Why GM Doesn't Make Good Cars Anymore, What Went Wrong
Scotty Kilmer:
rev up your engines, zack says
Scotty my old family are GM fans, do you
know when GM car started to make them
poorly, my guess would be when they went
bankrupt around 2009, well they started
to make them poorly long before that, even
in the early 2000s they started to make
a lot cheaper stuff, I don't know how
true it is, but I talked to an engineer
and an engineer told me one time that GM
and Ford were going neck to neck and
people thought, Oh GM's are made better
than the Fords and then they did a
little research and GM found out that
they were spending 20% more building
their vehicles and that's why they were
better vehicles back decades ago, well
according to the engineer that I was
talking to, GM looked at and said gee
were spending 20% money more than Ford
building our cars, let's make them
cheaper, so they did and then the quality
went down, I know if it's true or not but
an engineer told me that, but they
have been going but down since the
early 2000s, it's just the nature of the
beast with corporations these days, they
want to make a profit and they want to
make things as cheap as they can and pay
people that make them as little as
possible, so they make more profit for
the corporation that's the way that
things go and sometimes it takes the
wrong turn like GM did and make products
that you don't hold up like they used to,
I learned to drive on a Chevrolet
Biscayne the thing was like a tank it had
a
302 v8 in it and that thing just ran
forever but not the new ones their not made
that wa,y no Oberto says Scotty
I am seriously considering buying the
2019 Land Cruisers, do you consider it to
be
the best quality built SUV I'm aware of
the gas mileage, yes they are for that
kind of a vehicle if you're willing to
spend that kind of money and get that
kind of low gas mileage, they are well build
vehicles my customers with them are all
pretty well happy with them, other than
the horrible gas mileage and if you're
willing to spend that kind of money, they
can last a long time, I got customers
with those thing that have three hundred and
fifty thousand miles on them and they're
still running strong, yeah if you don't
mind spending that kind of money go
right ahead, me I'm too cheap I'd never
spend that kind of money, Rambo ask
Scotty what do you think about me buying
a 2004 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited
all wheel drive with 140,000 miles straight
6 for six grand
from my uncle as a first car,
well first of all some uncle he should
give you the car, now I'm not a Jeep fan
by any stretch of the imagination but
back in 2004 they were building much
better ones than they are today now that
Fiat owns them, that straight six-cylinder
engine can last forever I've seen those
things go 400,000 miles, good engines the
transmission that's an OK transmission
it's not great but it's not totally
horrible, it's a 15 year old Jeep try to
get it for a little bit less than $6,000
see if you can barter it, they can be fun
vehicles to drive around, realize they're
somewhat gas hogs because jeeps are
trucks their high up in the air, their not
aerodynamic or anything but it can be a
fun thing to drive, just try to get it a
little bit of lower, Scotty my SUV keeps
going out of alignment I had new shocks
replaced and no one seems to get the
alignment right, any ideas what as to what
it can be,
here's the thing, front end alignment
work we're talking about thousands of an
inches here thousands of an inches there
it's gotta be a pro who knows what he's
doing, so your best to find a
front-end shop that's all they do, here
in Houston I use cotton brothers front
end, they know what they're doing they
can fix any alignment problem, now the
second thing is, modern vehicles
especially the SUVs they're not like
vehicles when I was young, when I was
young they had all kinds of adjustments
there were like six different
adjustments you could do, today a lot of
times the only adjustment you can do is
the caster and the camber that's it
you can't do anything else, so it might
be that the alignment is off because the
struts bent or an a frame is bent, that's
why you have to start with a really good
front end guy, who knows what he's doing
and does good work you have to start
there, because otherwise all bets are off,
Devon says Scotty and I got a 93
3 liter 4runner, it does 16-17 mile per gallon
on the highway but does five to six in the
city any reason why, I live in Fresno
with hardly any traffic on the streets
Thanks, okay first of all, when you're
driving it in town does it get into top
gear, if you drive it really slow and the
transmission doesn't shift into top
gear, you're gonna get crappy gas mileage
like that, 16 to 17 is what those things
get on a highway, so it's working
normally at highway speed, so I'm
assuming it's not shifting into the top
gear when you're driving in town, go 35
miles an hour count the shifts as it shifts
and it should be into the top gear
if it isn't, you got a problem with your
transmission not shifting into gear
that's about the only thing that would
make sense cuz if you have any other
problem with the vehicle, it's gonna get
horrible gas mileage on the highway too,
the only difference is, it's shifting
into the higher gear on the highway maybe
it's not doing it in town, you should
still get at least 12 or something in
the city not 5 or 6, so if you never want
to miss another one of my new car repair
videos, remember to ring that Bell!
The Truth About the New Chevy Cruze, Buyer Beware
Scotty Kilmer:
rev up your engines, Kenneth case of
Scotty
I really like my 2017 chevy cruze
premiere RS I never had a problem
throughout my ownership should I keep it
thanks, well it's a 2017 it's only a year
and a half old, you better not have any
problems, you might as well keep it cuz
I'll tell you the truth if you try
selling that thing now, you'll see how
much money you will lose, what you owe on
it versus what it's worth it would be
foolish to sell it now maybe you got a
good one that's gonna last, I never advise
anybody to buy it and I got a customer with
one he's got a picture of Mickey Mouse
in his back window cuz she's sued them
under the lemon lawn for some weird
reason they gave him back three thousand
dollars and that was it, they wouldn't
take the car back so, you know but if it lasts
drive it around cuz you would lose your
shirt if you sold it now, CK says Scotty
I'm looking into buying a 2004 GMC
Canyon with two hundred sixteen thousand
miles from a mechanic should I buy it
okay
well it depends if it was the mechanic's
vehicle and he took care of it, not a
bad idea but if he's selling it for somebody
else
you kind of think now the canyon was
kind of a bizarre truck they weren't
that bad
I mean look that thing's got a lot of
miles it's still running, I just uh
wouldn't pay too much for it, it's a 15
year old GMC pickup truck with two
hundred sixteen thousand miles if you're
looking for a Knockaround truck to haul
a little bit of stuff around why not but
just don't pay too much, it's an old GMC
truck with a lot of miles on it,
Albee says what's your opinion on police
cars mainly 2013 police patrol vehicle
Taurus with the 3.7 Mustang engine with
100,000 miles on it, well that was a fun
vehicle in its time but the thing is if
it was a police vehicle, generally they
drive them like maniacs and they get
the heck burnt out of them, I mean you generally
expect you're gonna put an engine or a
transmission in them in a short period of
time, but if you are thinking about
buying one use, do not touch it until you
get a guy like me a professional
mechanic and gonna check it out with his
computer and road test it and tell you
what kind of shape it's in. you want to
start there if you do want to buy a
vehicle like that, they can be fun to drive
around but of course don't pay much for
it, a used police vehicle the resale
value is not that much, you don't want to
pay much because
you know you're playing with dynamite
you don't know what's left with that
vehicle, why do you think the police get
rid of them every so many years,
Alvaro Tejado says Scotty I got
a 95 volvo 940 when i start it up in the
morning it makes the metallic rattling
sound when I rev it, it goes away for 3-4
minutes, the engine was rebuilt seven
years ago you know what's really typical
with those things, is the catalytic
converters rattle as they age for some
reason they made them crappy inside your
catalytic converter are these honeycomb
pieces that have platinum in them and
that burns hydrocarbons and as they age
especially on those vehicles it cracks
and they will rattle, but then when they
heat up the metal expands and they
stop rattling check that first now, if it
runs okay it doesn't hurt anything and a
new cat for that vehicle cost an awful
lot of money, you might live with it if
it is the cat rattling and it runs okay
when it doesn't run good, the
temperature gauge run hotter and you'll
only be able to go like 55 miles an hour
not any faste,r then you know it's
clogged up and you'd have to replace it
then, US storm says Scotty I have an 07
Honda Civic LX coupe with rear drum
brakes should I upgrade them to disc
brakes, okay here's the thing the rear
brakes on that car are one thing mainly
most of the power is stopped in the
front disc, the rear drums are there
so the car doesn't fishtail when you
stop hard and when you corner and stop for
normal driving those work perfectly fine
and you're not gonna have any problems
with them, it's kind of a waste of money
putting it in a little car like that it
really doesn't need it it's a light car
and disc brakes for all four wheels are
more for racing because they don't fade
when you stop go fast stop go fast stop
go fast, drums will actually stop a car
just as fast one time but in a race they
aren't that's why they were first used
in race cars because they're slamming them on
and hit the gas, slamming them on and
hitting the gas and the drum brakes will
overheat where the discs wouldn't and
that's why they started using them but
on yours are you really wouldn't want to
spend money for that, my Honcho says Scotty
should I put fuel injection on a Dodge
Dart 318 v8 well it's a good question
but depends on what do you want to do
with the thing, if you're planning on
selling it in the future, no because if
it's stock that's a classic 73 Dodge dart
you're gonna lower the value by taking
the factory stuff off,
but if you want it to drive faster
and get better gas mileage, put it on but
save all your old parts, save the
manifold, save the carburetor because
then if you sell it at some point in the
future
you can say to the guy, look I did this
because I like fuel injection you want
to go back to stock here's all the parts
in the box keep them all, don't throw
any of them away, always do that with the
classic car never throw any old parts
away and if you want to modify it to your
heart's content you're gonna keep it for
years go right ahead
just keep the old parts, so if you never
want to miss another one of my new car
repair videos, remember to ring that Bell!
