Do an episode where Sandro showcases his own hacks in the shop and the boys judge em. That’d be great.

Sandro in the thumbnail it’s instant 👍🏼

Nolan acting like a high school boy working on a project with his crush 😂

As a Car mechanic I feel like Sandro is the only one thats 100% honest about his experiences. So relatable

Everybody else: "WTF?!?!?!" Sandro: "I've done that"

I remember when Sandro used to apologize for cursing now he just lets it rip lmao 😂

Socket paint hack - Use a bright color and a paper towel with a very light grip. The microfiber with a strong grip will dig into the grooves and remove the paint. A folded paper towel will stay flatter and have less of a change at removing the paint from the grooves.

I knew a guy back in my twenties who worked on the big rigs. He could do something similar with transmissions, it was freaky. He also compressed my brake calipers by hand while we were changing my brake pads. He'd have been terrifying if he weren't the sweetest guy you could ever meet.

Homeboy picked that transmission up like it was Styrofoam

You used a terry/microfiber towel with the carb cleaner. The hack used a paper towel, which had more contact on the surface, and didn't have any nap to reach into the stamped lettering as much as your towel did. Just a thought.

Hydroponics are also used to grow lettuce and tomatoes indoors ;) When I was in college studying biology, there was a lab fully dedicated to studying hydroponics (it was in France, near Paris in 2009-2013) and refining the technique. I was friends with someone studying and working in this lab, he once brought tomatoes that were grown there after making sure they were ok to be eaten. These were among the tastiest, most perfect tomatoes I've ever eaten. I now live in southern France where homegrown tomatoes are known to be fabulous, these hydroponics grown tomatoes are still among the best I've ever had. For those wondering what hydroponics are, it's a way to grow almost any kind of plants out of the ground, on a fiber substrate soaked in water and nutrients. And yes it's also used to grow "aromatics". Actually, "aromatics" growth shares a lot with tomatoes...

STEPH'S SMILE IS CONTAGIOUS!

Sandro on the thumbnail, I click. Brother knows what he’s talking about

You’ve found some proper legends in Sandro, Angelina and now Steph. They could have this channel all to themselves.

that paint trick is actually super legit, though i do it with nail polish and non acetone nail polish remover. it also works great on guns too if you want the engraving to pop

On heavy diesels with massive oil filters this hack is great 5:50 It makes the filter so much lighter and easier to control it and get it out from under the truck

Donut casually flexes one of their own is a scientist that has met a couple of legends.

The punch a hole in the filter to drain it first is an amazing trick for diesel engines. They tend to have enormous filters and a bunch of oil in the filter. So you end up with way less mess in the pit or driveway. I've done it for decades on diesels and particularly annoying and messy filters.

The hole to drain the filter, not something I would do on small filters, but as a heavy diesel mechanic, definitely worth while on filters on 85L V16 engines. A lot of the filters have drain plugs on them to save you having to do this. The vacuum also is a good trick for small engines, basically a home-made transducer, another tool I use regularly to swap out hoses and such without draining 1000's of litres of oil from a hydraulic tank. (Again, sometimes come built in on the machines). Greay video, Steph is a good addition to the Sandro, Angelina stars! 👍🏻

For that first hack, I had a much more extreme version, I was trying to drill some mounting holes on the engine cradle, and only had wood drill bits and an old single speed drill, after the first half of the holes, I discovered that I could lower the CAR onto the drill (braced on pavement), and exert as much force as I wanted without tiring myself,

I had a chemistry teacher in hs that allowed open book labs; as she reasoned that real chemists aren’t going to 100% rely on memory every time they do something the first time. Smart lady.

Try the vacuum hack w/ the oil sensor! I'd like to see what it's like trying to get the suction strength/fit right.

I used the vacuum trick all the time working at Jiffy Lube back in college many many years ago when we needed to change out an oil drain plug and / or oil drain plug gasket

5:09 if you’re changing oil in a semi truck. Punching a hole in the filter is a big help ! Trying to unscrew and lower a hot filter with almost a gallon of oil in it, is a spill waiting to happen.

PSA from a friendly nerd. The torque wrench to hand wrench trick will always over tighten. You will always be adding that extra leverage from the distance of the center of the torque wrench to the center of the hand wrench. This will always be over-tightening from the torque wrench setting. Cheers, great video.

I did all my sockets after seeing THAT video on TikTok. I did metric in yellow and inch in white. Worked well.

Sandro makes a good point about tutorials. even surgeons look through instructions before going through a procedure. no shame in a quick refresher

12:10 that impact is on the wifi setting, I can hear it. 😂

I've used the punch a hole in the oil filter trick with inverted filters, so it drains down into the pan, instead of all over whatever components are nearby.

