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The fairmont project, while awesome, isn’t something most people are going to be able to accomplish in their lifetime. Most people won’t have that much money to dump into an old car.
It’s the videos that people can relate to that get the views. People want to see someone else tear apart the car they’re going to be working on before they tear into their own car as it gives them confidence to do so. I believe they also like to see you suffer, like the time you worked on the pontiac montana minivan. That was a great video series!!! When you drilled into the cooling jacket, I was hooked and subsequently signed up for a premium membership so I could see how you fixed it. Been a premium member since.
For what it’s worth, danieljagerfilms made a video about “driving on a flat tire” and has close to 500K views already. I don’t know what the recipe is, but fairmont build videos aren’t appealing to lots of people. I’m still interested in seeing the finished product though.
Maybe incorporate a hot chick into your videos. Look at iJustine’s channel. She makes videos about how she cracked her screen for the 3rd time and has hundreds of thousands of views. They’re not useful videos at all. But people watch because she’s a hottie.
[quote=”Jimmy88″ post=185558][quote=”c918″ post=185553]…And I certainly like these videos more than watching you fix cars that keep coming back to your shop because they belong in the scrap yard in the first place.[/quote]
I’d have to disagree at least in part – fixing older (not classic) high mileage cars is/can be worthwhile especially if you’re doing the work yourself, and once again there’s something to be learned from Eric’s experiences of doing a bunch of work on a car only to have another issue come up later on.
I said goodbye to my first car several years back precisely because the work needed to keep her on the road would have cost more than the car was worth, and it was a little daunting for someone living in an apartment with almost no tools. If I’d stumbled across online resources like this site and Eric’s videos, I likely would have spent the money on the tools/parts I needed and kept the car.
But that goes to the whole point of asking the question – each of us viewers has our own preference on what we’d like to see.[/quote]
I see where you’re coming from, but dragging in a car that was left for junk because it had a bad fuel pump (or wasn’t installed right, can’t remember) to get it going, and then it needs all the other commonly neglected items. But then it just ends up being a bunch of advertisements for parts store/website sponsors for these routine parts, and that’s when I start to get bored. Yeah the brakes on a Ford vs a Honda are different, but the principles are the same.
Plus, Eric basically said in the future he’s going to have to find a limit of how many times he can let the car come back for other things that need replaced after the initial repair. For example, if Eric changes a water pump and a timing chain to get a car going again, then a week later it needs an alternator, alright, but then what happens a month later when some other part fails that puts it right back in the yard where it started? He can’t allow people to keep coming back and rightfully so because he wants to help other people, or so he says.
I think you’re on the right track, Eric. As a premium member I enjoy your style of videos that show the “real world” aspect of building a performance car. Stacey David puts together some monster machine in a couple shows and then says “oh it’s so cheap and easy and anyone could do it in their garage in a weekend!” I suggest his shows for the people who don’t have the patience or appreciation for your work.
And I certainly like these videos more than watching you fix cars that keep coming back to your shop because they belong in the scrap yard in the first place.
well bummer. I like watching eric suffer on Fridays doing real repairs, not this easy fix stuff! This video belongs on random Tuesdays.
Just kidding! but seriously..
Yeah I like fixing it forward but when you “fix up” a vehicle that belongs in a scrap yard, other unrelated things will always come back to bite you. Especially when they came from people who didn’t (or weren’t able) to take care of them in the first place. And, I did get a little bored of seeing every vehicle get the usual things like brakes, calipers, wipers, and everything else that most people don’t pay attention to. There’s plenty of those videos out there which I’m guessing is why the views weren’t what you expected.
But I like the channel so I’ll keep watching.
That’s fine and dandy for Hondas with the hex fitting on the pulley. But why didn’t you show how to do the crowbar/flywheel trick?
I had a 93 civic with no hex fitting. On top of that, the bolt was on STUPID tight. Impact wouldn’t take it off. Nothing I did could hold the crankshaft still. I gave up on it for a year until I had the idea to take it to a local shop that put it on a lift and jammed the flywheel with a crowbar. The mechanic at the shop broke one of his sockets on the bolt and still didn’t get it loose. Then he used an impact socket with a cheater and finally broke it loose. THAT was a lesson on how to remove Honda crank bolts.
