Thinking of getting a copy of DeskTop Dyno

Has anyone had a bash with it while blueprinting their motors?

If it's the American (Speedpro?) book with extra added software then I wouldn't bother tbh. The books actually quite interesting but it doesn't really contain anything that isn't in 4 Stroke Performance Tuning by Graham Bell. As to the software............... it's very basic and aimed at big american V8s and I suspect just guessing would give you similarly accurate results

The new(er) version has engines from Audi, BMW, Mazda, Toyota, Volvo, VW.. etc.

Which I thought would prove useful. and as you can set the bore/stroke and what looks like a million other settings I reckon you could get darn close to a few of say the ford or GM 4 pots blocks that we get over this side of the pond...

I just though it could cone in handy...

Ah right, I wasn't aware of a newer version HOWEVER having just downloaded an 'evaluation copy' of the new one I have to say that it's pretty much the same thing but it runs in windows rather than DOS.

It's an ok toy but I wouldn't say it was worth anywhere near the $300 rrp. - the problem with it is that you don't have any way of telling how accurate it is, I've tried it with various crossflow permutations and it gives some results that seem ok and some that seem to contradict everything that's commonly accepted as being things that work...... for example, no matter what variables you change there seems very little difference between a Kent 224 cam and a 244 and in 90% of cases the 224 has better shaped torque and hp curves - perhaps it's right but it's potentially a bit of an expensive leap of faith!

[Edited on 22/3/09 by D Beddows]