High performance EV tuning! MotorTrend's Ed Loh & Jonny Lieberman sit down with RyWire Founder/Owner
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00:00:00Welcome to The Inevitable, a podcast by MotorTrend.
00:00:15Hi there, and welcome to another episode of The Inevitable.
00:00:19This is MotorTrend's podcast, our vodcast about the future of the automobile,
00:00:24the future of transportation, and this week, the future of tuning cars.
00:00:29But before we get there, I'm Johnny Lieberman.
00:00:31This is Ed Lowe, and Ed has a message for you.
00:00:34The Inevitable Vodcast is brought to you
00:00:36by the all-electric Nissan Ariya, inspired by the future, designed for the now.
00:00:41And this episode is also brought to you
00:00:43by a delicious coffee drink made by the owner of this place, Josh.
00:00:46Thank you so much, Josh. It's delicious.
00:00:48It's cooling this place down because the AC is busted.
00:00:52But let's talk about our question of the episode.
00:00:54It comes to us from David Zimmer,
00:00:58who I think reached out to Johnny directly and writes,
00:01:01why is MotorTrend's and your social media comment section a cesspool
00:01:06of trolls, misinformation, and anti-EV hate?
00:01:11And I say, how long do you have?
00:01:13Because we could talk about this for a long time.
00:01:15But let's give him the brief.
00:01:17I mean, it's just sort of this weird thing.
00:01:19I'm going to pick on my friend,
00:01:21Letta, who drove a Rivian today for the first time.
00:01:25And she texts me, I hate it.
00:01:26I go, why do you hate it?
00:01:28She goes, doesn't make any sound.
00:01:29I go, no, it makes sound.
00:01:30It just doesn't make an engine sound.
00:01:33And she's like, she sent me a picture of like a Gullwing Mercedes.
00:01:37She goes, I love that sound.
00:01:38I go, yeah, OK, but no pickup truck makes that sound.
00:01:41Like, you know, most pickup trucks have
00:01:42the 2.7 liter Ford V6 with a turbocharger.
00:01:48It's a horrible sound. So get rid of that.
00:01:50I don't know.
00:01:51It's people like,
00:01:55you could make a reproduction of a gasoline car.
00:01:57I don't know.
00:01:59Why is it accessible, though?
00:02:01It's, you know, when we had the head of Ford on here, he mentioned it briefly.
00:02:07Unfortunately, EVs have become politicized.
00:02:09Yeah, that's the real answer.
00:02:10And it really is because, you know, at the end of the day,
00:02:13a lot of the move towards electrification is driven by,
00:02:19you know, ending or reducing your carbon footprint, like reducing the amount
00:02:24of carbon you're putting out in the environment through,
00:02:26you know, manufacturing, the burning of fuels.
00:02:30And that, of course, has a climate change component.
00:02:33And then, of course,
00:02:33there's a ton of people who don't believe in climate change.
00:02:36And that that part of it,
00:02:39then it becomes a red state, blue state kind of thing.
00:02:41So the trolling and the anti-EV hatred is
00:02:44because some people see, some people just get offended.
00:02:47Like, you know, this is the irony of it, right?
00:02:49When the Prius came out, everybody's like, oh, Prius is a bunch of lame-o.
00:02:53I'm literally writing an article about this very topic 20 years ago.
00:02:57Yeah. And now, now what is everybody saying?
00:03:00Oh, hybrids are the future.
00:03:02Toyota has the right idea, you know.
00:03:05And by the way, Toyota's working on EVs faster than anybody right now.
00:03:08Right.
00:03:08You know, they're glowing in this, like,
00:03:11accidental fortune they found themselves in.
00:03:13Like, they have a lot of hybrids.
00:03:15Yes. And then,
00:03:16and this is another thing we talk about a lot, which deserves to be mentioned,
00:03:19which is FUD, right? Fear, uncertainty and doubt.
00:03:22There's a lot of people who fundamentally, they don't understand it.
00:03:25And if you don't understand something,
00:03:27then the easiest way to to respond is to put it down or to make fun of it.
00:03:31And to be afraid of it.
00:03:32People are just afraid, you know, they're afraid they're not going to be able
00:03:35to do what they do with their automobiles if they suddenly lose access to gasoline.
00:03:39Government going to take it, take my gas, my cold, dead hands, right?
00:03:43Some of that. But hey, look, it's a legitimate fear.
00:03:45Like, like, you know, again, you know,
00:03:48the way most people use vehicles is we know they jump in their car,
00:03:51they drive twenty nine miles a day to work.
00:03:53That's what most people do with their cars.
00:03:55And like Americans get two weeks of vacation a year.
00:03:57Maybe they go drive a few hundred miles and or a thousand miles.
00:04:02You know, is it a little bit harder to do that in an EV?
00:04:04That second part? Yeah.
00:04:06You know, to drive, you know, it's it's you know, is that is that changing?
00:04:09Yeah. But then you get to think about it,
00:04:11know about all this, whereas the infrastructure is just there for gas cars to work.
00:04:16So it's a little bit different, a little bit scary.
00:04:18But, you know, once you learn to go to a charging station, like
00:04:23suddenly this works pretty well, you know, it's not it's not perfect yet.
00:04:26But again, if you're just driving twenty nine
00:04:29miles a day, like man, an EV is a much better solution.
00:04:32You never have to go to a gas station ever, ever, you know.
00:04:35But just to put a just to put a capper on it.
00:04:39Yeah, there's a lot of misinformation.
00:04:42There's a lot of trolling.
00:04:43There's a lot of anti EV sentiment.
00:04:45That's the whole point of the podcast, right?
00:04:47Like, again, I keep saying this, if this was going to happen,
00:04:49if this was easy or going to happen tomorrow, that's what we would call it.
00:04:53We wouldn't do a podcast when we're talking about it.
00:04:55So this is a transition.
00:04:56We know there's going to be bumps in the road.
00:04:58We're going through them right now.
00:05:00And that's what we're here for.
00:05:01But social media brings out the worst in people.
00:05:04It's also like, not forget that critical little point.
00:05:07A lot of keyboard warriors.
00:05:09So
00:05:10let's thank you, David, for the question.
00:05:13The swag, we just sent out all the swag
00:05:15to the first round of people that asked questions.
00:05:17So you'll be getting yours in a couple of months, probably.
00:05:21Hats, maybe a shirt, maybe a mug, stickers, whatever.
00:05:25Thank you so much for asking a question.
00:05:26If you'd like your question answered on air or during the podcast,
00:05:31shoot us a note, Johnny Lieberman at Instagram, Lowdown at Instagram for me.
00:05:35Email us at MotorTrend at MotorTrend.com or drop a comment in the YouTube.
00:05:41But now let's talk to Ryan Bossery,
00:05:44who is the founder owner of Rywire Motorsport Electronics.
00:05:48He basically has been doing
00:05:51wiring looms, connecting engines in Hondas mostly and now Porsches and all
00:05:58sorts of different cars, enabling high performance tuning for
00:06:03the aftermarket and is jumping into EVs.
00:06:06Which is a little bit about what we were just talking about.
00:06:08Here's somebody who is
00:06:10people that do engine swaps in your Civic, put a K20 in there.
00:06:14They're enthusiasts.
00:06:15And here's an enthusiast who's embracing electrification.
00:06:19So let's see what Ryan has to say.
00:06:21All right, Ryan Bossery, thank you so much.
00:06:24Or just call you Rywire, right?
00:06:25You can call me Rywire.
00:06:26Mr. Rywire.
00:06:27So
00:06:30we will have fumbled the introduction like pretty huge, but let's not talk about you
00:06:35yet. Let's just get an update on some of the things we were talking about at SEMA.
00:06:39You are working on some really cool EV.
00:06:44What do you call them?
00:06:45They're not Restomod.
00:06:46I feel like Restomod means like a much older car.
00:06:48What do you call them?
00:06:49But you do the EV project cars.
00:06:51What do you call them?
00:06:52I call them tuner cars.
00:06:54I call them Hondas.
00:06:57Specifically, I just I'm a Honda guy, you know, like at heart.
00:06:59I've always been a Honda guy.
00:07:01Why? Let's get into that first.
00:07:03I always find it.
00:07:04This is just a personal thing.
00:07:05I always find it really interesting when unless you work for Honda, like why?
00:07:08Who cares about brands?
00:07:10But why? Why not a Toyota guy?
00:07:12So my uncle actually started me pretty young and he had a CRX and I really liked the CRX.
00:07:19That was a really fun car for me.
00:07:21I was 15 and a half getting my license, just really like ramping up,
00:07:26getting out of the skateboarding and rollerblading and BMX scene.
00:07:30And I'm like, I want to do cars, you know?
00:07:33And my uncle had the CRX.
00:07:34Was it a Si or was it an HF or HF?
00:07:37It was an Si. It was a good one.
00:07:39HF is like the one that all the tuners
00:07:40would actually get because it's the lightest one.
00:07:42Yeah, true, true.
00:07:43But if you swap them or, you know, I wanted to go into it like thinking,
00:07:46OK, I'm going to get the highest level, highest trim.
00:07:49I can have fun instantly in that car.
00:07:51Yeah, right. Unlike an HF.
00:07:53Right.
00:07:5489 Si for me.
00:07:55That was what I ended up getting.
00:07:56It was black, just like my uncle's.
00:07:58My whole family had Si's for whatever reason.
00:08:00In the family, we had a Prelude Si, Civic Si, there were CRXs,
00:08:04there was hatchbacks, there was everything.
00:08:06So I just kind of like was gravitated towards that early.
00:08:10Right. I thought I grew out of it.
00:08:12I actually sort of did.
00:08:13I started getting into the Porsche stuff a bit, air cooled, water cooled.
00:08:17I have a 997, I have a 993.
00:08:20I love those cars. They're great.
00:08:21They're great. I love driving them on track.
00:08:23The GT3 is amazing, right?
00:08:25You have a 997 GT3.
00:08:27I actually have a 997 GT3 RS.
00:08:29That's, oh, yeah.
00:08:31Dot one.
00:08:32Yeah. Oh, that's great.
00:08:33Yeah, well,
00:08:35Johnny just went, hmm?
00:08:36No, I'm just saying, like, it's like, yeah, it's like my 997 is great to drive.
00:08:39It's like, oh, no, it's not a 997.
00:08:41It's a big difference between a 997 and a GT3 RS.
00:08:43Yeah, yeah, yeah. Try to stay humble a little bit.
00:08:45So RawrWire has done really well for you.
00:08:47Yeah.
00:08:49Yeah. Awesome.
00:08:50Actually, to be fair, a 997.1 isn't crazy money.
00:08:54It's actually, I won't say a bargain, but I think it's fairly priced.
00:08:58Gotcha. They're great.
00:09:00I got mine a long time ago and I paid about 100K for it.
00:09:03Yeah, it's a fair price for what it is.
00:09:05Yeah. OK.
00:09:06Awesome. How did you get back to Honda after Porsche?
