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December 2017 Newsletter

26 Nov

November 20, 2017

For the full newsletter click here, or click the image below. If you’re just interested in one topic, click the image or “read more” link and you’ll be taken directly to that part of the newsletter on EricTheCarGuy.com.

If you’re reading this on the website, you’re already reading the full newsletter, and you’re awesome.

Past newsletters and the ETCG Blog can be found here.

Technical Difficulties and Time

As you will read in the articles below, it’s been a busy time for me lately. I’ve had a lot of travel over the past couple of months. In fact, I haven’t had a weekend at home since October 14. You don’t need to feel sorry for me. I’ve been doing a lot of cool stuff. I just mention this because I started my last newsletter talking about the “Return of ETCG” videos.

As a result of my recent travels, I’ve had limited days to shoot video at the shop. Brian and I only had 3 days of shooting in the past month. On 2 of those days it rained. On the remaining day, Brian’s drone was not working. Because of those setbacks, we ended up shooting other videos on those days.

I guess this is a long way of saying I’m still sorting out the ‘Return to ETCG’ video. If the weather holds out, and Brian’s drone is fixed, I hope to get the video shot in the next couple of weeks. In the mean time, I’m going to start working on the videos that will air after the ‘Return’ video.

No matter what, I plan to start posting to ETCG again soon. Keep an eye on my social media for updates.

Road to SEMA 2017

Last year I got together with BustedKnuckleFilms, ChrisFix, EngineeringExplained, HumbleMechanic, MattMaranMotoring, BriansMobile1, and Silvia from WooHoooGirls to drive from Malibu to Las Vegas for SEMA. We did an LA to SEMA drive again this year with a couple of new additions, BleepinJeep, Rob Dahm and SaabKyle04.

The trip started out in LA where we had an impromptu ‘Meet Up’ in Venice Beach CA before heading out on the road. Considering the short notice, we had a great turn out. Thanks to everyone that came out for that!

We took a different route this year that spanned 2 days. We started out going south into Palm Springs CA. From there we went through Joshua Tree National park into Las Vegas.

Once again Dodge hooked us up with some cool vehicles. We had a Charger Hellcat, a Challenger Hellcat wide body (my personal favorite), a Mopar 17 (a special edition Challenger), a Ram with a Hemi, a Durango SRT, a top of the line Caravan, a Jeep Rubicon, a Fiat 500 Abarth Cabriolet, and a Fiat 124 Spyder Abarth.

We rotated driving different vehicles so we got a chance to drive each one, although I managed to miss out on the Durango, not intentionally. The Fiat’s were a lot of fun, but my favorite was the Hellcat wide body. That thing handled great. Much better than a regular Hellcat. It’s my new favorite new car.

I also got the chance to do some off road driving for the first time in the Jeep. That was a lot of fun. I even climbed a rock. Thanks to my instructors BustedKnuckleFilms, and BleepinJeep.

Special thanks to GarageMonkey, Dodge, and Shell for making that trip happen.

SEMA 2017

What can I say, SEMA is SEMA. This was my 4th year attending the show. To be honest, it’s more of the same. It’s a lot of walking, a lot of beautiful builds, and no time to see it all.

I didn’t have as many obligations this year and that was nice. I got the chance to explore the show a little more than in years past.

But here is my main issue with SEMA. There are so many great builds, it’s easy to miss something incredible.

For instance, the Splitray. At first glance it looks like a really nice C3 Corvette. Upon closer inspection you’ll see there’s something ‘off’ about the car. After talking to the builder, Scott Roth of The Auto Shoppe, I found out why. Scott and his team cut the entire car in half and widened it by 6 3/8”. Why? Wider cars handle better, also, the end result is stunning.

If you look at all the stingrays on the car, you’ll see they also modified the logo to incorporate what they did to the car. It’s all about the details.

The Splitray is just one example of this. There are thousands of beautiful and unique builds at SEMA, and that’s my problem. I never get to see them all, or appreciate them like I feel they should be appreciated.

After building the #FairmontProject, I have a new appreciation for what goes into a build, and the builds at SEMA are way beyond what I’ve done. It seems a shame that some vehicles get lost in the sheer scope of the show.

That said, if I can swing it, I’d love to see the #FairmontProject at SEMA next year. A boy can dream.

Bondurant and the Can-am 500

The weekend after I got back from Las Vegas I headed to Phoenix AZ to spend some time at the Bondurant Racing School, and also attend the Can-am 500. The best part of this trip was spending time with my good friends HumbleMechanic and EngineeringExplained.

We started out with 2 days at Bondurant Racing School. To be honest, I’m not the fastest driver, but it’s always great to drive fast legally on a race track. The best place for it if you ask me.

Here’s the summary. EngineeringExplained is the fastest. I’m not just saying that, he got the fastest time overall in the autocross.

HumbleMechanic is awesome at go-karts. Yes, Bondurant has go-karts and they are a blast. Me, well, I look pretty in a race car.

Seriously, I learned a lot at the school and got to meet Mr. Bondurant himself, a real honor. I highly recommend the school if you’re looking to get into that sort of thing, or, if you just want to know what it’s like to drive fast on a track.

