Episode #208 -2026 New Year Same Us
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59:27
Car
Ford Focus
The Ford Focus is a small car that's known for being easy to drive and good on gas. It's a popular choice for many people looking for a reliable daily vehicle.
Car
Ford Orange Ford
The Ford Ranger is a small truck that can carry things and go off-road. It's a good option if you need something tough but don't want a big truck.
Part
transmission mount torque strut arm
The transmission mount torque strut arm is a part that holds the car's transmission in place. It helps keep everything steady and reduces shaking while driving.
Car
Sprint GT
The Sprint GT is a classic car from Alfa Romeo, recognized for its sporty look and fun to drive. It was made a long time ago, in the 1960s and 70s.
Car
Lexus ES 300
The Lexus ES 300 is a comfortable luxury car that is known for being reliable and easy to drive. It's a good choice if you want a nice car that feels upscale without being too flashy.
Car
Chevrolet Corvette
The Chevrolet Corvette is a fast sports car that many people love for its speed and cool looks. It's been around for a long time and is a symbol of American car culture.
Car
Mitsubishi Galant
The Mitsubishi Galant is a regular car that many people used for everyday driving. It's known for being reliable and comfortable.
Term
fuel
Fuel is what cars need to run, usually gasoline. If fuel sits for too long, it can go bad and cause problems when you try to use it.
Term
towing
Towing means pulling something heavy, like a car or trailer, behind another vehicle. It's done using a special hook called a hitch.
Car
Chevrolet Blazer
The Chevrolet Blazer is a type of SUV made by Chevrolet. It's known for being tough and good for both driving on roads and off-road.
Concept
restoration
Restoration means fixing up an old car to make it look and work like it did when it was new. It can take a lot of time and effort to do this well.
Term
fluid leaks
Fluid leaks are when liquids like oil or coolant drip out of a car. This can mean there's something wrong that needs fixing.
Car
Plymouth Barracuda
The Plymouth Barracuda is an iconic muscle car from the 1960s and 70s. It's famous for its sporty design and powerful engines, and many people love to restore and collect them.
Car
Ford Edge
The Ford Edge is a roomy SUV that can carry a lot of people and stuff. It's comfortable to drive and has many modern features that make it safe and enjoyable.
Term
HPDE
HPDE means High-Performance Driving Experience. It's a chance for car enthusiasts to drive their cars on a racetrack and learn how to handle them better.
Term
worn out struts
Worn out struts are parts of the car's suspension that have become old and less effective. They help the car absorb bumps in the road, and when they're worn, the ride can be bumpy and unsafe.
Term
Laguna Seca
Laguna Seca is a well-known race track in California where many car races take place. It's famous for a tricky part of the track called the Corkscrew, which is a steep downhill section that turns sharply.
Company
Sonoma
Sonoma is a place in California where people go to watch or participate in car racing events. It's known for having a racetrack where different types of races, including drifting, take place.
Concept
drift night
A drift night is an event where people can take their cars and practice drifting, which is when cars slide sideways around corners. It's a fun way for car lovers to show off their skills and enjoy the sport together.
Concept
drift car
A drift car is a type of car that is designed to slide sideways while driving. People modify these cars to make them better at drifting, which is a fun and popular motorsport activity.
Concept
Formula Drift
Formula Drift is a competition where drivers try to slide their cars around corners while going fast. It's all about showing off driving skills in a fun and exciting way.
Concept
overland
Overlanding is a type of travel where people drive to faraway places, often camping along the way. It's about the adventure of getting there, not just the destination.
Concept
van build
A van build is when someone changes a van to make it better for camping or living in. They might add things like beds and kitchens to make it more comfortable.
Car
Mercedes Sprinter
The Mercedes Sprinter is a large van that people often use for work or to create camper vans for traveling. It's popular because you can customize it in many ways.
Car
Astro van
The Astro van is a type of van made by Chevrolet that was popular for families and can also be turned into a camper. It’s known for being strong and roomy.
Term
rally ready
'Rally ready' means a car is prepared for rally racing, which is a type of motorsport that takes place on different surfaces like dirt and gravel. It usually needs special modifications to handle those conditions.
Term
turbo
A turbo is a part that helps an engine get more air, which lets it burn more fuel and produce more power. It's often added to cars to make them faster.
Car
Cadillac V16
The Cadillac V16 is an old luxury car that had a really big engine with 16 cylinders. It's famous for being super fancy and powerful back in the day.
Car
Chevrolet Sprint Turbo
The Chevrolet Sprint Turbo is a small car that has a turbo engine, which helps it go faster and be more efficient. It's popular among car lovers for its fun driving experience.
Car
Toyota Supra
The Toyota Supra is a fast and stylish sports car that many people love. It's famous for being fun to drive and can be customized to make it even quicker and cooler.
Car
Mitsubishi Eclipse
The Mitsubishi Eclipse is a small, sporty car that many people enjoyed driving in the past. It's known for being fun and can be made even faster with some upgrades.
Car
Hyundai Genesis
The Hyundai Genesis is a fancy car that feels really nice inside and has a lot of cool features. It's a good choice if you want a luxury car without spending too much money.
Car
Dodge Avenger
The Dodge Avenger is a mid-sized car that looks sporty and is usually affordable. It's a good choice if you want something that looks nice without spending too much.
Term
manual transmission
A manual transmission is a system in cars where you have to change gears yourself, usually by using a stick and a pedal. It's different from an automatic transmission, which does this for you.
Car
Porsche 911
The Porsche 911 is a famous sports car that many people love for its speed and style. It's known for being powerful and fun to drive.
LIVE
In a world with an entire be too many shows about cars, this is another pointless automotive
podcast.
Oh, tchka, tchka.
Too up, up.
Welcome back to the second best automotive YouTube slash podcast channel in the world.
Wow.
Wow.
We've moved up.
We surpassed ourselves with the late night confidential episodes, which we'll hint to later
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But homie, Miles, thanks, dog.
Yeah, man.
You are officially supporter number one.
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A crusty sock.
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Potentially.
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You are not the sock's father.
We appreciate it.
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But yeah, so we're the second best, whatever the hell we are.
Wow.
It's a new year.
It is.
Right?
It's 2026.
It doesn't really ring any bells, doesn't really jump out at me.
Jesus Christ.
I thought you were drinking like a plastic handle of whiskey right there.
It's like, that is a pole, my friend.
No, it's just like an old Tejava, unsweetened iced tea.
And a quick complete, because I'm good for these non-segways.
We're almost through the intro and you have two segues, but yeah, let's go.
Yeah, segues and the non-segways.
Once upon a time when I worked at Carson Bids, we were doing a panel interview, which was
I was on the panel, of who was going to be the new head of the business development arm
of the business.
And so me, and it was like our head of HR and a handful of other people on my team
were interviewing this person.
And I had the, the looks like a 40 ounce jug of Tejava.
And I was drinking on it from the, you know, during the interview, I'd take a pull off
of it, whatever.
And our age, our age Algal hit me up in Slack and I was like, oh my God, I thought you were
just drinking out of a bottle of wine like during a panel interview, I was like, that
would be sick.
That would be.
It is like the color of whiskeys.
I gave you some credit there.
Yeah, I'm just, I'm just raw dog and some Jim Beam, which it's not going to be
on my list of things to do this year.
Yeah, let's take way back to the intro.
Yeah.
So New Year's resolutions.
We should probably, because no one else is going to hold us to this stuff.
Let's, let's start holding each other accountable, Frank.
I think that's a good, what is it, checks and balance system to put in place because
sorely needed.
We say, like we have these catch up like fleet update videos and we're like, what
have you done?
