Full Build: '69 Road Runner Transformed Into Road Burner

this transformation will be some work but with the sweat from our brow a few high performance components this thing is going to be one sweet piece of Detroit Muscle when we're done this is Road Burner you're watching Power Nation hey guys today we're at the world's largest Mopar salvage yard and they're 60 plus acres of them here now our goal for today is going to be finding us a new project and dragging it home [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you know there's a lot of factors that go into choosing the right project vehicle and one of the things you need to consider the most is the financial side of things because it costs a lot of money to restore an automobile you don't want any surprises at the end and need to make sure everything makes perfect sense with that said there's other makes and models that are worth more than others so consider that before you make your decision who doesn't want one of these a charger we just finished one and it was a whole lot of fun to build but it took us nearly three years to put it together and we were working on that thing all the time so you need to consider that your time what's it worth to you how quick do you want to ride well I always stress to people buy as much cars you can afford in the nicest condition because it will gain you a tremendous amount on the back side of it and walking around this Field of Dreams is a whole lot of fun but I've come to realize I ain't this dedicated foreign [Music] so we're here to see Ted the owner of Steven's performance and it's easy to say that this man is in the know when it comes to a Dodge project how are you Boss good Tom how are you I'm wonderful not as good as you look at all these rides you got sitting around well you know come for the territory well what we're looking for is nothing that's 100 percent I don't really need shiny paint don't have to be original paint nothing like that you have anything that needs some work and something we could buy yeah I've got a couple week work with let's take a look so excited well depending on where you want to go price point wise we'd probably start with this this is a super bird project it's in paint um engines built uh there's all of the pieces are here uh it's just a big model car kit I don't think my checkbook goes that far but it is a killer car tell me about it like which what engine package and all that it's a 444 Barrel automatic Plymouth built I think 1953 of these cars a few hemis uh the mix between 444 barrel and 446 Barrel was almost even which is kind of unusual but uh uh these cars were kind of special cars and uh surprisingly a lot of them have survived because they were so odd that people saved them yeah they could call this car hot it's not a far-fetched statement by any means oddest might be better yeah these things I know didn't really sell that well whenever they come off from the factory either like a lot of them sat around yeah the dealers actually converted some of them back into road runners oh really yeah they took the noses off took the Wings off put bumpers on the front just because they couldn't sell it couldn't sell it it's crazy enough to say that because of their soul sought after now they are one of the problems with these Cardinals Insurance because of the nose cone and the expense of the nose cone if you ever bumped one of these things in a parking lot it was expensive to repair what's all been done to it now we painted it we had to replace the quarter panels on it I think the trunk floor like I said we moved on with the Lexus engine rebuild and we've accumulated all the parts to put it together with when this car is completed I know they're expensive but what is an in all reality what's a reasonable price that someone would pay for one of these things uh these cars right now are selling between 125 and 175 depending on how nice the car is I mean that's for a 444 Barrel car a six barrel car will bring more than that and a Hemi will bring a lot more than that well I know this thing is definitely out of my price range and maybe one day I can just drive it or drive one of them I know a man who might have one I could drive someday let's go check somebody to turn a wrench before that happens well if the super bird is out of your price range how about a super B M I do like a b buddy this is a 70 model it's a 446 pack super track fat car automatic 410 Dana 60 axle pretty low production uh if you want to stay with a b-body car this one would work it's basically ready to paint but we have all the rest of the pieces to it all the stuff you don't see we have hidden somewhere ah six pack is awesome but I'm kind of looking for a car I'm gonna call it like reduced for quick sale because I'm probably gonna cut it up now we won't be cutting this one up you don't think so let's look a little further you got something else hiding out yeah I got one out here that might fit the bill all righty coming up that's what I'm talking about a piece of American muscle that hasn't seen daylight for a while hey guys welcome back we're here at Stevens performance and it's time for us to see the goods Ted said he's got kind of a bargain car I know it ain't going to be cheap but I'm anxious to see it depends on your definition of cheap that's what I'm talking about how about it that looks more in my price range for sure well with what you've told me that you want to do which involves a Sawzall this might be more along the lines of something you could do that with so you say we wouldn't be like crucifying this car if we cut it up a bit not if you don't cut it up much this one just came in from California it's a good dry car we have a supplier out there brother Dave on the west coast that brings us nice cars like this from time to time and these are great Builders this car doesn't have an engine or transmission in it but it's a good solid body a good place to work with and it is a Road Runner so and it's a good color can we dig it out of here to see what it looks like in the daylight sure foreign if you're looking for a project car 69 Roadrunner they don't get any better than that good floors good trunk good quarter panels almost unheard of today like I said it came from California so we're not dealing with any uh salt rot or anything like that like most people on this side of the country are accustomed to so I think this would be a good car to work with now