Stacey David

03.23.11 - GearZ Team Update

Hopefully you've seen the banners here for the Revell/GearZ National Model Car Championships, and you are wondering what it's all about. Well, it wasn't just a promotion to get everyone to build models; it began as an idea that we had to get you to build anything. Models are great, and a terrific way to express your creativity, and we're hoping to see a bunch of GEARZ viewers put together a hot rod for the contest, but our main intent was to inspire our audience to go out there and do SOMETHING with your hands. It really doesn’t need to be automotive related, it could be a birdhouse, a doghouse, or just fixing that old lawn mower you keep looking at. 

We're getting a ton of entries, some of which are shown here on our site, but even if you're not entering the contest, feel free to send us some examples of what you have built. We're always interested in seeing what you're doing in your garage, just as you tune in to see what's going on in ours. One of our judges and a friend of GearZ, Roy Sorenson, have done a great article on how to photograph your models.  Check it out, because this will help you get the best images of your masterpiece.    And remember, if you are not entering the contest, you can send in pics of Hot rods, muscle cars, race cars, planes -- we want to see them all. 

Also, don’t forget to think outside the box when you are building something.    A great example of that is to take the detailed Flathead V-8 in Revell's '48 Ford Convertible kit, and slip it into their '32 Ford full fendered Street Rod kit.   It fits like a glove!   You can scrounge up a set of headers from the parts bin (from an old Monogram Chevy S-10 kit), the big and little tires, slotted mag wheels, and  add some piano wire for the radiator supports, and you end up with a very simple build that looks a lot more complicated than it was.   Check out the pics of the car done just like that from one of the entrants.

  

So get going, and start building….and good luck!

The GerZ Team.

03.02.11 - GearZ Team Update

What’s Workin in Stacey David’s Shop?

We don’t like to think of things as “Junk”…..because one person’s junk is another person’s treasure.....and gearheads LOVE to treasure hunt!

Stacey was digging in the Junk Yard not to long ago and stumbled across an old Nissan Patrol that was about to go in the crusher! Of course he had to rescue it and bring it home to the GearZ shop. It is just way too cool of a rig to be smashed into nameless pile of metal, and then be recycled into a filing cabinet for someone’s office. That’s what Yugo’s were for!

The Nissan Patrol is a four-wheel drive vehicle that was manufactured by Nissan in Japan, beginning in 1951. This Yellow Nissan Patrol came with no title, but it looks to be a late 60’s, early 70’s model. The Patrol was available as either a short-wheelbase (SWB) three-door or a long-wheelbase (LWB) five-door chassis. You don’t have to look very hard at a Patrol to see the Influences of the Jeep, the Early Bronco, the International Scout, the Toyota land Cruiser and even the English Rover. With it’s tough, straight 6 engine, the Patrol was always regarded as a tough 4X4 in Australia, the Middle East, Europe and the Caribbean and since very few were imported to the U.S., seeing one is rare. Finding a rust-free example in a junkyard is unheard of, and definitely a vehicle worth saving.

Don’t be surprised if you see this rig appear on the show from time to time, and who knows what Stacey may do with it!

Hopefully this will encourage you to go dig up a project of your own. They are out there……you just need to find ‘em……and then show ‘em off to us and everyone else!

Happy Hunting!

02.17.11 - GearZ Team Update

What’s workin’ at Stacey David’s Shop?

Stacey has been busy this week working on the V8 Interceptor for Season V! The question is…..can you look at the following pictures and find the differences in the cars? Of course we threw in a bunch of stuff here….some are obvious, some not so obvious….just to throw you off track. There are seven things different between these two photos. If you are not finding seven, then obviously you are missing something…….!! If you are unable to locate them all, I guess you’ll just have to wait for it to air on Speed!

02.07.11 GearZ Team Update

The Revell contest is on its way! We are ecstatic to see some entries starting to come in! We are receiving entries from people ranging from 15 years to over 70 years old! That’s fantastic!...... keep ‘em coming.

Here’s a few things we wanted to follow up with for all of you Gear HeadZ out there currently doing, or planning to do a Model for the contest. We just started this contest January 15th we have some really good entries so far, but some are missing angles of the cars and pictures of details and that will affect the way it is judged.

