S&YE233 - Subie Raptor

[00:00:10] Hi, this is Josh and you can find me on Instagram at Subie Raptor. You are listening to episode 233 of Subie & You Podcast. Hello and welcome to another episode of the Subie & You Podcast. As you just heard, I have Josh on and it was really cool because he's another guest that I was actually able to meet in person that I've had on the podcast. When I went out to Overland Expo West in Flagstaff, Arizona, I was able to meet Josh there and we chatted for a while and I think I also had him on the bonus episode.

[00:00:38] But anyway, yeah, it was cool to catch up with him. He was also a guest on the Dirt Subies Podcast hosted by my buddy Ben and that was episode 19. So after you listen to this one, go check that one out also if you haven't listened to it and check out the Dirt Subies Podcast. Give them a follow on Instagram. Give them a follow anywhere that you listen to podcasts because he's on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and I'm sure many other apps.

[00:01:06] He also does it as a YouTube podcast. So that's really cool, too. There is also the Wave Podcast that's hosted by Patrick and Dave. Again, another great podcast. It's very I think they get pretty technical because they're both Subaru technicians and those guys are funny, too. So go check out the Wave Podcast as well. But before we get into anything else, we'll hear from one of our sponsors. The Subie and You Podcast is brought to you by Eccentric Designs.

[00:01:34] For those of you who don't know, Eccentric Designs is a small, community-driven business that offers custom-fit vinyl overlays for most Subaru models. This includes various designs for the rear reflectors, taillights, and side taillights. I also offer fun decal designs like the popular fender stripes and stickers. To find designs for your Subie, head on over to eccentricdesigns.com. There's always more projects in the works, so be sure to follow at eccentric.designs on Instagram.

[00:02:02] Be sure to give Eccentric Designs a follow on Instagram if you're not already doing so. So it's also a great way to incorporate decals on your Subaru. If you're new to this community and you're not really sure what you want to do with your Subaru yet, decals are a very cost-effective way to personalize it and do some cool stuff. So go check her out. She has a website and she's also on Etsy. You can find her both places.

[00:02:28] Also, if you were a previous guest on the Subie and You Podcast, you can go to her website. Just type in episode and you can get an episode-specific decal that'll say Subie and You Podcast and then it'll have episode whatever it was that you were on. So go check that out. It helps support her and helps support the podcast. And we would both appreciate it. I hope that everybody is having a good summer and staying cool out there. I'm in Texas and it's hot here. And I know it gets hot in Arizona and some other places.

[00:02:57] So if you're out there somewhere where it's really, really hot, be sure to stay cool, stay hydrated. And, you know, if you want to carry around some drinks to keep you nice and cool, there are some really nice cooler bags at SubaruGear.com. You can navigate to lifestyle and then bags and coolers and you can find some cooler bags to carry around drinks. You know, your cold drinks to keep you nice and hydrated.

[00:03:24] When it's really, really hot out there, grab an ice cold drink and, you know, just wash down the heat because it gets hot out there. But yeah, go check out SubaruGear.com. You can use the code SUBIEANDU2026 at checkout to get 20% off a single item or you can fill up your cart and save 20% off your entire purchase. Also, if your total is over $50 after the 20% discount, you'll automatically get free shipping. And that is really, really cool.

[00:03:52] Thank you so much, Subaru Gear, for sponsoring the SUBIEANDU podcast and bringing this great offer to the listeners. All right, this big event is coming up this Saturday. SUBIEFest California is coming up Saturday, July 25th from 3 to 10 p.m. at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. So if you don't already have your tickets, be sure to get tickets for that event. And go check it out. SUBIEFest is always a great time. There's so many great Subarus there. They have giveaways.

[00:04:20] They have the DJ making announcements. They have, you know, the all, they have the car show where you can potentially win a trophy. There's just, and then they have the athletes there, usually Bucky and sometimes Travis Pastrana. But it's always a great time. So go check it out. If you don't already have your tickets again, go ahead and get those for that event this weekend. And just have fun. One more quick announcement before we get into this episode. But another sponsor of the SUBIEANDU podcast is Melee Design Firm.

[00:04:48] My buddy Mitch was kind enough to give a discount code for everybody. So you can get 10% off pretty much anything site-wide. But of course, most of the stuff that is Subaru related. One of the really great products that you can get are the engine bay caps. Those really help to enhance the look of your engine compartment. Plus their billeted aluminum. And they just look cool. So you can get it either with the Melee logo on it. Or you can get it with like the appropriate symbol for where it goes.

[00:05:17] For like the radiator or the brake cylinder. And also for your oil. There's one more. I think. I can't remember the last one. But anyway, yeah. Those are available. They're really nice looking. You can use the code SUBIEANDU at checkout to get 10% off your purchase. Thank you so much, Melee Design Firm. So we'll go ahead and get into this episode with Josh. Josh, his Subaru is called Subiraptor. And he goes into the story of how that name came about.

[00:05:47] And it's actually a pretty cool story. And he just has a pretty cool story overall. And a really cool Subaru journey. So we'll go ahead and get into this conversation with Josh. Hey, Josh. Welcome to the podcast, man. Thanks. It's good to be on. Yeah. It's good to see you again.

[00:06:16] I know we're just seeing each other like over the internet. But I got to actually meet you at Overland Expo in Arizona, which is really cool. Yeah. Yeah. It was a fun time. A little windy. But that's kind of to be expected over there in Flagstaff. And I'm sure if you've listened to other episodes, you know what the most important question is. And that's whether you prefer waffles or pancakes.

[00:06:43] I probably partake in pancakes more. Probably make pancakes more. I like to hear that. But I definitely do like waffles. But probably my favorite is French toast. My wife's not a big fan of French toast. So I don't make it very often, though. Yeah. It's so good, man. But really, I should stay away from it all being I'm a type 1 diabetic. So I should probably stay away from the carbs.

[00:07:11] But I'll still enjoy some pancakes every now and then. Yeah. They're good stuff, man. I like them. So before we get started with anything having to do with your Subaru and Subarus, because I know you have more than just, you know, Subiraptor. But I want to talk about the Rebel Rally. Because whenever I didn't know this about you before I met you in Arizona.

[00:07:38] And you had like Rebel Rally attire on. You were like all geared out with Rebel Rally. So we got to talking about it there. But how did you like how did you find out about the Rebel Rally? And then like how did you get involved? Like what's your role been? Like how long have you been doing it? And then so we can start there. Okay. So really it was pretty soon after I switched from working at Hyundai.

[00:08:06] I went and worked at a Chrysler Dodge Ram Jeep dealership. And a lady who owned a Jeep rental company in Sedona, Nina Barlow, you know, she always would bring her Jeeps in there. We put the lifts on. We did everything, outfitted them out for the rental business. And she knew I came from an import background.

[00:08:34] I had, you know, I've had Toyotas. That's all I really owned before I started working there. So being that she was going to be a part of this Rebel Rally, the first one as a competitor, she was friends with Emily Miller, who is the creator of the Rebel Rally. And she was asking her about, you know, oh, do you know anyone who would want to come and

[00:09:01] spend, you know, 10 to 11 days out in the desert and working on all these different vehicles that are going to be in this competition? And this was probably, it probably was almost a year even before the very first Rebel Rally. Yeah. I know there's a lot of planning involved with it. Oh, yeah. They planned for a long time. So she was all like, the only thing she told me was like, hey, I don't even really know

[00:09:32] what to expect with this. I mean, no one really does. Would you want to drive out in the middle of the desert with a bunch of people and, you know, do this crazy navigation rally, be a part of it? Um, and I kind of, you know, went home, talked to the wife about it and said, hey, you know, it's a, it's an all female navigation rally and they want me to go and do this.

[00:09:58] And, uh, you know, she's always been, my wife's always been a big, you know, supporter through everything and was like, That's awesome. Yeah, go for it. So, I mean, um, so that was, like I said, that was probably, probably almost 12 years ago now that, you know, that first, you know, thought kind of took, got into my head, um, about it. But yeah, cause I know they just celebrated their 10th anniversary this past year. Yeah, the 10th anniversary.

[00:10:27] Um, so yeah, I've been a part of it all 10 years. Um, so my wife is, you know, graciously let me, let me go for, you know, 10 to 12 days to the desert every, every October. Um, and how did that work out, you know, with your job being able to, I mean, were that, I guess, did you just like take vacation time or were they supportive of that? Like, Hey, we, we really think this is a cool opportunity. Yeah. I should go do it. Like, how did that work out? Because that's a long time.

[00:10:56] Yeah, for sure. Um, I actually get, um, you know, paid by the rally for being on it because I'm, you know, a mechanic and course official for the entire, for the entire event. Um, so, but at first it was kind of, you know, with Nina Barlow, like she, she was a big, uh, you know, a big kind of contributor to that dealership. Um, Oh, nice. You know, cause she, she brought her, I mean, at that point, I think she owned 20 some

[00:11:28] Wranglers, uh, that were always in and out of that, that dealership. So they kind of would do whatever she said. You gotta let him come with me. Like, yeah, I was like, Hey, I'm going with Nina. And, uh, they were like, Oh yeah, sure. Just let us know when you're leaving and when you're coming back. That's really cool. And then actually, so that the first year actually took, uh, Nina Barlow's Ram 2500.

[00:11:52] Um, cause at that point I had a 98 four runner with, you know, a bunch of miles on it. And it was, I mean, it was in good shape. It was lifted and I actually built a rear Mount turbo set up for it. And it was, it was pretty cool, but it wasn't something that I wanted to go and, you know, throw 2,500 miles on and in 10 days. Uh, so she let me take that. And then the next year I bought a, I bought a 03 Ram 1500 from my brother-in-law.

[00:12:22] He was the original owner and I had got that one all outfitted and geared up for it. And the dealership actually paid to wrap the whole back of it. Um, so it was kind of cool. Um, you know, so they, they were completely supportive of me going. And, and these were vehicles you're talking about, like that you, you took her Ram and then you took the other one. These are vehicles that you needed to be out there to get to the vehicles, to do maintenance and stuff. Correct? Correct. Yeah.

[00:12:47] They were, they were vehicles that I had set up to be on course to do, um, to either just be a course official, course worker, um, to mechanic vehicles, uh, to work on vehicles out in the field. Um, and then, you know, anything I really needed out there, that thing was, was geared up, uh, to do it. And were you working on like all different vehicles out there or were you like only with a specific team? How did that work? Yeah. Yeah.

[00:13:17] So I'm, I'm open to, to anybody and everybody, um, out there. I mean, where you even sometimes, you know, work on other, other, uh, course workers or other staff vehicles throughout the event as well. Um, so yeah, I mean, we're just mainly out there to make sure everyone's safe, uh, that the event is fair for everybody.

