June 2016 Newsletter
Welcome to the ETCG June 2016 Newsletter! Here’s how it works.
If you’re reading the email version of this newsletter, it’s not the full version. This email version has been trimmed 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 on my website where the full newsletter is displayed.
If you want to read the full newsletter, and you should! Click here.
Past newsletters and the ETCG Blog can be found here. (those are good too!)
Thanks for reading!
Pull-a-Part Videos!
I just got the go ahead today to start posting the Pull-a-Part videos I shot back in March. You’ve probably already started seeing them and are wondering why I’m posting so many videos. Because I can!
I think these videos have great information not only about Pull-a-Part, but also about visiting salvage yards in general. Salvage yards, or ‘breakers’ as some of you call them, are a great way to save money on your repairs. You can save even more at a place like Pull-a-Part where you pull the parts yourself. These videos are designed to help you do just that!
Just my little way of trying to help out. If nothing else, I think you’ll enjoy these short, ‘pull’ videos, as I get the chance to work outside of my shop in a salvage yard. Something I’ve never done on my show before.
Special thanks to Erik Tande for helping shoot these videos. He has a pretty cool YouTube channel as well. Check it out.
I’ll be making a special playlist of these new videos. If you like these, I’ll see if I can make more.
ETCG, HumbleMechanic, and Pull-a-Part
Last month I had the privilege of working with my friends at Pull-a-Part again in Atlanta GA. This time as a cameraman instead of as EricTheCarGuy.
My good friend HumbleMechanic aka Charles Sanville was shooting his series of ‘pull’ videos with them. As a joke, Pull-a-Part flew me down to Atlanta to be his cameraman. The joke part is we didn’t tell him that I was coming. Instead we surprised him the day of the shoot.
We really caught him off guard with this, he even said swear words.
We spent the rest of the week shooting some fantastic videos with German cars, something I’m not so familiar with. I learned a great deal from Charles and my face hurt from laughing and smiling the entire time I was there.
We had an absolute blast shooting these videos. Special thanks to Pull-a-Part for being so cool and open to such a venture. Spending time with friends, priceless.
Keep an eye out for the HumbleMechainc Pull-a-Part videos in the not too distant future.
The Fairmont Project
So much progress and still so far to go! This month I rebuilt and installed the differential in the Fairmont. No small feat I might add. I learned a painful lesson about set up bearings as you’ll see in this upcoming series.
I shot several videos on this part of the build. I know there’s a lot of mystery surrounding the rebuilding of differentials. I’m hoping this series will help clear things up for those of you that are considering rebuilding a differential, or have had trouble building one in the past.
The new differential came with a disc brake upgrade as well. I had my own struggles with that as you’ll see in the upcoming videos.
With the differential done and installed, I had to drive it. I have to say, 80bhp is actually fun with 3:55 gears. Don’t worry, we shot video.
Oh yea, I can’t forget I installed the new lowering springs in the rear. It’s about a 1” drop. With the new tires and wheels, the Fairmont stance is sick!
After I had my little test drive, I turned my attention to removing the old engine and transmission. Not too difficult since it was only held in by 4 fasteners. Well, that and some other connected stuff.
After removing the engine and transmission, I removed the old K member. That’s the piece that holds in the engine and also supports the front suspension. I needed to replace it anyway since the straight 6 and V8 K members are different. Because I needed to replace the K member, I decided to go with an upgraded tubular K member that is lighter and provides better suspension geometry. It also makes more room in the engine compartment which is awesome.
TURBO!!!!
Right?! I’ve been keeping that from you for a while. Some of you already guessed I was going forced induction after watching the “Dad Visits the Shop” video.
So why turbo? Well, some of you may remember my first thought for the build was an EcoBoost engine out of an F-150. That’s a twin turbo V6 if you’re not familiar with it. That idea got shelved because I couldn’t find someone who could create a stand alone computer system to run it.
At the end of the day, it’s about power and doing something ‘cool’ with the build. I had originally said I was just going to throw a carburetor on the engine and be done with it, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to try something I’ve never done before. Turbocharging an engine is one of those things. After the work is done, I’ll be able to check that off my automotive bucket list.