00:09:09So, yeah, why are you stuck in the 90s, 90s era civics?
00:09:12Stuck in the 90s. So
00:09:14a lot of my friends and then also my business, right?
00:09:18We do a lot of Honda stuff.
00:09:19We do a lot of sport compact in general.
00:09:21So, you know, the Supra 2JZ engines,
00:09:23we build wiring looms for those.
00:09:26And predominantly it's it's private label,
00:09:28label manufacturing, but also we bring our own product to the table.
00:09:32We sell our own branded wiring looms and they're for they're for swaps.
00:09:36They're for engine management changes and stuff like that.
00:09:38What's your number one selling product?
00:09:40Probably the Honda K-series harness right now.
00:09:43Everybody's putting K in everything.
00:09:44So that helps really, really well with sales.
00:09:47But it was for a while.
00:09:49It was a third TB RX-7 stuff, huge rotary stuff.
00:09:52You know, everybody's tuning rotary engines.
00:09:55How about LS? Do you do any LS harnesses?
00:09:58I do fully bespoke, though.
00:09:59So those are like my Formula Drift clients and stuff like that.
00:10:02Oh, right. There's so much wiring looms available for the LS market.
00:10:06You know, Holley has a Dominator harness.
00:10:08They have everything, you know, off the shelf, ready to go.
00:10:11So it's hard to kind of fit into that market.
00:10:13OK. Oh, all right.
00:10:15Interesting.
00:10:17So then these so then you're building
00:10:20an EG and an EK Civic, which are like the 91 to 95 and the 95 to 2000
00:10:25Honda Civic hatchbacks. Correct. Right.
00:10:27Correct. A little jelly bean looking one with the lights.
00:10:29And then the one that came after that.
00:10:30Yep. So the good ones.
00:10:32The good ones.
00:10:34Before we went to the EP3, which is like this weird sort of taller,
00:10:37made in the UK body.
00:10:39I talked to you back at SEMA last year and you were like blowing my mind with all
00:10:43this stuff that you were doing. You were sort of, I don't know,
00:10:46like the early stages,
00:10:48you were kind of tearing them down and getting things sort of set up.
00:10:51Correct. Where are you now?
00:10:53And what just tell me, what are you doing?
00:10:55OK, so a couple of years ago we had a successful build with an S2000.
00:11:00That was a single rear motor performance Tesla drive unit.
00:11:05We kind of since then, I say we, but mostly me, you know,
00:11:08I'm doing all the development at the shop.
00:11:11I tore it back down, converted it to the AEM management system.
00:11:15What's AEM?
00:11:16So AEM is a engine management company,
00:11:22advanced engine management.
00:11:23They actually were recently purchased by Holley and they are just a control system.
00:11:28So it's a black box.
00:11:29Yeah. And you can control an EV with it.
00:11:32Correct. So they have something called a VCU.
00:11:34So that's a vehicle control unit.
00:11:36And then they have satellite things.
00:11:38So for battery management,
00:11:39they have little satellite modules that basically read all the data.
00:11:43A BMS. Yeah, BMS.
00:11:44So you have a BMS, you have an onboard charger,
00:11:47your onboard charger has your DC to DC inside of it.
00:11:51And you use all these little satellite
00:11:53things that basically have the EV system work in its entirety.
00:11:57So for the Tesla drive, you actually take out the Tesla logic
00:12:00board and you put in this AEM logic board.
00:12:02Got it. AEM kind of standalone controls it.
00:12:05It communicates over a CAN bus network.
00:12:07So it minimizes the wiring and it just sends data packets of information.
00:12:11So you have like let's say that there's
00:12:13a coolant temp coming in from the battery management system.
00:12:17It grabs that info, it puts it on the bus.
00:12:19Wherever that data is needed on the VCU, it can control it.
00:12:22There's also power distribution systems,
00:12:25which is like another layer or as a programmable fuse box, if you will.
00:12:29And that that can turn on your pumps.
00:12:32You can drive fans, do all the cooling strategies and whatnot.
00:12:36Now, can you say, hey, make more power?
00:12:38Yeah, you can.
00:12:40You can discharge the battery at a higher rate.
00:12:42And that's like, you know, kind of a BMS option.
00:12:45But the VCU strategizes that.
00:12:47So the VCU is the is the old ECU.
00:12:51But you control, you being the builder, controls the VCU if you want to.
00:12:55If you wanted to just tune it, program it.
00:12:57If you wanted to just like like I drove the the Audi Hoonitron, Ken Block's thing.
00:13:02Yep. And like it just, you know, it's just dumping power.
00:13:06It's, you know, twenty eight thousand RPM.
00:13:08It's got two Formula E motors.
00:13:10It's literally insane. Yeah.
00:13:12But yeah, you got to charge it every well.
00:13:14The tires actually blow out before the battery runs out.
00:13:17But but you know what I mean?
00:13:18Like it's it's the same battery that you find in like the Audi SQ7 hybrid.
00:13:24Sure. It's four of those batteries.
00:13:25Yeah. You know, they don't they don't discharge like that in the mommy mobile.
00:13:29Right. So I'm always curious about I hear a lot of people with EV tuning.
00:13:34It's like, well, we don't really know how to get more power out of it.
00:13:36But then like guys like Bizimoto. Yeah.
00:13:38He's like, no, sure. You just.
00:13:40Yeah, we do all the wiring on BC stuff.
00:13:42So like we'll talk about we'll talk about.
00:13:43Yeah, we'll get to be so.
00:13:44So I am just for because we're bringing back to their AM is was one of the biggest
00:13:49names in the tuning world because it was it was founded by John Concialdi,
00:13:54who just passed away. Correct. R.I.P. Right.
00:13:56He he came up in the 90s and huge supporter of all of the tuning publications.
00:14:02Thank you for wearing the Super Street hat.
00:14:05Well, it's like the only game in town
00:14:06for the longest time, because, you know, this is the standard
00:14:09tuner story is that everybody felt it was like the underdog.
00:14:12Right. Like, oh, there's a Holly out there.
00:14:15It's kind of ironic that Holly ended up buying them.
00:14:17But like the Hollies of the world, like they're not taking Japanese.
00:14:21I mean, front wheel drive drag racing.
00:14:23Get out of town. But,
00:14:26you know, busy came in here and tells the same story of Concialdi actually taking
00:14:29him under his wing and teaching him about a bunch of stuff.
00:14:32And, you know, so it's cool.
00:14:34It's it's it's on brand that a years ago now, what is it?
00:14:38Ten years like or five, at least five years ago, started to EVs.
00:14:42Seriously. Correct.
00:14:44Yeah, probably they probably looking into it or maybe around seven, eight years ago.
00:14:48OK, that's what I've seen.
00:14:49And then, yeah, they just started slowly
00:14:51ramping out products and developing things.
00:14:53And I know John was like really interested in that.
00:14:56And he took it under his wing.
00:14:59And then, you know, he kind of I don't I don't I don't know what to say.
00:15:02But, you know, it's unfortunate what happened.
00:15:04But still, it's good to see Holley take over because they are actually pushing
00:15:09forward and creating new products.
00:15:10I mean, even since even since the absorption, if you will,
00:15:15they have created small drive unit controllers.
00:15:19You know, so now they're doing those and just the products are just rolling out.
00:15:22So it's just it's just smart, right?
00:15:23Like they probably saw the writing on the wall when Plaid started showing up to to
00:15:27test in two nights and the Friday night drags and breaking people off.
00:15:30They're like, huh, how do we get it on this market?
00:15:32Because at the end of the day, you know, what's the saying?
00:15:35I don't know.
00:15:37The first the first drag race, the first race,
00:15:41street race happened the day after, like the horse-drawn carriage was introduced.
00:15:46Exactly. Yeah, sure.
00:15:47Like, look, everybody wants to go fast no matter what, no matter what.
00:15:49What power is it? I got to
00:15:52you know, it's one of those things where, like, yeah, a lot of traditional drag
00:15:55racers push back on EV at first, but humans just push back on what's what's new.
00:16:00Like, you know, I always tell the story.
00:16:02I believe it was 1903.
00:16:03There was two cars in Cleveland and they hit each other.
00:16:06So they outlawed cars in Ohio.
00:16:08Right. Wow.
00:16:10You know what I mean? Like it used to be in England.
00:16:12If you can have a car, but you had to hire a guy with a red flag
00:16:15to walk in front of it and wave it, you know, just so people knew the car was coming.
00:16:19Anyway, yeah. No, no.
00:16:20What I'm saying is I'm bolstering your point.
00:16:23I know. Thank you. But yeah, I mean, it's just like,
00:16:25obviously, you know, the writing is on the wall, especially if if drag racing is
00:16:29about going quicker than the other car, boy, EVs have a huge advantage there.
00:16:33Yeah.
00:16:34Well, I don't want you to talk.
00:16:37Sure. Bring it back to you.
00:16:38He can ask you what he's doing with these civics.
00:16:40So let's talk about it.
00:16:42Yeah. Well, before we get to that, though,
00:16:43when did you first, like, learn, like, hey, EVs are something, you know,
00:16:48again, if you're tuning old Hondas and then putting, you know,
00:16:52how'd you get exposed to EVs, what'd you think?
00:16:55Yeah, it was.
00:16:56So so what ended up happening is, you know,
00:16:58I work a lot with BC and we do a lot of gasoline engine stuff together.
00:17:01And he said, hey, you know, I'm thinking about doing this stuff.
00:17:05I, I wanted to see what you think.
00:17:07And I'm like, well, I don't know a lot about it,
00:17:09but I could definitely handle all the low voltage stuff.
00:17:12Give me diagrams, documentation.
00:17:14Like, I'm going to go visit.
00:17:15Let's see what we could figure out together.
00:17:17And to me, the funny part, I was like, you know what?
00:17:20Throwing a Tesla motor into a car with a battery pack was too easy.
00:17:24I was like, I want to build like a parallel hybrid.
00:17:26That was more like the direction I was kind of thinking.
00:17:29Right. Right.
00:17:30And obviously a lot more complicated.
00:17:31And I haven't actually built one of those yet.
00:17:33But BC's like, hey, you know, chill, bro.
00:17:36You know, like, let's think about this a little bit more with a with a, you know,
00:17:40clear head and you mean parallel hybrid, meaning running again like a like a like
00:17:44a standard hybrid, like a gas engine and a battery and motor combination to create
00:17:50some crazy right to work in propulsion in the same direction.
00:17:54Parallel.
00:17:54Why'd you want to do that?
00:17:55As opposed to just because it was too easy.
00:17:57It wasn't a challenge.
00:17:57I didn't, I didn't see that at the time.
00:18:00This is like, I don't know, 18 or something like that.
00:18:03Right.
00:18:04I was, I didn't know that full EV vehicles had the ability to, you
00:18:07know, last as long as they can be actually as fast in a straight line as they can.
00:18:12Sure.
00:18:12I didn't, didn't understand, had no understanding of that.