[00:13:42] Um, and just, just really, uh, out there to make, make the event as special as it is. And part of the reason why, um, the event is special because there's so many people who are just like me who, you know, really care about the event. And, uh, a lot of people have been there the full 10 years as well. So, yeah, it's really cool. It's kind of like seeing a, you know, a different, another, another family out there once a year. Yeah.

[00:14:10] And like, so, uh, how many mechanics are out there? Cause I'm guessing there's more than just you. Cause I mean, I'm guessing they would have to have multiples, you know, you've got so many vehicles out there. Yeah. So I'm like one of the only one that's actually like a mechanic out in the field. Uh, we do have the first, uh, that first year, like I said, that, that first year was, we had no idea what to expect. Yeah.

[00:14:37] Our, our camp, yeah, our kind of base camp garage was out of the back of a U-Haul with some easy ups. Oh my God. Like it was. Yeah. It's grown quite a bit since then. Yeah. The U-Hauls, you know, broke down. We had to switch, switch them out and the other, like every few days cause they just kept breaking down. Um, but yeah, now it's, we have a full two story, uh, you know, double decker, big, uh,

[00:15:06] like 50 foot trailer. Like it's, it's kind of crazy what, what it's become. We're sponsored by Pennzoil. We're sponsored by Milwaukee. Yeah. Um, the sponsorships for that event are pretty crazy. Cause I mean, it's, it's, it's a really big deal. I mean, and it's such a cool event that all these women come together, you know, drivers and navigators to do this and then just, you know, the scale of it is really cool. Yeah, for sure.

[00:15:32] And like I said, from, from what it's, what it started out as, uh, to what it is now is just, you know, more than any of us, uh, going out that first year, you know, could have imagined. Um, so yeah, it's, it's, it's really all, you know, thanks to, to Emily Miller who, you know, kind of had this dream of making this event and, um, now she actually started, uh, a road course event as well. Really? That's, that's really cool. Yeah.

[00:16:01] It's called the, uh, Trinity, uh, road rally. Um, it's a little bit shorter of an event, but yeah, it's all on the, the roads, uh, on the paved roads. And then it's, uh, it ends as a track day out at like a, like a raceway. Very nice. How long has she been doing that? This, uh, this was the inaugural year. Okay. Uh, just, just a couple months ago. Wow. That's so cool. She's, she's definitely got a lot on her plate. I know now she's, she's running trails for this next upcoming year's, uh, rebel rally.

[00:16:31] So very nice. She's always running around. Yeah. That's cool. So what it like as a course official, like, what does that entail? Like where, what is it that you're doing as a course official? Um, so we're usually out on course, you know, before anybody, uh, we'll usually get up at five o'clock in the morning, uh, head out. Um, and then we will set, uh, checkpoints along the way.

[00:16:59] Uh, there's three different checkpoints in the rebel rally. There's green checkpoints, which are manned by a course official. Uh, so there's actually, you know, a physical person there. Um, there's blue checkpoints, which are marked either by a blue pole or a blue flag. And then there's black checkpoints, which there's, there's no, no indicator that they're in the right spot. Okay. Um, so we'll go set out in the morning. We'll set our green checkpoint.

[00:17:26] Um, along the way, if we pass where they have a blue checkpoint set up, we'll set up, uh, you know, the blue pole or blue flag. Um, so everything's set up. That's one of the biggest things is, is just make sure all the blue flags and all the blue poles and the green checkpoints are set up in the right spot. Okay. Cause you definitely get some angry competitors, uh, at dinner that, at the, that night when you don't set them in the right spot.

[00:17:57] Yeah. But, uh, but we really haven't had, had too many of those. We've had some, some close calls where, you know, some communications got crossed and an opening time was not given to us. Uh, so we've had to race over and hurry up and set one. Um, but so as a course official, we'll, we'll set up those. Um, I'll usually be one of the, you know, first to middle of the pack, uh, green checkpoints

[00:18:25] so I can be available for any mechanical. Um, and then also, um, so they'll come through my green CP. Um, and then as soon as everyone moves through my green checkpoint, then I'll get with, um, some other course workers from previous green CPs. And then we'll just kind of, what's called running sweep and we'll follow them kind of the rest of the way, you know, far behind.

[00:18:52] But, um, we can also, we also have a full, full tracking. That's another kind of thing that's evolved with the rally. Now we all have star links and, uh, full tracking capabilities of all the competitors. So, so they don't get too far away before we can, you know, kind of have to, if we have to, you know, get them on a correct course, if they're just going, you know, completely wrong, um, which, you know, it happens to the best of them.

[00:19:22] Um, you know, it's, it's tough, you know, the, they don't have any GPS, they don't have anything. They're just map and compass. And yeah, it's not too hard to get, get turned around. I know I would be all over the place if I didn't have GPS and tracking and everything. So I gotta, I gotta hand it to each and every one of them. Yeah. Mad props to them. Cause they do a really amazing job with it.

[00:19:46] But, um, also before, as we were, um, saying about, uh, other mechanics. So there's me on course and then there's usually between three to five, uh, base camp mechanics. Um, and it's kind of grown since we kind of have our kind of core, uh, mechanic group, um, you know, of people that, that we see every year, um, that come back.

[00:20:12] So if, if there is like a big breakdown, uh, we'll have someone either come, uh, with like a wrecker or a trailer and pick them up and, and, and take them back into camp. And then we'll be up till sometimes three, four o'clock in the morning, uh, fixing them and getting them on the road for the next day. Yeah. And then you're basically getting no sleep. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I'll usually roll in after sweep, especially on some of those, you know, day three, day

[00:20:38] fours, um, you know, I'll, I'll be rolling into camp sometimes seven, eight, sometimes as late as nine o'clock at night. Um, when everyone gets in, uh, and then, then we'll see, Oh, there's, there's a full line of people at the, at the garage. So let's, uh, let's get some food and, and start, start working. So we've, we've repaired, you know, broken solid axles.

[00:21:06] We've, I think we've welded back together. Two of those two axles back together. Um, we've done an engine swap. Oh yeah. I was going to ask like, have you ever done anything like that? Like as crazy as man. Yeah. Two years ago we did a, we did a 22 RE in a Toyota four runner and like an 87 Toyota four runner. Uh, we did that in a night. We sourced the engine and got it put in, in a night and had them, had them going the next day.

[00:21:36] Wow. Um, that's pretty last year. This last year we did a transmission, uh, in an FJ 80 land cruiser. Um, we've done a, we've done a cross track, uh, clutch at Glamis one year. We'll put a clutch in a, in a cross track. I need a new clutch soon. I'm at a hundred and forty seven thousand miles on my original clutch. Yeah.

[00:22:05] You know, he's gotta go, you'll, you'll, it'll start, it'll, it'll start kind of chattering a little bit if it's starting to go. So if you haven't really felt that yet, you should be, you're probably good to go. Yeah. Uh, I mean, I was talking to somebody about it not too long ago. I'm like, I'm sure I will like, something's going to feel off. I just don't know what it feels like. I don't, you know, cause, but I'm, I'm impressed with it being at 147,000 miles. Like, I don't know how long they're supposed to last.

[00:22:32] I mean, it really just depends on, you know, driving habits. Um, yeah. And I don't know stuff like that. Like I don't take it easy either. Yeah. I burned my clutch pretty bad climbing stuff on the rally, uh, in my car. Um, and sometimes like, oh man, I'm going to have to change it for next year. And I'm like, eh, it's okay. Keep going. So I'm five years on, on the clutch. I put a new, you know, clutch in it when I, when I put my engine in it.

[00:23:01] But yeah, I, uh, it's probably cause most of my miles, it's like 95, 90% of my miles are all, you know, on road. Cause I live in Houston. So that could be a good reason for it too. Yeah. But so speaking of Subarus, like where did your interest in Subaru initially come from? Um, so I had, uh, an 06, uh, Dodge Cummins, uh, you know, big, big diesel truck.

[00:23:31] It was, I had it all set up for the rally. I only got to do one rally in it because I lost second gear like on day two. So I had to do the rest of the rally, uh, with no second gear in my truck. So that was, that was fun. Um, but it really was, I mean, I loved that truck. It was so nice. It was an 06 mega cab. Um, you know, it, it was just gorgeous. Got it from the original owner. He traded it in. Oh, nice.

[00:23:59] You know, he buffed and polished that thing religiously. Um, just, just a gorgeous truck. And, um, the, the weak link of those is the automatic transmissions. Um, and I definitely, you know, found that, that weak link on that rally. Yeah. Um, so I, you know, got it home from the rally, took it in, completely rebuilt it, you know, beefed it up all stage three, uh, performance parts, billet internals. Uh, should have been, should have been bulletproof.

[00:24:29] Um, but the torque converter I got had an issue with it. And so it, I went and we went and took the camper, went up to Payson, um, and it started overheating and just, just cook. I came back from Payson, uh, afterward and camping and with almost to my house and it just went out again. Uh, so after it went out that second time, I'm like, I just need something just to drive two back and forth from work. Yeah.

[00:24:56] Um, and this little 03 Forrester base model X, uh, came across my, my Facebook. Um, and I kind of knew, knew the people who, who owned it and had 320,000 miles on it. Oh my gosh. Um, they just wanted like 1500 bucks for it. I think I talked to him about like, I think I only paid like 1200 bucks for it. Um, he was in good shape. They, they knew the original owner. So it was all original.

[00:25:26] The, they never had head gaskets, uh, original engine, original transmission. Um, the guy, I mean, had a stack of service records, got an oil change every 3000 miles. Um, the guy just, you know, babied it. Yeah. Um, now, did you know anything about Subaru at the time? I mean, a little bit. Kind of one of those, like, Subaru.

[00:25:56] Most, most mechanics have this whole, like, oh man, it's a Subaru. Like, I don't want to work on that. After working on them now for the past seven years, they're the easiest vehicle to work on. Like, I love working on Subaru. That's good. Uh, I can have an engine pulled out in my driveway in an hour. Um, I can have, I can do, I can do a complete engine swap in about four to five hours if I really like push and get everything done.

[00:26:26] I mean, it doesn't matter if it's an older, you know, late nineties, early two thousands, or I just did a 2018 Crosstrek engine in my driveway. Like, they're, they're pretty much the same. Like, there's a little bit different, especially now with being, you know, the direct injected and everything. But I mean, for the most part, it's the same thing. Yeah. Um, but so, you know, I went and, you know, bought this little Forester with 320,000 miles on it.

[00:26:56] Everything worked on an ice cold AC. Um, and then I just kind of started. I'm like, well, you know, my trucks broke down. I got a, I got a hunt coming up. So, uh, I'm going to build a lift kit for this thing. It's just spacers. I was, you know, kind of looked around and kind of saw what was available. I'm like, man, I can't spend more for a lift kit for this thing than I paid for the entire car. Yeah. Um, so I got some metal.

