Weathering a rainy or lazy day, learning something new, recalling something old; there are a bunch of reasons to sit back and binge watch YouTube. And if you’re like me where you’re inundated with DIY wrenching channels day-in, day-out, there’s never any shortage of watching someone turn a wrench anywhere on Earth, and on any wheeled vehicle you can think of.
There are so many YouTube channels that cover this kind of stuff, that the Almighty Algorithm might not think to present some of the underrated gold. You may be missing out on something really cool.
Lately, I’ve happened upon a lot of great DIY wrenching YouTube channels in my regular browsing, so without further adieu, here are five of the best. Most of them currently have sub-50,000 subscribers at the moment, too; they deserve a lot more.
Flexiny
If you’re like me where it’s therapeutic to have lengthy, narration-less videos playing in the background while doing anything else, like whipping up blogs, this channel’s for you. The folks behind the Flexiny are based in Estonia and mostly get their hands on European vehicles, but a good amount of American and Japanese stuff, too. There’s also some cool Eastern Bloc, previously-behind-the-Iron-Curtain stuff, too, which is all totally in my blinders.
I like that there isn’t any narration and the production is quite basic—the opposite makes for good content, too, but it depends on the mood I’m in or what I’m doing at the moment. Like I said, great background music, and even a chance to use it as a jump-off point for deeper automotive research. Or, some lengthy Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace perusal, like what happened while watching this B3 Passat diesel video.
If you want your interest piqued by stuff you never thought would pique it, check out Flexiny.
Hunter Direction
Again, narration and more detailed production are great, too, with a shining example being HunterDirection. This dude’s wheelhouse is German cars—particularly a B5 Audi S4, Audi TT, and E30 BMW 3 Series—and he goes in-depth about the fixes and modifications he performs on all three.
I especially like the cut of his jib as he too busies himself with a moody old Audi. It’s not only nice to commiserate, but to also bolster my pride in sticking with my own 2002 S4; endless boost leaks, misfires, and all. It looks like he’s based somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, and his production is quite good for being a one-man operation, both in shooting videos and post-production. Great voiceover, too—you can tell he puts a lot of time and effort into his channel.
Support folks who ought to have a lot more subscribers than they currently have, tune in to HunterDirection.
WheelemVerb
This next one’s great because who doesn’t love early ‘00s Volvos? WheelemVerb has only been around a year or so, but this guy’s done a lot of cool stuff with a handful of sleek Scandinavian hits, like the S60R and his current main project, the V70R. By the way, his most recent videos cover manual-swapping the latter: Yes please.
Production quality is good, and he’s pretty darn thorough about the steps he takes. I haven’t been watching this channel very long, but like Flexiny above, it always makes me head over to Craigslist and FBM to see what the skinny is on used Volvo prices. Sidenote: My buddy/dear former coworker and Autopian contributor Kevin Williams recently picked up a clean S80 for a song, and I’m quite jealous. Between a V70—R or otherwise—and big, cozy, V8-powered S80, I could quite easily commit to the oldish Volvo life. I need more parking space.
Rambling aside: Get bit by the Volvo bug, too, and check out WheelemVerb.
The G Automotive And More
YouTube channels that work on a wide variety of cars are great, too. Like Flexiny above, The G Automotive And More cover a bunch of different hardware, though recently, has dedicated a lot of coverage to their 1965 Ford Mustang project.
I only very recently started watching this one, but I like what I see: Short and long videos, with many comprising individual issues and fixes that might make someone’s day who’s in a research frenzy mid-wrench sesh. This professional mechanic goes into good detail, too, and has a massive catalog—like the two above, more people ought to subscribe.
Learn something new about a big variety of platforms, and check out his playlists.
Day Off DIY
Rounding out this list is Day Off DIY. Like HunterDirection, I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for this one as I too enjoy dealing with BMW oil leaks with my own 2011 128i. Enjoy, or experience Stockholm Syndrome from, one or the other.
In fact, most of his coverage is based around the Bavarian brand, from four-cylinder E30 to a recent E90 3 Series sedan that he gave away to a subscriber. This former BMW technician goes into great detail, and shares a lot of tips and tricks that would be handy to anyone attempting fixes on their own rides, Bimmer or not. He’s also got a knack for explaining things, and does a great job covering all the steps associated with getting any job done.
