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Field Report: Is LASER Welding Better Than TIG Welding? Jul 26, 2023

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Laser welding in industrial environments is becoming more and more popular than traditional MIG welding and TIG welding methods, but why?
Use ‘PODCAST75’ for $75 off your first HPA course here: https://hpcdmy.co/hpa-tuned-in
Serra Laser's Evan Shea runs us through some of the differences and similarities of a laser welder compared to TIG welding, including why a laser weld can not only be faster but also stronger and cheaper than a TIG weld.
Using the IPG LightWELD 1500 laser welder as the example, we take a look at what shielding gas is used between nitrogen gas and argon gas with a laser welder for copper, aluminium, titanium, steel, stainless steel & nickel alloys as well as discussing if back purging is still required.
Material preparation and fit up are also talked about, along with a laser welder's ability to put less heat into your material while being 4 x faster or more in some cases than TIG welding and at least 2 x faster than MIG welding while still being able to weld material as thick as 6.35mm (1/4") with good penetration.
While the price of laser welding machines is out of reach for most home welders for the moment, this is a technology that has already seen a significant reduction in price over just the last few years as well as the portability (not discussed) of laser welding units improving as well.
We're excited to see where laser welding continues to head in the future regarding motorsport fabrication across all levels, from local club racing to professional race builds.

090: Street vs Race Engine Building — Is It Really That Different? Jul 21, 2023

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While you might be able to get away with a little sloppiness when building an engine for a street car, that’s not going to fly when it comes to dedicated race engines. In this episode, we sit down with Tom Hughes from Hughes Race Built to discuss exactly why that is, how we can ensure we’re building our engines right, what makes a great naturally aspirated race engine build, and much more.
Use “HUGHES50” to get 50% off our HPA Practical Engine Building Course here: hpcdmy.co/practicalengineb
The conversation this week kicks off with Tom’s background and journey towards owning and operating his own high-end engine building business. Tom went through the apprenticeship route, first starting out learning the trade at a reputable race engine builder, before pivoting towards rocketry of all things.
After a few years spent building rocket engines for New Zealand’s Rocket Lab, Tom decided to put the house up for sale and bet it all on what would become Hughes Race Engineering, which focuses on high-end race engine builds. While the business spends plenty of time building monster RB26s, 3S-GEs, and even GR Yaris G16E-GTSs, Tom’s speciality is Toyota’s venerable 1UZ-FE quad cam V8. These four-litre alloy V8s have long been used in the popular speedway scene in New Zealand, and Tom is a wizard when it comes to squeezing big power out of them, all while sticking within the restrictive Super Stock class rules.
These engines are covered in great detail in this conversation, as is a wider discussion around what needs to be done in order to build dependable, high-revving, naturally aspirated engines that can’t hide any shortcomings behind a wall of boost. There’s also plenty of talk in this episode around tolerances, flow numbers, when to outsource parts of your process, and much more — so if you’re even remotely interested in engine building or starting a business in the industry, this one is well worth your time.
Don’t forget, use “HUGHES50” to get 50% off our HPA Practical Engine Building Course here: hpcdmy.co/practicalengineb
Follow Hughes Race Engineering here:
IG: @Hughsracebuilt
FB: Hughes Race Built
YT: Hughes Race Built
WWW: hughsracebuilt.com

Field Report: This R34 was never meant to be so FAST! Jul 19, 2023

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Can you run a billet block on a street build? With 1650whp what 1/4 mile time can a full trim R34 do?
Use ‘PODCAST75’ for $75 off your first HPA course here: https://hpcdmy.co/hpa-tuned-in
With 1650whp at 55psi of boost this R34 GTR Skyline is arguably one of Australia's fastest roll racers, and even more impressively this 1600kg car will do 8-second passes while retaining the full stock trim as Av from B2R Motorsports explains.
Running a 3.4l Bullet Race Engineering 'hybrid' billet block, this 3.4L RB has all the usual suspects covered modification-wise internally including a Callies Performance Products custom crankshaft, CP-Carrillo rods and pistons, Ferrea copper bronze valve guides & more, but interestingly retains a relatively stock cylinder head. The car runs pump E85 (ethanol fuel blend) with a 9.5:1 compression ratio, and like you would expect, the Nissan CAS is in a rubbish bin somewhere with a Ross Performance Parts 36-2 trigger kit replacing it.
A Precision GEN2 Pro Mod 88 turbo handles the forced induction side of things with a plug and play Link ECU G4X R34 PnP covering engine management. Fuel injection limitations in both the current setup and with this specific ECU option will see the team move to a batch fire setup in the future, which is a common and proven solution in situations like this.
An Albins Performance Transmissions ST6, Hollinger Engineering 9" rear and ETS-Pro torque split controller handle most of the drivetrain requirements with the standard ATTESA system still handling things for the most part for now when it comes to AWD.
The car is lacking in safety features for 1/4 mile runs and will need more attention in this area in the future for this use, however, for roll racing only at the likes of Sydney Motorsport Park a safety structure/roll cage is not a requirement.

