No, it’s time for you to have a frank conversation with your vehicle. Oh I know you’ve been patting it on the dash or wheel, maybe whispering to it in traffic, and occasionally yelling in anger. But that is all surface level. Like Dr. Phil says, you need to dig deeper. Modern cars are putting out enough information every second to fill a book, but do you listen? No. Instead, you just wait for some dumb light to come on your dashboard then ask yourself what in the world that picture of an engine with a lightning bolt means.

Underneath your steering wheel is a sort of computer periphery plug called a OBDII port. The name is not important, so forget that I just told you that. Instead, just find the piece of plastic that looks like a giant VGA cable receptacle. That’s your car’s mouth. It is screaming all kinds of facts and error codes and diagnostics there every second, and you just keep ignoring like the selfish punk your aunt Terry always though you were.

But no more! While these ODBII scanners used to be exorbitantly expensive, cumbersome to use, and reserved only for the dorkiest of car lovers, there are now a plethora of simple plug and app combos that cost under a hundred dollars and have much more functionality than those old scanners. One of our favorites is the BlueDriver, which allows you to see exactly why your engine light is on, check your emissions, see your MPG and engine load, and more. While there are several different ways you can buy just a bluetooth scanner and then a standalone app to read it, the BlueDriver is one of the few full-package solutions. This no only guarantees functionality and a no-stress install, but the UI is downright better and more thought out than many of the solo paid apps.

Whether you pick up the BlueDriver or some of the standalone apps and scanners, its time to stop being in the dark about how your car is performing. Woulnd’t you rather know your vehicle is feeling under the weather before it leaves you stranded on the side of the road and calling for a tow? Of course you would. But that only happens with two way communication. So get a scanner, and get talking…

The post It’s Time to Have a Talk With Your Car appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

I am a man of routines. Of many routines in fact. From my morning routine (writing, breakfast, news, work) to exercise (start the week with legs, end with arms), to weekly meal-prepping every Sunday night – but we’re not here to talk about that. We’re here to talk about my oil change routine, aren’t we?

Now I hope you’re already on a routine of regular oil changes to keep your car or truck running right and true. You know I am, and you better believe I have a routine that goes with every oil change. It starts before I ever get dirty. First stop is to recycle the oil from my last oil change and at the same time pick up my new oil and filter from the auto parts store. Not only does this leave me with an empty oil receptacle, but the trip warms up my car enough to start draining the oil. The next steps are pretty standard fare – drain the oil from the sump or reservoir, then change the filter, and finally top it off with a high-quality oil.

You might think that’s the end of your oil change, but my routine is not yet done. Fresh oil keeps my engine’s internal parts moving smoothly (side note: did you know that in a properly working engine, none of the moving parts ever actually touch each other? Your oil is there to create an extremely thin layer between all the pieces of metal and prevent them from ever touching. Neat!), but my car does not run on oil alone. No, it needs fuel. Gasoline to be precise. And you can buy quality gas all day long, but you’re still going to accumulate deposits and contaminants in your filter & pump, inside your injectors, and on your valves and pistons. So as long as you are cleaning up your ride’s oil system, you better believe you should clean up your fuel system too!

I use STP Ultra 5-in-1 Fuel System Cleaner with every oil change to keep my dino juice flowing freely and all my components deposit-free. I like STP because it’s an American company that has been innovating in the petroleum industry since 1954. Also Richard Petty rocked that sweet STP car back in the 70’s. Who doesn’t want to feel like the famed NASCAR driver? I also use STP because it’s been proven to remove an average of 60% of harmful deposits from engine parts and restore 95% of original injector performance. 95%- that’s basically like new.

After a good oil change and fuel system clean, I always cap off the routine with a good carwash so I know my car is as clean outside as it is in the engine. Also, don’t forget the air freshener for a fresh scent. And that’s the full process until it’s time for the next oil change. Cleaning your fuel system doesn’t add any time to your oil change, and it will make sure your trusty steed will stay trusty for years to come. After all, some routines are called relationships…

The post Clean Your Fuel System with Every Oil Change appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

I’ll come right out and say it: upholstery and interior work isn’t really my forte. It takes me a fortnight to wrap anything in leather well enough that it doesn’t look like a prop for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Planning all those little triangle cuts you make to wrap around edges and avoid folds and creases – my brain just doesn’t seem capable of working in a way to predict them. That’s why, after much trial and error, I decided to send the Porsche Backdate Project’s interior off to be done professionally by an adult with an actual attention span.

So while that little failure still tasted of ash in my mouth, I tackled installing the headliner. This is the so-called toughest DIY job on a Porsche 911 coupe. Half that difficulty comes from the fact that said DIY restorer needs to remove the glass, the upper upholstery, the sunroof, the dash, etc. – pretty much the entire interior above the carpet. “Lucky” for me I bought a very trashed donor car with no interior anyway, and I’ve already removed everything else for the paint job. So all I had left was the second half of this impossible job: stretching it perfectly and symmetrically across the interior roof without a single crease or fold.

Honestly, for all the paragraphs written in all the books, blogs, and forums about how tough it is to do the headliner at home, and that you DEFINITELY need an assistant, I found it relatively easy to tackle myself over three days. If you are doing this yourself in a classic car, just work slow and be prepared to start over several times. Beyond that, it’s truly not a bad job to do. Headliner done, as well as gluing in all the sound proofing and insulation panels, it was time to move on the actual biggest project for our backdate interior – a little something custom I had cooked up in a fever dream when I first got the car.