Some of you may be worried about my engine block with this new turbo. Worry not, you’ll see why in the next section of the newsletter.
Here’s a link to my On3 Turbo kit. In addition to the kit, I also got an oil filter relocation kit and turbo and down-pipe blanket to help keep under hood temps down. Those are at the bottom of the page at the link above.
My Week at Kalvinator Engines
I’ve said it many times, if you’re going to build an engine, make friends at your local machine shop. Last week I did just that with Kevin and Justin Frische at Kalvinator Engines in Wapakoneta OH.
They’re a father and son team in a small shop in a small town between Dayton and Toledo Ohio. I call it, ‘Santa’s Workshop’.
Cameraman Brian and I had so much fun shooting videos for 2 days with these guys. They’re great people that really know their stuff. We ended up shooting about 20 videos in all. Things like, “How To Balance a Crankshaft”, “How to Degree a Camshaft”, and “How to Paint an Engine” just to name a couple.
Unfortunately we weren’t able to finish assembling the engine in the 2 days we had. We ran into some challenges. It also takes time to build an engine like the one I’m calling “Dark Matter Pikachu”. You’ll see why it got that name in the series of videos from the machine shop.
I mentioned in the last segment about my engine block issues. When I sent Kevin Frische a picture of the damage inside the cylinder wall of my old engine block, he suggested I get a new one. It was an expensive setback, but sooooo worth it.
I now have a racing block, purpose built to make serious power. The Man o War block from World Products is no joke. It’s thicker, stronger, and has 4 bolt mains. Something the stock block just doesn’t have. Every structure starts with a good foundation. This Man o War block, is about as good a foundation as I could get for this turbo Fairmont build.
So for all of you that said, “Put an LS in it”, go suck an egg.
Kevin also did serious work to my heads and intake to make them flow better. That man is a real artist when it comes to engines. I LOVE his work. His son Justin is awesome too, and a real fun guy to work with. I don’t think we quit laughing during the entire shoot.
The new block and crank increase the final displacement of the engine with bigger bores and a longer stroke. For those of you playing at home, the final displacement of the engine will be 363cid @ 8.9:1 compression.
There’s just too much information to put in here so I’m just going to give you some links and pretty pictures of my new engine parts.
Engine block: http://www.pbm-erson.com/Catalog/PBM/Block%20Kits/KITSBK-29
Crank: http://www.pbm-erson.com/Catalog/PBM/Clearance/PBM85207
Comp Cams Chips In
In addition to an awesome bottom end, I also got the hook up from Comp cams for the valve train. Mind you, they didn’t ‘give’ me the parts, but they were kind in their consideration of me making YouTube videos of my build. 🙂
They made me a killer camshaft and hooked me up with everything else I needed to make my new engine breathe better. If it works half as well as I think it will, I may be a bit over my 500hp target.
Here’s a list of stuff I got from Comp Cams.
Roller Cam: Custom grind: 222º & 222º @.050 lift .357 & .351 lobe lift, .571 & .562 with the 1.6 rockers. Lobe separation 114º with a 4º advance
Valve Springs: http://www.compperformancegroupstores.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=CC&Product_Code=7228-16&Category_Code=
Valve Spring Retainers: http://www.compperformancegroupstores.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=CC&Product_Code=1787-16&Category_Code=
Roller Rocker Arms: http://www.compperformancegroupstores.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=CC&Product_Code=1632-16&Category_Code=
Headed For the Dyno
Kevin Frische of Kalvinator Engines was an instructor at UNOH for many years. He still has connections there and is going to see if we can put the engine on their dyno once it’s complete.
This is a great opportunity, not just because we get to see what kind of power the engine will make, but we’ll also get the opportunity to tune it before it ever goes in the car. A critical step for peak performance of any engine.
If you’re doing a build like this, being able to run the engine on a dynamometer to tune it before you install it can be invaluable. Not to mention the cool videos I’ll get of the process.
We should be going back up north to shoot those videos in a couple of weeks. After that, I bring her home and install it in the Fairmont.