if we put a Hemi in it is that a problem don't put whatever you want in it because all I can tell you is it's my plan for this thing is uh it's going to be pretty fast and look pretty aggressive I'm normally a paint and body guy but I don't think I'm gonna touch it at all I like the green Hood well that may just have to go I'll bring it back well you could rattle can it black or I could just bring it back or you could bring it back it's missing a few pieces I'm going to need a grill looks like some other trim windshield that kind of thing I think we can go on a scavenger hunt we can do it all right I'll follow you because you know where this stuff's at get the tools [Music] um [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] depending on the style of your restoration and how complete the car is that you're working on a place like this could be your salvation you find us some goodies yeah there's a pretty good looking Grill and headlight bezels I don't know what they're laying in this car for but you find something new every time you come out here but I think that'll work pretty good for what we're working with here it kind of matches the car it's kind of aged out and used for sure now I know our car is kind of crusty but I still want some blingy bumpers and some trim and new glass and we're probably still going to need a few other pieces that they don't even make uh yeah some things I think we need turn signal lamps for that car and those aren't available we should be able to come up with a good set of used ones and uh we actually make the lenses for those we'll have some there's your bling you'll have new turn signal man yeah you know but that's you having those used pieces is kind of what separates you from everybody else right because not everybody wants to use pieces no they don't like a little guy that working with a Survivor car he doesn't want to put new reproduction Parts on his car because they may not look quite right so he's looking for nice used stuff that matches the rest of the car and you said nice used stuff can we find some of them turn signal pieces yeah let's have a look let's go up another row or two [Music] foreign yard it was time to hit the warehouse I know you made a list on that beauty yeah I've got an Atlantis phone book size list for that steaming pile I mean a piece of American Automotive History come on man be nice okay okay we're gonna need the side marker lenses here they are and uh turn signal lenses these both of these are licensed with Chrysler they are reapered exact reproductions of the original parts they have the exact markings and Chrysler's pentastar logo so if you're looking for the right stuff correct this is it the correct stuff that's nice [Music] that'll about size up the outside of it yeah I got plenty to do now it looks like that'll keep you busy for a day or two yeah I'm sure I'm gonna be calling you I'm gonna be needing something else glad to have you y'all come back now you're here coming up we open the history books and see why these cars are so sought after [Music] well anytime we have a new project in the shop it's a good day for me and since Tommy got to have the joy of hanging out with Ted and picking up the car I sent him out on some errands and you may notice we've got a new face here in the shop this is Daniel Bo shears no relation and uh he's actually a good friend of ours he's helped us out a lot over the years behind the camera on projects we needed help on he's well connected in the industry he works with Ted at Stevens performance also Tim welburn at the welder muscle car museum he does Consulting for race teams he's been in several Automotive Publications I could go on and on but needless to say really excited to have you here Daniel thanks Mark I appreciate you introducing me and I appreciate you guys also bringing me in on this particular project these road runners are one of my favorites yeah I know this is right up your alley but when I looked at it the first time I was like a little skeptical because it looks rough yeah it looks rough but it's got it where it counts the floors are good the frame rails are good we don't have any major repairs to do and it's a really good canvas for the project we've got in mind yeah and you know Tommy's always pegging me as is a mustang guy and although I do lean a little toward the blue oval I love all muscle cars and when it comes to Mopars 69 Road Runner top of my list yeah we're one of my favorites too and after all these roadrunners are muscle car royalty in 1968 Plymouth decided to get a little crazy with its muscle cars and it Unleashed a stripped down Bare Bones version of its tried and true Belvedere and they named it after a cartoon character [Music] the Roadrunner was an instant hit many a Ford and Chevy spent time chasing down the bird car but like the coyote they had a hard time catching it what I like about driving the car is is hide handles the car handles great the engine is never came out of the car it still runs excellent the power in this baby is a 383 four barrel it hammers out 335 horsepower and for a little extra cash you could throw in a six pack or even a Hemi if you really wanted to leave them in the dust and the Allure in 1968 for these vehicles was outstanding Plymouth expected to sell 20 000 of these fast cars the good news for the dealers is that these flew off the lot they crushed their sales projections with 45 000 cars sold by the end of the year [Music] 1969 kicked off a strong year for the cartoon car sales soared by nearly 200 percent with just over 80 000 roadrunners sold this Relic from that era is in pristine condition and the owner well you may recognize him this car is all original uh probably one of the best paint cars we have this car has a 446 pack off the lot you could take this car straight to the track and even win a race or two lacking trim no hubcaps and an oversized hood scoop this iconic Mopar packed everything under the hood for someone to settle the score on the street or at the track but by 1970 the sales had plummeted for the road runners actually cut the numbers in half they just couldn't recreate what they made with the 68 and 69s which makes these more sought after today so we're really lucky to get our hands on this one up next you heard talk of a Sawzall we'll give you the plan for our iconic muscle car next on Detroit Muscle I like the green on This Hood but it's not the right hood is it no