Gintani and Jeremy Fleming - Gpower

[powerchip]

I can confirm that Jeremy Fleming -- former Powerchip employee -- with the knowledge and consent of the officeholders of 'Gintani' altered the Gpower software and then tested multiple versions of said software on the Gpower supercharger-equipped cars. In our opinions, these alterations lead to the ultimate failure of these two motors in Gintani's possession.

Through our forensic investigations, we discovered the original GPower files read by Jeremy and Gintani and the multiple changes they made to the ignition and air fuel ratios which ultimately lead to the two motor failures.

We believe the changes that were made were some of the worst changes we have EVER seen in our 19 years of successful automotive tuning. We have no doubt that the changes made caused severe and irreparable engine damage.

The images below show the provenance and changes of the GPower software being read by Gintani and Jeremy Fleming. The first image shows the provenance. The base file was read on April 28th, 2009. They even called it "G Power SC tuned Germany" to show that this was the base file in its unaltered form. Starting with "jero 1" the alterations began. All the way from "jero 1" to "dyno 6 incar" the alterations continued.

We assume that "dyno 6 incar" is the file in the car when the motors failed -- because Jeremy labeled the final file "dont use." The file marked "dyno 6 incar" was the final alteration that was left in the car after dyno testing .We have forensically analyzed these changes from their original base file and will show and explain the changes they made.

The images shows the timing and air-fuel maps that Gintani and Jeremy Fleming altered. This images shows that Jeremy altered the GPower ignition timing by advancing it an extra 34 degrees!!! At one point in the map, the original ignition timing was -10 degrees, and Jeremy changed this to +24 degrees. In our opinions, and I'm sure other tuners will agree, adding 34 degrees of timing to a motor that was originally normally aspirated and then converted to forced induction is critically flawed and would certainly lead to catastrophic failure.

All of this was done to the GPower software without Powerchip knowledge. Jeremy Fleming did not advice Powerchip staff or management that he was tuning these vehicles. Had he done so and asked our permission, we would have denied such permission because in our expert opinions, Jeremy was a junior level tuner who lacked the training and expertise necessary to work on any such project without our technical manager checking his work. Whereas Powerchip did not know of this clandestine project, we also never received any payment from Gintani, Jeremy Fleming, nor the customers.

To be perfectly frank, at the time the work was done by Fleming, no staff member at Powerchip (and even our technical manager) had the ability to provide an upgrade for an E92 M3 that had a supercharger fitted ‘from scratch’. The level of technical ability to provide tuning (withour external assistance) for a BMW with forced induction is a level way above normal aftermarket tuners. And that includes ESS and Active Autowerks.

Had a company approached Powerchip and advised us that they required tuning to suit a new supercharger kit, we would have refused the work. It is simply not commercially viable for us to recover the development costs for a small number of cars. And again to be frank, Powerchip are not experts in providing ‘from scratch’ tuning to suit highly modified cars with a supercharger bolted on. We know what we are good at, and that is stock cars, or mildly modified cars, with say exhaust and intake changes.

I can assure boardmembers that Jeremy Fleming did not have the skills to carry out the work successfully on M3’s that were converted to forced induction.

The screen shots below show the following chain of events and alterations:

o On April 28, 2009, Jeremy read the GPower supercharged car at Gintani.

o Jeremy then removed the copy protection tags and proceeded to modify the software on the dyno.

o The analysis of "dyno 6 incar" revlealed dramatic changes to ignition timing.

o Changes as large as 46.6% -- or 12.3 degrees -- were made to "optional timing" table. This applied a total advance of 41 degrees of ignition timing.

o A 57% increase (an extra 10 degrees) of ignition timing was made to the "min permissible timing" table.

o Finally, one of the most important timing maps was changed by a full 340% -- to an extra increase of 34 degrees of ignition timing.

