just wanted to make sure as it looked like a war-of-words was brewing.

 

Show me how many other vehicle automatic dyno plots have 10-15% losses? Most Lightnings are underrated from the factory.

Dynoing a Ram with a Hemi generates inaccurate numbers because using 4th gear (1:1) hits the speed limiter, so they use 2nd or 3rd.

I occasionally read DTO too. I believe what I read, more than hearsay. Everyone's perspective is different. It seems like many people that are "dissapointed" with their 345Hp Hemi are the ones that expect it to accelerate like a 3500 pound sports car.

 

Lightnings ARE dynoed in 3rd gear, as they're supposed to be. Rams are the same way, the 2 that I saw. Only an idiot would try to dyno an auto in 4th gear because of the downshift. What is your point? You must be a Ram owner. For that I am sorry.

Not. If one is underrated, all would be underrated. Correct?

 

The 3rd gear in the rams is the right one, its a 1:1. Speed Limiter is hit at about 4500rpms yet the hemi keeps making more power up to 5300rpm's red line is 5600.

 

I'll take one with the new 6.2 liter engine...

 

Ok so its making its supposed 345 hp up to 5300, but rev limiter is at 4500. Makes absolutely no sense. Hmm.. Sounds like another great engineering effort by the dodge camp....

 

The 45RFE that mates to the Hemi has 5 gears, sort of. Some call it 5, others 4 which changes which gear is called what number. I apologize for the confusion. Like Toe said, using its 1:1 gear when dynoing hits the speed limiter (not rev limiter, brannong), so some people are using a lower gear. If you are looking for the peak horsepower in the 1:1 gear with a Hemi automatic, the peak horsepower probably comes at the limiter which is below the engine speed at which the Hemi makes its most power. Thus, why the "numbers" look low to many people.

Really, area under the torque curve is the important thing anyway, since hp is a mathematical function of torque at any given engine speed.

I owned a 99 F-150 which I sold for an 03 F-150. I could have any truck I want but chose Ford, despite my opinion that Dodge has a better powertrain, specialty vehciles excluded).

Is the Lightning the first performance vehicle you have owned? Since it is a specialty limited production vehicle, I would say most (no, not necessarily all) are underrated.

Dynoing any automatic transmission is a little less valuable since one can only get information down to the lowest engine speed at which the transmission does not downshift.

 

That's why L's are dynoed at 70 MPH to prevent the kickdown to 2nd.

Is the Lightning the first performance vehicle you have owned?

No.

 

Right, which means you know how much power your truck has above 3500rpm. Since I mostly drive my truck (not an L) below that engine speed, it is difficult to determine how much torque I am getting at my peak (which is supposedly 2300rpm @ crank).

 

If your truck is an '04 w/5.4 peak torque is around 1200 RPMs.

 

Just as a point of information. A factory tech in the 4R100 factory (the transmission in the Lightning) has stated that the factory loss from the 4R100 trans is 11%. Add in other driveline loss, and you are probably looking at 15% or so. Thus, it is a very efficient drivetrain.

Lightnings are slightly underrated from the factory. However, it is not as great as some would like to think. They probably produce 390-400 flywheel hp.

Our '01, with only a 4lb pulley for a mod, pulled 366rwhp and 461rwtq on the dyno (at 58,000 miles). Considering that this pulley will give you 15-18rwhp, and 30-40rwtq, that puts her stock performance right about average.

You will see a 6-speed auto trans in the near future for the F150 (if all the rumors are correct). I would expect to see it around the 2005.5 MY. This should help acceleration significantly.

BTW, it probably will not be 6 true gears. Taking off-road racing technology, you can split the primary gears with overdrive, creating extra "effective" gears. This is how the 5R55E gets 5 forward gears from the old 4R44E trans. It is much more cost effective than designing an entirely new transmission.

 

The Lightning is underrated. After the Cobra debacle, they made sure they weren't going to have any low dyno numbers again. Chassis dynoing the hemi is problematic in that the speed limiter gets in the way of things. This forces them to run 2nd gear pulls or pull fuses that effect the PCM. My experience with Dodge truck trannys is that they are notoriously inefficient. This is one of the reasons why I feel the 300c trapped a 102MPH at 4150lbs(without driver), but with a 5-speed Mercedes tranny.
In any event, I could care less, because I'm eyeing the hemi to throw a carbed version in my Dakota. Those heads outflow any stock LS1 or 6 head currently available. I've seen a mildly ported one flow 300cfm @ 600 lift! You can call it any type of gimmick you want, but it has awesome potential.

 

What's HP gonna be like on this beast?

 

345 hp Hemi vs 310hp 5.4 3v i think the Dodge will win.

 

Are there any pics of this engine roaming about?