Auto Body Repair Help, Car Repair Advice, Auto Accessories Information – Eastwood Blog

Congratulations to the winner of Eastwood’s Caption It  – Randall R. for his winning caption :

We’ve all heard horror stories about getting a car worked on…….This image reminded us of some of those stories.  Add your best caption to this photo by adding a comment.  Eastwood’s President will choose a winner of an iPod Touch 16G, based off of the comments received by Wednesday, January 20, 2010. 

Share your caption for a chance to win

Full rules can be read here.

When I first started working at Eastwood, one of the first products I got my hands on was the HotCoat Powder Coating System.  Having never been exposed to powder coating, I was a little skeptical of how much more durable it was compared to paint.  After I sprayed a few test panels, I was sold.  When the panels cured, I was told to take a pick hammer and hit the q-panel.  To my surprise, the panel had a nice indent, but the powder did not flake off.  Next, I was told to bend the q-panel in half.  Again, the powder did not flake off (try these simple tests at home….it is pretty amazing!!  You can also coat a piece of aluminum foil and bend that all around to see how durable powder coating is).  After seeing these two tests, I was sold and have been powder coating at home ever since.

Powder coating at home can be done for a relatively low amount of money.  All you need is an oven (I started with a small toaster oven and worked my way up to an old house oven), a compressed air source, powder, powder coat gun, and clean parts to coat.  Click here to see how easy it is to powder coat at home.

Working on old VW’s, I’ve been powder coating just about anything I can fit into the oven - pedal assemblies, engine tin, pulleys, wheels, hood hinges, sway bar,….even the gas tank for my ’62 bug (we did that in our large walk-in oven in our R&D).  Nick

Powder Coated Gas Tank

Hi,

Welcome to the all new Eastwood Company Blog.  My name is Nick Capinski aka “The Bug Guy” and I am Eastwood’s  E-Commerce Marketing Manager.  In addition to being an Eastwood employee, I am also an Eastwood Customer (since the early 90′s – first item I bought was Factory Gray High Temp Exhaust Manifold paint).

Since I can remember, I’ve always been into VW Bugs.  I’m not sure what drew me to them, but I remember drawing pictures of Bugs back in elementary school.   My dad had a Bug when I was about a year old which got stolen (never recovered) and my older brother and the neighborhood kids had Bugs….maybe that is what got me started.

I started on my first Bug when I was about 13 years old.  It was my older brother’s first car which he drove up until college when the original engine went.  He ordered a high performance longblock for the Bug, but was never able to get it to run right, so the car sat for a number of years.  After sitting for a few years, rust took over.  My brother was going to scrap the car, but  knowing that I had wanted a Bug, he told me I could have it if I fixed it up.

Growing up, I had a mini-bike and go-kart which taught me a lot of basic skills, but I still didn’t know much about fixing up a car.  Picking up every VW magazine and repair manual I could get my hands on, I learned as much as I could.

Together with my dad, I got the Bug running really well.  After it ran, I began tearing it apart.  Once it was torn apart, we realized how much rust the car had.  Not having a welder or access to one (not that my dad or I knew how to weld at that time), we visited the autobody vo-tech teacher that lived down the road.  He took one look at the car and told us to junk it and find another.  We began our search for another Bug and bought a running/driving ’71 Super Beetle for $600.  The guy we bought this Bug from was heavily into VW’s and showed us some of the projects he was tackling.  After seeing his projects, we decided that although the first Bug needed a decent amount of work, that it was still fixable.  We decided to tackle the first Bug as a long-term project and the second Bug would be my car to drive when I got my license.

Since this time, I have had over 15 Bugs, which is how I was dubbed “The Bug Guy” (presently own 8 Bugs in various stages of restoration/customization) and a 1977 Corvette (also currently restoring my dad’s 1969 Corvette Convertible).

Nick's First Bug as it looks today - 1974 VW Super Beetle

At Eastwood, we welcome 2010 knowing we have bigger and better things in store for you, our customers. Without spilling all the beans, we’ll be introducing new ways to improve your online experience, exciting “Eastwood Only” new products, and more! 

Online, 2009 was a year of change and growth at Eastwood.  The biggest change was the launch of the new eastwood.com website in June.  We listened to your comments and created a site that is easier to navigate, while offering more features and functionality (more product images, improved wishlist, ability to add ratings and reviews, more product videos, and the list goes on….). 

This blog was also introduced in 2009.  It allows you to stay in touch with Eastwood and meet some of our team.  It’s also a great way to see what we are up to with our current projects and new product sneak peeks.

In regards to staying connected, did you know that Eastwood is active on many of the popular social sites?….. Eastwood is on Facebook, Carspace, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, and HubGarage.  If you use any of these social sites, let’s connect!

Eastwood’s online forum – ShopTalk was revamped in 2009.  Not only does the forum offer more features, but we’ve also teamed up with Kevin Tetz (host of Paintucation instructional DVDs and Trucks!) to answer your questions.  Kevin is active on the forum and glad to share his knowledge with our members.  As always, our Eastwood experts are on the “Ask Eastwood’ forum ready to answer your questions.

For car clubs, Eastwood added its Car Club Directory.  This is a free directory for car clubs to gain some exposure and find new members.  If you’re in a car club, make sure it’s added to the Eastwood Car Club Directory.

Moving forward in 2010, Eastwood has projects in the works to make the website even easier to use, a virtual car show for visitors to upload images of their vehicles, more contests, more videos, more technical information, and more exposure to the Eastwood team and our projects.  If you have any feedback (good/bad/ugly) about our online efforts, feel free to email me directly.  

Now…..get back in the garage…..the 2010 car show season is right around the corner!