One of the biggest influences that the internet and social media has on the automotive industry is the now ease of finding hard-to-find parts and procedures. Go on Google, type in your year, make, and model, followed by the part  or procedure you are looking for, and in the results you are bound to find (at the very least) a forum, web group, or page dedicated to your vehicle specifically. What this means to you is that now you can discuss (with others who love the same vehicle as you) parts, repair procedures, styling, or just why you love your vehicle so much! What this also means is that you now can draw from a vast pool of knowledge from others who share your same interest.

So be it a complicated repair or common problem, you can usually chat with someone who has already been there and done that. (a majority of the time) and a lot of the forums usually have step by step procedures with pictures.  This came in handy for me last month when a certain silver Smart car I know had starting issues. The  first problem? Where is the starter? This may sound dumb but, Look under the bonnet (hood under the trunk) and you tell me where the starter is. I would bet 5 bucks that you could not, even from underneath. Unless, you have messed with one, prior. The next Issue, where the heck is this starter supposed to fit out? Lastly, How  do you even get to the bolts that hold it in?

Luckily for me, there are many Smart car pages based out of the U.K. and one really good one I found, had many members who were very knowledgeable in this topic, this page also had step by step  detailed instructions along with very clear pictures. This is substantial considering that one cannot even get a repair manual for these cars, almost nobody has parts listings OR interchanges for any of these cars  with a model year prior to 2008 (this car being a 2006). Who knew that to change this starter there was insane procedure including dropping the engine and removing the intercooler system.  A bunch of people on this page had already been through this and had come up with a very efficient shortcut. This saved me hours of time.  All this from a free membership.   Here are a few Facebook pages that I follow:

“Restoring Old Cars” – a lot of classic car posts,  “Lifted Trucks USA”- lots of pics of lifted trucks lol, “Chevy Chevelle”- Lots of Chevelle pics, ”Chevy Militia”- jacked up Chevy truck pics, and my two favorite ones “Bow-tie Society”- for everything Chevrolet, also where Ford and Dodge Trollers come to get put back in their respective places.  And “Black Crow Car Education System” –this guy posts all kinds of cool classic auto industry pics, vintage, and artistic mechanical pics. All of these pages are very cool. Check em out by searching them on Facebook. Till next time. For the Silo, Robb Price, WC Kustoms.