Looking at how dainty the rear seats on a classic 911 are, and how far I need to have my seat back to fit, the two rear seats were clearly going to be useless. Years ago, as an awful 25 year old with spiky hair and a love of dubious fashion, I owned a third-gen Mazda RX-7. It was a two-seater with little storage compartments where rear seats would go. In four years of ownership I only needed more than two seats once, and that was an emergency. I was and am confident that I would not miss rear seats in this car. But alas, all the rear seat delete/storage compartments you can buy or build yourself were either ugly or more money than my paintjob, and all of them opened the “wrong” way – from the front like a glove box rather than the logical top. So clearly, I had to design and build my own custom solution. Because this project isn’t already one year and $10,000 over budget…

I’ve always liked the look of interior-matching car luggage held down by belts. It is just instant old-school cool. So my dumb idea was this: make a rear shelf with top-mounted storage bins, and have a pair of custom suitcases be the lids to those compartments. I know what you’re thinking: I’m a genius. Or an idiot.

Over the course of two days, I mocked up my idea in cardboard, then in very thin plywood, and finally in ½ inch wood pieces. I determined along the way that this would be the optimal place to put the subwoofer of my over-enthusiastic stereo I ripped out of my RX-7. Once every edge of the shelf was massaged to fit and allow room for being upholstered, it was sent off to the professionals because, as I’ve already said, fabric wrapping is beyond me.

Also sent off were my very sorry and very cracked dash and miscellaneous cabin pieces all needing to be matched to the dash. Dropping everything off at the upholstery shop, it was discussed and determined that vinyl rather than real leather would be the best option for longevity. I was fully prepared to go full leather (aren’t I always?), and have seen arguments for and against, but at the end of the day I’ll take the recommendation of the expert.

While the interior pieces were out of the car, I laid out the stereo system amplifiers and wires in preparation for hiding everything under the carpet. Once all the wires were run, it was time to lay down the charcoal carpets I chose. This was relatively easy as all the pieces were pre-cut and edged – like a giant fabric puzzle. There was no diagram or instructions included with this RS carpet kit so I had to wing it and refer to online pictures to figure it out. I still have lots of extra pieces left over, but oh well…

With that done all that remained for the interior, and the whole car really, was just reassembly. Adult Legos. The project is going to move rapidly towards completion now as I bolt everything on. The end-game has begun.

If you would like to follow the nitty gritty details of this build, they are 
posted on a Porsche technical forum here.

The post Porsche Backdate Pt 9: Leather and Lace appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

On August 19th 2016, Mercedes-Benz presented its much anticipated concept iteration of the Maybach brand at Pebble Beach Concourse d’Elegance in California —  the exquisite Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6.

The 2+2 coupe totaled nearly 20ft in length, and boasted everything from gull wing doors reminiscent of the iconic 1954 300 SL, to a claimed 738-horsepower electric monstrosity under the massive hood. Swooping yet minimal lines run the length of the body draw inspiration from nautical design language, incorporating classic Mercedes-Benz profiles of old to create an absolutely stunning form.

“With its intelligent appeal and reduced, technoid look, it perfectly embodies our design philosophy of sensual purity and our pursuit of aerodynamic efficiency,” said Gorden Wagener, head of design for Daimler AG in a press release.

The vehicle looked slick and slippery, and this desire for aerodynamic efficiency was likely both an aesthetic and functional choice, as a reduction in wind-resistance correlates with improved travel range of the electric power-train. Interestingly, although the interior extensively utilized screens, both for vehicle information and to augment up to 50% of the windshield with geographic and misc. data read outs, there has been no mention of the vehicle featuring autonomous functionality.

Although Mercedes-Benz has been quite secretive regarding possible production of the vehicle, and currently maintains the vehicle is just a concept, we firmly believe it would sure give the Rolls-Royce Wraith a run for its money – let’s see what unfolds when the Mercedes-Maybach makes its debut, if ever.

The post Never Forget the Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 Concept appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

If you’ve been following along with parts 1 and 2 of Project Backdate, you know that after 10 years of waiting my dream car has arrived and is a special shade of nightmare generally reserved for murderous carnies. But my dreams shan’t be denied, so it’s finally time to get stuck in and turn this disaster into my rolling fantasy. First job on the list: removing the interior, or what’s left of it after the Florida monsoons have had their dirty way with it.

Forcibly torn out are the rear seats, the remaining carpet is chucked, and the passenger seat – which isn’t even bolted down! – is hoisted out. I’ll keep the sunvisors for now, just to be classy. Not classy were the 1990’s Autozone stereo head unit and equalizer. Also binned are the spare tire and sound-deadening material from the cabin. All I’m left with are a torn driver’s seat and a crusty dash. Game on.

Before the Miami Vice bumpers and wing can go, and before any other major mods, I need to get the car registered in sunny but hippie-infested Los Angeles. That means passing arguably the most stringent emissions test in the country. My first attempt at this was a non-starter when the SMOG station technician refused to even test the car because it had an aftermarket pod filter on it (Autozone strikes again!). Good thing too, because I hadn’t even noticed the complete and utter lack of a catalytic converter on the car. So it’s off to the excellent online Porsche forums to source a factory airbox, as well as a tested and working cat.

With those items found and borrowed from a very generous local, it’s off for test attempt #2. Aaaaaaaaand it’s a FAIL. My tailpipe emissions are actually spot on and perfect, but apparently my 30 year old fuel vapor lines are leaking. With those replaced, I should pass the test with a breeze according to all the data. Another weekend spent replacing rubber hosing and then test #3. Aaaaaand it’s a FAIL. The new fuel vapor lines are working perfectly, but suddenly my emissions have doubled. What the actual hell? Okaaaaay, I ran to my garage to check all my fittings and find that I haven’t secured the factory airbox tightly enough and some air is bypassing the whole filter assembly. While this is equivalent to just running without an air filter installed, I’m grasping at straws at this point so I convince myself that was the problem and after quickly resolving it, take it in to a different testing station just to cover my bases and make sure I’m not getting scammed. Test #4 – MASSIVE FAIL. In the span of an hour, my emissions have doubled again. It is now four-fold higher than it was when I started.

