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HEATSOAKED is a Florida-based car culture podcast hosted by Cris and KT - two 30-something year old car nuts who live the stories they talk about. What started as two friends having late-night conversation about dream builds, blown budgets, and heat soaked engines turned into a platform for the culture that raised them.
This isn't about perfect cars or polished influencer content. It's about the grind behind the build. Cris and KT bring real conversations about the 90s and 2000s era tuner scene, passion-built machines, and the culture that keeps them alive. Every episode dives into the journey of a typical gearhead; including the victories, mistakes, lessons learned, and the passion that keeps the culture moving.
HEATSOAKED - because nobody remembers the cool nights.
Cris (00:02)
What's up guys? ⁓ welcome back to Heat Soaked. we're gonna be talking about something a little fun today, something for our new guys that are starting to wrench. welcome back. We w definitely want to give a big shout out to all our feedback we've gotten. But today we're gonna be talking about some critical tools and even some skills needed to work on your project cars and really get started in this world, especially if you're tinkering and stuff like that.
⁓ you know, it's something near and dear to our hearts, something we've sometimes we've started with the wrong tool or we've acquired them as we go. So we're gonna get and dive in a little bit on this today. And as you can see you might see some tools behind us. It's just some little things that as we've been going that are gonna be developed from there. So, KT, what's up man? How you doing?
KT (00:45)
Yeah, I'm good. And like Cris said, today's episode we're really gonna be diving into some of those critical tools and critical skills that you're gonna need when you get started on a project car. Yeah. So we're gonna talk about the required must have tools and skills. We're gonna talk about some overlooked tools and skills. Yeah, ⁓ for sure. And then we're gonna talk about tools and skills that you've acquired over time after about five, ten, twenty years in the hobby. So you're gonna have a lot of fun with it.
Cris (00:59)
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Yes. So
have you ever really gone un underneath a car and you discover that you just don't have what you need? ⁓ welcome to cars. ⁓ it's kind of what we do. ⁓ but before we get into that, before we dive in, I think we want to talk about something real quick, right? We've been getting some really awesome feedback from our viewers and listeners. we wanna say thanks first of all, guys. Keep hitting that follow button, keep giving us a like. ⁓ really appreciate all the awesome feedback we've been getting and I think you said you had a couple in mind, right?
KT (01:39)
Yeah, for sure. So like Cris said, ⁓ just reach out to us. We're on YouTube as you guys know. And if you're in the podcast world listening on Spotify, Apple, whatever other podcasts are out there, you can reach out to us via Facebook now too. Yeah.
Cris (01:54)
Facebook, Instagram, we're all over.
KT (01:56)
Soaked
FL is our social media handle. You'll find that everywhere. So but no, like Cris was saying, we had some good feedback. so we wanted to kinda just shout out a couple of them here. We had some good feedback from Kirk. Kirk's from Colorado and he actually has an IS 300. Yeah. And the cool thing about Kirk is he he turbocharged his IS-300.
Cris (02:07)
Absolutely.
He
did, man. He's taking it around with that. He's really ⁓ inspired us, you know.
KT (02:21)
He
built it on his own, he's having fun with it and man we would love to meet Kirk one day, so when we're in Colorado, Kirk we're gonna hit you up and if you're ever in Florida, just let us know.
Cris (02:30)
Yeah, man, that sounds great, man. like I said, thanks for the feedback, man. We got another one. ⁓ big big shout out to Brady as well, man. ⁓ letting us know he's starting off in cars and he just picked up a Jeep he's been tinkering with and told us a pretty funny story about a transmission mistake, you know, he did while the install was happening, man. We've all been there. So I think ⁓ this topic for sure is for some of those guys or maybe the son-in-law of yours to make sure you got everything you need, man. Thank you guys once again. We appreciate it.
And keep following us. It's really support is really we feel love. So we appreciate it very much. Right? Yep. All right, man. Can we let's dig in man. I think I think this is episode eleven. So like I said, we're just a couple guys in a garage, man, that have been ⁓ working on cars for a couple of years. Well, more than a couple of years now between a b between us both. But it's it's something that we love to do and we o we're only here because we one day we talked about it and this is something that we love.
KT (03:06)
With that get into our
Cris (03:27)
Something we want to share with other people and make sure you guys have everything you need. You know, what would help us the most when we started, you know, little things like that, little topics as you guys see us kind of develop and really dig into these cars and some of those short form videos and things like that, or even some more fun videos as you guys are gonna start seeing here shortly. ⁓ really let's talk about and dig in on some of these required tools and skills that you are gonna need to start off on our project car. KT, you wanna kick us off? What's your what's your
What's your tool? I mean, and and for anybody following on, please I want you guys to comment, what is that tool that you just have have? That stuff is so important. If it's not on site while you're working on the car, it's like man, you might as not even start. What's what's your
KT (04:03)
The hat.
So the very first one required tools. For me, I'd say it's a socket set. Can't really do too much without a socket set. Right. Absolutely. So with Japanese cars, ton of ten millimeter bolts.
Cris (04:19)
Absolutely.
Everywhere. I think you can order them in bulk now?
KT (04:28)
So sockets and ratchets really big. And ⁓ wrenches too, wrenches kinda go along with that. Absolutely but when I first started out, I know I when I was a teenager wrenching on cars, I was in my dad's garage, right? He already had all the tools, so it was cool. But when I finally decided to like not borrow my dad's tools, I was like, all right, what am I gonna get? Well, this was actually like Black Friday back in the day during like Home Depot's like
Cris (04:34)
Yeah.
