February 2018 Newsletter

January 26, 2018

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.

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Past newsletters and the ETCG Blog can be found here.

Slow In the Shop

Anyone who works in their garage knows that working in the cold sucks. Working in the hot sucks too, but it doesn’t seem as bad as the cold. At least for me. As a result I spend less time in the shop in the winter.

The obvious response to that is, “why don’t you turn on the heat Eric?” Valid question. The reason is that it’s expensive. The big heater in the back of the shop above my tool box is a gas heater. The gas company wants $45 per month just to have the privilege of running gas to it, even in the summer. Then they charge me for usage on top of that.

Instead, I run my Mr. Heater only when I’m in the shop. It works great. It takes a few minutes for things to heat up, but once they do, I’m good for about a half hour or so with it off. We can’t run the heater when we’re shooting or you’d never hear a word I say in my videos. That means we have to work between the warming times.

This can be a pain. It also seems to wear me out. For some reason when I get home after working in the shop on a cold day, I feel a lot more tired than I do with the same amount of work in the warmer months. I guess my body uses extra energy trying to keep warm. Do you also find this to be true?

Either way, this equates to less time in the shop during the winter. Which means less video is getting shot. I’m not too worried about this because I have a massive backlog of videos already shot. I’d estimate that I have at least a years worth of videos in the stockpile. So, during the cold months, I go into the vault to see what I can dig up. Some of you may have noticed that some of the most recent videos were actually shot last year. Now you know why.

Finland and Nokian Tyres

Yes, I spelled it “tyres”. That’s the way Europeans spell it, and also the way Nokian spells it. However, I believe in their North American campaigns they will spell it “tires” as to avoid confusion for those of us that aren’t European. I just think it’s interesting we can spell the same word 2 different ways. It feels very, international.

To say I had a blast in Finland would be a gross understatement. “Life changing” might be a better description. I did things on this trip I thought I’d never do. I got to drive a dog sled through the snow, I dumped a snowmobile in the snow, and I jumped in an ice lake pretty much naked. I also saw the aurora borealis for the first time. That’s just the stuff I remember off the top of my head.

This was my second trip to Finland. This time I got to go with my good friend HumbleMechanic. It was his first trip out of the US. He handled it like a champ. He also jumped in the ice lake BTW. That’s my boy!

I also got to meet some new friends. These turned out to be some great friends that I hope I stay in touch with. By far this was the most ‘international’ trip I’ve ever been on. There were Russians, Chinese, Japanese, French Canadians, Norwegians, Finnish, Swedish, Ukrainian, and some great people from Vermont. I realize Vermont is in the US, but since some of them brought a little local maple syrup to share, I thought that was worth mentioning.

So why did I get to do all this cool stuff and meet all these great people?

Because Nokian is launching a new winter tire line, the Hakkapeliitta R3.

These are non studded tires that kick butt on the snow and ice. Honestly, I wouldn’t expect anything less coming from Nokian. The did invent the winter tire after all.

I know that sounds like a sales pitch, and I’ll admit that it is a little. But the truth is I think Nokian makes fantastic tires. I have them on 3 of my vehicles and I love them. Remember, I’m the self proclaimed tire junkie, so that’s saying a lot.

I’ll have some videos of my trip out soon for my ETCG1 channel. I’ll also have some exclusive videos for Premium Members.

#TheFairmontProject

I’m still dealing with exhaust leaks between the exhaust manifold and cylinder head, but I think I have it figured out now. When I originally ran the manifolds on the belt sander to true them up, I didn’t get them completely flat. I’ve since gone back and welded up the areas that were low and filed everything down flat again. So far I’ve only done this for the passenger side manifold. Even though the drivers side isn’t leaking now, I plan to go over it again anyway. I want to put these leaks behind me once and for all.

I was going to run the manifolds without any gaskets, but I decided to go with some copper shim gaskets that I’m going to use along with copper RTV. I have more confidence in this set up than I’ve ever had dealing with this problem. Wish me luck.

As a result of all this modification, I’m going to have to reposition the front cross pipe again. I’m talking about the pipe that connects the 2 manifolds in front of the engine. There’s a clearance issue with the front stabilizer bar. I plan to address this issue in the same way I did last time by cutting and modifying the pipe, but I want to give the stabilizer bar a LOT more clearance. This will require some fabrication, but honestly, that is my favorite part of custom car building. I believe I’m getting better at it.

Once the exhaust is sorted, I’m going to turn my attention to the fuel system. I plan to run a return system instead of what I have now which just deadheads at the carburetor. I’m also going to be upgrading the fuel pump in the process. I hope this can rule out any fuel delivery issues. I have a feeling I have some of those since I can’t seem to dial in any consistent fuel pressure. A return system will also set me up for the future should I ever decide to go with fuel injection.