And you're like, well, from six months ago, and we could just read the same things
because we have the same projects collecting dust.
So I think we should put our, put our thoughts down, record them to digital media
and hold ourselves accountable for what we need to get done.
Car wise this year.
What are our plans?
Grand and small, you know, let's keep it, keep it humble, but also keep it a
little ambitious.
Do you have anything burning on your mind right now that you need to really
like, what is your priority 2026?
What's your priority to get taken care of?
Let's say during the first Q1, let's go Q1 2026.
The 3060 90 day plan thing.
Let's go.
You know, first off, I'm glad we're recording this to famously
undelatable and uneditable digital media so it can be enshrined forever.
And we, we can't go back on our promises.
Right.
You know, boy, first off, yeah, this is sorely needed.
And I don't know, we should find a way to enact some sort of punitive
system should you and I not fulfill at least say 80% of the stuff that
we want to do this year because just thinking about last year, I remember
talking about like, oh yeah, let's projects aside.
Like I want to do an HP DE day and oh, I, oh, I don't know.
I want to take an orange Ford Focus on a, on a DWA rally or I want to
whatever, right, buy a new daily driver and nothing, none of it happened.
None of it.
And so yeah, I do like this and, and full disclosure, if this was
your podcast idea here and for that, I thank you.
Of course, man, you know, I look at the side of my house and I see a
collection of cars that hasn't moved it sometimes.
So I feel like I need to put myself on the spot too.
So I'm with you, man.
I, I think we talked about a lot of stuff last year about our first
status and fuck no movement.
So, uh, let's hold ourselves to it again.
Let's put it down.
Let's make a, let's make it a deal.
Um, what's your first thing you got to take care of Frank though?
Honestly, the easy layup one is just like what's behind me,
which is the sprint turbo.
Um, is it that easy?
Well, it isn't until it isn't in my mind.
It's easy and a lot of times it was just silly because if it's
that easy, I should just, it should be done by now, but it
should just be a matter of I finally got the correct transmission
mount torque strut arm for it.
I need to put it in the damn thing.
Give it a shake down, take it out for photos, drive it to
San Diego, abandon it with Doug in the crew, um, for them to
make content with it and then have it go to auction.
Not because I don't like the car.
I think it's rad.
I just, so cool.
I've had the experience if I ever want to fill its spot with
something more or less interesting.
I won't be able to do it if I just have it in perpetuity.
So yeah, I think, um, you know, cause then I can, then I
can actually shop for like a sprint GT, uh, parentheses I my
shortlist.
Yeah.
Um, or, or whatever else may, may come to pass.
So that is number one.
Should we just volley back and forth?
What, what are you, what do you got in mind?
I also find it endearing that you call it the sprint GTI and
so the swift GTI, but we'll go with that.
It's the same difference.
It is, it is the cultists.
It is a cultist by any of the cultist personality cultist
shock.
Um, what do I need to do?
I need to fucking finish some projects.
And it's the same, it's the same projects guys.
I talk about every goddamn month or so.
Uh, I really in the problem is like, I know this guy named
Frank that drops off fucking vehicles at my home.
Uh, a cool one though, the Lexus ES 300, which I'm so pumped.
If I can move past a certain tracker job, uh, more on that
during PCP, uh, but yeah, dude, I need to, I need to
actually close out projects.
Uh, the Volvo and tracker are right there.
I just got to push them, you know, literally push them.
No, maybe figuratively don't literally push them.
They run fine across the finish line so I can get
that Lexus knocked out.
And then I've got some long-term cars that have been
sitting for years in the blazer, in the Corvette, in my fucking
Galant, which has fuel from six years ago in it, and I
haven't touched anything.
And I used it to tow the Corvette up the driveway.
Not too long ago.
So, uh, that's what you do.
If you're not towing your zero one with your VR four,
then who are you?
What do we, what, what are you waiting on for the, the
Volvo?
That's pretty, that's pretty much just ready to, ready to
go.
Let's list it, you know, uh, let's, let's get that
listed and sold.
But I need to get it off my hands.
Same with the tracker.
The tracker is right there.
Once I resolve that last issue review, send that on the
way, uh, the Lexus will see when we start tearing into it.
I think it's not going to be too hard, but those are
famous last words.
And I'm actually super pumped to work on that.
But yeah, the blazer and Corvette are going to be, those
are big projects.
Those are big restorations on those boys.
Yeah.
I know the blazer, you made a bunch of progress and
then it's been, it's been, that's been like a story
of like two steps forward, two steps back, right?
Exactly.
And there's still a lot of beautification, like the
headliner or things like that, that you don't really, you
have to summon a lot of it runs, it runs fine.
The check-out and like comes on every time you grab
second gear, uh, it's so bizarre.
It's so weird.
I, so I got to look something, something's off there.
Uh, but on top of that, like the headliner is one
of those things where you have to summon like this
inner, like motivation, cause those jobs just suck.
They suck all the dick.
And it's, uh, in a bad way.
And right.
Which is quite a statement though.
I'm going to say it's not hard to do.
No, yeah, you know, it's a, you can be bad at it.
Um, so I got to, I got to pull that headliner out, do it.
It's such a painstaking process and it's so easy to mess up
like any little touch, like a fingerprint here or too much
glue here and bending the cardboard, all that, you
know, all the stuff that could go wrong with fucking
head, headliner replacement.
Um, so that needs to be done.
The exterior needs a lot of love.
And then just general, the Corvette though, oh boy, I
haven't heard that car run.
So who knows, it's not leaked.
It's not like it's a bespoke engine or anything.
So it's like, uh, it is leaked every fluid.
So I've seen power steering, transmission, coolant, engine oil on the ground.
So I'm assuming tears.
Yeah.
I'm assuming it just needs some fresh gas, uh, and a fuel pump to get going.
Uh, but yeah, no, it's, uh, those are going to be big boy projects.
And I, I got to move them.
I want to move them cause they're cool.
A, they're cool cars and I want to spend some time actually enjoying them.
Uh, B, I want to put fun new stuff in the garage and I can't, I
can't do that.
Well, even though I continue to do that, I can't really do that until I get this
guy's out.
Yeah.
I mean, that's not to spend this entire episode on us bitching about like us
having too many interesting cars to work on and drowning, you know, doing
the DJ colleagues suffering, suffering from success cover.
But like, um, I go with sad Keanu sitting on a bench too.
Kind of describes the mood.
Yeah.
Or, um, what about, uh, um, fucking Ben Affleck with like the cigarette?
Right.
That's a good one.
Um, but yeah, like just, um, because there are, I think there's other
stuff we want to accomplish other than finish up projects, but like in the
name of that, you know, um, get the Barracuda back.
Oh yeah.
The long-term project, get the, um, get the 41 Chevy moves.
I've been talking about selling that truck since episode one.
I'm surprised that it hasn't moved on since it's, yeah, I just, what are you
asking 50 grand for it?
So I just, I just had not put the effort in, um, I need to, and what the problem
is, like I drive it so little, I'm sure I'm going to like go drive it to
like drive it and go take it out for a shoot.
I'm going to find something's wrong.
And it's going to like, oh God, should I get a fix before?
And it's just meanwhile the value, the people that want those
trucks are dying, age, um, and the market is, uh, doing weird things
because the country is doing weird things.
And, um, and so, yeah, I could have sold it at the peak.
I was talking about selling it at the peak and I didn't.
So I need to get off my ass and get that thing moved before, um, uh, yeah,
before we knew Greenland, the, um, God, like there's just all of these
projects that figure out, um, some Ford focus edge, get that.
