"Jagan" Paddles, nice!

It's been over a year since I've installed the Hurst Paddle Shifter kit for the 2010 Chevy Camaro, and because I was working on my re-mastered episodes from the former Project SpadesV6, it made me think about the old days. I went onto the Camaro Forums this morning to read about what's new in the community, and I found a large number of threads about the Hurst Paddle Shifters. They are selling like hot cakes!

One of the forum members posted this:

I have one and love it, although I recently changed out the "Jagan" oversize aluminum ones for the black Derlin (smaller) ones.

I read it, and I was sort of suprised and curious. Although Hurst had originally told me they would use my name for one of their paddle designs, I had no idea they would keep their word because I had pretty much sold the Camaro around the time these paddles came into mass production.

A quick Google search for "Jagan Paddles" will quickly give you links to purchase them, and what not. I thought it was extremely cool for Hurst to keep their promise. Now the name Jagan is actually worth a bit more value I suppose, lol.

If you are a Camaro owner, or know someone who drives one, consider this product as a gift. It's not extremely cheap in price, but it's worth every penny, and it's very easy to install!

Thanks Hurst Shifters!

Hurst Paddle Shifter Follow-up

Okay you guys, here is the follow-up review. It's been around a week and a half since I have installed and reviewed these paddle shifters for you guys.

Since then, I have probably driven with these paddles for a good seven or eight days. They really make city driving a lot more fun. I mean, you aren't really pushing these babies to the max with all the traffic, but you definately get more variety with downshifting and upshifting. With these nice big paddles, changing gear is a breeze.

They are so tactile, and feel great. Initially I said that the paddles could be slightly thinner. However, I somewhat retract that statement. These "beefy" paddles feel REALLY good. This is what happens when I get into my car, EVERY SINGLE TIME: Open the door, legs go in, head tilts to slide into the seat, close the door, STROKE these paddles (Yes, sounds very sexy, it feels sexy), then turn on the ignition, fasten my seat belt, set the car in gear, and my hands go straight back onto the paddles!

If it wasn't for clearance issues, I would totally leave the paddles as thick as they are. Incase you couldn't see how thick they were in my videos, please try to rewind, and look at them now. There should be enough time for you to see the thickness. However, if you can not eyeball it, the thickness is around a good quarter inch thick, more or less.

As you saw in the video, it's impossible to activate your washer fluid, and flash your highbeams. You can NOT pull the stalks towards you, unless the steering wheel is turned. It's a small loss, but some of you may think that's bull crap. I mean, we spent our money on this car so everything would be functional. To me however, this isn't a problem, because the sacrifice is for something much cooler. First off, they look great, secondly, they actually do make GM's crappy design a lot better.

I really hope GM slaps itself in the face, and realize the buttons are shitty. I mean, Honda Fit's have paddle shifters, and better ones than ours. Yeah, that's right, I said it, and if you don't believe me, go to your local Honda dealer and check it out right now. This has always been the beef I have had with GM. You make one of the best looking cars in the world, cheap price per horse power, and you go lazy on something as important as a shifter? NO! SLAP YOU! >=(

Sorry for the rant. Back to the review.

Eitherway, there is not much more wrong with it. Again, it's all in the eye of the beholder. Some people will like this setup, and some won't. Keep in mind, this mod is a bolt-on. Nothing is glued, or permanent. All it takes is your tool box and you can put it back to stock anytime you want. Also, Hurst has told me the allen key I used to tighten the spacers, will be included in the final kit as well. Which makes things so much easier for you guys! Yay =D

Anyway, Hurst has done an exceptional job by giving us an easy way to turn crap, into gold. No bias here, just because Hurst sponsored me on this, doesn't mean I sold my soul. I am giving you guys the full scoop, good and bad, the way I see it. Heck, if I had to pay for these, I'd do that in a heartbeat, which I'm sure some of you will also do the same =) In all honesty, Hurst has no room for error here, they are only making the flaws of this car better. But that's just my opinion.

Let me know what you guys think yeah? Either leave a comment here, or comment on the SV6 youtube channel, or feel free to join the facebook page and leave your comments and requests there. =)

Sorry for the quick and dirty video, I was really tired LOL. =D As always, see you guys next time!

Hurst Paddle Shifter Prototype Review

 

There you go guys. The full scoop on the Hurst Paddle Shifters. Sorry for the super long video, although I think it was fully necessary for you guys to see as much as possible before deciding on buying this product.

I have mentioned this in the video description, but I shall say it again here: When I say "Flimsy" it does not mean cheap or easily breakable, I just simply meant it is flexible. =)

Some things I've noticed while driving since the installation, I had a hard time accessing the DIC controls on the signal stalk. I mean, it's no big deal, but little things like that would make you wish the design was different. However, I fully understand that this isn't Hurst's fault. The root of the problem is GM's design, leaving us very little room to improve on the stock setup.

For those of you who want to know the process, please feel free to read the Post Sema Show post. This, I feel, gives you guys more background knowledge, and what I had to do to get this opportunity.

THANK YOU KENJI! THANK YOU B&M RACING! THANK YOU HURST SHIFTERS!

Hurst Paddle Shifters Installed

As promised, I got onto the paddle shifter install today. In my opinion, it looks great. And no, they are NOT too big, they are the perfect size for shifting when the steering wheel is turned.

My initial thoughts and the review itself will be coming soon in video form. I also took the opportunity to record the install of the shifters for you guys to see. However, because there is so much on my plate lately, I will have to post that video up at a later date.

