January 2016 Newsletter
Welcome to the first ETCG newsletter of 2016! For those of you new to the newsletter, here’s how it works.
If you’re reading this email, it’s not the full newsletter. The full newsletter is on the blog page of the ETCG website. If you want to read the newsletter in it’s entirety, just click here. If you’re just interested in a topic or picture below, click on it, and it will take you directly to the full portion of that article on the website.
No matter what you decide, thanks for reading.
ETCG’s Vacation
As some of you will note, the date I wrote this newsletter is long before it got published. That’s because the day after I wrote this, I started my much anticipated year end vacation.
Honestly, it’s been way too much work making this happen. I was burned out before I decided to take a long vacation, it got even worse after going through all the work needed to make that time off a reality.
Just to give you some perspective. All videos between December 11 and January 8 were pre uploaded and ready to go before I wrote this newsletter. In fact that work was completed December 9. That in itself was a monumental task. I also had to make sure all the other work like this newsletter was done before December 15.
BTW I’ve never taken a vacation this long, and I’ve been working since I was 15. I figured it was time to try something different. It’s also been very busy at ETCG over the past couple of years and I could really use the break.
It may have taken a couple of months of planning and hard work, but it’s my hope to come back on January 4 rested and ready to work. I’ll let you know how that worked out in next months newsletter.
PRI Presentation a Success
As stated in the previous newsletter, I’d been asked to do the same presentation I did at SEMA at PRI (Performance Racing Industry) on December 12, 2015 8am room 242 in the Indiana Convention Center.
It wasn’t the exact same presentation. I had made a few changes based on the feedback I had gotten from the SEMA crowd. I was very happy with the result, and based on the feedback I got at PRI, I think the improvements were well received.
I didn’t have Cameraman Brian with me at PRI, but I wanted to record the audio of the presentation. I had a very nice set up for this, wireless mics and everything. Thing is, I forgot to press the record button and didn’t get any of it. Insert sad face emoji.
It’s interesting how technology can enable, and frustrate you, all at the same time. Yes, I realize it was human error that caused the issue, but that doesn’t make it suck any less.
PRI vs SEMA
The PRI show was similar, but very different than the SEMA show. One person I ran into described PRI as, “SEMA without the flames”. I thought that was a very apt description.
PRI seems more for the serious racing crowd, where SEMA is open to more than just performance and racing, there’s a whole host of other vendors at SEMA that aren’t at PRI.
I did meet some celebrities at PRI. A couple of the boys from Street Outlaws. I saw Farmtruck and AZN, but they seemed like they had some place to be so I didn’t try and stop them for a pic. I had gotten their picture last year at SEMA anyway.
To be honest, in many ways I liked the PRI show better than SEMA. Less people, Indianapolis was cool (I’ve come to think of Las Vegas as Satan’s butthole), and the people that were at the PRI show, seemed more focused on the machine and how they could use it, rather than how ‘pretty’ it was. Die hard motor heads the lot of em. My kind of people.
Fixing it Forward
In the coming weeks you’ll get to see the series of videos we did with Jerry Hall’s 2003 Nissan Sentra SE-R. I think you’re really going to like this series.
I did a ton of work to this car and it’s 2.5L power plant. I replaced the left front wheel bearing, the left front lower ball joint, front calipers, power steering rack, high psi power steering hose, outer tie rod ends, the timing chain, the water pump, the tires + alignment, and we also solved the check engine light. There’s probably something else in there I’m forgetting about as well. It’s all great footage and I can’t wait to share it with you.
Jerry and his son Bryan came and picked up the car in the second week of December 2015. I’ll be honest, they didn’t get far, the CEL came back on and they came right back to the shop. Yes, I did test drive it and check it over before I returned it to them, it was just one of those ‘things’ that happens sometimes.
I don’t want to give away too much about what the issue was, but I will say that we shot an extra video of the fix of that problem that will air after the series concludes.
Truth be told, Jeff Schmidt came back with his Ford that same week with another unrelated problem also. We shot video on that as well. This means there hasn’t been an FiF project yet that didn’t come back for one thing or another. I think it’s just the nature of working on cars that haven’t had proper attention for a while. Remember, these vehicles all needed a LOT of work.
That said, Jerry has had his car back for a week now and it’s running strong and he’s very happy with it. The same is true for Jeff. All’s well that ends well as they say.
Big Thanks To Fixing It Forward Donors!
During the month of December, you got to see your donations in action for the first time on Jeff Schmidt’s Ford Contour. For the record, the first thing purchased with FiF donations were those brake pads. You’ll see more of your donations in action in future episodes as well. As of this writing, fans have donated more than $4000 to Fixing it Forward. THANK YOU!!!
If you’d like to donate to the Fixing it Forward GoFundMe, click here.