it's satellite Hood you can tell by the lines in it yeah all right guys we're about ready to start taking this car apart the first thing we need to do is get our tools together and I don't know about you mark but I'm ready to get my hands dirty yeah but before we start digging in let's talk about some of the specifics of this car and where we're headed well the second thing I noticed about this car after I got past this ugly black paint was the wheels and tires it's kind of cool because they're old school these tires are probably as old as I am they're all dry rotted obviously the wheels are Rusty these have to go if you look past that to the drums they're Rusty and plus we wanted to upgrade to disc brakes on something like this as for the suspension well there's a lot on the aftermarket available we'll probably pick something along those lines for that now I know this thing isn't pretty but that doesn't make it uncool I'm starting to notice a little Omaha RN shining through back here now I'm not much of an orange guy but if it were my car I would start sanding as much of this black off as possible and try to help expose some of that rare color now the black primer coupled with the surface rust give this thing a cool Factor all to its own and for this particular project we'll probably just leave it alone the one thing we're not going to leave alone is this interior well it doesn't take but a quick glance inside here to realize what bada shape this is in let's just take a look at the seat for starters this is a bench seat so we're probably not going to save it but if we wanted to the frame is okay everything else would have to go all the Foams broken down the upholstery it's vinyl and it's cracked and dried I mean just look at this you can't even imagine the smell in here just be glad you can't smell it there's a lot of stuff missing like the door panels and other trim panels there's no carpet in here no headliner so part of the work's done but the rest of this has got to go we'll probably retain the Dash and the steering column but other than that this thing's going to be a whole new interior when we're done with it man that interior is nasty all right let's talk about under the hood as you can see this Old Road Runner and its original 383 parted ways years ago which leaves us with endless possibilities and when I say Endless Possibilities I mean as long as it's Mopar and it doesn't get any more Mopar than a Hemi right Pat uh yes I agree with that but not particularly this one in this condition but you have something good to start with yeah so this is a 6.4 liter out of a 2016 Ram 2500 came out of a junkyard obviously light burn is the description light burn okay well I don't know if I'd agree with that because you have a melted valve cover but there are some lines and some hoses that aren't melted so it might not have gotten too bad but I think you got something that's really really going to make some power well what we're trying to find is about 550 horsepower okay well that's not a big deal these are good heads the 6-4 has a good cylinder head a good architecture a couple of four barrels on a tunnel ram sticking out of it with a standalone ignition system I think we can get there I do believe so these are the most creative intake plugs I've ever seen which now I've been looking for a new set of gloves and I think I'd run those to the washing machine we'll uh I gotta have two of those by the way all right well let's get this down to the shop and we'll see even get this thing apart I'm getting back to work y'all do that foreign [Music] well I bet you're wondering what those little blocks of wood are for oh scraps of wood make great skis [Music] now that we got that old bench out of the way we can tackle the back seat it may look like I'm being a little rough with this old thing but it's because we have to unclip the Springs from the retainers in the floor pan and to be honest we aren't keeping much of the original interior in this old car anyway [Music] Detroit Muscle we kick off an all-new project giving this 69 Road Runner an attitude adjustment with a trick new suspension and wheels and tires that will make your mouth water [Music] hey guys welcome to Detroit Muscle now a few of you all probably are thinking that I've just pushed in a big old pile of fertilizer but actually I'm gonna have to ask you to think back to some of those kind words that your mom probably used to say and that would be it's not what's on the outside but it's actually the inside that you know matters I know this old Mopar isn't much to look at in its current condition with its old ratty wheels and tires paint That's multi-colored and flaking off here and there the glass well it does have some Optical interference but our big pile is actually a piece of iconic American Muscle it's a true 69 Road Runner and some consider these one of the most sought after plymouths ever so to make things happen the way we want them well it's going to take a whole bunch of parts to get us there we want our ride to handle we want it to have plenty of power but most of all we want it to make one heck of a statement and in my humble opinion I do believe that the recipe that we've came up with well is going to be downright delicious tell you I've been craving this for a while that's right we're not restoring this thing but before all you Mopar people get all cranked up and yelling at the screen sounding like you're having some kind of seizure or something calm down take a deep breath we're not crucifying some kind of rare car here also on these old Mopars they have a fender tag that will give you your order option codes that thing would be located right over here but it along with our build sheet is long gone if we were wanting to restore this thing those two pieces of information are crucial but we're really not sweating it at all that would be because with the style of build that we're doing we have what's really important that's the rest of the car this thing's going to be a whole lot of fun but it's all not going to be fairy tales and pixie dust with the interior we're basically missing everything except for some of the dash and a steering wheel oh and I can't forget that old crusty long-legged loon a few of you guys are probably saying I mean if I was on that thing I'd have to paint it I get it you guys know that I'm all about paint and this car is actually an odd and rare color for one of these