Since 1996, I have been working in the Nuclear Science field but I'm a car guy by birth. I design systems for DoD and DoE projects and get to work with some ridiculously smart people. I often call on these scientists and engineers for input on CPR projects. The throttle bodies are the only thing on the site now but I have other products in development. These include manifolds, heads, dynamometers and more. The things I design and work with for a living include but aren't limited to, custom gas chromatography systems, high vacuum systems, cryogenic liquid delivery and handling systems, radiation counting systems, liquid dispensing systems, gas volume measurement systems, sample collection systems, and mass spectrometers. Surprisingly, a lot of this transfers to automotive performance. It's fun but only a handful of people get to enjoy my work. I get to do all kinds of design and some fabrication but all machining is sent out.
In 2007 I started Carter Performance Research with basic tools, MIG and TIG welders, a plasma cutter and a chassis dyno. The intent was to provide custom turbo systems (see manifolds above), fabrication and EFI tuning. The plan was to save up and buy the machinery I needed to go into production of my own parts. This was no fun as I was working on other people's toys while mine sat. I gave up on this and just started working on manufacturing. I built a gantry CNC machine and experimented with lost foam casting. The results weren't great. I bought a Bridgeport and started learning how to machine. I converted it to CNC using Mach 3. It worked OK but was slow and its working envelope was small. I built a larger machine with 80/20 and had better results with my lost foam castings. I also purchased a used Zcorp 3d printer to do some investment castings. These casting methods worked but the surface finish wasn't to my satisfaction and finishing was going to take forever. I needed a machining center to do what I wanted and make it cost effective. In 2010 I found a 5 axis Matsuura on a government site. With a total of about 15 minutes of experience watching other people operate CNC machines, I bought one. It's a nine foot cube that weighs 10,000 lbs and cost more than my house when new. It was previously used by Dow to make prototype human joint implants. I hauled it home and spent the next two weeks figuring out how to get it off the trailer. I had to disassemble it to get it through my garage door. I considered disassembling part of the garage. My friend Neal and I rolled it in on one inch pipes laid out on the concrete. I've spent the last four years learning how to machine, maintain, and program the Matsuura. This includes learning a couple different CAM programs. The throttle body is over 40,000 lines of code. I did take a few breaks to design and build my own water brake and engine dyno, flow bench, spindle finisher, and a few other pieces of equipment. My hope is that the throttle bodies will be able to fund the research I'm putting into the other products I'm developing now and in the future.
Kevin Carter
In 2007 I started Carter Performance Research with basic tools, MIG and TIG welders, a plasma cutter and a chassis dyno. The intent was to provide custom turbo systems (see manifolds above), fabrication and EFI tuning. The plan was to save up and buy the machinery I needed to go into production of my own parts. This was no fun as I was working on other people's toys while mine sat. I gave up on this and just started working on manufacturing. I built a gantry CNC machine and experimented with lost foam casting. The results weren't great. I bought a Bridgeport and started learning how to machine. I converted it to CNC using Mach 3. It worked OK but was slow and its working envelope was small. I built a larger machine with 80/20 and had better results with my lost foam castings. I also purchased a used Zcorp 3d printer to do some investment castings. These casting methods worked but the surface finish wasn't to my satisfaction and finishing was going to take forever. I needed a machining center to do what I wanted and make it cost effective. In 2010 I found a 5 axis Matsuura on a government site. With a total of about 15 minutes of experience watching other people operate CNC machines, I bought one. It's a nine foot cube that weighs 10,000 lbs and cost more than my house when new. It was previously used by Dow to make prototype human joint implants. I hauled it home and spent the next two weeks figuring out how to get it off the trailer. I had to disassemble it to get it through my garage door. I considered disassembling part of the garage. My friend Neal and I rolled it in on one inch pipes laid out on the concrete. I've spent the last four years learning how to machine, maintain, and program the Matsuura. This includes learning a couple different CAM programs. The throttle body is over 40,000 lines of code. I did take a few breaks to design and build my own water brake and engine dyno, flow bench, spindle finisher, and a few other pieces of equipment. My hope is that the throttle bodies will be able to fund the research I'm putting into the other products I'm developing now and in the future.
Kevin Carter