johna's automotive blog

Finally someone on YouTube showed us how to do a cheap clear coat fix

2024-10-30T12:00:00+10:00

I was looking for a quick and cheap fix for some peeling clear coat and wondered if I could just spray some new clear coat over the top with some preparation, just so it looks a bit better and protects from further damage.

But everything I watched or read said you can't do this.

But I finally came across someone on YouTube who said you can do it and showed how. They did warn that it's not a long lasting solution and looks far from perfect, but it looks better.

The channel is Ratchets And Wrenches and the video is: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbSIjsUeWZQ

I'm going to try this on my car and report back with how it went.

PS. this is actually an 8 year old video and check the comments on the video for a tip on how to improve the blend line.

Best of the YouTube road trip videos

2024-07-23T12:00:00+10:00

Invincible Extremes Muscle Cars Garage
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLstbSdzzQcW8TI4KiLX-jF_loVhP6oACw

This playlist has several awesome road trips, including a couple in a V8-swapped Datsun 240Z and some muscle cars towing other muscle cars, all done on the cheap so plenty goes wrong.

4000 miles alone in my drift car by Nate Z Great
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEwM2KXHsDk

After spending the summer drifting in Florida, Nate travels 4000 miles back to Oregon in his gutted BMW E36 M3 drift car.

1980 Ford Pinto by Fuzzy Dice Projects
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3lFj_cTEd0C6OS0ClBgUH3hpiUNAdI-Q

During COVID, these guys go an buy a Ford Pinto 3,000 miles away, get it roadworthy, then attempt to drive it home.

Kingatow Crew PART 1 / Roadkill style aussie mission VN v8 HSV sv89 1000ks no prep just launch it by Kingatow Crew
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTzrE3kzThQ (part 1)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFkGx4a1P2k (part 2)

An Australian road trip video where a rusty Aussie muscle car - an HSV SV89 - embarks on a 1,000 km road trip through Queensland.

Built in 3 weeks, Perth to Sydney in a Torana destined for scrap! Will it make it? Pt9 by Old Skool Only
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvXPteN_N8I

This is part nine and in the previous parts, a 1971 Holden Torana that had been pulled out of the bush was prepared for a 4,000 km journey from Western Australia to Sydney.

Alone to the Arctic Circle: My 10,000 Mile Audi R8 Journey - Full Trip + New Footage

Mitchell Kohrmann makes an epic 10,000 mile round trip in an Audi R8 supercar from Ohio to Alaska, on some of the most remote and challenging roads in North America.

A great adventure with amazing scenery... and a broken water pump at Alaska’s Arctic Circle!

Life after TV on YouTube

2023-09-30T12:00:00+10:00

After success on television, what is the future of automotive businesses and personalities like Richard Rawlings and Gas Monkey Garage? They can continue to enjoy success on YouTube.

After sixteen seasons on TV from 2012 to 2020 as Fast N' Loud, Richard Rawlings now produces similar content for YouTube and has grown to 1.16 million subscribers.

The HeavyDSparks YouTube channel is a similar story. Seven seasons on TV from 2016 to 2020 as 'Diesel Brothers' and now 3.23 million subscribers on YouTube.

Chad Hiltz, from the TV show 'Bad Chad Customs' followed two seasons on TV from 2019 and 2020 with a YouTube channel with mostly daily uploads and now with 269,000 subscribers.

The Bad Chad channel (www.youtube.com/@BadChad) has a variety of videos, such as car finds and purchases, car shows and trips, but the majority of the content is around building cars, including the Bugatti clone that Chad is building for his partner Joelene.

HeavyDSparks (www.youtube.com/@HeavyDSparks) is more of an adventure channel. There is some content on cars and trucks, but there is also vehicle and equipment finds and purchases, and content about helicopters.

The channel also does a lot of recoveries of vehicles and equipment, and has even searched for missing persons.

Gas Monkey Garage (www.youtube.com/@GasMonkeyGarage) content is similar to the TV series, with car finds and purchases, and project cars.

79th Productions on YouTube

2023-01-05T12:00:00+10:00

I'm sure many Honda fans are already aware of the 79th Productions channel on YouTube (www.youtube.com/@79thproductions49), but even if you aren't particularly interested in Hondas this is still an awesome channel for those who like to see cars being built on a budget.

So many channels deal with fancy cars and have endless budgets to build them, but Justin from 79th Productions buys cheap cars on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, often non-runners, then searches for the bargain parts he needs, such as engines, wheels and body parts. He then puts the car together himself -- everything from the mechanicals and even shows you how he does cheap paintwork.

His latest video (www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf2NL48L7ck) is a perfect example. He takes a $400 Integra and turns it into a great-looking and running Type R replica.

The channel has close to 300,000 subscribers after six years, and it's great to see it sticking to its roots of budget builds.

What happened to the BUILT OFFICIAL YouTube channel?

2022-09-20T12:00:00+10:00

BUILT OFFICIAL (www.youtube.com/builtofficial) is an automotive YouTube channel with over 300,000 subscribers that has been posting regular videos up until three months ago.

The last video was posted on 14 June 2022 and the channel's other social media has been similarly quiet.

So what happened to BUILT OFFICIAL?

There is no information on the channel's community page or other social media and Kaleb, the channel's creator, has not posted on his own own Facebook page for nearly two years.

The channel's website is no longer accessible.

In the past the channel was hacked but was later restored, but there's no sign of this having happened this time.

After a little more social media stalking we can see that the Kaleb's house was on the market since late July and is now under contract.

And if we go back to October last year we find an announcement of Kaleb's wife being pregnant with their third child. Add nine months and that would be June 2022 - around the time when the videos stopped.

So although there has been no official announcement to subscribers and followers, most likely the channel is on hold while Kaleb is kept busy with a new baby and possibly a move of house.

UPDATE 12 Nov 2022

There has been a new post from BUILT OFFICIAL:
"I've been gone and for good reasons, I can and I will explain in an upcoming video(expect it in a week or two) just wanted to let you guys know we (the family and I) are all good, I'm still filming, and I've made some changes that will allow BUILT to continue without putting so much stress on my family."
More at www.youtube.com/post/UgkxGOTTJ_6SHN4savMaMig_sr95SzIc18LO

The rise and rise of the Ronald Finger YouTube channel

2020-12-27T12:00:00+10:00

Two years ago Ronald Finger was publishing videos about his hobbies on his YouTube channel and had a subscriber count of under 2,000.

Then he found a 1985 Pontiac Fiero that had been sitting for 20 years and was in need of total restoration and published a couple of videos about bringing the car home and trying to get it running.

He very quickly gained tens of thousands of subscribers, all keen to follow the progress of the Fiero project.

Ronald had a little fun with his new subscribers when he left a post on his community feed thanking them but said that now that he had so many subscribers he was going to transition the channel to focus on the computer game Minecraft. Many subscribers didn't realise it was a joke and left some angry comments.

By the fourth video on the Fiero, and only three months after the first video, the channel hit 100,000 subscribers.

He then took a break for several months, later explaining that his absence was due to completing school.

The project started as just getting the Fiero running but turned into an almost full restoration, and after twelve months Ronald had amassed 200,000 subscribers.

Today, new uploads are highly anticipated by subscribers - all 250,000 of them as of the time of this post.

Despite having more subscribers than many full-time YouTubers, Ronald publishes new videos infrequently, usually releasing a new video each month.

His success is due to the quality and entertainment value of his content. The editing is well above the usual YouTube standard and each video is narrated and includes plenty of humour, and sometimes there's a little acting scene thrown in for good measure.

Car enthusiasts appreciate following the detailed restoration process and that Ronald is learning all aspects of car restoration as he goes. His videos frequently include things going wrong and having to keep trying until he gets it right (or close enough to right).

You can find his channel at www.youtube.com/channel/UCgvRHIimO6otkQ4Dcl_9YqQ (maybe it's time you got a proper channel URL, Ronald).

In my opinion at least, his videos are far superior to many of the channels with millions of subscribers and he is well-deserving of his success and many times more. Well done Ronald!

Special mention to another Fiero-based channel, Lightspeed Fieros. This channel also produces excellent quality videos and recently got their longtime LSX-engined Fiero project on the road. Despite quality editing and content, this channel has only a few thousand subscribers. Yet another YouTube and the YouTube algorithm mystery. www.youtube.com/channel/UCcntHebs-_jiuYiTMo0_v5A

Car restoration channel or house restoration channel?

2020-09-20T12:00:00+10:00

The automotive channels on Youtube often seem to follow certain trends, like the recent one where several channels were combining old Ford Mustang bodies with new Mustang running gear.

The latest trend appears to be buying property and rennovating and building workshops.

It seems to be successful, as it makes sense that most fans of car rebuild and restoration channels enjoy the thought of a property partly devoted to cars.

Auto Auction Rebuilds might have been the channel that started the current trend.

One year ago Randy from AAR bought a very cheap property in country Oklahoma and first set about rennovating the home without actually intending to live there.

