February 2016 Newsletter

Thank you for reading the ETCG February 2016 Newsletter. Here’s how to get the best out of it.

If you’re reading the email version of this newsletter, it’s not the full version of the newsletter. It’s been pared down to just the main topics. Just click on an image, or ‘read more’ link, and it will take you directly to the topic of choice. If you want to read the newsletter in it’s entirety, and you do, click here.

Past newsletters and the ETCG Blog can be found here.

Once again, thank you for reading.

ETCG Going To Finland With Nokian Tires

I’m really glad I took time off in December as February/March looks like it will be a very busy time for me. It starts with travel.

Early this year I was contacted by Nokian tires to come and check out their winter tire testing ground in Ivalo Finland. For those of you not in the know, that’s in the arctic circle. A perfect place to test winter tires I’m sure. To say I’m excited about this trip would be an understatement of galactic proportions.

Of course I’ll be making lots of videos during this trip. I’m hoping I can keep you updated via my social networking as well. Hard to say what communications will be like in the arctic circle though.

Pull-a-Part Partnership

The second trip is scheduled for early March to visit Pull-a-Part in Atlanta GA. I’m sure that will be a shorter flight.

I’ve been talking with Pull-a-Part since SEMA last year. The more I learn about their company, the more I like them. They seem very focused on helping those in need get affordable parts for their auto repairs.

In fact, they don’t pull the parts for you. Instead, you go out into the yard and pull the parts yourself, hence the name Pull-a-Part. Not all salvage yards operate this way.

I like being able to pull parts myself. In fact, the purpose of our partnership is to create a series of videos talking about pulling your own parts and how best to go about it when you’re at the salvage yard. Should be a lot of fun.

Future EricTheCarGuy Videos

I often talk about what videos I’ve got coming out for Premium Members. Here’s a look at what’s on tap for this month at ETCG and ETCG1.

I’m most excited about this one. In fact, it’s the reason I decided to put this segment into the newsletter.

The first video in February 2016 will be a video titled, “Is It Better To Put New Tires on the Front or Back?”. For this one I did some real world testing in a snow covered parking lot to determine if it’s better to put your new tires on the front or the back of your vehicle. Brian and I were cold, well Brian mostly, but we had a lot of fun making this one.

After that wraps up, I plan on releasing more videos in the Fixing it Forward series. You’ll see in the segment below what’s coming up there.

For tool reviews, I have one on the Battery Minder, and also either the new brake flare tool from Eastwood, or my tire changing and tire balance machines. I haven’t decided which will appear first yet. Probably the one that’s easiest to edit.

I also shot a lot of short videos in January. One on what to do with a broken timing belt, another on how to remove Honda crank bolts, how to bleed brakes by yourself, and some on the work I did on both the Vigor and the Element in January.

For ETCG1 I have discussions on “Torque Natzis”, “Do No Harm”, and “The Misinformation Customers Sometimes Give”. There are a couple of others in the works, but I haven’t shot them yet. I’m sure I’ll have some stuff to throw in with my Finland and Atlanta trips as well.

Random Tuesdays

Brian and I sometimes get together at the local watering hole for lunch. Mind you, this doesn’t happen often, but when it does, we call it “Random Tuesdays”. Brian’s name BTW.

Now, I’m not advocating lunch time drinking as a regular thing, I’m just going to use the name for extra video releases that I plan to add to the ETCG video lineup.

At this time I’ve got a ton of repair videos, and I’m only releasing them on Fridays. This works for some, but not all of the videos I produce. Some videos are shorter and I’d rather have the information out there for people to see and use. These shorter videos don’t really fit into the Friday repair video slot. Therefore Random Tuesdays will be the solution. This won’t be every Tuesday, heck, it might not even be on a Tuesday. The point is, it’s ‘random’.

So keep an eye on my social networks (linked below) and YouTube video feed for these ‘extra’ releases.

Fixing it Forward

Fixing it Forward projects are on hold for now. The main reason being I have more videos to edit now than I can handle. In fact, I’m still working on the edits of the last Fixing it Forward project, Jerry Hall’s 2003 Nissan Sentra SE-R. We shot a TON of video on that cars repairs.

In addition, Brian has other work going on right now and I’d rather shoot FiF videos with him than go at them on my own.

Besides the wheel bearing/ball joint video, and brake rebuild video, I also have videos for the power steering rack replacement, the timing chain, the water pump, the tires, and a few miscellaneous items that were on the list. Not to mention the video where we return the car to Jerry.

These videos will keep you in Nissan repairs for some time to come.

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

The Future of Fixing it Forward

Something has come to light about the Fixing it Forward project. That is, where does it end? Sure the participants have vehicles in need of repairs. My intention was always to help them with these repairs while making repair videos for you.

Thing is, every vehicle that’s come through the program so far has had several issues, I expected that, but what I’m trying to sort out is how far I’m going to go with these issues and repairs.

The idea is to help as many people as possible. That will get increasingly difficult if I’m not only working on new candidates vehicles, but the old candidates vehicles as well.

So the questions become, what vehicles and candidates do I choose to participate? What criteria is an acceptable measure of who to help? How far do I take these vehicles with the initial repairs? Lastly, how far to I go to maintain these vehicles after they’ve left the shop?

Considering I’m dealing with a lot of your donated money, almost $7000 at last count, I want to make sure that I spend it wisely. I take that responsibility very seriously.

Therefore I’m working on a plan to clearly outline what Fixing it Forward will and will not do for participants going forward.

I’m also looking at ways to expand the program beyond my shop and my show. More on that in future newsletters.

The Fairmont Project

Yes, we all want this to finally get off the ground. If you’ve been reading these newsletters, you know that is exactly what I intend to do. In fact, when I get back from traveling, it’s all hands on deck to get the project done. If I have my way, I’ll be driving the Fairmont this summer.