KT (04:55)
really good fly fight. I got the husky big box and back then it was like a hundred dollars. Now it might be one fifty two hundred but it had everything. It had it had like the the three quar the three eighths inch ratchet the half inch ratchet the quarter inch ratchet it had all the sockets metric in yeah standard and it came with wrenches too Allen keys you know it had everything.
Cris (05:17)
Yeah, yeah, that's so funny 'cause I'm thinking old school. So I used to work at Sears back when Sears was still open in the o and there was an auto shop and back when we had family and friends deals and stuff like that, man, I picked up all my tools from there. So all my tools are craftsmen, had a lifetime warranty and I can't tell you how much how many times breaking a ratchet of that time and just coming back and handing him a tool and then getting one back was such a relief because you only had to buy it once. Mhm. said no, I I feel you. That is a that is a really important
cornerstone for turning and turning wrench and learning how to work on your car to be able to even do what we're saying you kind of need it. ⁓ man, I think mine is ⁓ like a really good set of pliers. Like you need a good needle nose, you need a good ⁓ just locking plier, you need a couple of really good pliers to work around a car because you're talking different clips, you're talking different angles you have to reach them at. So a really good
KT (05:49)
You need a wrench to turn wrench?
Cris (06:14)
set I can't tell you how many times a good needle nose plier has saved my life. Yeah. Especially underneath the car, either working on it, doing sound, even getting behind the radio, ⁓ going underneath a steering wheel. I hate electrical and anything wiring. So anytime I had to deal with it, I can't tell you how much like a good set of pliers just saved my life, man.
KT (06:33)
Yeah, my scripts kinda fall into the
Just being able to grab and hold stuff, that's that's your thing.
Cris (06:39)
Yeah,
well I mean, yeah, exactly. Like if you can't hold the other end of a bolt 'cause you don't have a matching set, you're kinda screwed on that one. So I think that's those are sort of some a couple of examples. Once again, guys, tell us your absolute need, tell us your what's required in your garage to be able to turn wrench for these new guys that are just
KT (06:55)
And I definitely agree with you and we're lucky today Harbor Freight exists and you and I both live really close to Harbor Freight. And we're not saying you have to get the best tools right off the bat, but if you just need some tools, Harbor Freight has really good tools and they have good warranty and they're pretty affordable too.
Cris (07:13)
For sure, man. Every time there's a tent sale, I'm spending way more money than my wife allows me. Like
KT (07:18)
We
are not sponsored by Harbor Freight at all.
Cris (07:21)
Unless you want to. ⁓ just wanna add that little clip in there. Unless Harbor Frey wants to give us a call at any time, heats up the FL. Just remember that. Don't worry, I'm just messing around guys. but like I mean we talked about a couple of tools, but I think there's some really important ⁓ underlying ⁓ things you really have to focus on, especially when you're turning wrench or just starting out. ⁓ it could be a really daunting task, right? Really like for example, some people today ⁓ I can't believe it, but don't know how to change a flat tire, don't know how to change their oil, spark plugs.
as simple as it really could be, you know, there's some skills that you really need as a person and I think you brought it up a little bit earlier, man. What's one of your really really like s ⁓ steadfast skills you need just to get started, to start really like popping the hood and figuring out what you need. Like what is it?
KT (08:06)
For
me it's patience. Patience is key. Absolutely And patience is something that ⁓ a lot of people take time to a to to kinda refine. Yes. Right. We all have patience to an extent, but refining it is important. But you definitely need patience in this hobby because you're gonna get into a rut, you're gonna look at something and not understand what you're doing. You're gonna go through all the emotions we described on the last episode.
Cris (08:30)
Yeah, and then some. I can't tell you how many F bombs and S bombs and all the other bombs I've thrown.
KT (08:35)
But the patience to understand how to work through those challenges is definitely something you need. Yeah. What about you?
Cris (08:42)
man, I think man you took patience away, but that's like such a great one. And I think you made a really good point about how if you have it to start with or if you even if you don't, it's something that we acquire, especially as like we really dig into these, you know, cars. We're finding more issues as we go further in them and like like I said I can't I can't imagine how many cuss words I've invented while being underneath it. But in all honesty, like I think for me it's communication. And so the reason I really like point to that one number one is
KT (09:04)
Sure.
Cris (09:12)
Because if you can't communicate your issue to someone who who's either providing a part, providing you advice, like I we can't just call Toyota and go, Hey man, like ⁓ the third bolt on the right of a you know, give a year make model and then he's looking at it and he's like, Mm-hmm, yeah, what do you need? Like
KT (09:31)
Hey
man my engine's not working. What do I do?
Cris (09:35)
It
it and f as a former part store employee like a long time ago, I think it's important to make sure like I can't I can't tell you guys how many times you know you've been behind the counter or like you're in the back taking phone calls and somebody's like, Hey man, I need this part, it does this and you're like, Hey cool man, it just pulled up your vehicle. You've got seventeen parts that do that exact job and he's like, okay, but it also does this and you're like, Cool, you've you're you've now dropped it to fifteen parts that do that exact job.
And you just start really looking into it unless you have a really good understanding of communication, like how to communicate your problems or issues, I think that's how it's really gonna become most important for for a beginner to be able to get that to get that information out and to get that to themselves.
KT (10:21)
And even working with a friend on a car too. Absolutely. So if you're under a car working on something and you want your friend to hand you a tool, yeah. Communication, how do you describe that tool? Yeah. Right? Being able to describe what you're looking at or what you're asking for is exactly what you're saying. And it's really critical. I definitely agree.
