The re-evaluation of previous and existing methods in materials processing is becoming ever more critical because of processing and starting materials cost factors. A study on the synthesis and properties investigation of hypereutectic Al-13.5Si-2.5Mg alloy reinforced with carbon chars using coconut shell as the organic precursor has been carried out. The low-cost, double compaction solid-state technique was used. Reinforcing the hypereutectic alloy with coconut shell char particles (size : <140 mu m) at 2 vol% and consolidating by reaction sintering at 600 degrees C in vacuum for 15 min, followed by near net-shape compaction at 250 MPa, increased the hardness of the alloy 6% while reducing its strength (UTS) by only 3%. The use of palm kernel shell char as the dispersed phase was found to yield identical results. At 2 vol% char, the mechanical properties, sintered density and dimensional changes were optimally found to be suitable for lightweight anti-friction electromechanical applications. Attempts to reinforce the alloy with 2 vol% coconut shell chars activated in CO2 reduced its strength in the range of 19 to 26% at different burn-off percentages. This is attributed to the higher amount of oxide products formed during the activation process. At 600 degrees C , formation of the brittle Al4C3 phase in the different sintered composites containing activated and unactivated chars was identified by X-ray studies.