to get a Road Runner in this Omaha orange you would have to special order this ride to repaint this thing well that's going to cause some Serious Coin and I don't really want to get into all that I want to build something that we can downright abuse and have some fun with and I'm really digging the way this thing looks that fancy orange paint poking through that black primer oh it's got a cool look to it and who am I to mess with all of Mother Nature's hard work making this abstract art when this thing's all done it's going to be downright sinister judge the condition of a car they do a simple walk around but getting one on a lift like this can tell you a completely different story I've seen some downright scary stuff floor pans being held in with glorified bubble gum frame rails are Rusty I didn't know how it was standing on its own and suspension well it was almost ready to fall out but luckily our road runner doesn't look too bad it's been a good bit of its life on the west coast which usually means the floor pans and frame rails should be pretty solid and I have to say what I'm seeing kind of gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling on the inside as for the suspension I'm getting a total different vibe all this stuff is gotta go you know technology has came a long way in the past 50 years and we're going to take advantage of that so this junk is on its way out the back door after this quick inspection I do believe we have found us a solid foundation for our build there's no real evidence that any tin worms have been really chewing on it heck the trunk pan is even solid these cars are so prone to being Rusty back here it's almost like they rolled out of the factory with rust in the trunk our frame rails they're super clean and straight so I'm gonna give this ride my stamp of approval so we can get this project started coming up me and my buddy Joel start tearing down the suspension on our crusty old bird well we're finally ready to start knocking the legs out from under our old Road Runner here I brought in a buddy of mine Joel to help me out with this the first order of business is getting this front suspension out of the way you know it shouldn't be all that big of a deal to get this thing torn down there's only a few bolts that kind of hold this k-member in on this old Plymouth yeah and these torsion bars can be a real pain to get to too but it's one of the joys of working on these crusty old cars yeah I remember the first time I tried to get one of these things apart man I didn't even take attention off of it learning experience I bet I know nothing I need a hammer now well you get a hammering on that front I'm gonna jump on the rear man sounds good [Music] foreign [Music] now we're not saving much of anything from this original suspension [Music] foreign and with a car that's been sitting this long Hardware can be stubborn and difficult to remove a quick spray with some deep creeps sure can make your life a lot easier it works fast to penetrate dirty and corroded threads and as a result saves you effort deep creep isn't a one-trick pony it can help you remove old and tired suspension components and it can also protect metal surfaces from moisture and corrosion [Music] and this right here is kind of a good sign usually With u-bolts You Gotta Fight to get them off because they're on the bottom of the car and they catch all that road debris but luckily for us these come right off [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] guys I've seen use a pickle fork and you know what he may be on to something [Music] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] what we're removing out back is literally everything that holds the car up [Music] and with our car being a mow bar it doesn't really have a frame so all those parts bolt to just the body [Music] now up front this K member comes out as one giant piece [Applause] kinda handy we're also going to add some convenience this old school column is on its way out and we'll replace it with a tilt unit [Music] well alrighty you can go on up okay I bet these components haven't been out from under this road runner since it rolled out from the factory and by the looks of things laying in the floor it's well overdue for an upgrade like in what I'm seeing yes sir that went a whole lot better than what I was anticipating and you know usually you've got that one bolt that kind of kicks your tail I didn't really have one back here in the back no everything went smooth on my end too what do you think we ought to get all the stuff cleaned up so we can get started on some of that shiny stuff yeah if you want to grab a jack I'll grab a couple boxes next up it's out with the old and in with the new as we install the suspension in our 69 Road Runner you know it's easy to say that cars from yesterday have a feel all of their own whenever you're sitting behind the wheel and you know whenever you hear the stories about people telling you how great they used to drive well I've been curious in the past if they weren't wearing some rose-colored glasses we've all seen those old movies when they're just riding down the road but they're doing this number and that's on a Sunday ride it's not that they drove bad it's just whenever compared to Modern Times well they leave a lot to be desired next thing I want to talk about is the sheer physical size just look at this stuff it's heavy and usually heavy cars aren't fast cars lastly this is a torque bar design front suspension commonly found in 4x4 pickup trucks we all know that they handle like a sports car so to solve all those old car problems we've got a full setup from Riley Motorsports it's got a rack and pinion front steering unit for precise control with a steering wheel the K member is tubular and that's got a couple of added benefits to it one of them you can tell that it's got a lot more clearance under the hood for those high performance options also the geometry on it has been changed from that original setup for better handling and steering we also have coilovers on both sides so that we can dial in those Corners as needed now this kit just about bolts right into place however you do have to remove just a couple of small brackets this is going to require throwing some Sparks and drilling out a few spot welds after that we're going to get our hammer on manually and pneumatically [Music] now this k-member bolts into the place that the original