In January I got the wheels. They’re steel 17”x7.5” that are stock on some Crown Victorias and Ford Explorers. They’ll work perfectly for the project as I’m converting over to 5 lug hubs. I’m also hoping to keep with the ‘sleeper’ aspect of the build. Steel wheels are low key, which is where I think a sleeper should be. They’re also cheap, less than $300 for all 4 wheels new.

The biggest debate is deciding if I want to leave them black, or paint them body color. Either way I’m going with chrome centers, no beauty rings. Think cop car.

I also have most of the suspension parts, including the tubular K member. Next on the list is the parts for the 5 lug conversion and all the parts for the differential. I’m only using the housing of the differential I got from Pull-a-Part. The rest will come from other sources.

I’ve also found a local machine shop that I’ll be working with for the engine build. They have an engine, as well as a chassis dyno. I’m hoping to do some videos with this part of the facility if I can work that out.

Something to keep in mind here. I may be shooting the videos starting in March, but they may not begin to air until May/June. I still need time to edit. I’ll put them out as quickly as I can, but please be patient.  

I also realize that I was going to start shooting these videos in January, but with Cameraman Brian out of pocket, and my travel coming up, it just hasn’t worked out that way.

ETCG Turns 7

As of January 27, 2016 I have officially been working as EricTheCarGuy for 7 years. It blows my mind to think of how far things have come. I’ll have to see if I can dig up one of the early newsletters. That would be an interesting read I’m sure.

None of this would be possible without all the support I’ve gotten from the fans of the show. I owe a large part of my success to you. I say it at the end of every newsletter, and as often as I can, but I can’t seem to say it enough. Thank you for making this the best job ever. If you’ve only read this newsletter, you realize how awesome it is to do what I do. It’s very humbling to me and I will be forever grateful.

To that end, I’ve started things like Fixing it Forward to help give back to the community that helped put me where I am today. I plan to spend the next several years developing that, and other projects like it, so that I can give back to even more of you.

It’s now officially my mission in life.

Here’s to 7 more years and beyond.

2016 ‘Meet Up’ Date Announcement

The 5th annual ‘Meet Up’ will be held at my shop on July16, 2016. Details, sign up, and directions will be posted on the website when we get the page together. I’m just making the announcement now for those of you looking to make early plans. For those of you not familiar with the ETCG ‘Meet Up’, here’s last year’s video.

Premium Member News

As many of you know the cost of Premium Memberships went up this year. The main reason is to cover the cost of hosting the videos and our new server for the website. I didn’t just raise the price though, I’ve also added value in the form of additional exclusive videos.

In January Premium Members got 3 exclusive videos starting with  “Swapping a Tire on the New Acura Vigor (Exclusive Video)”. They also got “2003 Nissan Sentra Wheel Bearing, Ball Joint, & Brakes- Fixing it Forward (Extended Video)(Exclusive Video)(Eric Throws a Tool)”, and “Modifying the New Engine Hoist (Exclusive Video).”

Next month I hope to hit 4 exclusive videos for Premium Members. In fact, I’ve already shot a video with an update of my plans for the Fairmont project as well as one on the upgrades I did to my compressed air system earlier in January. With those 2 videos and my upcoming travel, I’m sure I can hit the 4 video mark.

I’m also hoping to add a monthly video to the Premium Member line up. Think this newsletter, but in video form. As some of you know, the videos I produce are shot, sometimes months in advance. I’m hoping to add a newsletter style video each month to let Premium Members know what I’ve done in the previous month, and what’s to come with future videos.

Bottom line, my intention is to create more exclusive content for Premium Members going forward.

Premium Members get up to 4 exclusive videos per month in addition to early releases of all ETCG and ETCG1 videos. They also get $2.00 discounts on VManuals. Memberships are now $4.99 per month and $14.99 per year. To get more info and sign up, click here.

Premium Member Videos

I would like to address something that’s come up with the Premium Member videos lately. There have been some complaints that the quality is not as good as the YouTube videos. This is partly true. YouTube videos are uploaded at 1080p, Premium Member videos are uploaded at 480p. The reason for this is the server we’re using to host the Premium Member videos. Space and bandwidth are limited, so we can only go so far with the file sizes of the uploads.

I’m already looking into solutions for this. Unfortunately, most of them are expensive. Very expensive. It could mean a more significant price increase to memberships in the future. Before I go there, I’m going to see what I can do with the resources we have. Just know that I’m aware of your concerns and I’m working on it.

Oh Yea, I Got a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee

Last month I picked up a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited Edition. It has the 4.7L HO V8. I purchased it for $500. It has a blown engine.

Don’t look for videos on this anytime soon. As you’ve read in this newsletter, I have a lot going on. I do plan on making an engine swap video with this vehicle when the opportunity arrives. It has not been determined when that will be.

After that I plan to sell or trade it for a shop truck, or loner car for Fixing it Forward participants. I haven’t decided on that yet. It’s best you forget about this vehicle for now and enjoy the pretty picture.

In closing

The phrase, ‘this is just the beginning’ comes to mind as I was writing this newsletter. I had a lot planned for this year, but the upcoming events I’ve been invited to, make it even more ambitious. I don’t mind it. I’d rather be too busy than not busy at all. I just take things one day at a time and keep marching forward.

Still, it’s strange to think sometimes how far things have come over the past 7 years. Mind blown.

I’m going to leave you with that thought, and the customary, ‘thank you for all your support of my channel and the things I do.’

I wouldn’t be here without you. Thank you.

Latest videos below.

Be safe
Have fun
Stay Dirty

ETCG

Related Videos: