Brian's Blog

Video: How To Diagnose A Clutch Problem

bostrowiak@dataworkssolutions.com — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:19:11 GMT

Our 1991 Honda daily driver "Rusty" was having a little clutch issue the other day so Willie B and I decided to shoot a video to show you in detail how to diagnose a problem with a clutch. This particular issue was related to the hydraulics, but the tips in this video can be applied to just about any old or new vehicle. Enjoy the video and be sure to leave comments and subscribe!

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$900 V8 RX-7 Project Updates!

bostrowiak@dataworkssolutions.com — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 05:45:35 GMT

Okay so it's been a really long time since I have made any blog posts or project updates to our V8 RX-7. For those of you not in the know scroll back a few blog posts to learn more about my $900 project that I dragged home from Indiana. Figured I'd give a couple quick updates on what's been going on.

Currently the car has been sitting for a few months as I have had trouble finding the time and motivation to really get wrenching on it, but all that is about to change. For the past few days I have been out freezing my ass off trying to button up a few loose ends this car has to make it "driveable". Granted by driveable I mean enough to do a burnout and an open header hot lap around the block to see how many car alarms it's gonna set off.

In the past 2 days I've had to drop about $80 bucks on a new battery (totally my fault for letting it sit that long) and a new clutch slave cylinder. Today I realized that a mounting tab was broken on the master as well causing the clutch pedal to not properly align with the master and making operation of the clutch difficult. After about 3 hours and a lot of trips to the parts store I've realized that the current master cylinder (which by the way is out of a '97 Ford E-350, I spent about 2 hours trying to figure that out at the parts store) doesn't work that well anyway so I'm probably just going to have to drop a little cheese and get an aftermarket Wilwood unit.

The freezing KY weather and short day light span is making things tough, but with a little luck I should be able to take this car for a quick spin before tearing it apart to swap over to the nicer less reaking of mouse crap chassis that currently has a Ford 5.0 setup.

Stay tuned for more updates and videos to follow!

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My $600 Honda Daily Gets A Window Fix

bostrowiak@dataworkssolutions.com — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:19:07 GMT

Believe it our not my Honda daily driver 1991 Accord AKA "rusty" is still alive and going despite my daily commute and pure lack of maintenance. Anyways I was wanting to make a new video for the site and help introduce a guy I'll be doing a lot of new video projects with Willie B. The drivers side window has been stuck on up on this car since I got it. My laziness and un-willingness to shell out $100 bucks for a new window motor like I did on my last Accord has left the window in this position until now. Turns out it was just a simple fix and a simple issue with the window track that can happen on lots of other vehicles too. This videos gives a walk through of the repair and lots of great tips along the way check it out.

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Looking for Auto How To Videos? Check This Out

bostrowiak@dataworkssolutions.com — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 04:25:19 GMT

Okay so after searching all over the web for some decent free how to related videos I came up with some really good publishers but didnt quite find a comprehensive site that I was happy with. So I decided to start one myself! http://www.AutoHowToVideos.com

Pretty simple site I find great and high quality auto how to videos and post them up on my site with some reviews and comments. We invite people to leave comments on the videos, rate them, and suggest your own. If you have a youtube channel and like to make how to videos use the suggest a video button on the home page to let us know about your videos so we can feature them.

Anyway check the site out bookmark it, digg it, share it, what ever and enjoy the free videos.

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Some Humorous How-To Video

bostrowiak@dataworkssolutions.com — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 01:23:40 GMT

A local mechanic who is also one of my good friends Will AKA "Willie B" has been shooting some how to video's lately just wanted to invite you guys to check them out. They say you can't fix stupid, but Willie B sure can. Apparently somebody managed to fill their Honda with Diesel (I also really wish I could have seen how they even managed to fill it up with the different size nozzel). In this video he show's you how to fix the problem and even though this is on a 2007 Honda Odyssey it can apply to a lot of modern vehicles.

Check out his channel he just posted some How-To work on a Viper as well.

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Project Mercedes Wrap-Up......Finally

bostrowiak@dataworkssolutions.com — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:05:51 GMT

Okay I know its has been AGES... since we started filming project Mercedes Diesel. I have been meaning to do a video wrap up and planning out how I wanted to shoot it yada yada.. any way I figured I haven't posted in awhile so here are the details and the lessons learned.

First off did we sell all of the parts? How much did we make? Truth be told not to much. The goal of the project was to give you guys some great info and a how-to video so no worries. So what happened? Well plain and simple we sold the whole car to a guy who wanted to put the diesel in a project car he was building. All and all I think we profited about $2XX some odd dollars. I even sold the Kawasaki to the guy as well(if you haven't seen my terrible riding skills scroll down the blog and watch the video).
Now granted yes we did make a few bucks, but we also learned a few lessons that I'd like to share. We also made the realization we probably should have followed some of our own advice.

