MOTORZ TV

This MOTORZ TV Quick Tip shows you how to remove emblems/badges from your vehicle to replace with new or different ones.

Removing emblems (or badges as some folks call them) is a pretty common practice. Some smaller badges will pop right off if left in sunlight on a hot day without much effort, especially on newer vehicles. The older the 3M adhesive, the more effort it will take to remove it.

I've always used 30 lb "test" fishing line to do the job. You can wrap the ends around your hands, however you may find your blood circulation being cut off quite quickly which is why I recommend using a pair of rags or work gloves. Just be sure to move the fishing line (you can also use string or dental floss) slowly as it will heat up quickly and break on you if you're not careful.

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Chris Duke, host of the hit automotive DIY show MOTORZ TV, has been chosen by eBay Motors and CarDomain Network to host and perform parts installations on vehicles at the Ford Motor Company booth during next week's SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Both MOTORZ TV and CarDomain are content partners of CR4: The Engineer's Place for News and Discussion.

The automotive event will take place from November 3-5 and will showcase aftermarket products from SEMA manufacturers being installed on Ford's latest vehicles. Chris Duke and his MOTORZ TV crew will perform live installations daily, in addition to coaching enthusiasts (winners of the eBay 2009 Motors Master Contest) through live installations of their own.

If you can't make it to the SEMA Show, you can still get the scoop. MOTORZ TV will stream live video (with audio) the entire time that Chris Duke and the crew are on the show floor. Just go to www.motorz.tv and look for a link right on the home page to watch the live webcam stream.

About MOTORZ TV

MOTORZ TV is broadcast on cable television to over 1 million viewers through i2TV and published to over 40 distribution partners including CarDomain, StreetFire, YouTube, TiVo, SPIKE, and iTunes. Select videos are available via the MOTORZ TV Blog on CR4. For a complete list of videos, along with news and other information, visit www.motorz.tv.

In this episode, MOTORZ TV shows you how to install front and rear Hellwig anti-sway bars to improve the traction and cornering capabilities of a 2008 Ford Mustang GT. Reprising his role on MOTORZ from a year ago, David Wheeler (right) from Hellwig Products joins Chris Duke (left) once again.

Swapping out your stock sway bars in exchange for some high performance sway bars is not that difficult, and something you can easily do in a few hours on a weekend. All you need are a few basic tools (as covered in the episode). These include a low-profile floor jack and some jack stands.

Once you have one end of the vehicle jacked up, remove the old sway bar and then put on the new one. Repeat for the opposite end. It's really that simple. But if you haven't done this before, you should watch MOTORZ TV's previous Hellwig sway bar episode first. It provides a great step-by-step how-to of the process.

After you're familiar with the basics, click the link below to check out the latest episode. It's number 32 and the season finale in the second season of MOTORZ TV.

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In this episode, automotive enthusiast Brian Karas teaches you the basics of MIG welding for auto body repairs, fabricating custom brackets, and even household chores such as fence repairs. The video covers everything from setup and operation to the tools you'll need and the safety precautions you'll need to take. Metal inert gas (MIG) welding is the easiest type of welding to get started with, and it's a process you can perform right in your own garage.

When MOTORZ TV asked Brian which MIG welder he recommended, he named the Hobart Handler 140 because of its ability to run off of 115-volt standard household current and still get quite a lot done with it, using gas or flux cored wire, working with thin auto body steel all the way up to 1/4″ steel. Hobart Welders was very receptive to the idea when I contacted them, and I can't thank them enough for this amazing opportunity to work with their equipment.

We could have easily turned this into a half hour show, or perhaps longer, due to the amount of things we wanted to cover. We are already planning future episodes that are more in-depth, offer real-world automotive welding scenarios, as well as working with a plasma cutter. Your feedback on this episode is crucial to where we go next, so please take the time after watching this episode to post a comment below."

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Over a year and 29 episodes ago, MOTORZ TV started with a pilot episode where we installed a Magnaflow exhaust on our project Ford F-150 pickup truck. Man, a lot has changed since then. It was called "Truckblog TV" back then, a spinoff concept based on my truck blog called Truckblog.com.

I was asked by Magnaflow to write an article for Truckblog, much like I have been doing for the past 10 years or so. I had been thinking about trying a video install format for a while, and so Jason and I just went for it--the first episode of MOTORZ TV was born. That pilot also happens to be the only episode where we published a written install as well, available at Truckblog (and the only episode where I wear shorts and a t-shirt!)

Watch episode #1 and then watch this new episode (#29) and you'll see how far we've come over the past year!

As for installation, it's pretty simple. Jack up your car (or put it on a lift) and remove the old exhaust, then put on the new one. We really had to jack our Mustang up high in order to put the new over-the-axle pipes on, which is why I highly recommend (twice in this episode) to take your vehicle to a shop and use a lift. It's mainly a safety concern... you have to lift it extremely high so if you do attempt it at home, be sure to secure the front with wheel blocks, and use strong jack stands, and just be very very careful. Some exhausts come in three sections (like the F-150 install), but this Mustang exhaust is only in two parts which increases the difficulty level of the install.

One part of the install that can be very time consuming is the alignment. The Mustang has two exhaust cutouts in the bumper for the tips to sit just right. In order to align them you have to make sure that all your bolts are loose, then align the tip... tighten, align, tighten, etc. It can be quite a struggle, so just be sure to take your time... just when you think it's not going to fit, you wiggle or bang a pipe just right and it settles into place--right where you want it!

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