Chevrolet Spark 1.2 LS | Auto Pedigree Car Review
Auto Pedigree:
Ford Taurus and Fiesta, Chevy Impala and Sonic discontinued
CC- Car Curiosity:
General Motors and Ford Motor Co. plan to
discontinue four slow-selling car models,
including the venerable Ford Taurus sedan,
the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people
familiar with the matter.
GM will stop production of the subcompact
Chevrolet Sonic by as early as this year,
and is planning to discontinue the Chevrolet
Impala in the next few years, the Journal
said.
It also reported that Ford will stop making
the Fiesta small car for the U.S. market by
as early as next year, and discontinue the
Taurus, once the top-selling car in America.
Overall, U.S. sales of new cars are down nearly
11 percent this year and are on track to drop
for the fifth straight year in 2018.
Automotive News, in its annual Future Product
series last summer, reported the Sonic, Impala,
Fiesta and Taurus were widely expected to
be discontinued at the end of their current
product cycles.
The Detroit News in July also reported that
Ford and GM were looking to stop production
of those vehicles.
"Nothing formal to report today," Steve Majoros,
marketing director for Chevrolet's cars and
crossovers, told reporters on Wednesday when
asked about the Journal report.
"But I would say for all three of those products
[Sonic, Impala and Volt] we are committed
to those.
They're a part of our portfolio today, they'll
be a part of our portfolio here in the future.
"Every car we have in our portfolio plays
a role, every car's important and you know
the only way we're going to stay the fastest-growing
brand is to keep providing the vehicles that
people want.
So they're a part of our portfolio and they're
going to continue."
U.S. sales of the Sonic have fallen 21 percent
to 5,983 vehicles this year while Impala deliveries
have plunged 36 percent to 14,067.
Taurus deliveries are off 25 percent this
year in an overall large car market that has
shrunk 12 percent.
The Taurus debuted in 1985 but was dropped
in 2006 in favor of the Five Hundred sedan.
Former Ford CEO Alan Mulally revived the Taurus
name for the 2008 model year.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has already pared
the Dodge Dart small car and Chrysler 200
midsize sedan from its U.S. product portfolio
to better focus on light trucks.
The move to drop car nameplates comes at a
time when U.S. consumers are increasingly
shunning sedans and coupes in favor of crossovers,
pickups and SUVs.
Last month, Ford disclosed plans to pad its
product portfolio with more light trucks,
and add more hybrid and pure electric vehicles.
Ford late last year began telling suppliers
it is ending North American production of
the Fusion midsize sedan, which Automotive
News reported in December.
As we have said, by 2020 trucks and utilities
– including their electrified versions – are
going to be almost 90 percent of our volume.
Passenger cars, including Fiesta and Taurus,
remain an important part of our lineup,”
Ford spokesman Mike Levine said in a statement
Wednesday, in response to a question about
the Fiesta and Taurus.
Ford’s Lincoln luxury brand last week unveiled
a production preview of the all-new Aviator
crossover that’s expected to be built at
Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant next year,
which also builds its sibling Explorer crossover
and the Taurus.
Last month, GM unveiled a revamped luxury
Sierra pickup, intensifying the battle among
the Detroit 3 for fat profits at the top end
of a highly lucrative segment.
Unlike rival Ford, General Motors will keep its sedans (for now, at least)
CC- Car Curiosity:
Ford is cutting down its U.S. car lineup to
focus on trucks and SUVs, leaving only the
Mustang and the upcoming Focus Active standing.
So what will the Blue Oval’s eternal rival,
General Motors, do with its cars?
GM will keep its sedans for now, but their
future doesn’t look too bright.
The automaker is primarily preserving its
car lineup because it’s in a profitability
sweet spot.
GM has paid off the investments needed to
develop its current-generation sedans and
hatchbacks, but most aren’t so old that
they need to be replaced.
It’s unclear if GM will invest in replacements
when the time comes.
“The segments are still significant,”
GM CEO Mary Barra told WardsAuto and other
media during the automaker’s quarterly earnings
call.
She joined Volkswagen in the dwindling chorus
of sedan supporters.
“Because we’ve made the investments, we
need to deploy little to no capital going
forward, so we view [cars] as an opportunity.
What you’ll see us do is play very efficiently
in a segment that, although it is declining,
there is still an opportunity.”
Even as SUV popularity erodes sales of sedans
and other cars, GM thinks it can keep its
current lineup on dealer lots while generating
a profit, something Ford did not think was
possible with its much older lineup.
But this may be a stay of execution, not a
true reprieve.
On the same call, GM CFO Chuck Stevens said
the automaker “has already indicated that
we will make significantly lower investments,”
in sedans in North America, Reuters noted.
GM recently announced a series of small updates
for the Chevrolet Malibu, Cruze, and Spark.
But it has been widely reported that Chevy
will discontinue the Sonic and Impala.
Buick only has one sedan in its lineup, the
LaCrosse, as well as the niche-market Cascada
convertible.
In what may be the clearest statement that
GM is serious about cars, the Buick Regal
is sold only as a hatchback and station wagon,
an attempt to compete more directly with SUVs
on practicality.
Cadillac has spent the last decade and a half
developing sporty cars to rival the German
automakers, but the GM luxury brand is now
being criticized for not pivoting toward SUVs.
Boss Johan de Nysschen was recently ousted,
but during the earnings call CEO Barra said
that doesn’t mean Cadillac will change its
strategy, reports WardsAuto.
So that’s GM, but what about the third Detroit
automaker?
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has more or less
done what Ford is planning to do.
In 2016 it discontinued the Chrysler 200 and
Dodge Dart, despite the fact that both models
were relatively new.
Among FCA’s mainstream brands, that left
the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger sedans,
and the Dodge Challenger coupe amidst a much
larger contingent of
SUVs
and trucks.
P0172, P0300, Extended Crank-Incorrect Alcohol Content-Flex Fuel System
ScannerDanner:
Here's What I Think About the Chevy Impala in 1 Minute
Scotty Kilmer:
rev up your engines
the pillow mafia says, is it bad that I
prefer the Chevy Impala over Toyota
Avalon and Ford Taurus, well just means
what you mean by bad and how you drive
now you're never gonna get the mileage
out of a Chevy Impala that you will with
a Toyota Avalon, it will fall apart long
before the Toyota, and the Ford Taurus
they were up in the air cars, some years
were excellent, some were pieces of junk
so I mean the Toyotas are so much
better made, now if you have an Impala
and if you drive conservatively, and you
don't put a lot of miles on it, it might
last for years, but customers that I've
had with Impalas, once they had a hundred
thousand miles, generally they started to
fall apart if it was city driving and
they weren't happy, the transmissions
went out, or the engines blew head
gaskets, or the air conditioning
compressor blew up, they really weren't
happy with the cars in the long run, but
if you drive low mileage, no car should
fall apart if you don't put many miles
on it, so if you never want to miss
another one of my new car repair videos,
remember to ring that Bell!
Why Not to Buy a Chevy with Traction Control
Scotty Kilmer:
one, two, three, four!
Rev up your engines!
It's time for the Scotty Kilmer Channel
today I'm going to show you why you
might not want to buy a GM product with
traction control on it, now this van only
has 45,000 miles on it, but the traction
control light is coming on, which means
that the traction control system has a
problem and we've got to figure out what
it is, now when I hook up my little scan
tool it shows that it has CL 131 which
is traction control system problem with
a pressure system, but in order to
analyze and actually repair the problem,
I need a much fancier scan tool like
this ODC encore, to get into that complex
data, then we select the ABS system and
we basically have to check all these
different data systems, to figure out
what's wrong, which consists of this data
and all this data and then checking
through the code assist is library, it
suggests the brake pressure modulator
valve is bad, and you can even look it up
on google, which also has articles that
suggest the brake modular valve
assembly is bad, and unfortunately the
brake modular valve is built into the
entire modulated assembly, which has to
be replaced, as a unit, and not only is
this unit hard to replace, you saw
those lines that have to be taken off
and the air bled out, but that unit cost
898 dollars, plus on this model, nobody
else can get them, it's a dealer only
item, so you got no choice of where to
buy it from, because they fail quite
often on these things and if you try to
use one from a junkyard
odds are, it either wouldn't work or would
break soon after, you put it on, now with
only 40 something thousand miles on the
car, I think it's kind of a shame that
that system broke down already,
but with the use of such complex
electronics, it doesn't surprise me at
all that they do break down, they're so
complicated, they have so many moving
parts, they're computer-controlled, when
they do break, man they can often cost a
fortune to repair, now it's one thing if
those complicated systems don't break
down, my wife had
a Toyota Cressida, it was 28 years old and
it still had a working system we never
had to do anything to it, but if you're
thinking about buying a GM vehicle, it
was an option on this one, get the one
that doesn't have that option, stay away
from their complex electronics on them,
because when they break down they cost a
ton, but on the positive side, when they
do break down, they go back to failsafe
non traction control and they just drive
like a normal car, so why not just buy
the normal car in the first place, and
remember if you have car questions just
visit the Scotty Kilmer channel
Spark Plug Replacement DIY (the ULTIMATE Guide)
ChrisFix:
Hey guys ChrisFix here
and today I'm going to show you how to replace your spark plugs and your wires in your car or
In your truck and this video is going to cover all the essentials
Like how do you know when you need to replace your spark plugs? What's the best spark plug for your engine?
What's the correct spark plug for your engine how to properly gap your spark plug. Also I have a bunch of different gapping tools
I'm going to show you
What tools you need and then I have a bunch of tips and tricks on the proper way to easily remove your spark plugs and wires
And then install them like when do you use anti-seize?
Do you use anti-seize? And where to use dielectric grease. That way after watching this video
You'll be able to replace your spark plugs and wires at home
You're gonna save money and get your car running in tip-top shape
And if you're someone who's just starting out fixing cars, this is the perfect job for beginners
It's relatively simple to do and there aren't many tools that you need. I mean check this out
All you're gonna need is a ratchet a spark plug socket
Maybe a couple of extensions and if you have hard to reach spark plugs a universal joint extension like this is super helpful
That's the trick to get those out and I'm going to show you how to use that
You're also going to need a gapping tool to make sure the gap on your spark plug is correct and while you don't need it
It's super helpful to remove spark plug wires these ring nose pliers work great to remove them and make it really easy now
Those are all the tools you're going to need here are all the products you're going to need
So you're going to need a set of spark plugs for your engine. In this case
I have a v8 so I have eight spark plugs
And I'm also going to be replacing the wires because the wires in my car are the originals plus we're already doing the spark plugs
We're gonna have to take the wires off anyway, might as well replace them very simple to do now
You might need antiseize
So that's good to have and you're gonna need some dielectric grease but those are all the products you need
So there's not a lot of tools or products at all
And I do want to thank Advance Auto Parts for supporting the video and helping out
They hooked me up with all these spark plugs all the wires and also these spark plugs over here so I could show you guys
copper plugs versus platinum plugs versus iridium plugs the differences and
They gave me this really cool cutaway so I could show you how a spark plug works
So thanks for all that. And with that said let's get started
And the first thing you're gonna want to know is how do you know when to replace your spark plugs?
so a spark plug gets its name because it literally creates a spark that jumps from the center electrode to the ground electrode and this
Happens inside the cylinder which ignites the fuel and forces the piston down
So it's a pretty important part to get the car to run properly now bad spark plugs
Don't project a spark
as hot and might not even spark every time that they're supposed to and that could cause your car to misfire or
Hesitate especially under a load while it's idling, it might idle rough or if it's real bad
You could even get a check engine light. Now I want you to listen to my car
This is a good example of bad spark plugs and wires
You can hear it's not idling right and when you give it gas
There's a lot of vibration
And it's just not running right. You can feel there's a lack of power and my fuel economy has dropped significantly
Those are all indications that it needs new spark plugs and wires
Now your goal should be to replace these spark plugs at the proper interval before these problems happen because the money that I spent on
The bad fuel economy, I could have easily paid for brand new spark plugs
So it only makes sense to do some preventative maintenance
Now what interval should you change your spark plugs at? Well every engine and every car is different
So the easiest way to figure it out is go to your owner's manual flip to the page about the service intervals
You can see right here. Every 60,000 miles, You want to replace your spark plugs
So that's one example another example with my del Sol
Here's the owner's manual we'll flip to the part that talks about the spark plugs, and you can see right there
It says replace the spark plugs every 30,000 miles
So that is when you should replace your spark plugs go by the owner's manual
It makes it really simple but let's just say like in this case
And in this case, you haven't owned the car since brand new. You don't know the service history
How many miles are on the plugs? You have no clue
Well another way to figure out if you need to replace the spark plugs is to do a visual inspection
So I removed the spark plug for my Mustang and the first thing we're gonna look at is the end of the spark plug here
At the terminal nut. You just want to make sure it's not rusty
if it is you could always sand it down also check the inside of the spark plug wire that covers this because odds are that's
Rusty - but rust is gonna create a bad connection that could cause your misfire if that looks good the next thing to look at
Is the ceramic insulator and you can see what the spark plug cut away the ceramic insulator runs the entire length of the spark plug
insulating the center electrode
From the ground electrode so that it sparks right at the end
If you get a crack in this ceramic the spark could jump from here to here and not spark where it needs the spark
So it won't ignite the fuel and you'll get a misfire
So you're gonna want to inspect the ceramic make sure there's no cracks and right away. I can see right there
There is a crack so that's probably why we had the misfire
You can't fix this you're gonna have to replace the spark plugs if you find a cracked spark plug
But let's just say this ceramic was good
the next thing that you're gonna want to inspect is the ceramic right at the tip and make sure there's no chips or cracks and
That looks good. Next we want to inspect for deposits on the electrode. This looks pretty clean
But here's a good example of an electrode that is dirty
You can see the deposits right there thick deposits like that would prevent the spark from sparking and it could cause a misfire
so if you see that you want to replace your plugs and while you can try to clean off some of those deposits there is
A risk of damaging the platinum electrode so you're better off replacing the plug with a new one
You also want to inspect those electrodes and make sure they're not wearing away. The center electrode looks good
But if we look at that side electrode here that is definitely eroding away
This is typically the reason why your spark plugs have to get changed because of the erosion and just to give you an idea
Here's a new plug and you can see the difference between the ground electrode
Between the new and the old also the gap is correct on the new plug look at how much wider to the gap is on
The old plug if you see the gap opened up like that
The plug is wearing out and it's time to replace it
And one other thing I want to mention you could see the brown staining right around the edge of the ceramic here
This is called Corona staining. Do not worry about it
If you see that that has no effect on the condition of the spark plug
Also, I want to show you guys what a spark plug that is used but good looks like, in this case
This is from the del Sol. You can see there's no cracks or anything
There's no deposits on the electrodes and the electrodes are gapped properly and not worn away
So that is a good used plug
So that is how you visually inspect a spark plug to see if it needs to be replaced in this case with the broken
Ceramic and the worn-out ground electrode, we definitely need to replace our spark plugs
also
some of the spark plugs have a lot of rust around the hexagon which is not good because that could get it stuck inside the
Engine, so we need to replace the spark plugs
Now that brings me to the next question which is: There are so many spark plugs out there
Which one is right for your engine?
