Many years ago, I had an old version of Desktop Dyno. It was great to play around with, but I never built an engine with it. Its been at least 10 years since I used that program and the computer it was on crapped out last fall.

So I am interested in getting another engine build simulator. Any recommendations? I'll be surfing later tonight to see what's out there. I'd like to keep it under $100. I am looking for something that I can put in cam specs, comrpession, displacement, etc and get approximate HP numbers. It would be nice if there was a cam specfication feature that could spit out optimal cam lobes for a given combination.

Thanks.

"Many years ago, I had an old version of Desktop Dyno. It was great to play around with, but I never built an engine with it. Its been at least 10 years since I used that program and the computer..."

Me too, but I think I was running DOS

PipeMax is a good program. It was original designed to design headers but the program also includes a lot of dyno simulation features. I use it all the time and find it to be useful.

There is the comp cams camquest. It's free, and has basic dyno features. You can even input head flow CFMs.

To see the difference in cams, you can either choose a different Comp cam, or you can do what I do and hack (VERY easy) the file of an existing cam to modify the duration/lift etc.

the premier modest budget program is

http://performancetrends.com/Engine-Analyzer.htm

Kevin claims the above program with correct data entry gives Torque within 6% of a shaft dyno 95% of the time. It is not unusual for shaft dynos to vary 6% or more between manufacturers.

his high $ program is used by several NASCAR teams

http://performancetrends.com/Engine-Analyzer-Pro-Enterprise-Edition.htm

You can find Desktop Dyno 2003 free on the 'net. Not perfect but probably no less accurate than any other "affordable" program. Accuracy costs big bucks. I found it useful not so much for the actual output but to do comparisons. I figure as long as the inaccuracy is consistent then why worry about it.