After that, it’s on to the oil filter housing. It’s leaking at the filter. From what I can see, it’s just not set up for good flow, and as a result, it leaks. This will likely mean getting a whole new set up. Have I mentioned building custom cars is expensive and never ending?

After that, I’m hoping to put it on a chassis dyno for tuning. After I get the car dialed in, then it’s time to see how much tire I can fit in the rear wheel wells. Then go back to the track. I’m guessing I’ll have better results than the first time I went. Practice makes perfect.

If I have my way, I’d love to do a comparison between drag radials and bias ply slicks. I think that would make for a cool video. I’m talking to Mickey Thompson about that very thing but I’m not holding my breath. They get a LOT of requests for tires as you might imagine.

The work I mentioned should keep me busy until next newsletter.

Fixing it Forward

We haven’t talked about Fixing it Forward in a while. I think it’s time to get back to it. The plan is to move in that direction once I get the Fairmont squared away. The more I can work out with the car now, the less I have to deal with on the road. I hope…

My plan is to start with the 1999 Civic I bought a couple of years ago. It’s just been sitting on my lot. It needs some attention. I think the first FiF videos will be of me fixing this car up and getting it back up to speed. I was thinking I could use it as a ‘loner’ car for participants in the program. I’m hoping by the time the work is complete on the Civic, I’ll have the next FiF recipient set up. If nothing else I’ll have a car I can loan out when I work on someones vehicle.

I also thought that in the mean time what I might do is help out at a local church that does similar work to Fixing it Forward. Someone reached out to me from one of these local churches about a year ago. I think it would be a good idea to help with an existing program for a bit to get a read on what it would be like to do it on my own. Helping people in the process with auto repair will be a bonus.

Either way, I would like to get back into doing the work that directly helps people in the way Fixing it Forward does.

New ETCG #FairmontProject T-shirts

I’ve been working with a racing t-shirt company for the past couple of months on a t-shirt for the #FairmontProject. This is the design we’ve come up with. It’s a Jekyll and Hyde theme to match the split personality of the Fairmont.

The left is the front and the right is the rear of the t-shirt. These shirts should be available in the next month or so. They will be a limited edition so be sure to get yours ASAP. Keep an eye on my social media for when and where to purchase.

ETCG1 Gets a New Look

It’s been 8 years since I started posting ETCG1 videos. Honestly, I started the channel as something of an afterthought. Well, that’s not exactly true. I found that there was content I wanted to share that didn’t quite fit on my EricTheCarGuy channel. Therefore, ETCG1 came into being.

To date, ETCG1 has grown to over 130,000 subscribers. I figured it was time to give it a facelift. I did just that last month. I also took the time to organize the videos into playlists. This will make a particular video easier to find. It will also make for easy binge watching on a particular topic.

So if you get a minute, check out the new look not only on YouTube, but also on the EricTheCarGuy website as well.

The ETCG “Tools” Page Gets a Makeover

For many years I’ve been partnered with J&B Tool sales. They’ve had a page on EricTheCarGuy.com where many of the tools I’ve featured in my tool reviews were listed. Recently, they’ve gone in and redone the page. It now contains new tools and also a tab for monthly Give Aways.

Be sure to check it out!

Premium Member News

Premium Members got 5 exclusive videos last month.

“2017 End of Year Wrap Up and Request to Premium Members (Exclusive Video)”, “What Happened to ETCG’s Beard??! (Exclusive Video)”, “Dogsled Ride in the Arctic (Exclusive Video)”, Finland Snap Shots (Exclusive Video), and “What it’s Like to Drive Through Finland (Exclusive Video)”.

The Premium Member (Exclusive Video) library is growing each month. As of now there are over 200 (Exclusive Videos) for Premium Members!

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

January was a busy and exciting month. I took a little mini vacation with the wife at the beginning of January. BTW, if you’re looking for an affordable time to go to Las Vegas, try early January before CES. I got a very reasonable package deal, and the wife is VERY happy. That’s worth it in and of itself.

As for the rest of my travel, I feel so blessed to be able to do the things I do now. 10 years ago if you would have told me I would be going to Finland for the 2nd time with one of my closest friends to hang out with some fantastic people I would have looked at you like way a dog does when he thinks your hiding his favorite ball behind your back.

That said, I’m grateful for the life I live now. I owe it all to you, the viewers of my work. Without you, I doubt I’d get to do cool things like go to Finland.

I know I thank you a lot, in about every newsletter, but to me it never seems like enough. So I’ll say it at least one more time. Thank you.

Latest videos below.

Be safe

Have fun

Stay Dirty

ETCG

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