Now there are four main types of spark plugs and in general each spark plug has the same type of internals
It has a nice copper core but where each one is different is at the tip where the spark happens. First
We have our basic copper plug which is typically the least expensive plug. This has a copper tip and copper works
Well because it's very conductive so you get a nice strong spark, but because this copper is so soft
They actually have to coat it with a nickel alloy and since it's soft it does wear out quickly
So you have to replace these plugs in about twenty to thirty thousand miles. Next
we have a platinum plug which is a little more expensive than the copper plugs these plugs use a platinum tip right there at the
Center electrode which isn't as conductive as copper, but it is harder and more resistant to wear
So these plugs could last sixty to a hundred thousand miles before they need to be replaced next
We have a double platinum or a double iridium plug with a double platinum
There is a piece of platinum on the center electrode and there's a piece of platinum on the ground electrode
This is designed for a waste spark or reverse spark ignition system
So normally the spark comes from the center electrode goes to the ground electrode
But on some cars the spark goes from the ground electrode to the center electrode
so you want to make sure you have platinum on both sides so you don't get
Excessive wear and the double platinum plug is actually what I need to use on my car
it's what the owner's manual says and if it does say that in the owners manual make sure you use a double platinum if you
Use a regular platinum your plug is going to wear out really quickly
and finally
The last plug is an Iridium plug and this is typically the most expensive it uses a fine iridium tip which helps with the ignitability
of the fuel iridium is also harder and more resistant to wear. So it lasts the longest up to around
120,000 miles. So those are the main types of spark plugs now
Which ones should you use and it's really easy to figure that out
Just grab your owners manual flip to the part about spark plugs, and you can see here, right
There is the part number which is a double platinum plug I suggest going with that an OEM plug
It's the plug that the engine was designed for but funny enough, they don't make an OEM plug anymore
It's been discontinued for my car
So the next best thing I found an aftermarket brand that makes the proper double platinum plugs
So that's what I'll be using. Now, If you are gonna change the type of plug you're using never downgrade your plug
so if you have an Iridium plug don't use a platinum if you have a platinum plug don't use a copper usually a downgrade's a
Cheaper plug so I know it's tempting but your engines supposed to run on a specific plug. So use that plug or sometimes
It's okay to upgrade if you have a copper plug you could usually upgrade to platinum and if you have a platinum plug you could
Upgrade to iridium with that being said, I need double platinum plugs. So that's exactly what I went with
I also decided to get some spark plug wires. It's perfect preventative maintenance
I need to take the wires off anyway to get to the plugs
So now you know, which spark plugs you need for your car. Let me show you how to remove them
But before you remove anything you want to make sure that you're working on a cool engine if your engine is hot and you remove
those spark plugs
you could damage the
Threads holding the spark plugs in with that said this engines nice and cool so we could start getting to work now to find your
Spark plugs is really simple just find the spark plug wires and they'll lead you to each one of the spark plugs we have four
spark plugs on this side the engine and then we have four spark plugs on that side of the engine so pick a side and
Let's get started removing the spark plugs, the four spark plugs on this side are located under these wires
And before we remove the wires
You want to grab some compressed air and blow away any loose dirt or dust that's surrounding the spark plug wells now we can remove
The wires I'm actually gonna remove this breather hose to get it out of the way and when we're removing the wires you don't want
To grab the wire and yank it from the actual wire because that could damage the wire so that's not good
especially if you're gonna reuse these what you want to do is grab it by the boot and
Pull it out from there like that
Now I'm gonna push this back in because I want to show you something sometimes
These are really difficult to remove and that's where a nose ring pliers helps tremendously
All you have to do is get in here grab the boot and then this gives you the extra leverage
to pull it right out and now we have access to that spark plug which is deep down in that well, so again,
We're gonna use some compressed air to remove any dirt and debris and you're not gonna want to skip this step
There's a little rock and a piece of a stick that was down in there
And if we remove that spark plug that debris could have fallen into the engine so very important grab your compressed air grab a vacuum
Whatever it is and just get all that dirt out of those spark plug wells now
You're going to want to grab a spark plug socket
it has a little rubber boot in there and what the rubber boot does is it holds the spark plug in place so you could
Pull it out of the well, it also protects the ceramic insulation from getting cracked
I'm gonna be connecting this spark plug socket to a nice long
extension so we could get down in there and all you have to do is push this down onto the plug once you're on the
Plug break it loose like that and you should be able to loosen the spark plug the rest of the way by hand
So, let's see what we got, beautiful, So that's how you remove an old spark plug
So now let me show you how to install a new one now
It's always important to compare the old parts with the new parts to make sure that they're the same exact part
This is especially important on spark plugs because if your spark plug is extra tall the top of the piston could hit the spark plug
And you could damage your engine
And in this case if you look at where the spark plug seat in the engine
They look like they're the same exact size and these look good
So once you know you have the correct plugs for your car
the next thing that you need to do is make sure that gap of the plug is the
Correct size, if the gap is too wide, you might not get any spark at all
If the gap is too small you might get a weak spark and it might not ignite the fuel efficiently
So it's very important to get the proper gap on your plugs
Even if your plugs come pre-gapped like this they can get messed up in shipping
So it's always a good idea to check the gap because it's so important now to find the correct gap spec
You could check your owner's manual or you could go under the hood of your car
There should be an emission sticker sometimes out in the front
Sometimes it's on the side here and sometimes you can find it right under the hood right here
It says spark plug gap 0.052 to 0.056 inches
So once you know the proper gap for your car next you need to check the plugs using a gapping tool
So these are the most common types of gapping tools first
We have a feeler gauge and it has a bunch of different tongues that have different thicknesses
And what you want to do is you want to find the right?
thicknesses that add up to your gap spec and
While you can use a feeler gauge to check the gap you're better off using a proper gapping tool
Next is the one I personally like to use and it's the coin style gauge right along the edge here is a lip that gets
Thicker and thicker and then there's measurements along the edge to let you know the gap of the plug
so all you do is you put the plug in at the thin end and then slide it all the way until it's hard to
Move and you can see 0.053
now the coin style gauge is not recommended for platinum tip or iridium tip plugs because the process of sliding this across
Could damage the platinum or iridium what I do is I'm just extra careful. I don't press hard
I just lightly move it across and in this case if we want to open up the plug at all open the gap up we
Just use this right up here and then you can pry this open
Then if we regap it
You can see that went up to 0.060 and then if you want to close it
You just find a hard surface and you press the plug down on the back and that'll close the gap, now
We're at 0.052 and finally the last tool is recommended for platinum and iridium style plugs
And it's the wire gapping tool around the outside of this has different gauge wires
So you can see we have a 0.050 inch and a
0.055 inch on this side. And that's the range that we need to be in between
so what you do with this you just get the wire and you try to slide it in the gap and you can see that's
Pretty tight. It's grabbing on there. So it's pretty close to 0.05
Oh
It's a little bit larger and if we go to 0.055 it doesn't fit and if you wanted to open the gap up
So let's just say we want it to be 0.055 inches
what you do is you use the end here and
You're gonna just slide it in here like that and you're gonna pry the gap open
Just a little bit now
If we test this gap you can see it slips in but there is some resistance so it's right around 0.055
0.056
which is within spec and if you want to close up that gap you do the same thing you slide the tool in there and
You just pry the ground electrode the other way so that it closes and that's what's recommended
For the newer style plugs and one more quick tip when you are adjusting the gap make sure you make little adjustments
Don't make large adjustments if you adjust the gap too far and you bend it up like that
That spark plug is now no good
So make sure you're careful and make little increments on your spark plug gap
Changes when you gap your plugs and that's all there is to checking the gap and adjusting the gap
So even if your spark plugs are pre-gapped from the factory
Usually you can tell if they're pre-gapped because they have a protective casing like that
So even if they're pre-gapped be sure to check that gap
So all of our spark plugs are gapped , now we're ready to install them. Now
There's one more thing that we need to cover and that is the use of anti-seize and dielectric grease
Anti-seize is a lubricant that goes right on the threads of the spark plug
You don't want to use a lot and you just want enough to lightly coat the threads that's it
The whole point of it is to make sure the threads don't get stuck inside the engine
So when you go to remove the spark plugs, it'll come right out
we don't want to put too much where there's globs on here and then it could drip down and bridge that gap and cause a
Misfire but with all the different spark plug technologies and engine technologies today. A lot of times. It's recommended not to use anti-seize
So how do you know whether or not to use anti-seize in your car?