It’s time for drastic measures. It’s time for outside help. It’s time for an Iranian mechanic who has a PHD in biochemistry. It’s time for Old Man Steve. I take my ailing 911 into his shop, J&S Precision Auto in Venice, CA, and we poke around for bit. Eventually we isolate an intake leak to somewhere in the front of the engine. With a handshake instead of a bill, Steve sets me off to find the leak. During disassembly of my intake system, I quickly discover some very loose hoses and clamps. Basically, every time I was messing with the intake system – from installing the factory airbox, to re-running the fuel vapor lines, to adjust the airbox connection, I was bumping and further loosing all the joints and hoses. There must have been small leaks just about everywhere.

With a firm reassembly and double-check, I take it in for Test #5. Passed with flying colors. Thank God.

After a surprisingly quick visit to the DMV a few days later, the Porsche is now legal to drive – helpful for taking it in to mechanics or body shops. And now that I can legally drive it for the first time, there’s no better time to take it off  the road and onto jack stands for a solid month as I completely rebuild and refresh the suspension, brakes, and drivetrain. In one fell swoop front and rear, I upgraded the shocks to new Bilstein units, replaced all rubber suspension bushings, slapped on upgraded steering tie rod ends from a 911 turbo, installed a bump steer kit to smooth out the steering, replaced any ball joints, and painted my sway bars (good for at least a 15hp upgrade right there).

On the brakes, it was new stainless steel lines, new rotors, new pads, and rebuilt calipers. She should stop now. For the drivetrain, this Porsche backdate is now sporting a short-shift kit from JWest Engineering, a new trans coupler for more precise shifting, and new rear axles because why the hell not?!?!

Back on the road, our backdate 911 feels tighter and more receptive to driving inputs. Good upgrades all around, but they also chewed up 20% of the budget already. Time to recoup some cash by selling some of the parts I’ve ripped out. Then I have to diagnose the loss of power at the top end and get ready for the body shop. That’s where the real spending begins…

If you would like to follow the nitty gritty details of this build, they are posted on a 
Porsche technical forum here.

The post Porsche Backdate Pt 3: The Emissions Battle appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

There’s something about a car being delivered on the back of a flatbed tow truck that is a combination of strange feelings. On the one hand, it is the ultimate in delivery service – making sure the car is safe and doesn’t collect a single dead bug or even put on any additional miles. On the other hand, 90% of cars on tow trucks are seriously broken and in need of some love. It is with this cognitive dissonance that I greeted my new Porsche. I giddily informed the truck operator that he was delivering a massive amount of happiness and that I’d wanted this vehicle for a decade. He was nice enough to pretend to care for a whole 20 seconds.

At first sight, this 1988 911 Carrera Coupe was certainly rougher that the online listing. There were more small rust bubbles throughout the body than the single one that was photographed, including a small but worrying one on the rear window frame. While on the inside – holy shit the was half missing, all rotted, and had a unique funk of a drowned smoker. But no matter! My dream car 911 was in front of me and I wasn’t going to be brought down.

Once the car was on terra firma, I grabbed at the key and jumped in like it was Christmas morning. Nothing. No action from the battery. Who sells someone a decently expensive car and doesn’t charge up or replace the battery? I move past it.  The truck driver connects a jump pack and she starts up with the beautiful racket of a bag of hammers inside a clothes dryer set at permanent press that only an air cooled engine can make. She runs! Well, she was supposed to, but it is exciting nonetheless. I am grinning like an absolute idiot. I see the fuel gauge is sitting well below empty. Who sells someone a car and doesn’t have the decency to throw in a quarter of a tank? Still moving past it and filled with joy. The truck operator leaves as he senses I’m about to hug him and ask him to have a cry with me, and with that I’m all alone with my new Porsche.

Sit Rep: The interior is a total loss. What little carpet there is left is as good as ruined. The seats are more ripped than 1970’s Lou Ferrigno, and the dash gauges somehow all have rust on just their bottom bezels. This car has seen some water. After a panicked rummage through the floors and carpet, I’m sure this isn’t a Hurricane Sandy or flood car. The water damage is too light and the floor is sound. It looks like the sunroof has been left open for one or more Florida rainy seasons. A look around the sunroof shows that it has been totally scavenged and just the metal cover is being “securely” held into this German precision sports car with a wedge of cardboard. Moving outside, beyond the half-dozen rust bubbles, the front bodykit has a decent crack from too many valet curb kisses and all the black rubber trim is looking seriously tired.

This is all fine and mostly what I signed up for – why pay for nice exterior panels or interior carpet when I’m going to replace most of it anyway? All I needed – and paid a hefty inspection to ensure – was a strong engine and running gear. And my test drives did not reveal exactly that. Shifts are good, low end pull is strong, and the handling is on point. But on full bore, when I crest 4000 RPM, our little 911 looses all power and starts coughing and trying to find its place either in fuel delivery or timing. This is not good. I can look the other way on a dead battery, or an empty gas tank, and even on a mostly missing sunroof system. But now engine trouble on a car I had independently inspected? My cool was officially gone.

I can’t blame the seller, it is his job to offload the car. I can, and do blame the Florida shop I paid decent coin to for an unbiased walkthrough and opinion on the car since I couldn’t see it in person before I bought it. After an angry exchange of words over email and phone with the shop, they refunded my money in exchange for not being named here. I will just say this: if I needed any Porsche work done in the Miami area, I wouldn’t be going to any shops that rhyme with Bertex Auto.

With the worrying development of engine trouble right in front of me, there’s nothing for it but to get stuck in and get to work. This full Porsche backdate project where I turn this run-of-the-mill 1988 911 into a very special 1972 RS should take me about a year and cost anywhere from $10,000 to infinity dollars. My goal is to be smart and crafty and come in at a total out-of-pocket of  that low end $10K by doing the work myself and selling as many parts off the car as possible.

The full order of operations will be as follows:

• Renew/upgrade the suspension
• Renew the braking system
• Renew/upgrade the drivetrain
• Disassemble the car down to a rolling shell
• Install the backdated RS body panels and remove rust
• Send the shell off to paint
• Renew the engine while it is out of the car
• Drop the engine back into the freshly painted car
• Install a new interior and all final assembly

Along the way, there will be lots of broken knuckles, bruised egos, and too much fun. In the next post I’ll be tackling the suspension and brakes, and remove that crusty interior. Let the work begin!

