Latest / In Wheel Time Podcast / How A Community College Dyno Day Teaches Real Horsepower

Transcript

How A Community College Dyno Day Teaches Real Horsepower · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:09
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, there's that.
• 0:11
  Don Armstrong: Old Fumblefingers don't fumble fingers.
• 0:14
  Don Armstrong: Hey, it's the award-winning In Wheel Time Car Talk Show today coming to you from our Dual City Studios in Texas, USA, just ahead.
• 0:21
  Don Armstrong: Dino Day at the community college.
• 0:23
  Don Armstrong: All right.
• 0:24
  Don Armstrong: Learn about all that.
• 0:26
  Don Armstrong: Later, our story of the week.
• 0:28
  Don Armstrong: Jeff's Motor Minute.
• 0:29
  Don Armstrong: And I'll review the all-new 2026 Kia Sportage plug-in review just ahead on the In Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
• 0:36
  Don Armstrong: Howdy, along with Mike out of this world Mars, way over there in the other studio.
• 0:41
  Don Armstrong: We need more Jeff Zeke, Chief Engineer David Ainsley.
• 0:44
  Don Armstrong: He's hanging in there with us.
• 0:45
  Don Armstrong: Hanging.
• 0:46
  Don Armstrong: And I'm Don Armstrong.
• 0:47
  Don Armstrong: Glad you could join us for our Saturday matinee.
• 0:51
  Don Armstrong: Can I call it that?
• 0:52
  Jeff Dziekan: You can.
• 0:52
  Don Armstrong: What is the definition of a matinee?
• 0:55
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh daytime.
• 0:56
  Mike Marrs: I thought it was the afternoon show.
• 0:58
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah, afternoon would be a matinee.
• 1:00
  Jeff Dziekan: Well, uh, you know, it's funny because we always used to call the You know who would know?
• 1:04
  Jeff Dziekan: George would know.
• 1:05
  Jeff Dziekan: Yes, he would.
• 1:06
  Jeff Dziekan: George was has been in theater, as f uh was born and raised in that.
• 1:10
  Don Armstrong: My dad was the general manager of the Metropolitan Theater in downtown Houston years ago.
• 1:14
  Don Armstrong: Hollywood and all that.
• 1:15
  Don Armstrong: That's the definition of uh matinee.
• 1:17
  Jeff Dziekan: I just told you.
• 1:18
  Don Armstrong: I know you did.
• 1:21
  Don Armstrong: It's a musical, dramatic, or cinematic performance held during the daytime, typically in the early to mid-afternoon.
• 1:28
  Jeff Dziekan: Oh, there you go.
• 1:29
  Don Armstrong: Kind of like not this show.
• 1:30
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah.
• 1:31
  Don Armstrong: We're not a matinee show.
• 1:32
  Don Armstrong: We're pre-match.
• 1:33
  Jeff Dziekan: We are.
• 1:34
  Jeff Dziekan: We're always pre-something.
• 1:35
  Jeff Dziekan: Pre-something, yeah.
• 1:36
  Jeff Dziekan: Premature matinee.
• 1:38
  Jeff Dziekan: Okay.
• 1:39
  Jeff Dziekan: Do we have our guest, Mr.
• 1:40
  Don Armstrong: Mars?
• 1:41
  Mike Marrs: No, I just texted.
• 1:42
  Mike Marrs: He was supposed to have been here five minutes ago.
• 1:44
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 1:45
  Mike Marrs: Oh boy.
• 1:45
  Don Armstrong: Well, that seems to be the theme of the day, doesn't it?
• 1:49
  Mike Marrs: Well, he was here.
• 1:50
  Mike Marrs: Oh, here he comes.
• 1:52
  Mike Marrs: All right.
• 1:53
  Don Armstrong: Well, for non-broadcasting people, it really doesn't make that big of a deal.
• 1:59
  Don Armstrong: But for broadcasting people, when you say eleven o'clock, then you know, that's eleven zero zero zero zero.
• 2:06
  Don Armstrong: Austin Manis, we're giving you a bad time.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, uh, okay, Mr.
• 2:15
  Don Armstrong: Morris.
• 2:15
  Don Armstrong: We're gonna let you deal with that.
• 2:17
  Don Armstrong: And uh comes from somewhere in that place too, you gotta do it.
• 2:20
  Don Armstrong: Well, uh, you need to go outside where you can get a signal on your cell phone because you're breaking up really bad here.
• 2:26
  Don Armstrong: If you don't mind.
• 2:27
  Mike Marrs: I'm gonna I'm gonna text him.
• 2:28
  Mike Marrs: I'll be right back.
• 2:30
  Mike Marrs: Well, there he is.
• 2:32
  Don Armstrong: Austin, can you hear it?
• 2:33
  Don Armstrong: No, he's gone.
• 2:34
  Don Armstrong: He's gone.
• 2:35
  Mike Marrs: No, no, there he is.
• 2:36
  Don Armstrong: Try Austin, are you there?
• 2:39
  Don Armstrong: No.
• 2:40
  Don Armstrong: All right.
• 2:41
  Don Armstrong: So um let's do uh let's do Jeff's motor a minute, shall we?