First point Buy the latest model car you can find if your goal is to make money. Simple rule, new parts = more money. We bought an old Benz, because it was one of the first vehicles we could find and we had missed out on some better candidates already that day.

Which brings us to point number two Patience is a virtue: I know you're excited and ready to find that perfect deal, but don't get anxious and let your willingness to own a new rusty pile of junk get in the way of your better judgement. If you are looking to make money parting a single car you better do your homework and make sure you buy the deal you know is going to work based on your research.

Our project Mercedes was a perfect example of buying with out doing quite enough research. We "assumed" that a car this old would mean that some of the parts would come with a hefty premium. Which was true in fact some of the parts we saw selling on ebay were going for some really good prices. However we neglected to look at one very crucial factor and that was buyer demand. Sure old rare car parts can fetch a lot of cash, but that is only if they are in high demand and there are enough buyers out their looking for them. Little did we realize that after we went to list some of our parts we naturally started looking at old Benz Diesels. Turns out you can buy one of these bullet proof gems in freaking concours condition for a some what reasonable price. Now those who do the restorations want high quality parts, but the amount of these cars being driven today just does not warrant people desperately searching for a tail light or a door handle unless you have an ultra rare or high end model.

Combining the above with the fact that our usual go to site for parts sales eBay has also started to charge a fair amount more for listings and our hopes for profits really started to slim down. We could have still listed all of the parts individually and taken a huge gamble, but some times you just gotta "know when to fold em".

So for those of you who want to give buying a parts car a go (especially those looking to make a few bucks) here is the battle plan of lessons to be learned from our shennanigans.
1. As stated above buy the newest cars you can or ones that you have a very specific knowledge of (aka friends who will buy your parts)

2. Wait for the right deal to come along, don't pick up that $300 Yugo just because its there right now.

3. Use tools, and were not just talking about the ones in your garage. eBay has this great little link in its auction listings that lets you see recently ended auctions. So you can really see what sold and what didn't and for exactly how much this alone can help you choose the right project to start with.

4. Budget your time wisely, we tore our car apart in only a few hours, but between everything else we had going on and my long line of excuses we didn't really get on the ball listing stuff for sale. Don't put it off unless you like having a huge pile of junk in your garage (or apartment).

Follow the above steps and the ones we showed you in the video series and you should have no problems finding the right parts car. Thanks for watching our videos and we hope you enjoyed them. I had a great time filming them and I'm hoping to have several more video series coming your way soon as well as a lot more updates and blog posts....stay tuned.

(we actually did sell this grill, wish we didn't it was a sweet decoration for my living room)

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Why Market Value Is More Important Than Blue Book Value

bostrowiak@dataworkssolutions.com — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:44:31 GMT

In todays car market often times many buyers and sellers especially dealers typically refer to the blue book value of a vehicle to determine if its being sold at a proper price. Generally with newer vehicles blue book is a very good reference for the price of the car and is often a bargaining tool when looking to do a trade in and get financing. However when buying a cheap used car especially for cash, the market value of the vehicle is much more important.

So what is the Market Value and how do we determine this? Simple, research and compare. Much like when buying a home and having a real-estate agent do comps to determine a homes value instead of purely going off the appraisal (which tends to be far off from the actual prices homes are being bought and sold at) cars are not different and the best part is you can do the comparisons easily by your self.

Auction sites can be a great way to get started as these involve multiple buyers actually bidding on the price of the vehicle. You can often review previous sales and that alone can be a great judge of the current market value of a vehicle.

Also just simply browsing a variety of classifieds to see what the average selling prices are (keep in mind just because some one is asking a certain price doesn't mean anybody is buying at that price) the average selling price online can give you a good ball park number to start with whether you're selling or buying a used car.

Ultimatley the goal of this article is too help people find the vehicle they are looking for or sell a vehicle faster and at the right price. Often times I see sellers especially preaching the bluebook value of a vehicle and this can sometimes be far more or far less than what the true market value of a vehicle is. So save yourself the headache do your homework and happy buying and selling.

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Concours D' Lemons Is Coming August 15th! You Don't Want To Miss This!

bostrowiak@dataworkssolutions.com — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:35:55 GMT

For those of you who read the blog frequently you probably already know that I am a big fan of the ultimate crap heap challenge known as the 24 Hours of Lemons. A race that gets $500 cars on a track together for 24 hours of carnage. Well the creators of this race have gotten together to create another awesome event called the Concours d' Lemons. This is a car show held at Toro Park in montery, CA and will be host to a collection of some of the most oddball, unique, impossible to class, and simply terrible cars around.

