Shop Tour Turbo and Injector Rebuilding in Africa! A1 Diesel takes me riding and to a biker party!

Hey friends, it's Shane from howtorents.com. I know it has been a while since I made a video. I'm super stoked about this one. I'm here in Africa, and y'all know I'm over here working for Zipline, but I finally met a pretty cool dude. He's hooking me up some friends. We're gonna go ride some motorcycles, but on top of it, he owns a shop here. I'm gonna give you a tour, show you his bikes, and show you what he does in the diesel world, but this is gonna be cool. You're gonna want to stay tuned. If you haven't done so yet, make sure and hit that subscribe button, and let's go ahead and meet my new pal. If you hit that subscribe button, that notification bell, you're gonna be missing out on videos and free prizes and raffles we have coming up. This video includes timestamps, so check out the description below if you want to bounce ahead and just grab the info that you want. Hey my friends, this is my new pal, Aldis, and he is the managing director here of A1 Limited Diesel, but he's gonna hook me up. I'm gonna get to ride this bike around with him and his pals, but what was really cool is I was out looking to rent a motorcycle. I hit up what I thought was a local Harley dealer. It was actually closed, not in business anymore. You could buy t-shirts. That was about it, but these guys were in there, a bunch of pals on their bikes having a good time, showed them the how to rent stuff they thought was pretty cool, and he said, you know what? I think you'd like my shop. You got to stay tuned to this video and wait to see everything that's happening here in Ghana, Africa, where they have to get stuff done, and this guy is the diesel guy, but why don't you show me? Let's show me your bike first. You got your bike project. I want to check it out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We got to keep it true to our motorcyclists, you know, and this is cool. Just talking to him so far. You could just tell, you know, just the love and understanding of turning wrenches. There's another one, but he is building this fat boy. Here we are building Fat Boy 2006. It is a very special Fat Boy. It is called Yellow Lamborghini. That is what 2006 Harley Davidson made together with Lamborghini, and that special color. Hey, I want to give Roland, our boy Roland, a shout out. Look at, your parts are sitting here on motorcycles in Africa. I got some friends that are personal friends with Roland. I'm not. I'm just a fan. You see, this bike is always ready for party, you know. My Jack Daniel bottle is always with me. Where are you from, my friend? Latvia. I'm from Latvia. I'm 14 years in Ghana, helping do injectors. Yeah, why don't we do a tour of your shop thing, because this is absolutely mind-blowing. What I want you to pay attention to, I'll try to pause as we sweep around, but just the massive equipment, which you see inside. They rebuild turbos here, do fuel injectors, all makes and models. Pretty wild, but you can see the heavy duty equipment, and here they're doing transmissions. Look at the sheer size of this, and you know what? You don't know me. We're new pals, but my old t-shirts used to just say it's all nuts and bolts, and I always try to tell motorcycle technicians, like, you don't know where you might get a job. Learn how to turn wrenches and be successful. When I look at that, I mean, it's so dang similar to just any, you know, transmission, nuts and bolts. It's just that the thing is massive. Look at the size of that. That is a gearbox from Mercedes-Benz Actros. Okay. Mercedes-Benz Actros. Yeah, so we'll run inside, but this cracks me up too. Look at the sandblasting area. You all know, you don't know this, Aldis, but I do a lot of restoration stuff, and I've got this machine called a vapor blaster, and I gotta get you hooked up. You gotta... Have you ever heard of a vapor blaster? That's the rough one, and that's for aluminum to make shiny. Yeah. Very, very fine sand. Have you ever heard of a vapor blaster? We don't have. It's this with water. It's mind-blowing. I'll show you a bunch of stuff that I do with that. Okay, maybe you're talking about this. I might be, but I never use... Oh, man. This one works with water. Oh, yeah. You'll love it. The finish on aluminum is awesome. Is this where you got your arms from, dude? Yeah. Back here? Yeah, that's right. That's my bench. Dude, I don't think I can lift these. I gotta see. Oh, that looked way heavier than I thought here. Oh, man. That's funny. That is proper African gym. See, this bench have seen life. I have a feeling you can lift a little bit more than that, though. Yeah, for biceps more. Oh, man. Oh, cool. My bike. All right, let's go look at the rest of the toys. This tree, my father's plant five years ago. Oh, your dad's here, too, huh? Way cool. All right, you want to start with fuel injector and we'll end on turbos? What's up? All right, check this out. First thing I see when I come in here. How you doing? First thing I see is a cutaway of a turbo. I make cutaways. Yeah. I love it, man. I got engine cutaways, but that is... We cut this one. You did it? Yes, because we want to show to the people what is inside, actually, why it is so important when you spark the turbo engine, why it is so important to give some seconds. Of course, every turbo producer said, oh, give at least one minute before the oil tank will get oil for the shaft. Because if these bushings, okay, in turbos we don't call bushings, we call bearings, but actually this is bushings. Right. If there is not enough oil, turbo will go bad. Yeah. That is why we cut it to show customers why the turbo... I got to show your cool little entry area here. Coolest table. Look at that. What's up, brother? We going to go riding? Yeah. That's what I heard. Nice. How you doing, my friend? All right. Check this out. God, this inventory just blows my mind. These guys, they are doing tough uniforms. Do you have one spoiled one? I don't know. Okay. When the uniform is gone, it looks like a ----, but