Kartboy Shifter Stay Bushings

Continuing on with our little car journey, we install the Kartboy front and rear shifter stay bushings. Most cars are designed with comfort in mind as one of the highest priorities. Being a Subaru, this does not mean that aspect is overlooked. As a result of this, most cars, even sports cars, come with very soft rubber bushings all around. While the rubber bushings does indeed make the drive to the grocery store less tiring, it is inevitably one of those things most Subaru enthusiasts modify.
When it comes to the shifter bushing though, I think it's one of the lowest priority bushing upgrades needed for the STI. By installing these polyurethane bushings, you really tighten up the shifting feel, making each gear change more distinct. I bought the Kartboy short shifter, with the bushings together, and I'd say it was a fun installation, and a worthy mod. To be perfectly honest though, I think the short shifter is a more worthy investment in comparison.
By now, you probably already have the shifter bushings, and if you don't, I'd suggest getting a feel for it in someone else's WRX STI before you get it. What I'm saying is, it's not a must have. To each their own, right?
As for the quality, it's great. I can't say anything bad about it. It's what you would expect from Kartboy. It's a good product, though a good ten dollars off the listing price would be nicer.
For function? It does what it's set out to do. Limiting the "wiggles", the soft shifting, and the play between the gears. I don't even know how I rate products anymore, I should have that figured out. For the time being, I'll say this mod is a solid 9 out of 10.
What did you think about it when you installed it? I mean, it's no Turbo back exhaust. After I've installed the short shifter, I drove around with a smile on my face. After I've installed these bushings, I thought to myself, "Okay, I feel it."
Again, if you are on a budget, you can be getting other more important bushings first. Eventually, I think you'll want to change these anyway, just to get the "completeness" feels.

Kartboy Short Throw Shifter

The Kartboy Short Throw Shifter is probably one of the most popular short throw shifters out on the Subaru market today. I've heard tons of good reviews on this shifter when I was researching, and though many other brands had just as many good reviews, the Kartboy shifter seemed like a no brainer.
Needless to say, I am giving this shifter a five star review. The build quality is solid, and in some ways, it feels even more solid than the stock unit. The installation itself, as you can see in the video, isn't too daunting of a task. However, there are some little things we learned on the way to make the install even easier.
In one part of the video, we came up with an easy solution for re-installing the reverse spring pin. By using a paper clip, we bypassed one of the toughest steps in the installation. Try not using the paper clip, or equivalence, and see what I mean.
The only thing that could be a potential issue would be the reverse check cable under the car. Some people have had their cable utterly chewed up because of the spinning drive shaft. The solution to that problem is shown in this video, though it is referring to another video on the actual instructions on how to bypass it. If you are smart, you can do it just looking at this video.
The video it's referring to will be a future episode, relative to this one. However, once that video has been uploaded, viewers of this video will have the luxury of moving straight to that video.
I would say the difficulty of the installation is a 3/5. With the help of a partner, it becomes even easier. Installation time should be around an hour to three hours, depending on your skill level. Having the tools listed in this video will help the process as well. We know that people in the past have used substitute tools to do some of the tasks, but it's up to each person.
Again, overall super satisfied with this mod, and would recommend anyone who has a stick shift Subaru to pick one up. I'd say, a short throw shifter and a cat-back exhaust are the bare minimum modifications you must have on any WRX or STI.

Disabling the DRLs on the STI

I've been meaning to do this modification for a while now. If you are like me, and you hate seeing your daytime running lamps (DRL) turned on during the day, which are also your expensive HID headlamps, then you have got to take this important 10-15 minutes to disable them.
I'm sure if you own an STI, or WRX, or pretty much any Subaru, you have disabled your DRLs already. However, in case you have never done so, here is the video. I almost found it pointless to make a video on this, because it's so straightforward, but I can't stop myself from making videos on the STI; I'm sure you can understand why.
This is the second episode of Season 4 to air this year. Though we may be starting off slow, the episodes only get better from here on out!
Hope you enjoy the video, and hope it comes in handy to anyone who needs it. Stay tuned for more.