You can read the next part of this series here.

The post Porsche Backdate Pt 2: The Sadness appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

“To sleep, perchance to dream.” And dream I have. For 10 years I’ve fantasized about owning an old Porsche. A decade spent saving, skipping vacations, earning more, and acquiring both the tools and knowledge required. While you were out actually living,I was arranging my life to own one of the of these beasts. A full third of my life that I’ve dedicated to shopping around, looking on forums, collecting details and procedures, and even banning myself from the For Sale ads because I’ve picked up the phone too many times when I wasn’t ready. Well I’m ready now.

When I first fell for Porsches, like any normal human being I couldn’t tell the difference between them. All I knew is that they looked new for a really long time, then they suddenly looked very old (whenever a new bodystyle came out), then eventually look very old and classic. Over my years of lusting and wanting I gradually began to fall more and more in love with the vintage and classic cars, more so than ny computerized new car.

It was then that I came across what would soon become an obsession – the 1972 RS 2.7. Held by manysweatervest-wearing old white men as the quintessential Porsche, the 2.7 adorns bedroom walls the world over as the pinnacle of what a race-ready street Porsche can be. When I first saw one online, it was lust. When I drank in its presence in person, it was love. This stripped out and paired down racer that was the meticulously reduced essence of this sports car brand had to be in my life.

Unfortunately, the reality is the few hundred examples of the RS that were made were commanding $500,00 when I first learned about the car, and routinely trade hands for 1.2-1.5 million dollars today. I had patience for acquiring this toy, but not that kind of patience. Luckily for me, I stumbled across an increasingly popular practice called “backdating”.

Basically, and luckily for me, Porsche 911s changed (comparatively) very little from their introduction in 1964 up to 1989. For all intents and purposes, the bodyshell stayed the same while the engine and driving characteristics got better and better – while the bumpers got bigger and bigger. Some engineering psychopath discovered that with very little effort and just a dash of metal fabrication one could turn any 911 from these two and a half decades into a RS 2.7 clone. Falling down the rabbit hole, I discovered (for very boring reasons only an anorak cares about) that just 3 years were the best platform for backdating – 1987-1989. If I wanted to do this right, it would have to be in this range of years. With this knowledge and a fantasy shopping list in hand, I started saving and dreaming.

10 years of fantasizing finally came to an end last month. The savings were there, the career was there, and the garage full of tools was there. Bummer for me then that during this decade the value of old Porsches basically doubled from a range of $12k-$18k  to today’s market of $20k-$30k. With my life in place and the market value showing no signs of slowing down, the time was now to pull the trigger before the price climbed any higher.

Now because I already planned on swapping out much of the bodywork and interior, my major concern when shopping around was a strong drivetrain. In fact I was actively looking for an ugly and haggard car, because why pay a premium for something I’m going to rip off anyway? When I started browsing the Porsche forums, it didn’t take long to zero-in on 2 cars as serious possibilities. The first was a tidy black-on-black example that was described as a 20-footer – as in it looked pretty good as long as you were at least 20 feet away. This car was about 2 hours away from my home in Los Angeles and was going for the top of my personal price range, $27k. The second 911 in Florida was much more abused with a cracked period body kit and an utterly destroyed interior. It was also far cheaper at $22.5K advertised. After talking to both sellers, my wallet won out and I opted for the ugly tree Florida car. A bit of haggling and negotiations later, we agreed on $21k plus some thrown-in goodies and parts I’d be buying anyway. I contacted a vouched-for Florida Porsche shop and had the seller take the car in for a pre-purchase inspection. Vertex Auto confirmed to me the seller’s story – basically that it is pretty ugly, but it runs well – so sight-unseen I sent purchased the car of my dreams and had it shipped across the country.

From the moment in time I decided I was now ready to pay for and rebuild a Porsche to the actual purchase bank transfer, only 9 days had elapsed. I told you I was antsy to get a 911 in my life.

As my 1988 Porsche 911 Carrera made its transcontinental journey, I did some further digital window shopping and spec’d out my budget for this project. I expect to spend an additional $10k (we’ll see how this works out) out of pocket on parts and paint. Admittedly, this is a widely ambitious figure (about half of typical), but I plan to do 80% of the work myself. If it doesn’t require a welder, a dyno, or a paint gun I want to do it myself. Here’s hoping…

But hope was in short supply when the car finally arrived – I knew my 911 wouldn’t be pretty, but I didn’t think it would be fugly. Nor would it start when it came off the truck. So much for running well. Thus began my first week of Porsche ownership when my dreamcar turned into a nightmare…

You can read the next part of this series here

The post Porsche Backdate Pt 1: We bought a Porsche to rebuild! appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

When I got the news from Adam that Shift.com wanted us to try out their used car buying service, I browsed through their site and thought to myself, this is just going to be just another Carmax experience. Boy was I wrong.

Choosing to buy a used car is usually the soundest thing to do with your money. It saves you from the instant depreciation once you drive off the lot, though you can’t help but think if the car your buying might have some problems with it.

If you don’t know what you’re doing, used car buying can be scary.

Generally, folks choose between three popular options when buying a used car. The most common would be to head over to your local used car dealership where there is a chance you might get screwed over on financing or end up with a lemon. Then there’s Craigslist, as you know I have been very familiar with. This option can be sketchy if you’re clueless.

You might meet up with someone untrustworthy that “forgets” to tell you the issues about the car. You might also get a chance to test drive and purchase a potentially stolen vehicle. Worst of all, there is a high-risk chance of buying a lemon, which actually happened to me in my latest Will It Flip project.

You’ll have to wait for that story.

Lastly, there is Carmax. This is a popular one. The place has warranties, no-haggle pricing, and pretty good customer service. But all three of those options have one big inconvenience: You’re going to spend a good chunk of your day to see the car.

