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About

Greg Bailey (Left) and Mitchell Greeley (Right) pictured with a Mk. 2 Volkswagen Jetta Turbo Diesel and a 1999 E46 BMW 328i respectively

Welcome to GB Productions. We are a team of two car enthusiasts and who enjoy working on cars and electronics and decided we wanted to document and share what we do with others in the hopes of providing entertainment and maybe help others learn along the way. Greg Bailey, the guy who is usually in front of the camera, is a self-taught automotive mechanic and mechanical engineering student with a wealth of experience on older Volkswagens and older Dodge Ram Trucks. Mitchell Greeley, usually the cameraman, editor, and assistant who presents some videos as well, is an environmental science student, and has also operated another YouTube channel, thegtstech, since 2012 concentrating on racing video games. He is new to working on his own vehicles, and is using the opportunity to help Greg and learn along the way.

We originally came up for the idea of GB Productions in August 2019 on a road trip up to Algonquin Provincial Park, in Central Ontario. Greg was talking about all his ongoing projects, in particular automotive work, and Mitchell came up with the idea of trying to capture the work and make videos out of it. While nothing came of that idea at the time due to Greg and Mitchell’s life situation at the time, the COVID-19 pandemic presented an opportunity to revisit the idea. Mitchell had been recently laid off from work about to return to University, and Greg had taken the summer off after finishing a term of University earlier that year. In early August 2020, Greg had decided to take an old 1992 Mercury Villager minivan that was on his property to scrap, and invited Mitchell to come help out. After getting the car onto the flatbed, Greg had decided to remove the Catalytic Converter as it can net additional money if taken separately from the car. We decided, why not film the process to remove it, and we hastily threw together a video of Greg removing it (not realizing at the time the pandemic of cat thieves that would use the video for a purpose we hadn’t intended), and voila GB Productions was born! Conveniently, Greg was also about to start working on repairing a 2002 Volkswagen Jetta TDI he had purchased the year before for $250 that he intended to make his daily driver, replacing his 1992 Volkswagen Jetta Turbo Diesel that he didn’t want driven in the winter anymore due to the harsh amounts of salt used on Southern Ontario roads. So we decided to film that project, and well, you can see how that went, mainly over on the YouTube channel.

Now, a year since launch, we’ve started a bunch more projects, a summary of which is posted below, and have started making videos on other topics besides car repair, such as some electronics reviews and tutorials, some casual vlogs, and more. We will likely be taking a break at some point in 2022 due to logistical issues with the return to in-person classes at University as Greg and Mitchell attend different schools and are on different tracks to graduation. However, we intend to film quite a bit this fall which should allow us to continue with one video per week indefinitely (Tuesdays, at 12 am Eastern Time Zone (UTC-5/UTC-4). In the future, we’re hoping to expand into more topics such as track driving, drifting, off-roading, car reviews, manufacturing skill tutorials (such as welding etc…), car culture, and more. While our primary focus will remain on car builds, especially the aspect of building a car to do some of the aforementioned categories we just mentioned. An aspect to our channel that is different to most other similar is that we don’t always film together, sometimes due to logistics, sometimes by design. So some of our content is just one presenter, or the other, and this may become more common in the future. For example, the 1999 GMC Sierra Project is entirely a solo project by Greg, with Mitchell’s contribution only including the editing of the final video. The Electronics series is entirely a solo project by Mitchell, and is a continuation of tech content that he used to do on thegtstech. Certain videos from our other series are also filmed solo, but in those cases it has entirely been due to logistics.

Rather than have a ever growing list of all our published videos, I have summarized our projects and series in the next couple headings. I have linked to the YouTube playlist rather than the article category here on the website as there’s a massive backlog of Greg’s articles that need written still.

Project Cars/Trucks and their status

  • 2002 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Manual
    • This was our first project and so far has the largest share of the videos on our channel, 22 episodes.
    • Current Status: Episode 26 – Radiator Replacement – Part 4 released on February 1st, 2022
    • Includes the Volkswagen ALH Engine Rear Main Seal Replacement subseries.
    • Some planned future videos on this car will include a before and after video documenting how a Stage 1 ECU tune affects the cars’ performance and the replacement of the timing belt and installation of a performance camshaft
  • 1999 BMW 328i (E46) Automatic
    • This is Mitchell’s first project car and has the second largest share of videos on the channel, 15 episodes!
    • Current Status: Episode 19 – This BMW Is Scrap!!! Released on February 8th, 2022
    • This project was cancelled after discovering that the rockers had completely rotted away during the brake line replacement job. Mitchell will purchase another BMW 3-series after finishing university.
  • 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit Pickup
    • Our first serious Restoration project. Involves a front end swap with a Mk.1 Rabbit Cabriolet, and a diesel swap with a Mk. 3 Golf, and a full interior and exterior restoration with a planned wooden machined tailgate
    • Current Status: Currently working on making and filming the video on templating the car to prepare for the front end swap
    • The five previously filmed videos are all available to watch on the YouTube channel.
    • This project is a long term project and won’t be finished in the near future.
  • 1995 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Automatic
    • A truck intended to go on the road while “Big-Blue” is taken off the road for a full restoration.
    • We have released a first start and project initiation video in April 2021.
    • Current Status: Episode 7 – Removing The Running Boards and Inspecting Rockers released on December 14th, 2021
    • The cab was determined to be in extremely rough shape so the project is on hold pending a replacement cab and time.
  • 1999 GMC Sierra 2500HD 6.0L Vortec Automatic
    • A non road worthy truck with the box intended to become a box trailer, and the front end/engine currently have an unknown fate
    • Current Status: Episode 5 – Fuel Injector Replacements Part 3 Released on October 12th, 2021
    • Nothing has been done with the truck since April 2021
  • 1958 Case 600B Case-O-Matic Tractor Engine Rebuild
    • A rebuild of the 2.7 L 4-cylinder gasoline engine that has serious oil burning issues and only ran on three cylinders.
    • Current Status: Episode 6 – Disassembling The Pistons Released on April 5th, 2022
    • The bottom end of the engine is essentially ready to be put back together. Still waiting on parts and work to be done on the valvetrain before it can be reassembled

