drivetrain loss????

[bigwhitecobra]

Ok, so everybody knows that the drivetrain takes up power. And everybody has their on idea of how much is lost, right? In a manual car somewhere around 15-18% and in an auto closer to 25%, right?

Here's where I have a problem with that figuring. Say you had a 100 horse motor, you put it into a manual car. you put it on a dyno and the motor makes 82 hp at the wheels, that would be a loss of 18% or 18 horse, correct?

Now take a 200 horse motor, put it into the same manual car. Am I supposed to believe that it take the 200 hp motor more power to turn the drivetrain that the 100 horse motor? With the current firgures the 200 horse motor would make 164hp. Why does it take more power to turn the wheels with a more powerful motor than it would a weaker motor?

I just don't understand this logic. Basing hp loss on percentages is not a bad way to guess at what your motor is making. Being able to work with a dyno service, I'm going to test a few theories and let you know what I come up with, but I think we will all be somewhat surpized to find that the drivetrain loss is a constant figure, let's say 35hp for example, instead of a percentage.

I don't know. maybe I jsut have too much time on my hands, huh?

Later.