Oh yeah, that thing thing moving in some direction.
Um, I think you shot an intro video of that car, like three months ago.
Yeah, I did have some other raw footage of like me working on it and
like not making it ready to go for the rally.
Um, but I haven't like capstoneed that portion of it.
I do have news.
I'm going to say for, for PCP on that nothing earth shattering, but I
still do think I want to do some sort of, I'm torn.
It's like, do I just move it down the road and be done with it?
Or do I do, you know, do I try and do like one HP DE with it or something?
Um, that's probably what it's got left in it.
Um, honestly, but, uh, can I shoot a review of that car?
I'd love to, I'd love to, I'd love to take that thing up in the, the twisties.
Yeah, I just, I really got to figure out, um, I drove it again recently
and something really ain't right in that rear end.
Like there's something in that rear suspension that is, and it's more
than just like worn out struts.
Like I, there's something, there's something really loosey-goosey back there.
So, um, never been in an accident.
Nothing tweaked back there.
Right.
Like not that I'm aware of.
No, no, it's not like it's crab walking down the road or anything, but
you know, it feels like there's, it was a little weird looking when
you were going around sweepers, man.
I'm not going to lie.
Yeah.
And I just took it out again on the freeway and just going like 65 down
like a, just sweeping highway.
We're on the whole back is like, horc, horc, horc, horc, horc.
Oh, it's so weird.
Oh, yeah.
No, it's not happy.
So I got to figure that out.
Um, hopefully there's like a subframe there.
Um, yeah, like, but like, I guess to, to pivot back to you, um, the, you
know, I would like to do an event with that car.
Do you have any like events that you want to accomplish or, or, or take in
or anything for, for 2026, I'd love, I'd love to get back on track for real.
Um, I need to get something to bring out there.
Right.
It's been a while, even for me.
I think the last time I was on such a big project up, that would be a good one.
Uh, I haven't been on track since like 2019, which is the craziest thing to
say, um, so it's been a while pre COVID.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's been, it's been a while since I've been on a track that was
Laguna Seca, um, but yeah, I need to get back.
I miss it.
I need to do some, maybe we could do some carding, but that's not really super.
I mean, it's great.
I love, I love carding, um, but we need to get some cars and get on track.
Like, I think that'd be a fun little event to film that, tie it into the podcast.
Maybe we'll get a couple of beater track cars.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Um, we could do the drifts.
We should build cheap drift cars and go to Sonoma for the drift night.
And just, uh, I was just, I was just talking about that to my wife
about like once the Wednesday night drags and drifts are owned by some,
like, I want to take the kids.
We get owned by 60.
I wish that was a good time when we went, um, uh, we should go get
owned by a 16 year old and like look like shit, but it would still be fun
to build kind of cheap drift cars, uh, celebrate.
Well, I feel like building a cheap drift car is like, it's like, oh, well,
it's just like, oh, I'm just going to go to like the blackjack table
and just put down 20 bucks and that's all I'm going to do.
And then all of a sudden you're weeping as you're like, your
house is getting foreclosed on like seven hours later.
Um, yo, like it's, it's, I feel like it's a
slippery slope of how like break shit and spend money on shit.
God, it looks like fun though.
Yeah.
I definitely would.
It looks like a lot of check it out because I've never, I've
never actually gone for that.
I went to some formula D events way, way, way, way, way, way back in the day.
Um, but yeah, I'd like to, I'd like to check that out.
Um, any, any other events?
Event wise that would be killer.
Get back on track.
Uh, definitely want to do, dude, if we do, uh, a
cheap overland or a cheap van adventure van build, I think that
could be a lot of fun where we actually drive out to a destination, camp
in our vans and have to make it all the way back without issue.
There'll be issues.
Don't worry, but I think that would be, that would be, that's kind of
on the top of my list because I've been doing a lot of research
into like adventure vans and things of that nature.
So I actually been thinking that one through quite a bit.
Uh, I've been watching a lot of videos about it.
There's some great, great content out there and it doesn't
have to be, you know, a $200,000 Mercedes Sprinter build.
Right.
It can be like an Astro van.
It can be a mini van.
It can be whatever you want it to be.
Right.
And I've been just really getting motivated to do something
because I love that kind of stuff.
I like camping.
I like the outdoors and I think doing it on a budget bill to
show people you can still, you know, have a capable vehicle and a
good time for an affordable amount of money would be kind of cool.
That would be, I think that'd be a blast.
Have you put any, um, consideration on a plan for the
announced, but not yet available to buy into camping while
awesome, uh, situation that the boys are doing.
I'm such a time crunch right now.
Um, I don't know if I can prep a vehicle in time for that.
I don't know what I'd even use.
I'd love the guant would be kind of cool.
If I could get that up and ready.
Um, yeah, that doesn't outside of like things that will
undoubtedly happen because that thing's been caught, that
car's been sitting so long.
Like what all do you need to do that to make it rally ready?
Like, uh, I'm doing a lot to it.
So I do want to modify it.
So I want it to be like a Jekyll and Hyde scenario where it
like passes smog stock and then I swap like an into aftermarket
like exhaust manifold with a new turbo strap to it, have like
ECM links so I can swap the tune bigger turbo, uh, fuel
system, all that.
I want to make like over 300 wheel and then of course
suspension, right?
Like suspension brakes, everything.
So I make it like really good for rally.
Um, that would 300 horsepower and a good suspension setup
could be a properly good rally car.
Do you think with the aforementioned time crunch, you
think you would be able to just get it rally up all without
the mods and timer.
And then that way you can, you, because that might be
interesting just as like a baseline, right?
Yeah, yeah.
This is what it was in like mostly stock form.
And then, you know, bring it out a year later or
whatever and that with shit sorted and be like, oh, wow,
this is a different animal.
And you can kind of, you know, level set.
I mean, we took, we took, um,
we took mine slash hour.
Yeah.
Yeah.
On the, on the first rally we went on and that's a good
baseline for a stock base.
I mean, the suspension, the structure completely worn on
that.
Yeah.
Shot suspensions, uh, baseline, but, uh, that's pretty
close to that.
Yeah.
I would love to, the only thing is if I put that to
the front of the line, all the other aforementioned
projects that are eating at my soul right now, get
pushed back further, right?
So like, that's kind of why it's like a tertiary
concern right now to get that car finished.
And the ones I plan to move on ahead of it.
So would you consider, would you consider picking
something up bargain bin for the, God, I feel like
it's the same case because that I'll take it in
like I did with the Volvo and like put all this
time and effort into it.
Just to like, you know, it's something like, I
don't know.
Cause I mean, my plan is, are you going?
Did you sign up for it?
Uh, sign up is in four days.
Oh, are you going to?
Uh, that's my plan.
Yeah.
Like I definitely plan on doing it.
Sprint turbo is no, so it is a classic.
So it's got to be 99 or older.
And my plan is because those for the, for the
uninitiated, this is the driving while awesome
gang, they are doing the first week, first
weekend in May, May day, if you will, because
it is like the first through the third or
some window in there where it's a, it's a
rally, it's a classic rally, but home base
is camping in Parkfield, California, which
is like population, I don't know, 15 or
something.
Yeah.
And, um, my thought and my six ranch to
know us, V six, V eight, V 16, V 12, whatever
ranch, the, the flat, V 16, Suzetta, the
inline, ranch, ranch, um, Ram ranch, uh, if
you haven't heard, uh, take a second and
listen to the song, Ram Ranch by Grant
McDonald.
Um, not in public, don't listen to it
in public, privately.
The, my plan is, and I'm going to
have roughly five months to execute this
lesson at four months, get the barracuda
back.