What if I told you there is a much better and easier way? Shift is a new used car buying service that is unlike any other I’ve experienced. I will break down for you. I was told that I could test-drive any used car I desired on their site. Of course to me this meant either finding the most expensive car, one with the most horsepower, or both. Upon first browsing their current stock, I narrowed my choices down between a 911 Carrera S or a Hellcat Challenger, I went with the latter since I’ve actually never driven a muscle car before and also because, c’mon man, Hellcat.

Now what’s game-changing about booking a drive through Shift.com is that you can actually choose the meeting location of your test drive. That means you can summon the car you’re interested in to your house, your job, your ex’s place, or anywhere you want. Aside from the obvious choice of choosing the Hellcat, I figured it would make sense to have the car delivered to an inconvenient location; some random beach in Malibu close to Neptune’s Net.

Within minutes of completing the booking form, I received a call from a real life person from Shift.com verifying and confirming my drive. This is also the part where they would ask to verify your credit score. This is to make sure you can actually afford the car you booked and you’re not just some kid like myself who wants to take some fancy car out for a drive. Following this call, I received an email confirming the date, time, location, and the phone number of the delivery guy or as they call it, “car enthusiast”, who will be delivering the car to you, my guy’s name was Colston.

The morning of the drive I received a call from Colston to verify that it was still a go. He also called me again when he was on the way to the location and when had arrived. If calls were inconvenient, you can also request for a text conversation instead. This transparency in communication opens up the ability for you to request a different time or location depending on how your day goes. They are flexible will pretty much work within your schedule to your convenience. Like I said, this is a used car buying experience unlike anything I’ve ever heard of. When he arrived, I was actually expecting someone in uniform to show up with a car on a trailer, because that’s what you usually get when you’re buying a used car from a company. Instead Colston drove the car to the location himself and was dressed in vans and casual attire with a Shift branded jacket. I dig this because I believe that casual attires always give off a more personable vibe.

He gave me a detailed rundown about the company, the car, and the buying process. I also received a 200-point inspection report, brief about the car, and the Carfax history report. With the inspection report, you are shown all of the issues with the car if it has any. If there is anything that needs attention, Shift will pay for it on behalf of the original seller, that way you will never get a lemon from them. You get about 45 minutes to test-drive the car and maybe even more if their day is not packed with clients. During that time you have the ability to drive it as if you had already owned the car. That meant you could have it delivered to your home in the morning and drive it to work, vice versa, drive it to your friends and family members’ place for their approval, see how it sits in your drive way, or even fit test a baby seat you already own. I chose to take the hellcat down PCH to feel all 707 horses.

Another interesting point about the experience was that Colston was not at all pushy about selling it during our time together. Instead he would show off features and facts about the car. The reason behind this is because Colston is not a salesman; instead he is more of a car concierge, Shift is not a dealership but more of a liaison between the actual owner of the car and you. You decide if you want the car or not, the buyer is in complete control of the whole experience.

After driving around in the Hellcat on a wide-open part of PCH doing the speed limit, we went back to the parking lot and he explained the process if one were to move forward in buying it. As a buyer, you have the option to purchase the car up front with cash or check and if you don’t have stacks of money to shell out, they have several financing options to choose from. Two of which you can get on the spot. If you’re not ready to purchase for whatever reason but want the car, you have the option to hold it for three days with a $95 deposit. Shift will take care of the registration and all the paperwork making the buying process as easy for you as possible. If you took the chance to click the link and visit the site during this review you might have noticed that they have pretty competitive prices. That is because the company is a liaison between the seller and buyer. It is like having all the benefits of personal interaction from buying through craigslist without the sketchiness and the ease of mind from buying through a dealership without the haggle or hassle.

I can honestly say if I were to ever buy a newer used car in the future, I would seriously consider looking at Shift.com first. It is the ultimate VIP experience for buying used cars. The process of booking, driving, and buying a car is purely catered to the customer. Maybe the fact that I drove a Hellcat made me a little biased but if I were to compare the customer service experience to how the Hellcat drives on a straight, I’d have to say it’s on par if not better. Thanks to shift.com, the future of buying used cars is very bright.

Photos: @reu.j and @theblownbulb

The post Shift.com is a Revolutionary Used Car Buying Service appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

If you’re not the kind to necessarily tune in to auto racing, let me start by explaining that Le Mans is nothing like the cookie-cutter sameness of NASCAR, the Indy 500, or F1. I totally get that to an outsider, all those cars look the same, drive the same, and the races tend to be uneventful multi-hour speeches from the announcers about how epic it would be if X would happen, yet X never happens. Not to fear, because endurance racing and Le Mans in particular are nothing like that.

The FIA World Endurance Championship series, of which the Le Mans race is the crown jewel, is a fantastic race series made of up several different classes of cars. Long story short, this means you’ll see a Corvette battling a Ferrari battling a space-age “prototype” car bred for racing. What these mixed classes mean is that not all the cars are moving at the same pace, yet they are all on the same track at the same time. This pace discrepancy inevitably leads to the ultra-fast prototypes having to work their way through the slower field, and the everyday cars having to race in their class while also dodging faster cars. This traffic-factor makes for some incredible moves and racing in general.

Even when zoomed into a single class, the racing the last few years has been incredibly close and exciting. Check out this crazy finish from a very similar 24 hour race from last month at the Nurburgring. Those last 20 minutes were epic racing and full of drama. Or how about one of the all-time great battles a few year ago at Sebring. These clips are classic endurance car racing, and Le Mans is the big daddy of them all.

Now that I’ve got you amped up, I have to bring you back down with the realization that watching an European 24hr auto race is no easy feat in every country. If you’re in an racing junky country like the UK or Germany, it should be a breeze to catch the action. If, like us, you are in the United States of Freedom, watching Le Mans is an exercise in internet sleuthing and patching together different streams of online feeds.FOX Sports Go will be streaming the race if you qualify to view it in your area, and there’s always a smattering of online streams you can find the day of. One of the best ways is also the most old school. Radio Le Mans consistently has the best commentary on endurance racing, and streaming them on your phone allows you to continue with your normal Saturday and Sunday while staying up to date on the race.