Over time his circumstances changed and he became a car dealer and used the property as the location for his dealership. He then built a large workshop and later decided to move in to the house to live.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=78Mo7RDdMbw

Actually, Evan Shanks might have predated AAR slightly with he and wife Victoria's purchase of their house, garage upgrades and their more recent workshop build.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du1aumy0cJQ

Goonzquad has been almost exclusively posting about their recent purchase of a house in the mountains in Chattanooga. They bought a partly completed house on a large property and have been making it habitable, clearing the land and are planning to next build a large workshop.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnXRIevtwa8

Drifter Taylor Ray recently shared his plans to buy his own property to live in and have a workshop to build and maintain his cars and trucks. So far he found what looked like a great property in Orlando but the purchase fell through at the last minute when the seller changed their mind.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISUmY4odv0w

California-based Youtube, Dustin Williams, also just bought a house and is in the process of renovating and has plans to build a large workshop.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHZZ6BSbxDQ

Kondor Buildz bought a used paint booth from a prison a long time ago and we never heard about it again until today when they posted a video about their plan to build a new workshop and finally install the paint booth. Their video showed the start of construction but not much detail on what their plan was.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FssjcbCeZ6s

They haven't started building anything yet, but BackYardBoyz have bought some land that they plan to build their workshop on.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKdJ-gyjMhc

Finally, honourable mentions to two much smaller Australian channels. El Heffe's Chopshop has posted a few videos on restoring his house and more recently posted a video of building his dream shed, and JAMES NOLLAND posted about buying a house with a large garage and bigger shed with a hoist.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dbGrRSiqjU

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUknmrcO--w

Most of these channels are asking their subscribers if they want to see more of the property videos and people are obviously responding enthusiastically as there are more and more videos and other channels are venturing into this area.

The B is for Build Eleanor Ford Mustang project is over

2020-06-03T12:00:00+10:00

If you've been wondering why there have been no new progress videos for B is for Build's Ford Mustang project, well that's because it's over.

Why? Apparently, Eleanor is a copyrighted movie character and the copyright owners objected to B is for Build building a replica. Lawyers were involved and the build was stopped.

The Eleanor character is legally owned by Denice Halicki who licensed the rights to Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Sadly, all previous videos have now been deleted and even worse, the car was given to the copyright holders. Ouch.

Here's the video where Chris gave us the bad news:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9EugvXW09E

The comments were full of lots of anger directed towards the copyright holders. No surprise there. There's even an online petition to try and get the car back (www.change.org/p/the-walt-disney-company-give-b-is-for-build-his-mustang-eleanor-back).

Expect videos on the team's armageddon cars as the next videos you will see on the channel.

RepoNut is back!?!

2020-05-03T12:00:00+10:00

After an absence of 2.5 years, "new" videos started appearing on the RepoNut channel over the weekend.

If you don't know who RepoNut is, well he has a Youtube channel (www.youtube.com/user/RepoNut) where he has published many videos showing his work repossessing cars and trucks over the last decade.

A standard repossession involves RepoNut first having to find the vehicle. Many of the owners are expecting repossession, so often hide their car or park it in such a way that it is almost impossible to take.

RepoNut cleverly uses every possible avenue to find them. He talks to family and neighbours, he finds them via their Facebook postings,

Then, at any time of the day or night, he sneaks in with his tow truck, lifts up one end of the car, and gets out of there ASAP. Many times without the owner even knowing.

In his introduction of the first of the new videos he has posted he explained that he was posting 130 videos that weren't previously published. These are old videos, the first one dating back to 2009, but have been overwhelmingly welcomed by his loyal fan base according to comments.

He said that after the batch of older videos had been exhausted he would see what would be next.

I'm not sure what he is up to now but the channel has always been one of my favourites and I'm looking forward to seeing how it progresses.

PS. Some of my favourite of his original videos were those where he takes cars out of the owners' open garage, like this one (www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4u3tl5GgUs), or how about this (www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruogV9-3uus) one where he inches a car out from someone's backyard through a tiny gap using a set of Go-Jacks.

Images from comment by reponut on 9 Aug 2021

BMD - Blue Mountains Dashcams #2 compilation out now

2020-04-25T12:00:00+10:00

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb0QquNK2Gk&t=8s

New Eleanor Ford Mustang project for B is for Build

2020-02-29T12:00:00+10:00

Today B is for Build announced their next project -- a car that looks like "Eleanor" -- the 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback out of the Gone in 60 Seconds movie -- but is built out of a 2015 Mustang GT.

Unfortunately the timing of this project wasn't great as another Youtuber, vTuned, started on a similar project very recently, although their plans are a bit different and vTuned is not building an Eleanor replica.

B is for Build video's comments were full of plenty of talk about the two projects and comparisons.

vTuned is starting with a 1966 Mustang coupe and fitting the engine from a wrecked 2015 Ford Mustang GT. He is also planning on fitting many other parts of the donor car including much of the suspension and running gear and even the dashboard.

