felt a noticable difference with each one. I'll be honest, my Cobra feels much faster than it did stock.
I have no complaints in the performance that I "feel".
It's the fastest car I've owned. It's a blast to drive. Unfortunately I live in a rural area and there is no one else with a cobra to compare to.

What RPM does the typical dyno test run up to? Mine only was tested only to 6500 but my car pulls strong up to 7500. Looking at the data sheet the HP kept rising steadily until he quit at 6500 RPMs. If he had continued to 7500 would the dyno have recorded more HP?

Also, I had just driven the car 2 hours from my home to FordSpeed without a chance to cool. Would that have made a difference? Who knows? Maybe it was a bad dyno run! I was just a little disappointed with the outcome.

[VenomInside]

I dyno'd stock at 390wrhp/390ft/tq... Now I am at 435wrhp/440ft/tq with the intake, exhaust and x-pipe.

[Firme]

04SVT

another thing you might want to do is get another dyno pull at another shop.. There is alway the chance that it was a dyno error if the shop isn't real up to speed on dyno consistancy.

[04SVT]

FIRME,

Thank you for the repost of the wisdom from Jerry at SCT. As you said , maybe I need to find someone who knows a little more about 03/04 Cobra to work on mine. FordSpeed is a very good shop but they primarily work on track vehicles with NOS setups not street mods. I'll have to research some other dyno's in the area.

I'm not going to pretend to know much about the tuning for Mustangs and the insight and advice from you and the other members is second to none.

[04SVT]

HERE IS A POST FROM THE SVT PERFORMANCE FORUM...

I DON'T HAVE A PULLEY BUT I WAS EXPECTING NUMBERS MORE LIKE THIS..

------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Dyno #'s
Dyno'd my car last night, made 463hp and 480tq SAE. The only mods are K+N fipk, 2.93 pulley, Borla catback and a custom predator tune by RWTD. To say the least I was happy with the results. I hope the new power keeps me happy for a long time. The car bone stock made 360/360, then added K+N and it made 397/380 same dyno session. I then added a Borla catback, 2.93 pulley the predator and finally dyno'd it last night to get these #'s. These parts really work......
__________________
2003 Black 10th Anniv. Convertible K+N FIPK, Borla Stingers Dyno bone stock 360/360 Dyno K+N 404/382

[tcrews]

Originally Posted by 04SVT

according to the fuel/air data, my car is running too rich with the SuperChips program.

Your answer is right there.....go back to the stock tune and you'll be in much better shape. With your "basic" mods you do not need a tune, especially one that makes you run richer.

[kilroy]

Originally Posted by 04SVT

Also, I had just driven the car 2 hours from my home to FordSpeed without a chance to cool. Would that have made a difference? Who knows?

I know. 10rwhp on the dyno I go to.

I drive 2.5 hours to Team Ford just above Atlanta & put it on their dyno jet heat soaked. Got a number. Cooled it down for 30 minutes with fan - warmed it back up driving on the dyno w/fans off for about 3-4 minutes made another pull & saw +10rwhp/tq. Repeated the process & was rewarded with identical numbers (within a tenth). I have done this on two separate occasions with the same outcome.
My Cobra still has the stock H/E. If it were an aftermarket (read higher effeciency) unit, the heat soak condition would either not exist or have minimal effect on back-to-back runs at the dyno (or strip). Heat exchangers don't help you make horsepower - it helps you keep all the power you make in the first place.

[Silver03Snake]

Originally Posted by VenomInside

I dyno'd stock at 390wrhp/390ft/tq... Now I am at 435wrhp/440ft/tq with the intake, exhaust and x-pipe.

What correction factor? I'm betting STD but still darn good numbers. Should be around 375-380 SAE.

04SVT, your peak HP should be around 6.2-6.5k rpm's. I'll bet it's the chip as mentioned above. I know of a shop in Charlotte that put a lot of mods on their first 03 and it was pathetic. It turned out to be the chip. You will be fine on the stock tune. I didn't do a baseline on my 03 but with a drop in K&N filter, Bassani catted x-pipe and catback it made 395 rwhp SAE and 384 rwt. I think my 03 has been a little low compared to the average 03's. I've also seen a few 03's that were a little low stock or with a few minor mods but put out unreal numbers when hit with a lot of mods.

04SVT, what correction did they use? If it were a real hot day and your car was heat soaked and they gave you uncorrected numbers, 354 rwhp could be possible. The guy that dyno tuned my 03 only tunse to STD numbers mostly because it will net the highest numbers. Anything is possible.

[04SVT]

I did some research on the SuperChips website. I talked to one of their tech guys. Turns out that my car was running too rich because I installed the wrong performance tune. In the SuperChips install booklet it mentioned that for Ford cars you can choose between a 87 and 93 octane performance program. Then it says for 03-04 Supercharged Cobras, a HP4 option is available instead of the 87 octane one. So I installed the HP4 program. Come to find out the HP4 is only for Cobras with the smaller pulley upgrade. (more boost needsmore fuel) The tech guy said to remove the HP4 program and install the 93 octane performance tune.

I took my car for another dyno run.....and got 396 RWHP!

Got 353 RWHP with car running hot and too rich
Got 396 RWHP with cool engine and correct performance program