I'd like to take the barracuda.
And here's the kicker.
Um, we don't talk trailers a lot on
this podcast, but I do own a 1961
aristocrat little loafer, which, um, I
use for photo booth stuff, but it's
still camping equipped.
And it is a tiny, tiny, tiny vintage
camping trailer.
It's like six feet.
I mean, it's, and it weighs like 1,100
pounds.
And the barracuda has a trailer hitch
on it was on it when I bought the car.
Interesting.
So my thought is if I can get the
barracuda back in the next, say, two
months to give us some shake down,
right?
Mm hmm.
Break some things, fix things, put
fresh tires and do some basic maintenance
on the trailer because I haven't used
it in a while.
Certainly not for camping.
Mm hmm.
And then tow in the 65 barracuda,
tow down the 61 aristocrat camping
trailer, set it up and then take and
then unhook and then have the
barracuda for the rest of the rally.
If things break, I'll be in a little
bit of a pickle, but if they don't
break, um, it could be kind of the
ultimate way to do this, having
to be a classic, taking this
barracuda that, you know, time is
forgotten, I've had it forever.
Um, and just bring it out.
And then, yeah, showing up and
having the equipped, period,
correct camping trailer, I think
it's like kind of the way to do it.
So there's a lot I need to get
done to make that happen.
First off, I need to get the damn
car back, um, which knock on wood
should be close.
But then I'm going to have to do
the 10, the 10 miles, 100 miles,
1,000 miles saying up just like,
boo, what's going to go wrong in
the first 10 will go wrong in the
first 100.
Will I have time to do the 1,000
mile test?
Probably not.
But we'll see the rally will be
that test.
And of course, towing while doing
so.
So this will be, this could be an
interesting thing.
That's my, that's my thought, my
plan and my hope.
Hmm.
So we'll see.
So I encourage you, sir, to
also think boldly and find a way
to make it.
Um, but yeah, yeah, yeah.
Cool, cool.
I mean that, I would love to,
I gotta see what's going on the
priority list.
But yeah, for sure, it sounds
like an epic adventure too.
Um, also adventures.
I think, uh, the cheap car
challenge was super fun.
It wasn't the outcome we both
wanted, uh, but it was super
fun.
Like that whole, like we bought
cars, didn't tell each other,
revealed them on the pod and
then both built towards like
getting it ready for a rally
and almost made it like, right.
Almost, yeah, almost made it.
Uh, right.
But I think something, I think
that's kind of fun and it
doesn't have to be a rally.
It can be just in the pod,
like in our pod sphere, if
you will.
Um, a pod of sphere,
uh, poddodome, poddodome.
I don't know.
Uh, Polly Shorts, he's still
doing okay.
Um, certainly not.
Well, fair check.
Uh, I think we should do
another one.
Like I said, like be the
cheap fans, cheap, uh,
overlanders or whatever stupid
challenge we can come up with.
I think it's super fun.
Uh, and it was great, like
hiding these things from each
other.
I think that was kind of
neat to go through the
reveal and 100% where
we landed, uh, which was
surprising, you know.
So I, I'd love to see more
of that.
I think that was a fun thing
to do.
Yeah, I agree.
Um, you know, it would be fun
if, if we can find a way
to get some other frenemy
podcasts to, to participate.
You know, whether it be,
you know, the auto off
topic homies or the DWA
homies or yet to be
named other podcasts, homies,
whatever.
I think that could be
interesting, like cross
pollinate, um, and see
who like fucks up the
hardest, right?
It'll be me.
It will be me.
Um, you need to come to
your own rallies, sir.
That's, yeah, that's
the whole thing is, is
yeah, to do all that.
So, um, man, uh, just
there's so many, I don't
know, there's just, you
know, there's so many
things to accomplish, um,
in the new year.
I don't know what I'm
doing for car week.
Um, I always feel
obligated to participate.
Um, uh, that's going
to be here before we
know it, right?
I mean, it's whatever.
Um, August, so like
it's kind of far away
until it isn't right.
Um, yeah, it's, um,
God, should we, should we
do the, should we do the
camper van thing?
I don't know.
Uh, I don't know.
Maybe, maybe camper van,
camper van challenge.
Car which changed a lot.
I think the last time I
went to like car week was
like, maybe, I don't know,
eight years ago.
Um, yeah, it's
kind of a different,
different animal.
Yeah.
It's okay.
It's cool.
Um, I like cars.
So that, that part's cool.
But like, yeah, I'm not,
you know, not there for the
side shows.
I'm not really dialed in.
I'm not for the clout
chasers or, uh,
that's what you got to do
what I did last year,
which is roll in
in a Chevy sprint turbo.
This is how you do it.
Um, I was going down,
going down, you know,
highway one, um,
towards big sir.
And I was behind like
this deeply modified
mark four super turbo.
And it's ahead of me.
And there's like one out
of every 20, like,
19 of all 20 people
that I would drive by
because you have all the
car spotter kids
and all these people
like checking, setting up
their lawn chairs
and just watching cars go by.
And they're like all their
time is on the Supra.
But then like, there's
that one out of every 20
would go, holy shit.
And they've like pointed
me in the, in the turbo
sprint, just like
down the road
and just like, yeah,
fuck yeah, let's go.
And then other people
would just like, they
have their camera
pointed at the Supra.
And then they'd see me
behind it.
And they just like
put their camera down.
You know.
Um, so,
it's just like, you get
the real, like, if
you know, you know energy.
So yeah, that's
that's if you show up
in the Galaan, right?
For car week, like
that's that's that's a pro
move.
The real motherfuckers
will know what's up.
Yeah.
Um, yeah, that's hilarious,
dude.
I'm sure that guy in the
mark, the guy in the
mark for Supra
was like initial D,
like, oh, how is this
Chevy's return?
Oh, keep in pace.
He's sweating.
Yeah, God damn.
Yeah, he's like, he's
like the widest,
like most Anglo person
ever.
And suddenly he sees me
and just starts like
freaking out and like
perfect Japanese
perfect anime him.
Yeah.
Oh, that is that is
wonderful.
Yeah, there's a lot.
There's a lot we got to
take care of.
Um, as far as the pod,
it'd be cool to get some
more guests, guests on
here.
We've got the
Patreon thing we
alluded to earlier.
That's kind of a cool
thing.
We rolled out this year.
I'd like to grow that.
Um, yeah.
And that was fun for
those who, um, and
this isn't me trying
to be a salesman,
I promise.
Um, that we
came to say mistakes were
made with what we discussed.
Um, but a little edgier
than normal and not like edgy
for the sake of being edgy,
just like we were drinking
card Mountain Dew.
So she happens.
Yeah, that's what you get.
But it was a lot of fun,
like going back and like
kind of like watching some
of the some of the video
and the audio.
Um, well, you know,
I'll have to make maybe a
super cut of some of the
audio and then drop it in.
It's crazy, but it's a
fun new wrinkle to all of
this, at least for us.
Right.
Yeah.
And not to say that like
us doing this podcast,
you and I stay old necessarily.
No, but it is fun to like
have a different angle and like
we went way more off
topic and, um,
a little bit more button down
and we can have more.
We can do more things
and maybe take some more
chances that we wouldn't
want to do here.
Um, and by that, I mean
like, we're not just going
to like jump in only
fans content on that, but
like, well, well,
yeah, it's not ruined out
to come on.
Yeah, this is true.
Yeah.
No hard nose on this episode.
Yeah, exactly.
Um, yeah.
I can't believe on the, on
the late night, uh,
confidential.
So when you got stuck in the
dryer and then I had to figure
out how to get you unstuck
from legitimately stuck that
time.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, that's what happened.