Cris (10:38)
If you're if you're getting out of your vehicle and just walking into the store while your buddy ⁓ do like your door handle isn't opening, it's usually like one of those things where communication's important 'cause you gotta come around or else it's gonna break the door handle. so I'm just I'm just trying to ⁓
KT (10:54)
Like
like
Cris (10:56)
He's over here home Like I'm
like halfway in the store and he's like I'm still in the passenger seat. You need to come get me. ⁓ so I mean those those are some required man. That's something that we're absolutely gonna delve into. But man, we can talk about so many more, but we we wanna make this episode especially to ask. A lot of guys provide a lot of good feedback, so you know, tell us what's your, you know, most required tool or most required skill, like something that people overlook the most. and I think when we're talking about overlooking tools and skills
You know, what's an overlooked tool that you say you've either acquired through time or you got off the bat ⁓ got lucky with, you know, with something like that that you would kinda delve in and let these guys who are just starting to turn wrench know this new generation of yeah you know, mechanics.
KT (11:40)
So for me, one of the biggest overlooked items is just related to your shop, your garage, wherever you're working. And that relates to shop towels, shop rags, and even just working clothes.
Cris (11:53)
Yeah, that's that's a good point. That's a good point. I think with a working clothes you acquire because you're like, I'm just gonna do one simple thing and then like the next thing you know your nice shirt is all greased up and you're like, Well that's a that's a shop shirt now. Like yeah So like little things like that that you go into but I mean talk about ⁓ rags and towels. Can I tell everybody how like how you got to think about that? Like why is that overlooked you think the most?
KT (12:06)
That's true.
Because ⁓ with a lot of us working on project cars, you know, older vehicles, right? There's always gonna be something leaking. There's a little bit of grease, a little bit of dirt, grime, whatever the case is. So it's really useful to have ⁓ shop towels or rags around rather than using your shirt and wiping things. 'Cause now that shirt's
Cris (12:37)
What
you don't think that you don't think just like reaching over
KT (12:40)
Well honestly my shop clothes is my rag, so I but if you don't want your your clothes to become your rag, it's good to have those dedicated rags and towels around. Leaks will happen, you know. For sure. Sweat in Florida, sweat will be on your brow, on your face, you know, it'd be good to have a a towel lying around too.
Cris (12:58)
There's some there's some sweaty places you don't want down here with the humidity. So I mean that's that's a good point, man. That's a good point. I think when you're talking about other things like that, I think a really good overlook tool that you can invest some money in if you're just starting out is a good jack and some jack stands. we're not talking about, you know, being funny about the harbor freight jack stands and things like that. They when they made it right, you know, they got ended up having them replaced and everything. But getting yourself a really good jack that even will outlast you or something you can learn how to
work with, you know, add oil to. ⁓ I've seen, you know, jacks that come out and they've been rusted over fifteen times over the years. And those things still work like a champ because they've just been maintained and taken care of. But a good jack, some good jack stands, keep yourself safe when you're under there. Don't take chances with your buddy who just started working on a car and he's like, Don't worry, the jack's gonna hold. I would rather you trust something that's still instead of something that moves because at the end of the day
I want you to be able to get it under the car more than once. Yeah. And I think that's one of the
KT (13:58)
And to dive into that a little more, like I personally would recommend not using scissor jacks. Okay. So getting a good like pump jack with a nice handle.
Cris (14:03)
Yeah.
You're
right. That's excuse me. Thank you for clarifying. Yes, a good pump jack with a handle, which it has other uses, like we were talking about. Like you ever had or in ⁓ if you were ever in need of a breaker bar, a good jack handle can provide you that use for a good breaker bar. Absolutely. Snap the ratchet in half, either that or you get the bolt. It's one of two things that's gonna happen. But at least at the end of the day you have something. it's basically a multi tool, right? Gets the car up, you can open up some bolts, but
KT (14:23)
Yeah.
Cris (14:37)
like I said guys keeping yourself safe while you're starting out while you're actually getting under a car. I think we all want to make sure we're getting home to our families, our kids, things like that. And that's just a good reminder, a good little refresh. You know, I don't think a lot of people or the ⁓ influencers will talk about like how because you know at the end of the day we all dream about this beautiful, beautiful garage and all these tools. And you know, I'm not gonna get ahead of myself, but you know, we don't all have the money for a four-post lift or a two-post lift.
You know, some of us are still working out of our garages with ⁓ jack stands and some jacks. And, you know, that's what we love to do, you know, at the end of the day, cranking and jack up is just part of the process for us here.
KT (15:17)
Way
better than using plastic ramps too, in my opinion. I love way better than plastic ramps. But they're they're pretty affordable too. And we keep saying Harbor Freight, but Harbor Freight has decent quality very good prices, so
Cris (15:22)
You don't use plastic rounds, man.
They they do. Walmart
Walmart's got some good stuff too. Like I mean
KT (15:34)
I recently
got the the Pittsburgh jack there, it's probably like a hundred bucks, right? And that that's great. That thing has like a three ton limit, so six thousand pounds. You can easily lift your IS three hundred. This your IS three hundred weighs what like a little over three
Cris (15:46)
Yeah,
maybe. Like so it's like it's little things like that, but at the end of the day you're right, it's keeping us safe and it's making sure like I said, at the end of the day we're not wrenching on this thing one time.