00:18:14Sure.
00:18:14So I was like, I want my gasoline engine.
00:18:17I actually picked a old nine, uh, nine 1182 SC and I got a 993 engine for it.
00:18:24And I was looking at, you know, those pancake motors to squeeze
00:18:27in between a PDK gearbox.
00:18:28And that was kind of what I was like, oh, I'm going to build something crazy.
00:18:31Right.
00:18:31Um, that car took a turn.
00:18:33Which by the way, Porsche is about to release in like a month.
00:18:35There you go.
00:18:36Right.
00:18:36That's a 992.2 is going to be exactly that.
00:18:39Wow.
00:18:39Yeah.
00:18:39That's going to be good.
00:18:40Yeah.
00:18:40Um, so, so basically that, that Porsche kind of was the direction I was thinking
00:18:45and then BC is like, Hey, you know, this nine 11 is full EV.
00:18:47I'm like, okay, well let's, um, let's have a look.
00:18:49I'm still interested.
00:18:50I want to, I want to, I'm still excited by it.
00:18:52So, so seeing the, seeing that whole process and learning those things,
00:18:56I was like, man, this is actually a lot more complicated than I had realized.
00:19:00You know, we just, with the, the charging system, you had to wire
00:19:03all the cells in the battery packs.
00:19:04He's, he was using two 400 volt hybrid batteries, hybrid
00:19:07batteries, more power dense.
00:19:09He's like, I want power, power, power, power.
00:19:11It's all about power.
00:19:11I want to make the, I want to make more power than the Tesla is rated for.
00:19:16Right.
00:19:16And which he did achieve, uh, maybe by like 50 horsepower or something like
00:19:19that, because you're just derating those hybrid batteries, uh, the 18,
00:19:23six 50 Panasonic cells are more like energy dense and they're
00:19:28a little bit less power dense.
00:19:29So, you know, he, he had the right thinking and I, and I had
00:19:32started to understand things.
00:19:34And then he was, he was giving me info and I was looking up stuff
00:19:36online and I was like, this is kind of cool.
00:19:38So I'm like, I'm going to build something for myself just for like
00:19:40the R and D and understanding the systems, because I did want to be
00:19:44able to extend that service to customers in private label forum and stuff like that.
00:19:49So, um, yeah, like BC kind of opened my eyes up to it.
00:19:52And then that's when I built the, um, the S 2000.
00:19:55Right.
00:19:56So you said, you said something there, you're like, yeah, I can help
00:19:58you with the low, low voltage stuff.
00:20:00Were you freaked out by the, the, the Tesla, the big battery and the big wiring?
00:20:05I was like, wait, you have two 400 volt battery packs?
00:20:08Isn't that 800?
00:20:09Like, no, it's not, but it's still 400, but it's the, you know, double the amount
00:20:12of, of, uh, hey, that's what GM's doing with the Hummer, right?
00:20:17Two 400s that charge like an 800.
00:20:19I mean, you're like, you're a wiring, you're an electronics guy.
00:20:22You've likely been, um, shocked many times throughout your life.
00:20:27I've seen more with my house at 110.
00:20:28Yeah, that's sort of fun.
00:20:30I don't know.
00:20:30Maybe.
00:20:31I've seen electricians that when they go to actually wire their own homes, like no
00:20:35precautions, don't turn any wipers off.
00:20:37Just yeah.
00:20:38I thought, oh, I could wire, I could wire up my house because, you know, I, I do DC.
00:20:42Right.
00:20:43Yeah.
00:20:43And, uh, I wired some rooms and I did a lot of lights.
00:20:46And yeah, when I did a renovation, I definitely like took charge with a lot
00:20:49of, you know, wiring the, uh, the charger for the house too, the 220 and all that.
00:20:54Okay.
00:20:54Hey, good.
00:20:55Yeah.
00:20:55But were you freaked out when it came down, it came time to like open up a, like a
00:20:58Tesla panel?
00:20:58Yeah.
00:20:59So every module that I broke apart, I was like, ah, like safe, safe, safe.
00:21:03And then, and then it's like a manageable amount of voltage and you're like, oh,
00:21:06okay, this is cool.
00:21:07This won't kill me too much.
00:21:07I'm not going to lick my fingers, but you know.
00:21:11Okay.
00:21:11So then, so through Beezy you, you get introduced to it and then, and then you
00:21:15built the EVS2K with, uh, our friends at Turn 14.
00:21:21Yep.
00:21:22Turn 14.
00:21:22They're, they're one of my biggest, or they are my biggest distributor, like by
00:21:25far, they're a massive distributor.
00:21:27Um, and they distribute Rye wire, which is awesome.
00:21:30And your private label stuff too?
00:21:32Um, they don't do any of my private label stuff.
00:21:33Private label is like more with a company, like even a small OEM or something like
00:21:38that.
00:21:38Oh, nice.
00:21:38Hey, can you build these, um, you know, BMS harnesses or something, we'll develop
00:21:42it and then we'll do a run of manufacturing.
00:21:45Um, or it's like a small tuner shop.
00:21:47It's like, Hey, you know, all we do is these rotaries and we put, we put this
00:21:51like link ECU on all of them, which most people are doing hall tech or, you know,
00:21:54I'm just dropping names, but they're like, can you do the same loom that you're
00:21:58doing, but like for us only?
00:21:59And I'm like, yeah, sure.
00:22:00If you do 50, a hundred pieces, then it's all you, you know?
00:22:03And you do this all in Orange County?
00:22:05Correct.
00:22:05All by yourself?
00:22:06Uh, no, we, um, I have manufacturing in Los Angeles actually.
00:22:09Oh, cool.
00:22:09Shop in LA that I've been working with for like 12 to 15 years.
00:22:13And they, uh, actually do, I, we, we do all the development in house R and E.
00:22:17We build first article samples and all that.
00:22:20Um, and then those private label run.
00:22:22I don't, I don't have enough staff to do that.
00:22:23And I don't, I don't want, I don't want to run a sweatshop.
00:22:26You know what I'm saying?
00:22:27Like, that's not the, that's not the point, right?
00:22:28I don't want to have somebody else run the sweatshop.
00:22:30Yes, correct.
00:22:31Correct.
00:22:32Have you ever wired a 1987 Toyota Land Cruiser that's converted to diesel?
00:22:36No, I, you know what?
00:22:37I've never, never done any real diesel stuff at all.
00:22:39Are you interested at all?
00:22:40Kind of a noob.
00:22:41Uh, is, is there a big market?
00:22:43Can we sell a lot of these?
00:22:44There's a market of one.
00:22:45You're sitting across the market's in Ed's garage.
00:22:47Yes.
00:22:48Oh, Hey, back to the, the S 2000.
00:22:50So what, what, what, what, the final specs on that?
00:22:52Like what, what did you took it for?
00:22:53Cause a S 2000, if I remember 240 horsepower, right.
00:22:57Correct.
00:22:58It was pretty light, like just under 3000.
00:23:00So what, what, what'd you wind up with?
00:23:02Um, a little over 600.
00:23:04Cause it's the large performance.
00:23:05More than double.
00:23:06Yep.
00:23:06Okay.
00:23:07And one from one motor.
00:23:08Correct.
00:23:08One, one rear motor.
00:23:10Wow.
00:23:10Um, batteries are, like I said, there's two, I pretty much did more or less
00:23:14the same formula as how BC had it.
00:23:17BCs.
00:23:18Yeah.
00:23:18Spect it pretty similar, but I did go AM and AM was just
00:23:22releasing control at that point.
00:23:25So I was, um, dabbling with the control and then we were, you know, converting
00:23:28BC's car over to that as well.
00:23:30And I w and I kinda, I kinda used a controller at first go.
00:23:33Cause I had to get it done for, you know, a certain window with turn 14.
00:23:37So I had to buy a different controller that it didn't really do all.
00:23:40It's like a motor spinner, you know, like it just makes the motor spin and
00:23:43there's not much control with it.
00:23:44The AM and there's other companies that are dabbling with EV, um, fuel tech
00:23:49and a, uh, Motech are also dabbling with some EV stuff, which is really cool.
00:23:54But AM's local, they're easy to get.
00:23:56They seem to be the most ahead of the curve and giving
00:23:59the most amount of control.
00:24:00So.
00:24:00And then, so this thing is over 600 horsepower and what was the weight hit?
00:24:04Like it weighed more.
00:24:05I need to weigh it.
00:24:06It's definitely heavier.
00:24:07Um, it's probably 800 pounds heavier than stock.
00:24:12I want to say 3800, 3700.
00:24:16Yeah.
00:24:16It could be a little bit.
00:24:17Because you, well, you also lose weight.
00:24:18Like you lose the engine and transmission.
00:24:20And I took a lot of random stuff out of it.
00:24:22I've converted it to hard top.
00:24:23So you learn, excuse me.
00:24:25You lose some of those, uh, soft top, you know, heavy stuff in the chassis.
00:24:29Right.
00:24:29Right.
00:24:30No, no, no gas tank anymore.
00:24:31So that right.
00:24:32Does it do a sick burnout?
00:24:33You can do a sick burnout.
00:24:34Yeah.
00:24:35A single speed transmission.
00:24:37Correct.
00:24:37It's just a Tesla drive with like a Quaife LSD in it.
00:24:40And, um, what's it, what's it run?
00:24:43Um, quarter mile, quarter mile.
00:24:46I don't know.
00:24:46Yeah.
00:24:46I mean, I, I, you know, to be, I would be, to be fair, I keep tearing it
00:24:50apart and putting it back together.
00:24:51And right now it currently is running.
00:24:53It's a runner.
00:24:54Uh, my power steering though.
00:24:55I need to figure out maybe am I need to get, I need to get Sam from
00:24:59AM over and help me look at it, but I need to simulate because I'm using the.
00:25:05Excuse me.
00:25:05I am using the power steering system from the S 2000 S 2000 powering.
00:25:10Hydraulic.
00:25:10Wasn't it?
00:25:11Uh, it's electronic and it relies on an engine ECU.
00:25:15It needs to see tack.
00:25:17And it needs, so, so it needs to see an engine speed and a wheel
00:25:20speed, which is really weird.
00:25:21So I'm trying to get steering system.
00:25:23Need to see the engine speed.
00:25:24Oh, come on.
00:25:25And it's because it, cause it'll, it'll, it'll vary based on your, your
00:25:29engine speed and your wheel speed.
00:25:31It'll give you that feedback ratio based on like your, your, your moving.
00:25:34So I've seen engines that won't turn on.
00:25:36Cause it's missing a gas cap.
00:25:37I mean, it's just, you know, when you get a computer involved and you say,
00:25:39look for this data and it's not there, they, they don't work.
00:25:42Right.
00:25:43Yeah.
00:25:43So like I need power steering on that car.
00:25:46Uh, it's very, it's very clunky and difficult at low speeds.
00:25:49Like really, it really is.