Fixing it Forward
FiF may not have been in the past newsletter, but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about the program. In fact, last month when I was in Atlanta I stopped in to visit the McEachern Ministry Car Care facility.
I met with Joe and Susan Mikos, David and Rebecca McCoy, and Bob Flood. In addition to their other charitable efforts, they’ve been running a program where they help people that can’t afford auto repair. Sound familiar? That’s right, they’ve been running a Fixing it Forward style repair program for several years now and have helped hundreds if not thousands of people in the process.
I learned of this program when Joe Mikos reached out to me after seeing some of my Fixing it Forward videos last year. Joe is a special guy, heroic might be the word I choose to describe him.
Joe is master mechanic who had to take 2 years out of his life to battle cancer. After beating cancer, he was destitute and too weak to work on his truck. Cancer and medical bills suck. He found his way to McEachern Ministry and they were able to help him not only fix his truck, but also with a new set of tires.
Joe was so inspired by this experience he’s been working there ever since. Did I also mention that Joe and his wife Susan have raised 30 foster children? Heroic right?
To say that Joe, and the rest of the good people I met at McEachern Ministry are also heroes would be an understatement. I was very inspired by their efforts and it gave me quite a bit to think about when I revisit the Fixing it Forward program later this year.
2016 5th Annual ‘Meet Up’ Next Month!!
I can’t forget to talk about the 5th annual ‘Meet Up’ July 16 from 12-5pm EST!
If you plan on coming out, please RSVP at this link.
This year looks to be the biggest yet. I’m trying to finish the Fairmont before the event. It’s my hope that if you attend, you’ll get to hear it run first hand.
There’s also talk of some special guests that may show up. I guess you’ll just have to show up and see who they might be.
I’ve also got some killer give aways this year. BendPak has hooked me up with another QuickJack to give away! Not to mention all the other great sponsors that have been sending stuff.
Premium Member News
Premium Members got 4 exclusive videos last month! “Last Ride in the Original Fairmont (Exclusive Video)”, “Fairmont Update 4/28/2016 (Exclusive Video)”, “Dad Visits the Shop April 2016 (Exclusive/Extended Version)”, and “Surprise! Turbo! (Exclusive Video)”.
I already have several more exclusive videos in the hopper for next month. In fact, I may put out an extra one or 2 before it’s all over.
I’m always looking for new opportunities to do exclusive videos for Premium Members of the website. The Fairmont project is providing a LOT of good material for this.
So if you want some extra info on the #FairmontProject, you might look into a Premium Membership at EricTheCarGuy.com.
Premium Members get up to 4 exclusive videos per month (maybe more) 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.
In Closing
Honestly, I didn’t have enough space to put everything into this months newsletter. I could probably make it twice as long. There’s always next month I suppose.
My point in mentioning the ‘trimmed down’ newsletter is to illustrate how crazy things have been in the world of ETCG lately. In addition to working like a fiend on the Fairmont, I’ve been putting a lot more effort into responding to comments on my videos. This isn’t easy as I’ve been doing 3 videos a week for a while now, and the videos are getting more popular. That means more comments per video. As you can imagine, this is taking up a fair amount of time.
I’m not complaining so much as trying to paint a picture of how things are in my world right now. Life is good. You seem to be enjoying the videos. I’ve got a ton of new content coming out with the Pull-a-Part and Fairmont videos, and I got to spend some time with good friends last month. Next month, I get to hang out with those of you that attend the ‘Meet Up’.
I know I say it often, but thank you. Thank you for the support that helps to provide these opportunities to meet great people and learn new things. I really appreciate everything you do as fans of ETCG and ETCG1. You’ve helped make my world a better place. In exchange, I plan to continue to bring you the best content I can in hopes to make your world a better place as well.
Thanks for reading. Latest videos below.
Be safe
Have fun
Stay Dirty
ETCG
Related Videos:
Ford 302 Complete Engine Tear Down #FairmontProject:
Can You Machine a Flywheel with a Brake Lathe??:
Working on German vs Japanese Cars:
EricTheCarGuy Answers Questions Live #67 (AMA) 5/25/2016:
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