The Cobb Accessport V3

The Cobb Accessport is a great handheld tuning device. Cobb has done a great job making these devices for some of the most popular turbocharged cars to date, including: BMW, Ford, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, and of course, Subaru. When you buy an Accessport, Cobb will have already pre-installed some tunes that will make your car crank out more power; they have been thoroughly tested, so you don't need to worrying too much about your car breaking down. However, Cobb does have a disclaimer warning the user that they hold no responsibility in any damages, should you risk installing their tunes.
I have personally been using the Cobb Accessport ever since I bought the car, and it has been a great device. The Cobb Accessport even allows drivers to set things such as launch control, and flat foot shifting. I have been using the launch control feature a lot during autocross events because it gives me a consistent launch every time.
The Cobb Accessport v2 is a smaller device, but ultimately does the same things as the newer v3. The only difference is that the v3 has a larger full colored screen, so displaying real time data is much clearer and nicer to look at. There is also a nice new feature on the v3 that the v2 didn't have, an off button. That's right! I find this function very nice, especially if you plan on never removing the Cobb Accessport off its mount. In the previous version, you had to unplug the OBDII cable from the device every time you wanted to turn off the device. Even removing the key from the ignition will keep the device turned on. However, in this newer version, there is an off button on the top of the Cobb Accessport. It will prompt a message when you hit the button saying something like, "The device will turn off in 10 seconds. Hit any button to cancel."
If you leave it, it will shut down even with the cable plugged in. I found this feature as a major bonus on this new device. A small edition, but an important function in my honest opinion.
Pros and cons? Well, it is a much nicer device compared to the v2, but you'd be paying around $100 more for the v3 just for the bigger screen and the off button. The tunes are identical, so you will not be gaining more performance from this new device! If you are a person who just wants to load the Cobb tunes into your car and never plug your device in, I'd say stick with the v2. If you are someone who wants to have some nicer looking gauges, or if you just like having the latest new toy, then I'd say you'll love the Cobb Accessport v3.

Beatrush Forged Aluminum Pitch Stop Mount

This is the first installment of our "Next Stage" selection of modification installs. If you haven't seen the big reveal video, sponsored by Apex Performance, check out that video first to see what you can expect in future episodes!
This is the Beatrush Forged Aluminum Pitching Stopper Mount. Quite a mouthful; believe me, I've had my tongue tied more than once when I was recording the voice over for this episode. If you do your research online, this particular pitch stop mount is more expensive than any other pitch stop mount. Why the expensive price tag? Well, to be honest, they claim it's a much lighter product than its competitors, but we clearly debunked that in the video. To be honest, if you are looking at a pitch stop mount option, I would spend my money on a cheaper Kartboy one, or something similar. This Beatrush one is JDM, and is very nice looking; then again, this part is under your top mount intercooler, so aesthetics have no real play in this matter.
Any STI owner should buy a pitch stop mount as one of their first mods. It is extremely easy to install, and takes no more than a couple of minutes to install the actual mount. However, removing and installing the intercooler will leech the majority of your time for this install; we have a completely different episode for that process.
There was an immediate difference when I drove the car with the new pitch stop mount installed. The in cabin noise was slightly louder, but not to an annoying extreme. Most people will probably not even notice the increase in cabin noise depending on their current car modifications. There is slightly more vibration in the car, and in the gas pedal itself, but this was a good thing to me. Feedback! I love driver feedback. The pedal and throttle response seemed to have improved ever so slightly. There is noticeably less pitching when on and off the throttle as well. All in all, it made the driving experience much less 'sluggish'.
I'm sure some new engine mounts, transmission mounts, shifter bushings, and steering rack bushings will really change the feedback of the car. I'm really looking forward to the further changes on the car in the near future!
As always, we thank Apex Performance for their partnership on our show. They are real gentlemen, so please check them out for your modifying needs! They carry over 150 of the most popular aftermarket brands, and will match or beat the competition in price! Please check out their Facebook Page, or e-mail them.
Stay tuned to Machine Zealots for more information, updates, videos, and fun ;) See you guys next time!