I’d also like to thank the corporate supporters of Fixing it Forward that helped with the Ford Contour and Nissan Sentra projects.
The Fairmont Project
The first thing I’m working on when I get back from vacation is the Fairmont. As I’ve said in past newsletters, I’m starting in the back and working toward the front.
I’ve got a plan for building the differential, I just need to sort out if I’m going to stick with the 28 spline differential I have now, or just bite the bullet and go for the 31 spline right at the start. The more I think about it, the more I’ll probably go with the 31 spline. That means buying more parts, or sourcing them. It just depends on what friends I can make in the next few weeks.
Speaking of friends. While I was at the PRI show, I talked with quite a few experts about my build. I got a lot of interesting input. Mostly I was doing research on the engine I plan to build. Not ready to spill the beans on that just yet. You’ll have to wait for the engine tear down video for more information on my plans for the engine. In fact, I might do that engine tear down video before I dive into the differential.
Keep in mind that it will be a few weeks before these videos start to come out. Just because I have the videos shot, that doesn’t mean they’ll be coming out shortly after. There’s still a TON of editing to do once we finish shooting. Just to put things in perspective, the FiF Nissan I mentioned above went home the second week of December. The videos will run through next month and into February 2016.
More ETCG Videos Posted in December 2015 Than Any Other Month
It’s funny how that worked out, more videos coming out in a month where I took most of the days off. Still, it was a lot of work.
The reason for the extra videos was the cabin air filter series which concluded yesterday. As I’ve said in previous newsletters, those were left over from a previous partnership that never came into being. I hated to see those go to waste as they had some useful information, and they were short videos! I know many of you are fans of my ‘long form’ videos, but some viewers will appreciate the smaller doses these cabin air filter videos offer.
One last thing about my most recent videos, I think they’re some of the best yet. Not only in content, but also the production value.
Cameraman Brian and I have things dialed in and production is moving along nicely. Not to mention all the videos coming out now are 1080p at 60fps. Many of you have commented on the quality. I’ve been working on that for more than a year. It’s nice that it’s finally come together, and it’s being noticed.
Premium Member News
This is the last month where Premium Members will get 2 new exclusive videos. Those were the, “Honda Element Stabilizer Links & Exhaust Repair”, and a full/extended version of the “T-5 Transmission Rebuild with Paul Cangialosi” that comes out in a couple of hours for Premium Members, tomorrow for the rest of you. Well, the rest of you get (Part 1) tomorrow. You’ll have to wait till next week for (Part 2). The Premium Member version also contains about 5min of additional footage.
What the heck, it’s New Year’s Eve, I’ll make the link live so Premium Members can go watch it right now. Grab a snack and get comfortable, it’s 2:20 long, but packed with useful information on how to rebuild a manual transmission. Paul Cangialosi is Yoda when it comes to manual transmissions after all.
At the beginning of this segment, I said this was the last month where Premium Members will get 2 exclusive videos. That’s because in the future, Premium Members of EricTheCarGuy.com will get up to 4 exclusive videos per month. Yep, that’s right, up to 4 exclusive videos per month. I’ve learned the biggest draw of the Premium Membership seems to be exclusive content. With that in mind, I plan to create more of it for Premium Members going forward.
However, this extra content does not come without a price. In fact, as of January 1, 2016, Premium Memberships will be $4.99 per month and $14.99 per year. Existing Premium Members will stay at their current pricing until they discontinue their memberships. If they decide to come back, they will be subject to the new pricing.
So, going forward, Premium Members will 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.
In Closing
I’m going to wrap this one up here. This is the last piece of ‘work’ that I’m doing before I officially start my vacation and I’m motivated to get it done. Call of Duty is waiting.
Whenever I have the opportunity to thank the fans for all their support, I take it. For me, this is often the monthly newsletter. So if you’re tired of hearing me thank you, you don’t need to read anymore. It doesn’t matter if you’re tired of it or not, I’m still going to do it. The fans of the show put me where I am today. From where I sit, life is better than ever as a result. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Have a happy and SAFE New Year.
Latest videos below.
Be safe
Have fun
Stay Dirty
Latest videos:
Jeff Schmidt Picks Up His 1998 Ford Contour -Fixing it Forward:
How Things Have Changed In Auto Repair -ETCG1:
ETCG’s Holiday Tool Picks 2015:
The Electronics Special 2015:
EricTheCarGuy Answers Questions Live #56 12/9/2015:
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Video Title: January 2016 Newsletter -EricTheCarGuy Video Description: Welcome to the first ETCG newsletter of 2016! The full newsletter is on the blog page of the ETCG website. If you want to read the newsletter in it’s entirety, just click here. Thanks for reading. Thumbnail: http://www.ericthecarguy.com/images/newsletter/Jan/2016/January-2016-Placeholder.jpg