Well first check the owner's manual a lot of times it's in there
It'll tell you if you should or shouldn't you could also check the service manual and finally you want to check with the spark plug
Company you go with for example
I called these guys up and I asked them should these use anti-seize and they said no
No, anti-seize is required on these plugs
I know some brands like
NGK they use a special coating on their threads and they actually recommend that you don't use anti-seize because you could over torque their
spark plugs
So check your manuals
Check the spark plug companies and that will let you know whether or not you should use anti-seize on your spark plugs in this
Case we are not using anti-seize so next
Let's cover the use of dielectric grease now dielectric grease or silicone grease is an insulator
So you definitely don't want to get it on the threads of the spark plug where you want to put it you want to get
A nice glob of it right there on that ceramic and then you want to spread that glob around the whole ceramic base
So there's a light coat of grease on the ceramic like so it's also a good idea to get some of that dielectric grease
inside the spark plug boot
what I like to do is I like to get a cotton swab get some grease on the cotton swab and just coat the
inside of the rubber with the grease just
like that and then when we go connect it to the spark plug later on it'll slide all the way down and that
Dielectric grease is going to prevent moisture from getting in here and causing corrosion
And it's also going to prevent that high voltage
From leaking out and finally when we go to replace the spark plugs that silicone on the boot is going to make it really easy
to remove the boot
It won't be seized on there that way replacing your spark plugs and your wires down the road will be a lot simpler and one
Last thing it's not a bad idea to get a little bit of silicone on the other end of the spark plug wire as well
To help insulate and you want a thin coat right around the edge just like that
All right, so I greased all the spark plugs. They're all set
I did all the wires and we still have some dielectric grease left. So you really don't need that much
So with all the plugs gapped, they're all greased. We don't need any anti-seize we are ready to go. Let's grab a plug
Let's grab our torque wrench and let me show you how to install these plugs properly
There's a few tips and tricks that I have
That are gonna make this real easy
Now it's super important that you tighten down your spark plugs correctly
if you tighten them down too much you could damage the threads if you don't tighten it enough, the spark plug could come loose and
blow out of the engine
So how I like to do this is I like to stick the spark plug in the socket
With my extension and drop it down in there. Now I'm gonna do this by hand. You never use an impact gun
You never use a wrench and this should tighten pretty easily
There should be almost no resistance
If it's hard to tighten, back it out and start over. The reason why we do this is because you don't want to cross thread
The plug and once you can't tighten it any more by hand grab your torque wrench and we're gonna torque this down to 15 foot-pounds
Just like that now if you weren't replacing your spark plug wires
all you'd have to do is push this wire all the way down until it clicks and you are done with that spark plug and
I like to work on one plug and one wire at a time
So we did that one next we'd move down to that one after we finish that would move on to the next one that way
You don't mix up any of the wires now in this case. I'm gonna be replacing the wires
so let's remove this wire and then finally follow it all the way up to the coil here and
remove it from the coil and a little trick is to lay out all your wires in size order that way when you get your
Wire you just find the right
size that matches up looks like right there and then we know we have the right size wire and since we're doing one wire at
A time there's only one spot. We can't mess this up put it right on top, press it down till it clicks
Same thing at the plug
Press the wire down until it clicks
Good and once you hear and feel that click that means it's seated properly and we have a good connection and we're done with that
spark plug and wire
So again, remove the wire, clean the well out, break the plug loose, then out with the old and in with the new
Then torque it to spec and finally push in the new wire
So it clicks you're gonna follow these same exact simple steps for each spark plug you replace take your time
And it really is this simple now, let's say you don't own a torque wrench
You can still get this tight to the proper spec just grab your regular old ratchet get it on there
And since it's hand tight you can see right there. It's pretty snug from where it's snug
You just want to turn it about a sixteenth of a turn or just a little bit more just like that
You don't need a lot. You just want to Snug it down just a little bit more and that's all good
Now we could go and get our last wire in there and with that click we are done on this side
So now let's go and do the other side
For the other side the intake tubing has to be removed to get access to the plugs once you have access
it's the same process as before and with a little time-lapse editing, the plugs and wires on this side of the engine are replaced as
well
so we're done replacing the plugs and wires on this engine and the only thing that was in the way was the intake tubing and
It really wasn't that bad. But on some cars it's even easier like with most four-cylinder engines. The plugs are right at the top
So it's really easy to get to and replace you could replace these in like 10 minutes
But not all plugs are this easy to replace some cars like this Subaru, It has a very compact engine bay plus
This is a boxer engine
So the spark plugs are on the side of the engine and you can see there is no access here and there's no access there
So what you'll have to do here is you remove the battery and that gives us access so we can remove the spark plugs
Here we don't have plug wires. And instead. We have a coil on plug
So remove the coil and the trick is to use a universal joint extension
Which allows you to fit into tight places get the socket on the plug then break it loose
loosen it up the rest of the way by hand and that's how you remove a tough to reach plug and you can do the
Same thing to the spark plug right there
So that gives you a really good idea just use a swivel socket or a universal joint extension like this
Remove the battery you could get into tight spaces on the side of the engine bay
You'd do the same thing on this side
Except you to remove the intake and again you get in there with a universal joint extension
So now let's cover one more tricky, but common style engine and that's the transverse engine
So this engine is sitting sideways because it's front-wheel drive
Now that makes it really easy to get to the three plugs that are up here
But the plugs that are in the back, I mean they are all the way in the back here
So there's two ways to go about this one
you could try going from underneath the car and see if you have access to the plugs that way in this engine you don't but
The way you do it on this car is you remove the wiper blade cowl right here
Then that gives you so much more room to get your arms back there
And if you really don't want to remove the cowl you could go in there and do it by feel sure
It's a pain and it takes a little bit longer but replacing the plugs on transverse engines is completely doable
So there you go. That is how you replace your spark plugs in your car
There's one more thing that we need to do and that is start her up and make sure she is running right
And I can tell already that is so much better
Ah Man, that sounds good. No more misfire. And that is how you replace your spark plugs and wires in your car
Those are all my tips and tricks try to make it as simple as possible
So hopefully the video is helpful if it was remember to give it a thumbs up
also
If you're not a subscriber consider subscribing and as always all the tools and products I used in this video are linked in the description
RC ADVENTURES - MEGA COLLECTION - PT 1: TRAIL TRUCKS - RADIO CONTROL
RCSparks Studio:
- [RCSparks] It has been brutally cold
over the last two months.
It's, like, winter arctic
temperatures in fall.
But it gives me an opportunity,
even though I can't create content
around the radio control hobby outside,
an opportunity to take my
trucks down and clean them off.
And I thought, hey, I haven't done
an ultra collection video
in many, many years,
even though people have
been asking for it.
And I thought, hey, I could always
start off with the largest part
of my collection, which
are my trail trucks
and rock crawlers, and that way
if anybody has any questions or comments
they want to leave down
in the comment section,
I can do my best, if I
don't answer them here,
to answer them there.
So, let's start off!
There's a lot of rigs here, guys.
I've been collecting
for more than 10 years.
I've given a lot of my trucks away
to my friends and people
that help the show
and the people that are
in need that I meet.
So, if you don't see them here,
chances are they're already gone
and moved on to another family.
Let's start in the back corner over there.
Okay, so this is my son's HPI FJ Venture.
This is a 1/10th scale trail truck.
A fairly good trail truck, I'd say.
For a beginner, it wasn't that bad at all.
You can see it's a little
dusty on the inside.
Not a big deal, we live on acreage here.
Everything's dusty.
Just by sitting on the
shelf, it gets dusty.
35 turn on the inside.
We had some issues with the
steering servo to begin with,
but it was upgraded to a Metal Gear servo,
and then from that point forward,
Morris, my son, really enjoyed
this truck, and still does.
I actually had a matching one to it,
but I ended up giving it away to somebody
that really needed it.
Yes, my G-Made Komodo!
This is with the tractor tires,
the 1.9, what the heck were these called?
These are from RC Four Wheel Drive,
the Mud Basher Tractor Tire.
Yeah, that's what it was.
The Mud Basher Tractor Tire,
which, I was really surprised,
because this is the smaller version.
You're gonna see the larger
version in a few moments.
This was my first replica of my large,
full-size vehicle, my Ford F150.
Even though this didn't
have another door back here,
I kinda modeled it after the same thing.
So, inside, I had the
digital coreless servo
from Savox, the 1210.
Very expensive servo, but, you know,
I really have had a lot
of good luck with those.
I put in a Hobbywing ESC,
I tend to use those
quite a bit these days,
'cause they have quite a bit
of value for what they offer.
Yeah, my eighth scale, and
you'll see both of these vehicles
are eighth scale, which
means they are larger
than the 10th scale vehicles.
