In diesel, “emissions” is about how much pollution the engine puts out. The conversation is about meeting rules for cleaner air without giving up too much performance.
PPI Tuning is a company that modifies diesel engines after they’re built. They typically adjust the computer settings so the truck or car feels stronger and drives better.
They’re talking about the federal government leadership at the time and how its rules affected diesel truck modifications. When administrations change, enforcement and regulations can change too.
The aftermarket performance industry is the part of the car world that upgrades cars after you buy them. For diesels, that often means adding parts or software to make the truck faster or more fun to drive.
This means taking out or disabling the parts that help a diesel truck meet pollution rules. People do it for more power or fewer limits, but it can be illegal and can get you in serious trouble.
Concept
civil penalty vs criminal convictions
A civil penalty is usually a fine or administrative punishment. A criminal conviction is a much bigger deal—it's a legal case that can lead to a criminal record.
This is about the rules and procedures for checking whether vehicles or emissions-related products meet legal standards. When testing takes a long time or keeps changing, it can make it hard to sell or use the product.
The Morgan Plus Six is a sports car made by Morgan, designed to be fun to drive. It has to meet emissions rules like any other road car, and the podcast mention suggests there were problems or delays with emissions testing or compliance paperwork. If you’re buying one, you’d want to confirm it’s properly registered and passes the required emissions checks for your area.
A consent decree is basically a court-approved agreement that says, “Here’s what you have to do, and here’s what the government will do if you do it.” It’s often used to resolve disputes without a full trial.
They’re saying they went to court against the government because the rules or enforcement weren’t being handled the way they expected. That kind of legal pressure can force regulators to follow through on decisions.
They’re saying the rules changed while they were in the middle of getting approval. When that happens, it can slow everything down because you may have to redo work to match the new requirements.
Concept
emissions compliance vs aftermarket tuning hardware
Aftermarket tuning can be complicated by emissions rules. Even small changes to the vehicle setup can require extra approvals, so companies may have to offer different versions of their tuning hardware to keep everything legal.
An EO is an official “permission slip” from California emissions regulators. If a tuning product has an EO, it’s allowed under CARB’s rules; if it doesn’t, selling or using it in California can be restricted. It’s basically a compliance stamp.
CARB is California’s agency that enforces emissions rules. They issue approvals (called EO’s) so certain engine tuning products can be sold and used legally in the state. The rules can change, and that can force companies to redesign or re-approve their products.
A tire size revision means changing the tire diameter/size from what the vehicle was originally configured for. In emissions-compliance terms, that can trigger re-approval requirements because it may affect how the vehicle’s calibration and emissions behavior are validated.
EFI Live is a device/software used to tune a diesel (and other vehicles) by changing the engine’s settings. The point in this segment is that legal/compliance requirements can depend on the vehicle’s setup, not just the tune itself.
AutoCal is a tool that lets tuners update a vehicle’s computer settings. The point here is that the speaker is saying customers shouldn’t have to buy extra hardware just to get something like a tire-size update.
Term
EFI device
An EFI device is a gadget that helps a tuner talk to the car’s computer. The speaker is criticizing the idea that you’d need to buy extra hardware just to make a small update like tire size.
When you change tire sizes, the car needs to know the new diameter. Otherwise, it may read your speed wrong and the car’s systems that rely on wheel speed can get confused.
Emissions approvals refer to regulatory authorization for specific engine calibrations/tuning strategies under emissions rules. This matters because what’s allowed can vary by engine platform and model year, which affects whether a tuner can legally sell a given calibration in certain states.
Car
Cummins
Cummins is a diesel engine brand used in trucks (often Ram). The point is that tuning that’s approved for one diesel platform may not be approved the same way for another.
A tune is software changes to the truck’s computer to change how it runs. Here, they’re talking about being able to sell a tune in California without requiring new hardware.
They’re talking about how some tuning companies require you to buy certain hardware to get tune updates. Instead of just sending you a file, you may have to use their system to load the update.
A “tune file” is the saved computer update that gets loaded into the truck. It contains the changes the tuner wants the engine to use.
Car
Duramax
Duramax is GM’s diesel engine used in certain Chevrolet and GMC trucks. When someone says “Duramax guy,” they mean a person who owns one of those diesel trucks.
Tire adjustment is when the truck’s computer is told what tire size you’re running. That helps the speedometer and driving systems stay accurate after you change tires.
A tuning company adjusts the computer settings in your diesel to make it drive and perform differently. Depending on the rules where you live, tuning can also affect emissions equipment.
Concept
SVA side
The “SVA side” sounds like a particular government group involved in vehicle rules. The host is saying they’re working with multiple agencies, not just one.
Members of Congress (representatives and senators) can influence federal regulations through hearings, oversight, and legislation. In the diesel industry context, their involvement often relates to how emissions rules and enforcement affect tuning, emissions systems, and aftermarket support.
Concept
diesel freedom coalition
This sounds like a group of people who are trying to protect diesel owners’ rights—especially around tuning and modifications. They’re working with lawmakers and agencies to address rules that affect what you can do to your diesel.
Emission systems are the parts on a diesel that clean up the exhaust before it leaves the tailpipe. If something in that system fails, the truck can run poorly or even trigger warning lights.
Concept
bureaucracy and government set up has gotten "screwed up" over the years
They’re talking about how the rules and the way they’re handled can get messy over time. That affects what companies have to do to keep diesel vehicles legal and compliant.
You can’t usually fix emissions with one simple change. The engine and exhaust-cleaning parts have to be redesigned and retested so they work correctly in all the real-world conditions.
“Emissions removal” means taking out or turning off parts that clean the exhaust. People do it to avoid emissions problems or improve performance, but it can be illegal and can make the truck pollute more.
Concept
exhaust aftertreatment
Diesel exhaust aftertreatment is the system that cleans up the exhaust before it exits the truck. If replacement parts in that area aren’t reliable or properly made, the truck may not clean the exhaust the way it should.
Concept
aftermarket parts supply chain risk
They’re basically saying some aftermarket parts may not be consistent in quality. If the parts aren’t dependable, you can end up with problems sooner than you’d expect.
Emissions enforcement is the government making sure vehicles don’t pollute more than allowed. For diesel engines, it usually means rules about exhaust cleanup systems and proof that the vehicle meets those limits.
Concept
Biden era national compliance initiative
This sounds like a government crackdown period where regulators focused harder on whether diesel vehicles were meeting emissions rules. The host is saying it changed how the industry operated and how big the compliance problems became.
Concept
diesel companies
When they say “diesel companies,” they mean the businesses involved with making or selling diesel vehicles/engines. The point is that enforcement didn’t just hit one small group—it affected a lot of companies.
In diesel talk, “delete” usually means bypassing or removing the parts that clean exhaust. The host is saying that when enforcement gets stricter, the problem can grow instead of shrinking.
Concept
international sales to America
This refers to how diesel products sold internationally can end up in the U.S. market, affecting overall compliance and enforcement outcomes. The transcript suggests the “delete crisis” expanded partly because more activity shifted from domestic to international channels.
Emissions thresholds are the legal limits for how much pollution a vehicle is allowed to put out. If the limits get stricter, car makers have to redesign parts of the powertrain and exhaust system so the car can clean up its exhaust enough to stay within the rules.
Derated just means the truck won’t make full power. The computer does it to protect the engine and emissions parts, usually when something isn’t right.
That heater warms the fluid the truck uses to clean exhaust. When it’s cold, the fluid can get too thick, so the heater helps the system work properly.
Concept
service protocols
“Protocols” are the required steps you’re supposed to follow when fixing or handling a problem. The speaker is saying those rules were so strict they could have made their business lose money.
The speaker is describing a common engineering reality: even if an adjustment is “within spec” for performance or safety, it may still require new components (“new hardware”) to implement it correctly. In practice, that can mean updated sensors, calibration, wheels/tires, or other parts that must match the tested configuration.
“Stock system” means the truck was basically left as the manufacturer built it. They’re saying they were able to get strong results while still keeping it compliant with emissions testing.