[00:27:23] I mean, it was, it was very, a very primitive, um, not primitive racing. No, no primitive. Like it looked like a cave, a caveman built it, but, uh, it was, you know, three steel tubes, um, little pieces of steel pipe and then some flat strap steel that I welded together in a triangle. And that's what I made. It was about, I made about two and a half inches.

[00:27:52] Um, and that's how I made my first lift kit. And it's still on that car today. Oh, I built that like eight years ago. The transmission finally did go out in that car. Um, but I think it got racked up to around 360,000 miles on that car. Um, he drove, uh, the guy that I sold it to, he's a firefighter in Phoenix. So he drove it back and forth about three times a week. Okay.

[00:28:18] Um, and so, uh, but yeah, so it still has the same. He never had an issue. He off-roaded it, you know, uh, regularly. Um, but yeah, so that thing definitely tried and true. Uh, threw some tires on it that got, you know, that I got, they were takeoffs off of a little Jeep at, at work. And, you know, I, I took that on my hunts.

[00:28:42] I, you know, I blasted it down Perkinsville Road, um, which is a nice little, you know, dirt trail, uh, from, from here where I am or from Jerome to Williams. Okay. Um, and yeah, it was just, it just blew me away. Everyone I took in that car was blown away for some reason. Still, I think that car rode smoother than even, even the old Subi Raptor, but it was,

[00:29:12] it was a fun little car for sure. Was it an automatic? No, it was, it was also a five speed man. Okay. Okay. Gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. Manuals are fun. Yeah. Yeah. I enjoy it. But sometimes I, I wait, like when I'm climbing hills, um, cause back in my years, the automatics actually were geared lower. Uh, so they came with like four 44s and my, my car being a manual and he's at a four 10s.

[00:29:39] So it would be nice to have that little bit lower, but I've never had an issue with, with my car. I just were in the clutch a little bit sometimes. And sometimes I just got to hit stuff a little faster, but yeah. Yeah. So where'd it go from that, uh, first Forester? So, um, from that first Forester, it kind of went to, you know, I, I want to build up one to take on the rally. Um, I'm not going to take one that has 300 and some thousand miles on it to the rally.

[00:30:09] Um, so it was okay. Um, I have a, a buddy who's been, uh, you know, he was, he's been working on Subarus since the seventies. Um, and he has a, he has a little local gas station here in town and he's known as the Subaru guy. I mean, I'm hoping to take that, that, that, uh, namesake from him someday. Yeah. That's a long time. But yeah, he's got, yeah, I should have wrote it down.

[00:30:38] He has about, I think 60 Subarus in his possession right now that are his, he has titles for, they're, they're his cars ranging from, I think he has five Brats. He has, I think he's up to four Bajas. Um, and then mostly he has Outbacks. Okay. Like that, uh, kind of that first generation Outback, first and second generation Outback. Are these all running? Um, no, there's very few that are running. Okay.

[00:31:08] I was like, that'd be cool if they're all running. Yeah. He, he likes to collect them. I mean, all, most of them wouldn't be, you know, too far off. Um, a lot of them, it's just do an engine swap in them and they're, you know, they're good to go. Um, so one day he told me, he's all, Hey Josh, I have this, this O5, uh, Forrester and it's actually, you know, pictures of it on my, my Instagram. Yeah. I saw that.

[00:31:36] When I got it, just sitting in the weeds there with, you know, the weeds halfway up the doors. Um, and he's like, yo, it, it looks a little rough, but it's actually really straight. Uh, it only has 97,000 miles on it. Um, and he's like, you know, it, it needs an engine. He said, uh, I have this engine that I had built up, uh, for my Baja, but you know, it's been sitting for years.

[00:32:04] I'm probably never going to end up putting it in. Um, you know, if you want it, uh, you can buy it. It's yours. Uh, just give me what I have into it. So I gave him a $500 for the car. Uh, and then I gave him another $2,500 for the engine. Um, so I, you know, picked up the car, picked up the engine, walked through the engine in the back of the Subaru and then, uh, in the, of the Forester and then took it back to the house.

[00:32:33] Um, pulled the, well, I first started taking it apart and well, it took the engine out and then I pulled the front timing cover. Um, and I've seen this before at the dealership, uh, one of the lower idler pulleys on the timing belt. Sometimes it'll kick the bearings out of it and it makes this crazy racket that sounds like a really bad rod knock. Um, and it, it jumped a couple teeth, but the engine was perfectly fine.

[00:33:01] I threw a timing belt on it and that engine is in his sister's car. I put it in his sister's car and she's been driving it for, you know, six years with that, the engine out of my car. So I'm like, thanks Richard. You made me just spend an extra $2,500 that I didn't need to spend. So, so that's all you had to do on the engine that was in the engine bay? Yeah. And then how long did you run it with that engine? Well, I, I never had it cause I already had the engine already pulled out. Oh, gotcha. That other engine. Okay. Gotcha.

[00:33:31] So, um, so yeah, so it was just sitting there and I said, Hey, I, I guarantee you we can put a timing belt on this car or on this engine and this engine's perfectly good. Uh, so he brought it over and said, well, you can throw it in my sister's car and I'll just, you know, take, take a little bit of money off of what you owe me. Um, and you know, if, if anything, you just, you know, spent a little bit of time putting a bad engine in the car. He's like, I don't, I don't think it's going to run. I'm like, I'm, I almost guarantee you, Richard, it's going to run.

[00:33:59] Uh, so yeah, I did it through a timing belt on it. And like I said, it's, it's still driving around today. That's pretty cool. But I, you know, kind of needed my engine anyways, because, uh, it's a, it's an STI block. Oh, nice. Which is more of a closed deck, uh, uh, cylinder or more of a closed deck, uh, block. Uh, so it's stronger. Yeah. Um, it's, it's naturally aspirated, of course, and it has pistons in it, you know, that give

[00:34:26] it the right compression ratio, uh, to be naturally aspirated. Um, it has the better, uh, the, the B, uh, their B25 heads on it. Um, so it has the better flowing heads, um, and it has, uh, cams in it. So it's, it's probably pushing around like 210 horsepower. That's pretty good. So, yeah, so about, about, you know, 30 more than, than stock. So it, it definitely needs that.

[00:34:55] I definitely have a little bit more, uh, top end, uh, which it needs. Cause I'm running, you know, almost 30 inch tires on it. So, yeah. So it's nice to have, have a little bit more motor. Um, but yeah, it's been, it's been a great car. I've taken it on, uh, five rebel rallies. Oh, nice. So, yeah, so it's, it's seen a lot of, a lot of ground.

[00:35:22] Um, it's, it's covered, covered quite a bit of miles and that's really, really the only time I really off-road it. I mean, other than, like I said, I'll, you know, take people out who are thinking about throwing a lift on their car. I'll go, hey, well, I'll take you out in mine and you can kind of see what a lifted one can do. Um. Yeah. But yeah. When you bought that one, did you, were you already planning to do some mods or you just needed something to drive at the time?

[00:35:52] Um, like when I bought the, the first Oh three? No, no. The, the Subiraptor. The Subiraptor. Like I said, I, I pretty much bought it specifically, like I'm going to take it on the, on the rebel rally. Okay. I didn't know exactly I'd be taking it for the next five years, but, um, you know, I've, when I, when I first pulled up, uh, to the first rally, actually the guy that ended up naming the Subiraptor, the Subiraptor. Yeah.

[00:36:21] I want to hear that story. Yeah. Um, he, you know, he kind of saw it and he's like, dude, what the heck are you driving? He's like, did you bring this in the back of your truck that you usually bring? I'm like, no, this is what I'm doing today. And he's the one that sets all the checkpoints and everything. And I mean, he knows, he knows every inch of that rebel rally or that rebel course.

[00:36:45] Um, he knows every, he probably knows by heart, every trail in Nevada and, you know, that part of California that, that we're in. Uh, his name is Jimmy Lewis. Um, he's a very famous, uh, like enduro, a motorcycle, uh, rider. Uh, he's podiumed the Dakar rally.

[00:37:13] Um, I believe he's the first American ever at a podium, the Dakar rally. Oh, that's cool. Go America. He's an awesome guy. Yeah. He's, he's really cool. Yeah. He's from, uh, Pahrump, Nevada. Uh, he, he's crazy, but yeah, he's really cool. And so I first, you know, pulled up in that and I, I don't think I, it didn't get the name until the second year after he saw what it could do. Okay.

[00:37:36] Um, but, uh, first pulled up and he's like, man, I, I don't think I'm going to be able to hardly use you at all. I said, just, just give me some checkpoints and I'll set them. Like, I'll just, I'll get them set. I said, just, just think like I'm driving my truck. And he's all, okay, man. Whatever you say. I'll get you like, and this might be the last time you're on the course crew for the rebel.

[00:38:05] So he first gave me some checkpoints and, um, that was before we really had like full on tracking. So I'd call over on the sat phone and be like, okay, my points are set. And he's like, dude, there's, there's no way. Like you just went out a half hour ago and it takes like an hour for me to get there in my truck. I'm like, they're set. Like they're there. Trust me. He's like, man, these points are in the wrong spot. And he's like, I'll go check on them.

[00:38:32] He goes and checks on them and gets to my checkpoint. He's like, no, they're, they were there in the right spot. Like, I don't know how you did it. I'm like, I'm like, man, like I can, I can jam this thing. I can go 60, 70 miles an hour down these dirt roads that I couldn't in my truck. Yeah. So, uh, so he was, he was super impressed. And so that next year, you know, I had, I've always had loud exhaust.

[00:38:57] It's right now I'm running like a full STI, uh, Impreza two, two and three quarter inch exhaust on it. Um, so it's got an unequal length header. So it's definitely got the Subi rumble. Um, everyone hears it. It comes into camp and leaves camp. Um, you woke us up. Yeah. But, uh, so yeah. So, I mean, all these other guys on the course crew, I think two of them are running, uh,

[00:39:26] you know, Ford Raptors. There's some Ranger Raptors and everything out there. And so he just kind of walked up. He's like, yeah. So we got all these, these Raptors, uh, setting these checkpoints. When we look at him, he's like, they look at him like, yeah, I got the Ford Raptors. We got the Subi Raptor over here. So that's kind of how it, how it got its name. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. So what, when you went out that first year, like, how did you have it set up as far as

[00:39:52] like, cause obviously you got it, it was pretty stock as far as like, you know, tires and suspension and all that kind of stuff. So what did you do to it to prepare it for that first rally with that car? The first rally actually put, uh, you know, I still have a homemade lift kit on it. I still, I still run in the same lift kit that I built, you know, six years ago for it.