4:41 is very useful on cars with spin-on filters that are on the top of the engine and face down (2016 Subaru Crosstrek, for example). The punctured hole allows the filter to "breathe" and disrupts the natural vacuum inside the filter, allowing the oil to flow back into the crankcase. No oil puddle/mess to clean up after removing the filter.

I know 9:16 is an ad for the podcast, but I want to share my VG reliability story! I bought an 85 300ZX with 240,000 miles for $300 ($1 per Z) sort of running, sort of driving. It had no power until basically redline. Turns out that half of the cylinders had severe loss of compression (30-70 PSI on starter crank) due to bad piston rings AND someone took out an intake valve, ground it down to the size of the exhaust valves for some reason, and slapped it back in. The cams were also severely out of time, every sensor was bad, loose wires disconnected all over the engine bay, and it had no vacuum. Despite all of that, it ran like a champ! I even had it running with only 3 spark plug wires attached.

I've been a mechanic 40 + years, bikes, motorcycle, vehicles, helicopters and airliners. You guys are bomb. Ive only build motorcycles in my early riding years they make them plenty fast now, i never do anything without a manual. I am a snap on guy myself.

The paint pen trick works for electronics too when you cant read the chip number. Just rub some thermal compound (anything you can full the low spots with) and rob it off. BAM! Now you can read that proprietary part number that is just a few off from the public numbers datasheet......

1:20 Oh Lord... us D&D nerds knew this hack since the 70's.

Sandro "Cause im not swole like that my dude" had me freakin losing it!

The torque hack at 11:28 is super great! Dogbones, line sockets, crows feet all can change the length of you tq wrench therefore changing the tq applied to your fastener! Sometimes to tq your bolts there simply is no way to make your tool fit so a quick equation can solve all your problems if you’re trying to “do things right”. TW=TAxL/L+A where TW=tq shown on wrench TA=tq applied to fastener L=length of your tq wrench A=length of your extension/attachment Happy maintaining!

Used to use the vacuum trick on gravel pit equipment, rock trucks, excavators etc..... had to swap regular drain plugs for quick connect drain plugs.... don't have to drain and replace over 30L of engine oil, and more hydraulic oil..... clean process, saves alot of money on wasted oil

I would not punch a hole in an old filter until I know the new one fits. Trust me on this one.

My Auto mechanics teacher used to tell us to hit everything we were going to be working on with penetrating oil every day for at least 3 days before working on it to give it time to get in there break up rust and do it's job. Makes a huge difference working on vehicles with 200k plus miles and over a decade of salty winter driving in Northern MN.

Loving the addition of Tony. Cool to have someone who knows the science behind some of these weird things means. Keep it up RMS

Love how Sandro was excited to do arts and crafts 😂

You should do questionable KZfaq car advice!

The vacuum trick is awesome, i work on heavy equipment and we do this often for hydraulic repairs. Then you don’t make a mess with oil. The oil filter trick with the punch is good too, also used it heavy equipment applications. Some of the filters used hold over a gallon of oil so it’s heavy when they are full so to prevent a mess we drain them out like that.

0:30 yeah... weve done this also a few times as an emergency solution, when the alternative was "forget it, throw it away". works pretty well for that.

Sandro really obsessed with people's hands in this one 🤣🙌

11:30 - I am sure that will be throwing the torque reading off as it's adding another few inches of leverage.

That fender spring is cool if you're not traveling while turning because it's the tire pushing out the fender, and if traveling at speed, it will catch and rip the fender off.

I work on diesel engines and quite often do oil changes. I pop oil filters every time. These trucks come in off route and are at operating temps when I get them in my bay. I pop the filters first thing and let them drain, then pull the drain plug, then get my parts and do my paperwork for the job. By the time I pull the old filters they are empty and cooled off.

We need a special episode for every hack Sandro commented on „I’ve done that“ 😂

Poking a hole in the oil filter is a good idea in my case since my Excursion has such a big filter. It usually has about 2 quarts of oil in it so poking a hole makes is a lot easier to remove.

The socket hack in which he painted it to see the size better I actually used when I was younger but soon got to a point where I no longer needed it due to being able to identify what size I was grabbing visually by either the weight or being able to tell by the outer diameter especially when using a set that are my preferred brand usually matco or snap on, all mechanics that have years of experience in the field are like this and typically have found what set is most comfortable for them and a truly experienced mechanic never has only one brand of tools no matter if it is a wrench, socket, or ratchet they become accustomed to the way a tool feels and how well and efficiently it does the job with the least amount of failures and manufacturers don't necessarily come in to the equation

That one guy put together that car like it was made of legos.

the oil filter punch hack is super useful on certain semi truck and industrial engines. the filters are heavy af when full and punching them loses so much weight it just makes it easier imo

Definitely done the Jack and a wrench. Have also used a ratchet strap tied around a wrench and other end to a structural part on an ‘84 Chevy G20 van to get some bolts loose.