Other Series’ and their Status

  • GB Productions Test Drive Series
    • Mitchell & Greg’s take on the classic car review
    • Current Status: #2 – 2015 Dodge Grand Caravan Crew released on December 21st, 2021 as our 2021 Christmas Special
    • We partially filmed an additional test drive video on March 27th, 2022, but B-roll and exterior tour were not shot due to blizzard like conditions and was filmed on April 9th, 2022. Three additional test drives are awaiting filming.
  • General Automotive Tutorials
    • Meant to be a catch all series for teaching general automotive and manufacturing skills. Or one-off videos on cars that aren’t an official project
    • Current Status: Seven Videos Published as of April 2022. One additional video has been filmed awaiting editing.
  • Electronics Series
    • Meant to be a continuation and catch all for Mitchell’s exploration of tech from thegtstech. Expected to be a relatively occasional series for the time being, it will likely grow into a weekly video series in the future
    • There have been four videos released so far as of December 28th, 2021
    • Future videos will be filmed and released as time and interest permit, with the merger of thegtstech into GB Productions, this series will likely be restructured
  • Cold Start Videos
    • Either for cars started in extremely cold conditions (titled cold start), or after it has been sitting for a long period of time (titled revivals)
    • Current Status: #3 – 1994 Dodge Ram 2500 5.9 L Cummins Released on Febraury 17th, 2022
    • We have five additional cold start videos filmed awaiting post-production
    • We have no other cars available at this time to do any other “revival” videos
  • Vlogs & Specials
    • Videos of our adventures, either together or by ourselves, or a catch all for all non-series videos that we decide to film
    • We have filmed and published two Vlogs, one Special, two dashcam videos, three Channel Update Videos, and one deleted scene
    • An additional dashcam video was filmed in October 2021 and is awaiting post-production
    • Future videos in this series will be filmed and released as needed

Future Series’ And Videos

Well only things we want to announce at this time are listed here. Some of this has been filmed and awaiting editing and release, others are coming soon. While our primary focus is on European and American cars, between the two of us we are interested in pretty much all cars from all eras and locales. Some small engine content will likely be coming in the future as well.

  • 1996 “Blue” Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Repairs (Will begin after Silver 1995 Dodge Ram 2500 project is finished)
  • Mk. 4 Volkswagen Jetta Interior Disassembly Website Article
  • Mk. 4 Volkswagen Jetta Rust Repair Website Article
  • 2017 Chevrolet Cruze LT Automatic Series (maintenance and mods – will begin after lease and warranty ends in September 2022) – Mitchell’s daily driver
  • 1936 Ford Model 48 Sedan Restoration Project
  • 1989 Volkswagen Jetta TD Coupe – VR6 Swap Drag Car Build

Camera Equipment

To film our videos, we have used a variety of different cameras and equipment so far. When we first started out in August 2020, we used an iPhone XR, an iPhone 5C (For one clip only), and a GoPro Hero 4 Silver. We filmed all videos in 1080p but we did experiment with 60 frames/second on a few videos. Shortly after we started, Mitchell Purchased a tripod and mount for the iPhone which has helped improve video quality by allowing scenes where a closeup isn’t required to be more stable. Greg eventually purchased a slightly more advanced tripod and phone mount in March 2021. In December 2020, Mitchell received a GoPro Hero 8 Black as a Christmas gift from his parents and has since begun using that camera as the primary camera for most shoots, using the iPhone XR as a secondary camera or when zooming capability is required. Greg used his old phone, an LG-H873 to film some of his earliest solo content, and then moved to using his current phone, a Samsung Galaxy S10, starting with the Rear Main Seal Replacement series filmed in January 2021. With the new GoPro and our modern phones, it allowed us to start experimenting with 4K video and about half of our output this year is planned to be 4K, including all of the 1981 Rabbit Pickup videos, most of the 1999 E46 328i videos, specials and vlogs. In May 2021, Mitchell purchased the GoPro media mod, to help improve audio quality, and a set of 50 mounts for the go pro, to help create more versatile camera angles. Voice-overs in certain videos have all been recorded on a “voice memo” app on either Greg’s or Mitchell’s phone, depending on who is doing the commentary. In March 2022, it was decided that all future videos will be filmed and published in 4K.

We are planning to film a video for the Electronics series at some point in the future documenting the camera equipment we have, and what equipment we want to get in the future.

Production Partners:

These are just the logo’s for Greg and Mitchell’s production companies, respectively. Four-Wheel Motion also does some mechanic work for friends and family on the side. thegtstech operates an IT services division along with the gaming YouTube channel. thegtstech was folded into GB Productions in March 2022. Without these, GB Productions wouldn’t have been possible