Device for measuring horsepower

In early 2005 I bought a device I saw on a car show on TV. It is called GTECH PRO, and more info can be found at www.gtechpro.com . It is a box (about the size of a cigarette pack) that you plug into your cigarette lighter and it measures 0 - 60, quarter mile speed and time, horsepower and other stuff. The current model costs about $200 but I found an out of date version on eBay for $29. This is a portable device and can be used on any kind of car and moved from car to car.

You stick this thing on your windshield and it does the calculation. I am not sure how it figures it, but apparently it is quite accurate.  My first test runs averaged 8.2 seconds with a 4 bbl carb, no pollution stuff and a stock exhaust. I felt that the car was shifting late and that may be costing some speed.

To calculate horsepower, you need to tell the device the weight of your car, so I went to a place that sells gravel and mulch and they weighed the car for $5.00  Here is what I discovered.

CAR WEIGHT

1978 with special built top and fairly heavy wood trunk - no passengers and 5 gals of gas needed to fill the tank.   Front: 1454 pounds,  rear, 1398 pounds, total 2843 pounds.  The figures on the door sticker are different, and done to government specs. My device says that sticker weight includes passengers in all seats, but I don't know if that rule goes back to 1978.

The car sticker says 1500 pounds front, 1900 pounds rear and 3400 pounds total. Passengers, if you look at the cars, would shift more weight to the rear half of the car, as would a full tank of gas. In any event, I will test the car for horsepower with this gadget and report back the results.

3/13/05 -- first horsepower test runs - hard to find time when other cars not nearby and wondering what I was doing. Three attempts

1) 137 hp......2) 118 hp..........3) 126 hp --------------average 127 hp.

That seemed low to me, but will give me a starting point to see what timing changes and different exhaust yield.

I only used the device for one try for 0 -60 mph time and got 8.43 seconds.

April, 2005.  The car gets some new running lights. These came from a swap meet and look like old ambulance spot lights. The bulbs were the same size as dual headlight bulbs, so I got some Halogen conversion insides, which included blue LED parking lights for shows.  Pimp my Ride!!

This series of photos were taken in April, 2004 on the Dunedin Causeway in Florida

What the car MIGHT look like if I built a box and made it into a Woodie.
Different, for sure, but better? I decided NOT to try this.

BEFORE

These old, red heater hoses have bothered me -- they are ugly and, they are fallen over and resting on the valve cover and just sloppy looking

AFTER

This is with the installation of some hose that I got from eBay. It has a wire in it that makes it (more or less) stiff and able to hold its shape.

This wire is not completely round. On one side it is a bit oval to hold this heavy piece of wire which provides the stiffness. It also has a coiled wire inside for stiffness.
I had to buy 24 feet, which is enough for 3 cars+, so I am selling the leftovers in one or two lots. My cost (and yours) is a bit over $1 per foot plus postage.

The hose is new, and has some kind of vaseline-like protector on it, and I had to wash each piece with hot water and soap to get that off before installation. With the hose you get a copy of the instruction sheet, which mostly told how not to put the screw part of the clamp over the bump where the wire strenghener was.

email me if you are interested at GlassicAnnex@aol.com

Next project, organize the spark plug wires.