They’re saying the truck’s exhaust met the legal emissions limits during testing. For diesel builds, that’s a big deal because making more power can also change how much pollution comes out, so you want proof it still passes.
They’re referring to a professional testing location (SEMA Garage) where vehicles can be tested under controlled conditions. The host is saying they verify results at their own shop, then confirm again at SEMA Garage.
Concept
certs
“Certs” are approvals or paperwork that say a vehicle meets emissions rules. In this story, the speaker passed the exhaust test but still didn’t get the certification.
Tailpipe testing checks the exhaust coming out of the vehicle. It’s basically a “how dirty is it right now?” test to see if the emissions system is doing its job.
Company
PTL
PTL is mentioned as a company that does emissions testing. The speaker thinks labs like PTL could play a bigger role in how trucks prove they meet pollution rules.
Concept
2012 standards
“2012 standards” are rules about how much pollution a vehicle is allowed to produce. The point here is that newer trucks may already be able to meet those older limits.
Federal requirements are the official U.S. rules that products have to meet. The speaker is saying the testing should prove the product meets those rules.
This is basically the idea that you should test things in a responsible way that makes sense for proving you follow the rules. Instead of guessing, you run tests that can stand up if regulators or customers ask for proof.
FTP 75 is a standardized driving test the government uses to check emissions and fuel economy. If a company says they meet FTP 75, it means their setup performed well on that official test, and they should be able to prove it with the test data.
Term
exhaust manufacturer
They’re talking about the companies that make exhaust-related parts for diesel vehicles. If the supplier changes, the parts can be better or worse, which can affect how well the truck runs and how long the parts last. It can also affect emissions equipment performance.
EGR is a system that sends some exhaust gas back into the engine. That helps the engine burn cleaner by lowering the heat during combustion. Some tuning companies change how EGR works, which can change how the truck drives.
They’re talking about not knowing who made the parts or who set up the software/calibration for certain diesel applications. If that information isn’t clear, it’s harder to judge quality and harder to fix problems later. It can also make it tough to know what’s compliant versus not.
They’re describing how diesel tuning stuff gets promoted and found online—ads, social groups, and algorithms. That means you can run into a lot of sellers, not all of them equally trustworthy. It’s a reminder to research carefully before buying.
They’re basically saying cheap or mismatched upgrades can create new problems after the truck starts acting weird. If the tune and parts don’t match the engine’s real limits, the truck can end up needing repairs.
A “tune library” is a set of pre-made computer settings for trucks. If the file doesn’t match your exact truck and parts, it can cause trouble instead of helping.
Concept
buying tunes from overseas/low-cost sources
They’re warning about buying cheap engine computer tunes from unknown sellers. If the tune isn’t well tested for your exact truck, it can lead to reliability problems.
They’re talking about tunes being sold with labels that may not be accurate. That’s important because the “right” tune for the truck can be very different from a tune that’s just copied or misrepresented.
Company
motor ops
“Motor Ops” sounds like a company name tied to diesel tuning. The speaker is saying some products are being labeled like they’re from that source when they might not be.
Concept
industry going back to 2006/2007 tuning quality
They’re saying the diesel tuning scene feels like it did back in 2006–2007. The point is that tune quality and reliability may not be as good as it used to be.
Pro mod is a very serious drag racing category with highly modified cars. The speaker is saying that race cars get new tech faster than normal street trucks do.
A turbocharger uses exhaust gases to spin a compressor that pushes more air into the engine. More air can mean more power, but it also needs good tuning to avoid overheating or stress.
“Street style trucks” are diesel performance builds intended for everyday driving rather than purpose-built drag or pro-mod racing. The tradeoff is that they need to balance power with reliability, emissions equipment, and drivability—so innovation often happens more slowly than in extreme race applications.
Term
calibrated power
“Calibrated power” means the truck’s computer is tuned to make a certain kind of power. That tuning changes how much fuel and boost the engine uses.
The segment is talking about people modifying their trucks themselves by loading different software “tunes.” Tunes can make the truck feel faster, but they can also stress the engine if the truck isn’t set up or monitored properly.
Concept
diesel performance industry future
They’re talking about where the diesel performance world is headed. The idea is that racing and people building faster trucks help drive new improvements over time.
The Hyundai Kona is a small SUV meant for regular commuting and errands. It’s built to be practical and easy to live with, and depending on the year and market it may come with different engine options. The podcast’s “2011” reference may be pointing to an older Hyundai model or a name mix-up.
Concept
two tints at the track
They’re describing a super small difference in how fast the truck was at the track. Even a little change in setup or tuning can swing results when the competition is that close.
Term
bang limiter
A “bang limiter” is a safety/tuning feature that helps stop the engine from firing too violently. It’s there to keep combustion from getting harsh and potentially damaging parts.
The host is warning that AI advice about car parts can sound confident but still be wrong. With diesel trucks, the exact engine setup matters, so you should verify part numbers with a real fitment guide or shop.
Injectors are the parts that spray fuel into the engine. If you swap or tune injectors without matching the rest of the fuel system, you can get poor performance or even damage.
In a diesel, pumps move fuel and build the pressure needed for the injectors to spray correctly. Choosing the wrong pump for your setup can cause fueling problems and reliability issues.
The intake is how air gets into the engine. If you change the intake, the engine may need tuning so it knows the new airflow and can fuel and run smoothly.
A dyno is like a treadmill for a vehicle’s drivetrain. It lets you measure power in a controlled setting, but real driving can feel different than what the dyno predicts.
“Real-world conditions” refers to how a truck performs in everyday driving—road load, temperatures, traction, and driver inputs. The point here is that dyno predictions based on theory can miss what happens when the vehicle is actually used.
Horsepower is a number that describes how strong an engine is. Higher horsepower usually means more pull, but how it feels day-to-day also depends on other factors like torque.
When people say “EPA fight,” they mean arguments over air-pollution rules in the U.S. The EPA sets limits on what vehicles can emit, and diesel companies and enthusiasts often disagree about how those rules should be followed.
Concept
end goal
They’re asking what the final target is—what everyone is trying to achieve after all the rule changes and arguments. In diesel terms, it usually means vehicles can be made to pass emissions rules without ruining how they drive or how easy they are to maintain.
“Deleting” a diesel truck generally means removing or turning off emissions equipment. The legality depends on local laws and whether the truck still has to meet emissions requirements.
Concept
timeline of a vehicle depending on an age
The speaker is referencing that emissions obligations can change based on a vehicle’s age or compliance timeline. In practice, rules may differ for newer vehicles versus older ones, and enforcement or required equipment can vary accordingly.
When the rules change, car makers may need to update their manufacturing process and prove the new design still meets emissions standards. That takes time and testing before it’s approved.
Calibrations are the computer settings that tell the diesel engine how to run. They also help the emissions system do its job correctly, depending on things like temperature and driving load.
Aftertreatment is the “clean-up” equipment on a diesel after the exhaust leaves the engine. It helps the car meet emissions rules by trapping soot and reducing harmful gases, and it has to be set up just right to work well.
A “deleted” diesel truck usually means the emissions system was taken out or turned off. People do it for power or to avoid emissions limits, but it can make the truck fail emissions checks and get in trouble with enforcement.
Readiness monitors are part of a vehicle’s onboard diagnostics (OBD) that track whether emissions-related systems have run their self-tests. If a diesel has emissions equipment removed/disabled, those monitors may never complete, which can cause it to fail inspection even if it runs normally.
This means whether emissions rules are enforced depends on local authorities. Even if the rules are federal, what happens to a truck can vary depending on where you live and who’s doing the inspections.
Concept
THC laws
They’re comparing this to another set of laws where the rules are the same on paper, but enforcement can differ by location. The point is that “what the government allows” and “what cops/inspectors actually do” aren’t always identical.
A tailpipe sniffer is the machine that samples what comes out of your exhaust. If your car is running dirty, the numbers can be too high and it won’t pass.
LIVE
Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of the Diesel Performance Podcast.
My name is Anthony Bernini, and I'm here with my guy, Chris Emke.
How's it going, Chris?
I'm doing good.
How about you?
We got a good one today.
We have an OG with us.
I'm excited.