• 2:45
  Don Armstrong: Okay.
• 2:45
  Jeff Dziekan: Well here the motor minute.
• 2:47
  Jeff Dziekan: Did you eat in your car?
• 2:48
  Jeff Dziekan: Do you have snacks?
• 2:49
  Jeff Dziekan: We always do.
• 2:50
  Jeff Dziekan: French fries or anything like that.
• 2:51
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah, always.
• 2:52
  Jeff Dziekan: I hate it.
• 2:53
  Jeff Dziekan: I'm not a I'm not an eating in the car kind of person.
• 2:55
  Jeff Dziekan: Kathy does.
• 2:56
  Don Armstrong: She eats you know, she'll say, I know, because you're well, my mother used to call a clean finger.
• 3:00
  Jeff Dziekan: Well, all ten fingers are clean.
• 3:03
  Don Armstrong: I know.
• 3:03
  Don Armstrong: Excuse me.
• 3:05
  Jeff Dziekan: Do you know what some of the worst ones are?
• 3:07
  Jeff Dziekan: They're kind of mixed up.
• 3:08
  Jeff Dziekan: But please one of them is a sandwich.
• 3:10
  Jeff Dziekan: It's a classic road trip lunch.
• 3:12
  Jeff Dziekan: Endlessly customized, you know, you're prepared in advance, won't spoil in some cases.
• 3:18
  Jeff Dziekan: A few hours in the trunk and it's wrapped properly.
• 3:20
  Jeff Dziekan: However, when you're eating it, the choice is filling crucial parts of the seat.
• 3:24
  Jeff Dziekan: It's messy, you're getting it on yourself.
• 3:26
  Jeff Dziekan: You got stuff on your hands.
• 3:28
  Jeff Dziekan: I've occasionally done that.
• 3:30
  Jeff Dziekan: You know, you're at you're at uh Bucky's and you get one of the sandwiches and you're eating.
• 3:34
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah.
• 3:35
  Don Armstrong: And you got that cranberry turkey dripping all over your pants.
• 3:38
  Don Armstrong: That's exactly right.
• 3:38
  Jeff Dziekan: They mentioned cranberry turkey in this.
• 3:40
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh hard candy, that's usually popular.
• 3:43
  Jeff Dziekan: Do you know that there's a choking element in that while you're driving?
• 3:45
  Jeff Dziekan: Of course, yeah.
• 3:46
  Jeff Dziekan: So that's one of them that you really shouldn't do.
• 3:48
  Jeff Dziekan: Cups of yogurt, family favorite.
• 3:50
  Jeff Dziekan: You get some you know nutrition and protein and calcium and all that stuff, but you need cutlery, you need a spoon, you need chance a chance of dripping on your yourself and on the seeds.
• 4:00
  Don Armstrong: And not only that, but if it gets down between the seed and the center contour, it goes up.
• 4:05
  Jeff Dziekan: And it's it's one of the one of the uh foods that does uh smell.
• 4:10
  Jeff Dziekan: It smells funny in here.
• 4:11
  Don Armstrong: What is that?
• 4:12
  Don Armstrong: Oh, that's the yogurt that I had two years ago.
• 4:14
  Jeff Dziekan: Yep, yep.
• 4:15
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh watermelon.
• 4:16
  Jeff Dziekan: Don't eat watermelon while you're driving because it's liquidy, moist, wet seeds.
• 4:21
  Jeff Dziekan: You get it all over yourself.
• 4:22
  Jeff Dziekan: It drops in the seat and everything.
• 4:24
  Jeff Dziekan: And my favorite, we're all gonna see this hard-boiled eggs.
• 4:28
  Jeff Dziekan: Okay, very tempting.
• 4:29
  Jeff Dziekan: Oh, little road trip.
• 4:31
  Don Armstrong: And you know what?
• 4:31
  Don Armstrong: In about 10 minutes after you eat it, you get another treat inside the car.
• 4:35
  Jeff Dziekan: They're high in protein, take a little preparation and in general keep the whole family happy even when eating cold.
• 4:41
  Jeff Dziekan: However, you might be left regretting the decision to fill the lunch bag with eggs once they're a few hours out into the journey.
• 4:48
  Don Armstrong: Can I can I just uh can I confess something?
• 4:50
  Don Armstrong: Go ahead.
• 4:52
  Don Armstrong: You know, I had two daughters uh in the car most of the time.
• 4:57
  Don Armstrong: And um I had a button in the suburban that you could lock the roll-down window.
• 5:03
  Jeff Dziekan: I could still do that.
• 5:04
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 5:04
  Don Armstrong: And uh I used to have lots of fun in the car.
• 5:08
  Jeff Dziekan: Eating hard-boiled eggs.
• 5:09
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah, eating eating hard-boiled eggs and then not and not allowing them to roll down over.
• 5:17
  Jeff Dziekan: Dad.
• 5:17
  Jeff Dziekan: Oh my god, dad.
• 5:19
  Jeff Dziekan: Oh my god.
• 5:20
  Jeff Dziekan: In the backseat.
• 5:21
  Jeff Dziekan: So don't uh canned fish, you know, especially to it.