089: Pushing the Limits of Nissan’s Forgotten Turbo 4-Cylinder. Jul 14, 2023

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And we’re back! After a few weeks away from the microphone, we’re jumping back into the Tuned In podcast with our longest and tech-heaviest episode yet — one that will satisfy even the nerdiest listeners.
Use “DIGGLES100” for $100 off our HPA Engine Building Starter Package here: https://www.hpacademy.com/hpa-engine-building-starter-package/
This week, we’re talking to Australia’s Ben Diggles. Ben is somewhat unique as a Tuned In guest due to the fact he doesn’t work in the motorsport industry — as an accomplished marine biologist with a couple of doctorates under his belt, he’s quite far from it.
That career choice hasn’t stopped him from being one of the smartest people in the engine-building world, though, as Ben has spent his weekends for most of his adult life tinkering with cars — more specifically extremely high-output four-cylinder engines.
Down in our part of the world, Ben is well known for his work pushing Nissan’s mostly-forgotten FJ20 two-litre four-cylinder to its absolute maximum, first by building a 9.1-second Nissan S12 Gazelle street car years back that still holds the S12 world record, before moving his FJ expertise to a rear-engined dragster that has so far run a best of 6.7 down the quarter mile.
In this episode, Ben and Andre go way deep on ultra-high performance engine building, discussing different types of abnormal combustion and their causes, compression ratio considerations, mixture preparations, included valve angles, and much more.
There’s also a whole lot of FJ20 talk, including a comparison with a more modern gold-standard four-cylinder Honda K-series, as well as some surprising chats about the future of motorsport and the ever-advancing world of EVs.
There’s so much to chew on in this episode that it might require a couple of listens just to digest all the golden tech nuggets found within.
Don’t forget, use “DIGGLES100” for $100 off our HPA Engine Building Starter Package here: https://www.hpacademy.com/hpa-engine-building-starter-package/

Field Report: Hoonipigasus Failure Analysis, Solutions & Future Development Plans. Jul 12, 2023

Show notes

Active aero, mid-mounted flat 6 pushing out 1400hp at sea level, 1100hp at the Pikes Peak start line and 900hp at the top of the mountain. What does any of that mean or matter?
Use ‘PODCAST75’ for $75 off your first HPA course here: https://hpcdmy.co/hpa-tuned-in
NOTE: This was recorded before the sudden and sad passing of driver Ken Block in early 2023. RIP to a motorsport and performance industry legend.
Betim Berisha gives us the [TECH TALK] @semashow rundown on the @BBIAutosport 1972-ish Porsche SVRSR “Hoonipigasus” Open Class @pikespeakhillclimb1916 build which runs a modified Porsche GT3 R 4.0L flat 6 engine cranking out 900hp to 1400hp, depending how far up the side of a mountain you are.
Why an early 70's Porsche based design via Joe Scarbo @scarboperformance8623 was used is discussed along with some of the challenges relating to a mid-mounted engine setup as well as aero packaging advantages via the 6000 pound of downforce at 160mph via CFD goal @VerusEngineering had, and how that stacked up (well) in reality.
As discussed elsewhere the 2022 attempt at Pikes Peak sadly ended with engine failure which BBi and associated partners have not hidden away helping us all see that no matter the budget and level we're working at, sometimes things can and will go wrong. Importantly @gscpowerdivision5618 has since done the work to identify and solve 2022's weak link, with further testing to find and fix more planned.
Electronics wise the car runs two @MoTeCAustralia M142 ECUs and a @boschglobal PDM which are taken care of by Sander over at Obsidian Motorsport Group who we have talked with via the 051 Tuned In podcast on this build previously too.