[00:40:18] Um, it's, it's definitely, it came a long way from that first, uh, very, very primitive one. I mean, still like, I don't have a, uh, plasma cam and like a CNC, a laser jet or anything like that. So everything's usually like hand plasma cut and ground down. Uh, so everything, you know, not perfect, but it does, it does the job. Uh, most of the material that I got, um, I got from my work, just scrap steel that we had laying around.

[00:40:48] That's convenient. Yeah. So, uh, so I mean, really, I mean, other than that, that original, like $3,000 that I have in my car, I probably don't even have $2,500 more than that. So I'm probably. That's pretty impressive. Yeah. Yeah. I'm probably, I'm not even six grand into my car, like the way it sits right now. Yeah.

[00:41:14] Um, so it's definitely a budget build, but, um, it can definitely do pretty crazy things. Um, but yeah, so I, you know, built that lift kit. I had some Ironman four by four, uh, overload coils in the back, which I still have on it today.

[00:41:35] Um, and then I, I took, uh, some rock sliders off of, uh, a JK, uh, Jeep Rubicon. Um, and I'm cut those down, modified them, uh, and those are mounted. So I have a full Rubicon rock sliders on my, on my Forester. Um, let's see. I took. Front lower control arms off of a Jeep, uh, JK, uh, Wrangler.

[00:42:05] And those are my, I cut those down and fabricated those. So they're my rear, uh, control arm or my rear trailing arms on the car. Um, the bend is almost perfect to the factory ones. I kind of just saw them lay in there and, um, was that a work? Those look, those look a lot like Subaru rear trailing arms and sure enough they do.

[00:42:30] So they're fully adjustable, um, trailing arms and they're, they're way heavy duty. I mean, they're way overkill. If I bend one of those, um, I don't think there'll be anything left of my car. If I hit something that hard. Yeah. You must've done something really, really rugged. So, you know, those are things that I kind of, you know, am proudest of about my, about my build.

[00:42:55] Um, my skid plates are all just, you know, flat, uh, kind of heavier duty, like sheet metal that I, that I got from the, from my work and, uh, and kind of put that on. So I don't have any like name brand, uh, skid plates or anything, but they, they do the job. They, they skip through the sand pretty good at Glamis. So, uh, and then, yeah.

[00:43:23] So after I, that first rally though, it was definitely kind of more, I, you know, my, my tires rubbed because we're, we're sponsored by Pirelli tire and the smallest tire they had was a 29 and a half inch tire, a 235, 70, 16, uh, same size tire. Cause that's still the smallest that they make. I probably would have liked to go a little smaller, um, if they had it, but that was the size they had.

[00:43:52] So that's what I went with. Um, so since then I've rolled my rear fenders and I've cut my front fenders. Oh yeah. Make more space for it. Yeah. And then flares on them. So nice. So my, my tires don't rub anymore. Um, so we actually had, had video of that first rally that we were, we had a pipe and had all the guys in the shop jumping on it. We were rolling my fenders.

[00:44:18] Uh, so they, so they didn't rub and quit cutting up my tires. Um, but that first rally, and I actually have pictures of this on my Instagram too. I bent, I bent three out of the four struts. Jeez. Um, so, but I mean, all I had to do was actually have a floor jack in one that I put behind the strut and straightened it out, straightened that strut out. So my tire quit rubbing on my strut.

[00:44:47] Um, and yeah, I mean, it's still, I did that on like day two and yeah, made the whole rally the rest of the way. I didn't really wear my tires or anything. Uh, so since then I've, uh, sleeved and gusseted my struts. Uh, so those have been on there the past four rallies with my beefed up struts that I did. I have pictures of that on my Instagram as well.

[00:45:11] Um, the show kind of how I, how I sleeved and modified just cheap eBay struts. I think I spent like $70 a pair, uh, for those struts, just cheapies. Man, that's great when you can do all that work yourself. And then, I mean, like you said, you're not, you're not doing anything. I mean, yeah, you are, you are putting these, you know, this vehicle through some, some, you

[00:45:36] know, decently tough terrain, but I mean, it's for not using it all the time and, and using it for having a very specific use for it, man. I mean, why spend a lot of money on, on that kind of stuff? You know, it's good. Yeah, for sure. In these, uh, in the five years of taking on the rally, I think I've put about 13,000 miles on the car. Yeah, that's not bad. So, so yeah, like I said, it doesn't get a ton of use.

[00:46:06] I probably should use it to drive back and forth to work. Um, it's like 12 miles each way and gas isn't that cheap. My Forester doesn't get crazy good fuel mileage, but it gets a lot better than my, than my big 2019, uh, Hemi Rams. But I like driving the truck, but it's got, it's got remote start and heated seats and all that good stuff. Yeah. The, uh, Subi Raptors, Raptors probably not going to take care of you there. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:46:34] Um, but yeah, so like I said, so since then I've, I've reinforced my struts. Um, the third year with it, I, uh, kind of came over a wash and hit my passenger front tire and it taco'd my, my lower control arm and pushed the back into my firewall, my tire back into the firewall.

[00:46:59] Uh, so I had my buddy come with his wrecker and we came over, tied a strap to it, yanked it three times until it was straight. Oh my gosh. Um, and I drove my car all the way home from Yuma, uh, you know, from Glamis, uh, how far of a drive is that? Bent strut. That's, I think it's about 350 miles. Oh my gosh. So yeah, perfectly straight track down the road, perfectly straight. I think I kept it on that bent strut on there for like six months until I could afford some,

[00:47:27] some, uh, STI aluminum lower control arms. Oh, that's funny. So that has those on them now and that's been good. So it's pretty much like how I've built my car is just by something breaks. I find out why it broke and, uh, get somebody to, get somebody to yank it and throw a rock on it and find it, find a remedy to, to make it. So it doesn't do that again.

[00:47:54] But usually that, uh, when you beef up something, it just kind of moves down the line and then bend something else. So, yeah. So, so you had the, the first Forester and then you've got Subiraptor, but you've, you've had some other Subarus and don't you have like another Subaru that you, uh, like own right now and, and kind of use. Yeah. So I have, you know, since then I've seen, you know, I enjoy working on, on, uh, Subarus,

[00:48:23] uh, you know, and people, like I said, people take them over to shops and the shops don't want to work on them because they're scared of them. Like I used to be when I was a mechanic. Yeah. Um, and so they'll try just telling these people, Oh, well, you gotta do head gaskets on this. It's going to be, you know, $5,000 for a car that's not even worth $5,000. Um, so, you know, a lot of times they'll be like, Hey, it needs head gaskets and these

[00:48:52] old EJ 25, uh, engines, when they say head gaskets, they're just leaking some oil. Like they're not, it's not like when you say it's got a blown head gasket, um, when it's getting coolant into the engine, when it's getting coolant into the oil, like these Subarus, unless they're really, really bad, they didn't do that. They were just leaking oil.

[00:49:17] So, I mean, they could go another 200,000 miles leaking oil from the heads. Um, and as long as you keep topping it off with oil, they'll, they'll run forever. Yeah. But people would say that. And yeah, my son has on his, he's got his 2010 outback. There's, he's got some oil leaks. I forgot exactly what's leaking, but I mean, for a car that has 220,000 miles on it and has

[00:49:44] had, you know, some issues here and there, it's still like, it actually runs really well. Yeah. It's earned, it's earned those leaks. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But, uh, yeah. So, I mean, my, my daughter, uh, she has an 04 Impreza Outback Sport that I put, uh, 05 Forrester struts on and lifted about three inches just by putting struts on it. Oh, that's fun. And she has 220,000 miles on it.

[00:50:11] Thing runs like a top, but it, it leaks out of those head gaskets that, you know, people will, I mean, pretty much give you, that's how my buddy has all those, so many of those Subarus because people, you know, get that and don't want to drop the money into it. So they're like, okay, well you can just have my car or they'll, or he sometimes will go and fix them up so he'll take those cars in on trade. So, um, so that's how he usually, you know, kind of got his collection.

[00:50:41] Um, but so, so I'll go and buy these cars, whether it be most of them need engines, um, that I've purchased. Um, the one that I have now is an 08, uh, Impreza. I mean, not Impreza, Outback, uh, L Bean, uh, 3.0 R. Um, and it's, it's a, it's a gorgeous car. Like it's in really, really good shape. Nice.

[00:51:10] Um, I bought it for, for very cheap, uh, because she got told it needs a transmission, uh, which, you know, it turns out it did need a transmission. It was a very difficult task in finding the correct transmission because they only put that transmission in, uh, for two years that I could find, um, and only in the 3.0 R. Yeah. So that's like a tough find there. And only, only the Outback. So it wasn't even like, oh, it could be in an Outback or a Legacy.

[00:51:41] No, it had to be an Outback. Yeah. Uh, so it was, it was very tough to find, but I did find one and hopefully I'll be putting it in tomorrow morning, uh, and getting that car. I already bought that car, some, some, uh, used, uh, all terrain. So it'll get a little lift. Oh, nice. Kind of spruced up a little bit. And then I might drive it around a little bit, but I think the, the wife will be. Probably want me to sell it and make some money off of it.

[00:52:06] But, uh, it's kind of, you know, I kind of, kind of call it a Subaru rehoming project that I do. Um, you know, take these, take these Subarus out from, you know, which would be a scrapyard, um, or parted out and kind of, you know, give them, give them new life. Um, most of them, most of them I do, you know, come out lifted, um, and, you know, ready for the trail.

[00:52:32] And I find it, find it a new owner that, um, usually loves it very much. That's good. Yeah. Yeah. How many have you done so far? Uh, I think I've purchased and sold, uh, five of them. Um, and then I have, I think two or three that, you know, the people came to me and they purchased it, but then kind of gave it to me. And I put engine in, uh, lifted and kind of built it for them the way that they wanted. That's awesome.

[00:53:00] So I have, you know, quite a, quite a few under my belt. Yeah. Um, and then my wife, we just bought her a 2019, a Subaru Ascent. Yeah. I thought I saw that. Yeah. Nice. So that one, I've, you know, blacked out all the Chrome on it already. Um, you know, blacked out the taillights and everything. It's really sharp looking rig. Uh, but it, I have the, the two inch lift kit sitting there waiting to go on it.

[00:53:27] Uh, I'm just waiting, I think to sell once I sell this out back, uh, then I'll buy some, some tires for it. I'll go to 18s from the twenties. Uh, but I've already talked to Carrie and Milton about getting some, some Patagonians for it. Yeah. So like with your, with your wife's, uh, you know, with the Ascent and having it blacked out and, and all this kind of stuff, like, does she, does she like that? Or are you just like, I'm going to do this whether you like it or not?

