The Pro Test - Testing, Testing - Project Car Magazine

When we say we're here to give you real test results, we mean it. Follow along as we take the cars to California Speedway, aka Fontucky, where Neil Chirico and Scott Mortara from Motor Trend assist us by driving our rides through the same tests they use for Ferraris and other cars worth 20 times the price of ours. Before and after results are what we are looking for, here.

We'll also give you real horsepower gain numbers on the parts we install, not the figures manufacturers give. This way you know exactly what to expect when you spend your hard-earned money on parts.

Acceleration

This is the most popular way to describe a car's performance, like when you read a new car review and it says 0-60mph in such and such seconds, or when you read drag racing results for a quartermile run matched with a trap speed. For our acceleration testing, we used the drag strip at Fontucky. Once the Motor Trend guys set up their fancy equipment, Scott launched the car, mashed down full throttle and slammed through the gears. The computer software then calculated the results for everything from 0-30mph all the way up to 0-100mph, including the quarter-mile time and trap speed. For straight-line numbers, this test couldn't be any more perfect. All the power upgrades we add will definitely improve these times. Even things like bigger wheels, stickier tires and stiffer suspension help out because they provide more traction off the launch.

Braking

The faster you go, the quicker you need to stop. None of our cars were equipped with ABS so they stopped very poorly apparently it wasn't cool to stop in the early '90s. The test was simple: bring the car up to 60mph and slam on the brakes. Then Motor Trend measured the distance for us. The braking upgrades we add, like pads, rotors and lines help us stop short, but larger wheels, stickier tires and stiffer suspension do their part as well. If you're not seeing the pattern, everything does link up.

Handling

Motor Trend set up a figure eight that helped us test the car as if it actually on a road race course. tested acceleration, braking, handling and all that good stuff. The figure eight will give a good read on how the parts we add work in conjunction with each other.

Dynamometer

You want to see horsepower gains and we want to show them to you. What a lot of people don't understand is that crank horsepower, which are rated for from the factory, different than wheel horsepower. So when you see the results, or even slap your own car on the dyno, don't be disappointed. There's a lot of power loss going on between your engine's crankshaft and the actual ground. Every time we install a part and test the power gains, you will see the real results of what your car putting to the ground.

Three cars, three different dynos:

240SX SE: Twins Turbo Dynapack
Civic EX: SP Engineering Dynojet
Eclipse GSX: Mustang Dynamometer