KT (15:55)
And
one last thing to add there too, it's really useful for lifting parts too. So when I was working on my rear suspension and trying to put together the control arms to to get back with the knuckle and everything like that, ⁓ it's good to have an extra I have two jacks now for that reason, so I can use them at different angles and I can jack the control arm back into the knuckle while I still have my coil lever set up.
Cris (16:18)
So you're just stiffening the spring and getting the exactly. Yeah, for sure for sure. And like you guys are gonna see when we start doing this transmission. I have two jacks in house and we have another connector for transmissions that we've used previously. So it's ⁓ back in our personal life. So it's something that you will see as we go along. But there before we keep adding on parts and keep going like that, we just wanna let you know, hey, safety for sure. Please make sure you're keeping yourself safe within it. ⁓ and then we'll go from there. But I mean what let's talk about it, man. We we talk about
required must has. We talk about ⁓ a little bit of those overlook tools and I think something that we need to talk about is like what's some overlook skills that some people will go into and like kind of miss the boat on. What do you think like is something that a skill that would really like maybe push you to that next level a little sooner than later, you know, what's something like that for you?
KT (17:07)
Yeah, for me it would be persistence. Yeah. Just having the ability to get into a mindset where you know like this is something that requires ⁓ sometimes multiple passes at it, right? For sure. You have to be persistent enough to continue to try it.
Cris (17:25)
Or
you could be K T and just cut it right off, 'cause that's how persistent he is at
KT (17:30)
As long as you don't give up, we're good, right? I mean honestly, for real though, like like for us, yeah, we like working on our cars and we would hate for anybody to give up because they ran into an issue where they for sure it's insurmountable, right?
Cris (17:44)
Yeah, absolutely. Well, like because it's like so of course we talked about like how high of a mountain it is getting started to work on cars because you just don't understand the process like unless you understand the complete engineering of a vehicle, which I mean I've met mechanics who've had that understanding, but still they found found some jobs, you know, really hard to do and really, you know, frustrating to do because they know either what they're gonna run into or they the opposite. They don't know what they're gonna run into. They don't know how hard it's gonna be. And that process of finding it is just
having that persistence to just go in and take your steps, take your time, and just being able to replicate that with one or more cards, of course, is going to be, you know, part of that stepping process. And I think that leads me to mine, right? My skill, something that's going to be like super important, ⁓ something extremely overlooked is just repetition. Like this is something that we can kind of do every day, but this is something we enjoy doing.
If you're tinkering with car or for example, you need to save a little bit of money, like if you learn how to change your own oil, or if you learn how to, you know, swap your tire, you know, for for a flat, you know, it'll save you the a little bit of maybe not the time, but that peace of mind that you did it yourself and you know you f you follow your steps and do it right, but the repetition of doing a job. For example, if I do an oil change in this one.
I know that on my, you know, other trucks or other vehicles, I can it's generally the same steps, maybe one or two added, depending on how new or old the vehicle is. But yeah, the same steps apply. Exact for example, repetition on an oil change is, you know, first turn off the car. but like open the open the cap cover, you know, drain the oil out, remove the oil filter, let everything drain properly, wipe it all down, clean it.
you know, cap the oil pan, ⁓ put a new filter on, make sure you have a little bit of oil in there to make sure it circulates and then fill as needed. You know, th these little things and then of course adding the top cap is gonna be remembering to do that is part of that repetition process. But like I'm not here to explain what an oil change is, but I'm explaining that process is used for all of the vehicles
what they do. You what you're paying for at a Take Five, at a Jiffy Lube, at a Firestone and things like that is, you know, that somebody who's gone through that repetition on multiple vehicles. Yeah, it might be some things change here and there, changing a battery, for example. It's it might j just be in different places, but it's the same two posts, positive and negative. So it's just finding that repetition, being comfortable with small things changing and, you know, facing that head on. But I think
Between that persistence, that repetition, it'll you'll find comfort in knowing that if you've done it once, you've already done half the job. Like you you can easily walk up and help a friend or help somebody in need, or do it yourself again to a different vehicle and it's not as daunting as you would accept it to be. I think that's something that is overlooked sometimes because when somebody does a job and it's really hard
They're like, ⁓ man, I really don't want ever wanna do that again. But now that you have that knowledge, you'd be like, man, now that I know that if I just unhook this one first instead of the other one, right, if I make sure, you know, I'm unbolting it in this process, that it's gonna be a lot easier, right?
KT (21:01)
And
that's the whole premise of forums back in the day, our days. And even today, you know, with like Reddit.
Cris (21:07)
Brought
up sears, so I mean like you go ahead. Well yeah, you're Repetitions and meats back in the day, exactly.
KT (21:10)
You
gain knowledge through repetition and at that point you want to share that knowledge, right? So then when someone like Cris goes and changes his transmission for the first time, someone else has already done it. Yeah. And multiple people have done it multiple times. Absolutely. So all that knowledge that's acquired, they can help people like us who are doing it for our first time. Absolutely. And you know, eventually we'll contribute to that knowledge, right? We're gonna find our own little tips and tricks that as we're doing.
Cris (21:36)
Sure, for sure. And and I think it's important like utilize all the information that you have. That might be one of these I'll add on just as we go along. Want something overlooked is use as much knowledge as you can find online now because back then we didn't have this, right? We had the World Wide Web, but it was like on dial up. And you you know, if you put an image up there it took three to five business days for it to populate. And if somebody called it was over because you had half an image and maybe a forum post and that was it.
