ljlaguardia
10-01-2005, 12:44 PM
I did quite abit of reading before buying performance parts for my 2006 Charger RT. Some said they gained power and some said no. I did not see anything on before and after tests related to gains in speed to document increases. One guy did run a dyno test before and after installing a Mopar CAI. He said his car gained 20 HP.
I decided to run my own tests by accelerating the car from a dead stop (Point A ) to point B. Point A is a certain driveway on a straight stretch of road with about a 3% uphill grade. Point B is a certain telephone pole that is located approximatly 650 feet from point A. The tests were run with the ESP off and the car in auto shift. I drove the car directly from my house ( 4 miles ) to the test area. The test were ran around 9am each morning starting the car from an overnight cool down. The temperture each morning ranged from 66 to 73 degrees. The tests were ran by releasing the brake and flooring the gas. Each test was repeated 3 times. The car ran consistantly each time. Some had said that any gains would be changed later by the car's computer. I did these tests over a 4 week period and no change in the performance gains listed below occured.
In stock form the car was doing 60 MPH when I past point B.
The first modification was a Magnaflow cat back system. This increased the car's speed to 70 MPH - a 10 MPH gain! Magnaflow claimed a 10 HP increase on a dyno tested Magnum. I believe the gain was more like 20 to 30 HP. The exhaust cost me about $900 installed ($90 per one MPH increase).
The next modification was the installation of a Jet Stage 2 Module. The car ran 73 MPH - another 3 MPH gain. Jet claimed a 23 HP gain on a dyno tested Ram Hemi ( The only Hemi tested ). The actual gain was probably closer to 15 HP. The module cost me $230 ($77 per one MPH increase).
The final modification was a Mopar CAI. The car ran 77 MPH - An additional 4 MPH. The dyno test I mentioned above showing a 20 HP increase had to be correct. I paid $305 for the CAI ($76 per one MPH increase).
When I started this test I was hoping to gain 5-7 MPH. The 17 MPH gain was definitely a surprise!
You will need to note that each of these modifications may have performed differently if installed by themselves. The CAI may have given a 10 MPH gain without the others. The laws of physics dictate that the faster the vehicle goes the more power it takes to gain speed.
Other facts - The installation of the exhaust actually shorten the distance the car burned rubber off the line by about half. This is not unexpected as my readings show that low end torque can be reduced by less back pressure. All losses were made up for in the end.
I hope some company comes out with a programmer in the future that will make the trans shift faster. The first to second gear shift felt like the car lost power for about a second. I thought maybe my car had a problem so I went to the Dodge dealer and the salesman let me drive a Daytona. The Daytona had the same shift problem. This also gave me a seat of the pants comparison to my car - NO CONTEST!
The installation of the CAI gave the best seat of the pants feel of the three. The car burnt rubber even further than it did when it was stock. The acceleration from 0 to 40 MPH improved tremendously. Even the sluggish first to second shift improved. Before the CAI installation the car would be in second gear at the end of the run. It now shifts into 3rd just before reaching the end.
Do after market performance products work? I now have no doubts whatsoever.
I decided to run my own tests by accelerating the car from a dead stop (Point A ) to point B. Point A is a certain driveway on a straight stretch of road with about a 3% uphill grade. Point B is a certain telephone pole that is located approximatly 650 feet from point A. The tests were run with the ESP off and the car in auto shift. I drove the car directly from my house ( 4 miles ) to the test area. The test were ran around 9am each morning starting the car from an overnight cool down. The temperture each morning ranged from 66 to 73 degrees. The tests were ran by releasing the brake and flooring the gas. Each test was repeated 3 times. The car ran consistantly each time. Some had said that any gains would be changed later by the car's computer. I did these tests over a 4 week period and no change in the performance gains listed below occured.
In stock form the car was doing 60 MPH when I past point B.
The first modification was a Magnaflow cat back system. This increased the car's speed to 70 MPH - a 10 MPH gain! Magnaflow claimed a 10 HP increase on a dyno tested Magnum. I believe the gain was more like 20 to 30 HP. The exhaust cost me about $900 installed ($90 per one MPH increase).
The next modification was the installation of a Jet Stage 2 Module. The car ran 73 MPH - another 3 MPH gain. Jet claimed a 23 HP gain on a dyno tested Ram Hemi ( The only Hemi tested ). The actual gain was probably closer to 15 HP. The module cost me $230 ($77 per one MPH increase).
The final modification was a Mopar CAI. The car ran 77 MPH - An additional 4 MPH. The dyno test I mentioned above showing a 20 HP increase had to be correct. I paid $305 for the CAI ($76 per one MPH increase).
When I started this test I was hoping to gain 5-7 MPH. The 17 MPH gain was definitely a surprise!
You will need to note that each of these modifications may have performed differently if installed by themselves. The CAI may have given a 10 MPH gain without the others. The laws of physics dictate that the faster the vehicle goes the more power it takes to gain speed.
Other facts - The installation of the exhaust actually shorten the distance the car burned rubber off the line by about half. This is not unexpected as my readings show that low end torque can be reduced by less back pressure. All losses were made up for in the end.
I hope some company comes out with a programmer in the future that will make the trans shift faster. The first to second gear shift felt like the car lost power for about a second. I thought maybe my car had a problem so I went to the Dodge dealer and the salesman let me drive a Daytona. The Daytona had the same shift problem. This also gave me a seat of the pants comparison to my car - NO CONTEST!
The installation of the CAI gave the best seat of the pants feel of the three. The car burnt rubber even further than it did when it was stock. The acceleration from 0 to 40 MPH improved tremendously. Even the sluggish first to second shift improved. Before the CAI installation the car would be in second gear at the end of the run. It now shifts into 3rd just before reaching the end.
Do after market performance products work? I now have no doubts whatsoever.