June 2017 Newsletter

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Past newsletters and the ETCG Blog can be found here.

Turning a Corner

Over the past few weeks I’ve made several changes to my brand and my videos. This was an attempt to reconnect with the audience that I feel has dwindled over the past year.

In part, I feel the decline was due to changes with YouTube’s algorithms, but the majority is based on the fact that my videos have changed focus from auto repair, to car building and fabrication, namely the Fairmont. Building and Fabrication may be related to auto repair, but I’ve learned that to my audience, they are very different.

Personally, I feel I’ve made a lot of positive changes to bring back the views. The videos are shorter, more concise, and I’ve even been adding music. I’m also putting out more than just Fairmont videos.

But the comments still show up, “I thought you were going to be posting repair videos again”, “South Main Auto is a real auto repair channel”, “Not another Fairmont video, I thought we were done with that crap”. I realize these are a minority of vocal dbags, but the views speak for themselves.

I’ve decided to accept it. I know now what I want to do. I want to build my

Fairmont. I want to make it into the baddest car I can possibly make. Those of you that are ‘along for the ride’, jump in, you can ride shotgun. The rest of you pining for who I used to be, and the videos I used to make, well, sorry. Forward is the direction I’m going to move, and that’s all there is to it.

This is just something I must do, and I plan to see it to its end.

The #FairmontProject

As anyone that reads this newsletter knows, the Fairmont has been my main focus of every waking moment for the past few months. I know I said I’d hope to finish the car in 2 months, 2 months ago, heck, I was trying to get the thing done before last year’s ‘Meet Up’.

Many things contribute to the delays. Mostly, it’s having to fabricate EVERYTHING. Yesterday, I spent the entire day installing a wiper motor and reconditioning my windshield washer system. It may sound ridiculous, but I pulled it off and the results were spectacular. My wipers and washers work perfectly, but that’s another day gone do to fabricating every little part to make it all work.

“What’s so important about wipers and washers in a race car?”, is what one might say. My response would be, this is not a race car, it’s a street car. One that will be driven on the street. In fact, I hope to put a lot of miles on this thing when I’m done. I’m sure during some of those miles it will rain, or I’ll get bugs on my windshield. At that time, I’ll be very happy I spent a day making my wipers and washers work flawlessly. 😉

The Fairmont has become more than just a car, or a project at this point. I’m pinning a lot of my future on it if you think about it. If it’s a fail, it may very well be the last you hear of EricTheCarGuy. However, if I succeed to half the degree I think I can with this build, this car will become legend and usher in a whole new era for me and my channel. I’m banking on the latter.

These are the things I’ve done to the car since the last newsletter.

The gauges are complete and, if I may say so myself, totally awesome.

Thank you SpeedHut! Exactly what I had envisioned. I really enjoyed the engineering that went into installing these. I think you’re really going to like the video when it comes out.

I’ve installed the vents I spoke about in the last newsletter. FYI, you can retrofit an HVAC system from an ’86 Mustang into a ’79 Fairmont with little modification. Now all I need to do is sort out the electrical part of the system.

I’ve repaired many cracks in the dash, sometimes using creative methods.

I’ve installed XMat from Eastwood beneath the headliner, on the firewall, and behind the rear panels. I’ll finish the rest after the roll cage is installed.

I’ve re-welded all welds on the frame connectors. Another day gone, but I feel much better about my welding now than I did then.

I’ve installed the hydraulic clutch master and also the rest of the pedals. I have 3 pedals now!

I’ve fabricated and installed 3/8” hard line for fuel delivery from the middle of the car to the engine compartment.

I’ve installed the trickest stereo ever! It’s from RetroSoundManufacturing. It looks almost identical to the original AM radio that was in the car, I even used the old knobs! The new stereo has bluetooth, hands free for your phone, a USB connection that I installed in the cigarette lighter outlet, 2 AUX inputs, and RCA connections for amp hook up if you wanted to go that rout. Not only is the car a sleeper, the stereo is too!

I believe I’ve already mentioned the windshield wipers and washers.

Next month I plan to finish up the work with the dash. I’m hoping to get the wiring sorted out when I do this. I’m waiting on a wiring diagram I ordered.

Once the dash is installed, I plan to start work on the roll cage. Once that’s done, it’s a matter of putting the engine and transmission back in the car and getting the rest of the circuits wired. After that, I’m hoping to be able to drive it.

Before it’s running and driving on the street, I’ll also have to sort out the exhaust. I have a guy for that, but first I need to get the car up and running.

Fixing it Forward

I’m always sad when I have nothing to report here, but I have nothing to report here again this month. I do plan to restart the program after the Fairmont is done, but as the previous section states, I still have a little ways to go on that.

If you’d like to learn more, or donate to the Fixing it Forward GoFundMe, click here.

Part Pulling Videos in Atlanta

At the beginning of the month, I once again traveled to what is becoming a second city for me, Atlanta. While I was there I once again met with my friends at Pull-A-Part to produce content for their website.

Once again I teamed up with Jim Hodgson from Crossthreaded. This time the weather cooperated and we were able to get in a full week of shooting. In fact, we completely dismantled a 1996 Honda Civic. We also stripped quite a bit out of a 1997 Nissan Maxima and a 2002 Nissan Altima. These will be ‘pull’ videos very similar to what I’ve published in the past.

These videos aren’t focused on me at all, they’re just Jim, well, mostly his hands, removing parts from these vehicles. These videos will be used as guides for those looking to pull their own parts while at the yard.