So it's like little things like that is is part of the process. Now we have so much information at our at our fingertips. Finding that info should be easy, but it's also listening ⁓ and going through that yourself, that daunting task that a lot of people fear. That's why I think ⁓ not understanding and not comprehending is why people don't work on their cars. The fear of messing it up. Like this is my daily driver, you know, we don't want to mess it up, but it's taking that step, taking that risk and really like believing in yourself and that confidence.
KT (22:32)
That's all. That's the whole point of this episode. To encourage you guys to get into cars. Not as bad as you think it'll be but it's
Cris (22:34)
Yeah, for sure, man. I think I think
Yeah, for sure. I mean I'm gonna ask you man, how long did it take
you to like truly get confident in like actually taking things like larger pieces of parts off your car to to really like g go into it and be o have that confidence build up itself?
KT (22:54)
Yeah, it takes time and it's different for everybody, right? But for me, it wasn't that long honestly, because when I was just taking little bolts off, ten millimeter bolts, you know, once you learn how to to put a socket on a ratchet and put the ratchet onto a bolt and make sure you're going counterclockwise.
Cris (23:11)
Yes, yes.
Please lefty loosey righty tidy, yeah.
KT (23:14)
Because
like that process repeats itself whether you're doing your fender, whether you're doing ⁓ like some interior trim pieces. For sure. Yeah, whether you're doing your suspension. wait, well now your suspension's a fourteen instead of a ten. Well see it doesn't take very long to build that confidence, but you are stepping up
Cris (23:29)
Exactly.
KT (23:35)
Slowly to bigger and better things. Yeah, once you get into pulling engines or placing transmissions, it's a little different than just doing a basic oil change or swapping out a wheel. But you've built enough skills, confidence, and tools that along the way you're confident enough you can dive into that project knowing that absolutely I'm probably eighty percent the way there, I'll learn the other twenty percent as I go.
Cris (23:45)
Right, yeah, exactly.
I go along and that I think that's the fun part. I mean that's what I enjoy about about it is that like l there's a challenge in everything and it's f and like even if you're tinkering or like just messing around with some things, kind of getting something like back up the par, back up to your expectations, it's also finding the fact that like there is a challenge there and lay laying in front of you and once you conquer that, it's like s it's so fulfilling. Yes. for for me at least. Because like I remember the first time, for example, I took off my valve cover gasket and I got a funny story about this.
So I took up ⁓ I I had a like a little four cylinder Honda. So I had to replace the valve cover because it was just like flowing, like oil was just bleeding out of this thing like an open wound. And so I take out the valve cover gasket, I finish the job, I clean it up, I'm like, man, alright, the valve you know, everything looks good, all right, we're perfect. Put the valve cover b ⁓ b gasket back on, I start tightening it up. And I I don't know what I did, but all I know is one of the bolts went from righty tidy to righty loosey.
Real and I was like I was like something's just wrong. Maybe I'm just doing this wrong. And then I had to like ⁓ this is the last bolt. This is the last one for the valve cover gas yeah. Took everything back off and I broke one inside the actual mounting point. So now I g I I had to like that was that moment where you were like, Yeah, so so and it was in there. It was it was broken off with a
KT (25:14)
And that's where you need those nice pliers.
Cris (25:19)
So I was like, here we go. So now I had to get a bolt extractor tool. You know, I that's another good one for you for the future. It's like, but it's it's the it's I had to learn, like, all right, slow drilling, make sure I add oil to it so I don't heat up. You finally get the bolt extractor, get tap it in, like slowly loosen it back out. Man, like I I can't I c the fact that I remember the the the string of words I used I couldn't say on any form of media entertainment.
I'm pretty sure it'd break the glass on your phone. but it but it the the fact that like I went through all of those emotions that that upset like like the frustration of like, I broke something and then I just went to the junkyard, picked up another one and it cost me like maybe like a day or maybe like a couple of bucks. Went back, removed it, got it taken care of and I was like, you know that
That could have gone a lot worse, but now I feel pretty good about this. Like this is something that I've I've persisted through it. I you know, I made sure I used the repetition. I did it the right way. I made sure to like clean up everything a little bit better. And at the end of the day I know for a fact that I'm never tightening Yeah. I'm never like over tightening valve cover gasket unless it's by hand. I'm only doing it by hand first. Like that's until I get the torque wrench out. That's it. And that's the main thing. So that's
Funny little story, right? But it like it really like stopped me in my tracks. but I de I definitely didn't let the f like the fear or the frustration stop me. I just kept kind of going through that. And that's I think that speaks to, you know, what actually like getting into getting into cars is. Like all these kids that are, you know, trying to keep the manual alive and trying to g go about this is something that we're really like focused on. So that's gonna be a quick little story, a quick little recap of my memory at least. And go from there. So what's our next step, man? Let's talk about overlooks.
KT (27:10)
Yeah, we talked about overlook, but let's talk about five, ten, fifteen years, twenty years down the road, you've acquired additional tools and knowledge. So what are some really good tools that you've acquired after all that time?
Cris (27:27)
man. I think the one thing I picked up like after five years of wrenching that I absolutely like was a game changer was a diagnostic tool. Like for all of the our new wrenchers and all our viewers, you know like you've when you that check engine light popped on, anybody who's drove into like the closest O'Reilly's auto zone, have them plug it up and go like, all right, what's wrong? And you're
KT (27:36)
Okay.
Cris (27:52)
reading through it and they're bringing out these things from like you know the 80s you know that haven't been updated in probably god knows how long and you know you you read them through the second that I bought my own and I was able to plug up and see which code was popping up P11260 or something like that and been able to look it up on the forums and do it myself. I was like all right now I can get the parts together or know what I'm gonna spend before I have to go.
