Thats a good idea! I'm heading out to the airport in about 30 minutes and I'll have do that with my first student (pre-private). That works great with multi-engine stuff. Too often the only "engine failures" we get/give in training are total loss of power from one engine.
Out of curiosity, are you trying to model a particular engine problem? IE, loss of power + card heat = worse? Sounds like a clogged air intake (loss of power and then warm air makes it worse without any increase).