Is there anything short of a dyno machine that i can buy for relatively cheap to read the horsepower on my carbureted '86 305?

 

cheapest thing you can do is do a local search for a dyno around you. Thats pretty much the only way I believe you can assess the power of your engine is through a dyno. Im not sure but I believe its something usually around 75 dollars for 3 dyno runs.

 

This is what you want

Home Dyno

 

whoa, I never knew those existed.

kinda sounds like a scam though.

 

don't take any stickers off the car while it is on. that might cause it to read a lower hp level

 

The principles are sound. I was fooling around with something similar a few years ago.

 

Seen these written up in pop sci, they gave a good review but i cant say if they work well.

Vehicle Performance Computers : JC Whitney, Car Parts and Accessories

 

Yeah this is the first thing that came to mind. Personally, it is what I would go with, short of a Dyno.

 

If you can get to a track then the trap speeds should give you an idea of your hp.

-Schultzy

 

I wonder how they got the HP gauge to operate on the Veyron. I think i read somewhere that the only way to hook up a gauge is to use a buffer of some sort, that reads RPMS. You program the buffer based on your dyno sheet that you got a your local dyno shop. The gauge outputs your "HP" based on your RPM at that time.

 

Well, I know on the Beltronic Performance Reader, they calculate the amount of G's being applied to a g-meter of some sort inside the device. How accurate can this be? I dont know, but if I have a little extra money lying around when I take the IROC to get dynoed, I'll purchase one and compare.