• 5:25
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah, don't do that.
• 5:26
  Don Armstrong: I've got a guy that I work with at work.
• 5:28
  Don Armstrong: He brings sardines in.
• 5:29
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, I think it permeates the entire office.
• 5:35
  Don Armstrong: No, you eat them outside.
• 5:36
  Jeff Dziekan: Because the smell puts people off, heat out in the you put the heat in the equation and all that stuff, and they start stinking in a food bag.
• 5:44
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh so if you're eating fish in the car, be aware that it's it's not a good idea.
• 5:48
  Jeff Dziekan: What a great idea! Sardine drive-thru.
• 5:50
  Jeff Dziekan: Sardine and hard-boiled eggs.
• 5:54
  Mike Marrs: You got anything for the trip yet, sardine?
• 5:56
  Mike Marrs: Might as well have some broccoli in there too.
• 5:57
  Mike Marrs: Listen, I think we got Austin ironed out.
• 6:00
  Don Armstrong: Okay.
• 6:00
  Don Armstrong: Uh we didn't.
• 6:02
  Don Armstrong: He did.
• 6:03
  Don Armstrong: So there you go.
• 6:05
  Don Armstrong: Austin, did you go outside?
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I did a little uh technical switching up on the phone, so hopefully that works out a little bit better.
• 6:12
  Don Armstrong: Sounds good.
• 6:13
  Don Armstrong: Sounds good.
• 6:14
  Don Armstrong: So um Austin is uh our guy for our interview here, is the director of the Carol Shelby Auto Institute and Northeast Texas Community College Dino Day event.
• 6:26
  Don Armstrong: Right.
• 6:26
  Don Armstrong: So um is this uh uh an annual event, a monthly event?
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: Well, in the past, they've had it uh kind of yeah, one per semester, spring and fall.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we typically had done it around the anniversary of Carol's passing in in May.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: We found out that was a little tough with uh finals and everything and graduation.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: So we bumped it up a little early in the spring to give uh you know a lot of our supporters and our students a chance to enjoy the day uh and get out here.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, it was a little a little wet out here on this beautiful spring Mount Pleasant Day, but uh um yeah, so we typically do it uh one in the spring and one in the fall.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: And we're hoping to kind of you know reinvigorate that to keep that frequency going.
• 7:08
  Don Armstrong: So something tells me that Northeast Texas Community College has some sort of an automotive program.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's true.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, had an automotive program, and then obviously Carol Shelby, the late great uh that's from this area, um, told the college that hey, he'd really like to support this trade and this skill set uh in the auto industry, especially in the performance industry.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so he he let the college use his name to gain uh notoriety and help with recruiting and such to uh to get students to to be interested in this kind of stuff.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so among several programs, EMS, funeral services, cosmetology, welding, uh police, uh there's just so many programs here and auto autotech is definitely um a very robust one as well.
• 7:54
  Don Armstrong: Could you put him full screen, Mike?
• 7:57
  Mike Marrs: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 8:00
  Don Armstrong: Um one of the things that uh I I see here that you're up in Mount Pleasant, Texas.
• 8:05
  Don Armstrong: Tell everybody where Mount Pleasant is.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: So we are uh I'd say it's I-30 between that runs between Dallas and Texarkana, and Mount Pleasant is just a hair closer to Texarkana.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so if you're coming to the college, you would basically come to Mount Pleasant, head south about uh 10 minutes out into the country a little bit, and then you're uh then you're here at the campus, beautiful campus.
• 8:27
  Don Armstrong: Well, I will tell you that uh I've always uh uh considered that part of the state of Texas, that'd be the piney woods of East Texas.
• 8:35
  Don Armstrong: Am I correct?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: There's definitely uh some beautiful pines here, and then in the farther west you go, they tend to thin out by the time you get to Dallas Fort Worth, you just see a few left.
• 8:45
  Don Armstrong: That's why all the good people live over there in Mount Pleasant.
• 8:47
  Don Armstrong: Logging country.
• 8:49
  Don Armstrong: Exactly.
• 8:50
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 8:51
  Don Armstrong: So we've got uh viewers, listeners of our program that have no clue what a dyno day is.
• 8:59
  Don Armstrong: And um dyno is short for a an object that is a dynamometer that uh put cars on, and you run up the motor and spin the great big wheel behind it, and it measures all sorts of things like the output of the engine and horsepower and tuning and that sort of thing.
• 9:19
  Don Armstrong: And um and what what is it that you guys are doing up there?
• 9:24
  Don Armstrong: So you get two runs for$35.
• 9:26
  Don Armstrong: So that means that you get your car onto the dyno and uh you make a uh I guess a baseline pole, if you will.
• 9:34
  Don Armstrong: And then on the second run, you've done some tuning or some sort of fine wonderfulness to the car that bumps it up a little bit.
• 9:44
  Don Armstrong: Fuel air mixture.
• 9:46
  Jeff Dziekan: Hey Mike, do we have a shot of his?
• 9:48
  Jeff Dziekan: Do we have a video, Mike?
• 9:50
  Mike Marrs: Well, I've got a a shot of the flyer, but I don't think we can add it without overlaying it.
