Fan Focus: Matt Gillis

Matt Gillis has two boys that wanted their own YouTube Channel so that they could make funny videos of themselves playing video games. Since they wanted to be “video stars” so badly, Matt thought of an ingenious way to get them away from their video games: allow them to have the experience of making videos all while getting them out of the house, putting something together that was for a purpose and learning how to do something with their hands. Being that he owned a 2018 GMC Sierra 2500 HD that was entirely stock, the “test vehicle” choice was an obvious one. The result of Matt’s scheme became two installation videos (so far): one from his youngest installing a Derringer tuner and iDash 1.8 DataMonster, and another from his oldest son installing a Banks Monster Exhaust.

Matt didn’t really come from an ‘automotive’ family and didn’t start getting his hands wrenching until he owned a Subaru Legacy. It was then that his love for upgrading began. He went through modifying, blowing it up, rebuilding, modifying it some more, and continuing the cycle. “Just about everyone does it wrong going down that modification route that doesn’t have an automotive upbringing,” explains Matt, “really I considered that a part of the ‘education’. I really want to give my boys what I didn’t have: someone who showed them how to do things correctly, instead of just figuring it all out. That’s really the goal of this whole thing, to give them the experience while teaching them how to be teachers themselves.”

When it came to products to put on his truck while teaching his sons the valuable lesson he chose Banks. “Based on all my research I feel that I have the most confidence in Banks that the product is going to have an O.E. fit, and that everything has been fully tested. I don’t feel like the product is going to harm my vehicle. To me looking at Banks’s background they’re the perfect products for beginners all the way to experienced mechanics and have instructions anyone can follow… even a couple of boys.”

The bonuses to Matt’s plan is that he now has some great products installed on his L5P, his boys got the experience that he wanted them to have and he didn’t have to really lift a finger to install everything himself. We’d definitely call his project an ingenious, and sneaky, success.

Check out Matt and the boy’s videos here.