So, we put together a little tutorial to help show you what we are looking for and how to take the pictures for your entry. Click here and it will help give you an idea of what we are looking for when you turn in your pictures! Remember, since we can’t see it in person, the only thing we have to go off of it your pictures, so make ‘em nice!

Where do you turn in your pictures???? Well,….. just click here. This link will lead you to the site to gain your entry form.

Since you are building a model car, check out this new T-Shirt we have in our GearZ Store! This shirt will be available for purchase Feb 16th, and will allow you to tell everybody “I do Models”.

Oh, and one last thing to remember on this contest……. Age doesn’t matter, as long as you are over 13 years old!

 

02.01.11 - GearZ Team Update

What’s Workin at the GearZ Shop?

Stacey and Crew took to the road in the ice and snow, and visited the legendary Bigfoot 4X4 shop in St. Louis! What a great time it was! If you’ve never been up close and personal beside a Monster Truck before, you need to do it sometime…… because it is quite a mind blowing experience! Kind of like experiencing that big roller coaster you’ve seen on TV commercials, you really don’t get the ”wow” feeling until you actually are in it going up the first hill!

Just in case you are wondering, the tires are huge, 66x43x25 Flotation Tires and the average cost is about $2000 each! That is a lot of rubber for sure. If that’s not big enough for you, BIGFOOT #5 uses 120x48x68 tires that stand a towering 10 feet tall! Hmmmm I wonder how they get up into it? .

….and here’s something else to ponder……Have you ever wondered where the name Big Foot came from? I’ll give you a hint….. It’s not what you think……
We could tell you now…..but you’ll just have to wait and see…….

 

 

01.27.11 - GearZ Team Update

What’s Workin at the GEARZ shop?

Stacey was using an Arbor Press while working on a Bronco this week for an upcoming Episode. The Arbor press allowed him to press fit splined lug studs into a piece of steel plate for the spare tire carrier. For those of you that don’t know what an Arbor press is, they’re not just really cool….. they’re also a great tool! Here is some quick info about it:

The arbor press is a mechanical advantage press, and will allow you to press in bushings, bearings and races, replace u-joints, remove things, assemble things, and perform numerous other tasks that are required in a shop. Of course the only real danger of operating an Arbor press lies in crushing parts of your body during operation, particularly your fingers, and the possiblity of parts shooting out of the press at high velocity and hitting somebody across the room. This can cause excessive screaming and gnashing of teeth!

The arbor press is one of the first tools you see when you walk into many garages, and we think it’s time to see more. So, Stacey is going to give away 4 Arbor Presses from Dake in Season V to lucky WAYWO (What Are You Workin' On?) entries! Jump on it and sign up to win! Go to www.whatareyouworkinon.com

01.20.11 - GearZ Team Update

What’s Workin at Stacey David’s GearZ studio?

We are going to start adding some GearZ Team updates to the blog to help keep you guys in the loop of what is going on around here. So, here is the first of such offerings...

There are many twists and turns taking place for all you GearZ HeadZ starting February 26, 2011. Oh, did we say February 26, 2011? That is right; Season V will start airing on SPEED Saturday, February 26th at 9AM EST. So, be sure to mark your calanders and tune in!

The following are pictures from one of the upcoming shows that is coming in Season V. Wonder what Stacey is going to do with these?

  

~ The GearZ Team

10.19.10 - SEMA Show 2010

Well, it’s that time of year again and the SEMA show is approaching fast.  For those that don’t know, SEMA is the aftermarket, and the SEMA show is one of the biggest conventions to hit Las Vegas.  At SEMA you will see every type of car or truck you can imagine, and every kind of aftermarket product you can dream of. It is fantastic, and something every gearhead should experience at least once in their life!

However, this year there is a little different feeling going through the aftermarket, because 2010 has been a tough year on the automotive world. With the damage that Cash for Clunkers did, and the numerous other legislative battles that went on this year, the aftermarket has come to the realization that it IS possible that one day, it could actually be illegal to work on or modify your vehicle.  I know this sounds crazy, but if you saw some of the legislation  that tried to sneak thru Congress this past year, trying to regulate what you can and can’t do to your vehicle, you would not believe it.    

