This is how I met Larry Widmer. For me it has been
the best thing to come out of my efforts on my Powered
By Honda page.
Originally I went on to the www.importracing.com
board to verify what I had heard from EdDSP about somebody added
.625" deck height to their Honda block in order to achieve better rod/stroke ratio.
I posted there to get info on what the procedure is to properly perform
such a modification to the engine block. T.O.O. promptly gave me a
very detail write up on the painstaking (anal?? heheh...) methods he
used. Right then I already know I was in touch with an experienced
engine builder. Little did I know how experienced and how much
knowledge he really posses!
I started to hang out at the board a little bit, helping
to answer some questions whenever I feel I can contribute. It was
kind of tough actually, because even from the beginning I know T.O.O. was
no old fool. I could've easily made myself looked like a real
fool. Early on the board had lot of "I can kick your butt" type of posts which I just
ignored. I hung around for only one sole reason, to learn more about
T.O.O. since I was skeptical of some of his claims. Bur his ability to
create pictures in people's minds and use of metaphors and simple terms to
provide technical answer that everyone can easily understand was easily
recognized.
I also started to hear
about the supercharger kit he was working on and boy it sounds too good to be true. I
started to try to picking T.O.O.'s brains by asking him various questions (partly because I
was kind of skeptical because some of the things he talk about are kind of far fetched
when looked at by "conventional" tuning theories). He
fully satisfied my inquiries and always provided more meaty answers than I
was seeking.
As time passes I learn that he is far more knowledgeable than
anybody I personally know. Then I started to save all his posts so I can go back and read
them. It is a gold mine. Now you can check them out for yourselves. Couple of posts
that should not be missed are the Pro Stock engine article and the World Series.
What is really great about T.O.O. is all the times he is taking to help out the import
racers (generally speaking it's a young crowd). Nobody has taken so much time to help out
and ask for nothing. Every now on then people on the board bicker about his vaporware (so
far) kit. But rest assured that when it is finally done it will be the finest kit ever
engineered.
T.O.O. is well aware of the interest. But T.O.O. will not
let the kit out unless it is absolutely worth to bear the Endyn name. In all his
previous (and all current) projects which were all contracted high end racing team or
defense industry work, never once has he let a project out prematurely (actually usually
he was probably given a dead line). The Honda blower program started as his hobby project.
Something happened by chance* and brought T.O.O. to the net. T.O.O. originally came
on the net to seek information himself. As people learned about the project, interests
grew and T.O.O. began incorporating features that people requested.
* What happened was somebody on a board posted he saw a white Civic dragging with a
wheelie bar somewhere in Texas, and asked if anybody else had seen it. To everyone that
seem like some kind of joke, wheelie bar on Honda's??? Hahaha... look
at now, wheelie bar on nearly every fast Honda's. Words got to T.O.O. that
someone had seen the car run and posted on the net. T.O.O. just came out to check what
people knew. T.O.O. had lot of first hand bad experiences with few companies in the
current import market. The young enthusiasts he saw at the import races reminded him of
the younger days, and the Hot Rod generation before. He believes we deserve better and
that why he has taken all these time to design and engineer the supercharger
kit along with many other components.
Frank M. Lin