[00:53:58] Well, let's say she's, she's been in a minivan for the past 12 years. So I finally talked her into, Hey, you know, we got two kids that are, you know, one kid driving, one kid that's going to be driving very shortly. Um, we don't really need, you know, a big minivan anymore. We still can take everyone in the Ascent. Um, so we finally convinced it.

[00:54:23] I went and showed her this one that has the dark chocolate Brown, uh, interior that she just fell in love with. Uh, we got it for a great deal, um, from Finley Subaru and Prescott. Um, and, uh, she's, she's kind of one that's like, well, I, I, I know what makes you happy about doing it. So I'm okay with it. So, but she, I think, I, I don't think she would be okay if I put exhaust on it or anything like that.

[00:54:52] Uh, but she's okay with doing a mild lift and throwing some all terrains on it. And there might be some future, uh, engine mods since it does have a WRX engine in it that all the WRX performance parts actually bolt right up to it. So it might get a little more horsepower in the future. Yeah, that would be nice. Be like, Hey, look, I like doing this stuff and I'm going to do this stuff for you. And, uh, okay, cool. Why not? Yeah.

[00:55:22] It's cool that you've got, you know, uh, started off with that one Forester and then now you're, you know, building some Subarus for people and you've got Subi wrapper, Subi Raptor built out the way you need it and got your wife and Ascent. Yeah. It's pretty cool. So be family and your daughter's got one. Yeah. She, she loves her Impreza. Um, I even offered her that 08 Outback H6 and, uh, she said, no, I don't like her car. Her car is cool.

[00:55:51] I mean, it's, it runs really good. It's, it's fun. It's got exhaust on it. I told her that it's, uh, it's, uh, it's more of exhaust for me so I can hear if she tries to sneak out in the middle of the night. Cause I mean, it's, it's got the super rumble. You wake up in the neighborhood and you fire it up. You snuck out last night, didn't you? But no, she's, she, she loves it. Um, I'd like to get her into it, you know, a little bit more, um, over, you know, the town

[00:56:21] next to us, they do, uh, they do some rally cross over there. So I'd really like to go and, and get her out and do some rally cross. And I'd really like to take my car out there too. And, and do a little bit of, a little bit of rally cross with it. It would be fun. Yeah. Go do it. That would be awesome. Uh, so like other, so you, the only, you said really the only time you take Subiraptor

[00:56:47] off-road is if you're going to go take somebody off-road to show them like what it's capable of. But other than that, are you like, I mean, have, since you've had these Subarus over these years, do you not usually like just go drive off-road unless it's for that specific reason to show somebody what it can do or what its capabilities are and the rebel rally? I mean, I, I definitely want to, I want to do a lot more.

[00:57:12] Um, I usually work, you know, 50 some hours a week and then I'm usually coaching some youth sport. Okay. So you got a lot of your time taken up. I usually don't have, have a lot of time. Yeah. Um, my wife isn't always like super happy with, you know, going off-roading. Uh, so. I'd rather spend our extra time doing something else. Yeah. That makes sense. But she did go, and I, I was planning, there's a,

[00:57:42] there's an actual like stage rally, um, that's, I mean, right up on the hill from me. Um, and that previously mentioned Perkinsville road, um, off of Jerome there, they do a, they do an actual stage rally there. That's cool. And so this was the first year I volunteered. I went a couple of years ago and just kind of hung out with a friend and watched it for a day. But this is the first year I volunteered for it.

[00:58:07] I wanted to take my car out, but, uh, they're like, well, we'd like you to run heavy sweep, um, and recovery if you need it. So we'd like you to take the Ram just cause they, you know, wanted something that if I had to, if I had to tug something out from the side of a cliff, um, you know, the, the 4,500 pound, uh, forest or just wouldn't cut it. So I had to bring out the big guns. Um, but I brought my, my wife with me.

[00:58:37] We had a, we had a good weekend, uh, doing that, just sitting out in the desert, uh, blasting down some, some trails and stuff. Um, so like I said, I, I really wanted to take the Subaru out there for that. Um, but maybe, maybe next year, my truck, my truck does good off road. It's got some suspension and stuff on it too. Some total chaos control arms and stuff. But, uh, yeah, but it's, it's nothing. It doesn't ride like the Subaru. That's for sure. Yeah.

[00:59:05] So with the, uh, Subiraptor and like going out doing the rebel rally, have you ever, cause I know there's a lot of conditions that are, you know, kind of like there's, I know there's a lot of sand in some of the ones. It's like, have you ever gotten stuck out there or does it make it through everything? I luckily have, have never been stuck. That's good. I almost got stuck last year in Glamis. In the trucks, I've always gotten stuck in Glamis.

[00:59:32] Um, I'm not a, I'm not a big, uh, you know, dune, dune rider. Uh, I don't really like being out in the sand. I just haven't done, you know, a ton of it. Um, but yeah, I first went out those few years in, in full size, either 2,500 or 1,500, uh, trucks, even in my big, you know, diesel. Yeah. I went out in the sand. Um, so yeah, I think most of those years I've always gotten stuck.

[01:00:01] I've always had to break the max tracks out and even sometimes the winch and get myself out. Um, but no, I haven't, I haven't in the Subaru. The only issue I've really had in the Subaru is just, it starts getting, it starts getting hot because you have to keep your RPMs up high so you can stay on top of the sand. Yeah. Um, and it's, it's always, even though it's, it's October, like middle of October when we're

[01:00:25] there, it's sometimes still 98 to a hundred degrees, uh, over there at Glamis. So it's, it's, it's warm. The Subaru doesn't like wrapping out and, you know, in first and second gear for, for long periods of time. So I try to avoid the, the really big dunes. Are you going to, uh, take it to Carrie and Milton so they can cut some hood louvers for you? I know.

[01:00:52] I wanted to do some hood louvers. I've been actually talking with Milton about, about options for, for cooling. Cause I actually put, uh, just before this last year's rally, I actually put a, a Ford Ranger front bumper on my car, like an aftermarket big steel winch bumper on the front of it.

[01:01:15] Um, and so that, you know, kind of, kind of decreased my airflow a little bit on my radiator. Uh, so I did kind of notice, you know, pulling big Hills and stuff. Uh, my temperature is going up a little bit, so I might be putting in a, you know, an aftermarket bigger aluminum radiator. Okay. Um, we've been talking about some, some cooling options. I've been kind of shooting back and forth with Milton.

[01:01:41] Um, but nothing, nothing really firm yet. I'm starting to run out of time. I have all this stuff I need to do before this rally. I have a torque locker. I need to put that in. Um, you know, I went and hit up Cora this year and said, Hey, I'm finally ready to pull the trigger on, on a torque locker. And yeah, she made me, she made me a crazy good deal. Um, you know, cause I've known her from the rebel for years. Uh, she's been there.

[01:02:09] She, I think she was actually in the very, she was, she was in the very first rally. Yeah. Um, she talked about that when I had her on. Yeah. Um, and then I got full, um, cause I still run, I don't run a front sway bar in my car, but I do run the rear sway bar. And Carrie's like, why do you still have a rear sway bar on there? I say, cause it gets really squirrely if I don't. And she's like, Oh, well just, just get some rally, uh, some rally tech, uh, overload springs and you'll be fine.

[01:02:39] You'll, you can take that off. And I'm like, okay, I'll give it a shot. So I bought, uh, it might've been a black Friday sale. I got, uh, I got a full set of rally tech overload coils and I haven't put those on yet. Cause I've been debating if I wanted to build another set of strengthened struts or just go year five with those struts and throw those coils on it and see how they do. So I was going to do that.

[01:03:06] And then the Kong, Carrie told me about doing, using Kong dog toys, uh, for bump stops. Oh, interesting. So they're actually like, and I told them, I'm looking for Kong bump stops everywhere. Carrie, like where, where do you find them? And she said, Oh, just look up on Amazon. Kong, uh, Kong dog toys. I'm like, what are you talking about? And I looked up and she, I said, they're actual dog toys. And she's like, yeah. Oh my gosh, that's hilarious. Yeah. Yeah. They run them on all theirs.

[01:03:35] Um, that's funny. The hat for the mountain Subie has it. Uh, the, um, the Forester has it. So I'm like, okay, I'll, I'll do it. I'll trust you. You definitely, uh, test them enough to know that they obviously work. So that is funny. Yeah. I just, I just looked it up. I'm like, oh my gosh, that's funny. Um, but yeah, so it's, it, I am the worst at rebel rally prep prop.

[01:04:01] I'm partially because when I do have free time, I'm usually working on other people's stuff. Um, because I hate that shops are taking advantage of people. So I usually go in and, you know, they'll tell me, oh, the shop's trying to charge me.

[01:04:16] She, you know, that's why I did that, uh, Subaru Crosstrek, that 2018, um, Crosstrek engine because a shop in Phoenix was trying to charge my old high school math teacher like $7,500 to just resurface her heads and put new head gaskets on it. And I said, well, I can get you a complete engine and with less miles on it than you have. And for half of that, for less than half of that.

[01:04:47] So, um, yeah. So I did that for, um, and yeah, it's just, you know, these shops nowadays and that's kind of why I got out of the dealership life because, you know, it gets to the point where you have to lie, cheat and steal to make any money. And, um, I didn't do that. So I didn't make a lot of money being a mechanic.

[01:05:08] So, um, so I just, you know, kind of, you know, left that world and went to something that's was completely different for me. Um, well, I mean, you know, it's, it's something that you, like you said, you enjoy doing it and you're, you're helping people, which is like a big deal because I mean, that's everybody wants to be able to take care of what they need to take care of. And, and have it done right, not have things done that they don't need to have done.

[01:05:37] And then also not to have to spend a crap ton of money, you know, to get it done. Yeah. Cause I mean, actually, I mean, I make more money, you know, doing it at my house, uh, than I made at the dealership. Um, because, you know, you spend $110 an hour at a dealership and they pay the technicians, you know, $25 an hour to, to do the work.

[01:06:03] So, um, you know, I can charge 50 or $60 an hour at the house that that money just goes straight to my pocket and it's still. Yeah. It's still a better deal for them. Half of what they'd be paying. Yeah. Most people like I might, I feel bad. That's the worst part about doing it is, you know, telling people a price or saying you owe me this much money. But in most cases they'll say, Oh no, that's, that's a great price. You usually end up giving me more than I asked for.

[01:06:32] But I mean, you know, you're, you're providing a good service and you know, you, you're doing something that's just helping people out. And that's, that's what we all want to do. You know, we all, it's, it feels good to help people out. And when you can help, especially help, you know, solve their problem and save them money. I mean, it's just a win-win for everybody because then it makes you feel good that you were able to help them. And, you know, that you solve their problem for them for, you know, a lot less.

[01:06:59] And then it's just, you know, you, they tell somebody else about it and, you know, more people come by and, you know, it's just, it's just a good way to do things and help people out. For sure. And that's kind of, that's kind of the whole, like what I've noticed, you know, being part of the Subaru community now is, I mean, that's how most people are.