Much needed Modifications

I have to say, the 2006 WRX STI is a very great car to boot. Having some experience taking this car to the autocross course really shows you the strengths and the weaknesses of the STI. The car comes with everything you need to go fast from factory: A set of super sticky summer tires, large Brembo brakes, 300 horsepower and 300 ft-lbs of torque, and a relatively light curb weight for an AWD car weighing at 3350 lbs. It's very fast, fun to drive, and it looks extremely handsome without having to look too flashy.

However, just like any car, it has its own fair share of downsides. One of the greatest weaknesses of this STI is that it is prone to understeering. However, once you are familiar with the car, and how to shift the weight of the car properly, understeer doesn't seem too big of a problem. Another weakness is that the peak boost takes slightly too long to reach (a.k.a. Turbo Lag). Again, all of these inherent car weaknesses can be overcome if the driver learns better car control.

The stock car has a lot of body roll, it was very apparent while I was driving, but since I was used to it, it didn't slow me down too much. However, many pictures that were taken of this STI reveals that it could use some suspension modifications. I suppose some sway bars, end links, and maybe a coilover setup wouldn't hurt huh? Don't worry, all these things will come in time.

As my aftermarket parts from Apex Performance are coming in the mail, I'm going to enjoy this car for what it is while I still have it. I love it!

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.

Goodridge Phantom Stainless Steel Brake Lines

Braking power has always been an important aspect to me from the beginning. If you have a fast car, you better hope your brakes can stop you even faster. Stainless steel brake lines are a no-brainer when it comes to upgrading your overall braking efficiency and performance.
This particular set is the Goodridge Phantom Stainless Steel brake line kit, they are higher quality, but as a result, slightly more expensive. However, this installation tutorial will work for other brands of brake lines, so feel free to look for other brands that may better suit your needs.
There are a couple of things worth mentioning when it comes to the install. As in all of these videos, I try to make the installations as professional as possible. What this means is, sometimes it's not as easy as it seems on film.
The number one concern I have for you guys when doing this yourself is the 10 mm nut that holds the hard line to the brake line: It is extremely hard to break loose. Some people have used alternate methods to break the nut loose. I've read that people have been using vice grips, and extreme heat. Basically, it's so hard to break loose that the 10 mm flare wrench actually strips the nut, making it completely impossible to remove.
The front brake lines were much easier to remove because you could push the hardline upwards to work a cresent wrench on the brake line. Because both arms are pushing and pulling against each other, this was enough force to break it loose. The rear was slightly trickier since the hardline could not be pushed up. This meant you could only use the flare wrench. The WD-40 does help a bit it seems, but not as much as you would imagine.
If you are removing that nut the same way I am, just remember this: If you think you are using enough force, it's not enough. If you could find a flare wrench adaptor, and connect it to a breaker bar, you will break that nut loose in no time. Since Torque equals displacement multiplied by force, we can conclude that the longer your wrench, the easier it is to remove.
The only other thing I should mention is that the brake fluid leaks everywhere when you remove the lines. Take your time to do things right, but clean up the brake fluid as soon as you can. That stuff will eat through your paint, especially on your nice calipers.
After the installation, bleed your brakes (another episode), and check for any leaks. If everything looks good, take it out for a spin and feel how much more precise the braking becomes. I haven't had time to take it to the track or autocross yet, but even when the brake fluid isn't being worked out in racing mode, the braking feel is much improved.

A much needed car wash

Since June 16th, the day of my first Autocross, I haven't had a chance to wash my car. As you may have noticed, it was raining non-stop. On the days that were good weather, the forecast for the following day was rainy again.

Finally, we get a full week's forecast of clear skies, so Puyang and I spent some time giving our cars a well deserved car wash. The STI definitely needed the car wash, especially from the brake dust that the Hawk HP+ had produced.

Before: Brake dust caked onto the wheel. Giving the Gold BBS wheels a nice "bronze" finish.

After: Oh hello Mr. Gold, I had almost forgotten what you looked like.

You can see that shine!

Puyang's GTI had been through a lot too. Due to his dedication of breaking in the engine, he had been driving the car a lot in rain and shine. White cars seems like such an easy color to wash, compared to black.

Puyang inspecting the paint.

