Hello from Virginia (Evo8 original owner)

Hello all. Excited to have really discovered HP Academy. I noticed their stuff on YouTube for years and didn't really pay attention, but now I'm an addict and there aren't enough hours in the day to eat, work, wrench, drive and watch HP Academy videos.

I own 6 cars and love them all, but my 2004 Evo RS is my chief tinkering/tuning passion. Bought it new and started modifying immediately. I learned early that paying a local wrench or tuner doesn't guarantee quality, so I've been building it in the garage and self-tuning it (and my other modded GM cars) over the years since about 2005. My ECU tuning tools have evolved and on the Evo I've gone from an SAFC-II piggyback, to a UTEC piggyback, to early versions of EcuFlash, to being one of the very first speed density converted Tephrav7 ROM stock ECU Evos back in 2009.

I've done a lot of wrenching on the Evo over the years as well to try different things -- Over the years, I've had 6 different turbos, 3 sets of cams, 4 different types of injectors, 3 different fuel pump setups, 2 coilover setups, countless spring rate and wheel/tire changes, etc. Today, it has long duration cams, ported o-ringed head, ported stock intake and TB, Garrett G25-660 turbo, 1650cc injectors, 450lph single pump, flex fuel on the stock ECU, Ohlins coilovers, etc. My focus has been not only performance, but getting it to run as smoothly and reliably as possible. Evos have this reputation for breaking, but mine has been good to me.

Since discovering the HPA tuning videos and some other good online resources, I've expanded my knowledge and come to realize the superiority of a standalone ECU when properly tuned. So, I've aimed high and recently ordered an Emtron KV8 ECU as my first standalone. I can't wait to have the superior logging, engine protection features and other coolness of this ECU. Currently trying to assess whether to tackle the patch harness as a first wiring project or pay someone. HPA makes it look easy in the wiring videos, so I'm going to delve into the details and see if it's reasonably feasible for me to tackle it as a first major wiring project. As with most things, I'd rather invest in tools and knowledge over shop time. I'm almost ashamed of my shoddy wiring work to date. I had no idea what I was doing and there aren't exactly a plethora of training materials on this stuff online (other than HPA).

I really hope HP Academy keeps growing and the courses keep flowing. This sure beats trying to sift out the bad info from the good on forums, and worse, social media sites. I've been doing that for decades and am so happy to have organized presentations of good information.

See you in the forum.

RichJ

Evo is indeed very interesting car to play with))

Welcome, and thank you for the kind words we are very happy to have you onboard and trust we are delivering the content you need,

great project,