[01:07:20] Like, I mean, I can, I can message Milton, you know, or Carrie anytime throughout the year, day or night. And I mean, usually within the hour, they'll get back to me. And I know that I'm not the only one that does that. Yeah, we do it too. I mean, when my, yeah, one of my son had a, he was downtown Houston, which is like a 30 minute drive. You know, it's, I don't know, like 25 miles or 20 miles or whatever.

[01:07:48] And he was downtown with a friend and he's like, oh, there's like smoke coming out from underneath my hood. So he popped the hood and he was, he didn't see anything at first. And then he saw like green fluid and his AC discharge hose had split. And so, and I didn't know anything about it, you know? So I was like, hey, Milton, can you please like, can, can Luke FaceTime you so you can take a look at his car? And he was like, yeah, well, this is, you know, it looks like the AC.

[01:08:18] Well, I don't think Milton knew exactly what it was, but he just said, do not drive that car. Yeah. And so, cause I don't remember exactly what he said. So then, so we, I had it towed home cause I have AAA and then I talked to, um, Jacob Redneck with tech. And I was like, you know, he, he, cause he, cause Milton said, Hey, contact him. Cause he's going to know more than, than I will. So contacted Jacob and he was, I was showing him what was going on. I took some video and pictures and sent it to him.

[01:08:46] And he was like, this is what it is, is what you need to do. And so I went and bought the hose from the dealership and then brought it back and me and Luke replaced it with Jacob's help. So, I mean, it's just like, you know, and anytime that there's something that we can do ourselves, like we like to do it one just to save money, but it's fun. Yeah. And I mean, and Subaru is, or, you know, the perfect platform to do that.

[01:09:11] Like, I mean, like I said, they're, they're really one of the most simplest vehicles to work on. Like people will be like, Oh, well, you know, you pull an engine out and in a, you know, an hour and a half at the house. Well, can you do it on this Hyundai Elantra? I'm like, no, I can't. You know, even though I was an eight year master, master technician with Hyundai before I went to Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram.

[01:09:37] Um, you know, that involves a lift, a cradle drop, um, you know, removing engine and transmission assemblies out together. Um, you know, it's, it's not like, you know, a Subaru where everything will come out the front or, you know, up the, up the top, um, you know, very easily. You can get all the bell housing bolts, um, you know, from the top of the vehicle. Yeah.

[01:10:04] Um, and you know, I, I do usually do everything out in my driveway. I'm in Arizona. That driveway concrete will get to probably, well, it's definitely back burning temperature. Yeah. I can only imagine. So I don't like laying on my back very much. Uh, I'm, I'm, you know, not as young as I used to be for sure. I don't like getting up and down. I only have to spend about 15 minutes underneath the Subaru to pull an engine.

[01:10:32] I have to pull the six bolts out for the exhaust manifold, um, and pull the two motor mount nuts off. And I mean, that's, that's pretty much all you have to do under there. Nice. Yeah. It's, it's, it's very quick, both 14 millimeters for all, uh, eight of those bolts. And that's, so. Yeah. So with my son's, uh, 3.6, he, uh, he needed to change the spark plugs.

[01:11:00] And so we bought the spark plugs and he, you know, we kept, we were hearing from some people like, oh man, they're so hard on, on the six cylinder, especially that sixth cylinder way back there tucked away. And, uh, my son did 95% of that work by himself. I was like very impressed. Yeah. Cause you know, I want him to learn how to work on cars and do things rather than like, you know, Hey, let's just go have somebody else do it, you know, or I'll do it for you.

[01:11:30] Like he's, he's done quite a bit of stuff. Like we've changed both the front axles on my car. We changed one of his front axles and then, uh, you know, and then like the, we did the AC discharge hose, we did the spark plugs and you know, so we've done a decent amount of work and it's fun. Yeah. If you're going to be off-roading a Subaru, probably, you know, the number one thing you should know how to do is change tires and change axles. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:12:00] We've got that down now. Yeah. So, I mean, once you can do that, like I said, those things are, you know, you know, anyone, anyone can really, can really do those. Um, you know, but that's for off-roading Subarus. That's probably the two most important things that you would encounter on a, you know, on a trail run. Um, but it was, yeah, the same thing with my, with my daughter's, uh, Impreza, you know, we needed both rear, uh, wheel hubs.

[01:12:29] Uh, those bearings were bad in, in both, uh, the rear, uh, corners. Uh, so, you know, I bought them and, you know, I had her out there wrenching on it and pulling it apart. Now the other day I tried, tried having her, I'm like, we need to do an oil change on your car. And, you know, she kept, oh, well I got swim. Oh, I have all this going on. I've worked. I'm like, no, we need to do it. And, uh, she's all like, well, you'll always be there to do it. And I said, well, I won't.

[01:12:56] And, uh, I said for, for the boys you're interested in, I know they're not going to know how to change your oil. So you're going to need to change your oil. Uh, yeah, that's funny. Yeah. Now my, that's the other thing too, is like my son is, he's changed the oil on his car every single time we take it to my cousin's house. He's got, he's got a primitive skid plate that I bought him. So he gets under there, takes a skid plate off. We ended up, I ended up getting him a Fumoto valve too.

[01:13:22] So we had put that on at one point, but yeah, I mean, he does, does all that himself. And, uh, just cause I want him to know how to do it. Yeah. They're just good skills to have. I mean, my daughter, her first year of high school, she took, um, you know, the entry automotive and I was so upset because like, they didn't teach you things. They didn't teach you how to change your oil. They taught you how to use a tire machine and change a tire, which no one, no one, no one's going to do that. Exactly.

[01:13:51] And like, I think it would be really cool to set like a, I can go work at discount tire now. Yeah. Yeah. And that's what it is. It was supposed to be, you know, to gear you up for going into a career, but I mean, teach kids how to, how a internal combustion engine works. Like, um, you know, what a spark plug does. I mean, some just simple things. I mean, it take, you know, an engine is really simple. It takes fuel and a spark like that. Yep. That's all.

[01:14:20] Uh, but that, you know, they didn't, they didn't teach you any of that. So I was, I was a little bummed. I mean, she, she did good. She stayed with it. Uh, you know, still kept her, her straight A's. Uh, um, so I was, you know, a little, little bummed that they didn't, they didn't kind of go towards that, but I think it'd be really cool. Like kind of doing like a course that was just teaching kids about, about that kind of stuff. I mean, especially how to, you know, change your oil, how to change a tire.

[01:14:50] Um, you know, some things that, you know, so, so people like those, you know, shops and stuff in town don't take advantage of these, these kids and, you know, know, know a little bit, uh, to keep you from falling into those traps. Yeah, definitely. So you've, you've owned, uh, some Subarus and been around them for a while, but how would you say that owning a Subaru or Subarus has changed your life? Um, definitely.

[01:15:20] I mean, just the, just the people. Um, I mean, like I said, I, I used to be into, you know, building Toyotas. I built an 87 Toyota Supra. That was about like 450 horse. I mean, it was, it was just a, you know, nasty. I mean, it was, it was a fun car. Like, yeah. Um, those are so nice. You get onto those, those forums.

[01:15:46] Um, like people are just so like, just rude and not helpful. Uh, they just bash on anything you do. Um, I've never really met anybody on any of the, the social media, um, any of the forums for Subarus that, you know, that people are, are really like that. I mean, it's, you know, they call it the Subaru community and it, it really is a community.

[01:16:13] Um, you know, like you go like spending that time at the Overland Expo, like just with all those Subaru people around there, like just nice. I mean, even Subaru, they had that, that booth that, you know, if you're a Subaru owner, you could go in there and hang out. Yeah. I mean, it's just like lounge, but yeah, you've got all these people that own these cars that love the cars themselves. Yeah.

[01:16:40] And then you have the people from Subaru of America coming out there and hanging out with us, you know, it's like just amazing what they do for everybody. And, and to be able to like do that and have that with this brand, it's like, you just, you don't really get that with other brands. Not at, not to this level. Yeah. I mean, I know there's, there's a big, you know, Jeep, you know, kind of, you know, community and everything too.

[01:17:07] And they got their ducks and all that stuff, but it's still not as like, you know, just friendly and, you know, just everyone, you know, kind of working together. I mean, I don't think, I think if you had, you were on a trail and, you know, your Subaru was stuck or, you know, not working another Subaru. I mean, if you can find another Subaru that's out there on the trail. Yeah. I don't think they would ever pass you up and not, not give you a, give you a hand. Yeah.

[01:17:37] But yeah, I mean, like my old 98 four runner, I mean, I fully custom built a full rear mount turbo set up on that thing. I mean, me and my buddy kind of did each of our four runners at the same time. I mean, one off, like no one was doing anything like that. And I mean, we just got bashed all the time for doing it. It's just like, it's just crazy. You know, it's working.

[01:18:04] I'll do something like really dumb and, you know, simple, um, on my car, just cause it's something that I needed to, to make work. And, uh, you know, everyone will, you know, compliment me on it on social media. If it's something that they don't understand or don't get instead of just jumping to, to hate or, you know, bashing on you or trolling, you know, they'll say, Hey, look, well, why did you do that?

[01:18:32] And then you go, Oh yeah, I see how that works. Like you're rather than just jumping to conclusions that I'm just some, you know, person has no idea what I'm doing and welding on my struts and stuff like that. Like, Oh, I, I know how, how a strut works. I know they can't take a lot of heat. So I, you know, made it. So the spots that I am welding, it's not hitting anywhere where there's gas filled inside. Yeah.

[01:18:57] There's just, there's a lot of support and a lot of respect and that's what's super cool. So, so, but, uh, you think you'll always own a Subaru? Yeah. I mean, uh, you know, definitely. I mean, it's for all the vehicles I've had, I mean, I've owned, I don't know. I counted at one time how many Toyotas I've owned. It's probably upwards of 15. Wow.

[01:19:25] Um, you know, whether, whether they're Tacomas, whether they're four runners, where they're one, I just had for a short amount of time so I could fix up and sell, um, whether they were for on road, off road. Um, you know, they, they just, uh, I don't know where I was going there. You're talking about Toyotas, but yeah.

[01:19:50] Um, but yeah, I mean, they just, they just aren't. Oh, I, I was going to say that I, the most fun I've ever had off-roading has been in that Subaru Forester and either of my two Foresters. Um, so with all those Toyotas that I've owned, um, the Forester's been with, without a doubt, the funnest off-road rig that I've had with all the, the Rams and full-size trucks that I've had.

[01:20:21] Um, it's just, it's just one of the things like, I can't break it. Every time I took a truck out there, you know, something broke. I mean, I was always able to get home, but you know, something broke. It was expensive. Uh, you know, everything, nothing I've really needed to really spend a lot of money to repair to, you know, to make it to the next rally the next year on the, on the Subaru.