one came out of and you're also going to be using the factory Hardware now these four bolts are kind of special they've got this big bolstered end on them that helps line everything up after you get all four your bolts started by hand you can cinch them down [Music] next on the installation is you have to drill a couple of holes on each side of the frame rail then you can install your plate and Hardware supplied in the kit once we get our control arms in place we need to head on over to the table to put some spring in our step who writes this stuff I've got to assemble my coilovers real quick so that we can move on with this Riley Motorsport setup you've got a few options depending on your needs and the purpose that you're building the car now if you're going to take one to the drag strip well you may be choosing something like what we've got but if you're going to a road course or maybe even a hot street car you may want to choose something different but what's great about this whole setup is you have those options [Music] all right [Music] [Music] foreign with all these trick Parts this isn't a final install it's essentially a glorified mock-up we're wanting to make sure everything fits as it should and we don't find anything odd all these parts will be coming out for an engine bay makeover [Music] [Music] now the last thing that I'm going to be bolting on to the front end of our upgraded suspension here is going to be the optional sway bar if you were choosing to go down the path of drag racing with your build well there's really no need for one of these and it's not a have to and these things can also limit the amount of transfer of weight to the rear of the car plus this big hunk of metal it's kind of heavy now with our ride we are going to stretch this thing out on the highway and one of these is going to give us a benefit I'm going to go ahead and bolt this thing on and then we can pretty much count all this done after getting this Raleigh Motorsports altercation front suspension in place it's easy to see that we have taken our road runner to the next level next on Detroit Muscle we put some new shoes on our right and check out the stance of our lean and mean machine while you guys were gone I went ahead and finished up the suspension on our road runner tackling the front and the back side you may also notice that we've upgraded our rear axle what we're running now is a Mosier engineering muscle pack that we picked up from Summit Racing and it is one trick piece we wanted to keep it all Mopar so an eight and three quarter nodular Center section was mandatory we combined that with a Detroit Locker true track custom alloy axle shafts big bearing-ins and some big wheel wood Brakes Plus we opted for the black powder coat while we're on the subject of the brakes we're going to jump on this end and take care of the front now our road runner from the factory came with drum brakes all the way around these will stop you and slow you down but whenever it comes to Performance well there's a lot better options out there also with our Riley Motorsport setup this front spindle is of the Mustang 2 design and that itself is going to require us to upgrade the brakes now we went to Summit for a whole new setup it comes with aluminum hub that's going to save us some weight the brake service is drilled and slotted and we have six piston calipers first order of business to get these on is I need to install a bearing and a seal [Music] foreign [Music] a washer a castle nut and a cotter pin but I've got a question for you how do you guys Bend these things is there a right way is there a wrong way this is the way I was taught by my old man it's neat and tidy [Music] with a high-end kit like this assembly usually goes pretty smooth you've got a couple of brackets and a few pieces of hardware and so on plus they've got good looks to boot [Music] [Music] whenever it comes to setting the tone of the attitude of your ride your wheel Choice has a huge effect on it we wanted ours to make a statement like those of you walking around with a mullet it needed to have business up front party in the rear so we've got some narrow Pizza Cutters for the nose and some wide rollers for the backside we've decided to go with a set of wheels from Billet Specialties these wind lights definitely look the part they're engineered with high performance in mind like their knurled beadlock that drastically reduces Tire slippage combining these with a pair of Mickey Thompson ET Street SS tires insurers will have plenty of bike on the road or the race track that's enough John for now let's get this thing on the ground [Music] [Music] I'll tell I wasn't sure about this wheel and tire combo but now that we got them mounted I think she's going to look pretty wicked oh man yeah I can't wait to see this thing on the ground if you want to do the honors you got it foreign this transformation will be some work but with the sweat from our brow a few high performance components this thing is going to be one sweet piece of Detroit Muscle when we're done it's time to go home if you want to learn about this build and a whole lot more visit powernationtv.com and we'll see you guys next time and remember keep it between the ditches from a forgotten burned up salvage yard engine to a power plant for a classic Mopar this gen 3 Hemi Rises From the Ashes on today's engine power [Music] welcome to engine power you may have noticed that we have been doing quite a few fuel injected engines as of late yeah we did an AMC 304 with port fuel injection we did two ls's one was naturally aspirated one was supercharged and we did that 5-liter coyote that was supercharged that was pretty sweet it was now we have a new project in the shop for all of you Mopar lovers this is a gen 3 6.4 liter hemi and you may think we're going to go ahead and fuel inject this one as well but we are going old school carburation on this one and for a good reason recently the Detroit muscle crew went looking around Steven's performance the world's largest Mopar salvage yard searching for a new project vehicle tucked away among 60 Acres of rusted metal was a 69 Roadrunner from California in solid shape after loading it up and Hauling it back to the shop it was time to get started this project will respect its Mopar Heritage while updating some components like the suspension and engine that's where we come in Mark and Daniel showed us this gen 3 Hemi in