Eric, have you got the new gear installed yet? It’d be cool to see a quick video of YOU tearing into that transmission!
The HF press is known for leaks in the hydraulic jack. Not a huge deal if you don’t use it often. Also it isn’t “guided” as precisely as the Sunex press. Again, not a big deal for pressing out lower control arm bushings as I did, but other jobs you want to make sure it’s pressing down at a perfect angle with the base. The HF jack pretty much paid for itself though in the first job I used it for. Local shop wanted $25 per bushing, and I had to do 6 of them. Haven’t had a real use for it since that job though.
Here’s a 39-page thread on a Honda forum on the swap.
I’m an avid DIY’er, and I’m not worried about the links since I have access to a lot of tools. The issue is getting the old bar out and the new bar installed, which is the issue as explained several times throughout the thread. It involves loosening the sub frame, and using different techniques to fish the old bar out and back into the car. The car needs to be elevated, the higher the better for this swap.
I agree that the suspension is pretty good from the factory, but the consensus is that the Acura sway bar swap is the best ‘bang for buck’ mod on these Accords. Everyone raves about how it improves the handling over the stock sway bars.
It’s up to you, Eric. I’m not necessarily in a hurry to get this done but I’ll leave the offer on the table. For one, I don’t think a sway bar swap is going to come up in a fixing it forward scenario. But thank you for your consideration.
[quote=”stiv625″ post=151436]A few notes from my replacement of the compliance bushings:
2) I removed the control arms and took them to a machine shop, and I feel that’s the best option for a DIYer. Without a press, it’s very hard to get the new bushing started on straight. My machinist marked the control arm with a punch to the “triangle” on the old bushing to know how to orient the new one. He only charged me like $15 to do both bushings.
3) I would not recommend replacing the rear bushing. As you saw, it can be quite a fight, and I’ve never seen one go bad. By that time, as Eric mentioned, you might as well just replace the entire control arm.
If you just buy the two compliance bushings (and stabilizer links) and have a machine shop press them, this is only like a 2 hour job for under $100.[/quote]
I agree that the kit isn’t necessary. IDK about your location, but the shop closest to me wanted $25 to press EACH bushing (6 total for me). So that $200 harbor freight press nearly paid for itself in the first use.
But then again, I’ve always wanted a press so now I have it for other things I used to have to do with a hammer or not at all.
The rear bushing is a why not kind of thing, especially since how rusty the steel looked. For the extra time it took, it removes all doubt and gives that fuzzy feeling. Basically a new control arm after all the bushings are replaced.
[quote=”Dunebasher” post=151441]I’ve never heard the expression “compliance bushing” before. Is that just Honda-speak for what’s simply called a control arm bushing elsewhere?[/quote]
Probably. Though I’ve never personally seen that kind of bushing used on another make.
[quote=”Dunebasher” post=151423][quote=”c918″ post=151419]I’m surprised you didn’t have issues with the bolt seizing to the inside of any bushings. It’s a nightmare when that happens.[/quote]
Fortunately I’ve never encountered that. What’s the option when you do? Try and cut a circle in the rubber around the bolt so that you can turn it and the seized part of the bushing out together? Sawzall the bolt and then use an easy-out or similar to remove the section of the bolt that’s still threaded into the frame?
I guess it all changes on a case-by-case basis depending on bushing accessibility etc.[/quote]
The bolt unthreads from the frame, but the bushing is seized to the bolt. So, the bushing breaks and twists with the bolt. Only thing I can think of is use a torch and an impact to break it loose. But that could get smoky.
I did LCA bushings on an 05 Accord. It’s similar but has 3 bushings.
For the big compliance bushing, I pressed the center of the bushing out. Then, I used a disc from a wheel bearing remover kit to remove the bushing. Then, I used a pipe cap to install the new one.
The secret of getting the lipped bushing out is to be lazy. Basically, I ignored the lip and put a socket under the lipped side and pressed the bushing into the socket. It takes a lot of force initially but the lip will bend and allow itself to slide right down into the socket, with no harm to the socket.
I’m surprised you didn’t have issues with the bolt seizing to the inside of any bushings. It’s a nightmare when that happens.