It's like the boy of Christ
Wolf, right?
Like, oh, yeah, really stuck
in the dryer.
Sure, buddy.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, I'm gonna keep my pants
on with a ball of lint as a
gag ball.
God, that's disgusting.
There's some content
possibilities, but no, yeah,
like other stuff we can do with
the podcast, maybe crossover
with some other people in the
space.
Um, I don't know.
Maybe get some of y'all's on
the podcast.
I don't know.
Um, hell yeah.
But, uh, because we're just,
we're here to have a good
time.
So that'd be fun too.
Um, if anyone has any weird,
not only fans themed or
fucking give us the only
thing.
Yeah, give it all to whatever
ideas you might have.
Uh, we're all, we're all
years and, and, and feet
here.
Um, yeah.
Um, yeah.
No, I'm, I'm pumped.
I'm pumped about it because
like last year, uh, also, uh,
yeah, no, I like, I like
growing it.
Um, last year, my YouTube, I
took like a, uh, as you pull
your whiskey, uh, swig right
there.
Uh, no, my YouTube dropped
after like five months because
I don't know.
I bought a house and a
whole bunch of life events
culminated at one time.
So I want to get back on
regular, like get back.
I want to get good with the
algorithm, man.
So I want to put a refocus
myself on, you know,
building these cars and doing
these reviews and fun stuff.
So that's another one of my
personal car theme things
I want to do in 2026, like
make that a priority again.
Um, you know, it's hard
with, you know, life, work
and all the other stupid
shit I have to do.
Yeah.
The baseline requirement for
sleeping at other bodily
activities, you know, not
much of a sleeper, bro.
Um, but yeah, no, that's, uh,
just like my cars.
I'll show no go.
Um, but yeah, it's, uh,
it's one of my priorities
too.
So like just focusing,
re-inventing it, putting
it back and putting some effort
into our thumbnails on the
podcast.
I've been, I've been putting a
lot in there.
Deeply questionable choices
have been made, but I like how
like 2026 after we've been doing
this for like four years, it's
like, what should we, what do
you want to accomplish this
year?
I don't know.
Let's put in like effort.
Bro, we're legit.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
we should, we should, we
should consider putting on
baseline, baseline effort.
Yeah.
So I don't know, man.
Um, bullish
on like what
we can do in our own little
like pod and car o-sphere
in the new year.
I don't know.
Maybe I'll, maybe I'll
what's tough is like part of
me is like, oh, I want to buy
a, you know, there was a minute
when I was talking about like,
I would like to get an FDRX
seven or I would like to get
a, a DB seven or really
anything with the number seven
in it, um, six, seven.
But like I would do, um,
but part of me is just like,
I kind of want to sell some
sell some, yeah, Birkin
Super seven, but just like
sell a couple of things
in that way, because shit
tends to fall into my lap.
The turbo sprint behind me fell
into my lap. Yes, we had it
fell into my lap.
This, um,
Triumph Spitfire was like
pressed into my lap.
And, and not like in the club
in the champagne room kind of
pressed into my lap.
That's a guy Dave Shea.
Um, I'm trying to think of
other shit, like stuff just
like falls into my doorstep.
And so I don't, it's not
like I'm seeking this stuff
out a lot of times.
But yeah, if I can create
a parking space and, you know,
life, uh,
finds a way.
That's our email.
Come everybody.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Um, any, any closing
thoughts on, on any of that?
No, I mean, it sounds like
we have a lot of ambitious
goals. We'll probably achieve
somewhere around the 20%
success rate and call it
good. Uh, call it a year.
Yeah. So, um, what kind
of a perennium tattoo
are you going to get?
If, if you don't
accomplish most of these,
um, probably
tramp stamp or inner thigh
tattoo, uh, car hoarder
official. Interesting.
Okay. That too. Yeah.
Yeah. If I don't move any
projects, I deserve it.
Yeah. I was thinking maybe
like a tarantula crawling out
of my ass crack. I thought
that would be a good one.
That's probably a, oh, that's
like provenly tattoo.
No other tattoos.
No context. It's just a
tarantula crawling.
Yeah. Yeah. Fair.
Yeah. Fair. Just like,
yeah. Yeah. It could be
cartoonish or like, are you
going for? No, I'm
going to be like photorealistic,
hyper realistic.
Yeah. Spent like $12,000
for like a world, world
class, you know,
full, real, real, realistic
size and everything.
You're going to startle more
people than yourself with
that. But I mean, exposure
rate of your anus depend
depending on how
the rest of my life goes
and where I end up,
whether it be like
incarcerated, um, or
in alligator alcatraz or
wherever, that might be,
that might be a plausible
self-defense jump scare
mechanism.
And so, yeah, I'm just
thinking ahead or behind.
I don't know. That's fair.
That kind of a tattoo might
be an accelerator in that
direction. Just be aware of
that. Well, that could help,
right? Right.
If the
the perp
bust instantly because
they see the spider and
they're like spider play,
I guess. Let's see a
reverse of arachnophobia,
arachna arousalphobia.
No, it'd be a arachnophilia
right? Would it be?
I don't know. I think so.
Yeah. Maybe they got that
on arachnophile.
OK, let's on that
2026.
Let's see what we can do.
We'll do it. We'll do our
best. We'll do a great movie.
John Candy is in there.
Correct. No, I thought
that was John Goodman.
I think it's John Goodman.
Pretty sure it's John Goodman.
I think John Candy was dead
by this point.
No, he did.
Arachnophobia came out
like 500 years ago.
I think he came out
like 94 or something.
It can maybe John Candy
was alive, but I'm pretty sure
it was John Goodman.
I'm looking up right now.
This is this is going.
We're going to the judge's
of fact check and wasn't like
John Art.
It is John Goodman.
Yes. OK. And then what's
his face? No, this movie came
out in 1990, bro.
90. OK, I think like 94.
Candy was still alive.
When did Candy die?
Probably 96.
Boy, OK, let's see.
Candy. Jesus Christ.
The death of John Candy.
Drum roll, please.
He's Canadian.
He died 94.
So 94.
Not too far off.
All right, all right.
Well, alive and kicking.
When arachnophobia came out,
by the way, just not in it.
OK, just not in it.
Let's transition 2026.
We'll see what we can do.
We'll do our best, blah, blah,
blah, PCP.
Or no, we're not there yet.
Let's do that.
We should get a quiz.
OK, I'll pull something up.
Figure something out.
I'm going to tell the people
what is a foot.
And that is our print ad
quiz game in today's
hopefully titillating
edition.
Tip mouse.
Chadwick here will have
hopefully already found
some sort of an advertisement
from a print publication
from the 80s, the 90s
until around the mid 2000s.
And he's going to read
the print copy from this advertisement.
He's going to redact out
anything overly identifying
such as the year, the make
and the model and will be my job
and yours if you're playing along at home
to figure out and guess
within three guesses and in 10 minutes
what make, model
and approximate year of vehicle
we are talking about.
I can ask for hints when I miss,
but I won't.
I'm ready.
Play along at home.
It's a good time.
Chadwick, what you got for me?
All right, I guess something for you,
but boy, single page ad.
Vehicle actually
interesting passenger three
quarter rear angle
with some swoopy cartoony
illustration added behind it.
So a little fun, a little hinted
motion.
We've got a catch line at the top
that reads you've practically
lost your license just
looking at it.
Oh, boy, speaking of it's
like the car magazine
equivalent of the guy who pops
the moment he sees the spider tattoo.
Yeah, no, it's a gynecologist
ad and it's a picture of
a disturbingly unkempt
and the guy's losing.