We have an OG making a lot of banter on social media, probably spearheading the emissions
conversation I'd say in the diesel space.
Definitely spearheading.
Not a question there.
I guess, without further ado, we have Corey Willis from PPI Tuning.
Corey, how are you doing, man?
What's up, guys?
I'm glad to be back with you.
Yeah, no.
We appreciate you taking some time.
I know you got a lot going on.
I feel like there's some momentum in the industry, and I would say, as people are
discussing and noting that momentum, your name is constantly getting tossed in the
mix.
It's one of those where, for one, I appreciate you taking the time, but how's everything been
on your end recently?
Man, it's a hell of a lot better than it was.
I can say that.
They're not taught to pay any politics here, but the reality is, it's under the
Biden administration.
Man, if you were in the performance industry, you felt it.
If you were in any industry, but really, aftermarket performance industry, I mean,
everybody been living on pins and needles, and I mean, as people getting freaking
criminal convictions during that time for modifying trucks, removing emissions
off of them, which generally, and historically, has always been a civil
penalty.
I mean, it just, it got escalated, and we got a call right in the middle of it,
and yeah, I mean, you can fight back, or you can just take it and lose your
business.
It's one of the things we decided to keep the business and fight back.
I don't recommend it, though.
I really don't recommend that fight.
I mean, you're a chipper and smiling, and you know, most guys in that type of
situation probably be losing their hair, losing money, losing time, losing
momentum, right?
Oh, it's, I've got grays now, crew.
It's coming in, luckily, man, I'm gonna go do that thing where they do the
needles or something if I start losing my hair.
It's all I got left.
But the grays are definitely coming out.
It's getting pretty good.
But now it looks good through the screen, though.
It looks good.
It looks good.
So my friends, they were like, they were like, you weird about your hair.
Are you going to end up black now?
I said, listen, I earned these freaking skunk stripes.
There you go.
Very good.
I've never heard that.
That's what it looks like.
It looks like a skunk, because it's like white right here.
And then all this is black.
So let's go back a little bit here, right?
Before we get into the current time, let's go back to when, when everything
for you kind of took shape and you, you, you were, you stopped selling
deletes, right?
And that thing took place.
That was, that was like 2019, 2020 in that era, correct?
Did you ever think, did you ever think you'd be here at this point?
Like that, that mindset of, of, of PPI Corey Willis back in 2019 was
it, hey, I'm done.
I'm going to fold.
I'm over or I'm going to fight.
This is bullshit.
This is where I'm going with this.
Yeah.
I mean, I guess we could say fortunately, but like it's, it's not,
it's not in my nature to just take it, right?
And, and I really don't care about money.
Thankfully we have, we, we, we, we haven't had enough money to be
able to, to do the things.
But like, like just this year already, I'm about $35,000 in legal
fees, and it's only the beginning of April, April.
So it takes sustained legal fees to stay in the fight.
That's an unfortunate thing.
If I, I mean, if I would have, it was a, it was a weird situation
because, you know, what they were wanting, like, like 40 plus
million dollars from us and basically wanted me to follow
like these protocols that would have ended the company.
So it was more a choice of, well, do you just kind of retire
early and get out the game because what they were, the way
they were handling us, like it wasn't, it wasn't sustainable.
So the real thing was, was do you take an L, retire, get out
the game and, you know, just do real estate the rest of your
life or whatever, or do you fight for this company?
And to me, it was fight for the company hands down
because like, I've got a lot of people here that's been
with me since the beginning, you know, this, this
company is a very, very, very tight knit group.
A lot of the guys that are here, girls have been here
for 10 plus years.
So, you know, I've, I've helped mentor them, set a lot of
them up for success later on in life and they're in their
thirties.
So whenever I come in, it's like looking at a family,
right?
And how, you know, I've seen their kids grow up or
growing up still in my facility, running around, you
know, so the hardest thing for me was I had to
really take a step back and say, in 10 years, can I
look at those kids and if they ask me what happened?
What kind of answer do I want to give them?
And at the end of the day, you know, any answer that
was like, I didn't fight as hard for your mom or dad
as I could have, like that, that was a, that was
pretty killer.
So, but likewise, I could have got out of it.
I could have just gotten out the industry, literally
frigging retired and just chill and do real estate
deals now and then to have fun.
But it's bigger than that, you know, I mean, look at
us, like we've, you know, PPI and calibrated power,
we should be some, you know, knocking heads,
competitors, right?
But and at times we've had fun being super
competitors, like that's part of the fun of the
business.
You drive us.
We would love to be able to drive y'all.
It's that's what makes people better.
And I love the game.
So to think I'm going to just stop or give in at
36 years old, you know, I don't have kids yet.
I'm trying.
I don't have kids yet, though, to just come in and
basically fold up and just stop that and stop
those relationships.
You know, it, it was never really, it's never
been in my genetics to stop.
And I hate fighting, but I'm freaking good at it.
So I figured, I figured that we need to just,
you know, stay in this and try to try to do what's
right.
What I didn't expect, and I was way stupider in
19, I was 29 and goofy and going through a lot.
But one thing that's definitely different now
than back then is I understand the game of
DC and politics much better.
Had I known, I guess, the reality as much as I
do now back in 2019, I think it's in my
nature to be honest enough to say I would have
done it and sacrificed and done all the things
anyways to stay fighting.
But it's been really, really hard.
Some folks that's heard me speak at other things
have heard some stories, but like, man, I, I
tore my knees up, like running.
I ran like thousand over a thousand miles and
like past like just like a year and a half
or whatever.
I was mentally losing my mind.
They came after my grandparents, my loved
ones, you know, my bank accounts got freaking
all the debanking crap you read about.
Like it was a full on attack, a war.
They were trying to put us out and looking back
now, I really think a big reason they were
trying to put us out is because we were
freaking right from the beginning.
And now you're starting to see that.
So so far, you know, this administration's
done a great job.
The you seen the DOJ backed off all the
criminal stuff.
That's a very big deal.
That's a big deal.
So that was a big win.
The whole emissions testing saga, I've griped
about it for six plus years now.
That was part of my consent decree that we're
getting figured out now since I had to sue
on last April.
So we're going to April 15th of 2025.
I had to sue the government over this
consent decree.
So we would we were going to get shut down.
Just for the listeners here, that specific
topic that you bring up is you being
approved from like the state of California,
right?
Like you have to be approved by
California to be able to sell the
product and they basically just strung you
along.
Correct.
And California had changed a lot of their
policy midway.
There's a lot of things that happened
that I'm not making public just yet,
but there's a lot of things that were
inconsistent that happened.
And long story short, that inhibiting
that inhibited us from being able to
get an actual EO, but our consent
decree required us to have an EO,
which is, you know, the state of
California issues that and basically
says you can you can sell tuning in
their state.
But they were requiring me to use
that to sell it to any state.
OK.
Well, in the midst of it, like
somewhere around twenty one, twenty
twenty two,
CARB themselves actually had changed
some of this policy and made it to
where like if a customer just got a
tire size revision, I was going to
have to sell them like a whole new
piece of hardware.
So like, you know, if you sell an
EFI live device to someone and they
get a tune, but, you know, two
months later, they would go to thirty
thirty threes or whatever tires.
The way that was written was it was
going to be required that I had to
sell them a whole nother AutoCal or
EFI device or whatever device just
to get a tire size update.
And I was like, Hey, if this happens,
I'm out of business.
Right. Like this isn't how this is
just not how things work and it's
not right for an end user to have
to spend another five hundred bucks
or whatever it is on hardware.
We've read that was the that was
the big gridlock.
Yeah, we ran into something like
that, too, because, you know, we do
have some cardio stuff and what was
approved in twenty twenty on some of
our Duramax stuff is is vastly
different than some of the Cummins
stuff. So like, I can sell
a Duramax tune to the state of
California for an existing piece of
hardware. Yes.
But the Cummins stuff that got
approved a year, two years later, I
have to sell hardware with the
tune and I can't sell tune by
itself.
And the same thing applies if
there's anything for an update.
And, you know, there's certain
hardware is in the market that you
the end user can do their own tire
update themselves, which is nice.