After our hard work, we thought it would be a good idea to take some pictures of these clean cars, while we had the chance. So it was time to cruise around, and shoot some photos.

Puyang taking some pics of his car.

GoPro for the win!

Food for our cars.

All in all, it was a pretty productive weekend. Most importantly, we got to take in some sunlight, and take these beauties out onto the open road.

Two birds with one Car

I know some of you don't care when and how often we air the YouTube episodes, but I like to make strict schedules and procedures, and follow them to the letter. However, sometimes work and other things pile up, and these YouTube episodes get delayed. This week's episode will have to be delayed till next week. There is just no way I can maintain the quality I had intended for this episode, and air the episode in time.

The coming episode will touch upon the Bridgestone Potenza RE070s Extreme Summer Performance tires, as well as a slight overview of the current state of the STI on our show, our very own Project Impulse.

I'll be trying out some new editing techniques on this episode as well, and if successful we will be using it on many future episodes. All of the above takes time, so please be patient. However, because we aren't airing the episode on time this week, I thought it would be nice to show you guys some screen captures of our work in progress.

Three live cameras, synced together.

Spades doing most of the driving for the episode.

As mentioned earlier, there was an accident during our shoot. One of the GoPro cameras mounted on Puyang's lead camera car, fell off and made a huge tumble on the pavement. Camera C mounted on his car, caught the whole thing on film. Below are a sequence of four images, depicting what happened:

GoPro camera (Camera B) loses suction on the Honda Prelude and falls off. Both the Camera car and Subject car are moving at 40 MPH.

Distance between the two cars are consistent, as seen in the picture sequence. The camera is bouncing off the pavement, and flying towards the STI at an alarming rate. 

Spades behind the wheel, does a quick steering maneuver to avoid it. Not knowing it was the Camera at the time.

After the maneuver, Spades looks up and sees the missing Camera B on Puyang's car.

We actually have the footage from the falling camera as well. I went through that footage frame by frame, and counted the amount of times the Camera did a complete 360 degree tumble. It had done nine complete tumbles before coming to a complete stop on the pavement face down. In the footage, you see the back end of the Honda Prelude, and you see glimpses of the STI's hawkeye headlights coming towards it. There were some glimpses of the sky, trees, and other things as well. The footage was massively distorted, but I think I will include that footage for you guys anyways, lol.

It's just a thought right now, but I might use the footage we have right now for two episodes. Since this week's episode will be delayed, I'd like to make it up to you guys, and possibly give you guys two videos on back to back weeks. I'll see what I can do to keep you guys entertained.

That's it for now! Stay tuned!

The Good, the Bad, and the Handsome

This morning, the Machine Zealots team set in motion to do some massive filming for the next episode. One of the viewers had asked us to talk about the difference between Performance Summer tires and Performance Winter tires. The episode in progress was meant to touch upon that subject, but mainly, it has been a while since we've shown some good old driving videos! That is all the information we are going to release on this episode for now. However, if you are interested in todays process, feel free to continue reading.

GoPro Cameras setup!

We'd like to thank GoPro for sponsoring us these two new cameras, because for shots like these, having more than one camera is very benefitial. If you are a frequent race car driver, investing in one or two of these cameras are a must. More cameras, means more angles, means more footage in one pass. We actually had to rotate the three cameras around three times in different locations, giving us nine different angles to use in our final edit.

STI ready for action!

Puyang, as our second camera man today.

We woke up at 9 AM this morning, planning out our shooting route, pit stops, and the different angles needed for today. We left home base around 10 AM, packed up all the cameras, tripods, and other equipment. We proceeded to shoot on our most familiar location, which I like to call it, the Machine Zealots' Test Track, lol.

Puyang and the STI.

Admiring the STI, while the car cools down.

We finished shooting part one around 12 PM. We went back to home base and set up Puyang's car to be the camera car. This would give us more dynamic shots of the STI as it's driving. On the way to our destination, one of the GoPro cameras fell off his car and did a massive tumble on the pavement! I was behind Puyang at the time, thank God, and saw some plastic thing fly towards the STI. We went back to pick up the camera, and found it like this:

GoPro lens and case is beat up from falling off moving car.