And, just as a side by side comparison,
there's a 10th scale Komodo,
and then the Traction Hobby
Cragsman slash Founder series.
Now, they had a bit of a
weird naming convention
to what they did, but this was the F150.
It had all the extra trim on it,
as well as, I put a sound kit in here.
It's the ESS-Dual that
I got from AsiaTees,
as well as I put an
upgraded MKS Servo in here,
which was not waterproof,
but that seized up on me pretty quick.
But overall, the Axial
SMT10, I believe it was,
was the monster truck
that Axial came out with.
These are the tires from that.
I think they just fit it so well.
Moving on, this is the Founder II.
Yes, I'm missing the front nose clip.
I lost that this year, 2019,
at the Rude Boyz RC Tuff Truck Challenge
just before we all did the samurai table,
the sumo table, I should say,
where everybody was pushing
trucks off with their trucks.
I installed a huge LED light bar on this.
It's gotta be at least seven inches long.
About that, maybe 6 1/2,
that's what she said.
And everything is basically left stock.
People say to me, "Is there any point
"in getting the eighth scale stuff,
"compared to the 10th scale?"
And I gotta say, yes.
Like, it's not that you're
making things easier,
it's that you're able to
take on different areas
where your 1/10th scale may not
have been able to do before.
Let's move on to the next one I have here.
This is a very unique-looking ride.
Some folks will remember this
from when I had a Savage.
It was a Nitro.
I never did run it.
I ordered the used one just for this body.
Very difficult to find this body.
Now, here's the 2.2 size version
of the 1.9s, which are way over there.
And I gotta say, side by
side, they are enormous!
These are bigger than the (laughs)
these are 2.8 diameter
D1RC wheels and tires,
D1RC tires on there.
These are even larger!
So, the inside diameter's 2.2,
but these giant mud tires.
Super-soft, I would suggest
if you ever got them
to try to find some closed-cell foam
to put on the inside.
Does anybody recognize this
truck from back in the day?
How about if I do this?
Should be one giveaway when we're looking
at that inside battery
tray and inner wheel wells.
This was before 3D printing happened.
This is actually the Beast.
This is the one that started it all
for me on YouTube, years
and years and years,
and morphed into so many different trucks.
It was a Jeep, it was a Ford,
it was, obviously, a Kawasaki,
it was a Dodge at one time.
Lots of different trucks, this was.
I've always had it.
I'll have a hard time
ever letting that one go.
And then look at this
little tracked machine.
This one from Pig Studios.
This is the EV-1 Ripsaw.
There's mini-me in there that Capo
had made for me many years ago.
Capo RC, which is an RC company
you guys will be familiar
with in a few moments.
This is a tracked monster.
But like any tracked
machine, it has limitations.
Like, if you come up to a
bump, or to something higher,
this doesn't really want
to kind of climb up on it.
Like, a tire normally conforms, bends,
and then kind of crawls up.
These are great for snow,
as long as you're in the
snow and it's not too deep.
Now, I don't want to be
knocking tracked vehicles,
'cause they definitely have their place.
In fact, in a video, I had
this body on this truck
ripping its way up a muddy mountain.
It was flinging mud, and eventually I had
a great smoke show out of the motor.
Didn't bother replacing it yet,
because I know that those little tracks
are very hard on a motor,
and I'm gonna be putting
in a brushless system,
which would be a lot better.
Probably a Tekin ROC 412 setup
that has torque and
speed, but not super-fast,
but fast enough to turn the
small little pinion in there
to rotate that huge track around.
When I first saw this Winnebago online,
it brought back memories
of when I was a kid.
I used to play with a similar RV.
Let's see if I can get this
whole lid open with one hand.
Do you remember this from
when you guys were kids?
Maybe not, maybe you're too young
to remember if you're watching.
Had the kitchenette, had
the dining room table.
They're watching RC Sparks!
They didn't have a
flatscreen in those times.
A fridge, that's where I keep the battery.
And of course all that neat stuff.
I actually acquired this in a trade,
even though I already had one.
I had a body that I was
going to convert myself.
There was some fellow named Ryan
that actually wanted a six by six,
the Beast II RC four wheel drive.
I actually traded him
because he wanted it.
It was no big deal. (laughing)
And I got this, which was awesome
because this came from Jamie.
Jamie himself had actually
done a whole customization.
He's the one who put this on.
But I ended up doing a whole different,
instead of a driveline system,
I went motor on axle here,
just to give it ultimate belly clearance.
I could talk so much
more about these trucks,
but, guys, there's only
so much time in one video.
If you have any more questions,
leave 'em down in the comment section.
Well, who remembers the Black Widow?
At the time when the Black
Widow was first released,
this was a brainchild between myself
and a young fellow, at the time,
named David Junior and his family.
This, he actually molded
all the panels out of this.
I had a Wraith kit.
He was a budding and aspiring builder,
he definitely wanted to work
on something that I had done,
'cause he had been a fan of
the show for such a long time.
He actually fabricated these panels.
And we had never, at that time,
seen anything like inner wheel wells
or inner fenders, anything like that.
The first time he did these panels
was actually out of kitchen floor tile.
And then, you can see, made out of metal.
Now, I would run this more often,
and the last time we ran
it, Crazy Joe actually
slammed it into a tree by accident,
causing huge front-end damage. (laughing)
But that's okay, it had the custom,
custom bumper that David
Junior had put on there,
and those original Vanquish axles.
This is all set up on a
32 pitch gearing system,
absolute beast, I'm sure we'll see this
run again one day, but I
love having it on the shelf
just so it's part of
nostalgic history for me.
Anybody watching here follow
the build of Bumble Bee-st?
B-E-E-dash-S-T?
Do you remember when the lights are on,
the windshield two
glowing eyes appear here,
making all of Bumble Bee-st's head?
This is what we wanted to do,
is to have the AllSpark flow
throughout the body and access points.
This was a collaboration
with my buddy Ryan
from BloodShot Airbrushing.
This is a Cross RC PG4L, I believe.
Might have the model wrong,
but I think that's what it was.
But regardless, a great truck,
really long, low center of gravity,
with really low pumpkins
for the axle differentials,
so I don't really use it that often.
Plus, the paint job
cost me about 500 bucks,
'cause it was a custom airbrush job,
and I got a deal on it.
So, amazing, that's part
of the collection for sure.
Of course, if I have Optimus,
I've gotta have Bumble Bee-st.
The Boom Racing BRX01, my friends!
This was a build that I did.
Every one of my trucks usually
has a build video series.
I chopped for a shorter door.
A lot of people hated
on me for doing this,
but I don't care 'cause
it's mine, I loved it.
'Cause my mini-me could
sit here with his arm out
and I could easily access the on-off and,
and get him in and out of there.
Body pops off like this.
You got a great Holmes
Hobbies motor on the inside.
Battery!
Brushed motor.
A little bit of a squealy motor.
It lets out a bit of a
whine when it's rolling.
But not something that really
concerned or bothered me.
I love the whole different transmission
and shifting setup in this truck.
The BRX01 was a very
well thought-out vehicle,
right down to the awesome,
awesome axles that were on it
and all of the custom, like,
all of the scale accessories
that came with the kit itself.
My wife actually went out
on a little bit of a whim
and decided to do a build video series
for the viewers on RC Adventures.
She did a killer job
with this Axial SCX10 II.
It was one of the first
series of the SCX10 II.
And it was the first time I had ever
actually seen a gal put
together a RC truck on YouTube.
So, that was really a special thing.
She did a killer job.
Not a lot of people saw
that build video series,
but she had a good time.
I'm sure glad she did
it, and hopefully, maybe,
we'll see her put together
another truck in the future.
Who knows?
The Sawback!
The Gmade Sawback!
Get to the chopper!
This was where Arnold
Schwarzenegger was sitting.
This was in so many videos of mine.
In fact, this was one
of the first vehicles
that I put a ROC 412 Brushless.
Look at that, an 1800kV setup.
Wonderful crawling, torquey motor.
This thing, I have a hard time.
Out of all the things I've
let go, given away, you know,
whatever, recycled, I still have this one.
It's just a funny old
willy, I like it! (laughing)
That's totally what she said!
Do you guys remember when I did
the whole how to do a paint series?
Where I did salt chipping,
how to do weathering?
This actually started off as
a, you know, like a white bod.
All of that painted-on
rust, aging of the winch,
snatch block on the side
here, very powerful.
I've used this truck,
this is a CA10, I believe.
I called it an International
Harvester, either way.