• 9:56
  Don Armstrong: Let's not do all that.
• 9:57
  Don Armstrong: Okay so um so tell me, uh am I far from the truth here?
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: No, you're spot on.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh basically we've got customers, these these participants, they could be students themselves from the college.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: They could be, we've got a wonderful Shelby Club out of Dallas, uh, Shelby Cobra Association of Texas that supports us.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so they they'll bring some cars out.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: And what they're you know, every customer has their reasons for what they're doing.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: One will exactly like you mentioned, they're gonna do a pull on the dyno, they're gonna get a horsepower and a torque reading, they're gonna go into their tune and they're gonna adjust to some settings, and they're gonna get that second pull to make sure that those settings are what they wanted to do.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: Then you've got the folks that are just, hey, I just like to know what my car does.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: I never really understood the horsepower and torque, you know, uh outputs of this, and I just want to see what it does.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: And then some people just want a picture of their car and hear it rev up really loud, and and uh so it's that uh the audience loves to see that.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so you know we we have it set up, and but the main purpose of the whole thing is to highlight what the students are doing here, absolutely what they're learning, how they hook up the cars, what they're testing for, what they're they do a tech inspection of every car before it gets on the dyno.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so the the the purpose of the dino day is to is to showcase what they've been learning and to show donors and and community members, hey, this is what's out here in the piney woods, and you need to be a part of this.
• 11:15
  Don Armstrong: Okay, well, it just is I've got to I've got to say this because I watch the videos on uh reels and on YouTube, and uh every once in a while I run across one that that mesmerizes me.
• 11:29
  Don Armstrong: So somebody and most of them are diesels, and they'll put a diesel on a dyno and they'll rev it up, and uh it'll either be a runaway or something goes haywire, and they wind up blowing it up right there in front of God and everybody, and you're going, holy delito!
• 11:46
  Jeff Dziekan: And that was the question I had.
• 11:47
  Jeff Dziekan: Is this open to any vehicle or just Mustangs?
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: So, specifically for our dyno, uh, it has to be a rear-wheel drive vehicle.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: There are that exist for all-wheel drive or front-wheel drive vehicles, but ours specifically is meant for a rear-wheel drive vehicle, which is what most people have, uh, you know, they're driving around in a garage.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it would I would love to have the all-wheel drive, uh, but that's uh that's a few more tuition payments before I can order one of those.
• 12:13
  Jeff Dziekan: Yeah, and to Don's point, what's the liability if something like that does happen to a vehicle?
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: So you know, there's clear instructions for the participants on on you know who owns what.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, obviously if if the dyno has an issue, that's you know, that's that's on us, and that's why we take very good care to make sure that all the equipment's functional before our day starts.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: If the driver does something like drives in a car, that's you know, we we don't let it on the dyno, obviously, if we've had uh seen some technical problems during the tech inspection.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so unfortunately we've had to we'll we'll turn people away and say, hey man, I'm not gonna take your money, but you know, you definitely want to go get this checked out.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: I can't put you on the dyno if you've got a large bubble on your rear tire or if your drive shaft's gonna act in brief.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: So this seems like though that we take care to basically it's risk mitigation just to make sure that we're here to have a good day, we're here to you know help the customer out, but at the same time, it's safety is always paramount to anything you do.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: Risk mitigation.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: Risk mitigation.
• 13:06
  Don Armstrong: So um, have you ever had any that the you thought that was the risk was mitigated?
• 13:10
  Don Armstrong: But as it turns out, it wasn't so much mitigated, and the car blew up on the dyno.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: That that has absolutely happened at and I've seen it at dynos just at at regular mod shops where maybe the customer wasn't forthright with what maybe they had under the hood or some maybe they got some bad fuel, and when that engine pops and then uh everybody's like, oh no, or they or they blow uh uh a coolant uh coolant hose and leaks all over the floor, and then of course that stops everything, and we got to clean it up.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's a bit embarrassing for the for the vehicle owner.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but but uh yeah, like I said, we we minimize those by uh making sure we're checking them out before they get on the dyno.
• 13:49
  Don Armstrong: Okay, so um I've got a 2001 stock Corvette C5 with a six-speed manual transmission, nothing fancy.
• 13:59
  Don Armstrong: We don't blow the tires off of it, it's only got 36,000 miles on it.
• 14:03
  Don Armstrong: It's a nice sweet car.
• 14:05
  Don Armstrong: I want to bring it up there, but I don't know anything about getting into the computer of that car and diddling with the engine settings in it.
• 14:15
  Don Armstrong: And what I'd really like to do is I'd like to get the engine settings as they were from the factory.
• 14:21
  Don Armstrong: How do I go about that?
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: So you're trying to return the settings to the factory settings?
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: Reloaded.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that's that's easily doable.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, especially at a dealership can absolutely do that for you.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because they'll have the what they call the base tune that that the manufacturer can put into those motors.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so they can absolutely flash what they call flasher tune and uh reload the factory settings.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: If somebody's you know gone in there and adjusted things and now you're the owner of the vehicle, um, you may want to know that that they've they've altered some of those things because it could affect things like warranty and and uh performance.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so you could definitely come up here and test on the dyno and get an ice an idea of what the horsepower is, and then go to your dealership and say, Hey, I think something's up here.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: I think somebody made a mistake, or I just like to make this my Sunday driver, and I want it factory setting.