Yeah, he's losing his license.
OK, back to it.
Standard features.
We start off right off of the feature
list. OK, so standard
features include a B.S.
OK, six airbags.
Oh, yes, six six airbags.
You heard it right.
And they're and they're still popping
a B.S. OK, wow.
All right.
Two point four liter engine
and much more
starting under nineteen
thousand four hundred dollars
U.S. American also
available as a big also
with a two hundred and sixty
three horsepower
three point eight liter V six
engine, eighteen inch alloy
wheels and a six hundred
fifty watt Rockford Fosgate
premium audio system.
OK, nice day.
Isn't it, officer?
Introducing the all new blank.
Boy minutes.
OK, I'm not a ton
to go on, but dude,
we have done much.
Oh, yeah, much more.
Scampier stuff.
Yeah, God, this feels like
the first time.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
I'm I'm completely lost
and fumbling through this quiz.
Boy, OK, two point four
and a three point three eight.
Interesting, this really,
really, really makes me along
with the Rockford Fosgate.
I've got it.
I feel pretty.
Here's the thing, I feel pretty
good about my first guess.
OK, but do you know if
I'm wrong, does it have ABS?
I might be completely lost at sea
if I'm wrong, because this feels
this feels to me like it's a third
gen eclipse. And I say that because
I'm pretty sure that the big motor
was a three eight.
Right era for counting six air bags,
right, where you got like a curtain,
you got seats, you got passenger front,
but it's like, OK, one, two, three,
four, five, six, that's six.
I know I think on that gen
there was an option for the Rockford
Fosgate
stereo system.
Mm hmm.
The two four would have been the base.
Mitsubishi two four that was shared
in the Stratis and whatever.
And it feels more like that
than the
than like the Sebring Coupe,
although I suppose it could be a
Sebring Coupe, but this feels more
this feels more like a Mitsubishi ad
than a Dodge
ad.
So I'm going to say this is a
two thousand and
six.
Mitsubishi eclipse
just the range, right?
There's no there's there's spouting up
both.
Mm hmm.
Both motors, so just the eclipse
could be the GTE could be the GTS.
Could be that.
Did they still do an RS?
I don't remember.
Final answer.
So you're saying third gen.
Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.
One, two, three, four.
Gem, fourth gen.
For the final, the final iteration
of the Mitsubishi eclipse before
they added the word cross to it.
Mm hmm.
How dare they?
Yeah, they got crossfit.
Introducing the all new two thousand
and six came out in five.
Mitsubishi eclipse.
Yeah, buddy.
You are correct.
In the orange, I didn't want to reveal
that to you because that might have
given away the watch color.
That's a good color.
I like killer orange.
You know what?
I I looked at one of these really
hard.
These six manual GT
and it had the orange kind of
leather with the orange paint.
And I was like, fuck, that's kind of
cool.
That's kind of a cool car.
But I think it's probably
kind of trash like I but
I bet it's cool.
But I bet it's I bet you can
probably do some mods.
Like gigantic rear sway bar
insanely sticky tires.
Sticky tires, good brakes.
And I two hundred and sixty three
horsepower is pretty.
Yeah, I'm OK with the power.
Yeah, long as it's not like
run out of steam at like four
thousand RPM.
Like no, it's got to be like a
sixty five, seven thousand RPM.
But that color is beautiful.
The paint was horrible.
I don't know if you ever see
him. Oh, yeah.
They've got gone like two years
after they came out.
Yeah, I will
maybe hot take.
I would take this over a third gen.
Yeah, yeah, I think I agree.
I've driven.
I drove a real low mile third gen
V six manual.
It was convertible.
But it had like twenty seven
thousand miles on it.
That's it came through car donation.
I sold it on Carson Bids and like.
With that miles, it actually felt
pretty good.
Yeah, it wasn't now.
I wasn't like going to push it down
or a twisty road or anything.
But like, you know, the shift
were felt good.
Interior was kind of trash.
But I suspect that this fourth gen
one is similar.
But I don't I don't know.
I I want to like it.
And I and because I don't hate
the way it looks and I don't
hate it on paper.
Yeah, it's intriguing.
And the price point to me is
the most intriguing thing.
These things are for grand, right?
Like, that's that's the thing.
You can find one that's unruined.
They're all fucked.
It's like it's like an early Genesis
coupe.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'd say similar owner
attentiveness, if you will.
They were not taken care of.
But they didn't age while the
materials on these like the clear
coat when instantly interiors kind
of fell apart and were crummy,
which expected Mitsubishi mid two
thousands.
I don't know.
They kind of don't look horrible.
I think they look better than the
third gen.
But that power is pretty dope.
Like I'd be I'd be interested in
modifying one and making it kind of
like a little handler.
Yeah, kind of could be a good
place to to try.
Price point is good.
Oh, boy.
Yeah, I'm trying to think like
if we did if we just
some rally somewhere in the
future, like that's our challenge
is get like the most unloved
sports we can find
and like, you know, you can
get this fourth gen eclipse and
I'll go find me
like a Genesis 2.0 T
God does or those had mechanical
issues or a tip or on
tip or on that we talked about
with the 2.7
and a six speed.
Oh, that's a good match between
that and this car.
There's got to be some other
shit out there that isn't like
a Pontiac G five or something.
Dodge Avenger, maybe a Dodge
Avenger, cobalt S S
would fit that.
Yeah, the Stratus Pontiac
G six.
All those kind of like you
can't get a you can get a
G six with a manual, could you?
Oh, that's a good question.
I bet you can.
I bet you can.
I don't know.
I bet you can't.
I don't think you can get the
GTP or GXP or whatever it's
called. I don't think there was
any spec that you can get it.
You might maybe a G five,
like a base base base four
cylinder G five.
Maybe a G three, like the twelve
that they sold because I know
you can get an a veyo with
a manual. I'm driven.
OK, a manual transmission.
Pontiac G six is a relatively
rare sporty version.
Often GT or GTP trims with
V six engines.
What featuring a European
source six speed manual?
Wow. All right.
Oh, the short.
OK, we're doing a forgotten
front wheel drive.
Yeah, yeah, like, yeah.
And end stage
like GM shipbox.
Yeah, like usually paired with
the three point nine liter V
six around 240 horsepower.
Oh, wow.
Or the three point six liter
two overhead cam V six
and GTP.
Oh, who knew?
She's all right.
OK, well, we learned something new
right there. That's slightly
like, you know, I didn't Icing.
I wasn't a religious man until
you gave me those those facts.
Now I'm good with that.
That would be kind of a cool
car to chase down, especially a
GTP. How rare would that be?
I imagine just like that would
be fun to just like put like the
world's stickiest tires and
huge sway bars and then just
like breaks. Yeah.
Yeah. And then they'll think
I want to rally and just like
chase down someone and like,
I don't know, a six figure
air cool nine eleven and just
yeah, you won't be hurting in
the power department, right?
Like at all.
Like, yeah, you'll be hurting
in the NVH and the squeak and
rattle department, but
I don't know.
That could be.
Yeah, good luck finding one of
those. All right.
Unlocked.
So good, dude.
So good. All right.
Well, good ad and
good job on that.
Yeah, thank you.
Can I tell you that?
Yeah, what you got? We haven't
done an eclipse
on the fucking print house
game. We've done deep.
We've done not an eclipse,
but we've never we've done a
DSM, right? Did we do?
Sure. But not by a clip.
Isn't that wild that we never
did a fucking eclipse?
So. Yeah.
Yeah. Who knew?
We're still we're still
uncovering gems.
Boy, speaking of uncovering
gems, I don't know.