I know, they're different, but
still, they're pretty close.
This one looks a lot like the one I have
in my yard in full size.
Interesting fact about this one,
this is only rear-wheel drive,
with an open diff on duallies.
Very challenging.
I've got a brushed motor on the inside.
A lot of people would ask me,
"Why the heck would you even bother
"with something like that?"
And because, as you can see, I've got
lots of different trucks set up
for different uses and
different applications.
So, I love the challenge of taking
this truck out onto the trail
and having an open-diff dually
and the challenges that's presenting.
That's why I've got the snatch block
and the winch on the front.
Ah ha! There he is!
Lookit, the 1/6th scale RCSparks figure
in my 1/6th scale Suzuki Samurai.
I upgraded this off-camera,
but since we've had so much bad weather
I haven't been able to really
take it out and show you guys.
All the tires have been changed out.
What a beautiful, aggressive-looking
tread pattern on there.
The LED lights, the top cage,
all these little accessories
really helping this vehicle pop.
And of course, I was lucky enough
in my years to earn this
gold, name-plated winch
from Capo, that's my full name.
Got to put that on here.
This was actually a replica of a Jimny
that I saw when I was in Hong Kong, doing,
filming an event called
the Asian Scale Invasion.
It was one of the things that I spent
a ton of money on that I wanted to go to
and experience at least once in my life,
and I'm sure glad I did.
Here it is, the Vaterra Ascender!
I've had a few of these over
the years, that's for sure,
but this guy has been with me the longest.
This is the original.
This is actually the RC Four Wheel Drive
2.2 Mudslinger tires.
Still has mud on the inside.
Mounted up on aluminum rims.
Again, LED light bar on top.
And if I was to bust in
here, shall we have a look?
You'll see it is very old,
but again, there is a
pattern with these servos.
These Savox 1210SGs.
They're very expensive, but
they last a very long time.
What's behind this ugly Gorilla Tape?
A single-box speaker.
That's actually a splash guard.
And this is a replacement
top to the back box there.
King shocks, a lot of people said
they had leaky King shocks.
Mine haven't.
But, I know in RC, stuff
breaks down all the time.
Now, if you love rock bouncers,
you are going to love this one.
I got this in a trade
from my buddy, Michael.
He actually ran it in this
year's, which is 2019,
Rude Boyz RC Tuff Truck Competition.
This is all, of course,
based on Traxxas style axle.
So, it's got all the brass
weights all the way around,
front and back.
Of course, for those poor little axles,
a very strong, and listen to this, listen.
(wheel grinding)
You can hear it's just got strength to it.
So I knew this was a no-brainer
when I had a chance to
get it, I snapped it up.
This is possibly the only TrailFinder 2
that I've ever seen that pulled the judge
with a top, huge, brushless T8.
This is a racing motor.
If you guys know anything
about TrailFinder 2s,
you will laugh that I've
got puller tires on here.
A giant T8 motor.
I was running up to a
6S LiPo on this thing,
so I could pull the judge,
which is a weight pulling
sled that I have here.
Of course, it shredded the differentials.
It doesn't matter if you
had helical gears in there,
it didn't matter if, you need
different axles altogether.
But dang, it looks good!
All hail the Toybota!
This is a Top Gear BBC edition.
Do you remember the Nissank?
Do you remember the Toybota?
Well, this was a combination of the two,
where I actually replicated
Jeremy Clarkson's voyage
of putting a giant outboard
engine on the back,
well, motor in this case.
Plus, he was piloting from the back here,
so you could actually turn the engine
with that steering wheel.
It did have a bilge pump,
which would shoot all the water
out of this fire cannon.
And this thing weighs 13 pounds.
I wanted to replicate this
right down to the point,
even to where the waterline was for Jeremy
and the challenges that he had.
We definitely had a good time.
If you guys want to check
out more about this,
just search for Toybota RC Adventures.
Tango, a favorite of so many viewers!
My very first rock bouncer.
Always imagining that I was Tim Cameron
ripping up the side of some bounty hill
with MadRam filming me.
Of course, that's the beauty
of radio control, is that,
if you can't have it in large scale,
you can certainly have it in small scale.
The only difference, of course,
this one down on the end being
a shaft-driven rock bouncer.
I decided to go motor on axle here.
And then I installed some beautiful
Tekin 3100kV brushless motors on here.
At the TTC this year, I
had it glitch out on me
for a power issue, and of course,
the small gears inside the transmission
of these Bully II axles did not like that.
And the drive pins shear so easily,
and they are an awkward size,
they're not an average size.
So, a bit of a pain, I'll
have to take this apart
and get this ready again,
but Tango and Cash on the end,
for those that get the reference.
Ah, my beautiful ACE 1!
My second Capo, I should
say, on this show today.
A lot of people are wondering
where my Tatra might be,
the big eight by eight that
I had from Capo years ago.
I actually traded it away,
gave it to my buddy Luke,
and instead for this orange cage.
Now, you guys are probably
jaw-dropped right now.
"You did what?"
But the Tatra itself was one of the first
engineering feats of Capo,
and it was a very
challenging unit to work on.
Also, parts were a
little difficult to get.
But the ACE 1, I actually was gifted this
when I was in Hong Kong.
I had a little bit of say in how
this was put together and marketed.
In fact, even with the price point
that they had it in, I was able
to negotiate with them when
they were building this.
I've been working with Capo for at least
five or six years.
That's part of the reason,
that's our fifth year
anniversary winch right there
that I was able to get on
the front of the Sixer.
Well, this one, my friends,
is a wonderful model.
The ACE 1, it looks like a rat's nest
of wires in here, because it is.
But if you look at it, there's a BEC,
or the receiver, the ESC,
and a BEC right here all kind of wired in.
And normally I'd have a battery
sitting up here to take and power
my independent LED lights on the top.
This was a cable-driven steering system,
one of the very first
cable-driven steering systems
we have ever seen.
Also, it was a faux-disc brake,
that wasn't something that was new.
But Capo is constantly bringing
innovation to the game.
This was a really great ride.
A little bit like owning
a Ferrari, though.
Something like this hardbody,
very difficult to take
out on the trail because,
if it rolls over, you
could break it very easily.
More of a shelf king.
If you want to take it out on the trail,
you just gotta be careful with it.
Now, this was my SMT10, my friends!
This was Maximum Destruction,
this was the whole build I did on that.
This is an open-differential monster truck
really made for on the
trail, jumping logs,
jumping roots, that whole thing.
I love this truck as a whole.
I did do quite a bit of upgrading to it.
In fact, these Fling Kings from Jconcepts
are absolutely beautiful tires.
The really wide axle on this truck
makes it so it can handle speed and jumps
without really having a
super-high center of gravity.
I had to modify the body posts, of course.
Put in a sound kit, and then I put on
this beautiful body right here
that was gifted to me by my friend.
I appreciate that very much, of course.
So, moving on to the next one right here.
Gene, my man, I know
you're watching right now,
or if you're not, I still want you to know
I appreciate that, 'cause
that really set that body off.
A lot of people may ask me,
and when they recognize this body,
"Didn't you have another one
for the Killer Krawler 2?"
And the answer was yes, it's up there.
But the Killer Krawler 2, I
actually gifted to David Junior
many, many, many years ago.
So, that was a giant, quarter
scale crawler that I had.
Here's my son's truck!
The TRX-4 Sport, what
a beautiful little rig.
Wonderful trucks,
wonderful 10th scale truck
for kids to get started
with, and/or adults.
Because single-speed transmission,
locked diffs all the time.
My son has had a ball with this.
I did switch out the ESC, I
did switch out the servo on it,
but that was for no other reason than
he really just beats the
heck out of this truck,
and he's basically outdriving
me already at six years old.
That's the job of any
dad, though, isn't it?
Teach him what you know.
Here's my wife's beautiful
new Mercedes from Traxxas.
This is, my wife didn't have a Traxxas.
We didn't know they were
coming out with a six by six
so soon after, so as
soon as I found that out,
this one went to my wife,
because anybody in the
scale trail truck game
should have a TRX-4 of their own.
Traxxas came on the market with the TRX-4,
basically introducing
the portal axle system.
And, really, it has become one of
the major frontrunners in
the trail trucking game.
There are lots of manufacturers out there,
lots of people have their favorites,
and, of course, it really comes down to
personal choice and style.
Looks like I'm gonna have to give her
a little bit of a car wash here today.
Who remembers Pinky?