[01:20:48] Um, they're just a really good, you know, quality made car that definitely does not get enough credit. Um, you definitely will not believe what it's capable of unless you've been in one. Exactly. Um, yeah. I think that's where so many people are surprised is like, oh, this thing like really made it through this, you know? Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, they're just so cool. And it sounds like with the CB Raptor, you're just, you're kind of making modifications as

[01:21:17] you need it based on like circumstances and stuff that you come into with the rebel rally. So that's really cool. Mm-hmm. Um, there was one, one year I ended up taking a turn, uh, another story with, with Jimmy Lewis. He's like, well, just go out and grab this, this blue checkpoint. It was, it was, it was getting late. He said, everyone's out of that area. Just grab that checkpoint and then just look on your, your map and then just take the shortest,

[01:21:46] shortest route to asphalt and, you know, jam back. So I'm like, okay. I looked on my map and, um, you know, our course log and say, okay, well that's definitely the shortest course. So I took a left and dropped down and it's just the full valley of boulders. Oh my gosh. I mean, full on like rock crawling boulders. And I had someone in like a stock wrangler behind me and we're like, uh, I don't think

[01:22:15] we were supposed to go down this road. And yeah, it was about, it was about a mile of full on my rock sliders on boulders. Oh my gosh. Going through this trail. And I got there and I said, Hey Jimmy, what the heck? He's like, what are you talking about? And, uh, I said, yeah. When you told me to get that and take the shortest route, well, I got it and ended up going down this like rock crawling course.

[01:22:44] He's all, what road did you go down? I said, I got that blue checkpoint and I took a left and he's all like, you took a left. Yeah. He's all that trails completely washed out. We weren't supposed to go down that one. I'm like, yeah. Well, that was the shortest one. Um, but no, it, it made it through it. And, uh, he just, I mean, he thought like my car would just be destroyed going down this. He's all, what'd you break? I said, well, nothing.

[01:23:13] I said, I popped a tire before I got down there. We went through this obsidian field and I sliced one of my sidewalls. So I was going down that without an extra spare. Oh my gosh. In this valley. And, uh, yeah, it, it made it through it. And, uh, yeah, I, I will never doubt, uh, doubt my, my Subaru again after, after that one. So. Subi Raptor, man. Yeah. That's awesome.

[01:23:41] I saw on one of your posts that you were a mechanic for an episode of top gear. So like, I was like, wait a minute. Is this, am I reading this? Right. So like, how did that opportunity come about? Cause you, and you said something like, um, Dax Shepard was really cool. So one, like, yeah, how did you get that gig? And then two, did you get a chance to like actually meet him and talk to him or like you were just around him and you saw that he was cool?

[01:24:05] So it was, uh, it was, this was probably actually, I wrote this down. It was six, six years ago today, actually. Oh, sweet. This took place. Perfect timing. Yeah, for sure. Um, so it was the American top gear. It was, it was kind of that one. They didn't even know if they were going to do it cause it was right in the middle of COVID or kind of, kind of get towards the tail end of COVID. Okay. Um, so it was the American top gear.

[01:24:32] They were like 30 minute episodes that were on like motor trend TV. It was like an app that you could get. So it wasn't like on a, you know, a network, but it had some big names. They had Dax Shepard, uh, Rod Cordaday and, uh, uh, professional drivers. His first name is a Jethro. I can't remember his last name right now. Um, but this again was, uh, a Nina Barlow came to me, uh, my friend with the, the Jeep. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:25:01] Um, and she's like, Hey, she's actually did a different episode, not with the British, um, top gear, but I think like top gear USA or, or one of those other ones, but it was on the Rubicon trail. So she kind of had a relationship with, with the producer of top gear. Um, very nice. So they said, Hey, we want to have, we're wanting to do an episode at the cinders in, in Flagstaff.

[01:25:29] Um, we, you know, we want, she said, or they wanted her to be kind of like the professional, um, driver kind of give them, you know, kind of just be the, the professional there to make sure they weren't doing anything, you know, too terribly stupid. Um, and they said, Oh, well also, if you have, you know, a mechanic, we were probably going to need that. So if you have someone in mind, you know, we'd like you to bring them along.

[01:25:55] So, you know, she asked me and of course I said, well, yes. Yeah. I'm like, you're going to say no to that. Yeah. So at that time I had that, that big, uh, Oh six Cummins of mine. Um, and this was on its third transmission finally, I think doing good. So I'm like, yeah, let's go. And so, uh, you know, we went up there, um, you know, and everyone was still, you know, distancing, uh, with being COVID and everything.

[01:26:21] Uh, so we all, we all wore masks, but you know, the, the stars, you know, of course didn't cause they were getting filmed and everything. Um, but still like Rob Cordeday was a little, like if you, if you went and like worked on his vehicle, you know, you had Lysol wipe everything down, you're really sterile, which, you know, of course he sees a bunch of people. He's, you know, he can't get sick, but you know, Dak Shepard, he was, he was really cool.

[01:26:46] One of the pictures I have on my Instagram is him standing right in front of my, my 06 mega cab Cummins. Um, and then, so the first, well, the only night, uh, we, they kind of took all their, their vehicles. The vehicles were like an old 78, um, conversion van, like Ford conversion van, uh, that they, that had a conversion four wheel drive set up in it.

[01:27:15] Uh, and that was Dak Shepard's Rob Cordeday drove like an 86 Toyota four runner with a giant, like tough shed built on the back of it. Nice. And then, uh, Jethro had a Nissan 350 Z that was lifted, had all terrain tires on it. It had a roof rack with a rooftop tent on it. Yeah. I, yeah, I'm looking at that right now. That's super cool. That thing, that thing was awesome.

[01:27:44] I never, I didn't even have to touch that Nissan 350 Z, the Toyota and the van, the van, especially I had to work on almost nonstop. Um, so that one, they put a giant waterbed in the back of it, you know, just for the Hollywood, you know, Dak Shepard. Yeah. Um, and he had a giant mural on the side of it that was him and his wife, Christian Bell. And he like has like a sword over his head.

[01:28:12] Like he's a, like he's slaying a dragon, I think. Oh, that's funny. And that was on the side of the van. Um, but so for one thing with that van, it ran terrible because it was carbureted. It had a big, uh, 460 in it. Um, with a carburetor that was jetted for sea level and then Flagstaff you're at 7,000 feet. Yeah. Like it's, it's a big difference. So it kept running really hot. Um, and just, just barely ran.

[01:28:40] We'd get like 20, 30 minutes of filming before they had to shut it down because it was overheating. Um, so at the end of the day, they, they run it up this giant cinder hill and, you know, they park on this top of this hill and, uh, you know, Hollywood, they, they camped there all night, but they didn't actually camp there. The only one that actually camped there on top of the hill was me. Um, they were all like, they came to me and they're like, Hey, we're, we're kind of worried

[01:29:07] about, you know, leaving these vehicles here overnight when we go back to the hotel. And they're like, do you think there'll be safe up here? And I said, well, I'll just stay up here and camp. And they just look at me. You're going to camp up here by yourself. I'm like, yeah. Like I was already preparing to, you know, sleep in the back of my truck. Like it's not a big deal. Like I do it. Yeah. It's something I already, I'm already used to. I was planning on already doing it. So, so I stayed there and just, um, you know, watched over the cars all night.

[01:29:38] Um, and I said, well, I'll, I'll get up in the morning, early in the morning and I'll, uh, you know, fix the van and everything. And, um, I had to do like a, a belt and everything that I had to replace on the four runner. Um, and like I said, I didn't have to touch the Z. Um, I said, I'll do that before you guys get here in the morning. What time are you, you guys want to start them? Are there all, you know, we're going to get up there, you know, bright and early. We should be there around 11 o'clock. Wow. That's bright and early. Yeah.

[01:30:08] Oh gosh. But so by that time I was able to get a cardboard box, um, cause there was, there was no fan shroud on that van. So that was one of the reasons why I kept overheating. Cause it wasn't, it wasn't funneling the air through the, through the radiator. So I took this air mattress, uh, cardboard box that was sitting in the back of one of the cars and I got duct tape and I made a fan shroud for this van. Um, I adjusted the carburetor.

[01:30:37] Um, oh, another thing too, you had to start, you had to start that, uh, old van with a screwdriver across the starter solenoid cause the ignition switch wasn't working. So I still have that, uh, that, uh, screwdriver to this day that Dax Shepard used to start his, uh, van. Um, but so after, you know, all that happened, they came, they came back and, um, you know,

[01:31:05] Dax Shepard came up and asked me what I did to the van. So I have this one thing where I'm talking with Dax Shepard and the video or the picture is somewhere. I think Nina, uh, has the picture of me, you know, being face to face with Dax Shepard talking to him. That is super cool, man. But no, he was really cool. He was really thankful and impressed that you what I did and Dax Shepard, he's a, you know, he's a car guy. Like he knows, he knows his stuff. That's awesome.

[01:31:30] So yeah, it was cool just having a 15, 20 minute, you know, conversation just me and him about, uh, about this van that I had to rig up and build a fan shroud and everything for him. But, uh, and then actually at the, yeah, at the end of the, their very last scene, um, they're kind of coming, racing down to the bottom of this, this like dry lake bed at the cinder, um, at the cinders up there.

[01:31:59] And so they first go in and do it. And then they wanted to, to take some more takes after they were all done with their final scene. But you know, all the Dax Shepard and all them, they all left. Um, and they said, Hey Josh, can you, you know, can you get this van started back up again? Um, cause we want to rerun it. And I'm like, you know, I'll try it. It's, it's on the last legs, but I was able to get it started and they're like, well, can you just hop in and can you drive it for the last, you know, retakes of this last scene? I'm like, yeah, I can.

[01:32:29] I have a very bad, you know, cell phone video of me, you know, bombing this van down this cinder band. I mean, it's just bouncing all over the place. So some of that last final scene is actually like with me driving cause they got like drone footage and stuff. So anytime it's like, it's in the drone, uh, scenes, like I was actually driving the van and that, that last part, but no, it was a very cool experience. Um, definitely one of those, you know, once in a lifetime thing.

[01:32:58] Yeah, man, that is super cool. I'm not like credited anywhere at all. So like you can never just look it up, but I did have a thing like in the bonus, um, like the little bonus features for that episode that actually they talked to me and I am telling them what I had to do with the van running. So, so there is some spots of that, that you can see I'm not lying. No, that's cool, man. That's cool. Yeah. Well, we'll get into this last segment here.