And drive it again or I know if it's something that has to happen immediately or if it's like an O two sensor where I can just be like, okay, that I can I can at least get to work this week. you know, wait wait for that next paycheck and then I can just replace this part and that's something. For me, that was a huge game changer because it told me the it told me the I'm trying to look for the word, the requirement of part I needed, but it told it also told me like where on the scale of ha like
Now, absolutely like right now or like you can change this in a week of an emergency it was. Like
KT (28:52)
I like I like that diagnostic tool and then when you say diagnostics tool in general in my head I also think like having a good voltmeter or a multimeter checking electrical like just being able to to know if you have power to something, right? Really yeah, I I classify it under a diagnostic tool. even a compression tester. That's like really
Cris (29:01)
Yeah, that's that's another great one.
How many times has that saved you?
Yeah,
absolutely. I think those like little things like that, all of those tools that are used to measure everything, it's a l a lot more effective.
KT (29:24)
And those are advanced tools too, right? And we bring it up but this is acquired over time. If you're doing your first oil change, you don't need a multimeter
Cris (29:30)
Yes, for sure.
No,
'cause like you don't know what you need until you need it. Like and that's that's that's why we say like in the future of like five, those ten, fifteen years, is 'cause like as you're doing these jobs, do you really understand what you need if you're just starting out? Remember, like take all the information that you know away from you right now and look at a car and do an oil change. Okay, like n you still need a little bit of that knowledge. You might need like, hey, you know, maybe the shortage in my front light bulbs or the reason why my, you know, fog lights aren't working is ⁓
Definitely not an oil issue. Yeah. It's an electrical issue. And like, it's funny 'cause like I have a story about that, like leading back to like the Steers Auto Shop. Like we had a lady come in and we changed the oil and she goes, my radio's not working. Like Dude, I can't even explain how different of a world she lived in, but at the end of the day, like it's it's finding the similarities and really understanding why these diagnostic tools will help you save time, money.
KT (30:18)
Yeah.
Cris (30:32)
really understand like what's wrong and like of course these things the reason also we're talking about five to ten fifteen years is because some of these diagnostic tools are like handheld. You can just get codes which is the one I got five years in. And then like later on you can spend money on like a snap on diagnostic machine that's probably like five grand but tells you everything about the car, does a full scan, r runs through all the repair modules, all the things that could be wrong.
has a checklist, we'll check it again after restart, throw test, throw volt. Like it's it's pretty interesting how advanced those things can get. But before we get too deep, because we could keep going into this, what is a requ required tool skill for you?
KT (31:14)
Yeah,
for me and a an acquired tool would be power tools. People actually wanna just jump right in and buy power tools, but you don't really need power tools if you're just getting started on wrenching.
Cris (31:26)
Listen, if
you don't grab a power tool and at least run it twice before you start w like anything with me on a car, I don't trust you with power tools. I better hear it like
KT (31:36)
Yeah. Right?
Whether even like pneumatic power tools. yeah.
Cris (31:43)
Air
tools, if you if you have the possibility to use ⁓ have a shop or what like have an air compressor, mm-hmm. Absolutely, anything new.
KT (31:50)
Impact
wrench, like die grinders, ⁓ cutoff wheels, angle grinders, drills. You don't really need all those things just to start out. They have electric ratchets out there. Do you really need an electric ratchet? Yes. ⁓
Cris (31:54)
Cut off wheel.
⁓ one
I have one on this I should have brought it out for this. But but no no no.
KT (32:12)
Those are again are acquired tools because they're expensive to
Cris (32:15)
Yes,
they they are, but like you're right. Do you really need one to start on a car? Honestly, man, like our wrist as long as your wrists work just fine. Like, you know, the main thing you get in the cars is ⁓ one thing for me that I'm actually grateful for that I didn't think I would be is the fact that I put in this blood, sweat, and tears and like use the physical force and had to like my my wrists like give out as I'm like like really getting like all these boats on this car, this massive project that I undertook.
And then like then of course later on I get this electric traject and I'm like, man, I wouldn't understand how much effort it took or how much w how much this is saving me like from all of this effort if I hadn't have done that already. So it's like really like interesting.
KT (32:55)
Absolutely. Yeah. ⁓
Cris (33:03)
Like and and how much they charge for labor. You know, your average shop per labor per hour, what is one hundred, one hundred issues? Like maybe two hundred depending on what kind of car specialized shops that like know exactly what they're doing, but they you know, if they charge more doesn't always mean they're the same quality, you know, like but it's it's l understanding the effort that you can put into it that will change the that cost. You know. I think that's important, man. But that's a great one. I actually really like
KT (33:09)
Yeah like a hundred dollars.
Shaw.
Mm-hmm.
Cris (33:31)
Anything like power tools and stuff like that, that is something you will acquire as you go on. But for all my guys that are starting out, unless you absolutely need it, I'd recommend, hey, just put it in the blood, put it in the sweat, put in the tears, get it get it, you know, done, put it in what do we call it, the sweaty equity. Like to really get it like finished and done and you'll have a really good appreciation for what mechanics do, or you'll just have a good appreciation of what you yourself are capable of. Because I think at the end of the day, like
I didn't think I was capable of doing it until I actually finished the job. Until I turn turned the you know, fully torque down that last bolt and then drove the car for another five years and never had to touch it again. It was you know, or the couple of years, you know, it's it was one of those things where it really shows you what you can do. And I think that's important. I think that's special. You know, it's kinda why we fell in love with it. The challenge, the you know, how it definitely does. But yeah, man, I think that's a really, really good
you know, topic for it and leading into that, you know, you would let's talk about the skill portion of that por what do you think? What do you think is a really good acquired in those five to ten year five fifth five to fifteen year mark even of some skills you need to just keep going, keep increasing your the jobs or the s the the the difficulty of the jobs that you're doing from there. What do you think is that that most important
KT (34:52)
It'll be creative problem solving. ⁓ yeah, creative We all solve problems every day.