However you do it, make sure you tune in to this race. Ford is back after 50 years to eat Ferrari’s lunch. Porsche is defending last year’s title against an always-hungry Audi. And you haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen night racing on a 200mph track…

The post You Should Definitely Be Watching Le Mans This Weekend appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

About three hours after the sun had set, I hitched a ride back to the lot where I left the steaming Audi. I popped the hood to examine how low the radiator fluid was. Indeed it was low, but there was no puddle underneath the car. If there was a puddle it could not have dried up that quickly as it wasn’t a hot day. Confused but too tired to care, I filled it up with distilled water, capped it off, and drove home carefully without trying to question what mechanical failure it might be this time.

Now at this point I had spent a little over $790 on top of the $800 value of the car. What killed me was the wheel bearing repair job but I really couldn’t avoid that. Any more shop related repair was going seriously to eat into my profits. By then, I desperately just wanted to get the car running flawlessly. I even called up local mechanics for a quote before looking up the problem. Desperate. One mechanic gave me a quote of $350 to ‘fix it’ although he described it as a “Mickey Mouse” fix, perplexed I asked him how much it would cost to fix it correctly, he told me he would need to remove the dash and quoted me at about $900. What the fuck, and what the shit is a Mickey Mouse fix.

From there I decided to use the power of Google to figure out what exactly was going on. Although the car was overheating, I can rule out that it had nothing to do with the engine bay itself since the steam was coming from the interior. After scouring through the interwebs and forums, I eventually found out that any white smoke coming from the dash vents point to a faulty heater core. Indeed there were two ways to fix. The proper way is to drop the steering column, remove the dashboard, center console, and radio to fully expose the heater core, which you can then replace. The Mickey Mouse method is to completely bypass the heater core and connect the two hoses together. Granted, this method means I will no longer have a working heater, but I live in Southern California. There is never a need for a heater.

Within thirty minutes of looking up how-to remove the dashboard videos, I decided to just go with the half assed bypass method and made my way to Home Depot. I found the elbow pipe that I needed in the sink department for less than $5. With the pipe installed and the heater core successfully bypassed, I let the car idle for about 15 minutes. No smoke was coming out of the dashboard. There was no more coolant smell anywhere. Is everything finally fixed? Although I wasn’t sure, I felt adventurous, so I took the car around for about an hour worth of errands. During the time I drove, it didn’t overheat, it didn’t sputter to a stop, the check engine light never came back on, and most importantly no smoke was arising from anywhere and it didn’t blow up. Instead it was running smoothly. I even hit redline twice, on second and third gear. Both times the turbo spooled up releasing enough power to push me back into my beige leather seat. The car felt great, I felt great. Not to mention I saved $345 from that bypass job. Suck it mechanic shop. Talk about finally coming out on top.

Since the heater core bypass was technically a temporary fix, I went ahead and bought a new one as it only cost about $25. I figured if even if I don’t find time to install it myself, it would be nice to have the new owner know what exactly needs to be replaced, because nothing beats a honest and transparent seller on Craigslist. Besides, I believe in karma.

Now I actually skipped writing about the very first fix I did, that was the rear driver side passenger window. When I bought it, that window had permanently fallen and no amount of tape or fluffing would keep it up. With removal of the door panel the problem was apparent, the cable that runs through the motor was as broken as an unraveled cassette tape. The previous owner attempted a sad half-assed fix of sticking a block of wood to hold it up which had fallen down the door panel. I threw away the wood block but you can see the wood shavings still on the door panel below. I half-assed fixed it with a few zipties but it properly did the job. I additionally unplugged the harness to prevent any more damage to the unit. Now if this car gets sold for an amount that satisfies me, and if the new owner decides they really want the window fixed, I will gladly replace it for them for free considering they provide a working motor. Fair enough right?

Well that’s it! Hood strut, valve cover gasket, spark plugs, coil packs, mass airflow sensor, rear coolant flange, coolant temperature sensor, center wheel cap, and wheel bearing all replaced and fixed. As of now there are only three very minor issues with the car: the temporary rear window fix, the heater core bypass, and a small crack on the windshield that was there since initial purchase. I’m not going to count the minor cosmetic damage since this is a ten year old car that was daily driven to just about 130k miles. None of these issues affect the performance, legality, or drivability of the car.

Since the release of Part III, I have actually been daily driving this car for the past four weeks with no issues. The check engine light hasn’t been on since the coil pack swap, it hasn’t overheated or stalled, and three weeks ago it California Smog legally with flying colors. Despite that all of these fixes, the cost of purchase and maintenance totaled just a little over $1600. I highly believe that there is potential for profit or even a trade up. This car has came a long way since its state of despair. Destined to have its parts stripped and shipped to the junkyard, it is now a fine running and reliable automobile that is serving my temporary needs as well as teaching how how to flip a car.

This week I will be prepping to post it up for sale. Will It Flip!? Check back here soon for the final installment of this saga where we learn how to flip a car.

The post Will It Flip!? 2001 Audi A4 Quattro – Part IV appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

We’ve teamed up with AutoZone to walk you through how to do an oil change on literally any production vehicle (I’m daring you to point out some obscure Citroen on our Facebook page, and yes I’m aware of Tesla)

When do to an Oil Change:

The common rule of thumb is to change your oil every 3 months or 3000, whichever comes first. For most modern cars, this is simply no longer true. Many cars produced since 2000 can go 7000 miles or more without a change thanks to synthetic oils. Check your cars manual or simply google when your car’s scheduled oil changes are, but you can’t go wrong assuming 3 months and doing it early.