As I ran for the dropped camera, several cars seem to have just ignored it, and drove on through it. Luckily the camera avoided its ruthless demise since it had dropped in the middle of the street, and avoided all the tires of the oncoming cars. We met up at the nearest pit stop, and checked the condition of the camera. The good news is, the camera was STILL SHOOTING! I'll be sure to include the dropping of the camera in our final edit, it made us all laugh. We finished up around 12:30 PM, giving today a total shooting time of two and a half hours. I'll have more previews from our edit for you guys to see as soon as I find the time to compile them!

Stay tuned.

Oh yes, one last thing, we are on Instagram, so be sure to follow us if you are interested in some Machine Zealots daily life adventures!

The HVAC Cluster Light Conversion

The time has finally come to debut the marvelous HVAC cluster light conversion. From reading countless forum threads it occurred to me that this is one of those mods you just have to do if you own the 05-07 STI. As mentioned on some previous blog posts, the STIs made in these years were in this weird transitional period. From the year 2008+ the STIs have come stock with beautifully red light interiors. Hopefully these conversion episodes help my fellow Subaru brothers and sisters.

Obviously, if you don't like red, you can use any other color. I actually have a friend who changed all his interior lights to illuminate blue! It was different, but fit his car quite well. Of course, if you don't mind the green, you don't need to lift a finger.

This conversion is based on a couple of old forum discussions, so I can not take full credit. However, I will say I have made a couple of improvements to fix issues that were mentioned from the old forum posts. One of the major problems people had were the lights not being bright enough. Another major concern was the dial face buttons seemed to get stuck, or unable to push down all the way due to the wires and lights. I am proud to say, my mod worked out perfectly. You can see the red lights during the day, eventhough you wouldn't really need to, and it looks beautiful at night.

As always, these articles written after the video are always a way for me to give you guys some tips, tricks, and important afterthoughts on my modding process that I may not have been able to show on film.

To set you guys on the right track, I will tell you exactly what I used for this mod. The lights are Red 5mm straw hat LED 3.2v 5000 MCD with Wide Angle. These details are very important. The 5mm LED is a must if you want it to fit inside the dials. 5000 MCD (Millicandela) just means it illuminates very bright. The higher this number, the brighter it illuminates. I used 3 of these lights per dial, giving a total output of 15000 MCD. You won't need anything higher than 5000 MCD, unless you are running less LEDs per dial. Many people in the past have sanded down the LEDs so the light looks more diffused on the dial. I strongly advise you not to. The face of the dial already diffuses the light for you, so you don't need to sand down each light. Sanding it down will only lower your illumination output. Make sure you purchase wide angle ones as well, if it's not wide angle, you will get hot spots on your dials since it doesn't illuminate evenly enough. However, if you choose a different LED setup than mine, then you will need to calculate what sort of setup you'd like to do, and what kind of resistors you will need to purchase. For my setup, I needed three 150 OHM Resistors 1/4W 5% Carbon Film. I chose to wire my LEDs into three parallel series because it's just easier to fix when one dial malfunctions. For the wire, I just picked up some old telephone lines, and stripped them. The wires are extremely thin, so be extremely careful with them. Lastly, I would advise that you guys use heat shrink tubing instead of electrical tape, where possible. This will give you guys a much cleaner and secure connection as time passes by. I honestly just got lazy, lol. Now, mind you, whether you are a professional at soldering or not, this is not an easy mod. It will take plenty of time and patience on your part. There are many risks to this mod if you aren't careful and precise, so please DO NOT DO THIS MOD UNLESS YOU ARE CONFIDENT!

Otherwise, the results speak for themselves. As time goes by, I will continue to convert the rest of the interior to illuminate red. As of this moment, I'm not 100% sure if I'm going to bother with the Head Unit, since I still want to go with an aftermarket double din, but we'll see.

Subaru STI Engine Oil Change

If you are a veteran reader on this blog, you would have realized I've written about oil changes many times already. Although this is the first oil change for the STI, the basic concepts are still the same. With safe practice, drain out the oil, change the filter, and fill your car with new oil.