• 15:13
  Don Armstrong: Well, I made the mistake.
• 15:15
  Don Armstrong: I made the mistake of allowing somebody, and I spent a lot of money, uh allowing them to mess with it, and so now it and it it's it varies, but I will tell you, generally speaking, you're in fifth gear, sixth gear, and running down the road, and you just kind of barely mash on that accelerator pedal just a little bit, and all of a sudden, it's got a knock.
• 15:39
  Don Armstrong: In other words, it's been advanced too much, in my estimation.
• 15:44
  Don Armstrong: And um, and it really has not done anything to make the performance of the vehicle any more than it really was to begin with.
• 15:55
  Don Armstrong: So I'd just like to get it back to where it was.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: And that and I'd say start start at uh, you know, scientifically speaking, start at zero and uh and work your way back to where you want to be.
• 16:05
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 16:06
  Don Armstrong: Well, like I like you said, uh go to Chevrolet.
• 16:09
  Don Armstrong: Well, I'm not gonna go to Chevrolet, but I'll go to somebody that has that flash program that they can stick back in there.
• 16:15
  Don Armstrong: And I'm sure that there's an aftermarket for that, is there not?
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: I yeah, I'm sure most of the tuners that you can buy, SCT, um uh end gauge, HV tuners, like a lot of those uh you'll be able to kind of and most most reputable tuners probably you know work on a car like that and they have that flash tunes uh that that manufacturers tunes saved on their on their device.
• 16:38
  Mike Marrs: Particularly a 2001.
• 16:40
  Mike Marrs: I mean, that's old enough I would think any proprietary was is gone off of it.
• 16:45
  Don Armstrong: Well, that and the fact that I don't want to tout the fact that it's a 2001 ancient old beast, but I love it.
• 16:52
  Don Armstrong: And so Oh, don't put yourself down.
• 16:57
  Don Armstrong: Well, there is that.
• 16:58
  Don Armstrong: So today's event, which is going on right now, nine to three.
• 17:02
  Don Armstrong: Do you have cars lined up out there to get on the on the dyno?
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I at first I thought, well, this rain's gonna keep the damn, but I tell you what, we got a parking lot full of cars.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we've had uh we've got actually a Shelby GD500 just got loaded on the dyno.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um we've had a beamer, like an M3 uh BMWs up there.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: We had a Miata that pulled about 170 horsepower.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: Pretty impressive.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, we've got some less things out here once this starts up.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: How big is your shop?
• 17:30
  Mike Marrs: Austin, can you you're using your phone?
• 17:33
  Mike Marrs: Can you turn it around, turn to the other camera and kind of point it at that way we can see it a little bit better?
• 17:40
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 17:40
  Don Armstrong: Well, um, how many students do you have in the automotive department up there?
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: It sounds like it's how many students.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we have around 70 students, and that's uh a combination of folks that are um uh just they walk up here and they say, Hey, I want to go to this school and I want this program, and then uh which is like certification and and an associate's degrees.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then we've got I'd say 50% of our population is uh dual credit students.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: So they're high school students and they're juniors and seniors, and they come up here and do some automotive classes and they get credit for both their high school and their college.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, we really love those kids because they uh they come in here and they're they're obviously looking forward to advancing their education after high school.
• 18:26
  Don Armstrong: Man, this sounds something that was right up my alley back when I was in high school.
• 18:30
  Don Armstrong: So uh maybe perhaps uh you've got some sort of uh uh line on places to stay, weekends, you know, whatever the case may be.
• 18:41
  Don Armstrong: I mean, uh I I'd I'd given anything to do something like that when I was in high school.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember when I showed up to Texas AM about a million years ago, and I had zero credit hours walking into it, and I had all these peers and classmates that are like, oh yeah, I've already got 30, 40 hours.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how is that possible?
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: And they said, do credit, man.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought, man, what an opportunity.
• 19:06
  Don Armstrong: Well, so there is a way, and I and I guess that you uh or a professor up there that knows the ins and outs of this, uh, they would be able to guide you into something like that.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: And for a high school person, their their their favorite, or I'd say their most useful that they can talk to is their local kind of uh they they've called them different things over the years.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: I I call them, you know, high school guidance counselors, um, but there's a career counselor um that will basically sit down with a student and say, Hey man, what are you looking to do?
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: And that is the person a student would want to leverage to say, Hey, how do I get into this?
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm really interested.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, what do I program it?
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_01: So they would say, Well, let me call Austin Manson and I think he's got a slot for you.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so we would work with them uh and just walk them through, like, hey, here's the plan, here's the classes you need to take to get your certification.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: And those high school guys counselors really appreciate it when a graduating high school senior walks away with a with a certification or a degree because it really helps their educational funding they get from the state and the federal government.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: So it's to their benefit.
• 20:10
  Mike Marrs: Austin, let me ask you so does the high school itself have to have a program?