Trust me, this will be useful. Even during shooting Jim and I often look up how to remove a part that we’re having difficulty with. It’s hard to find good information like this. Pull-A-Part plans to change this and I aim to help them.

The videos I’m producing can also be used by people looking to remove a particular part from their vehicle for repair as well. In short, this will be very useful stuff. Look for the first batch to come out during the month of July or early August.

Premium Member News

I’m going to start this one with an apology. I had inadvertently set the wrong date for the early release of the “How To Wrap Exhaust Headers” video. I’m very sorry that you didn’t see an early release off that video. I’ll be sure to learn up on how dates work so that I can prevent it from happening again in the future.

On the flip side, I’m happy to report that this month I had 3 exclusive videos for my Premium Members. “How To Replace a Fuel Pump (Original Version)(Exclusive Video)“, “#FairmontProject Rear Stabilizer Bar Installation(Original Version)(Exclusive Video)“, and “Fitting the Power Steering & AC #FairmontProject (Exclusive Video)“.

These exclusive offerings are a little different that what’s been previously posted. In particular, the How To Replace a Fuel Pump (Original Version) (Exclusive Video), is a version that is very similar to what I used to post on YouTube. What I ended up doing was creating a shortened video for the YouTube, and I kept the original version for Premium Members.

I did this as something of an experiment to see if the new format would play well on YouTube. I also wanted to see how the old format would do on the website. So far I haven’t gotten any feedback on the Premium Member version. If someone wants to weigh in on that, feel free to leave a comment directly on the video. By the way, you can comment on any of the Premium Member videos on the website.

Premium Members get up to 4 exclusive videos per month. They also get additional perks on the website, and they help support the site with all of it’s useful, free, repair content.

Details on the new Premium Memberships here.

In Closing

I opened this newsletter talking about turning a corner. I never really defined what I meant by that.

There are 2 things specifically I’m referring to here. The first is the #FairmontProject. I finally feel like I’m making forward progress, despite that fact I sometimes spend a whole day on one small thing. I still feel like I’m closer to the end than the beginning, and that feels like I’ve turned a corner with the #FairmontProject.

The second thing I feel I’ve turned a corner on is my channel, and my brand. I’ve been experimenting for almost 2 months now. I’ve put out a different variety of videos. I’ve done what I can to make them more interesting and engaging. Thing is, the views have pretty much been the same. The feedback is very positive, but the views still aren’t there, with one exception.

Last month I posted a video on washing an engine. That video got more views than any other video I’ve posted in recent memory. What is somewhat surprising is that this video has nothing to do with auto repair. It is, for lack of a better phrase, a fluff piece.

This is very telling to me. It says that the majority of people watching YouTube are more interested in the quick video about something they can relate to over learning how to fix or build something. That’s not to say there isn’t an audience out there that’s interested in repairs and fabrication. What I’m saying is that the majority of people watching YouTube videos are looking to be entertained rather than educated.

ChrisFix is excellent at these types of videos. Let’s call them “infotainment”.  In fact, it could be said he’s perfected them when it comes to the automotive space. This is in no way a dig against ChrisFix. He’s someone I consider as a friend, and he really does make excellent videos. I’m very happy for the success that he’s had, but if you watch his videos, they appeal to a much wider audience than just the ‘repair’ crowd. That’s not by accident I’m sure.

If you want auto repair videos it seems like SouthMainAutoRepair is high on the list. So much so that people are posting his logo to my GoogleMyBusiness. Anyone know how to get rid of those?

Eric O. of SMA does great repair videos, no doubt about it. He’s also a great guy and I’m happy to also call him friend. He seems to have picked up the torch that I dropped about a year and a half back. I’m totally cool with that because I feel it’s in good hands. As I said, he makes excellent repair videos.

In conclusion, I feel I get it now. It doesn’t seem to matter what I post. I’ve changed, and as a result, I’ve left a large chunk of my audience behind and they’re not really interested in coming back. I am sad about that, but I don’t regret it. I love what I’m doing now. The irony is that I wouldn’t be doing what I do now if not for the audience that put me here. I haven’t forgotten that.

I love the videos I make. I wouldn’t post them if I didn’t. Thing is, they just aren’t paying the bills like they used to.

Therefore I’m going to be taking a new direction moving forward. I’m going to be moving away from making YouTube videos for a living. I’m still going to be posting, but perhaps not as regularly. This will begin to happen after the #FairmontProject is done. Don’t worry, I still have several videos on that to go before it’s over. Once it wraps up and is on the road, that’s when I’ll start changing directions.

I’m very happy about this. I feel like I’ve turned a corner. I feel like I’ve made piece with the whole business.

I’m still going to work hard at bringing you the best videos that I can, I’m just going to be working on a new focus for my main source of income.

Before I leave you with that, I just want you to know that you are appreciated. If you’re actually reading this newsletter it means you care. I care about you as well and will do everything I can to continue to provide useful information and videos to you for as long as I can.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Thanks for reading.

Latest videos below.

Be safe

Have fun

Stay Dirty

ETCG

Related Videos:

Video Title: June 2017 Newsletter -EricTheCarGuy Video Description: Welcome to the June 2017 Newsletter. Here you will find information on what is happening with EricTheCarGuy and his videos. Projects include the #fairmontproject, Turning a Corner, Fixing it Forward, and Part Pulling Videos in Atlanta. and Premium Membership info. Thumbnail: http://www.ericthecarguy.com/images/newsletter/June/2017/ETCG-June-2017-Newsletter-Placecard-850.jpg