Revisited: Why K-Swapping a Ferrari Makes Perfect Sense. Jul 07, 2023

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What's the best way to tackle a big build project and actually follow through to its completion? Just how useful is learning how to design in CAD? Is stance dead? And just how the hell did Ferrari manage to build such an overweight and underpowered car?
These questions and many more interesting head-scratchers are all answered on this week's episode of the High Performance Academy Tuned In podcast with our guest, Mike Burroughs of StanceWorks.
Use ‘STANCEWORKS50’ for 50% off HPA's 3D Modeling & CAD for Motorsport Course here: hpacademy.com/courses/3d-modeling-and-cad-for-motorsport/
From humble beginnings, Mike became one of a few key figures that helped to push the automotive landscape in a whole new direction during the 2010s. This week's conversation kicks off by exploring Mike's emergence onto the international car scene through his founding of StanceWorks and his internet-breaking builds, before discussing the 'stance' scene's meteoric rise, unavoidable peak, and inevitable decline.
Mike was able to translate that early success into a full-time career, and now runs a successful YouTube channel alongside the ever-popular StanceWorks site. Andre digs into this transition and how it's actually financially viable, before discussing Mike's biggest selling point — his insane builds.
Mike has zero relevant qualifications and has simply learnt everything as he goes, documenting it all for the world to see. This means he's picked up plenty of lessons along the way, and talks Andre through the most important things he's learnt when it comes to tackling big builds — and that means learning how to fabricate, weld, CAD design, and everything else in between.
Then there's the bright yellow elephant in the room — Mike's Honda-powered Ferrari 308 project. Although the purists might turn their noses up at this build, Mike dives deep into explaining exactly why he took a pristine classic Ferrari and tore it to pieces in order to create a 1000hp, K24-powered, street-legal time attack weapon.
If you love the buzz that comes with getting another job done on your build, or you're just about to pull the trigger on a new project car, or maybe you just love a little controversy — this is going to be a great listen for you.
Want to learn how to do your own fabrication work on your build? Here's the perfect place to start: https://hpcdmy.co/fabb
Follow Mike here:
www.stanceworks.com
IG: @mike_stanceworks
YT: Stanceworks

Field Report: V12 Swapped 'Pistachio RX7'. Jul 05, 2023

Show notes

How do you trigger both Mercedes and Mazda purists at once? This. This is how you do it, and we think it's awesome.
Use ‘PODCAST75’ for $75 off your first HPA course here: https://hpcdmy.co/hpa-tuned-in
Tuning and wiring specialist Adam Peeling of Smart EFI (who we've spoken to previously at Pikes Peak) gives us a rundown on this build and his involvement.
Originally a 1993 FD3S but looking far from stock these days a Mercedes M120 6L V12 with custom rods, pistons, cams, valve train, 5-stage dry sump, ported heads and more is the new heart of the Pistachio RX7, which was previously swapped with one of those tiny wee V8 numbers too as well as having a pretty serious turbocharged rotary build via someone else's hands in the 90's (think OG Fast and Furious, but without the 18-speed Roadranger movie gearbox special).
The cable-driven Hi-Boost individual throttle body (ITB) equipped M120 is running 11.8:1 compression, a 1.96 rod-to-stroke ratio to match the 9,000rpm or so limit the team is gunning for 850hp to 1000hp using ethanol-based fuel to gain the upper hand over AMG's 720hp Pagani Zonda M120 offering/s (they had a few versions). The variable cam timing has also been removed and as Adam helps explain the use of an HGT Precision 6-speed sequential customisable ratios the car is setup to stay in 'the sweet spot'.
A distinct Live To Offend (LTO/Kyza) body kit wraps the shell which also contains a @haltech NEXUS R5 'Swiss army ECU' that has a ton of onboard features, including a 16-channel PDM. There are enough outputs to power this build, but the use of Kaizen relays is an easy addition if that changes in future.
Adam also runs us through some of the wiring work including how to work some magic when it comes to booting connectors that are not designed for it in order to fully seal the concentrically twisted harness along with some explanation on the use of 'Milspec' connectors vs the likes of Souriau offerings or the Autosport line from TE Connectivity.
While this is a build you could say is somewhat typical of SEMA when it comes to the fact it is not yet running, we think the historical achievements of @GooichiMotors and the team they surround themselves with ensure that this won't disappoint when it's time to put those Toyo tyres to the test. No pressure guys.
You can find Adam & Smart EFI here: https://www.facebook.com/SmartEFI/

Revisited: Thinking About Building a Rally Car? Listen to This First. Jun 30, 2023

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“Circuit drivers see one corner 1000 times — rally drivers see 1000 corners one time.” In this High Performance Academy Tuned In episode, we’re joined by the one and only Dave Carapetyan of Rally Ready.
Use ‘RALLYREADY50’ to get 50% off HPA's Suspension Tuning & Optimization course: hpacademy.com/courses/suspension-and-car-setup

Better known as ‘Texas Dave’, this driver and instructor owns and operates the Rally Ready driving school on a converted cattle ranch 30 minutes outside of Austin, and joins podcast host Andre Simon for a dive deep into the world of rally.