Gain some knowledge and motivation for your own wrenching, and watch Day Off DIY’s channel today.
LastHumansGarage is good. He’s not a professional mechanic, approaching repairs the way most regular people would.
MrSubaru1387 and SouthMainAuto are also good. The former is of course a Subaru specialist, but the latter has plenty of Subarus too, due to being in upstate NY.
LegacyNorthwest is the only channel with good videos on EJ25D-specific shit. The DOHC EJ25D is different than the SOHC EJ251/253 and is much more difficult to do some things on.
For Toyota, there’s TheCarCareNut (TCCN)
M539 Restorations.
Streten fixes older BMWs almost all by himself in a garage in Frankfurt. The guy is a bit anal but he is also self taught originally being an IT Manager.
His love of a neglected BMWs, especially a V12, also makes me want to buy something old with a propeller badge so I can emulate him.
For a change he is currently playing with a 300,000 kms Maserati with the Ferrari V8.
Oh yeah my favorite channel at the moment. But I wanted to highlight some lesser known stuff.
I enjoy Gold’s Garage.
https://www.youtube.com/@goldsgarage8236
Simple, important stuff for 1960’s and 70’s V8s.
Occasionally they have Bill Little on the channel, he is really great.
SuperFastMatt
The guy does it all, and has a great dry sense of humor. I think he’s been referenced in an article here before
His recent off-road Dodge Viper build has been great. It’s almost there!
I’m also looking forward to his land speed car running again.
Vice Grip Garage is my favorite, Derek is wholesome and funny as hell.
Also if you have HBO Max in the USA, Roadkill is on there now. I used to catch the free episodes on YouTube, but never subscribed to watch the rest.
I have to give a shoutout to KIT’S Auto And Truck Repair. I can’t say I’m a regular watcher of the channel, but their diagnostic videos are fantastic. I had a problem with my truck’s transmission a couple of years ago that made it undriveable. It turned out to be some damaged insulation on a wire in the wiring harness that allowed the wire to corrode away, but figuring out which wire was the problem was a little tricky. They had a two video diagnosis of a similar problem that allowed me to narrow down the issue and fix it myself, saving a costly tow and diagnosis at the dealer.
I really appreciate that they took a very methodical approach to the problem and didn’t just say “hey, this connector was loose” like all of the other videos about this did.
If you’ve ever fancied a classic Land Rover, then Geoffrey Croker will put you right.
He’s currently in the middle of a Series 3 restoration which has been taking a few years (parts availability in New Zealand doesn’t help him), so he picked up a Discovery to use as a daily-driver. That one is almost roadworthy after only a year of repairs!
I love that channel. (Or his new spinoff Croker vs Rover) So much fun and well done. He has a great sense of humor. I just crave more frequent posts. But it makes my day when I see one!
And I don’t own a Land Rover, and never plan to. But they’re still fun to watch.
Vehcor is pretty good with replacing body panel parts. Robby Layton for painting.
I watch a lot of Vice Grip Garage, Humble Mechanic, and Deutsche Auto Parts. Bus Grease Monkey also gets a huge recommendation from me, as does Flexiny. I’ve also been getting into The Bearded Mechanic for motorcycle stuff.
Thunderhead289 used to get a recommendation from me…until the guy behind the channel decided to storm into one of the Gambler 500 Facebook groups to complain about the rainbow flag and LGBTQ people. So he’s off my list, now.
For the 4Runner gang, I’m going to shout out Viking’s Garage. He’s a Toyota tech who does great DIY maintenance videos.
I’ve also been watching the T4R Garage, who also does great maint videos.
Both are under 20K subs and put out helpful content.
I watch a ton of other channels, but most are much bigger and well known. Lately I’ve been watching stuff that randomly pops up in my feed, there are SO MANY good channels. I just watched a 10K mud truck build series that was really good, it was on JH Diesel and 4X4, which I had never heard of until it popped up in my feed.
For all things M54, I love the50sKid. I am not sure how small or large his channel is and it disappears off and on for long periods but his knowledge of the M54 engine is top notch. Day off DIY has shown up in my feed a few times and I have enjoyed his content as well.