But there's other hardware in the
market where, you know, you have to
update a tune file.
But I'm I'm not able
to email that tune file.
So like in your sense, you know,
hey, any Duramax guy that's out
there and you're going to do it
on EFI live, they want to tire
adjustment like it's not like
it's a fifty dollar fee.
You're talking a thousand dollars,
nine hundred dollars to sell that.
It's just insane. Yeah, I have to
sell. Yeah.
And like as a, you know, we're
primarily just a tuning company.
You're had a business like so it's
a no-go zone. So, man, we fought
over that for years, but
hopefully in the coming months
here that we'll be able to have
more information on it.
But I believe the issues
being resolved.
So we've got a lot of really good
things going, working directly
now with with folks in the
admin on the SVA side
of this administration, the EPA
side, even some with the White
House and then congressmen and
senators involved.
And we've got a pretty good little
team, a diesel freedom
coalition team.
And and they everybody
just gets it.
The coolest thing about this
administration is like before
I was trying to basically sell
them that there's a real problem
out there, like with these
emission systems.
And it's like you're trying to
sell the problem.
The cool thing with this
administration is like they
understand that there's a
problem and they accept there's
a problem and they also accept
that things need to change.
And you're seeing Selden do a
pretty good job on doing
a lot of this, but it's a process.
The way this bureaucracy and
government set up has really
gotten screwed up over the years.
So although there's a problem
and we could directly see the
problem to just turn a switch
and, you know, make emissions
fall off is like that's just
not how it works.
Right. That's not how it works.
There's a pathway that makes it
permanent. There's a pathway
that gets a quick bandaid done.
Ideally, you would want to try to
fix the problem because it's a
legitimate emergency.
I broke it down like this is the
emergency yesterday.
Speaking of someone and I'm sure
you all see the same thing.
So whenever people call us and
obviously we can't sell emissions
removal stuff or anything like
that, but generally what
people were always asking for
and still ask for today that we
can't offer to like with the
emergency situations
for there's a few things going on
there. One, a lot of these parts
are come from China that are in
the exhaust and we could be
destabilized and we're supposed to
be a well regulated militia.
Right. Like that's part of our
Constitution.
If if we have vehicles that can
be shut down, you know, in an
emergency situation that we are
not we are not well, well
regulated militia at all
whatsoever. So that's one thing.
The second thing is is if
America gets into any type of
true emergency, kind of like what
we seen during the hurricanes,
these vehicles going down or an
exhaust getting stopped up like
in an emergency situation,
that's life or death, you know,
whenever we're out from the
hurricane and we're frigging
trying to rescue people that are
stuck in their homes, we
would have an excavator go into
a limp mode clear and land
clear and roads to go rescue
people. And it's like that's
an emergency. And then if the
vehicle we're going has the same
issue, like somebody can
legitimately die.
So from that perspective, it's
a total emergency. But you see
every trucking company, the
price of fuel, the price of
groceries, everything's
affected by this. And the big
deal is is that they tried to
pin on companies like bars is
that we heard the low income
low income community, right?
Well, everybody that deals in
this world knows that the
lower income community,
whenever they actually remove
the emissions off their truck,
it's normally because they can't
afford a replacement pipe or
number two, the replacement
pipes out of stock for months
and months and months.
I mean, if we're talking the
low income community, we're
talking a guy who bought a
truck that's met or exceeded
the the manufacturer timeline
for those parts to even be
available. Yeah. So how exactly
how are you going to attack
that that community and say
that you're affecting them?
Like, it doesn't make any sense.
That's it. So it's like, well,
they normally called us
because they couldn't afford
your government mandated stuff
back in the day.
And then you've got the lower
lower middle income class.
They're kind of doing the same
thing. You got middle income
that like if it breaks,
they're just going to go ahead
and do it. If it gives them
one sense of failure, they're
going to move on. And then
you've got middle upper and
upper income that say, I
never want to have this
problem. I'm going to get
rid of emissions right out the
gate. Yeah. And that's
the thing is that that's
going to happen. So regardless
of what the government
enforcement is, that's going to
happen. And the way it happens
is pretty simple. The heaviest
hand that the government's
ever had was during the
Biden era under that national
compliance initiative. I think
it was 2019 to 23. They
heard 60% of the American
diesel companies. And after
the NIC was over with that
with the criminal
enforcement, all that, the
delete crisis in America got
three times bigger. But what
happened is, is it got three
times bigger from
international sales to America.
So if one group wants to say,
well, we just need heavier
enforcement, and this would fix
it, like, no, you killed, you
tried that, you killed 60% of
the American companies in China,
Russia, Canada, and even some
of Ukraine flooded America to
fill the void. And good
job. I like capitalism like
that. I would do the same if
I was any of those countries.
But the reality is, is
enforcement didn't work. And at
some point, someone has to ask
the question, why do people
really keep doing this? And they
try to say it's, you know,
people want to be rebels and
blowback spoke. No, it's
because the manufacturers
can't themselves can't
sustain the the the current
emissions thresholds. It's too
high. Yeah, it's not
achievable. And that's why
you see new brand new
vehicles with billions of
dollars of technology put
into them. Every day, you
log into Facebook, someone's
asking, What do I do about
this code? Because my trucks
derated? Yeah, I have I have a
reductant tank heater and, you
know, GM six months out, you
know, and I have $100,000
trucks on the side of the
road, you can't do anything
with right. You work with
it. Yeah, you mentioned
earlier on that, you know,
like, you're like, do you
kind of call it quits and
retire like you're saying or
do you fight the good
fight? And you said they
wanted you to follow these
protocols that would have
like bankrupted your
business. You know, we
talked about if you know, if
they do a tire size, you
need to buy all new harder and
everything. Are there
different protocols or
anything you could share of
like what some of those
examples might have been?
Yeah, so I mean, it's pretty
much carved like it boiled
down the car. But the big
thing is is basically any
adjustment that you would
need to make, even if it's
within the spec of things
that you've tested. Yeah.
That required new hardware.
And realistically, like that
was the sticking point. We
passed I've never. So
interestingly enough, I did
the fact like a humble
brag here, right? But like,
we did the fastest testing
with SEMA garage that's ever
been done. We made the most
power on the stock system and
we passed emissions on
everything. The only thing
we didn't pass emissions on
was a truck that wouldn't
pass on stock. And that was
a I think a 2021 3.0 E
46 Duramax. Yeah, that's
the only one that actually
wouldn't pass stock at the
time at SEMA garage. So
we were never able to even
get a tune in to try it.
But everything else that we
sell, we were able to take
and get it all get it all
passed. First try no issues
because we could test here
at my facility. And I know
that the emissions are good
because we use our own
equipment. And then I would
go to SEMA garage and test
there. But then SEMA garage
has to turn around and do it
all through Corb again. So
it's like I've spent like
$100,000 in certs. And I
never got a freaking cert
even though I passed all the
tailpipe testing like that's
ridiculous. So that's what
led us down the hole of this.
But but looking forward, I
think labs like, you know,
PTL and others like that,
like that's that's actually
the future of emissions
testing. And if we see things
in the future, go to to say
2012 standards, which modern
trucks can pass without
emissions. If we're seeing
stuff go to something like
that, then like, I think
the new standard should be
like a lab like PTL or any
private lab, rather, or if
someone has their own
equipment or whatever, that
they should be able to take
and do their own self
testing and meet the the
federal requirements. Because
at the end of the day,
that's really all that
should happen. And that's
good faith reasonable
testing is to be able to
meet like an FTP 75 store
all the records. And if
anybody asks you about it
later, show them your data.
Yeah. So I'm going to
that's where it's going to
I had my my mental my
mental moment. But what I
was going to say was is in
that era of that 2019 to
2023, where a lot of the
US based companies, tuning
lies, no longer offering
the tuning hardware
companies, hard parts
companies, right? There was a
lot of shift in exhaust
manufacturer EGR
manufacturer. And like you
mentioned, now everything
is is overseas, right?