As in most cases like this, the key to keeping the freedoms we enjoy is to fight for them, and that’s one of the main purposes that SEMA serves for the automotive enthusiast.  The problem is,  SEMA can’t do it alone.  They need all of us to get out and get involved in the industry, and help by voting for the people that are going to support our industry.   

The amount of jobs that the aftermarket supplies in America is staggering.  We are talking  hundreds of thousands of jobs in repair and maintenance, restoration and customizing, racing and performance, and off-road and leisure.  The good news is, the industry has really started to come together and standup against the legislation that could crush it.  For example, all the major magazines from Source Interlink,  are running articles talking about this very issue and how you can get involved, so if you get a chance you may want to check one out.

And that brings up the point of this blog.  Everybody knows you can’t sit on the sidelines and watch a game forever.   Sooner or later, the game ends and the teams leave and you are left sitting in some empty bleachers, looking at an empty field, wondering where everybody went.  The only way to keep enjoying the game, is to be  actively INVOLVED  in the game in some way.  That way, where ever the game goes, it takes you with it.  

So I encourage you to get involved in whatever way you can to support this industry.  Vote...join a club…restore a vehicle…buy some parts…start a business…join SEMA…go to a race…whatever you can do.   That way you can be sure that 10 years from now, when you go out to the garage to go for a spin, you’ll know there’s actually something sitting IN the garage that you’ll enjoy driving.

 

07.27.10 - THE V8 INTERCEPTOR

The idea for the V8 Interceptor has been bangin’ around in my head for a number of years, just waiting for a chance to get out. I have always loved the early Mercury Cougars and figured I wasn’t the only one, so I knew that people would want to see a high performance street machine project that wasn’t just the typical early Mustang or Camaro. I also wanted the feel and direction of the buildup to be based around the natural mystique of the Cougar. These cars with their hidden headlights and sequential taillights were always very sinister and menacing looking on the street, very much like a smaller coupe version of the legendary 68-70 Dodge Charger. When you add to that the fact that a four-footed Cougar is one of nature’s most perfect natual “interceptors”, you’ve got the basis for a great project. I mean, in the wild a Cougar will chase down a Mustang or Firebird, or Impala and eat it!....... is that a great visual for a hot street predator or what!?!

But it didn’t just stop there. Calling a project “the V8 Interceptor” takes a lot of balls, because you’ve got to be able to back that name up, just as the legendary Mad Max car did years ago. So I definitely wanted to add in a little flavor of the original Mad Max car, but also step beyond that and build a car that nobody has really considered or visualized yet. This is, of course, is one of the main purposes and goals of GEARZ. To encourage people to think beyond the boundaries, and limits that they already know and see, and get really creative when they are building their projects. Just because you have a Chevelle or Roadrunner doesn’t mean you have to build an SS or 440 six pack clone. There are SO many other things that you can do to these cars to make them different and up-to-date without destroying the original magic of the car. And if you take your time and do it right, you’ll probably end up with a car that is more valuable and definitely more cool then just another clone, and the idea behind the V8 Interceptor is to prove that point.

The center piece of this project is the incredible Boss Nine engine I am using from Jon Kaase Racing. From the outside this thing looks just like the legendary Boss 429 but this is 520 cubic inches of Ford Hemi that is twisting the dyno at just under 800hp and an astounding 700ft/lbs of torque! Mash the throttle on this thing, and all that torque could affect the Earth’s rotation! Topping it off will be a custom Hilborne 8-stack injection that is going to stick up thru the hood with ram tubes going all different directions. Intimidating???...... you bet!

Backing that up is the new Magnum 6spd tranny from Tremec that is designed to handle that kind of power, and an entire clutch and driveshaft system from American Powertrain.

The only way an engine this size will fit in an early Ford is if you remove the shock towers, and using a kit from Total Cost Involved we did just that. We removed the shock towers and installed TCI’s state of the art independent front suspension that includes a complete subframe assembly to stiffen the unibody. A TCI rear torque arm suspension will do it’s best to plant all that power to the ground and pulling everything to a stop are are Wilwood 13” rotors and 6 piston calipers in front, and 4 piston calipers in rear. The rearend is the massive Fab 9 nine inch Ford from Currie Enterprises and it’s packing a tru-trac posi and forged 31 spline axles.

