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Dyno numbers without a dyno

The rollers cost $40,000. The numbers cost about $30. Here's the pipeline working shops and tuners actually use — and how Shop Manager Lite turns it into printed dyno sheets and diagnostic calls.

The ~$30 pipeline

Plug in a ~$20 OBD-II Bluetooth adapter. Any decent ELM327-style dongle works — it reads RPM and speed straight from the ECU.
Log a pull with the Torque app (~$5, Android). Third gear, flat road, safe conditions — the app records the run as a CSV. Already tuning? Cobb, HP Tuners, Hondata and EcuTek logs work too.
Feed it to Virtual Dyno — free. Give it the car's weight and it computes the full HP/TQ curve. It reads 60+ logger formats and enthusiasts have validated it against real dynos for a decade.
Import the CSV into Shop Manager Lite. The curve graphs in the Dyno Lab, the before/after bars fill in, and the branded dyno sheet — your shop's name across the top — is one click.
Honesty rule: a datalog estimate is not a calibrated dynamometer, and the app says so right on the printed sheet. It's remarkably close when done right — and infinitely closer than no numbers at all.

The accuracy ladder

ToolCostWhat you get
OBD dongle + Torque + Virtual Dyno≈ $30Full HP/TQ curve, before/after gains, printable sheets
GPS performance box (Dragy, RaceBox)≈ $150–200Real 0–60, 60–130, ⅛ & ¼-mile + trap speed — logged on the job, trap speed gives an instant HP estimate
Rented dyno timeby the hourThe real thing — for final tuning numbers and bragging rights

Turn numbers into work orders

Shop Manager Lite ships with stock horsepower and torque for 140 popular engines (plus the NHTSA record when you decode a VIN). Log a measured pull and it compares against the expected wheel-HP band for that drivetrain: Healthy, Down on power, or Needs diagnosis — with a checklist of the usual suspects, from a lazy MAF to a clogged cat.

That's the part customers respond to. "Your car should be putting down 215–235 and it's making 180" isn't upselling — it's evidence. And when the fix lands, the before/after curve is the receipt.

All of it lives in one app

Dyno Lab, health checks, street numbers, invoices and the whole shop day — bought once, runs offline, data stays yours.