China, Russia, Canada, the
quality of the component,
the tuning, everything has
gone significantly downhill
as well. And there's no
validity. There's no, there's
no transparency on who's
doing what in some of
these in some of these
applications, right? You
can at this point in time,
you could go on any, any
Facebook group, and you could
go and see paid advertising,
right? If you get into the
algorithm of diesel
automotive, and there's a
lot of shit out there,
man, there's a lot of
stuff. And it's these
guys are trying to overcome,
you know, hey, I have the
submissions issue, and then
they're going into other
mechanical problems,
because the tune they put
on their truck or the parts
they put on their truck are
real low grade to begin with.
I mean, I saw Lope Tunes for
24L5P the other day.
That's solid.
Like, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, and like advertisements
too. Yeah. And that's that's
what I was about to get
into is what we're seeing is
like, you've got some of
these younger guys, you
know, they get a tune
library, right and freaking
buy a tune library out of
China or whatever for
200, 250 bucks. And they'll
have tunes labeled in on that
like, rather Duramax
tuner built in 2011.
Yeah. For PPI built in
2014. Yeah. Well, they're
taking this and a lot of them
that I've I've looked at, I
bought some of them and look
through them. And what I've
noticed is like they're
putting labels like Duramax
tuner, motor ops, PPI, they're
putting all these labels on
tunes that do not belong to
any of us. And it's like that
but what's marketing now, I
feel like the industry
because of what the
government's done and hurt
the American company so bad.
This industry is going back
to what feels like 2006.
2007. As far as like the
tuning ask quality. Yeah. 100
percent. I would even say it's
probably worse than that.
Even yeah. And outside of, you
know, basically pro mod level
race cars, like, man, we
haven't been able to see a
ton of a ton of a ton of
advancement in new systems
outside of like some of the
cool turbo chargers and
stuff you guys do. Like there
hasn't been like this big
advancement for what we
would call like the street
style trucks. Yeah. I think
I think about that too
because I remember, you know,
years back, you know, there
were there was some fun banter
2013-2014 between, you know,
PPI, calibrated power,
motor ops, right? There was a
lot of fun DIY guys going
on the forums, putting
different tunes in their
truck, going to the track
and that innovated.
Like that pushed us.
Yeah. Well, we were what we
were competing with, you
know, that was a, I think
his name's Eric, but his
online name back in the day
was like Kona or something
like that. And he had a 2011
or 2012 LML and the fights
we were having back then was
over literally two tints at
the track. That's what we
were fighting over. And we
were having a ball fighting.
If he put something from y'all
that went faster, I was like,
oh, hell no. Exactly.
And same with y'all. And
then what happened? That
truck ended up being like one
of the fastest LMLs because
you had companies passionate
about their work competing as
you're supposed to when
you're passionate. But where
it's at now is, you know, the
more likes that I can get on
TikTok, right? Then the more
I'm going to get paid and the
more people in this
algorithm piece are going to
think I'm cool. But that
piece is what gets all the,
you know, all the fame, I
guess you could say right
now. So like, I'm sure y'all
everybody else that I get
every day. It's like the
kids want me to do some
freaking hard banging limit
or no, that's nonsense and
smoke. I'm like, no, we
don't do that. I make
comments. I'm like, dude,
when I was 18, I was right
around on the $5,000 truck.
I don't know where the fuck
you come from with a $100,000
truck and you want a smoke
bang limiter? Like, what are
we doing? What did I go
wrong?
And we get calls with AI
like, oh, what's injectors
and pumps should I run? And
I remember you had one
because you're on speaker
phone. I'm like, there's
no way this is a real phone
call. And it's just the
dude. I told me a truck
recommendation. Yeah, like
and he was dead ass serious.
He's like, AI told me on
my 18 ram like this is the
turbo. This is the intake
this, this, this and this.
And I'm like, he ended up
like screenshotting it and
sending me like the AI
response. And it was, it was
fucking crazy. It gave him
part numbers and stuff. And
the part numbers were wrong.
Like, but you look like the
asshole. I was, I was the
ass. He's not. I was, it was
just he was full committed.
Dude, like, what are we
doing? What are we doing?
Yeah, AI, AI in the
industry is going to be
we're freaking super heavy
in it. I've been in it
for a while. It's, it's
one of those things that
it's going to be a good, a
great thing and a terrible
thing at the same time.
Like anything else, you know,
you're going to have situations.
That's it. It's going to be
like situations like that.
Like, it's absolutely
that's terrible. And like, I'm
sure people get y'all up all
the time, but it's like, well,
it's going to do tuning for
us. And I'm like, there's
still a human aspect to the
way a truck drives and
feels right. Will you be
able to in the future price
a ad? I want I want some
more response download.
Yeah, I imagine it'll be able
to probably do some of that
stuff for you. But is it
it's not going to be on it's
going to be operating off of
theories when we operate off
of real world conditions in
the dyno that as we both
know, like we could sit down
at a empty computer, say this
is probably going to make a
hundred horsepower and it's
going to be within 20 horsepower
up or down at that.
Yeah. And but is that going
to be something I want to
drive every day? Like probably
not. Probably not.
So that's and I think
eventually it probably will
get there. But at that point
in time, you know, hopefully
there's enough involved that
it'll be it'll be a good thing.
But it's going to be super
annoying for a while.
Like we're already getting
like similar emails from
customers that I could it's
got like long m dashes and
everything in it. And I'm
like, come on, it's like,
well, this is my
understanding of how this
works. And I'm like, that
is straight out of the free
chat GPT. Right.
So as as we're progressing
forward, right? And we'll go
back onto the like the whole
EPA fight side of things,
like what what is the end
game? Like what's what's the
end goal here? Is it that I
can legally delete my truck?
Is it that there is a
timeline of a vehicle
depending on an age that,
you know, they're no longer
obligated to maintain what
the common law is? Like, I
guess what's the vision?
Like what's what's the
main goal here?
So I can't speak for what
the EPA is going to do
obviously, but I can openly
speak about, you know, our
position, our conversations,
which is being well received.
So here's some common sense
stuff, right? So the thing is,
is people say or a big dilemma
would be, well, the
manufacturers have to retool
the manufacturers have to
retest, like they don't
there, it's going to take
so much time and so much
money. That's not true.
So the standard like our
military vehicles run the
same standard as the vehicles
that we export out.
So that protocol is already
there. The manufacturer already
has those calibrations.
They already have the tuning.
The ports are that's way easier
to make than, you know, a
freaking big after treatment
system. So one would be
tooling for manufacturers.
And I can tell you that
manufacturers don't want this
crap either. People think the
manufacturers are making
money off of this, like,
it's their or indeed a lot
of times it ranges from
like 700 million to a
billion dollars a freaking
year in this crap.
So like that's, yeah, it's
a lick, like it's a massive
freaking lick. So the
manufacturers don't want it.
It makes them look bad because
they have freaking stuff break
and like that does not do good
for them. Like they would
rather things not break than
to make money off of when
that thing breaks.
Right. Like people think it's
the opposite. But like that's
they really do care about
that, you know it.
So manufacturers being on
board, that was kind of one
thing. And like they'd be
down. No problem. I think
Ram would probably be the
first one in line.
But that's one dilemma.
The second thing is, is well,
there needs to be a standard,
you know, like we can't, I
don't I won't clean water.
I won't clean air.
You know, I don't want to be at
a red light and get smoked
out by an idiot, you know,
like, we're not that those
guys contrary to belief.
So there needs to be a standard.
Well, the thing is, is deleted
trucks past small.
They just don't pass readiness
monitors.
So if you come back and say
local enforcement, which is
really how it should be, but
you come down and, you know,
maybe it's a federal thing, you
know, take it, take it kind of
like the THC laws, for example,
it's like, well, the government
says that this is how it goes,
but we have discretion on
enforcement and, you know,
follow your local laws and
we'll probably leave you alone.
And then every once in a while
they come have someone up,
right? I think that same
type of protocol as a start
could be taken on this
because for someone to get an
inspection sticker, they need
to be able to have their
vehicle past smog.
If we don't have to deal with
readiness monitors, then
realistically, any, any vehicle
on the road, like rather it's
deleted, not or not deleted,
like it should be able to pass
a smog test, like that's a very
basic test.