[01:33:26] Uh, get to know you a little bit better, but who is Josh as in describe yourself? Um, I mean, we're pretty much just a husband, father coach. Um, you know, I definitely couldn't do, you know, anything. I wouldn't be where I am today without, without my family. Um, you know, I've been with, with my wife. We've been dating since a freshman year of high school. Oh, nice. We've been married, you know, 18 and a half years.

[01:33:56] Uh, we have four kids. Um, youngest is nine. Uh, my youngest boy is 13. My oldest boy is 15. And then my daughter, uh, my oldest, she's almost 17 now. Nice. Um, that's awesome. So, yeah. So, I mean, like with my, with my kids, I've coached them in pretty much, you know, every sport they've ever been in since they were four. Um, so yeah.

[01:34:25] So if I'm not at work, I'm usually coaching something or, um, but yeah, like I said to, you know, my, my wife, you know, we've been through everything together. Um, you know, like I said, she, she, she supports, she supports me in my rally. She supports me in my, you know, changing my, my work from, from my, my careers. Uh, yeah.

[01:34:53] Uh, something completely different and just, you know, trusted me that I was doing it for the better of the family. And it, it was, uh, definitely for a better of the family. Um, I'm actually, you know, completely left working at a dealership ranching on cars. I went and, uh, went to go work for a local, uh, cement plant, um, where we, you know, manufacture cement.

[01:35:18] Um, we have a, we have a quarry, so we actually mine, mine all the rock and everything, uh, bring it down and crush it and melt, melt the rock. And, uh, you know, it was definitely something I've never, never considered doing. And, uh, I just knew it was crazy good benefits, um, and just, just a great place to work. Uh, so I went over there, started working utility for way less than I was making.

[01:35:48] Uh, working on cars. Um, you know, but it saved us a ton on health insurance. Oh, and way better health insurance. And me being the type one diabetic that, that definitely says a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Insurance is important. A lot of money gets shelled out for all that. So, um, but yeah, you know, 401k, all that stuff. Um, that's just, just amazing. Our company really, really takes good care of us. Yeah. That's important.

[01:36:16] Um, so, and now, you know, been there almost, been there almost six years, six years now. Very nice. Uh, so, so now definitely, now I'm definitely making, you know, more than I was making a wrenching on cars. So, you know, definitely panned out and along with, uh, with the insurance and, and everything. Um, that's good. Yeah. So what, yes, that's very good. No, uh, that's good. You know, it's nice.

[01:36:45] Cause I mean, the benefits are a huge part of it. So yeah, that definitely is helpful. Um, so what is a favorite memory from your childhood? Um, probably spending the summers at my, uh, my grandparents' house up by Payson, a little town called Christopher Creek. Uh, they owned cabins that they rented out like small, like, you know, kind of single, single room. Early Airbnb. Like cabins up there. Yeah. Sort of. Yeah.

[01:37:15] Yeah. Um, so that was kind of my, my childhood was going up there in the summer. Uh, you know, it's, you know, everyone thinks Arizona's, you know, flat desert. I mean, obviously, you know, it's not. Oh, I know. Yeah. It's beautiful. It's a good, good chunk. I mean, I drive 20 minutes from my work and I'm in full blown, you know, pine trees. Yeah. Um, or then, you know, drive the other way and I'm in desert with saguaro cactuses.

[01:37:45] Uh, you know, Arizona definitely has, has that kind of feel, but I, I love being in the woods. Um, you know, I can just, just go and sit and just listen to the, the wind blowing through the trees. Yeah. It's such a nice sound too. You know, so that was, that was definitely, you know, a good part of my childhood was, was being there, helping them with the cabins, cleaning them and, uh, you know, just, just being up there in the, in the woods and being with my grandparents was definitely my, my

[01:38:14] favorite place to be. Grandparents are cool. Yeah. Uh, so you just told us what you do for a living, but do you have a dream job? Um, I mean, kind of like what Carrie and Milton do is they have a pretty, pretty sweet gig and just kind of, you know, going around and, you know, hanging out with all these really cool Subaru people. And, uh, you know, you know, kind of how Milton can just, you know, has some crazy idea and

[01:38:42] just kind of get it, get it built and put it on his car and, you know, go make some, some content of, you know, beating up silver bullet. Yeah. Yeah. That would be fun. But honestly, I mean, it would have to be something where, you know, I could, I could take the, the family with me and, and, uh, do that stuff. Cause I mean, just, just being gone 11 days for the rally, you know, you, you definitely

[01:39:08] get kind of, kind of homesick and want to see the family after a few days. So, um, but yeah, if it could be something where I could go around and just talk about cars and hang out with people with cars and have the, have the family with me, that would be a, that'd be a pretty, pretty cool gig. Yep. Yeah. Uh, so what is something that makes you want to get out of bed every day? Um, I mean, probably just, you know, supporting my family.

[01:39:36] I'm definitely not a morning person, even though sometimes I have to be at work at three 30 in the morning. Oh my gosh. So it's definitely tough. And I think if I didn't have, you know, have the family, you know, counting on me, um, I mean, I'm not the only source of income. My wife is a, you know, has her masters. She's a teacher, uh, incredible at her job. Yeah.

[01:40:01] Uh, but I mean, still, you know, it's, it's very tough to support a family of six with a single income. So yeah, yeah, I, I definitely have to be out there, you know, on the group. Yeah. Um, so yeah, so definitely, definitely the support in the family. Um, and then occasionally being able to spend a little bit of money on the, on the Subaru, which is pretty much why the, you know, Subaru Raptor was definitely, and is a budget build. Cause yeah.

[01:40:31] I mean, if I told the wife, I was spending four grand on coil overs for the Subaru. What? You only use it once a year. Yeah. I might be sleeping in the Subaru more than just those 10 days on the rally. Yeah. Uh, what is something that makes you want to stay in bed? Uh, probably just, uh, getting older and being sore. Yeah. Just being like, ah, and like I said, I'm definitely not a morning person.

[01:40:59] So it's every morning it's, it's everything. I have to get up. Just to get me up. Um, when I'm, when I'm hurting, when I've been like shoveling or jackhammer in the day before and it's just, yeah, the body's just not feeling it. It's definitely tough to get out. Yeah. What is something that really scares you? Um, probably getting like a bad injury or illness that wouldn't allow me to, to drive.

[01:41:27] Like, you just kind of thinking about that, like, man, like, you know, and you'll be in a diabetic, you know, that can happen if you don't control your, your sugars and stuff. I mean, not so much anymore, but you know, you lose a leg or, you know, you can, that's, that's a possibility. So, um, you know, it'd be, it'd be tough, you know, not being able to, to drive.

[01:41:52] I mean, I know that's not like a necessity that I, that I have to, I mean, there's, I definitely, you know, it would definitely be hurtful more to not do stuff without an arm than just drive. But that's a big scare of mine to, to not be able to go and just get in my car and driving, take care of myself and drive to work or drive everywhere. So, yeah. Yeah.

[01:42:18] Well, besides things like all Subaru, what's something that really excites you? Um, the weekend. Yeah. Like, uh, you know, I definitely, when it hits about Thursday, I'm like, yeah, this week's almost over. It's getting there. Um, but yeah, you know, I like, you know, just, just the weekends, just being able, even if it's just hanging out at home, you know, just kind of unwinding, um, you know, holidays,

[01:42:46] uh, vacations, um, you know, we, we definitely don't get out and go on vacations as much as, as much as we want. Um, but you know, we've been doing some little, even if it's just heading to Phoenix for a night or something like that, or taking the kids to Great Wolf Lodge for a couple of days or something like that. Yeah. I mean, short, little, like, you know, local, local things can always be fun. You know, you don't have to like go across the country or something like that just to get

[01:43:15] away from home and do something is, can be a vacation. Yeah, for sure. Uh, what would be your best bit of advice to give to someone about anything? Oh, I mean, I guess, uh, you know, if you have a talent that, you know, you can, you know, do something that can contribute and, uh, ability to help some, someone else. Um, or even, I mean, just, just an idea like, you know, building, building,

[01:43:45] building something that, you know, you're like, oh, I could go and spend $300 on it or I could, you know, try to build it. Just, just believe in yourself and do it. If you have that ability to, to help another person, um, you know, like I do with, with helping people with, you know, not spend fortune at a, at a garage. Um, you know, just, just do it, you know, help, help, you know, contribute a little bit and help some people out.

[01:44:13] It really does make you, you know, feel better. Um, just being able to help people. I mean, it's, like I said, it's very upsetting to me to see people, you know, come up to me and in tears being like, you know, I just don't know what to do about a car because I can't, uh, you know, I can't afford this repair and, um, you know, just seeing the, the joy in their, their face when you tell them like, I can do this for a fraction of that price. Yeah.

[01:44:43] Um, you know, but yeah, that's what I'd say. You just, just try to, try to help people. Um, you know, if you have that talent and. And, you know, have that ability to help people, you know, don't try to, you know, don't try to exploit it. Don't be like, oh, well, you know, there's something that I can do that no one else can. So I'm going to charge a fortune for it. Yeah. But, uh. Just be kind. Yeah, for sure.

[01:45:11] I mean, that's the whole, uh, you know, Subaru thing, right? Love. It's what makes a Subaru a Subaru. So. Yep. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to record with me and, you know, it was, again, it was great. It's great seeing you. And I'm, I'm glad that I got to meet you and flag staff and add you to the list of people that I've actually met in person that I've had on the podcast. That's always cool. Yeah. Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode of the Subie and You podcast.

[01:45:39] If you're not doing so already, go give Josh a follow. His Instagram account is Subie Raptor. It's just S-U-B-I-E-R-A-P-T-O-R. And, uh, give them a follow. So, uh, also if you have not gotten your tickets already for Subie Fest California and you're planning on going, go ahead and get them. It's this Saturday, July 25th from 3 to 10 PM. And they're doing it later in the evening to hopefully so that it's not as hot because Subie Fest events get really, really hot.

[01:46:10] So, uh, be sure to go check that out. But again, thank you so much for listening. Thank you for sticking around and checking out the Subie and You podcast. I hope you all have a wonderful week. We'll see you next Monday for another Subie Scoop. Uh, otherwise, take it easy. Much Subie love. Raph. The Subie and You podcast is hosted by Raphael in a closet in Houston. Produced by Raphael in a room next to the closet in Houston.

[01:46:36] And edited by Raphael on a computer in the room next to the closet in Houston. With music by Luke Ruiz in another room in Houston. You can find the Subie and You podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, including Apple Podcast, Spotify, and many more. To support the podcast, please head over to patreon.com slash Subie and You podcast. Once you join, you will have access to the Discord channel and Discord chats with other patrons.

[01:47:02] If you'd like to get in contact with the show, you can find them on Instagram at Subie and You podcast. Online at SubieAndYouPodcast.com or by email, SubieAndYouPodcast at gmail.com. That's all for this week.