Tim didn't ease into this industry - he fought his way through it. He started turning wrenches in high school, joined the Marine Corps, and served with Renegade Battery, 5/11 at Camp Pendleton through a combat deployment to Afghanistan. In whatever time he had stateside, he was in the base auto shop tearing into a '78 Corvette he'd acquired near base. The Marines don't build soft people, and Tim brought that same zero-excuses mentality back to the shop.

After his contract, Tim entered the Heavy Duty Diesel world and rose fast - becoming a lead diagnostic technician specializing in the failures that stumped everyone else. No codes, no obvious cause, no problem. He developed a methodical, data-driven approach to finding what others missed, eventually taking his skills mobile and diagnosing equipment in the field without the luxury of a lift or a shop. That kind of pressure either sharpens you or breaks you. Tim got sharper.

While working full-time, he started building engines out of his garage - having blocks machined locally, assembling them at home. When the machine shop's quality and turnaround became unacceptable, Tim didn't complain. He leased the shop himself, ran machines after hours, and finished builds at home. That operation eventually grew into a full-time facility he owns and operates today.

Tim's machining isn't production-line work - it's precision-obsessed. Every block and head goes through a meticulous process: bore and hone sequences dialed with torque plates to simulate real-world clamping load, surface finishes optimized for ring seal and longevity, and tolerances held to specs that most shops won't bother chasing. He invested in serious equipment and the training to use it right - including Rottler/Total Seal honing school and hands-on time with industry leaders who don't share their knowledge with just anyone. The result is an engine that doesn't just make power on the dyno - it survives.

His personal builds tell the same story. A supercharged GTO. A '63 C10 packing an L86. A turbocharged S10 on a 25.5 cert chassis. And his '05 Silverado - a platform he's deliberately run through multiple engine and transmission combinations to understand what each does, how it fails, and what it takes to make it win. The last setup: a 458ci solid roller LS at 15:1 compression mated to an 8HP70 Dodge transmission. Every combination was a calculated experiment. That firsthand knowledge is what separates his customer advice from guesswork.

Patriot engines have shipped nationwide and shown up in rock crawlers, drag cars, autocross builds, drift machines, and Drag-n-Drive competitors - and they're winning. Tim holds himself to a standard that doesn't leave room for "good enough," because the people trusting him with their builds deserve better than that.

Above it all, Tim is a man lead by his faith in Christ. He has been married 13 years to his wife, and they're raising two boys together - the next generation already getting their hands dirty. The Patriot legacy is in good hands.