What you’ll need:

• Jack and jack stands
• Oil pan or empty bucket
• Wrenches
• New oil filter and possibly a washer for the drain plug
• New oil

How:

Here the process is always the same. Simply –

• Find and watch YouTube videos or read forums showing the process on your particular vehicle
• Drive your car over to a friend who has tools or run your car until the engine is warmed up but not hot enough to burn you. Or burn yourself – your call really.
• Jack up the front of your car and place it on jack stands
• Place the oil pan or bucket underneath your engine
• Locate and remove the big, obvious bolt sticking out of the lowest point of your engine. It won’t look like any other bolts around it. Any YouTube videos or diagrams should show you.
• Drain all the warm oil into your pan or container
• When the flow out has reduced to a trickle, you can remove your oil filter. This will likely be a brightly colored cylinder on the side or bottom of the engine. These sometimes require a special wrench to remove, but can often just be done by hand 
• Once the oil is done flowing out of engine, simply reinstall the bolt (often times with a new washer) just to snug and install the new filter – first rub fresh oil along the rubber gasket of the new filter to aid in creating a tight seal.
• Fill up the car with the required type and amount of oil (again in your manual or online forums)
• Drive to the auto parts store to dispose of the used oil for free, then check your new filter and drain plug for leaks and the level on your dipstick to ensure the oil level is within range
• Assume a smug face now that you’ve successfully done your first oil change

Why:

Doing your own oil change is the first step towards mechanical proficiency. Yes, it will likely cost you the same amount of money and time as it would to just take your car in to a oil change stand, but the sense of accomplishment, bragging rights, and empowerment are certainly not the same. There are generally only two reasons I hear for not tackling an oil change yourself – lack of desire and fear. While I can’t help with the first one, the latter should certainly be solved by the list above.

If you need any help with this or need a DIY garage in Los Angeles, check out Wanderwell Society in Venice. It is a great DIY social club that can help you fix your car, boat, or even washing machine!

The post The Power of the DIY Oil Change appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

Well since I foresaw a future where my daily driver will be out of my possession for a few weeks I had to ask myself, what is the most sensible thing to do? Borrow a car from a friend? Share a car with a family member? No. The answer is to buy a piece of shit off Craigslist for as cheap as you can of course! Which leads to the first installment of Will It Flip!?

But wait, I need to be smart about this. There are a few criteria’s I need to follow. My maximum budget for a temporary daily driver would be $1000, it has to be able to drive, and I can’t loose money on the resale. Which means no blown head gaskets! Here at the Factory, Adam likes to tell me that I have a bad habit of looking up cheap cars on craigslist on my free time. I thought it would be the perfect time to provoke this habit and see if I can make use of it. After about 10 minutes of coming up with this idea and 40 minutes of browsing craigslist. I found a mechanic’s special 2001 Audi A4 Quattro 1.8 liter Turbo for $800 about five miles from me.

Though this whole idea may sound bad, I was convinced that this might be a decent purchase being that this car usually sells for about $2500 in decent running condition. The ad mentions that it only has been through 2 owners and even provided the VIN number. I had a friend do a VIN check and the provided information provided stands correct. I felt a growing sense of trust here. The life of the car has predominately been in Texas and just made its way to Los Angeles last August. No rust. The seller even mentions that it needs ‘minor work’; the front lip fell off and was in the cabin, the rear windows wouldn’t roll up, it needs a new mass airflow sensor, and has some cosmetic wear and tear. Easy fixes. All things I can live with.

After feeling the engine on a quick test drive and a really hard-ball-no-haggle-price of $800 later, I became a proud new owner of an all wheel drive, four-cylinder turbo, sedan in boring beige. The car ran decent for the price. I felt content as I drove home. That was until literally a stop sign away from my driveway, the temperature needle was reading higher than Donald Trump’s nose and the car started smoking out of the hood. That damn bastard didn’t mention about an overheating problem.

I made it just in time to get to my garage. Whatever, it’s okay. I think I’ve done enough work on my car and friends’ cars to trust that I can get to the bottom of these problems. The next morning as I reinstalled the front lip, I noticed the Audi gave me a small gift. It peed a little green. A coolant leak it is!

I’ll be taking you along the process of repairing the car, polishing it up and ultimately finding out if I can break even, trade up, or even sell it for more. Follow me on this multi part journey of…Will It Flip!?

The post Will It Flip!? 2001 Audi A4 Quattro – Part I appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

A new episode comes out the day I am writing this, which I will definitely torrent, but if I’m being honest last week’s episode still sits on my harddrive unwatched. I just don’t care that much. Top Gear is shiny and well produced, and features amazing metal in jaw dropping locations. But I’ve moved on to a show that is none of these things. I’ve moved on to a YouTube series shot either on a handheld camera or gopros. I’ve moved on to a show that entertains AND educates me. I’ve moved on to Mighty Car Mods.

Like many people, you might stumble across Mighty Car Mods as a YouTube suggestion if you are looking for DIY car projects or performance enhancing myths. If you’re smart enough, or properly bored enough, to click through you’ll find a pair of Australian twenty-somethings, both with full-time real jobs, no budget, no enormous crew, and occasional focusing depth problems. And they are killing it. The show’s hosts/cameramen/producers/composers/caterers – Marty and Moog – will happily take you through any modification to your car – from touching up wheel scratches to full custom turbo system installations – on real world economy cars using real world tools.

Marty and Moog have a great dynamic that matches anything from May, Hammond, and Clarkson of Top Gear. And you actually learn something from these quick 8min videos as opposed to watching an hour of the BBC’s  “car review show” that is featuring less and less actual content. And of course Top Gear is just entertainment at this, but Mighty Car Mods is doing that AND teaching. Edutainment at its best.

I’ve got an hour of Top Gear waiting for me right now that I can’t make time for, but I’m watching several Mighty Car Mods episodes a day as I work through all the seasons. And I’m very happy with that choice. Here’s a great starter episode to try out, all about how one achieves “street cred”:

The post This Show is Better Than Top Gear appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

Our rides tend to be rare and complicated to maintain than the modern world of Jiffy Lubes and engine error codes is used to. We have strange things called carburetors and drum brakes. We have to change our oil seemingly every other day. Our cars cannot go for years without lifting the hood. For all these reasons, and the absurdly high worth of the rarer iron, has led many to lock away their vehicles. These owners choose to enshroud them under dust-proof covers, and only actually drive their machines a few miles a year.

