Featured

The Heart of GNRS 2026: Highlights from the ARP Booth

February 12, 2026

Meet the Legends of Hot Rodding at the Triple Crown of Rodding

August 27, 2025

Gil Losi, the owner of this super-slick ’54 Mercury Monterey—which was a year in the making—has quite a liking for the ’54 Mercury body style. He’s owned several of the stylish Monterey hardtops, but this one tops them all with its slammed stance, laser-straight paint and bodywork and 32-valve DOHC engine. One of the many great aspects of this particular Mercury Monterey is that Steve Cook’s team started with a good body. It was solid and already featured a low-down stance, but the crew reworked every part of the car into what you see here.

Smooth Trails Ahead: Installing Skyjacker’s Slip Yoke Eliminator Kit for Your Jeep Wrangler TJ

Upgrading your Jeep for better off-road adventures sounds awesome, but sometimes it can cause unexpected problems. For example, when you install a Skyjacker Rock Ready-Double Flex Suspension Kit, you might notice your Jeep vibrating more than usual. That’s because the lift can mess with how the transfer case and rear axle line up. Luckily, Skyjacker has a solution called the Slip Yoke Eliminator (SYE) kit. It not only stops the vibrations but also makes your Jeep’s drive shaft stronger. In this guide, we’ll walk you through installing the NP 231 Short Shaft “Fixed Yoke” Kit. We’ll cover everything from the tools you need to important things to think about before you start. So, if you’re eager to boost your Jeep’s performance, keep reading to learn how Skyjacker can help.

SPRING TO ACTION

Dean Brown, a longtime rodder, was in the market for a new project car and stumbled across this ’52 Chevy panel truck, which turned out to be one of the original Helms trucks. The bakery cabinets had been removed but the body was in good condition, and it was still running with the original six-cylinder engine. Brown thought the truck was very cool, so he made a deal with its owner and drove it home. He formulated a plan of attack and started acquiring the parts he needed to turn it into a hot Chevy panel. The parts included a strong-running V-8 engine, a Turbo 350 transmission, a Fat Man Fabrications IFS front suspension and a new rear suspension that would provide a softer ride quality.

Spotlighter

ELECTRIFIED

INSTALLING ELECTRIC-LIFE’S POWER WINDOW KIT

If you are like many of us who have at one time or another opted for a less expensive vehicle to build, then this how-to will be of interest to you. At the cost of certain features or creature comfort conveniences—mundane items like power windows and locks—we often begin with what may be considered a strippo model or a basic transportation car that is ... well, available. These cars can, after all, make for a great foundation that can easily be personalized, just like we are doing here.

Author

Robert Benner

Photography by Chris Fesler

If you are unfortunate enough to own such a vehicle—like the Civic DX, which never offered power windows—then the thought of adding them has no doubt crossed your mind. The notion that power windows would make your vehicle just a little bit nicer is a sound one and that is where an Electric-Life power window kit comes into play.

The Electric-Life kit includes everything you need to convert your manual windows to power. Electric-Life offers several different types of electric window kits, along with a full range of accessories for just these types of cars. And how about this little-known fact: Electric-Life power window systems are standard equipment on all Ferraris. So, with a set, you could say that you have the same!

In addition to the typical universal-style power window kits, Electric-Life manufactures a large number of vehicle-specific kits that completely replace the manual window regulator and can also be used to replace a faulty OEM power window regulator. In our case, for the ’00 Honda Civic, Electric-Life builds a complete, custom-fit, bolt-in window kit. Along with the window kit, a complete switch kit and wiring harness were also obtained from Electric-Life.

To do the job right and to get the lowdown for this how-to, we took the car and the kit down to Unique Car Audio in Gilbert, Arizona, to document the installation. Check out the following photos and see if you feel this is something you can do in your backyard to add a bit of convenience to your ride.

Another thing: when customizing the interior of your car, it is often easier to replace the existing window mechanisms and include a power set for that custom touch. Either way, this is an inexpensive way to add a bit of class to that tuner car of yours.

1. Here is the door before we started with the power conversion. Soon the manual crank will be gone and the pure convenience of power will take its place.

2. Before the door panel could be removed, the door pull was unscrewed and removed from the door.

3. The panel behind the door handle needed to be removed as well.

4. The clip that secures the window crank was removed and discarded.

5. Finally, the speaker grille was removed, as well as the screws that secure the door panel behind it.

6. The door panel was removed by pulling it away at the bottom and lifting up to clear the inner door panel structure.

7. Here you can see the factory manual window regulator and the four bolts that secure it to the door.

8. The four bolts around the crank were removed, along with two bolts that secured the bottom of the regulator to the door.

9. A pair of bolts secures the window glass to the regulator. Both of these were removed and the glass lifted up.

10. A few strips of masking tape hold the window in its up position so it will not interfere with the removal and installation of the window regulators.

11. With everything disconnected, the manual window regulator was removed through the large hole in the door and set aside.

12. Here you can see the Electric-Life electric regulator (bottom) and manual regulator (top).