The original girl RC!
This chick has been through hell and back.
Through the Lethbridge
TTCs and the axle-twisters.
Long before Crazy Joe and
the boys even existed,
we were down there
rockin' with those boys.
Troy Hatfield, if you're still
listening or watching, man,
good for you for starting something
that the worldwide has
now been able to take up
and adopt on their own.
Pinky was a brainchild of mine,
(laughing)
to get my girlfriend
involved in radio control.
Because I loved radio control so much,
and I thought if I got
a truck for my wife,
and I painted it pink, and
I did it up really nice,
and then surprised her with it,
maybe she'd go out on the trail with me.
And darn it, that was the thing,
and that's what happened, and now she has
three different trail trucks!
Which is super-fun for our
son, Morris, of course,
'cause now we get to go out as a family.
Almost like a GAZ truck from
Spintires, the Russian truck.
This, my friends, is a GC4M,
I believe it was, from Cross RC.
This is a command center truck.
It's a wonderful little unit,
where you could actually,
that's where I keep my battery,
keep all your scale
accessories, your dudes,
whatever you want in there.
I was fortunate enough to have
Cross RC actually paint this for me,
and then send it to me when I was actually
really not doing well, health-wise.
They wanted to send it
to me to cheer me up,
and indeed it did.
I got to unbox it on camera,
have lots of fun with it,
and it is now part of my
military truck collection.
I love how they even dubbed down, like,
muted the lights out, so
it looks like it's really
a yellow light when it's turned on.
I cannot mention Capo
without mentioning
their second JK release.
Now, they had a first JK release,
but this is the JK Max, this is different.
This was not the one that was 2400 bucks.
In fact, I helped set the
price on this one as well,
because it was so
expensive out of the gate.
I said, you guys are gonna have
a hard time selling it to anybody.
So we're able to talk them down in price.
This is an all-metal vehicle, guys.
This is, like, ultimate scale.
This is the vehicle to get.
It weighs 13 pounds also.
Comes with all the lights,
a lit-up dashboard.
You know, you name it, it's got it.
I even put in an air ride system.
You got that right.
The shocks are actually air shocks
that you can fill up
with a remote control,
so it increases the height
or decreases the height
depending where you are on the trail.
I had a great time with this truck,
and I think it was Candy in Palm Desert
in the States a few years ago.
If you guys wanted to go and check out
the JK Max in Palm Desert.
It is an absolutely phenomenal ride.
I had a really hard time
scratching the paint up on that one,
because I love this truck so much.
Now, you can't have one Mercedes
without the six by six G wagon.
(laughing)
This is absolutely almost
every person's dream
that loves Mercedes, to have
one of these in full size.
That can run you, you know, a
good half a million dollars,
that's for darn sure.
Absolutely beautiful.
You can get these all
the way up to $2 million,
from what I understand.
And that's US, if you really wanted
to put all the tricks
and bells and whistles.
This is a slightly less expensive version.
This is about just under $1000,
from what I understand, US,
at the time of this filming,
depending on where you find it.
And you can own your
own, go out on the trail.
I love the extra axle.
We've shown the reason
this extra axle is helpful
in a six by six, is when you're actually
going up an incline on an angle,
it actually helps you
hold it even more steady.
Another advantage of having
a six by six, obviously,
other than having the extra axle,
is to help you climb.
Because when you have a longer wheelbase,
you're not going to roll over as easily.
So, we've been making
six by sixes on the show
for years and years and years,
and now that they're
becoming more mainstream,
it's great to see it.
A lot of people will say to me,
how come I haven't got
the Axial six by six?
And I've gotta say, guys,
I'm totally in love more
with the older style of Axial.
I know, I know, I'm gonna
have a lot of people out there
that are gonna hate on me for saying this,
but those new one-piece axles
that Axial's offering now that
it's been sold to another company,
is just something that
personally I find, you know,
difficult to work with.
I think people getting into
the hobby now, it's great.
You can buy a ready to run vehicle,
everything's good to go,
but really, if you wanted
to start modifying,
you really have to kinda
do it from the ground up.
This model is actually
the Beast number two.
I know, we've been talking
a lot about Beasts,
but the Beast number one, which
was all the way back there,
the one that started it all,
I always had a backup machine,
and viewers will actually know
that, that watch the show.
This was the Beast number two.
Same Integy shocks that were on there.
It was just more of a stand-in
for shots that I needed.
Look at the Dodge paint job on here,
done by Pitdawg Hydro.
Changes, you can see, from
green to brown to purple.
There's a flame job on there.
Absolutely stunning.
And of course, right
here! (humming fanfare)
This is a discontinued rock crawler,
another motor on axle.
This is the Axial XR10.
The XR10 was an answer to a Berg axle,
which was from years ago.
Enroute Berg, I believe they were called.
German, I believe?
Hard to say.
Back when rock crawling,
competition rock crawling, was huge!
That's back in the Crawler
Ted days, Ted's Garage.
People ask me, "Where is Crawler Ted?"
I don't know, I haven't seen
him for years, actually.
That's the thing about the hobby,
people come and go, and
meet up and then lose touch,
but once you see each other again,
it's always, like, hey, how are you doing?
No time has passed.
(laughing)
Before you type, "Hey, man,
your tires are on backwards."
They're not, actually.
Some people would think that they are.
But I'm not mud-flinging,
I'm not trying to clear
mud out of these treads.
In fact, I'm using these
as a clawing action.
So, as it's going forward,
it claws onto the rocks.
Controlling each motor
is two independent ESCs.
I also have a BEC in there,
which is a voltage regulator,
to help run a super-powerful,
massive servo on the front.
And then, when we're
talking about six by sixes,
here is what we used to call Black Peter.
(laughing)
Now all painted up, red Peterbilt.
You can see here, everything is beautiful.
I've got a new Tekin servo on
the inside, all element-proof.
I also have an air-ride system
just like I have on the JK Max.
There is the air compressor right there
with the controller.
And so a six by six with all air ride
that can pretty much
lift up its whole base,
the center of gravity, and get underneath
any of these old-style pumpkin housings.
What a beautiful ride.
This was actually made by Craig Baylor.
Well, his original one I bought
when he competed at the TTC here,
and then he put his rig up to, for sale.
This was actually the winner here
on the RCSparks Studio RC
Adventures TTC back in the day.
And then, my friends,
last but never least,
one of my all-time favorite rigs!
Another collaborative
effort between David Junior,
myself, BloodShot Airbrushing,
and all the parts I could
buy from around the world,
Optimus Overkill!
Which was HD Overkill, the Juggernaut.
Which was also the first dually truck
that we ever saw on
the internet on YouTube
when it was black and gold.
Who remembers watching
the Overkill series?
In fact, this started off as
an Axial Dingo 1/10th scale Jeep.
This was years and years ago.
Finally ended up putting it on tracks,
these beautiful,
aggressive-looking tracks.
I got those at Asiatees.
They are not the Integy ones.
Those are Integy shocks, though.
This has a smoke system on
the inside, blows smoke.
It's got four different motors
on the inside, look at this!
Four motors, two transmissions!
Pick up your jaws off the floor right now!
Tons of torque.
There's the smoker unit
right here, basically.
This goes onto this little tiny unit.
This is a newer unit
that I had just installed
recently, actually.
Now it's all coming apart on me with one,
just doing it with one hand.
(laughing)
But regardless, this is
a goliath of a machine.
Something I will be taking
out in the winter for sure,
because, with tracks, this is
definitely the time for it.
In fact, when Everett and I went out,
we filmed this when it was black.
It was the Juggernaut back then.
I think this video got
seen like 22 million times,
where he rescued that brown Ford truck,
which was actually the Beast back there!
Guys, I know it was a long video.
Let me know, are you still watching?
Did you make it through the entire video
of scale trail trucks?
If I missed any, I'm sorry.
If I didn't answer any
of the thoughts you have,
make sure to post it down below.
I really appreciate you guys tuning in.
I hope you enjoyed the look
at this part of my collection.
Did you want me to continue?
Let me know in the comment section below.
Did you want me to cover
other areas of the hobby?
And also, one more thing,
if you wanted me to go out on the trail
with any one of these, let me know
in the comment section.
The one with the most upvotes,
I'll take it out on the trail next!
Until next time, guys,
thanks for tuning in!
We'll see you in the next
episode of RC Adventures!
Now, get outside and have fun with RC!
Apparently as it looks, I always do!
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