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's basically uh whatever the state regulates is what is necessary for a high school diploma.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then our curriculum, of course, is set by you know higher levels like state and federal.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so as long as that matches up, um, and and we we are flexible, and and if it's something that needs to be worded properly or a specific course, we we have the ability to kind of set up a class specifically for that high school.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: Our community college services for counties and those high schools that are inside that.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh those high schools basically they already are getting the funding specifically to send students to us.
• 20:52
  Don Armstrong: But we can take Austin, listen, I really really really appreciate you taking the time uh to visit with us today during your open house and dyno day.
• 21:00
  Don Armstrong: Uh that's up there at the Northeast Texas Community College in Mount Pleasant, Texas.
• 21:05
  Don Armstrong: Look them up.
• 21:05
  Don Armstrong: It's great stuff.
• 21:06
  Don Armstrong: Uh Austin Manis, we sure appreciate you taking the time this morning.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: Appreciate you guys so much.
• 21:11
  Don Armstrong: Thank you, sir.
• 21:12
  Don Armstrong: Austin just ahead, Jeff's Motor Minute, and I review the new Kia Sportage plug-in when the in-wheel time car talk show continues right after this.
• 21:21
  Don Armstrong: The Tex Max dining experience is defined by Lupi Tortilla, your destination for Texas's best beef fajitas and frozen margaritas.
• 21:29
  Don Armstrong: Since 1983, Lupi Tortilla has served authentic and time-tested recipes made with the freshest ingredients.
• 21:36
  Don Armstrong: Atmosphere is part of the award-winning experience of Lupi Tortilla, all developed in a little house near Highway 6 and I-10 in Houston.
• 21:43
  Don Armstrong: Visit any of the Luffy tortillas and you'll see the same attention to detail at each and every location.
• 21:48
  Don Armstrong: Start your loopy experience with queso flammiato and guacamole, along with a classic frozen margarita.
• 21:54
  Don Armstrong: Dine on famous loopy beef and chicken fajitas or pepper shrimp brochette, or a French or vegetarian entree.
• 22:00
  Don Armstrong: Finish with a scrumptious flan for dessert.
• 22:02
  Don Armstrong: Find Loopy Tortilla in Houston, College Station, Beaumont, Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas, Fort Worth.
• 22:08
  Don Armstrong: There's a Texas location near you.
• 22:10
  Don Armstrong: The recipes are authentic and time-tested.
• 22:12
  Don Armstrong: The ingredients always fresh.
• 22:14
  Don Armstrong: Loopy Tortilla is pretty good.
• 22:20
  Don Armstrong: Apple or Android In Wheel Time Podcasts can be found everywhere, on the stream and through downloads.
• 22:26
  Don Armstrong: Whether you're on the road or at home and searching for a fun car talk show, give In Wheel Time a try.
• 22:31
  Don Armstrong: Honest new car reviews, fun informative interviews with real car people, weekly automotive news, features like Jeff's car culture, Mike's driving destinations, all on In Wheel Time.
• 22:41
  Don Armstrong: Check us out on Sirius XM Podcasts, iHeartRadio, or while you're shopping on Amazon through Amazon Music.
• 22:47
  Don Armstrong: InWheeltime.com has a list, so check us out.
• 22:52
  Don Armstrong: Our live In Wheel Time Car Talk Show every Saturday at our regular time, 10 to noon Central Time, on Inwheeltime.com, YouTube, and Facebook.
• 23:01
  Don Armstrong: And don't forget, 30-minute podcasts of our shows can be found at your favorite podcast store.
• 23:07
  Don Armstrong: We hope that you will join us.
• 23:08
  Don Armstrong: Time now for this hour's car review.
• 23:10
  Don Armstrong: I had a chance to drive the 2026 Kia Sportage.
• 23:14
  Don Armstrong: Available trim levels include the X-Line and the X-Line Prestige.
• 23:20
  Don Armstrong: Our reviewed trim level was the PHEV, plug-in hybrid electric, X-Line Prestige all-wheel drive.
• 23:29
  Don Armstrong: Try to get that on the back of the car.
• 23:32
  Don Armstrong: This is considered a compact SUV.
• 23:35
  Don Armstrong: You and I think would most likely classify it as a mid-size.
• 23:39
  Don Armstrong: It's 95% Korean.
• 23:42
  Don Armstrong: Korean parts, Korean built, the whole nine yards.
• 23:45
  Don Armstrong: Five seats in this thing, two rows.
• 23:48
  Don Armstrong: Exterior changes.
• 23:49
  Don Armstrong: This is the fifth generation that was introduced in 2023, but it does have a makeover for 2026, and it's pretty cool.
• 23:58
  Don Armstrong: Distinct front grille and lighting look great.
• 24:01
  Don Armstrong: Bulging fenders at the wheel wells, like that.
• 24:06
  Don Armstrong: Sharp looking rear glass with a nice sunshade over the window.
• 24:12
  Don Armstrong: Wide opening rear hatch as well.
• 24:15
  Don Armstrong: So if you want to try to get uh you know your other little car in there, you probably could.
• 24:21
  Don Armstrong: What I liked overall, the design gets high marks in my estimation.