If you can't pass your local
smog test in just regards
to the tailpipe sniffer, not
the readiness monitors and whatnot,
like it's probably got a hung
injector or something that's
nasty, like something on that
system's not right, right,
not hard to pass small.
So if it's set up to where
basically a vehicle to get an
inspection sticker, they have to
pass a smog test, but since
we wouldn't be dealing with
after treatment, we can bypass
the readiness monitor test, then
that would be a really, really,
really good way to fix this
emergency condition.
And another thing as well that
the EPA, I think, really needs
to do, and I think they're
probably willing to consider, is
the way that they measure
emissions is just
blatantly incorrect.
I'll give a prime example.
So like NASA, you know, they
have to do, excuse me, they
have to do an emissions impact
statement. They send a rocket
up. They've got to make sure the
whales are safe, and this is how
much we hurt the environment.
Like they actually have to do
that stuff whenever they send
things up. So it's basically
an impact report.
Well, for let's give an
example of how that would
work. So NASA would come around
and say, hey, with this new
design, we send a rocket up,
let's say just examples, we send
a rocket up four times a
year, and we can reduce
emissions 2 percent every
single time that rocket goes
up. So every year we'll
save 8 percent on emissions.
Like generally that sounds great.
OK, cool. We'll redesign the
rocket and get an 8 percent gain
every time it goes in the air.
But NASA actually has to do
what's called an LCA.
It's like cradle to the grave.
So the start of the first
piece of manufacturing to the end
of that thing's life, the EPA
is only measuring when they're
brand new the use.
Yeah, they're up to 150,000
miles. And then it's
considered it's 10 years or
150,000 miles, whichever one comes
first. But the EPA is only one
doing it like that, where NASA
let's say, for example, that
the manufacturing cost
to get the 2 percent reduction
per flight, let's say that's
that's, you know, 20 percent.
Well, if you never looked at
the manufacturing cost and
the cradle to the grave aspect
of it, then all you see is
an 8 percent gain per flight.
But if we factor in all the
emissions it took to modify
that rocket to get the 2 percent
decrease, then you'll see that
you actually made the environment
worse by reducing emissions
per flight.
So, you know, another example
of this is like, you know, after
treatment or the DPF itself,
it handles ash, so it
PM 2.5.
That's like it's number one
objective, right?
So when we look back
in the government and the way
that they've traditionally made
these statements and it's worked
and it has it is sticked
was we're reducing, you know,
100,000 or 100,000 tons
of of PM 2.5 in this
and that causes cancer
and that's bad.
People say, yeah, hell, yeah,
we're saving emissions.
The problem is, is no one zoomed
out. So realistically,
you haven't done crap.
And here's one, the 2023
wildfires from Canada.
I love this example
because it works.
The 2023 wildfires that we had
from Canada, like everybody
up North America, seeing the smoke
everywhere, that offset
since Henry Ford made the first
production line vehicle,
that offset all vehicles to date
by 1200 years.
Jesus.
So so how much if all
the work we've done and all of
our after treatments are down
the drain from one wildfire
for the scope of 1200 years?
If you wanted to take the
California mismanaged
palisades fire, that one
offset all of America as well.
So whenever we'd speak
about these big numbers of PM
2.5 that's in the air, it's wise
to zoom out and actually say,
hold on, how much comes from a
wildfire?
And then when you realize that,
you realize that killing one
ant did nothing to the ant pile
besides you probably got bit
on the leg in the process.
But that one guy in his LV7
at a red light blowing a bunch
of smoke is going to be the
one who ruins it and gives us
such a bad rap.
Well, I mean, I'm thinking
a step further than that,
right? You use that analogy,
Corey. And I'm thinking, well,
the manufacturing plants that
are manufacturing these filters
and the manufacturing plants
that manufacture the plastic
bottles for the death fluid,
the cardboard, right?
It's a domino effect at that
point. So it's again, it's a
drop in the bucket from the
bigger picture.
You're fixing one thing just
to control something else or
yeah. And that's the thing is,
you know, unfortunately,
those jobs shouldn't exist,
you know, jobs that do not
benefit America or the
environment or anything
whatsoever.
They shouldn't exist.
It's not I know folks that
work there. We have customers
that work with peak, you know.
And and the thing is, is like,
man, if what you're making
is not having a net
contribution in the long run
and it's subsidized by the
government, then it shouldn't
exist.
And someone may be a little
offended and be like, well,
you're saying my job shouldn't
exist. I'm saying that item
shouldn't exist.
I should not have to take a
cardboard box in some freaking
plastic, pour it into my truck
exhaust fluid for the stupid
thing to break, have quality
issues and then be considered
aged, you know, in 150,000
miles. Like that's that's very
silly and we're not taking
into account the fuel penalties
caused by emissions, right?
Two to four miles per gallon
are on the table if we got
rid of emissions and crank
timing.
So like on timing, on the on
the modern vehicles, like
they're they're like 90% more
efficient. If we just take and
break down, it's what LBZ?
Was it the LBZ? It was 360
horsepower. Yeah, I mean, LBZ.
They was 360 LBZ where you
come up now and like, dude,
these trucks that same 6.6
liter with cleaner emissions,
you know, without the
after treatment, just because
the turbocharger is so much
faster than injection
pressures are higher,
everything's just modern
vehicles are sick.
No, they are. Yeah.
And if we just look at the
horsepower difference between
like 06, 07 model versus
where we're out today, it's
like what a freaking 3040
horsepower percent or 3040
percent difference or something
like that. Like it's it's a
it's a major difference
while we're cleaner. And the
reason for this is it's not
because the after treatment's
gotten way the heck better.
It's gotten better at
lasting. But it's it's gotten
better because modern vehicle
technology is freaking awesome.
So if you take that truck,
though, and you wanted to hit
like 2012 standards, the
timing that they're coming
with from the factory right
now, it's pretty low.
Like they're still retorting
some of the timing.
And as you know, like
you most of your mileage
increase comes from a lower
vein position and high time.
Right. There's really no big
magic tricks. That's pretty
much it and calibrating.
And if we could go to
like pre 2007 standards,
man, we could save America
a whole lot of money
because now we can actually
crank the timing up on
these modern vehicles.
And we'll still be cleaner than
2007 standards.
And if we went to 2000
pre 2007 standards,
then the manufacturers
already have a head start
because they're sitting at
2012 and above right now
with no emissions on the vehicle.
So between that,
I think the local smog
testing because there needs
to be a standard.
I think everybody will agree
that like we don't want
nonsense and then
let it be enforced
at a local level.
If someone
is blowing smoke,
treat it like a window tint
sticker and go
right the guy ticket.
Right. You know what I mean?
Don't hold the manufacturers
accountable because this guy
didn't get retuned.
You know, this guy didn't get
retuned for 60 over
injectors. And now it's a
freight train. But because
he was originally tuned
with the manufacturer.
Now you go after the
manufacturer when he never
had a shot to even try
to make it compliant.
But then I feel explaining
that to to a customer,
right? Like on that end,
that whole thing of because
there's a lot of information
being shared on social media.
Deletes are legal.
The EPA is no longer.
We deal with this on a daily
basis. I'm sure you guys do
too.
But you get into this where
it's like even even if
standards were to change,
the big red flag is is that
the manufacturers that are
US based are still the
ones that the federal
government goes after.
They're not going after
the end user. They're
going after the companies
that are doing the
supplying up.
And that's, you know,
kind of like what we spoke
on before where the quality
has gone so far downhill
is there's there's no there's
no identity to anything
anymore. Yeah.
You know, that's it.
And there's, you know, so many
people online, just like
that the the minister,
I brought this up in a meeting
with them. And it's like, hey,
like, I'm all about what
the president's saying, you
know, D.E.F.s a joke.
This fluid's junk.
Can't keep stuff running like
so when people hear that,
they're like, hey, we're
for sure having deletes.
Let's just go party
right now. Right.
But like what's not being
talked about is like, there's
major pushback.
There's a war going on in DC
right now. You have bureaucrats
that are still in DOJ and EPA
that are not operating in the
good faith of this
administration.