B is for Build are using their late-model Mustang as the basis for their project then adding various body parts including using an early Mustang coupe to fastback conversion kit.

Both projects are very ambitious and having watched vTuned already remove so much of his 1966 Mustang and hearing about B is for Build's plans, it's going to be interesting to see how each one turns out and if either can actually pull off what they plan.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcqEvNwlfmE

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JipMQEe99A

Nikko Brothers 2016 Ford Mustang GT350R stolen

2020-01-28T12:00:00+10:00

On January 9 Nikko Brothers posted on their Youtube community tab that their 2016 Ford Mustang GT350R was stolen.

In a later video they said that they had taken the car to show a prospective buyer, and they guy stole the car.

In a video a few days later they showed them trying to find the car, spending about 24 hours watching out for the car having had some help from other Youtube-ers, and eventually finding it with the help of police.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ1KIyoH5kc

The car appeared to have only minor bumper damage.

3 days later they posted on their community tab that the thief had been arrested.

Tavarish cancels SEMA 2020 supercar project

2020-01-18T12:00:00+10:00

Tavarish had planned to build a one-off supercar based on a wrecked Superlite SL-C that he had already bought, combined with some body parts from a Lamborghini kit car he had also already obtained.

According to his Instagram, the car was to be a single-seater, twin-turbo exotic 1000hp-capable v8 or v10, manual transmission, and have creature comforts like front lift, rear/front cameras, launch control, active aero, custom LED dash, and different drive modes.

It was all to be done on a budget and ready for showing at SEMA 2020.

But unfortunately, less than three months after the first video on the project, Tavarish has cancelled the build.

He blames the cancellation on a lack of support from Superlite, saying he is not able to get the parts needed for the chassis.

Such a shame as I thought this was one of the most exciting builds on Youtube and the renders looked amazing... But then again, so did B is for Build's Lamborghini renders and that didn't turn out so amazing.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvhfkC1NB54

Youtuber Junkyard Dave suffers major setback when lift fails and destroys car

2019-12-06T12:00:00+10:00

A popular car rebuilder on Youtuber suffered a major setback on his latest project when the vehicle lift he was using broke and his project car fell to the ground.

Junkyard Dave has been working on putting a 700 HP Hellcat engine from a Dodge Challenger into Dodge Magnum wagon.

Dave says he was 30 minutes away from the first start of the transplanted engine and first drive when the disaster happened.

He immediately started a live stream on Youtube to share what had just happened with his subscribers and was very shaken and upset, as you would expect when he was almost finished with the project and saw all of his hard work destroyed.

He also considered what could have happened had he been under the car at the time.

The car fell from near the maximum height of the vehicle lift and landed on one of the front wheels causing the chassis to be severely damaged.

The top of the car hit the top of the lift causing damage to the roof, and the lift arms went into the bottom of the car and also damaged one of the rear doors.

Dave was of course filming at the time but his camera fell off the car when it fell and was damaged when the car landed on top of it. Unfortunately, the footage seems to have been lost.

Although many of Dave's fans said he should get the car to a frame machine and try and repair the car, he thought the damage was too great and he was better off finding a new shell and starting again.

During the live stream he said that maybe since he had got the Hellcat that he had experienced a lot of bad luck, and after this incident that maybe he was done with the project altogether.

He has since posted an update video of the project including the incident and seems to be back on board with finding a new shell and finishing the project.

He thinks that the lift's lock skipped a few feet causing the car to fall forward and off the lift. Ironically he said this was probably the last time the car needed to be on the lift.

This is one Youtuber that definitely needs some support right now, so check out his channel and subscribe if you like and want to support him.

In addition to this project, he also has done Mazda rotary, Volvo and domestic (USA) projects, and also a number of auction and flip cars.

www.youtube.com/channel/UCQgjhCLyUiH6omlZksTtrfA

I hate "Building a car in ten minutes" videos

2019-12-02T12:00:00+10:00

Who started this annoying trend of videos where a series of car build videos is compiled into a single short video titled something like "building a car in ten minutes"?

I think it may have been the Home Built by Jeff YouTube channel who compiled his 67 part Porsche 911 build into a 4-minute single video and quickly amassed over half a million views on Youtube (and over 50 million views on Facebook).

Once news of this success story got out every second car YouTube channel jumped on the band wagon and made their own compilations with similar titles.

Most didn't enjoy anywhere near the same success.

While in some cases these type of videos make it quick and easy to see how a project started and the end result, personally I enjoy watching the build process and I have refused to watch any of these compilations, even when posted by some of my favourite Youtubers.

The only thing worse is those build videos compiled from photos only, most of which are usually accompanied by some crappy music.