[bill dedman]

Before 1972, the factories rated their car's engines at "gross horsepower."
After that, the system was changed to a "net horsepower" rating-system, and factory ratings on engines dropped like a rock.

My 318 two-barrel 1972 Mopar was rated at 150 horsepower, with the net rating in place for the first year. The prior year, it had been rated at 230 horsepower, via rthe gross system.

As far as I can tell, there were NO mechanical changes to the engine; just to the rating.

I am a math idiot, but my calculator tells me that 230 is 153-percent of 150.
Figured a different way, it says that 150 is only 65.2 percent of 230.

Either way, it's a bunch of horsepower difference...

The main difference in a net and a gross rating as I understand it, is that the net rating is supposedly with all the accessories hooked up, and using whatever power they sap from the engine, and that includes the stock exhaust system.

That means that, in this case, the accessories (including the exhaust system) on that 318, were absorbing EIGHTY horsepower... a rather large amount.

Does anyone else have a problem with that contention???

I call B.S... What do you think?