00:25:51So when we converted to AM, I need to figure out a way where we can like,
00:25:54you know, send some false triggers, just like a digital pulse.
00:25:58Well, let me ask you this.
00:25:58Uh, junkyard, basically.
00:26:00I mean, there's, there's various places online that have, you know,
00:26:02good, reliable pull-outs.
00:26:04Could you take the power?
00:26:05Could you, I was going to say, could you take the power steering
00:26:06unit out of a model three?
00:26:08So, no, uh, I mean, I probably could.
00:26:10I mean, anything's possible, right?
00:26:12But the S2000 is incorporated on the rack.
00:26:15So it's not on the steering column.
00:26:17If it was on the steering column, I would just pull the motor out.
00:26:19Right.
00:26:19I'd put like one of the, like a Prius one.
00:26:21And a lot of people do like different conversions with those.
00:26:23And there's aftermarket for the, for the, for the, for the, for the
00:26:27Okay.
00:26:27So this is, you want to keep the S2000 rack because I just don't want it
00:26:31steering yet, because then I got to pull that rack out or I have to somehow
00:26:33figure out how to convert it to manual.
00:26:35You also lose at that point, you really lose the character of an S2000
00:26:38by changing the steering ratio.
00:26:40Yeah.
00:26:40I just, I need it on board, you know, like I have to.
00:26:42So when I changed to the AEM, then I just got massively distracted
00:26:47because of two, two more civic.
00:26:49I'm the, I'm the typical, you've seen the memes, right?
00:26:52You buy a project and then you get almost finished with it.
00:26:54You buy a project and then you get almost finished with it.
00:26:56And then you buy another two more projects.
00:26:58You know, like you have to do that with your tuner guy.
00:27:00It's a drug addict thing.
00:27:01Yeah.
00:27:01It's like the hip is almost, the high is almost done.
00:27:04You gotta get the next.
00:27:05Yeah.
00:27:05What's the next time?
00:27:06Sure.
00:27:06I get it.
00:27:06So what is, what is the goal for the, for the civics?
00:27:09Is it to open up more?
00:27:11Are people, I mean, are, are there, is there an enthusiast face asking you,
00:27:14Hey man, I want to put a Tesla stuff in my EG.
00:27:17You know what?
00:27:17The more that I put social media posts out, the more people ask for it.
00:27:21So a lot of people have been hitting me up.
00:27:23Like even local guys that run tuning shops are like, Hey, if you do a kit,
00:27:26like, can I be an installer?
00:27:28Right.
00:27:28Like local guys.
00:27:29I'm like, Oh, that's pretty cool.
00:27:30Right.
00:27:30And then there's a bunch of people that hit me up and they're just like,
00:27:33um, so when are you gonna come out with a kit?
00:27:34So here's what happened.
00:27:36It's not the, you saw the EK getting done on my social media, right?
00:27:40It's like a Swiss cheese car, man.
00:27:41Like it's dual motor.
00:27:43I'm packing 85 kilowatts in it.
00:27:45Right.
00:27:45So the car is fully cut up.
00:27:47The floor is all cut out of the backs all cut out of it.
00:27:50Um, you know, it's, I'm developing like mount kits with half sport,
00:27:53you know, which is, you know, a Japanese Honda engine swap company.
00:27:56Um, so we're doing all this development and I'm like, this is really
00:27:59going to be the flagship car.
00:28:00So I kind of started to tone down the S 2000 a bit.
00:28:03I wanted to drive it just daily, drive it status more.
00:28:05Right.
00:28:06Then everybody's asking for a kit and I'm like, man, I should have built a
00:28:09civic before I built the S 2000, like straight up, but it's the honest truth.
00:28:13Because there's 10 million more civics for our S 2000, literally 10 million more.
00:28:17And I have a stock S 2000 and I normally, I daily drive that a little bit too.
00:28:20And the amount of thumbs up I started getting, I'm like, wait, are you pointing
00:28:23at me in the last like three years, that car has really elevated itself.
00:28:28So now it's like, wow, you cut up this S 2000 to build the EV.
00:28:31And it's like, well, the car was a piece of junk beforehand.
00:28:34It was really, really bad.
00:28:36Right.
00:28:36And, and now it's like, oh, you cut this flagship car and you convert like
00:28:40sacrilege and I'm like, wait a minute, three years ago, you guys did not care
00:28:43about these S 2000s, it wasn't that serious.
00:28:45So I feel like I should have started with the EG platform, EK, DC
00:28:50You know what though, there'll be just as many people eventually that are
00:28:53sad that you cut up a Civic.
00:28:54How dare you?
00:28:55I know.
00:28:55DC2 is Integra.
00:28:57So for those of you guys playing at home, what is he talking about?
00:28:59Yeah.
00:28:59But you know what I mean?
00:29:00Yeah.
00:29:00Oh, but you know what I mean?
00:29:02Like, it's just, everything's cyclical.
00:29:04Everyone, you know, I, I always think back to, remember the cash for clunkers
00:29:08program where people like, oh, you're destroying that Ford Explorer.
00:29:12Like, oh, it's like, what are you talking about?
00:29:15You know, it's like, if it's free, yeah.
00:29:17Somebody would take it.
00:29:18Right.
00:29:18But really like, it just needs to be off the streets.
00:29:20Yeah.
00:29:20So, so the E E G right.
00:29:23Uh, EG, okay.
00:29:24I was building the EK and it was getting all crazy.
00:29:26And then I'm like, you know what?
00:29:27I want something more manageable.
00:29:28That's going to be like, I can make a kit out of this.
00:29:31Right.
00:29:31So I actually, I did the numbers and I'm like, I'm actually a
00:29:33little bit under budget on the EK.
00:29:35You're going to think this is ridiculous, but my budget for the EK is a hundred K.
00:29:38All right.
00:29:39Which is for a, for a business, I have to build a whole car.
00:29:42Like this is going to be a restomod, which, you know, we talked about like
00:29:45putting all the cool JDM goodies on it.
00:29:47Right.
00:29:47It's got really cool parts, but it also has some really expensive EV bits.
00:29:51Right.
00:29:52So the EG was like, well, now I think I can get a really cheap
00:29:56civic and I can build a kit.
00:29:59And this is going to be like a zero cut kind of a deal.
00:30:02So the goal was I'm gonna take a front Tesla drive.
00:30:05And I'm going to like a small drive unit.
00:30:08I'm going to flip it around the other way.
00:30:10That's because the reason why is because the, the, the leading part of the
00:30:13differential on the drive unit, uh, would, the motor would run into this,
00:30:18into the steering rack, if that makes sense on like all those DC, the Integra
00:30:22and then all the civic platforms.
00:30:25Also, you can make a mount kit because the engine bays are all the same.
00:30:29I can make a mount kit, be the same part number for all, for all cross.
00:30:33I mean, we just literally published an article, I think on Friday about how
00:30:36EVs are leading the way, leading the way back to rear wheel drive, because why
00:30:40have the complexity of turning wheels with a drive unit when you can just do a
00:30:45rear unit and front drive?
00:30:46Is that what you're doing?
00:30:47I'm actually doing a front motor on my kit.
00:30:49It was a front motor.
00:30:50Oh, I thought you were turning around for the rear.
00:30:51Oh, sorry.
00:30:52Meaning the physical drive unit is going to be rotated and
00:30:55spinning the opposite direction.
00:30:58But it's a Tesla front drive unit.
00:31:00Correct.
00:31:00From a model?
00:31:01A model S.
00:31:03But it's on the rear axle or the front axle?
00:31:05It's on the front axle.
00:31:06Oh, okay.
00:31:06Oh, okay.
00:31:07So you just, you just say run backwards.
00:31:09So it's going to be zero cut.
00:31:10That's why, right?
00:31:10Yeah, it's zero cut.
00:31:11And I'm sorry.
00:31:12I thought you, when you said turn it around.
00:31:14Yeah.
00:31:15I could have probably just like glazed over that because it's such a technical
00:31:18thing, you know, somebody's going to be like, well, if you just pull that out and
00:31:21put it in, like, it's going to rotate the wrong direction.
00:31:23And I wanted to stay away from that.
00:31:25But now all of a sudden it, it's a confusing path.
00:31:27But with EVs, you can do that and it doesn't make a difference.
00:31:30Yeah.
00:31:30So the only thing is with that, you do have to make a small internal
00:31:33adjustment because of oil pressure.
00:31:34But let's just leave that to me and you guys not have to worry about that at all.
00:31:39Well, nod our heads.
00:31:40And on a front drive unit off a Model S is like 200, 250 horsepower.
00:31:44Yeah, a little.
00:31:44I mean, closer to 300 with an AEM management.
00:31:47Oh, okay.
00:31:48Sure.
00:31:48You tune it up.
00:31:49Yeah.
00:31:49So 300.
00:31:49And you have a battery pack.
00:31:50How much does that cost?
00:31:52That one, the front?
00:31:54Cheap, man.
00:31:54Like 1200 bucks.
00:31:56Okay.
00:31:56Wow.
00:31:57I think it's cheap.
00:31:57It's like a motor.
00:31:58Yeah.
00:31:58Right.
00:31:58No, that's cheap.
00:31:58What's a comparable BAT?
00:32:01What would you, what's a comparable K20 these days?
00:32:05If you pull it.
00:32:06If you pull the right K, um, you know, you can get, you can get it, get one for
00:32:10like around the same price, like a TSX or a Accord engine.
00:32:15But dollars to dollars, like how much does a 300 horsepower K motor cost
00:32:19compared to the $1,200 Tesla unit?
00:32:21Yeah.
00:32:21Um, probably 10,000 bucks for the K, I think.
00:32:24So it's a 10 times to get the same power.
00:32:26Yeah.
00:32:27Right.
00:32:27And then if there's room for the battery battery packs in there, right.
00:32:31So obviously you're paying per kilowatt when you buy used batteries.
00:32:34So, um, unfortunately the kit right now is going to just use some like
00:32:38Chrysler Pacifica hybrid, like a single, it's only like 16 kilowatts.
00:32:42Yeah.
00:32:43It's, it's not much, but I want to, I want to start some, I want to get
00:32:46somewhere and I don't want to cut the car.
00:32:47So I'm going to fit the batteries in the back.
00:32:51So spare tire, you're going to lose your spare tire as well.
00:32:54Yeah.
00:32:54And then you're going to put your modules in the back and then you're going to
00:32:57have your motor in the front and you're not going to really cut the car.
00:32:59Like I shouldn't have to cut anything.
00:33:01How big is a Pacifica battery?
00:33:02It's small.
00:33:03It's like, it's like six Nike shoe boxes for modules.
00:33:07And then you've got to build a pack around it and you're going to put
00:33:08contactors and stuff inside of that.
00:33:10Could you, could you get a couple and like stack them?
00:33:13Like you'd lose some storage space in the rear, but could you stack them
00:33:15up and thermally manage that?
00:33:17Yeah.
00:33:17If you cut your gas tank area out and you sacrifice your spare tire, but that's
00:33:22just Swiss cheesing the car again.
