Do you think something like the Oxford Nanopore MinION [0] is a viable alternative, assuming you'd want to do just the sequencing yourself? I suspect most people wouldn't be able to do the prep without proper wet lab training and equipment [1], but the starter kit is $1000 for the device, a single flow cell, and one rapid sequencing kit (SQK-RAD004).
I'd love to do a torque mod on a modern Honda EPS, but there's simply no easy way for a "normal" person do it. The amount of time and effort is extreme with no background knowledge of the problem. (Yes, I understand there's liability, etc.).
It's completely taboo in openpilot discussions (e.g., the Discord channel), so I'm curious if there's an alternative community open to talking about it (distributing pre-patched or providing a patcher).
For Honda cars at least, openpilot is absolutely hindered by the low torque allowed by the stock firmware.
[0]: https://nanoporetech.com/products/minion
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS1pz3IhJvU