Avondale, Ariz.—What many consider to be the fun part of the automotive industry is a core component of a student’s education at Universal Technical Institute (UTI). To the delight of many students, completion of a nine-week Hot Rod & Performance class is mandatory coursework for the school’s Automotive Technology and Diesel & Industrial Technology Training Programs.
The course appeals to “gear heads” and is what typically attracts young men and women to a profession as a technician in the first place, said Bill Spiekerman, a Hot Rod & Performance instructor at UTI’s Avondale, Ariz., campus, a National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation (NATEF) accredited school.
“Eighty to 90 percent of students are gear heads and are fascinated when taking things apart and putting them back together,” Spiekerman said.
“This course takes you into a world that everyday technicians don’t see,” said Spiekerman, who helped create the Hot Rod & Performance course in 1998. The course, taught at eight of the nine UTI campuses, is anchored by “old school” hot rod engine building and power and performance modifications for super street late model vehicles, he said.
Spiekerman, a racing industry veteran of 45 years, helped design the coursework to produce students capable of building an engine or car properly that produces tangible performance improvements.
When a student enters a one- or two-year Automotive Technology or Diesel & Industrial Technology Training Program, they complete basic and advanced engine, electronics, and drivability prerequisites before moving on to the Hot Rod & Performance course, Spiekerman said.
The engine building portion of the class includes complete design and blueprinting, Spiekerman said. A big part of this is internal design and modification on items such as long and short rods, porting and polishing cylinder heads, and selecting the proper camshaft for engine type, he said, adding that students begin a build with computer-aided design (CAD) software.
The Power & Performance portion of the course gives students the opportunity to build late model performance cars, focusing on emissions and drivability, he said. These cars range from modern American muscle cars to tuner sport compacts, he added.
“There is now more drivability and tuning, which crosses over into the hot rod world,” Spiekerman said, adding that this new technology is being built into modern hot rods.
Everything taught is proven to students with a Dynojet chassis dynamometer, Spiekerman said. The dyno allows them to see tangible results of modifications after a build, he said.
“The high performance industry is filled with hype,” Spiekerman said, adding that there are a lot of claims of horsepower gains with bolt-on performance parts.
“We don’t want our students going home and building an engine and not getting the results their customers want,” Spiekerman said. Performance modifications should not be an educated guess, he said. “A lot of math is used designing, building, and verifying information.”
The principles behind building a performance engine haven’t changed much over the last four decades, Spiekerman said. However, with late model performance cars, he predicted that there will continue to be more electronics, tuneability, turbochargers, and supercharged sport compact vehicles.
The opportunity for employment as a technician after graduating from the UTI program is abundant, Spiekerman said, whether it’s at independent service providers, a fleet maintenance shop, or franchise car or truck dealership. The majority of graduates employed as technicians, up to 75 percent, work at independent businesses, he said.
“The transportation industry is one of the biggest in the world,” he said. “There is little that isn’t influenced by transportation.”
Relationships with 20 auto and truck manufacturers is what separates UTI from other vo-tech schools, Spiekerman said, adding that the major OEM programs at the Avondale, Ariz., campus include Cummins and Cummins Generators, Volvo, Freightliner, BMW, and Ford.
The school has assembled an advisory board that represents all sectors of the industry, Spiekerman said. “We listen to their criticism and advice.” By delivering students equipped with the skills employers demand, UTI students enjoy a 90 percent employment rate upon graduation.
“This is an industry that if you want, it will never leave you,” Spiekerman said. “A good technician can work in it their entire life.”
The weak economy hasn’t had that much of a negative effect on the hot rod and performance industry, Spiekerman said. “People in the hot rod industry are smart,” he said. “They know where and how to spend their money.”