00:33:24So there's like a fine line.
00:33:25Okay.
00:33:25You want to kit that.
00:33:26Okay.
00:33:27I want to kit that's like, you know, you might be able to get 60 miles on the
00:33:30charge or something like that, but I just want something, I just
00:33:33want to, you know, even if I sell a couple of them a year, uh, I just
00:33:37want to get in the door with it.
00:33:38And I want people in my scene to, to appreciate that, especially
00:33:42because people are asking me, you know, like, I don't know if they're like,
00:33:44well, if it's anything over 20 K I'm not interested, I'm not, I'm not
00:33:47sure where their price point is, but I'm just going to offer something.
00:33:50And let's face it.
00:33:51Everything's done in CAD these days.
00:33:53You know, everything's CAD it up.
00:33:54Um, if somebody wanted to build my EK build with the dual motor and the
00:33:58Swiss cheese car, I could totally provide that, you know, like I have
00:34:02everything all filed up and I could easily just have everything cut and
00:34:05say here, you know, um, it's all tab and slot, just have your welder fit
00:34:08all this together, fit it to your chassis.
00:34:10And I could build another car for sure.
00:34:12So, so this, so this EG, this 91 to 95 Civic hatch has this $1,200 Tesla
00:34:20model S front drive unit going into the front spinning backwards, the front
00:34:23wheels, you're putting the Chrysler Pacifica hybrid, uh, batteries in the
00:34:28back, 16 Nike shoe boxes.
00:34:30No, six Nike shoe boxes.
00:34:3216 kilos, right.
00:34:34Roughly 60 miles of range or so 300 horsepower.
00:34:40And you're saying you can provide, this would be a turnkey kit that you
00:34:43could, you would sell Rye wire or they would source the batteries
00:34:46and the motors themselves.
00:34:47Yeah.
00:34:47I wouldn't want to sell the motors or the batteries just cause like the
00:34:51liability of getting bad stuff.
00:34:52Like I've actually, I've actually had bad modules before, you know, and I've
00:34:56only purchased not that many and it's like, I've already had, so I want, I
00:34:59don't want that liability.
00:35:01Uh, but I can definitely.
00:35:03Offer places where you can source that stuff.
00:35:05Hopefully pretty reliable.
00:35:07So you'd, you'd be giving them, uh, the direction, the instructions, the
00:35:11mounts, the, and the B the VCU and the BMS wiring harness mounts, um, a
00:35:18bar, a battery box to fit your modules in.
00:35:20But what I, what I do plan to do is I really want like for the, for the
00:35:24moment, I want local installers to be really taking the reins.
00:35:27Uh, but Honda guys are crazy.
00:35:29They want to do everything themselves.
00:35:31Yeah.
00:35:31Yeah.
00:35:31Yeah.
00:35:31Right.
00:35:32So that's, I was wondering this, so your target audience isn't.
00:35:34It seems to be, it's not the guy at home, but it might end up being the guy at home.
00:35:39It may be even my target would be like local guys that have come and
00:35:42visited and own shops locally.
00:35:44Um, I can, yeah, there's like a few, like count probably five on my hand
00:35:47that are like, Hey, you know, when that's available, let me install one.
00:35:50Or let me at least like watch you get to the nitty gritty.
00:35:54I want to see you connect those base cables.
00:35:57And I want to show me how it's done safely.
00:35:59I have a question.
00:36:00Okay.
00:36:00So, um, on your, your dual motor one, um, assuming you have a larger battery in
00:36:07there and every time I see like a, again, lack of a better term, but a restomod EV,
00:36:13we remove the old powertrain and put in an electric powertrain.
00:36:16Yeah.
00:36:17I think I know where this is going.
00:36:17Go ahead.
00:36:18AC to DC.
00:36:19Okay.
00:36:20Is that where you thought it was going?
00:36:21No.
00:36:21Oh, sorry.
00:36:22It's always DC to DC.
00:36:23Sure.
00:36:24Like, so in other words, you can't like, they're, they're, they're,
00:36:28they're never going to leave the city.
00:36:29They're non road trippers.
00:36:30You can't, you can't fast charge them.
00:36:32Okay.
00:36:32Actually, that is where I thought you were charging, charging, right?
00:36:35To charge a quick charging.
00:36:36Yeah.
00:36:36You can charge it at home.
00:36:38Yeah.
00:36:38It's, you know, you can, you can do 10 kilowatts an hour charging.
00:36:42That's, that's, that's dumb charging, but smart charging where you pull up to
00:36:46your electrify America and, you know, with the second prongs, uh, are you
00:36:51working on that?
00:36:52Is anyone working on that?
00:36:53Yeah.
00:36:53So here's, here's the good answer.
00:36:56Here's the thing.
00:36:57Okay.
00:36:58If you ask me right now, um, my S 2000 is set up for Chatham.
00:37:04It's kind of old tech, right?
00:37:05I'm starting to phase out a little bit, but it's still a lot max, right?
00:37:08Yeah.
00:37:08But, but when you're talking, you only have the 32 kilowatts.
00:37:12Right.
00:37:12Still pretty quick.
00:37:13Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:37:14So, um, that's, that's on the table.
00:37:16Chatham is totally doable.
00:37:18Um, I use a different BMS battery management for the Chatham mode because
00:37:22they actually, um, have that internal and it's pretty easy to do.
00:37:25You just add a couple of contactors, add some more wiring, more logic on
00:37:28your VCU and PDM, and it's doable.
00:37:31I really, really, really want to do CCS, right?
00:37:35There is a module out there currently on the market that I could put in that
00:37:38car and fit in there and they want like 2,800 bucks for it.
00:37:42It's so expensive.
00:37:44It's too, I mean, in grand scheme of things, I probably would with
00:37:48just the budget on the car, you know, it would make sense.
00:37:50It would probably fit.
00:37:51But I don't want to add that just yet because I know there's companies like,
00:37:55like AEM that are working on things.
00:37:57Right.
00:37:58So what I'm doing is I'm, I'm fitting extra contactors.
00:38:01I have a bunch of spare wires.
00:38:02I have the, I have the CAN bus strategy stuff.
00:38:04You're ready to go.
00:38:05You're ready to go.
00:38:06And when the time comes, I could punch out that plug a little bit lower,
00:38:09add my DC cables in the bottom.
00:38:11So it's converted from, from J1772 to CCS, right?
00:38:16That's the goal.
00:38:16Why would you do CCS and not leap to NACS?
00:38:20So CCS is the plug that most EVs, not Tesla, have currently, but they're
00:38:27all jumping ship to Tesla's charger.
00:38:30They were jumping ship and then Tesla fired 500 employees that work on NACS.
00:38:35And by the way, I was hearing that German companies are now having board
00:38:38level meetings about maybe we don't go to NACS, maybe we stick with CCS since
00:38:43it works and Tesla's completely unpredictable.
00:38:45Why don't they just hire?
00:38:46I don't know.
00:38:47I'm just telling you what I heard.
00:38:48I don't know.
00:38:49Okay.
00:38:49But anyways, why wouldn't you jump to NACS?
00:38:53Right.
00:38:53Makes a lot of sense.
00:38:54So, because the tuner market is always behind.
00:38:58We're always trying to play catch up, you know, like just, just getting
00:39:02the Tesla motors to spin was a huge, you know, years and years and years
00:39:07of development that I didn't have to do.
00:39:08Thank goodness.
00:39:09But, um, you know, so we're always behind.
00:39:11Like see, um, CHAdeMO, right, is still relatively, and people
00:39:17have only been charging CHAdeMO for a few years and they're,
00:39:19it's already kind of behind.
00:39:21So it's really just the struggle of kind of catching up.
00:39:24But once you're DC charge, it's not that much different.
00:39:28It just, the tech has to get into the VCUs.
00:39:30It's gotta be, or it's gotta be a third party module.
00:39:32So when somebody comes out with a module that's, that's doable to wire in, if you
00:39:37will, you're already going to set up, you're going to have heavy wires there
00:39:39for DC straight to DC contactors.
00:39:42That's how it works.
00:39:43And it'll just allow charge straight in.
00:39:45Um, my thermal management system is, I think, definitely sufficient.
00:39:50Um, I actually have, you're, you're familiar with all the valves and, and
00:39:53whatnot in like that Tesla's and all the different EV cars directing and
00:39:57implementing, uh, valves, water valves, like for cooling, for cooling.
00:40:01I'm not, but okay.
00:40:02So, so there's like three-way and four-way valves that introduce
00:40:04different loops and it's all different strategies.
00:40:07Yes, yes.
00:40:07I, okay.
00:40:08Yes.
00:40:08Yes.
00:40:09I didn't know.
00:40:09I never heard the valve part, but I've heard that there's like
00:40:12four cooling stages or whatever.
00:40:14Correct.
00:40:15Yeah.
00:40:15And what those are, those are, um, electronically
00:40:17controlled servo motors.
00:40:19And then there's just little like three and four-way diversion chamber valves.
00:40:22Flows coolant to where it's needed.
00:40:24Right.
00:40:25And then also through chillers.
00:40:26So if you have air, like I, you know, nowadays all the Japanese
00:40:30cars, like we don't use AC, you know, everybody's taken AC and, and stuff
00:40:34off the cars, it's just easier to not do it well, uh, I'm getting older
00:40:39and I want AC, you know, right.
00:40:41Right, right, right, right.
00:40:42But also the cooling strategy for it.
00:40:44So what I'm actually doing is I'm using Freon and strategy on the VCU.
00:40:49Like I'm not gonna, I'm not going to click on AC, like my VCU, my
00:40:53controller is going to go, you know, we're going to go into a drag race
00:40:56motor, we're going to do a track day or we're going to go around the track.
00:40:59I'm going to chill and I'm going to zap freeze, basically my drive
00:41:03unit or my battery packs.
00:41:04Right.
00:41:04And then they're going to turn on the air conditioning.
00:41:06It's going to introduce Freon through a heat exchanger.
00:41:09And then the water's going to go through that heat exchanger and it's
00:41:11going to like zap it cold.
00:41:13Right.
00:41:13And then now you can cool.
00:41:15Also in that same loop, I have a heater.
00:41:17So you can change some valves.
00:41:19And like I said, the VCU is going to just manage all that for me.
00:41:22Right.
00:41:22And I'm going to have a heater.
00:41:24So if it does get really, really cold, it's not in LA really, but you know,
00:41:28to get in that, batteries like to, I mean, I know you guys have heard this.
00:41:31They want to be like a human, right?
00:41:33Like right now it's a little, like a two degrees hot.
00:41:35Well, let's make it two degrees cooler, right?
00:41:37Sure.
00:41:38There's an optimum temperature range.
00:41:40Especially for peak performance.
00:41:41Yeah.
00:41:41Yeah.
00:41:42Especially.
00:41:42Yeah, exactly.
00:41:42You're trying to request that peak output of torque.
00:41:45Right.