Cris (34:56)
That's a large word. Problematic. I
heard that in a garage.
KT (35:04)
And example of that would be like custom fabrication. ⁓ So maybe maybe you get a welder one day. Now you're you're fabricating your own engine mounts, you know? Or you're getting a little creative. Like this this wrench doesn't fit where it needs to go. I'm gonna cut something off the grinder and
Cris (35:21)
I'm gonna gr I'm gonna grind the top off the wrench and just put an L in there. Exactly.
KT (35:25)
Yeah. That's why but just being able to think through a problem, that's something that you're gonna acquire really early in the in the whole project car process. The day you start working on a project car, you're gonna acquire knowledge, day one. But eventually you're gonna run into more challenging and challenging problems that require more unique solutions to the point where maybe a tool doesn't exist to solve that problem. You have to make that tool.
Cris (35:48)
Yeah,
no, I can't tell you how many times. Dude, I I have ⁓ I worked I I don't wanna keep breaking into stories, but like talking about like this this creative problem solving. But I don't think like when I explain these stories it's so funny 'cause like I I lean back of breaking down in Tampa like two in the morning, ⁓ and like my harmonic balancer has literally like just like just slowly come off of my engine.
KT (35:55)
Like we're talking
Cris (36:14)
And I'm like, now I'm it's two in the morning. I have a standard set of tools. I have to figure out how to put back the harmonic balancer and the bolt. And I'm like or sorry, the harmonic balancer bolt was coming out. So the harmonic balancer started moving. So the belt's flying off. So but we're broke down, two in the morning. I have to use a shirt after I wrap listen, I'm I don't know how crazy this is. I have to I have to put the belt back on, wrap the shirt in the power steering pulley.
And then I have to like use that to make sure like the belt is keeping the harmonic balancer on and hand tight. Dude, I can't I can't portray these scenes to people unless like you have that creative problem solving because I'm like, where'd I use the shirt?
KT (36:58)
You know, there's a subreddit called Red Deck Engineering that ex exactly that there's a lot of good ones in the
Cris (37:05)
I don't
care what negative comments go into that, but listen if you ever okay, I actually this is something I really want to hear from our guys is like hey if have you ever had to do any redneck engineering or even if it's like you just had to do this crazy solution to solve this problem when you were broken down. I've had so many and I we of course we could do a whole like side little short about this and but it'd be absolutely fun but like for example broken down in the middle of Tampa and using a shirt to get a harmonic balancer on.
Like that's that's it's you can't Dude, ⁓ I we drove that car home.
KT (37:40)
It worked. I don't care.
Cris (37:42)
But at the end of the day, you know, like you're right, creative creative problem solving is a solid one. I think that ⁓ a big one that the guys that have actually been through the the been through it, been through the you know the mud and all that stuff with cars is something really important, especially if you're starting out, is realizing how important organization is when working on a car. Tell you how many times I've worked with buddies on cars and they're just not organized.
KT (38:06)
I can't
Cris (38:11)
And how many times we were unable to finish a job just because someone lost a bolt or two or set something down somewhere that rolled off or of course we all know about the ten millimeter story, how they just become and they they just fall into the ether. Like as they as they as you lose sight of them, they're just gone. it's the truth because like I can't tell you how many times I've been like, Hey, you see this bolt? This is a super important bolt for your p don't lose this. And I'm like, all right, I'll set it down right here. Don't move this.
like fifteen minutes later I come back, the bolts gone, nobody can find it, nobody knows where it is. We either end up finding it in a box somewhere with a bunch of bolts or we have to go get another one and it stalls the repair process. But I think falling back to that man, an acquired skill for mechanics, something that either if you d have early on or you develop, I know your O C D even a lot more than I am.
KT (39:10)
but I was gonna say that's that skill organization it it is an acquired skill but it's a hard lesson learned to acquire that skill. When you
Cris (39:19)
But
you want the pay repay for parts? Yes.
KT (39:21)
Lose something, yeah. You
put down a project for a weekend and you go back to it next weekend, but wait, you can't go back to next weekend, it happens six weekends later. 'Cause you're not organ or you just took out like seven different bolts and you're like one of them's thirty millimeters long, the other's twenty-five, and the other other's fifty, like where does this get? Organization is a really good one. I like that. That's something that you will be
Cris (39:31)
Yeah, you have to reorder all the bolts that are
Yeah.
KT (39:51)
⁓ you'll be forced into having at some point.
Cris (39:55)
Yeah, when you start having to pay pay for like the full bolt set of like a head gasket kit, like you just bought ARP bolts and you lost one of them. Congratulations. Guess what? They don't just send you one ARP bolt, they send you the set. And those aren't cheap as so it's like little things like that, but I think yeah, that's you're right, it's a hard lesson, but it's a lesson learned. I'll tell you that. And even I and this comes from experience. Yeah, I'm sure me and you both have lost plenty of parts.