On the final day we went to Phoenix Raceway to watch the Can-am 500. I have to say, Shell really knows how to do a NASCAR race right. Not only did we tour the pits and visit the NASCAR garages, but we also watched the race from the Curve venue. For those of you not familiar with Curve, it’s a private, enclosed, area where you can watch the race. It’s also catered, best track food ever. In addition, they have a set of private outdoor bleachers where you can see the entire track.

An epic weekend for sure. Thank you Shell!

The #PullAPartChallenge

By the time you read this, all 3 episodes of the #PullAPartChallenge should be out. If you haven’t seen them yet, here are links to all 3 episodes.

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

I’m very proud of how this turned out. I may have taken a break from posting ETCG videos this year, but I haven’t wasted that time. I’ve spent it doing projects like the #PullAPartChallenge where I was the executive producer.

I couldn’t have done it without Two Rivers Pictures, Milwaukee Tools, and PullaPart.com. Pull-a-Part for giving me the opportunity, Two Rivers for doing all the heavy lifting of production and post production, and Milwaukee Tools for the tools to do the work.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone that participated in the show.

I couldn’t have done it without you. Without a doubt, this will go down as one of the things I’m most proud of.

The #FairmontProject

I’m driving it. After 2 years of toil and trouble, I can now get in, turn the key, and go. It’s the greatest thing ever.

Sure, there are still some things to sort out, but for the most part, the car is on the road. I drive it whenever I can. Thing is, it’s getting cold now and it’s not the best weather to drive the car in. Mostly because my tires don’t like the cold. The engine loves the colder air, but the tires not so much. They get hard and don’t grip as well.

The exhaust leak, for the most part, is gone. I still have a few small leaks, but nothing like what I had before.

After machining the headers the front pipes would no longer connect. I did take quite a bit of metal off with the belt sander which is the reason for this. I was able to fix the problem with a few cuts and welds. That was the biggest challenge I faced with the latest upgrades, but it’s all hooked up and running now.

The new cooling fans are keeping the engine below 200ºF. They’re really cool, pun intended. Only one fan comes on when it reaches the trigger temp. If the temperature continues to rise an additional 15ºF, the second fan kicks on. Both fans combined are 4000 cfm. They have definitely solved the problem of overheating in traffic. In fact, I hardly look at the temp gauge anymore. I’m looking forward to trying the AC out in the spring.

The front seal fixed the oil leak. The thermostat gasket fixed the coolant leak.

The heat shielding has also helped, especially on the alternator. The alternator is butted up against the turbo on my set up. The turbo has a heat shield, but it’s not enough for the heat it puts out. With the new heat shield, the alternator is doing better than ever. In fact, now it puts out a consistent 14v.

I did one more thing outside of what I mentioned in last months newsletter. I swapped out the exhaust cut out. My old one rattled, a lot. I installed a new one with a different type of valve. The new one is more like a throttle plate.

It was an easy install. In fact, I used much of the wiring from the old valve. It works great and no longer rattles.

Don’t worry, I shot video of all of this which I will share with you when we get to that part of the build in the series.

I’m in a ‘tuning’ phase now. Just dialing things in. Each time I take the car out it gets a little better.

I’m looking forward to taking it back to the drag strip in the spring to see how it compares to the first run. My guess is it’ll be faster.

Premium Member News

For the second month in a row, I’ve provided 4 Exclusive videos to Premium Members of EricTheCarGuy.com. This is a trend I plan to continue.

This month Premium Members got, “ETCG Assembles the New Belt Sander (Exclusive Video)Sander (Exclusive Video)”, “Steve Darnell’s Scary ’68 Charger (Exclusive Video)”, “Airplane Engine in a Pick Up Truck Start Up (Exclusive Video)” and, “Every Vehicle at SEMA Ignited 2017 (Exclusive Video)”.

Once again, if you are a Premium Member of EricTheCarGuy.com I’d love to get your feedback on what types of exclusive videos you’d like to see. Feel free to comment to the videos you get, or you can use the Premium Member forum. Either way, I look forward to your input.

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

This time of year always gets me in the mindset of things I’m grateful for.

I’ve been working as EricTheCarGuy for the past 8 years, it’ll be 9 years at the end of next January. When I started, I had hoped to be successful, but I never expected things to turn out the way they have, and I’m so grateful.

Mostly I’m grateful for the fans of the show. Not only have you supported me, you’ve also allowed me to make a living doing something I love very much, making video. Thank you for that.

I’m also grateful for the friends I’ve met during all of this. You’ve turned out to be some of the best friends I’ve ever had. It’s been a pleasure getting to know you.

I’m also grateful for my family. They’ve stood by me from the beginning. They were my first fans. They were the ones who believed in me first, and they’ve been by my side through thick and thin. I’m very lucky to have them in my life.

I’m looking forward to getting back in the game. I feel like I’ve had a sufficient break. I’ve also accomplished the things I said I wanted to accomplish before I start posting to ETCG again. I’ve finished the Fairmont and I’ve also completed many of the videos I was commissioned to create for Pull-A-Part.

Hopefully before you read the next newsletter, I’ll have some new ETCG videos for you. I’m also hoping they’ll be the best ETCG videos yet.

What Should I Do With Dads Truck?:

You Think You’re a Fast Driver, But You’re Probably Wrong:

When You See Your Car On TV or in a Movie:

How Much Did the Fairmont Cost?:

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