00:41:45So that motor knows, Hey, you know, to get to a hundred percent torque, which
00:41:48you're requesting right now, right.
00:41:5075 ambient is good.
00:41:51Yeah.
00:41:52And, or, or, you know, Hey, we need a little more, a little bit less.
00:41:54So it'll introduce a valve and it'll turn on some things.
00:41:56And you're not, you're, you're in the driver's seat.
00:41:59You're, you're not feeling air conditioning.
00:42:01The AC system's on though, because it's zapping, you know, like when the, when
00:42:05the Tesla does that countdown ready in four, three, two, one, it's ready to go.
00:42:09And now you do a ludicrous mode, right?
00:42:10Yeah.
00:42:10It's actually like prepping all that stuff.
00:42:13Right, right, right, right.
00:42:15So you're, so this is wild.
00:42:17So you, the, the EG, the 9195 Civic is for the common man.
00:42:23Yeah.
00:42:24How much will it weigh and how much is that kit going to cost?
00:42:27Well, that, that I'm, I'm hoping that you're going to be in a 20,000 range.
00:42:31$20,000.
00:42:31Yeah.
00:42:32Okay.
00:42:32And I mean, that seems crazy, but I mean, guys are spending a lot of money on.
00:42:36What's a, what's a beat like EG chassis?
00:42:38Like what is they selling 10, five, five, 10 grand or no to get a Civic?
00:42:43So chassis without an engine, you know, or, or like with a, just a stock engine,
00:42:47you know, you're around 5,000 bucks for a Civic, maybe, maybe 10 for a clean one.
00:42:51Right.
00:42:52And then an engine swap is going to cost you probably another 10,000.
00:42:55Yeah.
00:42:55Yeah.
00:42:55That's what I'm thinking.
00:42:56So 20,000 for your kid.
00:42:58Plus the five to $10,000 cars, 25 to 30 grand.
00:43:01Isn't crazy.
00:43:02How do you, uh, how does this pass smog?
00:43:04It, you know what, uh, it's smog exempt.
00:43:06Right.
00:43:07Can you go, can you go gold star?
00:43:09What is it?
00:43:09Your greens, no gold sticker.
00:43:11It's amazing.
00:43:11Yeah.
00:43:12So what, what you do is you go down to either your, your like department of
00:43:15motor vehicles or to the smog referee or to the, uh, CHP I've, I've called around
00:43:23and then they're like telling me all these different things, but when they
00:43:25get their hack together, they're going to tell you to go somewhere.
00:43:27Right.
00:43:27And they just need to verify.
00:43:29I I'm actually, my S 2000 is fully verified, ready to go.
00:43:32I just need to take it over there.
00:43:33And I just been lazy.
00:43:34Cause I'm really trying to get these civics done for SEMA.
00:43:37Right.
00:43:37Anyway, but, um, you take it to a, um, smog place and then they
00:43:42verified that there's no gas tank.
00:43:44If there's no gas tank in the car, I had to show some pictures and stuff.
00:43:47And I like was emailing this guy and whatever, and he was prepping for it.
00:43:52And you have to show there's okay.
00:43:53There's no gas tank in the car.
00:43:54There can't be gas.
00:43:54It can't be reverted back easily.
00:43:56So now you have a smog exemption status.
00:43:59So that's the coolest part.
00:44:01I think, you know, right.
00:44:03And it just makes owning these cars way better, in my opinion.
00:44:07So are you telling me it's easier?
00:44:08Cause the hardest part about a lot of these crazy engine swaps, especially
00:44:13like LS swapping, or even, even updating is when you take it to a state ref or a
00:44:17smog place, if you're, if it's still running gas or whatever, some, it's
00:44:22still running internal combustion.
00:44:24They got to check everything.
00:44:25And if you're, if one thing is off, they're like, sorry.
00:44:29Oh, like, I mean, there's, there's guys that are so strict at state referees.
00:44:32If you're smog purge solenoid, which is basically sends your, your emissions
00:44:39from the intake manifold after you turned off the car through a charcoal canister.
00:44:41Right.
00:44:42If that's like the wrong year or the, or the vacuum hose is like a wrong
00:44:46diameter or a different length than factory, like fail, right.
00:44:50Sort it out.
00:44:51Go ahead and change it.
00:44:52Get, get one from where your vacuum hoses.
00:44:54And now, but so now you show up and you're like, I don't have a gas tank
00:44:57and they'll, but they probably probably go, I don't know what I'm looking at.
00:44:59So, but no gas tank, but okay, great.
00:45:02So once you get past that smog basically, you know, you're, you're
00:45:07verified, you don't have to smog anymore.
00:45:09They won't even send you anything in the mail.
00:45:11Yeah.
00:45:11You're just smog exempt.
00:45:12Yeah.
00:45:13Amazing.
00:45:13So the exemption status for our Hondas, like think about how amazing that is,
00:45:17because the worst part about owning one of these Japanese old school Hondas is
00:45:20dealing with smog and police officers and getting pulled over and think about how
00:45:25many less variables now you have.
00:45:27Right.
00:45:27I mean, you don't have the sound.
00:45:28Sure.
00:45:29But yeah, I tell you what, guys, I know you guys have driven the GB 60, right?
00:45:34So, um, Genesis actually gave me a press car and I'm driving it right now.
00:45:39I drove it up here and it has the engine simulation, sound, engine sim.
00:45:44Okay.
00:45:44Okay.
00:45:44I look, can I, can I, can I tell you, look, it's a, it's a crutch.
00:45:48It's like a plug in hybrid, right?
00:45:49It's a crutch to get like us to the next 10 years.
00:45:52So, so when you, so my, my experience of driving that I'm in the
00:45:55canyons and I'm driving it.
00:45:56This is really cool, but then I put it on the EV mode and I'm like, but this is
00:46:00like way faster and it's actually better, but it's a good way to kind of port those
00:46:04people over because my, my guys, they hate on it so much.
00:46:08I was literally having a conversation with someone before we started and you
00:46:12know, she's driving around in a Rivian and she's like, but it doesn't make any
00:46:15sound.
00:46:15And I'm like, but who cares?
00:46:16Like, you know, oh, you're missing out on the great F-150 V6 turbo sound.
00:46:21Like wow.
00:46:22Well, I know the Hyundai Ioniq N recently sparked this again because it has some.
00:46:27Uh, crazy noise, fake shifts, verbal tunes.
00:46:30I would, look, I always go back in 1906.
00:46:33There was a car that the, I think it was the horsey horseless, which, you know,
00:46:36they put a horse head on it because, uh, you know, they wanted the driver to like
00:46:40feel like they still had a, it's just, we're going to look back on this kind of
00:46:44stuff, you know, but everyone's doing it.
00:46:46Like the new Mercedes, the, the, the electric G wagon, the G580, it has G
00:46:50roar mode where they literally took the sound of a G63 and it's, um, it's, you
00:46:56know, $9 billion, 9 billion speaker Burmeister unit.
00:47:00Not only does it sound exactly like a G63, but like the, the, the speakers
00:47:05in the, behind you in the back seat, you feel it.
00:47:07That's no, that's where they play the exhaust pipe noise.
00:47:09Cause that's where the exhausts are.
00:47:10They're down below the rear doors.
00:47:13It's it, it sounds exactly the same and then you can switch it off
00:47:16and you're like, eh, who needs it?
00:47:18Right.
00:47:18Yeah.
00:47:18Like it was a novelty thing that kind of made me enjoy driving and
00:47:22shifting it for a little bit.
00:47:23And then I'm like, single motor, like single speed is just actually so much
00:47:26better.
00:47:27Couldn't you put like the, like a Tesla plaid motor and then like a, like a,
00:47:31a welded, a welded diff.
00:47:33And then you actually have some cool gear, like gear noise.
00:47:37I mean, I've talked about this before, but like, I got a ride in the Porsche
00:47:41of the mission R and you know, it's got two, uh, straight cut gearboxes, one
00:47:46speed, but like, my God, that thing makes noise.
00:47:48I don't like the noise, but it makes a lot of noise.
00:47:50Yeah.
00:47:50The Vaughn, the Vaughn Gittin Mach-E 1400 was a huge inspiration for my S2000
00:47:55build.
00:47:55I rode with, with, with Vaughn on that part.
00:47:56I drove that thing.
00:47:57Yeah, it's wild.
00:47:58It's really wild.
00:48:00It's a lot of fun.
00:48:00It's really hard to drive actually.
00:48:01I'm sure it is, but that's got a lot of sound to it.
00:48:04A lot of noise coming out of that.
00:48:05Seven motors.
00:48:06Yeah.
00:48:07I know seven little axial motors all stacked together like rotaries.
00:48:09Yeah.
00:48:10I think it's, I think that's the Mach-E motors.
00:48:12It's like seven of those.
00:48:13Yeah.
00:48:13Things nuts.
00:48:14Yeah.
00:48:14Super cool.
00:48:15Yeah.
00:48:15So then, um, can I ask where, oh, sorry, you were going someplace with the, the
00:48:20GV60, just, just that it has a noise, but you have a Hyundai collaboration going
00:48:24on, right?
00:48:24Are you working with them on something?
00:48:26Um, not really.
00:48:27Uh, they just, they're, they're, they're local to my shop.
00:48:29And then, uh, one of my friends kind of set it up and was like, you want to drive
00:48:32one, press car?
00:48:32I said, sure.
00:48:33Oh, but it's good for you to see also how a modern EV goes.
00:48:37No, I'm looking at the buttons on the steering wheel.
00:48:38I'm going, okay.
00:48:39You know, like I'm putting paddle shifters on my EK just because I can do
00:48:43different options, but I could just be an engine simulation kind of a deal too.
00:48:47Or it could just be flashing through like the GV60 has the, um, I pedal, they call
00:48:53it, you know, for the, for the region mode, right?
00:48:54Like I could just use them for region.
00:48:56Sure.
00:48:56And, and it's a can based steering wheel that I'm using from this new company.
00:48:59And it's really cool.
00:49:00It's got like tons of buttons, like, you know, a mini Formula
00:49:03one kind of knobs and everything.
00:49:04But it's a four wire hookup because it's all over can bus power can four wires.
00:49:09Right.
00:49:09So you can do all these knobs and twist is twisting and clicking and it's all
00:49:13carbon fiber and it's really nice.
00:49:15That's cool.
00:49:15It's four wire hookup and I can do whatever I want to program on that.
00:49:18So nice.
00:49:19So no, that's cool.
00:49:20Um, real quick though, where do you, how do you, how do you feel about
00:49:25region?
00:49:25Because this is another thing, again, a friend of mine, she's driving this
00:49:27Rivian and she's like, I hate how you take your foot off and it almost stops.
00:49:31So you take your foot off the throttle and I'm like, you need a day to adapt to it.
00:49:34Yeah.
00:49:34And then you're going to say, why do I have a brake pedal?
00:49:36It's so stupid.
00:49:37I normally kind of do one click down on the, on the Genesis.
