Night School: Episode 1 – Welcome to Team Valvoline

We’re bringing you to Night School. Well, not real school plus we know nights are reserved for drinking (so are days too, I guess). Regardless, it’s time to go to Night School… but this one involves wrenches, an old truck, and two idiots who attempt to cram way too much of a work list into way too short an amount of time.

This is episode one in a five part series we created for Valvoline. It’s an effort to support the growing content side of their marketing efforts, which are filled with plenty of cool bits of automotive information and entertainment. We’re joining that fray, and the #HoonTruck is the guinea pig for it all.

Our plan over the course of this series?

Tim is going to show me how to wrench of parts of my truck that I’ve feared to touch. This includes:

• Swapping in a new clutch (Thanks to Centerforce for the excellent hardware there)
• Plopping on some fresh valve seals (or… any valve seals, as you’ll see)
• Upgrading the cam
• Getting more sound by way of a Magnaflow builder’s kit exhaust system

Any of those jobs on their own isn’t terribly crazy. All of those jobs over the course of a weekend? That’s ambitious. Or stupid. Or both.

Thankfully, I have a Tim…

[Disclaimer: This content is very clearly brought to you by Valvoline, hell it even lives on their site. It was created for them. But it’s also rather awesome content, if we do say so ourselves. So we hope you come along on this five-part journey through the Team Valvoline Night School. Also, go sign up for the site.]

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Podcast: Episode 199 – Cheap Car Challenge with Tavarish & B is for Build

Chris from B is for Build and Freddy Tavarish Hernandez stop by to talk about cheap cars, YouTube, and anything else we can think of… which is usually inane and random, when you leave it up to us.

Chris is entering the challenge with his Mad Maxian Infiniti G35 that he picked up cheap from CoPart. Tavarish has gone with a 4.6-liter Ford Mustang convertible. It’s a V8 manual trans car, so it should be a blast even if it looks like a California rental car from the late 90’s.

Hooniverse – Cheap Car build-off with Tavarish & B is for Build

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XP1K4 – This UTV adventure just got flippin’ sweet

The RJ Anderson led UTVUndergound series XP1K has been amazing. Now we have a new installment with XP1K4, and it’s equally ridiculous. Why? Because Anderson does a god damned backflip to end the video. He also smashes an $8,000 drone in the process, but that drone died so this insanely awesome footage can live.

Watch this. Then watch it again, because the quality of the driving coupled with the performance of the UTV makes for a rather enjoyable way to kill seven or so minutes. Well, 14 if you watch it twice.

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Genesis G90 is very nearly the real deal luxury machine it hopes to be

Hyundai dipped its toes into the luxury space when it launched the Genesis sedan back in 2009. It was… alright. A nice step above the Sonata, it was also certainly no Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, or Lexus. Those brands were safe but probably wise to at least keep an eye and ear on what the Koreans were capable of crafting.

Fast forward a few years and Hyundai has finally tested, poked, and prodded both its Genesis sedan and Equus enough that they feel ready to take that deep dive into the world of luxury automobiles. I agree with them, after driving both a Genesis G80 and the Equus-replacing G90.

These are pretty damn close to the real deal now.

… Continue Reading

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Car Saviors looks to be an actually enjoyable automotive build show

The average automotive show on your TV screen is mediocre at best. There are some good ones out there but the majority of content that exists on the Internet is often far more digestible and interesting than the forced drama found on your flat screen. It seems there’s a new show here though, and it could be the sort that grabs you attention and manages to keep it.

It’s called Car Saviors and it’s hosted by rally racer/stunt driver/British-car destroyer Andrew Comrie-Picard (ACP) and Head Honcho of Hoonigan Industries Brian Scotto. The plan in the first episode is to take a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II… and turn it into a drift machine complete with a 6.4-liter Hemi under the hood.

You had me at Hemi, and you’ve keep me interested when you add “Drift Rolls-Royce” into the equation. And yes, I know I need to go talk to them to figure out what they did for the steering, but I imagine there’s a bit more room in the engine bay of an old Roller than there is in a Benz engine compartment prepped for an inline five.

Go check out Car Saviors. It’s on Discovery, so Google up your local listings and find a time then set your DVR.

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2017 Ford F-250 Super Duty: The best way to tow my old truck is with a big fancy new one

The HoonTruck, my 1965 Ford F100, was due up in the Bay Area for a wrenching session. I would need to find a way to haul it on a round-trip journey that would see me cover nearly 900 miles of California highways. When you’re facing down such an excursion, what sort of tool would prove best for the job?

Why a brand new 2017 Ford F-250 Super Duty seems like a smart choice, no?

After hauling my old truck up and down the state, I can answer in the affirmative that this is one hell of a machine. 

… Continue Reading

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Ride along in a Ferrari 250 GTO at Goodwood

Your gloved covered hands grip the thin rim of the wooden steering wheel above your lap. You’re belted into a car that’s as expensive as an entire neighborhood worth of apartments in some parts of the world. There are cars nearly as expensive to your front, your sides, and behind you.

The green flag drops… and you give this multi-million dollar bit of rolling artwork the full boot. Everyone on track is doing the same as you, and it creates a rolling display of history, noise, money, and awe.

You’re driving a Ferrari 250 GTO at the Goodwood Member’s Meeting.

…Well, not you, you poor slob. But you can ride along with someone who did.

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A Final Run: Saying Good Bye to the Dodge Viper ACR

Earlier, you saw Pennzoil provide a sendoff to the Dodge Viper. Well, we’ve been cooking up one of our own and to properly say good bye to the Viper, we wanted time with the most wild version of this race car for the road.

The Dodge Viper ACR with its Extreme Aero kit is about as insane a ride as you can find wearing plates and a VIN. That rear wing creates actual, usable downforce. There’s a set of racing harnesses you can swap in to use instead of the three-point belts. There’s a sound system, that you can sort of hear through three tinny speakers but it doesn’t matter… just turn that down and listen to the engine.

This is a glorious machine, and it’s no more. This is it so get in your good byes now.

[Disclaimer: Dodge let us get in a proper good bye to the Viper ACR. I drove this thing for a week and treated it like a daily driver. It was dumb and awesome, and I loved it.]

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Screaming hill climb monsters are the best kind of monsters

Even if they’re not mighty big machines, hill climb beasties are the stuff of legend and nightmare. Take, for example, this delightful MkI Volkswagen Golf. It’s 1.6-liter engine makes 250 horsepower and spins to 10,600 rpm. It sounds purposefully evil and looks right at home tearing up this hill climb course.

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Episode 2 of Corbin’s Hit Show is ready for your eye holes

It’s time for episode 2 of Corbin and Michael’s misadventures in the world of the automobile. This time we’re wrapping things up as the pair have wrangled a new EcoBoost Mustang to see how it compares to their modified SVO Mustang. There was some cutting of things. Parts were sourced from Home Depot. It doesn’t matter though, because the older Mustang is prepped and ready for battle.

Head to The Drive to watch it all go down.

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