Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com - View Single Post

hackish · 03-03-2010, 12:34 PM

Some have asked about how I decided to get involved...

I've spent 10+ years as a professional engine builder and engine tuner. I own a performance shop and spend a lot of hours working on producing high horsepower engines. Many clients arrive with poorly tuned and inefficient setups. I've always tried to strike a good balance between power, driveability and fuel economy.

I've spent a number of years producing everything from cylinder head modifications (hundreds of hours spent on a flow bench). Designing performance manifolds, turbocharger systems and other highly custom modifications.

I tend to go steps beyond my competition with extras like modifying the R/S ratio of an engine or having a cam custom ground to achieve the desired characteristics requested by a client. I've tuned and worked on everything you could imagine from turbocharged Kia's to naturally aspirated F360's and everything in between.

My background is really in computers with a little engineering thrown in. Before working on performance cars I worked full time as a computer programmer and some of this work involved subcontracting job for some major OE's. Let's say that eventually sparked some interest in cars.

Presently I spend about 10h every day reverse engineering factory computers so they can be reflashed for performance. I do have extensive knowledge of car computer innards as well as the associated electronics.

For the last 2 years I drove around a modified 350hp honda civic that ran only on premium fuel and got 11.2l/100km (average over 15000km) in the city. One day the car was stolen so I decided to go in a different direction because I was tired of pumping fuel into the car.

I really wanted to develop EV technology but the pricetag is too steep and one has to make a decent business case out of a project if they're going to throw big bucks at it. The small step in the middle was to get a cheap light car and put a more efficient engine into it.

So I bought a 1993 honda civic and installed a VX engine. Running on studded winter tires I've achieved 6.9l/100km (average over 1000km) with mostly city driving.

In my spare time I jump out of perfectly good airplanes, am a certified parachute rigger and teach people how to pack their parachutes.

03-03-2010, 12:34 PM	#1 (permalink)
hackish Calibration Engineer Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Canada Posts: 86 Subie - '00 Subaru Impreza STi JDM 90 day: 22.49 mpg (US) Thanks: 1 Thanked 18 Times in 14 Posts	My backstory... Some have asked about how I decided to get involved... I've spent 10+ years as a professional engine builder and engine tuner. I own a performance shop and spend a lot of hours working on producing high horsepower engines. Many clients arrive with poorly tuned and inefficient setups. I've always tried to strike a good balance between power, driveability and fuel economy. I've spent a number of years producing everything from cylinder head modifications (hundreds of hours spent on a flow bench). Designing performance manifolds, turbocharger systems and other highly custom modifications. I tend to go steps beyond my competition with extras like modifying the R/S ratio of an engine or having a cam custom ground to achieve the desired characteristics requested by a client. I've tuned and worked on everything you could imagine from turbocharged Kia's to naturally aspirated F360's and everything in between. My background is really in computers with a little engineering thrown in. Before working on performance cars I worked full time as a computer programmer and some of this work involved subcontracting job for some major OE's. Let's say that eventually sparked some interest in cars. Presently I spend about 10h every day reverse engineering factory computers so they can be reflashed for performance. I do have extensive knowledge of car computer innards as well as the associated electronics. For the last 2 years I drove around a modified 350hp honda civic that ran only on premium fuel and got 11.2l/100km (average over 15000km) in the city. One day the car was stolen so I decided to go in a different direction because I was tired of pumping fuel into the car. I really wanted to develop EV technology but the pricetag is too steep and one has to make a decent business case out of a project if they're going to throw big bucks at it. The small step in the middle was to get a cheap light car and put a more efficient engine into it. So I bought a 1993 honda civic and installed a VX engine. Running on studded winter tires I've achieved 6.9l/100km (average over 1000km) with mostly city driving. In my spare time I jump out of perfectly good airplanes, am a certified parachute rigger and teach people how to pack their parachutes.