Oil Changes all around

Last weekend, Puyang and I finished shooting a brand new episode where we'll be changing the engine oil and filter on the 2012 Volkswagen Golf GTI. Puyang's GTI has already been broken in, and he'll be showcasing his stock GTI on the autocross course by the end of this year. Hopefully.

Screen shot from the GTI Engine Oil Change episode!

In any case, I had to get my oil changed as well if I wanted the car to be in tip top shape for carving the pavement at the upcoming autocross events. Since the last oil change, I had installed a brand new magnetic drain bolt on my Subaru. I took the time to take some pictures of this drain bolt for you guys to see. I think it's worth investing in!

Look at all those metal shavings caught on the magnet!

This drain bolt had gotten a tiny bit rusty. Mod time.

Painted the drain bolt with an old touch-up brush from the 2010 Camaro. It has a nice lacquer finish.

If you don't already have a magnetic drain bolt, I would highly suggest buying one for whichever car you drive. Puyang also installed a magnetic drain bolt on his GTI, but you'll get to see that in the full episode.

In the next two weeks, we'll be extremely busy. The first weekend will be spent at an import car show, and the following weekend will be our first autocross event of the season. In preparations for the upcoming car show, I have been trying to sharpen my knowledge on using the Canon EOS 5D Mk. III.

I am also expecting a 77 mm circular polarizer lens filter in the mail. Hopefully it will get here in time for the car show!

In the meantime, hope you enjoy some of the test photos I took with the DSLR.

Cone Killers

Today, Puyang went to purchase a helmet for himself. Autocross season has officially started, and although we haven't started going yet, we are looking forward to it. Puyang will be attending his first autocross session this year! We'll be sure to document these events on video for you guys to see.

In the meantime, Apex Performance and Machine Zealots are finalizing some discussions for some aftermarket parts. I'm really looking forward to modifying the STI, and making some more sponsored videos. What parts are we receiving? We'll be revealing that when time draws near.

Stay tuned!

2013 Vancouver International Auto Show

Machine Zealots attended the 2013 Vancouver International Auto Show near the end of March. There were many cars, but we only found a couple that interested us. My personal favorite was the Scion FR-S drift car revealed at the very end of the video.
This video will be, dare I say, the very last video shot exclusively on the GoPro cameras. If you follow the blog or the Facebook page, you may have noticed that we recently invested in a Canon EOS 5D Mk. III DSLR camera. Hopefully, with the new camera, there will be an added layer of depth in our videos.
At this moment, we are still talking to Apex Performance on some aftermarket parts. When we get them, we will reveal them to you guys.

New Arsenal Arrival

For nearly three years, Machine Zealots has been using only GoPro Cameras for our YouTube show. GoPro has been kind enough to sponsor us two cameras, which helped and will continue to help us with our videos. Although the GoPros were extremely versatile, I had found them to be limiting in several different ways. The biggest problem I had with the GoPro Camera was that it didn't have an adjustable lens. Without a manual focus lens, it lacked depth of field. If we were to continue in making quality films, I felt that a new camera would definitely benefit our production quality from here on.

Well, I finally pulled the trigger on a lot of goodies that will potentially add to our video content: Canon EOS 5D Mk. III, Rode Videomic Pro, Revo Video Shoulder Support Rig, extra batteries, memory cards, and more.

The entire film production kit is here.

The Canon DSLR mounted on the shoulder rig with video mic attached.

The camera is gorgeous and the other items are high quality stuff as well. After charging the batteries for the camera and the microphone, I took it out to the cars for a film test. I am still getting to know the camera as I'm writing this, but hopefully I'll soon have a firm grasp on working with this camera. In the meantime, take a look at the screen shots from some video experiments I played around with.

Very versatile lens: EF 24-105 f/4L IS USM.

Playing with the depth of field.

Testing some light leaks on film.

I am very excited to start working with these new tools, and I hope you guys will enjoy the videos to come!

First episode on the Golf GTI

We have been looking forward to filming the new project car on Machine Zealots for a long time now, almost a year to be precise, and we are proud to present the first official episode featuring the 2012 Volkswagen Golf GTI.
Since it's pretty much a brand new car, Puyang is taking it slow on the modifying front. This is just a small, but fun modification to the car.
The Audi S-Line shift knob is a great addition to the GTI. The style, and colors match perfectly with the interior of the GTI. In the video we mentioned that the shift knob style is all based on personal preference. Being in an STI myself, I am biased towards any shift knob that is more ball shaped than anything else. So, I love his new shift knob!
For those of you who own a GTI and are looking into this shift knob swap, this modification isn't cheap in price. I won't say how expensive this mod was, but I will conclude that most people won't find the price worthy of the upgrade.
In summary though, Audi does make high quality stuff, but that carries on the large price tag. This modification took a bit of time figuring out, but it wasn't hard. If you aren't familiar with taking apart your car, we hope this video will help.
To the people who don't own a GTI, we hope you enjoyed this episode as well. We will make more episodes on the GTI as time goes on. In the meantime, stay tuned for upcoming videos on car shows, mods, and maintenance on both the STI and the GTI.