this one, normally some people come buy from us and selling like a brand new. Okay. But this is our Rema. This is our standard. It looks actually like a brand new, but this is our... And you're getting ready to test one right now? You testing one you rebuild or one to diagnose it? Yeah, yeah, of course. Each when it is rebuilt, after that we test, and we adjust, we make sure it is in the standard exactly like a brand new. Yeah. Well, if we're going to fire it up, we might as well... How close are you to firing it up? How soon? Oh, right now. All right. I'll edit it out. The delay. Okay. I want to see this. Then basically there is hemp inside who is keeping here, and then it is, this one is breaking the pressure. And then from the injector, you can see the quantity what he's giving. So that's just a mechanically operated pump. And then what are we controlling here electronically? Only open that moment when the piston is on the top, we need to give fuel. Then it is open. Until that is spreading the pressure. And when it is moment when the piston is on the top, then solenoid is giving signal to open, and we spray fuel. So there's a crank position sensor, something to tell that when you go. Yeah. Thanks guys. Appreciate you. So this also, this is for common rail, and there is another two machines for common rail. This one I don't want to show because this one we are using only for the testing. But this one is really good sniper. It is made in our neighbor country in Estonia. So then I'm really happy about this. This is from also from Europe. And you need all these different ones to do all the different sizes. I think you said, Oh, you got the important coffee maker. Of course. Yeah. I love coffee. Oh man. I'm right there. But this, this section is common rail only. This is Euro five, Euro six, all the uniforms, everything, all the latest. You know, Alvis, the one thing I'm surprised about is that obvious. The one thing I'm surprised about your shop is freaking clean. I mean, everything I've seen, people are working in the dirt, you know, on the ground. We talked about that. But as far as walking in a shop, this would, this would kick a bunch of shops in America's butts. We build here small Latvia. I bring my understanding about how things must be done. I bring it here and every, my team member also understand that this is how it must be. So that is why you don't see that on the floor. I mean, I don't know if everybody's caught that in the video. Some of my diehards I'm sure have, but look at this. He didn't know I was coming today either. By the way, um, we met whatever week or two ago. And I just said, Hey, taking a day off. I want to come see you. So this is the way it is all the time. This is for the, uh, for the line, but you'll see over there. Gradually they are going out from the system, but still they are there. So then people are facing problem, then we are, we are ready. So then this is washing base, whatever comes here for the washing, brushing, make sure it is neat before going to the right section. Then these two sections is for the Caterpillar C9, C7 series. Okay. This, this baby only one on the continent. So far, what I know, uh, because of the, of the investment involved so that this is our, this is our Ferrari. Our, our, uh, owners, investors, they, they paid 180,000 euros for this. So that is why I call this one Ferrari or Lamborghini, because this is exactly what you can buy for this money. You know, like one year old Lamborghini, you can get 180 euros. You know, it's funny too, because just seeing some of the stuff like, Hey, I'm surprised to see a pair of precision tweezers, you know, upstairs, you got a microscope. I mean, yeah, it's the real deal. Yeah. This one is only for the pumps, only for comments. This one don't do anything apart from comments. And you said this was a, how many PSI? Um, 360, but, um, this one is not a big deal. This is, this is interesting story. For example, this test bench can do only Bosch injectors. Okay. That's what I show you before he can do Bosch. Then. So, uh, whatever Delphi, whatever, uh, this one can do, can calibrate this one, not only Bosch, right. Then when you deal with Bosch, you pay this money and get this volume. And what kind of PSI are you saying that was, I think that might've been 2000, 2000. Uh, yeah. I mean, you got to know what you're doing. If you're dealing with 2000 PSI and you don't have something tight, I mean, you could get hurt. I mean, you would open the test bench, even don't come in if it is not closed. Oh, nice. Then test bench, even you cannot own it. Nice. Hey man, are we close to what's going to be my favorite part? We heading up to the turbo area. So let's go off. Okay. You guys, he was talking about this earlier on the cutaway, but they rebuild turbos here. So I got my boy clay back in Iowa. You are going to love this. This isn't like slapping stuff together. This is actually knowing what you're doing. Full rebuilds. Wait till you see this. We'll hang out area. A little view on the industrial area. Look at the pile. This also, we got it. Then the customers can see what is inside. What is, because sometimes somebody think is because of some seal is spoiled, but there is nothing with the seal. So the guy that just showed up, I happen to be fortunate enough to watch him diagnose a vehicle by ear. He pulled up and you're like, you know, it's this, but, uh, what point out what was bad, the one you're doing outside right now, what, what do you think was wrong with that one? Then I got to hear you diagnose. So what happened? It start when it starts shakes like this, then the blade is start touching the body and he's making the noise like a whistling. Sure. I heard that too. And it was really only at a certain load and he had a hard time finding it. Like he had to work pretty hard to find it. It is, it is coming around 2,500 RPM and disappear around 3,500 RPM. If you don't fix it, it could grenade apart. I assume. No, if you don't fix it, he can remain on the roadside because, um, turbo for Navara turbo can go off