Old Pedal, Dead Pedal

When I first bought this 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, I was definitely happy with it. I mean, it's an STI! More importantly, it's my STI. When I talk about the STI, I hardly ever bring up the negatives, it's always the positives that stick out. However, when I first took the seat of the car, I had noticed right away that the dead pedal was this cheap plastic looking slab. I couldn't let that go.
Enter the Autospeed Dead Pedal.
It's quite expensive for something so small, around $40, but it was worth it to me. If you are thinking of upgrading your dead pedal, I would stay away from eBay ones. The eBay ones I've seen do not have raised rubber grips, but instead have painted black holes. To each their own, but that still isn't good enough for me.
I think you guys have seen enough of my videos, read enough of my blog posts to know that I'm meticulous in many aspects. So can you blame me for wanting this dead pedal? I mean take a good look at the STI's after the Hawkeyes, from 2008+, they have a HUGE dead pedal that matches the rest of the pedals. It would turn out, even Subaru felt that it was necessary to upgrade it!
So what to you guys think? Am I a bit crazy for spending money on this upgrade? Or would you yourself do the same?
Since the installation, I have driven the car for several months, and the dead pedal shows no signs of deterioration so far. I would definitely recommend this product, and I give this product a solid 9/10.

Back to Taiwan 2013

As mentioned before, Puyang and I took a two week trip to Taiwan during the show's hiatus. It was mostly a time spent with family and relatives. Of course, we also traveled all over the place to shop and try out the cuisine. If you have never been to Taiwan, you must go there the next time you want to travel to the orient. In this video, although not indicated, we traveled around nearly five different cities. It may all look the same to you guys, but it was quite different in each city. The people, the food, and even the climate was different between the different cities!

The EVO Taxi, shown in the video at 2:30.

One of you guys actually commented on the video and asked if this yellow EVO was a Taxi. Indeed it was! When Puyang saw this, he alerted me and we marveled at it. It was too bad that we had an appointment to meet with someone that night, otherwise we had wanted to ride in that Taxi. Upon close observation, that Taxi was lowered and had an aggressive camber setup too. Wouldn't you want to ride in that Taxi?

Anyway, we had a great time there, but we wished we had more time to film the modding scene in Taiwan. It's actually quite interesting.

Breaking it in

As the weather gets better and better, Thank God, our plans are seeming more and more clear. Some maintenance episodes will be released in this season because the STI is surely due for some. The GTI will be getting the well deserved camera love as well.

Shot from an upcoming episode.

However, the next couple of episodes will still be mainly focused on the WRX STI. Be patient guys, we are still planning on making watch worthy episodes. I am personally thinking of going Stage 2 by the end of this season. (75% sure)

There are still many things we would like to share, but we find it in bad taste if we say we'll do something and not end up doing it. We'll be sure to update the Blog if anything happens!

Rebirth

In an unexpected way, the first episode of the season being a car wash video is quite fitting. It's a preparation of the new year, it symbolizes a rebirth of water, being purified. Then there is the fact that we've never done a car wash video before. Although this isn't a tutorial video, this sort of style it isn't out of the realm of Machine Zealots. Plus, wouldn't it be slightly insulting if we made a how-to-video on how to wash your own car? ;)
I've personally always wanted to make more videos that focused more on stylized editing. This was one of those videos that forced me to do it that way. If I had just shot a bunch of footage of me washing my car, it would be very boring. (Not saying it isn't boring now...) So what am I to do? Well, push my editing abilities!
I've always been a fan of slow motion, but not just any kind of slow motion. I've always wanted footage to be time warped, able to manipulate the speed of footage from fast to slow, and vice versa. This always makes the video look more dynamic and interesting. If you have watched any of Zack Snyder's recent movies, you'll know the style I'm talking about.
This was one of the videos I had the most fun with in a long time. Hopefully you guys enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it.

The Line Up

While the winter season is slowly transitioning into spring, we are also getting into gear to create more episodes. Puyang and I have some ideas for the upcoming episodes, but Season 3 is not completely set in stone: Budget, mods, schedules, hardware upgrades, and episode ideas are just some of the things we are constantly dealing with. Machine Zealots will begin to upload new episodes this coming week. We have preview screen shots of the first three episodes.

Season 3 Episode 1 - An STI car wash

Season 3 Episode 2 - MZ Trip to Taiwan 2013

Season 3 Episode 3 - 2012 AutoX compilation

It may seem like we are starting off slow, but this is how we always start our seasons. Hopefully it will pick up soon! With the support of you guys, we are sure this season will be a great one!