Not all Air Filters are created equal!

I always here people telling me that all the oil out there is bottled at the same plant and they just change the bottles so you might as well buy the cheap stuff. I also hear that all gas is the same, all grease is the same, all parts are made in China by the same company etc..... Well I call bull on all that. Here is a good example. People say it doesn't matter what air filter you buy, they are all the same so buy the cheapest one. Look at these 2 filters and see if you can notice the difference other then the one on the left being used and the one on the right being new.

 The new one has many more pleats then the old one. Almost 2 to 1 more pleats.

 More pleats = better filter! There really is no comparison.

 The one on the left is from O'reillys Auto Parts and the one on the right is a Napa gold filter from Napa auto parts.

So, to end this rant, just remember all parts are not the same and if you are needing an air filter, buy a napa gold or a wix filter. The wix and napa gold filters are 2 dollars more then the microgard that o'reilly sells and well worth that 2 dollars. Don't even think about running an STP Air, Oil, or any other kind of filter that auto zone sells. They are not worth the box they are packaged in. OK end of rant for now. Someday I will post my findings I found on oil filters after I cut them open to examine them. They are not all created equal either!

Enjoying the Drive Part 12

I have been taking a much needed break from the shop for the last month enjoying the outside weather. That's the reason I haven't had much stuff to blog about as far as shop work goes. On the other hand, there's been A LOT of cool cars out on the roads and I have received a bunch of pictures from my friends so here is another installment of "Enjoying the ride". If this is the first post of my blog that you are reading I will explain what "Enjoying the ride" is all about. I have issued a challenge to find cool, unique cars, different automobiles that are out and about driving the streets. I then post all those pictures here and choose my favorite one out of the ones pictured. I give more points to the ones that are actually driving in the pictures.

I found this one at the graffiti drags at Rocky Mountain Raceway. I haven't been a huge fan of this gasser style but I have to admit they are growing on me, a lot.

 More at the drags.

 and yet another one,

and one more. Staggs car club sponsored the graffiti drags and I think some of these cars were from that club. I like this car a lot but I have already posted it in another post so I am not going to add this one to the contest.

I had to speed up to catch this one. Not an easy thing to do in a stock bug but I got it. I love these old wagons and would love to have one for a family car but Dixie wouldn't like it. I actually tried to talk her into letting me fix up a 1957 Chevy station wagon for her daily driver but she wouldn't hear of it. That's OK. She knows that I will buy her any car she wants and at this stage in life, it happens to be a Honda Odyssey. She lets me drive anything I want (and can afford) so it works out.

 Vance found this beauty in Tooele. It looks good but needs to be lowered a bit. If you know me, I think everything can be lowered a bit even if it's lowered already. Ha Ha.

 Here is another one of Vance's. Very, very cool in my book. I have a real soft spot for cars that are still on the road even when they defy all odds. Heck, most of the junk that I drive everyday fits in this category. That must be why I like them so much. This one is rough but ranks very high on my cool meter. This one takes 3rd place in the contest for this week. Vance had an old 1963? Pontiac Grand Prix that he stored at my house for awhile. I had the chance to buy it and passed. I kinda wished I would of bought it, got it running like a top and just drove that thing with the rusty, battered body as it was. It would of been a cool old car.

 Ron found this one and guaranteed that it was a driver. I love the color. Orange being my favorite color! I think this was in Washington DC. I could be wrong on that one though.

Vance is quick with the camera. He found this one in Tooele also. I love the wide whitewalls.

 Vance was admiring this one when his wife asked him if he was going to get a picture of it for the blog. He then remembered to get a shot. Ha Ha. If Dixie is with me I give her my phone and tell her "Quick, get a picture!" She probably gets sick of that. The heads poking out from the top in this picture cracked me up.

 I saw this Jeep and had to get a picture. I think this guy is definitely enjoying his ride. It's a pretty cool Jeep with a cool roof rack and a high lift jack strapped to the hood. I should put a new windshield in my bug. You can see the huge chip in this picture.

My family and I were sitting in Arctic Circle enjoying moose track sundaes and I saw this truck pull in. I fell in love with it and as you can see in this picture Isaac did too. He wants our old international to sit as low as this one is. I think this is sitting perfect. I wouldn't even lower it any more. Ha Ha. This one is 2nd on my list of the coolest cars in this post.

I saved the best for last. I wish I could of seen this T-bird in person. Ron sent me these photos and I liked it the moment I saw them. I knew this one would be a winner. It's funny because I generally don't like this body style of thunderbird  but there's just something about this one.

 I think the only thing I would change about it is the wheels. Otherwise it's perfect and is the winner for this week!

That's it for this post. If you get some good shots of cool vehicles during your commutes and want to participate, post a comment and I will send you my Email address. Until next time remember, Life's too short to drive boring cars!

Boys Night Out!

Tonight the Olson boys went to the nostalgic drags at Rocky Mountain Raceway. It was a great day with awesome weather. Whenever we go anywhere as "just the guys" we take the bug of course. We lathered up with sun screen and drove over to the track.

 This car was doing a burnout just as we crossed the track. It did pretty good but ended up getting eliminated during the night.

 This photo is overlooking the oval track where some of the pits were located. There were a lot of really nice cars and trucks there.

 The Ford in the far lane was driven by a 17 year old guy. He looked like he was having a ball racing.

The cool thing about this night at the drags was that all the cars or trucks had to be older then 1979. The gasser in the far lane was cool. The chopped top Chevy was cool also.

