Photo by Michael J. GallegosTribune

Tribune

Miles Groves, 3, plugs his ears with his fingers as he watches his father, Chris Groves, unload a rebuilt engine at his shop, Dyno Edge. Although there was no loud noise happening at the time, father Chris said Miles always gets prepared for it when any work begins.

Photo by Michael J. GallegosTribune

Tribune

Chris Groves, 28, owner of Dyno Edge in Albuquerque, gets ready to unload a rebuilt engine from the bed of a pickup truck. Dyno Edge specializes in the aftermarket industry of making cars faster.

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When muscles sag and waistlines expand, people turn to fitness coaches for a cardiovascular boost.

In the world of vehicles, it's the performance technician who gives cars, trucks and motorcycles that extra engine rev.

Performance technicians turn average motors into vehicular athletes.

Why would anyone want an engine to be more powerful?

A myriad of reasons exist. For example, sanctioned drag racing, Or rock crawling, where revved-up vehicles with large tires navigate fields of boulders. Or drifting, a hobby-sport in which participants race against a clock around a track.

One of the shops that caters to the motor sport crowd is Dyno Edge, 315 Juan Tabo Blvd. N.E.

"When this car is done, it'll be making over 900 horsepower," said Dyno Edge technician Hoyt Dutton, referring to a customer's Ford Mustang that is getting a twin turbo kit.

Technicians like Dutton are a crucial part of the $34 billion-a-year aftermarket industry in America. The industry relies on technicians to install and tune endless assortments of parts, whether turbochargers or custom shift levers.

Sean Stanford, owner of Solid Technology Performance in Albuquerque, estimates his shop grosses more than $130,000 per year.

Chris Groves, 28, is the owner of Dyno Edge. He said depending on work quality and business volume, a performance technician can make more than $500 per week; some can make nearly twice that.

"The industry is gobbling up performance techs," said Lane Hort, vice president of development for Wyotech, a technical institute that specializes in teaching the art of transportation enhancement.

Albuquerque is home to more than 10 shops, including companies that manufacture turbo kits and shops like Dyno Edge, where the parts are installed and tested.

It's in the gigabyte

It's not just the wrenches that do the job. Computer software is an integral part of mapping an engine to accommodate a 500 percent increase in power without blowing the motor to pieces.

"Turning wrenches is one thing, but tuning a car is all about software," Groves said.

Another trick of the trade is trying to wiggle in a twin-turbo kit, with 5 feet of aluminum piping as thick as soda cans, inside the limiting confines of an engine bay.

Inside the spacious Dyno Edge garage, Groves reviews the work done by two technicians, Dutton and Ryan Schecker, who installed the twin turbo kit on the Mustang.

"You have to move so many things around in there just to fit it all," Schecker said. "We relocated the battery in the trunk, and we're going to have to fabricate a new power steering cooler."

In all, the Dyno Edge crew will spend more than 25 hours fitting the turbo kit inside the Mustang. Part of that time will include dynamometer testing, which is essentially strapping the car down to a $70,000 power and torque measuring device for vehicles - and also the inspiration for the shop's name.

The customer will pay $5,500 for the kit itself. After installing costs are factored in, this turbocharge will cost $6,000 to $7,000.

The art of a machine boost

Stanford made his mark in the business four years ago.

It was then, he said, that he used the "dyno," as the measuring device is known, to make 500 horsepower out of a turbo four-cylinder motor he built - a figure so incredible at the time that his shop, Solid Technology Performance in Albuquerque, got a huge boost.

Still, Stanford admits achievements like that don't come easily.

"This is a hard business to be in," Stanford said. "I've spent three days straight at my shop, sleeping on the couch, working 18-hour days just to finish cars."

Stanford, like Groves, can only do so much installing, fabricating and computer tuning, and so he eventually hired two technicians who were graduates of Central New Mexico Community College's automotive technology program.

"I love doing this. I love seeing the cars come together and their potential unleashed," said Robert Rodrigo, a technician at Solid Technology since January. "Some people put pools in their back yard. We put turbos and superchargers on our motors."

In addition to learning the basics of auto systems, Rodrigo said he also took electives like valve theory and fluid dynamics.

In addition to instruction at CNM, technical institutions like Wyotech offer advanced aftermarket performance courses and certifications at five campuses across the nation. The closest Wyotech campuses are in Wyoming and Long Beach, Calif.

With an industry eager for performance technicians, students can look forward to getting jobs from industry heavy-hitters like the National Hot Rod Association, BMW and Flowmaster Inc., who recruit graduates.

"There's a critical need for these guys," Hort said.

Experience matters, too

Despite all of the increasing education opportunities for performance technicians, some have just been doing it for so long their work experience alone qualifies them.

Take Mark Stevens, assistant manager and occasional technician at Desert Rat in Albuquerque, where trucks and jeeps undergo steroidal makeovers to conquer the off-road world.

As a retired police officer, Stevens for more than 25 years has dabbled in such things as modifying police cruisers and rock crawlers.

"A lot of this job is knowledge from experience and integrity in your work," Stevens said. "You've got to be willing to put your name on a job so that a customer leaves happily and safely."

Stanford echoes those sentiments.

"I'll street-tune and dyno-tune a car for 15 hours before I give it to a customer," Stanford said. "I want the cars to be drivable because some of these guys use them to get to work in."

Groves began his career much the same way Stevens did. He worked on anything he could get his hands on and eventually took a chance and opened a shop.

Opening a shop is one thing, especially considering that tools and equipment alone can run more than $150,000. But establishing a reputation as a good performance technician is equally hard, he said.

"Trust and honesty are big," he said. "When I started, my clientele took a risk with me working on their cars, but I've proven myself to them."

He recalled the time a sales manager from a Ford dealership brought in his personal car to let Groves operate on it. After the work was done, Groves earned repeat work directly from the dealership to install aftermarket performance parts on Mustangs.

Groves has also had the pleasure of working on some rare machines like a Mercedes SL65 AMG and a Ford GT, and said it's the cars themselves that make work what it is.

"I'm pretty lucky to work on these cars," he said.

It's around 2 in the afternoon inside the Dyno Edge garage, and Groves, Schecker and Dutton have been staring at the stripped-down Mustang for nearly a minute in total silence.

Perched high atop a giant hydraulic lift, the car's front end and intercooler are squarely at eye level with the crew. Nobody suggests how to remedy fitting the bumper back on the car.

That's not what this moment is about anyway.

"Man, that thing sure looks smokin'," Groves says, looking at the intercooler. "Really good work."