00:49:41Uh, that's about my, my eye mode or, you know, the mode that for me, for my
00:49:44driving, uh, it seems to be like one click down is good for me, but full
00:49:48region is cool too.
00:49:49If I feel like I'm a little range anxiety going on, I might click it.
00:49:53And we were going, we were going down a hill, actually went up to a big bear,
00:49:57right.
00:49:57Uh, this weekend with my wife and we took the car up there.
00:49:59Still snow?
00:50:00Uh, there is snow up there.
00:50:01Yeah.
00:50:02It was cool.
00:50:02It was really, really pretty.
00:50:04Yeah.
00:50:04Uh, but going down the grade, like the whole hill.
00:50:06Oh yeah.
00:50:06It was wild.
00:50:07Like we're just, we were recording and we're like, Oh, we're at, you know, 61%
00:50:11now, Oh, and we've got this many miles.
00:50:13I mean, you just seen it going up.
00:50:14If you get a good run down, uh, big bear down to the valley down there, I mean,
00:50:19you can recoup like 25% of the battery.
00:50:22Yeah.
00:50:22It's crazy.
00:50:22You have to make sure there's no other traffic or anything, but yeah,
00:50:25you can, there's a way to do it.
00:50:26Yeah.
00:50:26Very cool.
00:50:27So the, the EG for the common man, the EK is a sort of, uh, all wheel drive and
00:50:35you're putting the, can you tell me you're cutting the entire, like undercarriage
00:50:38out of the chassis to put the batteries in the floor?
00:50:41Is that right?
00:50:41So that was a decision that I had made based on just real estate.
00:50:45I didn't want to have another car that was just like, you know, under 30 kilowatt.
00:50:50Yeah.
00:50:50So what I decided, okay.
00:50:52My, I could have totally chose better batteries than I did.
00:50:56And these are the 18, six 50, you know, old school Tesla module as everything
00:51:00has a price, right?
00:51:00Yeah, exactly.
00:51:01And I'm there, those were still like 16,000 bucks used.
00:51:03Like it's wild.
00:51:04Yeah.
00:51:05But, um, it's 85 kilowatt and I wanted to be able to drive a far distance.
00:51:08I wanted to be able to do a track, you know, 20 minutes session
00:51:11or something like that.
00:51:13Um, I wanted something that was thermal cooled, uh, at least a little bit,
00:51:16cause some cooling helps.
00:51:18It goes a long way.
00:51:18It goes a long way.
00:51:19Sure.
00:51:19You know, um, so they had the right things and also the height of the batteries,
00:51:24the modules were only like less than four inches and you know, I'm short, but I
00:51:28also want other people that are taller than me to be able to drive the car.
00:51:31Sure.
00:51:32Uh, EK, that's why I chose the EK because like from the EG, for example, the night,
00:51:37the, the new, a little bit newer body is a couple inches taller on the
00:51:41head on, um, inside for the cabin.
00:51:43So I figured I could, I could actually use that floor real estate.
00:51:47So I cut out the floor and I made a structure that looks the same as like
00:51:51how Tesla does with the, if you've ever seen a pack that's, um, you know,
00:51:55open like a sardine can, they, they have little aluminum structures and the
00:51:59modules just kind of set on a little flange.
00:52:02So I did that for the floor area.
00:52:03That's half the pack.
00:52:04That's eight modules.
00:52:06Then I got with this company that does a really nice billet, um, module,
00:52:11ma modular battery, like, uh, boxes basically.
00:52:15And I can stuff my BMSs in them and I can run all the cooling and
00:52:18everything, and it's super tidy.
00:52:19I mean, like really, really nicely laid out or, um, I cut where the
00:52:24rear seats would be and the gas tank.
00:52:26So that's all cut out.
00:52:27There's a massive box and then there's a little tiny box with a
00:52:30couple more modules above it.
00:52:32And then that's mounted above the rear motor.
00:52:35And then my, uh, all my contactors and electronics are in like a
00:52:38little spare area in that box.
00:52:40And then how much total capacity is that battery?
00:52:4385.
00:52:4385 kilowatts.
00:52:44That's 85.
00:52:45Yeah.
00:52:45So you got a P85.
00:52:47Basically you, you got a P85 donor and you took out like a P85 dual motor.
00:52:51So you take out the, both motors from literally those.
00:52:54Okay.
00:52:54Yeah.
00:52:55Yeah.
00:52:55Got it.
00:52:56Okay.
00:52:56And I just, I sourced everything separately, but you know, I
00:52:59didn't get like a full car.
00:53:00Um, all the wiring is all bespoke.
00:53:02Like we're laying out everything from headlight to taillight.
00:53:04That's all custom, of course.
00:53:06And then all the electronics that are like, there's literally no Tesla
00:53:09electronics on board at this point.
00:53:11Right.
00:53:11Wow.
00:53:11It'd be two seats.
00:53:13Yeah.
00:53:13Two seats.
00:53:14Okay.
00:53:14Have you run across a crashed Lucid yet?
00:53:16No.
00:53:17Cause, cause it's basically the Lucid Air is like, you know, the same
00:53:20engineer and it's the, it's the gen two of, uh, of the model S.
00:53:25But the battery, for one thing, like the cooling on the batteries, instead
00:53:28of, you know, how with the Tesla, it's snaked on, on, uh, on a Lucid, it's on
00:53:32the bottom, supposedly it's just a way better way to do it.
00:53:36Yeah.
00:53:36Um, and then again, the motor is half the weight and.
00:53:40Oh, fits in a carry on, right?
00:53:42Fits in a, yeah.
00:53:42Fits in a rollerboard carry on, but it's also like 670 horsepower from a hundred
00:53:46and 20 pound object, you know?
00:53:49So my thought there, again, we're all, we're always a little bit late.
00:53:52I mean, there's not a lot of them.
00:53:53There's probably not that many that are crashed.
00:53:54And also like hacking and getting into that is, is, is just
00:53:57like development in itself.
00:53:58Now I'll tell you what, something that I could totally do in the future.
00:54:02Uh, Borg Warner slash Cascadia has a whole line of aftermarket motors,
00:54:07controllers, um, and then they use the VCs with AEM and it's all kind of collabode.
00:54:12And they used to use like these, Larry Reinhart was an old school inverter
00:54:16company and, and they bought that technology.
00:54:19So they're just like, they bought up everybody's, the best of all these.
00:54:21So they saw that, they saw that as a market for this.
00:54:23And they're making full drive unit packages, those drive units.
00:54:27The power levels, they got dual ones and stuff now, but you're looking
00:54:30at 15, 20, 25,000, just for those, like.
00:54:33So it's expensive.
00:54:34Yeah.
00:54:35It's a lot of money.
00:54:35So I just got to get my feet wet with it.
00:54:37I want to kind of see where the market's at.
00:54:39If I'm like, if I jump into it and go, here's a full Cascadia system with
00:54:43brand new modules and brand new, everything all packaged up, you know,
00:54:47it can be, it could, you could be $50,000, $100,000.
00:54:50So it's pretty price sensitive what you're doing.
00:54:51Yeah.
00:54:52And now it seems, it seems that you keep talking about model S.
00:54:55Have you, just cause there's a billion more of them or thousands of thousands
00:54:59of more, like we looked at model three, the model Y stuff yet.
00:55:02Yeah.
00:55:02So, unfortunately, so the design of the model three is, is, is
00:55:07interesting for the tuner market.
00:55:08It's kind of the, the Tesla controls are actually like all kind
00:55:13of molded into a casted piece.
00:55:15So you have to redesign a lot more.
00:55:19The model S, you know, there, again, it's, there's, there was, there was a ton
00:55:22of them and then, and then all this development takes years.
00:55:25Uh, so the circuit boards were easy to just pop right out, a couple of cables.
00:55:29Model S in one way was, I don't want to say cost no object, but like, if you see
00:55:33a model S with the skin off, you're like, wow, that's an impressive looking
00:55:37vehicle, despite the powertrain.
00:55:39Whereas model three was like, yeah, it was much more, you know, trying
00:55:42to get the price down by half.
00:55:43How did you, how did you learn all this?
00:55:46Did you go to like, how did you go to school for like, you know,
00:55:49are you like an electrician?
00:55:51Marketing.
00:55:51Yeah.
00:55:52And I, and I, and I dropped out, I was at San Jose state and I dropped out.
00:55:55Excellent.
00:55:56We love it.
00:55:56Yeah.
00:55:56But you, so you're self taught, like making, like just wiring and making looms or?
00:56:01Yeah.
00:56:01So how I started was I was in college and I was just kind of like, I don't want to
00:56:05be, I was doing like marketing and also like some computer science stuff.
00:56:09And I, as much as it sounds like I know I'm like a brain with, with computers,
00:56:13I'm really not, um, it's more like, uh, I'm more mechanic, you know, and I'm
00:56:17just not scared of that stuff.
00:56:18And, and if I have to learn it, I have to learn it.
00:56:20But I was just building like, you know, Honda B series swap wiring
00:56:24harnesses and selling them on eBay.
00:56:27And then I got with a friend and we were in a little Honda CRX community and it
00:56:30was like, let's sell these wiring harnesses on a bigger scale.
00:56:33So then they started moving and I was doing like all these conversions.
00:56:36If you remember, do you remember the CRXs back in the day?
00:56:38They had two injectors.
00:56:38They were called DPFI dual point fuel injection.
00:56:41Okay.
00:56:42I was doing like two of those a day, converting them from two
00:56:45injector to four injector.
00:56:47Okay.
00:56:47Building those wiring harnesses.
00:56:48I was doing two a day and I was charging like 300 bucks.
00:56:51I was making like $600 a day trying to figure out how can I go to college?
00:56:54But I'm making $600 a day doing this, like.
00:56:57That's pretty good money.
00:56:58Yeah.
00:56:59And then I got them down to like around an hour to do a harness.
00:57:02Right.
00:57:02It was really good.
00:57:03So you're making 600 bucks, 300 bucks an hour.
00:57:06Yeah.
00:57:07I was doing pretty well at that point.
00:57:08I was like, why are you going to college?
00:57:09Yeah.
00:57:10I'm like, hmm, this is a, this could be a thing.
00:57:12So then my dad gave me a loan of like 20 grand.
00:57:15He like borrowed against his house and he's like, here's 20,000,
00:57:18maybe it's 30,000 bucks.
00:57:19I don't remember.
00:57:20But I was able to actually, I was buying, I was using these jumper
00:57:23harnesses to convert from OBD one to OBD two, which is like an engine
00:57:27management from like the eighties to like the early nineties engine management.
00:57:32And, uh, all the CRXs wanted that.
00:57:34So I actually hit up the guy that I was buying from.
00:57:36He goes, you know, you're my best customer.
00:57:38I'm like, man, I'm running this out of my house and I'm your best
00:57:40customer that's wild.
00:57:40Right.
00:57:41And he's like, I'm actually going to work for Honda and tune
00:57:44cars, um, in the early two thousands.