To bring the original interior and body back to life, we hooked up with the Cougar specialists at West Coast Classic Cougar for things like upholstery, weatherstripping, sheetmetal, etc, and for any Mustang parts we may incorporate into the project we have been using Mustangs unlimited, Year One, and other suppliers.

Of course this is just the tip of the iceburg on this project, but hopefully you get the idea. So what am I going to do with the car when it’s done? Well……… the plans are definitely to run road courses and other racing events like the Maxton Monster Mile…….Blast it down the drag strip from time to time…….Drive it across country on events like Power tour and hit some shows like SEMA so people can get a good look at it……and at some point, take it up over 200 MPH just to show that it can be done. But,…. let’s not forget the most important job of a car like this……to run down and eat anything that tries to get ahead of it…….because…..well…….that’s what Interceptors do! HA….ha……ha…..

Hope this helps

05.28.10: News Updates.... We're Back!!!!

It has been a while since any new episodes of GearZ have aired on Speed.  Well, that is all about to change!  Tomorrow morning, at 9:00am EST, new episodes will start back up.  We have been very busy getting them all filmed and edited so we could get them to you as fast as possible.  Plus, Speed ordered 2 more episodes for this season!  So that will make for a total of 15!

So what have we been up to?  Well, in this weekend's episode Stacey rolls in a '59 Ford Stepside Truck that is being built by the Herobox organization to help raise awareness for their goal of sending Heroboxes to all of our men and women serving in the Military.  It's a great cause and a great truck and both need to be seen!  The truck has already received a lot of modifications, but Stacey adds his special touch by installing custom wood in the bed, trying out a new roll-on bedliner, and sinking some cool 60's Corvette taillights into the rear fenders.    If you've got an old truck and have been wondering how to bring the bed and fenders up a notch... this show will definitely give you some ideas!  After that, Stacey shows you just how important having the proper work table is, and the kind of things you can do if you have one.  It's all about the tools... it's all about the techniques... it's all about GEARZ! Click here to go to our website for a sneak peak.

Another new episode will air next Saturday, June 5th as well.  You WON"T want to miss this one!  Ask any gearhead what they dream about doing, being a Blue Angels Jet pilot or an Astronaut will be right at the top of the list.  But what is really involved in being a pilot for the Blue Angels?  Well on this episode of GearZ,  Stacey takes a look at the incredible history of the Blue Angels, and where they are today.  Then as only GEARZ can do,  Stacey takes you into the cockpit and allows you to experience firsthand the incredible experience of flying with the Blue Angels.  If sitting on top of thousands of horsepower and flipping inverted at the speed of sound sounds like fun to you... then hold on, because you are in for the ride of your life!  If you've ever wondered what it was like to be a part of the Blue Angels, and wondered if YOU could ever be a part of the team... this is one show you can't  miss!  To find out more check out Stacey’s blog about the experience.

We have also had some great opportunities to give away some great prizes from our friends at Royal Purple and Miller Electric.  All of our winners come from the What Are You Workin' On community.  If you haven't done so, already be sure to sign up.  There is one month left in the Royal Purple give away for the top participants on the site.  Also, Stacey is still picking member's rides to be showcased on GearZ in the What Are You Workin’ On? segment.  Each owner featured gets product donated by our friends at Miller Electric.  

Speaking of products, we have some cool new things available in the GearZ online store!  Custom GearZ shift knobs made by SpeedDawg; replenished supply of GearZ t-shirts for summer; and coming very soon, What Are You Workin On? ringer tees with some really cool graphics.  Be sure to check 'em out!

Stacey will be in Vegas this weekend with the guys and a gal from American Graffiti to raise money for the Lili Claire Foundation at Gasoline Alley.  If your in the area be sure to stop by and say hi!

From all of us at GearZ, have a great holiday weekend.  And like Stacey says... "Get out there and build it, then drive it like you stole it!"