Category Archives: Uncategorized

It’s not like we’ve stopped making awesomeness – it’s just a little airborne (it’s still good).  The Gearhead Consultancy got lost in the (Black) Forest and found us the Walkin’ Dude, and it was game on:  great garages, Toyotas and Fords, Subaru parts, Glock parts, wood-panelling, the JF Summit and piles of V8s.

Yes, have some: https://garagehour.libsyn.com/021222-4runners-tacomas-parts-the-junkyard-tales-from-garages-of-merit-w-blower-tuning-stop-it-resale-value-rebound-flipping-flips-leafs-coils-fj-summit-more-trucker-protests-sleeping-too-close-to-the-howitzers

Hating is hard work – save it for something that deserves it.  This episode of garagey goodness deep-dives the gripey stuff on a cross-country flee-fest to Chi-town:  join us discussing some noteworthy reasons for unrest.  How about driverless cars and semis?  Why not add the right to repair (if you own it, why can’t you fix it?)?  Make a dessert of clowning those boobs who can’t run a set of headights (ahem, turn off those high-beams, you jerk, or aim something already).  …Because you’re a geek, and you probably know better.

Have some:

Yes, have some: 04.01.21: F-15EX VS Formula 1, B-1B VS Bilstein, Taco Bell Hot Sauce Marinade VS Zombie Remixes, Santa Ana Winds VS Colorado Humidity, Spondivits VS MLB, Truckers VS Rioters, + U.S. UFOs, Chinese Spy Teslas & A Few Thoughts on Getting Prepped

Ahhh, repetitiveness…  You get into a groove, chatting up tricks for good braking technique and dodging lousy Chinese and third-world parts that’ll ruin your day (not to mention make you look stupid), then take a tug of a fine sip from Trinity Brewing, and suddenly there’s two episodes in a row about breaking and braking and breaks and brakes and broken binders with bad bits.

It’s not all ball-bearings these days, but if it doesn’t roll, it oughtn’t go.  The January 12 show that just posted is about the real and hazardous quality issues that result from lousy Chinese (and other third-world hellohole) manufacturing:  https://garagehour.libsyn.com/011221-quality-safety-matter-reasons-not-to-buy-chinese-or-crappy-parts-w-counterfeit-tires-low-flow-injectors-fraudulent-qc-intentionally-defective-equipment-disregard-life-poison-dog-food-anyone-exceptions-adventure-shopping-dumb-is-not-an-excuse

There’s another that went up last week (dated 01.10.21) that’s more about how you can treat your brakes a little better – after all, you only get to go around once if you can’t stop without collecting a telephone pole: https://garagehour.libsyn.com/011021-braking-brakes-until-the-break-do-you-brake-right-how-to-avoid-potato-chipped-rotors-pre-braking-the-cool-roll-brakes-on-fire-overheating-disc-rotor-physics-uberlate-garage-hour-wfluke-flying-lotus

Not to get on too high a horse, but you need to be good to your parts and avoid crap parts.  Like it or not (but you will), the Garage Hour goons are here to help.

We took a few new bits of technology, a little more processing power and a gang of Garage Hour goons, and pointed them at a pile of speed parts and several growlers of Twisted Manzanita beer to create the first-ever Garage Hour live-to-tape pure podcast.  Live from the garage?  Damn right.

What’s that, you say, new Garage Hours?  Damn right, with a little help from Chef Jeff, Surfer Greg and Jaime from Off-Road.com, Hostus Maximus Justin Fort screwed together the first of what’s the new thing in gearhead talk – pure-podcast Garage Hours.  This one’s a gem – lot’sa recording experimentation, discussions of beer and food, a little bit about Queens of the Stone Age’s last gig, all while Justin installs a set of slotted rotors on his nasty little Subaru STi.  It’s gearhead!  Have some.

In the immortal words of Homer Simpson, “No TV and no beer make Homer something something…”  Don’t go crazy – Hank Watson’s Garage Hour hasn’t gone away – we’ve just left AM radio; the podcasts will continue.

Long story short, through no fault of our own – and someone else’s specifically – the suit overlords of KCBQ’s parent company called all the overhanging balances of the pain in the ass upstart shows like the Garage Hour, and we didn’t have the wad to bail ourselves out of an unceremonious trip to the AM grooveyard.  This, despite being the best piece of gearhead radio on-air in San Diego, listened to in more than 40 countries and at least 44 of these united states.  Dammit.

Thankfully, the aforementioned Garage Hour podcasts have been going gangbusters, and download numbers for current shows and Garage Hour Reloads are climbing like a Saturn 5 in a hurry.  We’re going to keep recording our shows (once we’ve had a few Saturdays off to remember why days off are so much fun), and keep uploading the shows for your downloading pleasure.  There will be some experiments with how we record and mix ’em, but it’ll be the Garage Hour – have no fear.  C’mon, you can’t keep a little monster like this down, though for now, we’re going to change our shape to fit the times.

Also thankfully, we (you’re in on this too) must appreciate the advertisers who’ve stuck with the show, because it’s a lot to ask for small businesses to ride this sort of thing out.  Twisted Manzanita Ales & Spirits, Active Shooter Defense School, and Tony’s Lube & Tune have been with us for a long time, and we’re grateful for every minute of their support.

It’s that time of year – get out of your box and go DO something.  If you’re a gearhead like us, that means finding some of the wonderful roads in your own backcountry (be they paved or un) and doing things on them.  If you’re lucky enough to have mountains and higher-elevation trails, that means getting the family truck out, checking tire pressure and stepping off the pavement, and if you’re a fast guy who likes a curvy piece of pavement, go find one and stick it to it.

Of course, statements like this will separate those who can from those who could, and we’re here to help.  Get involved, find someone who can show you the ropes, who can help you understand what makes your stock four-by Exploder or two-by 4Runner a decent truck for decent trails (and where to go to learn about it), or who can be your bandit while you learn to put your Z or GT or or WRX or Miata through its first paces on the curvy roads nearest you.

In-studio with Hostus Maximus Justin Fort (real-life fast guy) will be .45 Phil (real-life Master Guns) and Seth “Metal” Hollander (real-life off-roader).  Tune in at 6:PM, only on 1170AM and KCBQ.com.

jf