Punching a hole in an oil filter before removal is more useful when it's mounted up the other way so it drains into the engine instead of all over the place while you're unscrewing it. I learnt this trick when I bought an SW20 MR2.

I have lifted a transmission into place like that but he got me when he said about under the steering wheels thats is my weaknesses😂well played

The shop vac trick, also works for changing filters on diesel tanks, wouldn't suggest it for inline petrol ones tho.

Great to see Sandro 🎉 love watching these videos.

Sandro’s comment about arts and crafts is everything about this series 😂😂😂

Dude lifted an empty aluminum housing got people thinking he’s the Hulk 🤣

It's great that they all loved the "what no way" guy

Eric from I Do Cars used a forklift to hold a junk block (no heads), and a front end loader to operate a 3/4 inch breaker bar to remove the harmonic damper. Needless to say, it worked.

Puncturing the oil filter is a great idea and common in the heavy duty industry. That little car filter it’s just not necessary, but when that filter holds half a gallon it changes the game a bit and it’s nice to get it out so you don’t take a full oil shower.

4:48 Imagine you call yourself a professional, have worked in the profession for 20 years, but didn't know it or use it. What a deep insight. A full minute of excuses follows.

Sandro is my spirit animal 😂

Donut hires an insane amount of extremely smart people lol. Engineers, physicists.... guys....

Torque tech here, gotta speak out about some details: 9:48, torque wrenches are made to be used by hand. not with powerful equipment of extensions. But... for filming from the receiving end, the torque (of ratcheting) wrench is much safer than a breaker bar as it will likely just break the ratchet dog instead of spring-loading like a catapult. 11:00 Very advanced trick as torque could easily be halved or much worse depending on setup. To achieve exact torque at the bolt one must measure the length between the center of attachment point and center of the bolt relative to torque wench handle length AND take into account the angle from the torque wrench relative to the tightening wrench juuust before the click goes off (I know, super duper 🤓right?). There are formulas and calculators available and hopefully come with such tool attachment.

I'm done that first hack a million times. Always works. Make sure you use a 6 point wrench though!!!!

We see Sandro, we click. Simple.

I’m 5’7” 170lbs on a good day, and put a LT1 transmission (don’t know the actual model but it came out of a 96’ Impala) on my chest and stomach and lifted it while my friend bolted it in a 67’ GMC shortbed during my mechanic days in the Navy. Needless to say, we were screaming at each other while he got the top bolts threaded. I got looked at like I was mentally ill after that project. Will never forget Black Betty til the day I pass. First power pack swap I’ve ever done.

We need more of that girl. She is totally legit. Very knowledgeable funny and straight to the point.

I don’t even read the title. I see Sandro, I CLICK

This was a super fun and cohesive episode, great job!

As a hydraulic engineer we use a vacuum cleaner often to get a hydraulic oil tank under vacuum to disconnect hoses or applications without draining the tank. Even on huge 1000 liter oil tanks a small vacuum cleaner is good enough to do the job.

Similar to the first clip I’ve definitely cracked harmonic balancer bolts loose by using the starter….quick key bump with a long breaker bar before electric impacts were so strong….nowadays my Milwaukee cracks em loose no problem but when you had to have air and it’s out in the field somewhere that definitely worked…

Y'all are so much fun to watch. Thanks!!!

i think the hack at the end didn't worked as expected cause you used a microfiber towel instead of the papertowel, the tiny strings of the microfiber towel i think went into the scored marks and cleaned them off which the paper towel didn't do on the original video