It would appear that sometime in July, the motor blew while Jeremy was in Australia. Jon Martin needed to return his motor back to stock and re-flash the original file before he could attempt a warranty claim from BMW. That's when Jon contacted Jeremy and requested a copy of his original software file. Jeremy was fully aware of the work he had done on these cars and he complied with Jon's request. But for whatever reason the flashing did not work and the car would not start. That's when Jon contacted Jeremy again and asked him to re-flash the car a second time as soon as he returned from Australia. A copy of Jon's email is available, but will not be posted as it is probably a breach of the TOU, and Jon Martin has not responded to our request to post the email.

These GPower project files were not discovered in our Powerchip projects database for some time. We believe Jeremy removed the projects from our database, but did not realize that the files remained intact. During a forensic investigation of Jeremy's computers and our server (and checking emails sent from Powerchip USA to Powerchip Australia), we discovered these GPower files. In addition, we found a copy of Jon Martin's email where Jon informs Jeremy the flashing failed and his car no longer started. Jon Martin advised Fleming whilst Fleming was in Australia, and was forced to send it to Jeremy’s Powerchip email account because Jeremy’s USA cell phone was not operating in Australia at the time.

[Bubbles]

This is like CSI.

[alpine335i]

Kind of unprofessional and dirty to blast the man on the Forums where he can't respond. Just my opinion.

[zamm3k]

why would you post this? I can't really see anyone benefiting from this information in this forum.


Well... actually now that I think about it, you could benefit, as Jeremy is the founder and tuner for OE Tuning correct? I really can't believe bimmerpost permits these kind of posts. You know, if your "report" isn't 100% accurate, there's a word for what you just did. Its called slandering.

[alpine335i]

Originally Posted by zamm3k

why would you post this? I can't really see anyone benefiting from this information in this forum.


Well... actually now that I think about it, you could benefit, as Jeremy is the founder and tuner for OE Tuning correct? I really can't believe bimmerpost permits these kind of posts. You know, if your "report" isn't 100% accurate, there's a word for what you just did. Its called slandering.

Exactly, and obviously if he still worked for powerchip this would have never been published. Funny how it comes out after OE Tuning has been getting praise lately on the forums...

[Eugene-TAIWAN]

Hey dude! I got a call from GPower today! And they don't want to have anything to do with this and don't even care to comment. I'm pretty sure its the same for OEtuning and Gintani or whoever.

bottom line both companies have good products and both have happy customers

Honestly everyone is tired of this..... its boring

[KiokenM3]

Sounds like powerchip is a bit sour that jeremy is doing his own thing. I will always have OE and jeremy tune my car no matter what anyone says. This thread is useless.

[alpine335i]

Originally Posted by KiokenM3

Sounds like powerchip is a bit sour that jeremy is doing his own thing. I will always have OE and jeremy tune my car no matter what anyone says. This thread is useless.

+1

[m33]

People bennifit by this cause your saved by not buying software not designed for your setup !! How can u say people don't benefit ????

[Kyoshi71]

I was a little troubled by this quote, "Jon Martin needed to return his motor back to stock and re-flash the original file before he could attempt a warranty claim from BMW."

It seems incredibly low that a reputable (allegedly reputable) company would partake in trying to scam BMW by claiming a warranty issue.

[Mrbojangles]

hmm, PC you guys keep going around posting threads like this one on every single forum. It's funny how your trying to bring OE/Gintani down because they are a fairly new company that is actually doing good work. Is it jealousy? Fear?? Maybe if you guys treated your workers fairly then non of this would happen. Im sick of seeing threads like this. I mean come on now. Be a bit more professional, and stop posting false accusations. Jeremy is great guy and does great work.

[DLSJ5]

Jeremy asked me to post the below rebuttal in response Powerchips claims/accusations.

Jeremy is my tuner, and has since become a friend, FWIW from what I've experienced with my own car, he is an excellent tuner, I'd also like to add that Matt at powerchip (pedm5) is also a friend of mine and I don't have anything negative to say about him either. It's unfortunate that these events have taken place.