Coming soon, I'll have videos of my Vinyl Striping process up and running in the next day or two. If you want stripes, make sure to look for my blog post on the special Spades V6 coupon code with the Camaro Decal Store.

The Big, The Bad, and the Camaro

Feels like I can't do things fast enough. With work and daily life, I feel like I've been locked up, and I really want to burst out of this cage of excitement!

For those of you reading and coming to this blog on a regular basis, I appreciate it, and it will only get better. How much better?




My friend and fellow Camaro owner and I were hanging out yesterday. I tuned his car via the Trifecta tune, free'd up some locked ponies, and got rid of the nasty Check Engine Light left from his BBK Long Tube Headers. All in all, I think he was satisfied with the tune. Although, we are waiting for results of the tune's datalog. The video above was just a test video we shot with the GoPro HD Hero. In my opinion, the quality is top notch, though the Mic is crap. After my superior editing skills, and some epic background music, I thought it would be best if I made it into something more fun. Thus, I made it into a teaser for the upcoming videos.

For those of you who haven't yet, please subscribe to the Spades V6 Youtube Channel, and Join the Facebook page as well. For those of you who have, thanks!

Outrun and Spades

In other news, B&M Racing's own Kenji has e-mailed me this morning, telling me the paddle shifter paddles has shipped, even gave me a tracking number! It could possibly be arriving tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow. At that time, I will post teaser pictures for you guys, but no review. With consent from Kenji, and the B&M Racing team, I will do a full video review and install for you guys.

Going Pro, being a Hero

A couple of days ago, my GoPro HD Hero camera came in the mail. I've been trying to get used to it, so when I amp up the Spades V6 youtube channel, I'll know what I'm doing. Off the bat, the camera is super compact, and very impressive for such a small device. Frame rates, Angle of View, and Image quality are all top notch.

Yesterday, my family and I went to the local Auto Mall and checked out some cars. I used this time to try out the camera. Got a couple of pictures here to share with you all.

Whether you are a Camaro lover or not, who could deny the beauty of expensive cars? I had a good time, and fun experimenting with the camera.

Anyway, I haven't had time to really update any substantial Camaro posts these days; all in due time though.

I have a couple of things on my list I will be working on soon. I have to do an oil change, tune a friend's Camaro, wash my car, and apply my Grand Sport Stripes. All of which, I will be video documenting. In other news, I am expecting two more packages in the mail. Kenji from B&M Racing, has contacted me and told me that their prototype paddle shifter paddles have been successfully made, and he is sending them out to me for my thoughts and review. While the other package is a secret... only a select people I trust know what it is. I can tell you right now, some people will hate me for it, and some will love me for it. You'll have to stay tuned to find out. =D

If you haven't already joined the Spades V6 Facebook page, or subscribed to the Spades V6 Youtube channel, please do, and you'll be getting any updates I shout out.

Post SEMA show

A couple of weeks ago, I have mentioned that I had a small small role in a product line that was showcased at the SEMA show. It was purely a prototype product at the time, because the company developing it, wasn't sure if it was going to get the customers interest. Well, I have asked permission to show the aforementioned product that I had contributed to, and here it is.

Say hello to a new line of paddle shifters from Hurst. Hurst has done pretty much the whole range of shifters. They have many different types for the manual tranmission, as well as a few for the automatic transmissions. However, never before has a company made tap shift paddles for the automatic Camaros. Keep in mind my contribution is very very small, but I will give you guys the full scoop.

When I first bought the Camaro, I loved it. I have an automatic V6, so it means it comes with a tap shift manual mode. Of course, this is no where near as good as a manual with a clutch. Though I loved this car, one of the design decisions GM made had upset me. The tap shift controllers were not paddles like you would see in any other steering wheel shifting car. They are buttons behind the steering wheel, and ugly ones at that.

So began my quest to solve this "problem". I had began posting on the Camaro5 Forums to see if any other automatic drivers dreaded the ugly buttons. Much to my suprise, most people hated the buttons, but no one seemed to complain about it, or at least no one did anything about it. Some of the people were quite helpful, linking me to designs of paddles on other cars that they liked, which was a fantastic start. This lead me down a road in contact with a company in Germany who made paddle shift covers for Audi, BMW, and VW. For a month or two, this company and I e-mailed each other back and forth pretty much everyday. They had agreed to make the paddle shifters for the Camaro. It seemed like a dream come true. However, in the end, they wanted 100 units ordered before they were going to put it into production. They were scared of investing into R&D and not making any money. Completely understandable. However, nobody wanted to pay for something they have not yet seen, which was also completely understandable. This lead to a stalemate, so I had to sadly contact the representative and told him that the deal was a no go. No hard feelings in the end, but we all felt sad for the time wasted.

If you are religious, "When God closes a door He opens a window". This was true to the letter for my situation. A day after the deal with Germany had finished, I was contacted by a very nice man called Kenji. He turned out to be the Vice President of Engineering & Quality Control for B&M Racing/Hurst Shifters.

=O

He told me he had been reading on my full process for getting the paddle shifters, and he had wanted to let me in on a possible secret paddle shifter project. He asked me to be a part of the process. I SAID, "YES!" lol. This was back in July if I remember correctly.

We still keep in touch from time to time. He is busy making the prototype into a usable product. He also said that since SEMA, a lot of vendors can't seem wait to get this product into their stores. It still amazes me that this project is actually happening. Super Special Thanks to Kenji! LOL =D