These garage queens are indeed beautiful and pristine. Many look like they leapt straight off a poster, and more than a few are in even better mechanical condition than when they originally left the factory. They are nearly perfect pieces of art. Nearly, but not quite. You see, vehicles are not art. Cars and motorcycles have a purpose; they were engineered to do something. This violates art’s central tenant that it can have no use other than simply being art. No matter how beautifully or lovingly a vehicle has been designed and crafted it is not art.

It is, however, meant to be driven. From a Volkswagen Bug to a Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic, regardless of their current value or mystique all vehicles were built to be enjoyed and *gasp* used on the open road. This is their raison d’être. It is just wrong to lock them away in dark garages and deny both them and yourself the pleasure of barreling down the blacktop. Teams of engineers devoted their careers to working on and perfecting your ride. You owe it to these men and women to truly experience their hard work and use the cars in the real world.

My vintage car is a daily driver. She has spots of rust and the chrome is not so bright anymore. I often get a loud crunch when slotting into reverse and the carbs are currently dismantled on my kitchen table. It may not win any concourses, but it wins my heart every day. No, I’ve never done a frame-off restoration on her or caressed her sheet metal with a silk square, but I would venture to say that I know my car better than those that have. I’ve driven my car on the limit. It has disappointed me and overjoyed me. We have a relationship and memories that can never be matched by simply looking at it longingly every night over a glass of dry Syrah. My car and I are more connected than any garage queen and her owner ever could be.

If you only want a perfect example of your model, or simply want to protect your “investment,” I get it. If you don’t want to see people’s faces light up as you drive by, bringing a touch of beauty into their lives, so be it. If you want to lock you vehicle away from the world except for special occasions, fine. But me, I’m going to drive.

The post In Defense of the Daily Driver appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

Now, there are some amazing films out there, including the all time  favorite BMW films.  But those felt more cinema-focused and not relatable, with footage so unreal but awesome that they would draw you in.  No, instead, Format67 is telling a human story, one that not just car fanatics will love.  The use of music, the spoken word, and the engine noises take the whole experience to the next level.  You can close your eyes and still imagine the feel the experience unfold in front of you.  And that changed everything for me.  No longer did I care of the compilations, the videos of parties and a lifestyle that I could not relate to.  Now, I wanted to be told the full story in those few short minutes, with the car being a supporting actor and not the main attraction.  I was looking for the enhanced experience, which is still hard to come by.  But when done right, you feel it a sense of drive or passion, and even the smallest of car fans will be impressed.

So what does this mean for the average video producer; can they do it right? Well, yes, and right is not how I define it but how their viewers enjoy watching, and they, of course, enjoy making the video. But there seems to be the need for the automotive films to grow up, to be more than just a highlight of a car, but to tell a story. The car, while the star, should be the exclamation point at the end of the experience.

When done right, you get something that could be considered the best automotive short-film produced to date.

HONDA NSX (EXTENDED VERSION) BY FORMAT67.NET from FORMAT67.NET on Vimeo.

The post The Art of Automotive Films appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.

This is a completely different A3 from what has come before. The last generation A3 was Audi’s entry-level car for the North American market, and it felt like it. We spent a week with it, and although we quite liked its sporty feel it just wouldn’t be able to compete with this new breed of luxury pocket machines. Audi knew this and came up with an all-new A3 concept that was short on sheet metal but not on opulence so they could go toe to toe with their rivals. Did it work? Well let’s find out…

The 2015 Audi A3 cuts a remarkably more distinct silhouette than it’s predecessor. Where the last model had rounded surfaces and was generally inoffensive, the new A3 is brimming with sharp angles, shadowed areas, and aggressive stance. Also gone is the hatchback body. The 2014 model is launching with a traditional “3 box” design consisting of a small front area, a large cabin in the middle, and another small trunk area. The 2015 Audi A3 is first and foremost a 4 door sedan. The sharp angles liberally sprinkled over the entire body give this A3 a thoroughly modern look and feel, and the head designer explained to FactoryTwoFour that their positioning and rake give the car a animalistic stance and profile. Specifically, and I can’t make this stuff up, the rear wheel well positioning is designed to be reminiscent of a horse’s thigh. Seriously.

Moving into the cabin, the only beastly hints are the great swaths of soft leather Audi has seen fit to drape over the many touch surfaces. Any point where your body or hand frequently rests is covered in a thick layer of cow hide, and the cockpit is a welcoming place for it. This is where Audi really needed to hit the luxury note hard, and although you’ll never mistake sitting in the 2015 A3 for an A8 it certainly stacks up against the Mercedes CLA and thoroughly trounces the BMW i3. Especially nice are the high-design AC vent controls and the instruments pulled straight from more expensive Audi machinery. Stepping into a 2015 Audi A3 is an experience of being immediately greeted with an upscale feel that denies its small size.

On the road that does not mean this vehicle is soft or ponderous. In fact, the ride is quite stiff and even sporty. What we have here is a small car with a long wheelbase, meaning stable running and a planted feel, but unfortunately also a poor turning radius. This A3 is aimed squarely at the young and upwardly mobile, and as such is planning on most of its life being spent in urban environments. This vehicle’s ride is such that I would not relish taking it up the coast on a scenic tour, but it is tailor made for zipping in and out of traffic and maneuvering into tight parking spots.

The 2015 A3 is a departure and new beginning for Audi’s pint-sized warrior. Gone is the stigma of being “entry level.” This machine is just as plush and refined as Audi’s lineup that costs twice as much. The A3 is today’s Audi concentrated, reduced, and refined. This is a pure shot. This is the espresso of Audis. With the 2015 A3, they have showed us that size doesn’t matter, but quality does.

The post Luxury (Micro) Machine appeared first on FactoryTwoFour.