Drivetrain Loss: Understanding it, and Improving it?

MyEarsHurt said:

I understand the basic concept of drivetrain loss, power transferred over a certain distance means you have less power at the wheels, fine. Now I have a few questions that I have never really seen clear answers to.

1. I have heard that the "average" drivetrain loss is something like 18-20%, any truth to that with my stang, or any other stang for that reason?

2. What can you do to decrease that percentage? Will buying a lightweight flyywheel, gearset, driveshaft, etc decrease that percentage at all? If so, how much?

Last question that I can think of right now on this topic, assume an 18% drivetrain loss on my car. Lets say that I dyno at 200 rwhp (just to keep the numbers simple). If I go out and buy a lightweight gear set, aluminum driveshaft all that stuff, and then go back to the dyno, are my numbers going to change? Or am I still gonna see 200 rwhp? Do these lightweight parts reflect performance on the street only, not the dyno, or both?

Thanks in advance for the input, I just wanted to clear this up cause I have been scratching my head over it recently...

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