Jeremy's reply -

M3Post Members,


After trying to digest the twisting and misleading way Wayne and Powerchip management have put forward their case here, I find there a few key facts that have been omitted. I am not here to make Powerchip, Wayne or Matt look bad, as they do a great job of that just being themselves.

It is easy to see here whomever advised Powerchip management of the changes made to any GPower software is entry level and has a hard time determining what timing is or in fact what is does. The timing levels you have quoted and the maps you have shown are from GPower cars that have had catastrophic failure. Nothing to do with the case you are trying to sell people on??? Wayne has no knowledge of tuning or even how to tune, after owning a tuning business this long…… This is a Fact. It seems that there was no tuner to fill the position after I had left. The current tuner in Australia was not able to leave the country as his passport was seized after skipping bail and coming to the USA on a previous occasion. I believe he is currently awaiting criminal sentencing over matters that have no need to be made public on this forum. As for Matt, he was lucky to get trained at all. Poor guy had no idea even how a car ran when he started in December. This guy, Matt is now the head tuner at Powerchip 6 months later. It is hard to work for a company who promises the world and delivers on nothing. I was promised big things, later to find out that I would be treated like every single employee from the past, expendable. I was given no job security. After many attempts asking Cheri, Wayne’s bookkeeper, why my income taxes were never paid by Powerchip, I was given a run around. It seems that all employees, resident and non-resident of Powerchip Inc. were to have taxes held/paid by Powerchip Inc. I have documents to support this. 1099s and W2s were never filed also by the company. This applies to other employees also. Wayne revoked Travis’ 20% ownership stake and fired him, an owner with 10 years of loyal service. I feel sorry for Stuart Appleby, a silent owner, as he will never see a cent from Wayne of his large investment, nor has he to date. I have many more facts that I simply do not even care to go into. Please contact me directly if you have any questions or would like more dirt.

Here are the facts:

Tightie’s (GPower SC) car was read after an initial shut-down he had while running his car hard. This lead him to be concerned with the health of his motor. At this time he asked if his car could be retuned and the CEL light be turned off? After much deliberation, it was decided upon not to re-tune anyone else’s SC cars. This was the best decision that could be made. At this time Gpower changes were compared with the changes made to the Gintani cars and they were shown to the owner to demonstrate that in fact GPower was adding timing, while I was removing timing. Please ask the owner if these facts are true and correct. No tuned files were ever tested, although a project was made in order to determine possible causes of said shut down. Although there are multiple versions in this project, none of the files were ever tested. None of these files were ever in cars as suggested by Powerchip. It was after this time that Josh decided to go with a Water/Methanol injection setup to protect his motor better. Any files tested or used in his car were from GPower only. You can confirm this with the owner. Any further inference is a fabrication by Powerchip to discredit a past employee.

As for Jon Martin’s car, he experienced the same fear as all of the other GPower owners. Catastrophic failure. Who wouldn’t be concerned? Yes, Jon asked me the same, could you re-tune my car. So I read his car first to determine where it was operating after request form Jon. After reading his car it was seen that the same excessive timing changes were applied to his car also. I showed him at this time the same comparisons as I did with Josh. The same decision was made in this occasion not to re-tune this car. After Jon experienced engine failure also, his car was rebuilt and the GPower supercharger kit was removed. At this time I was asked to flash his car back to the original settings for the purpose of breaking in the fresh motor. His new motor was also retuned after break-in period.

There are many other GPower owners who have approached me with the same concerns. There are also many owners of GPower SC kits worldwide who have experienced catastrophic failure and they did not contact me.

I cannot believe the slander and petty attempts by Powerchip and management, PencilGeek and others to discredit my abilities. I guess my abilities were great when I was on your side, funny how things change….

This is my first time posting and it will also be my last.



Jeremy