• 24:25
  Don Armstrong: What could use improvement?
• 24:27
  Don Armstrong: Uh wheel design.
• 24:30
  Don Armstrong: I wasn't a big fan of the wheels.
• 24:32
  Don Armstrong: Um and that was the charge port that you just saw there.
• 24:36
  Don Armstrong: The gasoline port is in a different part of the car, so you don't get the two mixed up.
• 24:42
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 24:43
  Don Armstrong: And I'm sure that some people Well, what is this for?
• 24:46
  Don Armstrong: Uh Interior Highlights, clean center console, not cluttered with too many buttons and knobs.
• 24:53
  Don Armstrong: Same for the dash.
• 24:55
  Don Armstrong: It's uh the minimalist kind of design.
• 24:58
  Don Armstrong: Uh knobs and controls are just few and far between.
• 25:02
  Don Armstrong: Changeable instrument cluster, huge infotainment screen.
• 25:06
  Don Armstrong: Uh steering wheel controls are just right.
• 25:11
  Don Armstrong: Cargo room, adequate and competitive for its size and class.
• 25:16
  Don Armstrong: What I liked?
• 25:17
  Don Armstrong: The color options and seating material design.
• 25:19
  Don Armstrong: Very cool.
• 25:20
  Don Armstrong: What could use improvement?
• 25:22
  Don Armstrong: I don't know.
• 25:24
  Don Armstrong: Um I will tell you that I plugged this in here at the house and I also plugged it in at the office.
• 25:31
  Don Armstrong: Only on 110 now.
• 25:33
  Don Armstrong: Just a regular standard thing.
• 25:35
  Don Armstrong: And uh I think that you'll be interested in this 1.6 liter turbo with the plug-in hybrid, so it's got electricity as well.
• 25:46
  Don Armstrong: That combined makes up 268 horsepower and 271 pound feet of torque.
• 25:52
  Don Armstrong: That's a lot, my friends.
• 25:53
  Don Armstrong: But with a combined gas and electric, six-speed automatic transmission, standard all-wheel drive on this one.
• 26:00
  Don Armstrong: Now, the electric and gas mileage that is advertised is 83 miles per gallon.
• 26:12
  unknown: Wow.
• 26:12
  Don Armstrong: Gas only is 36.
• 26:14
  Don Armstrong: Now, this is the first time that I've ever done this where I plugged the car in so it had electricity, so I did both.
• 26:22
  Don Armstrong: It the car did it for me.
• 26:24
  Don Armstrong: The both gasoline and electric.
• 26:26
  Don Armstrong: I got 61.3 miles per gallon.
• 26:31
  Don Armstrong: Wow.
• 26:32
  Don Armstrong: Over 468.83 miles.
• 26:35
  Don Armstrong: Pretty impressive.
• 26:36
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 26:37
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 26:38
  Don Armstrong: Uh what I liked, hello.
• 26:40
  Don Armstrong: Mileage.
• 26:42
  Don Armstrong: What could use improvement?
• 26:43
  Don Armstrong: The downshift needs improvement and delayed acceleration.
• 26:47
  Don Armstrong: There's a little bit of a disconnect there, but you know, I'm a two-foot automatic kind of guy.
• 26:52
  Don Armstrong: Left foot for the brake, right foot for the, and I may have been too fast for it.
• 26:56
  Don Armstrong: Whatever.
• 26:57
  Don Armstrong: Ride and handling, smooth ride, easy, easy handling.
• 27:01
  Don Armstrong: This is not a car that's meant for road courses.
• 27:04
  Don Armstrong: What could use improvement?
• 27:06
  Don Armstrong: Um Kia did not make the battery weighed down the handling.
• 27:12
  Don Armstrong: So it doesn't need improvements, just another thing that I think attributes to look at.
• 27:17
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, when you drive the car.
• 27:19
  Don Armstrong: Base trim price, 47,190.
• 27:22
  Don Armstrong: Price is tested 49,730.
• 27:24
  Don Armstrong: But the base model price,$40,490.
• 27:29
  Don Armstrong: Competitors, uh Hyundai Tucson, its cousin, starts at$40,325.
• 27:35
  Don Armstrong: Uh Toyota Rav 4, PHEV,$41.5.
• 27:39
  Don Armstrong: And the Ford Escape PHEV.
• 27:41
  Don Armstrong: First, I didn't even know that they made one.
• 27:43
  Don Armstrong: And second, the price was kind of astounding to me.
• 27:46
  Don Armstrong: It went for$31,495 as a base price.
• 27:51
  Don Armstrong: Wow.
• 27:52
  Don Armstrong: So that would be something that I definitely look into.
• 27:54
  Don Armstrong: Next week I'm going to review the Chevy Blazer EV.
• 27:57
  Jeff Dziekan: Especially for uh, you know, the the hybrid gas.
• 28:01
  Jeff Dziekan: 31.
• 28:02
  Jeff Dziekan: That's that's a plug-in hybrid, yeah.
• 28:04
  Don Armstrong: A plug-in hybrid.
• 28:05
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, I've really never toyed with that.