When I first started playing with cars, the oil change was the thing that got me confident enough to work on everything else. If you are a person willing to do stuff yourself, but just haven't gotten the time or courage to do so, please take my advice, follow my video, and try this out for yourself. This euphoria is developed with a combination of dirt on your hands, the smell of oil, and just hearing the clicks of your socket wrench.

As promised, I was going to review how the German Castrol Syntec differs from the oil that was in my car previously. On start up, the Castrol Syntec definitely makes the engine purr. It feels smooth, and quiet on the road, but when you put your foot down, it feels like the clean oil unlocked some of those missing horses. However, this is not conclusive, since I did not do any speed tests to compare, but my butt dyno was happy. You can argue that a clean filter with clean oil, regardless of brand, will always make the car feel faster. Yes, that is correct. However, hearing nothing but good things about German Castrol, I couldn't help but give it a try. It's relatively cheap in price, and it's available locally, so why not?

I will see how this oil performs over time, and I will write about it if anything comes up. For those of you looking for the part numbers used in this video, here they are:

Oil Filter 15208AA100
Drain Plug crush washer 11126AA000
Magnetic Oil drain plug 32103KA000

One last note about the oil change: If you don't feel like re-installing the skid plate, that is completely fine. Many Subaru drivers don't bother placing it back. I do it because it's quite rainy where I live, so I don't want my undercarriage getting all dirty and rusty for no good reason. It really only takes five minutes of your time to install and re-install.

AWD and Winter Tires

In the autumn of 2011, I had prepared for the upcoming winter by placing on a set of Dunlop Winter Tires. In the hopes of filming an awesome snow episode and a full review of the tires, I had waited a long time for snow to fall. Just a couple of days ago, snow had fallen, but there was only five to ten centimeters of precipitation. There was only enough snow for me to drive and test the tires in, but not enough snow for a good shooting location. Therefore, as of now, I cannot deliver a snow episode. However, I could give you guys a written review.

When I had initially put on the new tires, Spades had reviewed that the tires were extremely soft compared to the summer tires. However, since winter tires were made for extremely cold temperatures, it wasn't until the snow fall that I could see how great these tires were. I was able to push the car faster than most cars on the road with the same amount of confidence. It hardly felt like I was driving on snow and ice and if there was a loss in tire traction, the Symmetrical AWD system more than made up for it.

In a small open parking lot, I had an opportunity to test the grip of the tires with a simple skid pad turning excersize. With the steering wheel turned to full lock, I had started to experiment with different speeds, gears, and weight transfers. At speeds enough to swing yourself out of your seat, the car finally started to lose traction. However, you can't even blame the tires or the AWD system, at those sort of speeds, it was all physics baby!

Stop and go traffic on a snow covered incline plane was simple as well, absolutely no loss in traction.

In conclusion, these tires were a very good investment. However, I am pretty sure most winter tires slapped on any AWD Subaru will give you similar results, so feel free to check out other brands and models. Also, just a reminder for everyone that AWD plus winter tires does NOT make you invincible. If you are driving 60 MPH on a snow covered zig zag mountain run, please attempt at your own discretion. More than likely, you will lose traction, and physics will dissapoint you as you drop to your doom. Yes, based on what I said, it sounds like I felt invincible, but I was also driving safely and responsibly.

If there is more snow fall in the coming weeks, I will try to film something. Otherwise, drive safe everyone!

German Castrol Syntec

If you are a car enthusiast, you have probably read about motor oil at some point. Which brand makes the best oil? Should I use synthetic oil or not? What grade of oil is best for my car? These are just some of the questions people constantly ask. I'm no motor oil expert, but I do trust BITOG (Bob is the oil guy) because he has taken so much time to experiment, test, and write about different oils. If you don't know him, please go to his website, and learn all there is to learn about motor oil.

With that being said, the choice of oil for my next oil change is based on BITOG and the recommendations of thousands of automotive enthusiasts: Introducing Castrol Syntec 0w30, made in Germany. (A.K.A. German Castrol or GC)

Oil on the left is made in Germany, and oil on the right is made in the U.S.A.

Look carefully at the back. It has to say "Made in Germany". No exceptions.

If it says "Made in the U.S.A.", this won't be the oil everyone is raving about.