What so ever, there is a lot
of pushback and everything
that we push forward,
we see the pushback come
back in. And then what
will win at the end of the
day is data.
But no matter what,
there's this pushback
that comes back and forth
between, you know,
traditional politics
and traditional DC and
traditional thinking that
the scientists from Harvard
are all correct and they're
definitely not influenced
COVID.
So like that type of stuff,
you know, like that they'll
still go down to the grave
saying like we should have
done everything we did
because that was the right
decision without ever
actually analyzing if that
was the right decision.
So and another thing too
is a lot of these people,
even some of the like more
real liberal ones out in DC
that I've met,
we all want the same things
they just have a misunderstanding
of what it takes to get there.
If they actually knew that
they were harming the environment
more by having after treatment
than not having after treatment
as they actually truly knew
that they were harming
the lower income class
and they were harming people
at the grocery store themselves
for no net gains.
You know what I mean?
Like you increase pollution
with these things
and they wouldn't want to do it.
But it's very difficult
for people that have trusted
the system, you know,
especially some older people
the boomers, especially like
they've trusted this system
with everything in this.
And in many ways,
the system got things right,
but it also got things wrong.
So I think what you're
starting to see now
and what kind of stew brought up
and Stuart Cagle's
brought up in a recent podcast
was you're starting to see
both sides,
rather they agree or disagree
with the way it was handled
over the years with enforcement
is starting to be
a little bit more open-minded
to, hey, maybe we don't
have this totally figured out.
Maybe there really is a situation here.
And that's a huge, huge, huge step
because, you know, I'm going on
basically until this administration
came in, even in Trump won
the whole time.
I'm just trying to convince him
that there's a problem, you know.
And it's like, oh, you just want to make money.
You know, it's obvious
why you want this.
And it's like, I will do it for free.
If I can just demonstrate
that there's a problem.
I'm right. You're wrong.
You know, right?
Yeah, like it's just like racing, right?
I don't care about the trophy.
I just want to prove them right.
I can win.
But yeah.
So but I think you're starting to see
a lot of it come to those terms.
And if people would understand like
there could still be enforcement,
it just needs to be on the state side.
I think the states know much better
how heavy they want to enforce things
versus the federal government.
You know what I mean?
Some some cities
or I like using window tent
because some cities you got 20%
10 they'll write you a ticket in a heartbeat.
The next city you got 30%
they don't even notice it.
So one city you drive five mile an hour over
they don't get a ticket.
You do it in the next one, you get a ticket.
So it's like, I think this type of stuff
needs to be on the same basis
because there's so many formers
and legitimate economic economic situations.
You know, miners and things like that
that like that the city can do a little bit better
and have better discretion as to
to what needs to happen
to be able to make the economy flow.
Because if we hurt the economy
while trying to reduce emissions
but hurting the economy caused us more in emissions
because of all the extra transport
and things that have to be done
and things moving around
and you're not helping the environment.
So I like to come into this thing thinking
that you know, we're actually the environmentalists here.
We're trying to lower emissions
and help the economy.
Like that's a win-win.
You talk about zooming out
and that's something where I feel like
I'll use myself like I'm guilty of that too
of not looking at the bigger picture
and you know, like listening to Nick
or listening to you and you as well, Corey
like you don't think of,
you know, like you're talking to truckers, the farmers
the guys earning a living is like, okay
let's say, you know, a couple 18 wheelers are late
because their truck went into limp mode.
Okay, well now that shipping company is delayed
and then, you know, whatever doc they're gonna go to
those workers are pissed off.
Now they gotta leave late.
Like there's a massive domino effect.
That's not just that one instance.
Exactly.
Is that a lot of people don't see
or don't realize.
So if there's a lot of moving parts of this
that even I'm not, you know, up to speed on
and hearing you speak on them
definitely opens up a different mindset
or a different perspective on a lot that goes on.
It's tough to me too because it's like, you know
we're talking about one topic, diesel emissions.
Well, you got the 18 year old kids, right?
Where they're the ones that are the rebellious ones
they're doing it because they're told they can't, right?
Or they want to blow smoke
or they want to do this or they want to do that.
Limiters dude.
Yeah, the limiters in two step in black smoke
but that's a super small fraction
to the bigger picture, the bigger story.
The produce at your grocery store, right?
The fuel at your fuel station, right?
It's a much broader bigger topic
that it does have a domino effect at that point.
It's just like, like you could take a tractor trailer
of diesel exhaust fluid getting brought to a gas station,
right and cardboard boxes, everything else.
The vehicle, the light duty trucks, you know
we've got a two to four mile per gallon fuel penalty
and the DEF, as you guys know,
the DEF also looks at how much the fuel consumption was
and it regulates to that.
So it's got, you know, that's also part of how it doses
is by how much fuel you're consuming.
So we've got two to four mile per gallon fuel penalty
that advances the DEF fluid right out the gate.
Now we have a big rig that also has
a two to four mile per gallon fuel penalty
that is delivering the diesel exhaust fluid.
The diesel exhaust fluid is at a manufacturing place
that all the vehicles and everybody drive up to
to manufacture and do these things.
A lot of the rarest components are shipped by
or transported by ships into America.
And the EPA, the way that they've had to measure
to my knowledge, pretty sure is right.
The way that they've had to measure it
is basically if you've had any harm,
if this can harm a human life by even 0.1%
then it is your duty to take action.
So they don't, they can't look at the whole
from cradle of starting the manufacturing of that vehicle
to the grave of when it actually dies,
which we'd consider a half a million miles,
you know, roughly on these engines.
They're only looking at basically 10 year, 150,000 mile
like we spoke of earlier.
But if you zoom out and you look at the whole entire
picture it's like, Hey, this can actually be fixed
really, really, really easily.
If we take into consideration,
are we actually doing good?
Or are we just operating under the illusion of doing good?
And I think that's what I'm hoping that we'll see
the EPA do is actually start zooming out
the same way that they did the endangerment finding
and say, Oh, okay, this doesn't make sense anymore.
And I think that's a very good possibility,
but where the president could step,
the president or Zeldin, especially the president
could step in as issue like an EO
demonstrating that this really is a national emergency
and it is on so many fronts.
So that's how they could do it,
but we'd still need Congress potentially.
None of this stuff ever passed Congress in the first place.
They haven't met in Congress on this stuff
since I think it was like the nineties
on actually set it forth.
They delegated this task to the EPA.
So when a lot of people come out and they're like,
well, you have to totally redo Congress.
They didn't meet since they didn't actually set this
to my knowledge since the nineties.
So it was actually all done on the deference
of the EPA's own judgment.
So if that's the case, then with the right data
and the right understanding,
then EPA ought to be able to reverse that course,
similar to how they just did the endangerment finding.
So I think there's quite a few pathways to get there,
but like you were saying,
a lot of people's openly advertising deletes and stuff,
I seriously would not do that right now.
You're gonna get effed, bad.
Where I got off earlier was like this,
you've got two sides up there.
You've got some guys that are like,
hey, we're gonna go and investigate
real environmental matters,
not the guy deleting a truck in his garage
that just opened a company.
And then you got other ones that just hate us.
Like they hate combustion, they hate diesels.
Somebody blew smoke on them one day
and they have had a bad taste in their mouth since
and all of us are bad guys.
You've got some of those holdovers
that are still there, not operating in good faith.
And in some of these, the EPA has a duty as well
until regulations change to actually enforce this stuff.
So you can only fault them so much, right?
They have a job to do it until the things change,
the lower levels, they're doing their job.
So that's gotta be taken into account.
But yeah, I would not be deleting trucks right now.
Like Stuart was saying yesterday on a podcast
that he's already, I think he's gotten like
five new civil cases in the past few months
and people are like, well, it's not criminal anymore.
So it's not a big deal.
Cause that $3.1 million fine I have was 3.1 million
before I got hit criminal.
So we ended up having them combine the criminal
and civil together.
So split it like 1.55, 1.55 to total the 3.1.
But civil had already, man, we would,
what I've been in a war with,
like I've been dealing with the criminal side for five years.