Have you?
What kind of gems have you
uncovered in your project?
Hard progress. And by gems,
I mean newly discovered
problems and issues.
Or literal pains in the ass.
Oh, boy. So let's go back to
the tracker watch 2026.
Now the gauge cluster issue.
So I I source that good gauge
that had like the high mileage.
I go to it's I install
most of it just to test like
the lights and everything before
I finally buttoned it up because
I wanted to see if I found
someone that could adjust the
odometer. I didn't want to
install it all the way and
have to take it back out.
So I did like a function
check. What I did notice is
there's this little two wire
plug that goes into the back
of the speedometer odometer
area. And that's responsible
for the speedometer working and
running the odometer.
You know, sequentially,
the problem with this gauge
cluster is this like perfectly
color matched piece of tape on
the back. Or no, I peeled it
off. The hole was there.
And a lot of times when you
buy like a gauge cluster or an
electrical component, people
will tape up the electrical
connector for shipping. So
nothing that's in there or
bends the prongs.
So I pull it back. It's
fucking just the plastic.
And I'm like, I shine a
flashlight in there and the
gears and everything else
have been ripped off the
odometer. So assuming the
odometer stopped working or
was making that horrible noise
and it was chewing speedo
cables, so they removed the
gears and then taped it up and
put it back together.
Can you first off lame?
Secondly, is there
can you harvest those parts
from the other cluster?
It's such a pain in the
dick, dude. And like I said,
the aforementioned thing, like
you have to take the plate
off and then adjust that one
individually. And if you even
touch that black, it becomes
shiny and there's no way
because it's all connected to
the front, you're going to
get something on there, a piece
of dust or whatever. And it
just ruins it. And those gears
like it's all crusty and old,
you know. So it's have
you and bear with me.
I don't think you've answered
this in the past. I don't
think you've answered for your
past, but I don't think
you've answered this in the
past of have you have
you talked to any shop like a
speedo shop or anyone about
just like, Hey, will you
rebuild mine for X dollars?
So no, because a I ruined
the back of the gauge
cluster, right? So that can
never be fixed unless someone
like took it apart and spray
painted meticulously. And then
I'd be like 2000 into a car
that's probably not worth all
that. So the thing is, I've
called like all the all
the state side, speedometer
repair odometer place, no one
touches these ones because
they were mechanical, which a
lot of people don't fuck
with anymore. And it's all
plastic gearing. And the
second you fuck with it,
it breaks and then that's
not available anymore has
entered the chat.
Yeah, exactly. So you're
like, you're completely
screwed there. But the fact
is this guy I had a
conversation with before I
bought it, I said, Hey, I
need I have speedometer
issues, I need to resolve it.
I want to work in these
like, oh, this would be
great. There's no way he
didn't know that he had
removed the gearing from it
because he was removed
for his week. So I reached
out to him the other day
and this is all like in
the past few days. And I'm
like, can I get a partial
refund? I guess it's on me
for not like triple
checking that you didn't
fucking do the sneaky move.
Right. But he's getting
nothing. So I'll probably
bring it up. It's been a
couple months though,
because I haven't had time
to do it. So once you're
past 30 days, you can't
really like, you're kind of
you're kind of fucked.
So anyway, I found another
one. So we'll try gauge
cluster three for track
roadpoint. Dude, it's such
a pain in the dick. It is
such this, this is the
kind of stuff that kills
me, right? Like mechanically
timebelt, water pump,
everything's sorted on the
truck. It's just this
little thing. It's a big
deal. But that's where I'm
at. And it's a pain in
the ass, man, because I
have to keep disconnecting,
moving the wheel, doing
all that kind of stuff.
Fuck me, right? But yeah,
so that I hate shady used
car stuff like that, like
used car parts, like I if
someone like takes like a
power steering pump off
and they say, Oh, it's
tested working and they
knew it was fucking
screaming and, you know,
pissing fluid out and
they still sell it. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, I really
can't get behind people
that act like that. And
this was an obvious case
of that, right? So it
sucks. Yep. That's where
Matt bro. So third
tracker gauge cluster on
this way. Sweet. How
about you? Boy, um,
so, you know, really?
Okay. I floated the
concept of the focus
SVT earlier, and its
existence and me doing
more things on it. So I
decided earlier this week,
I was like, look, busy week,
I don't have time. I need
to get this thing moving
in some sort of direction.
So there's a, like
a smaller independent guy
who he's done some work
for me in the past. He
had a shop, but then he
closed it and he just like
works out of his house now.
Right. And I'm like, Hey,
two things. A, can you
just replace this lower
hose that's been a pain
in my ass? I don't have
like three hours to wrestle
it on jack stands. It
should be pretty quick for
you to do. Um, and it
also look at the rear
suspension. Yeah, bring
it by in the morning
tomorrow. This was on
third on Wednesday. So
Thursday morning, I left
it with him. Um, and
then he's like, yep,
I'll take a look at it.
Great. Here's the part.
Swap it out. Let me know
what's going on with this
floppy dick rear end. And
so po. So late in the
day, he called it was a
Keia busy day. It just
got around to it. Um, bro,
you need a radiator.
I'm like, huh? He's like,
yeah. Um, before he's
like, I wanted to kind of
see what's up with this
lower, um, lower hose.
So I just did a quick
pressure test on it
before I did anything
else. And you guys,
which is smart on his
part, right? Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah. So don't just like
take my word for it and
put a, put a lower hose in
it and then be like, oh,
by the way, I have to undo
half of this because it
needs a radiator. Um,
ensure a shit where that
lower, this Y shaped
lower hose, why it's okay
where one goes one leg
goes all the way up the
top. It's got shrink
wrapping or not heat
wrapping. And it goes up
to the top of the
radiator as well. So it
goes to the bottom. It
goes to the top and it
goes to the block.
Okay. Between the AC
compressor and the power
steering pump. That's where
it's a pain in the ass to
be able to
jack sand to get a swap
down. Where it connects
at the radiator, there's
a crack where the, the
nipple for the, the
mount on the upper part
of the hose goes into
that plastic tank on
the radiator. Yep. The
shit. Okay. Um, to
the point where now
I'm not even sure
I think maybe even though
that lower hose that's in
the car that was leaking
might actually be okay. And
what it might be is cool.
It was running down the
hose down the inside. As
I said, it's got that
like she that like that
heat shielding. Yep. On
the inside of the inside
of that. Yeah. And then
puddling up where there
is that imperfection in
the hopes because he said
when he pressure tested
it, it actually looked
okay down there. But it
was just like shitting
the bed where it connects
up at the top of the
radiator. That's why
good diagnostic work is so
I know it's so good. I
wouldn't have been able to
get a radiator in time
in 12 hours because it too
is SVT specific. I was just
going to ask that it's
got to be a preparatory
so I ordered one in I
got a Denso one coming
from from rock auto. And
because of the radiators
like yeah I didn't feel
comfortable like he's like
before I put it in the
air I wanted to road
test it to feel this
rear suspension before I
put it on the rack. So
I don't feel with this
leak I don't feel
comfortable road testing
it. Okay, great. Totally
agree. On board. I
limp it back to my house.