Dave first breaks down the sport, explaining the ins and outs of stages, co-drivers, service intervals and everything in between, before jumping into the mechanical side of the equation to talk about damper setup, braking needs, and the importance of horsepower.

There’s a lot that goes into building a winning rally car and, as you can probably guess, it’s more than just piecing together a rapid machine.

Time is also spent covering the best ways for an amateur to get into this sport, from the right vehicle to pick, to setting realistic expectations, to just how much money you really need to be competitive. The guys also have an interesting chat around FWD vs RWD vs AWD that may surprise a few listeners.

Lastly, although there’s a lot that goes into building the abilities needed to become a podium-level rally driver, Dave still thinks there are a few key skills that, when mastered, will get all the aspiring Sebastian Loebs out there a long way towards success — even rally newbies like Daniel Ricciardo.

Want to take your driving skills to the next level? Start here: https://hpcdmy.co/driverb
Follow Dave here:
IG: @texas_dave, @rallyready, @brcc_motorsports
FB: Rally Ready Driving School
WWW: rallyready.com

Field Report: Rob Dahm's Rotary Engine Building & Tuning Tips. Jun 28, 2023

Show notes

Factory Mazda parts quality and their limits, knock/detonation in a rotary engine, lightened rotors, stud kits, clearancing plus ethanol fuel advantages are just a few of the topics discussed with Rob Dahm adding more and more specific details the deeper the discussion gets.
Use ‘PODCAST75’ for $75 off your first HPA course here: https://hpcdmy.co/hpa-tuned-in
Rotary engine building traditionally has had 2 extremes, those building them poorly and blaming engine, and those building them well via experience they don't wish to share sometimes for understandable commercial reasons.
Rob Dahm considers himself an entertainer, but through that role, he has helped share his journey into the world of rotary engine tuning and building with no filter on his successes or failures and insight into the work trailblazers like PAC Performance and similar have accomplished so far.
At SEMA we had a chance to pick his brain about this journey, what he has learnt and now what advice he can give others keen to dive into this world too.

Revisted: Can You Actually Tune An EV For MORE Power? Jun 23, 2023

Show notes

No matter how you feel about electric vehicles, there's no denying the incredible performance that can be achieved with these impressive driveline systems. With more and more rapid EVs hitting the streets every day, inevitably, enthusiasts are now beginning to ask just what can be gained when working with them.
This week's HPA Tuned In podcast guest is Sasha Anis of Mountain Pass Performance, someone who has dived deeper than most into the world of high-performance EVs.
Use 'SASHA100' to get $100 OFF HPA's Wiring Starter Package: hpacademy.com/hpa-wiring-starter-package/
Sasha is an accomplished driver and tuner who has, in recent years, refocused his efforts into the EV world, and his insight into this fairly new and constantly changing field of hyper-performance is invaluable.
In this episode, Sasha first breaks down the basics of how an EV system works, and spends time clearing up a few misconceptions around what is and isn't possible, the constant compromises that need to be made, and the future of EV tuning. MoTeC's M1 Build platform and how Sasha uses it in his EV builds is also discussed.
More of this new breed of vehicle on the roads equals more people crashing them, and that means some seriously enticing drivelines have begun popping up at the local wreckers. Sasha was an early adopter of EV swap exercises, and takes us through the process of swapping these monster drivelines into conventional ICE vehicles, and details what needs to be considered, eliminated, and purchased before the first spanner is turned. Mountain Pass Performance's Blue Lightning — a Tesla-swapped Lotus Evora package — is also picked apart.
Sasha also spends time discussing the braking and handling upgrade options he provides for Teslas, as well as a deep look at his well-known Nissan 350Z time attack car that uses a monster NA VQ engine working in tandem with a custom hybrid KERS system that Sasha has spent years developing and improving himself.
It doesn't matter how you feel about electric vehicles, this conversation with Sasha Anis of Mountain Pass Performance is genuinely fascinating and well worth the listen.
Follow Sasha here:
IG: @sashaanis14, @mountainpassperformance
WWW: mountainpassperformance.com
Want to learn more about motorsport wiring? Claim your spot for the next FREE lesson: https://hpcdmy.co/wireb

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