immediately. You are going like 120 kilometers an hour. And then it's like 60 mile an hour. I think then just you, you hear the noise and oil is, we start coming out from the exhaust. That's all. Gotcha. Yeah. Gotcha. So you have a massive amount of inventory here. If I turn around, I see this. I'm like, dang, look at the size of this. This is, this is approximately how old are you? 47. We're the same age. 74. March. Yeah. And you said this was Russian. Yeah. This is from Russia. Yeah, man, look at the massive ways on that. I got a little tiny little three in one Smithy. So look at this. Yeah. So this, the other stuff you're showing me too. I mean, just that you balance machines. But first of all, what we do, we balance the shaft. We start with the shaft. Clay, you're going to love. So what does it mean? Um, when you just make the shaft is not balanced, then you assemble and put it inside the machine. So a little set of V-blocks for it to sit on here I don't want to touch it, but just like doing a crank, just like doing a motorcycle crank, your two web has, it's telling you where to add weight. And you said that's all computerized. And then you remove the weight with, with this dentist machine, right? Yeah. It's funny how people like struggle sometimes because they go, Oh, it's gotta be more complicated. It's math. It's weight. You gotta remove the weight and you gotta balance it all out. Cause like you said, you can't add weight to that. But if you don't, if you don't balance the terrible blast when you accelerate first time, if the terrible is not balanced, you will just, if you're lucky, then it will just crack here. If not, it can, it can damage the engine. Yeah. So that this is important to balance it. After that, we assembled all the cartridge. So cartridge looks like this. Okay. This is old cartridge, but, but this is, uh, how looks when cartridge is assembled, right? Only must be clean. Of course. Sure. After that. Okay. This is for the we fix it inside and then we give air and when the turbo turns, then also it shows where need to be again, uh, remove some weight until cartridge is balanced perfectly. Then we let again for some few minutes, uh, to see if oil is not leaking from somewhere. After that cartridge is ready, is ready to be fixed into the body and fixed back into the car. We just done it today, this small baby. So then that car outside will be on the road by close of tomorrow. So that truck that pulled up today, what surprised me is you didn't stick it in a garage or something. You just started taking a part right where it was that Nissan, you just started taking a part right there. So you must be able to turn it around quick. Uh, yes. Look, customers here, they don't have time because normally they don't have another two, three cars. That is his only car that I need to make sure I give car back as soon as possible. Really? Sometimes I'm asking him, when do you need a car? Yesterday? Right. He said, yes. So, okay. Then we are doing right now. And normally if you come in the morning, afternoon, you have correct turbo. You're pulling a turbo, rebuilding it, handing it back in a day. I don't know why that shocks me, but this is something I don't see a lot of is these vices this wide. I mean, everything in America seems to be like a six inch or something, but this is because of, uh, turbos. Sometimes you need to hold this, this, or, or for example, look at this whole wall. If you need to hold this baby, what are you going to do with small ways? You can't do anything, but to open some bolts, you need to, you need to fix it well. And then you can open, where'd you show you picked up this little tiny one. You showed me, you called it a bicycle. And was that in there? It's inside. Let's make sure we don't shut that door. Oh, there's, here's the microscope I was talking about. They're using for inspection, but that was cool. So this one is bicycle turbo. That's funny. Yeah. But still small car also need turbo. This is our bestseller Nissan Navara. This one we don't rebuild because in generally Nissan Navara turbo is mistake because the turbo is built like for sports engine. Okay. It's not built for long life, long lasting. It is with the geometry inside. It is really powerful turbo, but unfortunately it cannot work long. So the one you're putting in is if, does it make it any better or is it, they just going back to that same life expectancy? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Normally, normally brand new Navara when you buy, if you're very lucky, you can drive this car one year before you change your turbo first time. A bunch of replacement parts you're showing there. Oh, fishing poles too. You got all man. You got motorcycles, mountain biking, fishing poles, turbos. Oh yeah. Yeah. There you go. So this is kit. Normally we don't need this kit because people bring turbo only when it is completely fucked. They don't bring when the turbo is stuck leaking the oil and then we can use this to rebuild for some 200 bucks. But they bring when it is really dead. Then in this case, we need to always completely change the cartridge. I'm going to make sure that I get all your contact info because we have such a crazy wide audience too. So if you are in Ghana, especially this is going to be your hookup for your fuel injectors or your turbos. But I assume people probably even ship you stuff. Yeah. Yeah. So neighbor countries around, we are sending to them. Gotcha. Cool. Hey, what do you think about you and I go grab motorcycles and maybe some food. All right, man. Hey everybody. Thanks for tuning into how to wrench.com. This was a super fun opportunity. One thing I love about traveling and the ridiculously cool people you meet, but I need some two wheel time. So I'm going to check out of here. I'll try and get this video posted as soon as possible. As always like, share, subscribe. Do you have any socials or anything? Yes. A1 Diesel. A1 Diesel. You can find us in Facebook. I'll get the links from you. I'll have the links below in the video. Look them up too. And this was fun, my friend.