I recently spoke with organizer Alan Galbraith (who will also be showing a custom Hurst Edition Pacer) to get some background about the event and what show attendees can expect to see. At first I wasn't 100% what to think, I had an image of tons of "Lemons worthy" cars dripping oil in the grass, but this event is going to be so much more than that. This isn't just a show for cheap cars its a show for truely unique collector cars that often times may not find themselves welcome at other events or able to fall into a class at other events. Two of the oldest Toyotas in the country are going to be there as well as the dealer who originally sold them. Lots of "special" edition cars such as a true boss pinto and oddballs like an amphibious Fiat are attending as well.

Here is a quick peak of some of the classes that caught my eye for participants. (to view the full list check their website)

Wretched Rejects For: Any vehicle that has been refused admittance by a major concours (rejection letter must be displayed on the vehicle during the show)
Shag Van For: Carpeted, airbrushed makeout/molester vehicles
Unmitigated Gaul, 1970-current For: LeCar, Citroen SM, Peugeot 604, etc.
Award: The French Legion of Horror
Ill-Advised Kit Cars For: Laser 917, MiGi TF, Manta Mirage, etc
Award: Steaming Pile of Kit Trophy
Biggest Loser For: Car with largest percentage of value drop (MB S600, etc.)

Battle of the Network Cars For: Knockoffs of KITT, Starsky's Torino, Miami Vice, A-Team, etc.

There are a lot more classes and the field is looking like a good combo of daily drivers and true concours worthy show cars. What I really like about this event is that not only will you get to see cars that you will find at no other show, but its creators Jay and Alan are aiming at making it a fun event with out the stuffyness of a certain other monterey show. If at all possible I'm going to try and make it to this event and take photos, and I will be happy to post up any pics or video that other attendees are willing to send us. Tickets to the event are $20 bucks and Police, military, fire personal, and kids under 12 get in free with proper I.D. You can visit their website via the link below and purchase your tickets online. See you There!

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Cheap Cars Under $1000 - All Star Profiles - VW Beetle

bostrowiak@dataworkssolutions.com — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:11:20 GMT

When looking for a car under $1000 bucks a lot of classics that are great to build, restore, and drive are always available.

One of the more common great classic cars that you can buy cheap and drive is still the Volkswagen Beetle. The VW bug has always been a symbol of cheap and reliable transportation and even though many are becoming more valuable, you can still find plenty at for under $1000 dollars. Its becoming tougher to find a clean example that can be driven for under $1000 dollars but you can always find a start to a great project car.

What I like best about these VW's (other than the fact it was my first car a '72) is that you can do so many different things with them from perfect resto's, custom resto's,custom drag cars,road racers, off road toys, kit cars, and the list goes on. Depending on what you have in mind for yours this can affect how you may want to make your purchase.

Most cars of this age and VW's are no different have a fair amount of rust thats needs to be checked for and addressed. Floor pans and heater channels tend to be problem areas especially where the battery is located. Floor pans are not a tough fix but heater channels if they get bad may require bracing of the car and a lot of labor. So if your planning on doing a baja bug for example rust on the fenders etc. may not be of concern but structural areas will affect it's ability to take abuse on the trails.

Quick stats in-case you did not know are the car comes with one of two motor types dual port and single port, two rear suspension types swing axles and IRS,and two trim models standard and super. Super Beetles have Macphearson struts in the front and a shorter stubbier front nose. Its seems the super's have less overall value as collectables so they tend to be cheaper. The mix of parts you get will simply depend on the year; VW always made changes but maintained the overall same design.

The reason these cars are All-Stars is that not only are they very simple to and easy to work on (pull the engine in 30 minutes), but they are reliable can usually handle all types of weather and parts are fairly cheap still. These classic's can let you have the classic car experience with a more modern reliability standard. So if you can find one for cheap buy it and have fun!

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Introducing Our New Project Car! V8 Rx-7 (another one)

bostrowiak@dataworkssolutions.com — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:26:28 GMT

Well after renting a trailor and making a very boring 4 hour drive I now have a new project. What is it?

1984 Mazda Rx-7 with chevy 350 swap and a 5spd trans.

other mods include headers,fuel cell and other parts,

If you have been reading the blog you may know that I already have a 1st gen Rx-7 that is getting a Ford 5.0 swap so why did I buy this one? It was $900 bucks!

Plans may be to combine the two cars and use the best parts of the bunch, but now that I have something that is fairly ready to go were going racing! Car still needs a few things re-done and a few other things fixed/sorted, but shouldnt be a ton of work. We could easily have less than $1000 in the car total; just goes to show ya how fast you can really go for under $1000 bucks!

So how does it drive? Well I will still have to wait and see as it currently is having a few issues with the clutch slave over-heating, but we did take it for a quick run down a gravel road and its about as fast as you think a little car with a motor this big would be. Stay tuned for an upcoming video series and be on the look out for us at some local southeast events. I plan to take this to drag, drift, and autocross events.

Here are a few quick pics i snapped on the drive home last night with the iphone I'll have a start up video up soon so you can hear the same un-corked straight pipes my neighbors will be hearing for a few weeks. Check back for updates!

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