Both of these are German Castrol. On the left is the new GC blend, the oil is gold in color. The one on the right is older GC blend, the oil is dark green in color. Blending the two together, if you somehow own both, is completely alright.

Some of the benefits people have found using German Castrol are: Increased fuel economy, improved speed and acceleration, smoother cold starts, and a quieter engine all together. Honestly I can't wait to try this oil, I've already used Mobil 1 and American Castrol Edge in the past, so I should be able to compare the oils. I'll tell you guys more about that later.

I know I've said that I'm taking it slow on spending on mods this season, but I'm actually suprised there is still so much to do, even if you force yourself on a budget. Here are some of the things you guys may see in the next couple of weeks on the Youtube channel!

STI OEM Lamco Boost Gauge lighting change.

Installing the RX Sponsored Oil Catch Can.

Subaru WRX STI engine oil and filter change.

I'm also getting really addicted to converting everything to illuminate red, I've already ordered some LEDs and resistors for the HVAC conversion. The I/C Spray button, HID height adjustment knob, window and lock switches, will all be eventually converted to red as well. I'm not sure about converting the Head Unit though, because I'm planning on getting an aftermarket one. However, if you guys really demand a video tutorial, I'll try to fit that into my schedule. I thought this winter would be boring, but I was wrong.

Oh, and I'm also gathering some money to get the new GoPro HD Hero 2, hopefully it will come during Christmas time. ;)

Changing the Ignition Ring Light

People do many different things to their car based on how they use it. Some people strip their car and spend thousands of dollars making their car lighter. While others do the opposite, they dress up their car with leather, suede, lights, subwoofers, and DVD players.

In the past, the Subaru Imprezas were illuminated in a sea of green gauges and controls. When the 2004 Subaru WRX STIs came to the market it had come with red gauges, but green was left everywhere else. This trend carried on to the 2007 STIs. Unfortunately, the years from 2004 to 2007 were caught in a transformation stage. By the year 2008, the STIs were fully illuminated with red gauges, dials and buttons. They even had red footwell lights equipped to illuminate when the doors opened. Needless to say, this brought a greater sense of harmony for the interior.

Many of the 2004-2007 owners have already converted their interior to illuminate full red, and boy does it look awesome.

This mod is just one small step for you to complete that red look. When you open the driver door, the ignition ring illuminates for the ease of the driver. This mod looks incredible during the night, and I suggest that you try this out if you have nothing better to do!

As I have mentioned in the video, you can easily find these kind of light bulbs online from most web lighting stores. You can even find them at local electronic stores. However, after doing lots of price matching, I came to the conclusion that eBay was by far the cheapest. Look for deals, and check the shipping price! Popular online lighting stores charge you $2 for the light bulb, but depending where you live, their shipping fee is as high as $10! I bought TWO light bulbs for $1 and free shipping. Incase one is defective, it is always nice to have a back up.

Well, I hope this video was helpful for my fellow Zealots. I have plans to convert the full interior myself to illuminate red. If you guys are interested, please be sure to subscribe to the Youtube Channel, and join MZ's Facebook page for updates.

Happy modding!

One dollar mod, worth a million bucks?

As winter approaches, everything from Machine Zealots will be slowing down a bit. Expect the worst, but if you want premium content, I'll still try to deliver as much as I can. Frankly, I don't think I can live without modifying, or making videos anymore.

I had originally wanted to produce and upload an episode of Machine Zealots every week. However, I soon realized that if I had done it that way, it wasn't enough time to produce polished and consistent content. Therefore, I am aiming for a biweekly ritual: Shoot, edit, produce, and deliver.

Most of the time, I am waiting for packages to come in the mail for me to get started. Then it's all about arranging people to help out, participating in the videos, and the planning!

The next DIY mod. Costed me $1.00 including shipping.

I will be working on the next two videos sometime this week and possibly the next. Everything is circumstantial though, if this $1 mod isn't defective that is. I've been looking at the statistics, and it seems like Machine Zealots is averaging around three subscribers per episode uploaded. I just wanted to take this time out to say thank you for your support. Your subscriptions, comments, and continual support is priceless to MZ.