questionable condition despite its appearance we jumped at the opportunity to put a bit of modern muscle into a piece of Automotive History this engine actually came out of a burned up vehicle at a salvage yard and according to the tag it's from a 2016 Ram 2500 now obviously it's in really rough condition so we're gonna have to go over it do a few checks and then maybe we'll get it running it's a big Maybe [Music] wiring harness who needs that kind of stuff first thing we do to any salvage yard engine is to pull out the spark plugs and check their condition these have some rust on the threads and some carbon deposits but overall not bad another test we will do is our cranking compression check this can tell you if the piston rings are in good shape and if the valves are sealing up be sure to save these yeah we're going to need these for the next engine it's like 220. okay not bad no that's good so let's do the rest and yep I didn't there's no clanking or anything so check the rest of them dang that's the best one yet 275. well it'll start to get better with Cam because you know it's locked and it's fully Advanced position it's going to be high and it'll get started to get better because the more we turn this over the better it's going to get because I don't know what's underneath this head literally gloves shoved in the intake ports so there might be a little bit of stuff under the seat so the more we make it rotate and the more we actually work it Loose it's going to get better so well hey we'll have to reach out I bet you those other two are oh I bet they're up now I bet you they're up now that's promising so I feel better yeah next we'll drain what's left of the oil it's not a surprise that it contained a decent amount of water from sitting outside oh yeah [Music] since we've decided to get this engine running we're gonna have to go ahead and use some of our new parts now but an important thing to note is that we did remove the EGR cooler because it was hitting the backing plate on our Dyno and so we had to install a block off plate on the exhaust but other than that we should be good to go you know we're kind of letting the cat out of the bag early on our choice of induction we are using holley's High Ram lower intake manifold designed for Gen 3 hemis even though it was made for fuel injection it also works great with carburation a top with a single Square bore carburetor flange will get us going since this engine didn't come with any functional accessories we had to add an alternator and an idler pulley in order to get a belt on to spin the water pump foreign [Music] ly We'll add a set of used stock coil packs in order to run this engine as it sits we'll be installing one of holley's Terminator X kits now I know what you're saying that is an EFI system and you are correct but that system will also run the ignition side of a carbureted engine extremely well and the benefit of that is if they ever want to go to fuel injection at a later time all I have to add are the injectors and the throttle bodies and they are good to go like every other Terminator X we've used it is a simple plug and play Operation that makes it easy to get your engine running [Applause] [Music] up next that's the sound you like to hear we've gone ahead and changed the oil and filter on our engine but you saw what came out and the oil was pretty rough from sitting in the junkyard so long so the last thing we'll be doing is adding some seafoam motor treatment this works in either gas or diesel engines and in the fuel system it can help stabilize the fuel for long periods of time remove water and clean out any debris we'll be putting it in the oil where it'll clean off some of the parts and also break up and clean out any debris that may be sitting in the oiling system now seafoam treats up to 16 quarts of oil but since this is an extreme case we'll be using the whole can foreign ready junkyard fabulous we'll see let's see if it starts [Music] it has oil pressure heck yeah I feel so much better now that I cannot believe that that's awesome now I had smoke coming out of it because there's some there's some stuff in the cylinder but yeah and that immediately that immediately stopped it's running on all eight no leaks the no leaks part is what I can't believe because it's all crusty and burnt up you know I thought the valve covers would drip well but so far no leaks which is awesome yeah it looked like the intake took most of the fire because everything underneath was like just dirty you know not not crusty or melted just dirty so man that's lucky but that's awesome let's go something easy 25 to 5 600 a second yeah that puts a minimal amount of load on it and again we don't really know anything about it so who knows but we can destroy it right here yeah you know maybe probably not I think it'll be okay we have a little temp in it I just kind of want to see him if it'll do it that made an actual pole dang not bad it's not bad it kind of boiled around a little bit but uh made 361 Horrors and 409 pound feet um it's up to 10. let's run it a little bit more just to get the seafoam through it and then let's uh let's just kind of drain the oil out you know the Sea Foam is working because we put clean oil in and dirty oil came out good job seafoam before we wash the engine we'll get it ready by pre-soaking it with some foaming degreaser [Music] to clean our engine we're using a Bauer 2300 PSI brushless Max performance electric pressure washer that we picked up from Harbor Freight pressure washers are invaluable around the home and shop for a variety of uses but since this is engine power you can guess what we're going to use it on it comes with four different nozzles to choose from and since it uses a brushless 13 amp electric motor it provides high performance longevity and is way quieter than a gasoline version to get into the tight spaces we'll finish off with a 25 degree nozzle with a 25 foot hose and a 35 foot 110 volt cord this Bauer pressure washer makes your cleaning job that much easier you can get yours at your nearest harbor freight I got the steering gear back here yeah there you go all right to start this engine transformation we have to strip it down first don't break don't break don't break it comes apart relatively easy with no big surprises okay now yeah karate chop it the leftover oil in the pan looks a lot better than the first time we don't clean up pickup is yeah how clean that