The wrench adapter with the torque wrench can be accurate if you are 90° to the torque wrench handle. If you aren't 90° you're either shortening or lengthening the effective length of the wrench. Torque is force times distance. Torque wrenches are calibrated based off the required force to get it to click for a known handle length to achieve a torque value. The force value remains constant for a given setting on the wrench, if you change your effective length along the axis of the handle your actual torque value will change. This is also true when using a crowsfoot on a torque wrench, the crowsfoot should always be 90° to the wrench handle. Let's say for example you have a torque wrench that is 12" long and you wish to apply 24in-lbs to a fastener, knowing Torque = force * distance, we know it takes 2 pounds applied to the end of the handle to get it to click. The torque wrench will be calibrated at this 2lbs to reach 24in-lbs. Now let's say that we decide to use this wrench extension adapter and it puts us effectively along the axis of the wrench out 5 more inches. Again using T=F*D we can find that with an effective wrench length of 17inches now, to hit 24in-lbs it will now only take 1.4 lbs applied to the end of the wrench. The issue with this is, the wrench will not click at 1.4 lbs, but at 2lbs, so to get this to click you need to continue applying an additional 0.6 lbs. Knowing that the wrench is calibrated to click at 2lbs for 24ft-lbs but instead of being 12" the wrench is now 17 inches, you'd essentially be 2lbs*17in, which is now 34 ft-lbs. It may not seem like much, but on smaller fasteners that can make or break them. Sometimes you need to approach fasteners at an angle using adapters like this to to torque them. Simple calculations you can find out what the actual setting on the torque wrench that is required to get it to click given changes in your effective handle length (moment arm). I'm a little OCD with tightening fasteners, I always torque everything. It's the peace of mind of things not coming undone. I've had a couple scary moments of the calibrated elbow being off and don't trust it anymore.

The title of “Past Gas Podcast” immortalizes mistaking “past” for “passed”.

This series is getting better and better

That spring fender is a solution to a problem that shouldn't exist.

Ive done the paint marker socket trick. Not only does it make it easier to read but you can color code them. I had my common used wrenches in different colors for example.

The punching a hole in the oil filter is very much a legit hack. In heavy duty and truck and trailer it’s common practice due to the volume of oil the filters hold. In the automotive sector sometimes the filters are in such awkward places that punching a hole just help prevent making a mess.

Love Steph, Sandro and the donut bois!

yeah...... being big and a mechanic kinda suck. I'm a suspension mechanic and i'm 6'8". i made poor life choices. for pure dumb labor, being a giant is great. for reaching thru the engine bay to pick something up off the ground, also great. Underdash and tight enginebay work is hell for me. i often find myself in situation where i need the middle of my arm to bend or threading stuff via fingertips or long needle nose pliers.

Sandro is right, I used to do this to my own tools, after a couple months on the common sizes I use it’s worn out. On the sizes I do t use it’s faded so bad it actually makes it harder to read.

We used the vacuum trick when building boom trucks. From time to time the oil tank fittings would leak if they weren't doped. we could remove the entire 3" street 90 and re-dope it without a drop coming out.

Great video! That transmission stick reminded me of something I did as a young determined 16-year-old when I was in high school back in the early 80's summer. I got tired of dad putting off helping me install a Muncie rock crusher 4 speed we had gotten at a salvage yard in my 56 Chevy Pickup. I wasn't a big kid, maybe 120 lbs. at the time. I layed under the truck legs toward the front and managed to roll that tranny up onto a small piece of plywood over my stomach used my feet and legs to lift the front and arms to lift the back to stick that bad boy in there! Dad couldn't believe what I told him I had done when he got home from work, till he saw it in place, I had managed to do it all by myself without a jack. I had helped replace many transmissions by that age and I knew how to do it. It took all day and many failed attempts but, to that point in my life it was about the proudest I had ever felt. Looking back though, one wrong move and I wouldn't have had 4 kids in my later years of life! True 100% I swear! Young people were different back then, not all of them but I was, when you don't have money, you make do with what you can think up.

What do you mean you can't get torque specs with an impact!? Brrrt= 35Nm | Brrrt Brrrt =50 Nm | Brrrrrrrrrrrt = 80 Nm

Tony was lucky enough to meet both James Bardeen and Stephen Hawking, at the same time ?! I hope he is interested in black holes ! Must have been fascinating getting the chance to talk with such geniuses. You lucky man !

11:10 One of those rare moments Sandro is surprised instead of saying 'I did that'

Nolan feelin a lil giggly around Stephanie lol I love it

I've bench pressed a transmission into place but standing that shit was crazy

"And then you have a hole in the radiator and everything sucks..." Words of wisdom.

I’m so happy she mentioned that additional attachments on the torque wrench can put it out of tolerance from calibration.. she smart

If you do that socket engraving hack with the paint, you can just wipe off the paint before it drys so you don't need to use solvent on that rag (Carb cleaner is mostly just acetone). Just be gentle and try not to let the rag get pushed into the engraving. They use this technique on "How It's Made" in manufacturing processes (see the episode where they made Curling Stones if you need an example).

Love Sandro love Steph great video

Quick tip to the coloring of unseen writing on the sockets. Use a bright crayon instead as it will last much longer. Just really rub it in hard, no need to let it dry. Use rubbing alcohol to remove the excess instead of carbcleaner.

"Tiny amount of brake cleaner, and a bit of paper towel" *shitloads of brake cleaner and a fuzzy rag* "Doesn't work"

Steph and Sandro perfect for this