They got its over with after I pled,
but the civil side is still like what I deal with today.
So I'm going on 11 years of dealing
with this civil nonsense.
And that's a, you know, people think they won't smoke
cause they got $500,000 stash.
That ain't crap does.
If they really come after you, that ain't nothing.
I got 7 million in attorney fees in the past six years,
six, seven years.
Like I say between like, yeah, let's delete all these trucks
to make as much money as we can.
Hopefully it offsets, you know, the fine.
It's like, all right, well,
it's not just going to be a quick done and over.
Like you've proven that like you're going to have to go
through months, years of bullshit.
So you're going to have to pay your lawyers out the ash.
You're going to have to pay the government.
Like unless you're making hand over fist and it's stupid,
but it's still like the way the penalties broken down
you're, the penalties are outweigh what you make.
Yes.
It's just what it is.
Yeah.
And I mean, some guys had gotten off super, super clean.
A lot of people would say that I got off good.
You know what I mean?
But at the end of the day,
that's just them looking at a fine amount.
You know, I got hit hard on the fine amount.
It's granted we made a lot of money.
But the thing is, is like,
I have a lot of other stuff going on too.
If it was just PBI, they would have broke this company.
You know, and we've seen $30 million a year.
And so they would have,
they would have broke this sucker in half.
And it was more expensive to do business back then
than what it is now as well.
And in many regards, you know,
getting technology and information was way more difficult
and expensive than now, but man,
I'm telling people like, don't just be patient.
There's very likely this stuff's going to go in our favor.
And I would just be patient, do things legal,
learn the right way.
No one's going to listen, but like I'm at the spot now
that if you get peppered right now by the EPA,
because you're doing deletes and stuff,
like I'm really not, I'm not, I feel bad for you,
but I'm not overly interested in helping you
because we're openly saying this stuff now.
You know what I mean?
And it's civil enforcement, criminal enforcement.
I felt very different about criminal enforcement.
It was like, you know,
I always felt like that should have never happened
from the get go.
And now with the adjustment the administration made,
I think they agree.
They feel the same way.
And that's why they're not doing the criminal thing anymore.
And I would fight hard for you on that,
but just for civil, man, there's laws right now in place.
And we got to try to get these things fixed.
If you take that same energy
that you're putting into trying to do deletes
and all this other stuff
and put it into fixing these laws
and work with your local politicians
and just get involved,
then we could get this thing fixed in such a way
that, you know, you'll be able to do this
without looking over your shoulder
and then feel like you're doing a good thing for society
instead of wondering if the next guy coming to your shop
is a freaking EPA or your neighbor's ratting on you
or something, all the stupidity
that we see in the industry right now.
And I know people are gonna do what they wanna do.
I'm not trying to tell anybody how to bake their cookies.
But I can tell you that it's very unlikely
unless you get a good agent
that you'll survive what I went through
if they decide to target you.
Like good luck, good freaking luck.
So I throw a massive warning to people out there,
like it's, Trump may 100% agree with us
and everything we're saying,
but Trump's not in every aspect of that administration either.
And it's being cleaned out weekly, daily in many aspects.
So, you know, if you got the wrong agent
that hit you up and they got a freaking horde on
for nonsense, no, they'll rock you a world.
It is no joke.
And it's the money ports easy.
That's why I try to tell people the money ports easy.
Like you're either gonna have the money
or you're not gonna have the money.
But the process is the punishment, not the money.
From the mental side of it.
Right?
Correct, correct.
And hopefully we never see.
Yeah, and hopefully we never see in America
what happened during the Biden era.
That was like, that wasn't even normal like bad politics.
That was like a infiltrated outside
organized takeover of the country.
And unfortunately a lot of us just got caught
in the mix of a lot of that.
Yeah, that's just insane.
Sounds like tinfoil hat stuff, huh?
Yeah, exactly.
That was until like the truth
is gonna come out.
You don't wanna believe it, you don't wanna believe it.
It's like hard to believe,
but I've witnessed it and I've seen it.
And I've been in this industry as long as I have
and I know what's going on behind, you know
the scenes of a lot of this and it is all real.
And you are taking the time to be vocal
and you are risking that
and you are making it very transparent.
And, you know, we appreciate that, right?
I mean, that's, you know, we're a small voice
when we're on phones with customers
or a small voice when we're talking to shops, you know
and it's kind of, you know, practice
what you preach kind of thing.
And, you know, it's right wrong and different.
You're abiding by what's legal in the moment
whether you believe it or not
or you, you know, you trust in it
that's a different story.
But at the end of the day, right?
You go and do something for a couple bucks
and, you know, then you have the EPA at your door
or, you know, your name is in the mix of,
hey, this shop did this or this shop did that.
And that's, you know, now you get to find out
how weak minded
or how weak of an individual you really are
because, you know, you thought you were a big bad
and tough and now you're being slapped
with what you thought wouldn't ever happen to you.
Yeah.
And now it's.
That's it.
And I can say for me, like, you know
I've been in the public eye for a pretty long time
people seen how I've conducted myself.
Sometimes good, sometimes bad.
I'm a human.
Yeah.
But what I could say is, is like,
it broke me in 23 August to 23, you know, I imagine
I don't know what it's like to have kids.
I'm not fortunate enough to have them yet.
But, you know, I would imagine it's a similar feeling
to like someone hurt your child.
It's like they were beating on my company
and we're all used to it.
But whenever they went after my grandparents
it was like, oh no, like this is a totally different
ballgame.
You've affected the,
There's lines across.
I'd hope be protected.
That line was like that mentally shifted,
shifted my brain pretty bad.
But yeah, I can, I can attest man.
If somebody's going through something
and you just freaking go all in physically,
spiritually, and it'll fix the mental part.
That's the best advice I can give.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
I think on that note, right?
I got it.
We got everything.
We got everything.
You know, I'm excited to see like what's,
what's to come.
Yeah.
We, you know, I'd like to do a followup
to this, you know, next couple months
and just check in with you guys,
see what you guys got cooking.
And, you know, just again,
really appreciate you taking the time to,
you know, talk to us, let the listeners
and viewers kind of get an inside scoop
as to what's going on and, you know,
what the visionary is visioning,
you know, through this whole process.
Yeah.
And same with y'all,
like super major thanks to y'all.
Y'all been consistent on,
on wanting to run this stuff
and stay on the topic of it.
And I think y'all,
cause without getting the message out there,
I mean, it's, it's, it's,
you're running up a creek, right?
Yeah.
Another thing too is thanks for everything
like y'all and y'all's company
and everything that y'all do
because it makes my job, you know,
whenever parts and things work right
and companies do their jobs well,
then it allows me the time
to not be tech support in it 24 seven.
All the stuff y'all build that we sell,
it works amazing.
So thank y'all for making great products, dude.
No, we appreciate that.
We appreciate you.
You know, that's what,
I mean, these are the type of institutions
that, that grow the industry, right?
Move forward in a positive way.
So, yeah.
Cool. Appreciate you coming on, Corey.
Thanks for taking the time.
Oh, it's, I've got grays now, Chris.
Yeah, no, it's, it's coming in.
About this episode
Corey Willis of PPI Tuning talks diesel emissions enforcement, the legal fight that nearly shut him down, and why he believes the industry’s future hinges on better testing and smarter, more localized enforcement. He recounts years of pressure during the Biden era, including criminal/civil exposure and California EO gridlock over hardware requirements. Corey argues deletes/removals aren’t a safe bet right now, but he pushes for standards based on real-world data, private-lab testing, and smog-style inspection that ignores readiness monitors. He also critiques aftertreatment “net benefit” claims and warns about low-quality overseas tune libraries and AI-driven misinformation.
Kory Willis is back! He joins the show to discuss everything emissions and diesel. You've seen all the news surrounding DEF and charges for deletes. Kory called in to discuss his experience fightiong his battle to keep his company PPEI alive despite the massive blows it faced with charges. Kory also discusses what we can expect to see from here, emergency vehicles dealing with reduced power mode in times of crisis, and much more! Thanks for carving out some time for the show, Kory. Listeners, this one is a good one. Enjoy!