screen is that's always a good sign nice probably clean it up and reuse it I think we have a new one I don't think we need to go that extreme the rotating assembly looks good but we want to check the bearings to be sure if the rest look as good as this we are good to go [Music] because of rust in some of the threads the spark plugs were pretty gnarly coming out but luckily none of them broke now that was hurtful that's hard to listen to we hope the cylinders look good but on a salvage yard engine you just never know the big reveal cross hatch in the cylinder oh yeah yeah that's uh that's really nice actually that's all the way around this engine was relatively low miles yeah it must have been up next the Hemi gets a bigger cam some valve train upgrades and fresh induction then it's Dino Time [Music] oh man a little juicy it doesn't taste bad though we've gone ahead and torn the engine all the way down to short block form to finish our inspection we know the cylinders look great so we checked the bearings and they look perfect the next thing we will do is take out our valve train this is the factory VVT setup there's a spring inside this that holds the cam in its most advanced position in this case the cam was at 102 degrees of intake Centerline and we know that the Cam's lobe separation is 116 degrees so the cam was in 14 degrees Advance when we were running it on the dyno now that's why the power was great down low but fell off up top we're going to keep the cam phaser but we'll lock it out so it doesn't affect camshaft timing [Music] foreign the camshaft will be upgraded so the stock bump stick can be removed [Music] any engine we've built recently could use a visual Improvement it's this one after laying down primer the block receives three coats of Chrysler Hemi Orange [Music] we picked up a set of used salvage yard valve covers and after thoroughly scuffing them and wiping them down with lacquer thinner they get an orange finish as well next we'll lock out the phaser comps lockout kit comes with a special tool which relieves spring pressure allowing us to remove the Fasteners on the back side the lock simply drops into place and is wedged outward with a pipe plug this keeps the phaser from moving during operation new camshaft is from comp it's a little bit bigger and will move the Power Band higher in the RPM range it has more lift and duration with 222 degrees of duration at 50 000 slipped on the intake and 230 degrees on the exhaust lobe separation angle is 115 degrees foreign once the timing set is bolted into place we'll install the tensioners and remove the PIN to put the chain under pressure next we degree the cam and the intake Center Line comes in at 108 and a half degrees which is six and a half degrees advanced during installation of the oil pump we'll use three one and a half thousand shims to ensure proper alignment oh now we can move on to the valve train the lifters and Trays have to go in before the heads can go on we're replacing the stock Springs with a conical set from Comp Cams they have an increased spring rate of 485 pounds per inch to handle our more aggressive camshaft we also got this Powerhouse specialty valve spring compressor from comp this simple tool makes changing the valve springs on gen 3 hemis a breeze [Music] a set of cometic MLS head gaskets from Summit Racing Equipment which will seal up the stock cylinder heads using ARP bolts the 12 millimeter Fasteners are torqued to a final torque value of 100 pound feet and the eight millimeter bolts are torqued to 28 pound-feet why do sometimes people fall asleep when they're drilling stuff I don't know because the drills are so boring [Music] we'll reuse the stock push rods with a little high pressure Lube on them they can slide back in [Music] since they are under valve spring pressure the stock rocker shafts are gently and evenly tightened down before being torqued the Springs are coated with valve train assembly spray to protect them during startup [Music] installed we got a new OEM car style timing cover because the Holley swap components are designed to use that one over a truck Style [Music] will live in a vintage muscle car where space is at a premium will install an oil filter block off plate and run a remote oil filter on the dyno the Holley swap pan kit comes with a center sump pickup and windage tray after putting some silicone on The Parting lines of the block we'll install holley's cast aluminum pan made for b-body Mopars [Music] once we get this Hemi hooked up we'll find out what it can do in the Cell Block [Music] that uh that is slick I can't believe they flow this good before we can get our engine running there are a few original parts that we're going to have to replace we're going to be changing out our water pump our alternator a tensioner our idler pulley and a fuse sensors and we chose the Duralast brand for their higher quality and improved durability Duralast has a full lineup of Parts covering most vehicles on the road and they include brakes alternators and starters suspension components batteries and over 750 types of vehicle electronics parts like alternators and starters are offered new or remanufactured where Duralast improves on the OE design to fix common failures and then triple test them to ensure that they meet or exceed original equipment performance if you want to look at all the parts Duralast offers you can go to duralastparts.com with such wide coverage of electronic components it's easy to find the right Duralast sensor for your project like Frankie mentioned earlier we did let the cat out of the bag on what induction we were using but that was necessary to get the engine running to make sure the engine actually had oil pressure and was functional since then we have changed it up we've removed the single four barrel top and replaced it with one that accepts two 4150 style carburetors and topped it off with two qft black diamond 750s the nice thing about all of the Holley High Ram lower intake manifolds is that the tops are interchangeable so you can run a front-facing fuel injection carburetors or anything you want it's a simple change now this specific application called for two four barrels sticking out of the hood so it's old school tunnel ram goodness [Music] because the manifold is o-ringed it slides on and seals up with no problems the Holley alternator relocation bracket works great when you need more clearance to fit a modern