• 28:07
  Don Armstrong: I just thought, I'm not gonna plug it in.
• 28:09
  Don Armstrong: Why that don't have to?
• 28:10
  Don Armstrong: Well, I did.
• 28:12
  Don Armstrong: I was disciplined enough to plug the thing in, and I was surprised at the mileage that it got.
• 28:17
  Jeff Dziekan: And you say it's how much percentage is is where?
• 28:20
  Jeff Dziekan: Uh Korea?
• 28:21
  Don Armstrong: 95% Korean.
• 28:22
  unknown: Oh.
• 28:23
  Don Armstrong: It's Korean made, it's Korean assembled.
• 28:25
  Jeff Dziekan: So if you drive it and you get out of it 30 minutes later, you want to drive it again.
• 28:31
  Don Armstrong: Did I is that Mars giggling over there?
• 28:35
  Jeff Dziekan: Just asking.
• 28:37
  Jeff Dziekan: Why is he even on?
• 28:38
  Jeff Dziekan: Why is he even on?
• 28:40
  Don Armstrong: Why is he even on?
• 28:41
  Don Armstrong: This was my review, and you have nothing to do with this.
• 28:44
  Don Armstrong: You just stay over there and giggle all you want.
• 28:48
  Don Armstrong: Giggy.
• 28:51
  Don Armstrong: Just kidding.
• 28:53
  Don Armstrong: All right.
• 28:54
  Don Armstrong: So uh Mr.
• 28:55
  Don Armstrong: Morris?
• 28:56
  Don Armstrong: Yes, sir.
• 28:57
  Don Armstrong: What uh what have you got coming up this next half hour?
• 29:00
  Mike Marrs: Uh looks like we still have auto history to do.
• 29:02
  Mike Marrs: Yep.
• 29:03
  Don Armstrong: Yes, we do.
• 29:04
  Don Armstrong: I've been holding back and trying to put it in its right slot today.
• 29:07
  Don Armstrong: We got racing.
• 29:10
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, we got racing calendar, we got all sorts of stuff coming.
• 29:12
  Mike Marrs: Got some headlines left.
• 29:13
  Don Armstrong: Yeah, got that too.
• 29:14
  Don Armstrong: Yeah.
• 29:15
  Don Armstrong: We got all that and more here on the In Wheel Time Card Talk Show.
• 29:18
  Don Armstrong: If you'd like to get in touch with us, the email is info at inwheel time.com.
• 29:23
  Don Armstrong: And guess who opens it?
• 29:25
  unknown: It's Mars.
• 29:26
  Don Armstrong: We're back after this quick break.
• 29:28
  Don Armstrong: Your car is a d your car is a direct reflection of you.
• 29:32
  Don Armstrong: So don't be satisfied with color fade or a dingy dull appearance.
• 29:35
  Don Armstrong: Get rid of those terrible automated car wash scratches.
• 29:38
  Don Armstrong: Gulf Coast Auto Shield is your save the paint company.
• 29:41
  Don Armstrong: John Gray and his team of detailing experts can help your cars finish without a full repaint.
• 29:46
  Don Armstrong: Searching for real experts in window tent or windshield protection, Gulf Coast Auto Shield.
• 29:51
  Don Armstrong: Dash cams, radar detectors, Gulf Coast Auto Shield.
• 29:55
  Don Armstrong: Got a new car?
• 29:56
  Don Armstrong: Get it protected as soon as you take delivery.
• 29:58
  Don Armstrong: If you don't know which of the multitude of protection products to go with, John Gray will give you an honest opinion and won't sell you something you don't need.
• 30:05
  Don Armstrong: John will help you understand the many options and pricing right on the spot.
• 30:09
  Don Armstrong: He's your guy to have your ride looking its best and protected too.
• 30:13
  Don Armstrong: See the state-of-the-art shop yourself, free tours anytime.
• 30:15
  Don Armstrong: Gulf Coast Auto Shield is easy to get to, located just south of the Southwest Freeway on the Sam Houston Parkway.
• 30:21
  Don Armstrong: Gulf Coast Auto Shield, full service luxury car care today and online at gcautoshield.com.
• 30:29
  Don Armstrong: Gift giving should be meaningful, and we have an idea: a hand-painted custom illustration of your car from one of the nation's leading artists.
• 30:36
  Don Armstrong: Now you can get one or a car show poster customized for you, a friend, or a loved one.
• 30:41
  Don Armstrong: Bill's sites will be happy to guide you through the process.
• 30:44
  Don Armstrong: No matter what the day, birthday, anniversary, or any day, an autographics custom illustration adds an extra touch of class to any home.
• 30:51
  Don Armstrong: Call Bill today, 832-922-0963.
• 30:55
  Don Armstrong: That's 832-922-0963.
• 31:00
  Don Armstrong: That's it for this podcast episode of the In Wheel Time Car Show.
• 31:04
  Don Armstrong: I'm Don Armstrong, inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning on Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and our InWheelTime.com website.
• 31:14
  Don Armstrong: Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartPodcast, Podcast Addict, TuneIn, Pandora, and Amazon Music.
• 31:23
  Don Armstrong: Keep listening, and we'll see you soon.