Kenny McKee

Hey guys,
I'm going to be producing a video series regarding general rotary maintenance, and modification tips. Episodes will range from "Why Should I PreMix" to "How To Tune A Standalone ECU". Right now I'm gauging interest and episode ideas. I went to school for video production, and will strive to make this a top quality production with informative, in depth tutorials.

We can all agree rotaries are great cars wrench on and there is a giant wealth of information out there. My goal is to take that information and condense it into an easy access video archive.

I've submitted a KickStarter to fund production, and I'll be posting the link if it's approved.

I'd really like your input, fire away!

AZOG

this sounds great, i think a lot of people would appreciate a video series

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

Submitted a Kickstarter?! What ever happened to "I'll take the risk and so something I believe in!"?

On the basics of it, I don't see how it would cost much money at all. Since you were trained in video production you surly have a few high def cameras around, any decent computer will work for editing, and a rotary car.

Kenny McKee

I don't think you understand how expensive video equipment is. For the most part, in video production, we rent our equipment as buying it is not financially feasible. Also, whether or not the kickstarter passes isn't of importance to me. I just wanted to take something nice and take it to the next level. The lights alone would cost ~1500. Then we need a power source for the lights, new lenses, etc. I already have roughly $7000 invested alone. This was more to gauge interest and see if the community can band together if you catch my drift.

Either way, the show will go on, and maybe some time after it's actually tried and true with an audience will we be able to take it to the level I know it can be.

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

I understand a little about video production. Not at a professional level from all sides of course. But having worked on two TV shows as well as my own YouTube series, I do get it more than the average bear.

Have you considered that you don't need professional equipment these days to shoot an acceptable series for YouTube? I'm assuming YouTube of course but you may be planning to sell DVDs. In which case it might be hard to get that going since there are a million people like me giving it away for free (well, AdSense) on YouTube. I do find it massively surprising that $7K is needed when a thoroughly decent 4K camera is under $1000 and proper lighting can be achieved with a few bulbs/tubes of the correct spectrum from the hardware store, diffusers made of paper, etc. No, not "professional" level but certainly well past the acceptable threshold and better than 99.999% of what is being produced. Oh, I did forget about microphones though. A good set of wireless mics is half that $7K budget. But a reasonably acceptable set of wireless mics is $300.

I think the community would be very interested based on the response I'm seeing to my Cosmo Restoration series.

krnlpud

I would be very interested in this, there is still people like my self out there that are still getting into the rotary scene, that would enjoy seeing more videos on youtube about how to maintain a rotary and what mods to do first and how to do them.

stewie1350

That would be nice since im starting to get in the rotary world.

ruddyrid

iTrader: (8)

This would be pretty cool. Would I throw money down? Probably not...

Would I watch it? Hells yes.

Would I be willing to help with time/resources? Count me in.

fendamonky

iTrader: (6)

Honestly I don't think people should make "informative" channels for others to "learn" from unless the source is confirmed as being experienced AND correct.

I can't wait to NOT watch a video about "how to tune" produced by a novice non-tuner...

Kenny McKee

I appreciate your insult.

We are using a proven rotary shop in the Midwest. Having built and tuned multiple 7-8 second 1/4 mile rotaries, I'd venture to say they know what they're doing.

fendamonky

iTrader: (6)

This caveat is actually incredibly reassuring!!!

Based on your initial post it looked like you were just a fresh grad looking to practice some skills, but were still wet behind the ears when it comes to rotaries. I was worried it would be a case of the deaf trying to lead the blind Which shop is providing your technical knowledge?

Best of luck

Kenny McKee

When it comes to vehicles, I am not an ignorant person haha. My first car I ever owned was a 93 Eclipse GSX with 10,000 miles on it. I made 527whp when I was 16, built by myself. I've personally tuned subarus and evos for the past 2 years to great success. That being said, I am new to rotaries, so there's no way in hell I would teach how to tune them haha. The shop I will be referencing will be Sick Automotive, a small shop in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Believe me, when you see some of his builds, you'll immediately know what he's talking about. He ha his 8 second FC just sitting in his garage and it's an absolute beaut. For the most part, any FD tha goes through the lower midwest typically goes through him or his associate at one point in time. He works as a big engine builder for air pumps and has been working on rotaries for a looooong time.

You can check out the shop page here:
http://facebook.com/sickauto

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

Do they have experience building street cars? Or daily drivers?

Tuning 1/4 mile cars is easy. Tuning something which will start hot or cold, idle properly with the A/C on, be reliable for 100,000 miles, get above OEM fuel economy, etc. is a different world.

Big horsepower doesn't impress me much anymore. But now when someone tells me about the great tune on their car I ask "Can you reach through the window in -25 degree weather and start the car on one turn of the key?".

Look forward to seeing the videos.

RotaryBobby

iTrader: (4)

i would definitely love a sieries like that that granted its credible info seeing as I'm a rotary newb. Looking forward to the first volume. I would like to see some mods in the extra reliability department and hopefully some suspension tuning. i plan on building my seven for DD and slight canyon cruising. I'm more after great handling and not horsepower.

Kenny McKee

Yes Sick Auto has experience building drift cars, 1/4 mile cars, circuit cars, and street cars. My Half Bridge FD is built by them. (I'm personally tuning it to learn). They tune many cars, the shop owner is a stand up guy and he's more about helping the community rather than pumping out a bunch of subpar builds and raking in cash. We want to teach people to build and work on their rotaries so they too can help others.

krnlpud

This will end up working if you put a lot of time an effort into it, look at a classic example of the guys from mighty car mods, all they do is basic bolt on's, but when it comes to tuning custom turbo setups, they got to a local shop and have the techs walk them through what they need to do as far as tuning on a dyno or custom fabing up some pipes or turbo mounts, and these guys have made it into a big youtube show. Only thing different they do is they put on big car meets and they do not work on just one brand of car, they work on all kinds of imports.

Tem120

iTrader: (5)

Pros and cons , make sure you go into that .

Alot of people ( fatcat for one ) make these " informative videos that some how always lead to making their shocks sound like they are the fix for everything .


if you do go on with the series . Every mod has a pro and con .

premixing for one , yes premixing does eliminate the usage of dirty crank case oil as a lubricant , does not use up your crank case oil , it also disperses the lubricant alot more evenly then the OMP ,

But what about people who live on mountain roads . unlike the OMP , when you are off throttle no lubrication is reaching the engine

So make sure you explain that . there are pros and cons.

fendamonky

iTrader: (6)

Good point on pros vs. cons.. I'm fairly certain you example is fixed by just setting the injectors to still spray on decel though.

Tem120

iTrader: (5)

it bucks when you do that .

fendamonky

iTrader: (6)

Mine didn't, maybe whoever set yours up did something wrong?

struthiocamelus

But you have to hit the clutch.

Tem120

iTrader: (5)

Challenge accepted!

fendamonky

iTrader: (6)

Unfortunately I'm not my own tuner, so I can't tell you exactly what was done to make it smooth..

invinciblejets

Assuming it's proper knowledge I'd watch it.

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

Not really relevant. The engine is under a no-load condition in the first place. Secondly, the chrome surface of the housing is porous to retain lubricant.

Not easily done with a stock ECU. Also it's an insane thing to do in any event because you will end up washing the lubricating film off of the housing/iron surfaces with the unburned fuel, gas everyone behind you with the fumes, waste fuel, and pollute the oil with fuel.

Certainly not on my car, which is an '86, before that inane clutch switch. Obviously if one wants to be able to do this, one needs to bypass the clutch switch on later cars.