Over the years i've used what i think is a rather clever way to keep track of my cars performace. as you make upgrades you probally often wonder how much of an improvement the upgrade made. I, as well as many dont always have access to a track to be professionally timed, and theres not to many other ways to accurately take measurement. so i'd thought i'd share mine.

Basically you keep track of you speed attainded at the top of second gear.
the reason for this is this.
The speed is constant. you can only go as fast as the car can accelerate it self to the top of second gear.
You could flop the launch and you still hit the same speed at the top of second gear considering you wind out first gear.
The speed you attain is also, typically, street legal if you do the test in the right areas. like of an entrance ramp or test track.

Now, apparently this doesnt give you any idea of a quarter mile time or 0-60. but consider those are just the common times people use in a general to compare performance. But on a personal level my method could be used, really, only to see the improvement your mods made or compare to other lancers.

So. Lets here what you guys think of my idea. if you dig, make your own measurements. but really, be honest to your self. this will give you a better idea down the line of what you getting for your money. try to do at least more than one in the same session. say three runs. they should all be within a mph or 2. add the results together and divide by three. or whatever amount runs you made to get your average and keep this in mind. then after you add mods do it again and see the improve ments.

When i was stock if i recall properly my max speed attained at the top of second gear was 48 mph. now adays i'm nailing 55 at the top of second easy. thats a nice improvement if you ask me.
so let me know what you think and where you stand. again... max speed at the top of second gear.

Oh yeah! and dont forget to shift into third

 

are you driving an automatic? im not sure if that works to good for manual... good thinking though

 

I drive an automatic and at 6000RPM's I hit 65 MPH. I usually shift at 62-63 though because 65 approaches fuel cut.

 

no its manual.^^^^and 65 mph. holy ****. i dunno. maybe the auto's are geared differently. are the autos a 4 speed. if so that would explain it. the gears would be taller. either way my method doesnt nail any times obviously, it could take an auto 8 seconds to hit 60 and a manual a lil less cuz of gearing but either way you could measure your own performance this way.
so either way now i [we] realize you cant compare autos to manuals with this method cuz of the gearing. though 65 or not on an auto, iraced one once and crushed it. ehh! sorry i guess that doesnt really matter.

 

this does not work... more power does not change your gearing. sorry. To obtain higher speeds in the same gear you need to change out the gear in the transmission

 

hehehehe! i knew some one was gonna come with this.think about what you just said. if that were the case. there would be no point in upgrading to add more horsepower.
for example if you have a lancer that makes 120hp and one that makes 200 hp your saying the 120 hp lancer could attain the same amount of speed at the top of second gear as the 200 hp lancer. or at the top of any gear for that matter. that would also mean that gearing has every thing to do with attainable speed at any given ratio. and not horsepower. i'm not denying that gearing has a lot to do with speed but its the amount of velocity created threw a given ratio of rotion to force applied. so again a hundred hp car with the same gear ratios as a 500 hp car can only go as fast as each other? hmmmmm!!!!

 

Elvis, not to hijack but I have a quick question. What did the Hi flow cat, and header/downpipe do for performance? Noticeable difference? That is my next 2 things.

 

[QUOTE=Elvis]hehehehe! i knew some one was gonna come with this.think about what you just said. if that were the case. there would be no point in upgrading to add more horsepower.
for example if you have a lancer that makes 120hp and one that makes 200 hp your saying the 120 hp lancer could attain the same amount of speed at the top of second gear as the 200 hp lancer. or at the top of any gear for that matter. that would also mean that gearing has every thing to do with attainable speed at any given ratio. and not horsepower. i'm not denying that gearing has a lot to do with speed but its the amount of velocity created threw a given ratio of rotion to force applied. so again a hundred hp car with the same gear ratios as a 500 hp car can only go as fast as each other? hmmmmm!!!![/QUOTE]

exactly its just that the 500 hp car can get there faster. The 500hp car maybe able to have a higher top speed if the car is drag limited the 500hp will help the car come over that. The turbo lancers still hit the same speeds at 6k rpms as a stock n/a lancer at 6k (56 mphish). They just get there faster.

 

iufan.
not a huge difference but its there. mostly after 4k rpms. however it makes that dip in power around 3750 rpms more noticable. what headers you thinkin bout.

03rallylancer
i see were your comin from. the same concept occured to me when i came across the idea.
but regardless as i made mods my top speed at the top of second gear increased.
trust me this has been well thought out as well as documented on my part figuring its the only feasible way to see the actually difference in my mods. the light weight wheels making the biggest difference. i'll be making more mods soon. possible even turbo. i'll be making more runs for comparison then. open track day.
i'm leaving for texas tonight and wont be on the forums for a while. but i'm still interested in what other people think. try it your self if your about to make mods.

 

did you change overall diameter when you changed wheels? cuz that can change your speed in each gear.... other then that unless you are driving farther into redline... im sorry to tell you but you are imagining it. Im sure a guru will eventually find this and say the samething. be safe on the trip.

 

I can't decide on RPW, OBX, Kamikaze, or RRM headers. I honestly have no idea :/ I heard the RPW make some sick stuff and the gains are pretty awesome... But roadrace hasn't let me down yet, and the obx are really cheap. At this point I am leaning towards the RPW street headers with magnaflow HFC.

 

I'm sorry, but you are WRONG. Whatever fuzzy math you use cannot change the simple fact that the speed in each gear is physically limited by the gear in the transmission.

Chances are good that the wheels are not the perfectly correct size and they're making your speedometer read wrong.

 

you know what you guys are right. [blacksheep,03rallylancer]. i did change my wheel size when i noticed to top speed increase in second gear. i went from seventeen 215/40/17 to
195/55/15. the fifteens are much lighter and smaller that was when i noticed i was hittin 55 at the top of second gear. but either way, HOLY CRAP i was totally wrong. never considered the wheel thing. durr,duur,durr!!!! i feel like such a retard.

i feel like the morning after a drunken night where i dont know what i did, but feel really stupid for it.

 

iufan, if i could do it again, i'd go with rpw. they're the only one with long primary headers on the market for the lancer, that i know of. from what i read those types of header make actual gains across the board. go to import tuner.com and read some of their powerpages.
they do a lot with the long type headers and have success with them. i've personally never seen the use shortys. and ultimately you get what you paid for.

 

Anyone notice any good gains w/obx or r they just for looks?