00:57:46And then I'm like, okay.
00:57:48Uh, can I like, you know, like what's your company worth?
00:57:51And he's like, oh, just buy everything.
00:57:54I can't work cause it's too like conflict of interest cause it's Honda.
00:57:57They just buy everything that I have here.
00:57:59I'm like, well, what's that going to cost me?
00:58:00He's like 30 grand.
00:58:01I'll get, you know, all this, all these parts, my sources
00:58:03on where I buy everything.
00:58:05And then, so I was buying these little ECU patch harnesses.
00:58:08And then now I'm manufacturing those to go along with these engine looms.
00:58:10And then it just kind of started to build.
00:58:13And then we got like, you know, a whole room in our, our whole house
00:58:16dedicated, uh, like my roommates were all working for me, you know?
00:58:19And then, and then I moved to Southern California cause
00:58:21I was in NorCal at the time.
00:58:22And then, and then, you know, I got my ducks in a row and I rented a shop.
00:58:27And then now I, you know, now we, we own our shop and you
00:58:29know, it's, it's, it's great.
00:58:31It's awesome.
00:58:31So, but what about when you start getting into the Tesla piece, how
00:58:36much, how much did you have to learn about, are you doing any coding?
00:58:41Are you doing any of the software side of that or?
00:58:43I'm not doing any of the software side.
00:58:44It's more like programming at the most.
00:58:46Right.
00:58:46So, so a, the AM is an app essentially for lack of a better term.
00:58:50And you say, these are the variables I care about when this happened to do this,
00:58:53but you're using somebody else's programmed the app.
00:58:56Yeah, exactly.
00:58:57Yeah.
00:58:57And I was having issues with some battery stuff and I really like had to get into
00:59:00that, um, that quote unquote app, if you will, for the BMS and I was having issues
00:59:05with battery stuff and I'm like, what's going on here, but I had to learn.
00:59:08I, and now I learned that system like crazy, you know, like now I know that
00:59:11kind of inside and out just because I had to, I had no choice because I was having
00:59:16issues trying to figure out why are things not working out?
00:59:18Right.
00:59:18So it was, it was rough, you know, as 2000 was built a couple of times
00:59:22and, um, massive learning curve.
00:59:24But I got a lot of props from like EV builders, you know, the
00:59:27very small community of people.
00:59:29They're like, this is your, like, this is your first car.
00:59:31I'm like, yeah, but, but I'm a car builder, you know, I done all these really
00:59:34cool jobs and hundreds of like thousands of clients with wild projects.
00:59:39So this is like really kind of easy for me, but there was a lot of like, you know,
00:59:44the high voltage side of things was intimidating, different.
00:59:47I mean, it's, it's a strange, it's a strange world.
00:59:50Once you wrap your head about really what's going on, you, you, you start to
00:59:54understand like the ins and outs and it's, it's not hard.
00:59:56Who, um, who do you look up to or who's like the OG in the, in the
01:00:01EV Rustamod space in your book?
01:00:03Is it like EV West?
01:00:04Is it those guys?
01:00:05You know, I, I, funny enough, maybe I'm stubborn.
01:00:09I have ordered a couple of components from them because they have a website.
01:00:12It's pretty well put together.
01:00:13If you wanted to buy a certain kind of wire contactor, they, you know, they
01:00:16have big stock of something's out of stock.
01:00:18I've ordered from them before.
01:00:19Um, I don't speak with them.
01:00:20Um, I don't really talk to anyone per se.
01:00:23Uh, BC has got to be the only guy, but we're kind of, I'm not going
01:00:26to say we're on the same page.
01:00:27He has definitely done a lot more development and research and stuff with,
01:00:32with just the ins and outs of the cal calibrations and stuff like that.
01:00:35Right.
01:00:35I look up to him a lot, but then he quickly calls me and ask me questions,
01:00:39you know, like, Hey Ryan, you wouldn't know this what's going on here.
01:00:42Right.
01:00:43We can bounce back information.
01:00:44Yeah.
01:00:44He seems like he's just like, Oh, where's the envelope?
01:00:47How do I push it?
01:00:48You know?
01:00:48Yeah.
01:00:48Oh yeah.
01:00:49You have to.
01:00:49Right.
01:00:49Right.
01:00:50Yeah.
01:00:51And then, so how do you extract, cause we're out of time.
01:00:53How do you extract more power out of these components?
01:00:57Is it literally just, is it like overclocking a PC?
01:01:00Is it like where you just dump more power into them, make the motor spin faster?
01:01:04Well, and pray it doesn't blow up.
01:01:05If the battery can discharge more and then you have electronics that, um, are
01:01:10able to like the more voltage, the more power.
01:01:13Okay.
01:01:14So for example, we're on a 400 volt battery on the S 2000.
01:01:17For example, if I added one more module, I wouldn't max out that
01:01:21inverter because the, cause you can only build as much as the
01:01:23inverter can even read.
01:01:25Right.
01:01:25So I could probably put another module in and I could build that
01:01:30up to a little bit more voltage, but then you have to, you know, wire that
01:01:33in and all, you know, all those cells have to be talking over the same network.
01:01:36So it's massively complicated to do that.
01:01:39But if you wanted to, you could add a little bit more voltage.
01:01:43And then now that motor is making, has more power potential.
01:01:46And then you have a power dense battery that can, that can, that can basically
01:01:50hit the, you know, curves from formula one, you know, the curves button.
01:01:53Right.
01:01:53It's sort of like what this is, you know, you give a, it just discharges
01:01:56the battery for 20 seconds, just dump it, just another plug for the lucid
01:02:01things and share, you know, tuners always want more power.
01:02:04I think it's, it's, it's 917 volts.
01:02:06Is there?
01:02:07Yeah.
01:02:08Yeah.
01:02:08So it's really powerful.
01:02:10Yeah.
01:02:10If you, you know.
01:02:12Yeah.
01:02:12But the price goes up crazy.
01:02:14Price is, well that's what I'm saying, go to a junkyard.
01:02:15Like who wants to crash lucid?
01:02:17So you could, if you could hack a inverter, that's a thousand volts and
01:02:21then you could build a thousand volt battery pack, batteries are just stacking
01:02:25together, that's how much voltage it is.
01:02:26Right?
01:02:26Right.
01:02:26Exactly.
01:02:27So, I mean, it's really the inverter.
01:02:28If the inverter can take it and then it can, it can control the motor via your VCU,
01:02:33which is your, you know, your brain behind the logic.
01:02:36Um, it's just discharging that battery and letting that inverter
01:02:40manage and spin that motor.
01:02:42Awesome.
01:02:43That's your formula.
01:02:44Easy.
01:02:44That's cool.
01:02:45No, it's, I mean, it's, it's just, I, there's so much, like, I'd love to come
01:02:48back in like a decade and do this interview again, just to like where state
01:02:52of the art, you know what I mean?
01:02:53How about, how about in, uh, when, when are these projects going to be done?
01:02:56SEMA?
01:02:56SEMA, dude, I'm, I'm pushing, I'm, I'm not spending much, uh, free
01:02:59time to myself on weekends.
01:03:00I'm just like yesterday was all CAD.
01:03:02I had one free day of the week, uh, the day before that.
01:03:05And then it's, it's six to seven days a week on these cars.
01:03:08Awesome.
01:03:08So we don't have to come back in 10 years.
01:03:09We can, we can check.
01:03:10No, but you know what I'm saying?
01:03:11I know, I know.
01:03:11Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:03:12We'll check back in November.
01:03:13Yeah.
01:03:13See the, what's the, and what's the goal for the crazy one for the, for the EK?
01:03:17How much, how much horsepower are we turning?
01:03:19Well, there's two small drives, so a little over 300 each.
01:03:22So just, let's just call it 600 horsepower.
01:03:23600 horsepower, 85 kilowatt hour, uh, 85 kilowatt, uh, battery in a package
01:03:30that'll probably weigh hopefully under 4,000 pounds.
01:03:33Oh yeah.
01:03:33It'll be, it'll be under 4,000.
01:03:35I can guarantee that, but it's still going to be the heaviest
01:03:37EK in the world for sure.
01:03:40Do you run into like, um, like the, the, the stiffness of the body in white
01:03:44when you start adding not just a little bit more weight, but so much more power.
01:03:48And now you're adding it at, at both corners.
01:03:51Well, he took the whole floor out.
01:03:52And then, yeah, no, I'm saying like, so what, like, like you started
01:03:55to worry about that yet?
01:03:57No, no cage, but, um,
01:04:00my, my, my motor, like subframe that I've built, um, is very stout.
01:04:05So that's really holding the stuff together.
01:04:07Also, um, I got with KW on this one and they, they engineered some special
01:04:11suspension for, uh, to help me with my rear all wheel drive setup.
01:04:15So my, I have to be, to be able to have drive axles in the back.
01:04:18That's one thing.
01:04:19And then also the spring rates and I'm using like the race coilover suspension.
01:04:23And so that's good stuff.
01:04:25Of course.
01:04:26Yeah.
01:04:26So if you want to follow along, you can just Google, uh, Rye wire and civic
01:04:31and R Y W I R.com.
01:04:34Uh, there's actually, you have, you're running your own, are you still running
01:04:37a blog, updating people or that kind of also?
01:04:39No, the blog was something that like we just put on the website and we don't
01:04:43really like touch that too much.
01:04:44No, it's not just blogs.
01:04:45Yeah.
01:04:45Social media kill blogs.
01:04:46Yeah.
01:04:47I'm on, I'm on Instagram.
01:04:49Um, I don't, I wish I posted more, but I don't post a lot.
01:04:51Um, also I'm on a lot of people's YouTube channels.
01:04:54So you can just like catch me on random YouTube.
01:04:57So YouTube, Rye wire.
01:04:59I do have a YouTube.
01:05:00Yeah.
01:05:00Why?
01:05:01Uh, R Y wire.
01:05:03And then what's your Instagram?
01:05:04That's right.
01:05:05There's an E on wire.
01:05:06Despite what Ed said previously.
01:05:07What's your, what's your, I'm sorry.
01:05:08What's your Instagram?
01:05:10Rye wire underscore motorsport is what I changed it to.
01:05:13Cause it used to be super long.
01:05:14So Rye wire underscore motorsport.
01:05:16Awesome.
01:05:18Well, this was went by super fast.
01:05:20Uh, yeah.
01:05:20Let's check in again.
01:05:21Once these things are done, maybe you can, uh, maybe we can
01:05:24go test them.
01:05:25That'd be awesome.
01:05:26I'd love to drive one.
01:05:28I want you to drive the UK.
01:05:29Yeah.
01:05:29All motor burnouts.
01:05:31I want to try the, uh, S 2000 actually.
01:05:32That would be awesome.
01:05:34Those are fun.
01:05:35Ryan Bassary.
01:05:36Thank you so much.
01:05:37Thank you.
01:05:37Thank you for having me.
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01:05:59by the future designed for the now.