KT (40:10)
Anymore.
Cris (40:24)
But after the after we lose that one big one that we had to pay for, we were like, I'm never ever doing this again. Mm-hmm. Ever. Why did I have that little box and all the parts I pull out go into that little box.
KT (40:36)
Yeah.
Cris (40:38)
Magnets
you'll see right up there, you guys will see around on the shorts. But like you're right, tool bins, I have caps for plastic. I have I make sure I am nice and organized to all the parts go.
KT (40:48)
It goes into a lot of levels too. It's not just organization of the parts you take off, it's organization of your tools. Yes. Just keeping your tools where they need to be. So when you go and look for that ten millimeter socket, you know exactly where it is. But organization in the way you work. It's gone. Right? Just knowing your workflow, knowing how to to maximize your time. Because we're both busy adults. Yeah. If we only have a couple hours to go ⁓ work on a suspension, right?
Organizing how I'm gonna tackle this project is key. I'm not just gonna go in blindly. It's okay to do that when you're first starting out, but again, it's a hard lesson learned. Yeah, thank Because when you're when you're at three AM in the morning, like your other story about how your clutch or whatever your transmission was out and you couldn't go to work the next day. Well, you could have been a little more organized, but you learned your lesson.
Cris (41:37)
Yeah, dude.
Yeah, y listen, you learn it real quick when you when you start missing some work because you've done something dumb like and you didn't plan. But like that's that's a really good acquired taste. Listen, at the end of the day, here's what I think about the organization fortune. I think if you have it early on, it's gonna not only help you, it's gonna help you succeed through like building and repairing and everything. But what's also gonna happen is if you don't have it, there's gonna be one time where you're where you will make sure from then on
Your whole wrench changes and you will be so much more organized just to make sure you never lose that money, the cost, the time and all that again.
KT (42:17)
We've
all been burned. A lot of us have been burned multiple times because you hit that spot and you're like, I will never do that again and next you know, like two months later you're like, Yeah, it's okay, I'm not gonna hit
Cris (42:29)
Yeah. Yeah, we I mean like like like hold on, like Brady was bringing up and in and and when he messaged us in the comment and stuff like that, we just like he he saw that one part hanging after everything was almost done. And there was some words that come out of his mouth. Like that's that's exactly what we're talking about, the Brady, shout out to you again, man. But yeah, man, I mean I think you had like ⁓ th there there's a couple all of these things are gonna be able to help you
like develop, especially you're just starting out. Once again, like we're looking to help the people that are never have never turned wrench, have never done anything like this. Yeah, are we have are we you know, more than ten years in? Absolutely, like we've been doing this for years now. ⁓ it's something that we enjoy and we love because of, you know, the communication, the patience, you know, these skills, the organization, the creative problem solving, and of course the persistence and repetition ⁓ that we've had to grow or develop ourselves to really like
finish these projects. Have I ever had a project not finished? Absolutely. Like I think everybody's project is not finished because there's always that one thing that needs to be done. But at the end of the day, is it running? Is it driving? Is the A C cranking? You know, can we drive this? Well yes, absolutely. Will it sound like crap? Absolutely. But you know what? It's running driving. It's keeping, you know, kids safe if if they're driving it, family members, your brother, you know, he had a car that you had, you know, a while back. So
It's like you have trust in the work that you're doing to help people and help yourself. Yeah. So I think that's that's a huge huge deal when it comes to that, man. And I think that's a big one.
KT (44:03)
it perfectly and all these skills and tools that we've just mentioned, you know, they're gonna be something that we're just trying to share with you guys. It's just gonna make the hobby way more enjoyable. absolutely. And honestly it's a hobby at the end of the day, right? And if you're not having fun, then why are you doing it?
Cris (44:20)
yeah, dude. I don't I don't take things apart and lose parts just for me to just for me to not like it. Like no, I do it because like it's it's the story, right? It's it's the it's the me talking to you while we're, you know, having a drink and having some food and going like, dude, you won't believe what I did last week. Like I lost one of my hub bolts and I can't find the key to unlock any of my rooms now. So now I'm changing all of my twenty
KT (44:47)
Yeah.
Cris (44:48)
Twenty bolts for my ribs right now.
KT (44:52)
And with that, we would love to hear from you guys. What are some of your must have tools? What are some of your overlooked tools and skills?
Cris (45:00)
Yeah, we didn't we didn't cover them all. Like there's we could have been here for probably hours and we're right on time. So it's like it's one of those things where we wanna like K KT was saying, we wanna hear from you guys, especially about hey, what are some skills that you developed that helped you either in life or either with cars or with your builds? you know, what are some funny stories you guys have about being the redneck ingenuity?
⁓ broken down Saturday.
KT (45:32)
Well, we just want feedback. Yeah. So Heat Soaked F L or on socials. Hell yeah. Heat Soaked FL, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, everything. Reddit now.
Cris (45:34)
Yeah.
Yeah, hey guys, I
like we said it in our first episode, dude, we're just two guys ⁓ hanging out. this is something that we wanted to do and hopefully one day I'll you know I'll show my son these videos and he'll laugh and be like, Hey dad, you're an idiot. Like But at the end of the day we just we're here here to have fun, here to really show our love for cars and help other people do the same. Like we we definitely wanna hear those stories. We appreciate the feedback in the comments and big shout out to those guys. Thanks, brother. Yeah, appreciate another day and fell guys.
KT (46:11)
Yeah, we're outta here. See ya.
Cris (46:13)
Right, see ya.