 Yum, track food. For some reason the food always tastes great at the track. Steven and Isaac wolfed it down!

 I took this picture to send to my Dad. We raced at this track back when I was in Junior High School and this guy was racing back then. He isn't the fastest but he's very consistent and that's what wins in bracket racing. I can't believe he is still racing. I remember being in the passenger seat with my Dad driving and racing him. His name is Brent Burrows and he had "Rusty Wrench Racing" on the side of his door.

 We went to the pits and saw this Nitro Funny Car. They had 7 or 8 of them that raced throughout the night.

This one was one of the fastest of the night. I loved seeing these old school funny cars race. The fastest one we saw went 5.93 in the 1/4.

 Crews were busy wrenching on their cars all over in the pits. It's nice to be able to walk right up and watch them. These guys are working on the rear brakes.

 Here is a closer view of this hot rod. Isaac loved the old cop car in front of it.

 It's hard to take pictures of these nitro funny cars because it takes 2 hands to take a picture and I didn't have ear plugs. I sacrificed my hearing to get some shots and take some video of them. I think my ears are still ringing. They were obnoxiously loud and I loved it!

 I had just as much fun watching the old cars race also. They weren't near as fast but still fun to watch. I could picture these racing back in the 50's and 60's.

The parking lot was filled with a bunch of cool cars also. This was hands down the coolest one in the parking lot. You just gotta love those flames. I hope to build one of these customs someday.

We had a blast spending the night at the drags. Steven wasn't sure he wanted to go but he didn't want to leave when the time came. Now we just have to go when they are racing on the oval track.

Enjoying the Drive Part 11

This is a lot of pictures for enjoying the drive. I guess it's been a month since I did it last and I have been on the road for many miles in that month so here it goes: This one doesn't really qualify because it's being towed but it deserves to be shown. Hopefully it's going to a place where the owner will get it out and drive it. This picture was taken in Wyoming.

 This was cool and I could picture cruising it down the road. Unfortunately this is the only picture I was able to get. This was in South Dakota.

 This truck was interesting. The body was in nice shape but it has questionable modifications on it. The back bumper looks like its from a newer car. This one was in Missouri.

 I passed this Karmann Ghia as we were heading to Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo Texas. I really like Karmann Ghia's. It was raining like crazy and so that impresses me to see it out on the road.

We passed this bus on Route 66. I can't remember which state we were in.

 This vanagon passed me on I-215 as I was going home from work. It looks like it was ready for some serious camping.

 I think this car was following the T Bucket that was being hauled by the flat bed. It looked and sounded good.

 I have seen this T Bucket around town for a long time. Hopefully it gets some miles put on it in the future.

It's funny how many vehicles come out when the weather turns nice. I spotted this Thing as I stopped for some gas in West Valley.

 Again close to home, this Lincoln was getting some gas. I think these Lincoln's are awesome. Even the four door ones are cool when they are lowered a bit and have cool wheels on them.

 I took this picture for my son because he loves stuff like this and I thought it was a good fit to be posted here. I know these trucks drive really rough but maybe they are better with a camper on the back. This was in Winnemucca, Nevada.

 This Hot Rod was also in Winnemucca and it was one of the coolest cars I have seen. I wish I could have gotten a better picture of it but it was gone before I could.

I think this was a husband and wife in each of these mustangs. The red one was driven by a guy and the black one was driven by a women. They were together and looked to be heading to Rocky Mountain Raceway.

 They were both really clean cars. This black one looked all stock while the red one looked like it was hopped up.

 My buddy sent this one. It's been a while since this one has been driven by someone enjoying the drive but it's great yard art. It reminds me of a house in Riverton that has a similar set up. I will have to get a picture of that house one of these days.

 Another photo from my friend. I like this one a lot. The dog inside it is cool also!

 A T-bird that is looking good. My buddy is giving me a run for the money on the contest to find the coolest car.

This picture shows how badly I need to clean my windows. This car was one of the coolest I have seen in this post but I am really partial to these cars. I think that makes me biased.

This is Vance's Uncles car. He was helping him move it and was given the choice on whether to drive this one or his uncles new truck. If your a car guy or gal, you know that that is not a very hard choice. I need to ask Vance if he did a burnout in it. I'm not sure if I could drive it and not do one. Ha Ha.

 Dixie has even got into the spirit of finding different vehicles and getting pictures of them for this blog. This is her addition and it is very interesting to say the least. She has seen it a couple times around town. I think I would have to wait until the owners came out so I could see what they look like. I need to get a tour of this thing on the inside.

 Dang Vance has too many connections! This one is his buddies. I like it A LOT!

We passed this t-bird in Missouri. I love this body style. I dig the colors on it also.

 Nice little pickup.

 and another truck.

 This picture DOES NOT do this car justice. It was immaculate and being a black car of this size says a lot about how nice it was. Black is hard enough to make look good but then you add the size of this car and that adds a whole new light to how well this car was done. I watched him drive through a dip in the road and he scrapped all along it. Ha Ha, You have just got to love guys that will put this much money and time into a car and still dare to drive them. With that said, I am choosing this one the winner for post number 11 in "Enjoying the Drive".

The close runner up in this contest is Vance's Uncles Ford. If he got a picture of it doing a burnout I think it would of won but you never know. I am really biased on the winner because when I saw the car driving and heard the sound of it I was drooling all over it. Ha Ha, until next time remember, Life's too short to drive boring cars!