I've got the parts on
order should be here
Tuesday. What I don't know
if I'm going to do
because now it's just
like okay well I guess
I'll just like swap out
the radiator. I think
the whole rat supports
got to come out for
this radiator because
it doesn't have it
doesn't looking at the
upper tie bar it's a
composite it's a composite
radiator support like
you'd see on like an
Audi or something. Yeah
and it doesn't have it
doesn't have like upper
brackets. It's like built
into the rad support and
it's like way forward
in the rad support. So
instead of right at the
back of the rad support
it's probably I don't
know eight inches. Holy
shit. Okay. And I
asked the guy was like
he's like let me pull
that up he's like well
book time is two and a
half hours just for the
radiator but like you
know I it might have
to come he's like
I'll whatever like I'll
quote you like 500 rucks
to do it if you want
me to do it. Which is
like fair. Yeah for that
book time. Yeah. And like
all the and and like that
doesn't include like fill
and bleed and all that
right. Yeah that's
true. But like part of me
feels like your budget
somewhat that your budget
is gone. The budget's
gone but also like that
feels lame to just paying
someone to do a radiator
like that feels like
something I should just
do. I know but that's
a lot of book time
because most radiators
I can pop and vintage
cars that are I can do
it's like a point
and point and point eight
includes all of the things
and replace hoses and stuff
and then it's a slippery
slope because they still
have the thermostat
housing and an upper hose
and some of this other
stuff I just hadn't done.
Oh do all that for sure
because you have all the
space in the game world.
So we'll see. Yeah especially
the freaking rad sports
going to come off. Yeah.
I haven't looked at like
procedures whether on
like a P page or just
like YouTube to see if
there's a different way
to do it. It's like
oh it's actually a lay
up if you just do this
but like you gotta swap
the fans over and
burp burp burp burp
I don't know.
I don't. So we'll see.
Fans are bolted to it.
You probably remove the
drive. You pull the fans up
with the rad support
swap them outside the car.
Yep. All that stuff.
Hopefully not.
At least you're not working
with like a clutch fan
and stuff right like that.
That's what makes it tricky
with those jobs
because then you got to
take the fan off take the
clutch. Yeah.
It's connected usually
a water pump pump
dangles for a little bit.
Yeah. And then I'm looking
at who I'm here.
She's replaced the
water pump. Yeah exactly.
And you know a lot
of while you're in there.
So we will see.
And then who knows
like I might do all of that
shit.
And then it's like
oh the rear suspension
is like completely blown out
and you have the component
in the rear
because all the probably
I guarantee it's
subframe bushings
the way it looked
the way it flexed
it has to be.
I mean if nothing's
tweaked unless somebody
hits something crazy
with it and covered it up.
No it doesn't it
doesn't feel like
something that feels
like stuff is moving
under me.
Yeah.
It's got to be
subframe bushings
dude.
God either.
I know.
But at least
yeah you got to fix
the coolant like that's
right.
If I get it drivable
even if it's a drivable
death trap
at least it's drivable.
So we'll see
and then I have a decision
right because if like
all that rear end stuff
if it if it's like
OK add some bushings
or like oh you've got like
you know you're
the lower control arms
are bushings
where they meet the subframe
are all wonky
and it just like
new press and bushings
or new lower control arms
and they're
that's shared
with just a basic
bitch focus.
Yeah I can get them
for twenty seven dollars
a pop or whatever
then like
that's easy.
Yeah OK
then like that's
that's a thing
do that to an alignment
and then yeah
maybe I'm track day ready
but if it's like
you know
oh you need a subframe
or whatever
then it's
it's kind of like
OK like
I'll let this be
someone else's project
and I'll just take
a monster L
on this one
which I don't
traditionally do
like it's
yeah
in a long time
since I've taken
especially when you get
your foot in the door
for 2K on a car
right like it's usually
pretty easy to turn that
around.
What can go wrong?
It is an example.
I don't know
I mean hopefully it's
it's you know
five hundred bucks
and a ninety dollar
rock auto
denser radiator
and
hey but think
if you went to the trouble
replacing that pipe
yourself
and it's the lead
top fucking
catastrophically upset
you would have been
yeah I mean
right like he found
the radiator
yeah yeah
and and
just yeah
so that's where
things are at
I don't know
if it's progress
or on progress
but
oh boy
speaking of
progress on progress
you got any
anything before we
say goodbye
to the dear
dear listener
no
just you know
guys thanks for
tuning in again
I guess we can
shamelessly plug
the late night
confidential
we have started
a Patreon
at APA pod
yeah that's
pay.com
slash
ptr dot com
slash
APA pod
P.O.G.
check it out
like we got out
yeah
we got a couple
EPs in the
in the queue
there
we're going to release
those on a
monthly cadence
so
a big thank you
to for you guys
we'll drink
horrible liquor
we'll talk about
horrible topics
and it'll be great
it'll be a fun time
yeah we've already
got a request
to drink
Rainier
which honestly
feels too good
um
compared to the
hard Mountain Dew
so we'll see
that might be
on deck
maybe I'll do
yourselves with episode
one
I'll do the do
yeah well
that if like
maybe I can
find some clearance
shelf
because we're
we're after the
New Year
clearance shelf
hard
um
eggnog
we could do that
bro
we can just
get
not
fully not
I'm pretty sure
there's dairy in there
so we should
probably adhere
to some kind of
best buy date
but whatever
whatever
that's fine
I think what
I think
if you're
within 90 days
of the expiration
date
you'll be okay
yeah
that's science
that's
just about
what I was gonna
say
science
uh
back to reality
uh
so yeah
check
check us out
on the
regular
pod stuff
you know
keep following us
dude
we're like
at 104
subscribers
strong on YouTube
so
we appreciate
that's a lot
for a
podcast
of this
for this
bullshit
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yeah
realistically
and just pure
pure stupidity
so yeah
angst against
the world
but we
really appreciate
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leave your comments
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I'd like
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Spotify
Apple
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leave some
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we're
we're always
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yeah
we need them
frankly
yeah
we do
we're running
out of
we've been
pulling topics
out of this
hat
and it's a
it's a huge
hat
you know
200 something
episodes later
we're getting
pretty close
to the bottom
I don't know
we we had them
all written
on
um
those like
tighter
snugger
fit
condoms
I don't know
why
we chose that
of like
those are a thing
out of the hat
yeah
yeah
I've got a
I've got a
I've got a
a large
satchel of them
here at
the
look at
Santa Claus
Esk
Snack
Snack
Snack
I don't know
why I want to
say
Snatch
but
it's the top
rap song
what rap song
is
I keep my condoms
in a big
ass sack
I don't remember
which one
that is
definitely
vanilla
comment
comment
um
why
because of
the snugger
fitting
yeah
so um
but no
yeah
thanks for
thanks for
that
um
but uh
bug us
or message us
or harass us
or whatever
um
at us
as the kids
say
uh
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actually
you can send us
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too
it's actually
you can do that
a little better
um
so do that
um
if you want to
stalk me
I'm the
photographer's
garage
on all the things
how about you
uh
chat to the wick
yeah
definitely follow
frank for
his world
class
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I am
just the
auto obscure garage
uh
Volvo
tracker content
hopefully some
Lexis
ES 300
man well
uh
content coming soon
so
we appreciate it
guys
ooh
that's right
seven to ten days
peace
bye
About this episode
2026 kicks off with a lighthearted yet introspective discussion about New Year's resolutions and accountability in car projects. The hosts reflect on their past ambitions, sharing humorous anecdotes and personal goals for the year ahead. They emphasize the importance of finishing long-standing projects, like a turbocharged car and various restorations, while also contemplating new acquisitions. The episode is filled with banter, self-deprecating humor, and a genuine desire to make progress in their automotive endeavors.
Original notes
As we welcome in 2026 fashionably late, we can't help but reflect on all the resolutions we didn't hold ourselves to last year. Don't worry, we created a new list...to not hold ourselves to this year.
Another Pointless Automotive Podcast
Frank Harrington IV and Chadwick Atkinson
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59:27