power plant into an older car with Duralast alternators all the wear components are replaced not just rebuilt parts are tested at component sub-assembly and finish stages [Music] holley's power steering adapter kit gives you that extra clearance you need with this popular swap we've already run this engine on a Terminator X system so there's just a couple of simple connections to be made and with the belt put on we are ready to run since this engine will power Detroit muscle's Roadrunner project we wanted Tommy here so he could hear it run are you ready yes sir firing this thing up now what's cool about this one is everything stock architecture I mean essentially the short block is a bone stock short yeah yeah bone stock heads we put Springs on it but a cam and a manifold change so uh yeah but huge difference for just those just those this is a huge difference really different Engine Okay so there we go sounds good [Applause] [Music] that's uh that is slick I can't believe they flow this good okay look at that 540.7 at 6600 and a 494.4 at 52. man that ain't too bad at all that is mean mean again that was a stock cylinder head yeah I mean like in this thing it's up a ton over what I mean even off the stock numbers this thing is way up yeah no it's crazy the truck engines rated at 410 and again we're turning accessories you take all the accessories off that and just have like an electric water pump on this thing it'd make probably 15 10 15 20 more I know you're wanting between five and five fifty so 540 is a pretty that's pretty close it's pretty close pretty close I love it so you guys are going to have uh you gotta have some fun with this one heck yeah for information on anything you've seen today you can go to powernationtv.com [Music] today on Detroit Muscle we pampered the engine bay of our road runners so our Hemi power plant will pop when it's dropped in and we also get locked and loaded with installing a pistol grip shifter aiming for maximum Mopar magnificence [Music] hey guys welcome to Detroit Muscle if you're into high performance hemis snatching gears with a pistol grip and shiny paint what we have up Our Sleeve is going to tickle your fancy because this big hunk of Detroit power is going in this thing today on our road runner we aren't planning to run a hood on this thing so a pretty engine bait is a must for our final product this high tower Hemi looks impressive in there not so much Joel and I have some work to do now we've done a small amount of disassembly here on the front to help the painting process go a lot faster got some of it out of the way now I've also been spending some time kind of assessing our surface and I've hit what I refer to as a moral dilemma now what needs to happen to do a repair buy the book under the hood is all of this material should be removed because well a lot of this filler well for one has been exposed to the elements for quite some time also the primer that's on here probably come out of a rattle cannon that's usually lacquer based stuff but in our situation check out the rest of the car it's got patina on it so what we're going to do is mow this down with some aggressive paper and then bury some bad decisions and some polyester primer then we'll sand that and paint it and it'll look like a million bucks the problem with doing it this way well the repair won't last as long as it should huh [Music] [Music] well Joe is finishing up taping I'm gonna go ahead and get some primer mixed up now what we're going to be applying is polyester primer it's more or less a sprayable form of body filler it mixes four to one this one's direct to metal all we got to do is fill the gun up we can get sprayed [Music] well we let our road runner hang out overnight to make sure that that primer was good and dry because Joe applied several coats trying to hide a bunch of these fender well uglies after that we're gonna do some hand massaging of some 180 grit paper and then we're going to seal this thing and paint it now I know a few painters out there are probably cringing at the thought of painting over top of 180 grit scratches normally the rule of thumb is 320 dry or 400 wet but in our application a patina car the engine bay well this will work the bit excessive has a big low spot and they make sure it is in there still that good [Music] after a few hours of some quality time with Joel and some sandpaper we're ready to start applying our first coat of black it's gonna be some epoxy primer this will seal off that polyester and help hide some of those scratches left by that 80 grit gnarly paper well everything is all flashed off now it's time to spray on the shiny [Music] foreign there you have it we spent a couple of hours doing some prep spent a few hundred bucks on some painting supplies and I have to say for our investment we've got a whole lot of return on it so what do you think you know it had honestly had been a minute since I laid down any polyester primer but that stuff laid down smooth it sanded out clean and I think the results speak for themselves could be that you're just looking at the side that I sanded coming up if you're pondering a Hemi swap we'll give you our plan of attack for a late model transplant now there's one term that if you own a Mopar that gives you a sense of Pride if you can associate it with your car and that is it's got a Hemi in it and that's what we're going to be doing today we're going to install this late model power plant into our 69 Roadrunner doing a conversion like this Peaks the interest of a lot of folks but at the same time intimidates the heck out of them because there's quite a bit that can go into this install so why would somebody want to do something like this well there's a few reasons late model power plants usually make more power more efficiently which translates to longer life more performance and even better fuel mileage pretty Hemi didn't start off looking like this we bought this thing out of a salvage yard it's told it was involved in a friction fire that's where your pocketbook and payment book get too close together causing detrimental injury to your vehicle [Music] guys an engine power cleaned this thing up sprayed on some new paint threw in a camshaft and some Springs and then locked her down to the dyno to see what it would make 550 horse ain't too bad she ain't going nowhere that engine fell right into place just as smooth as butter and a lot of that came from the design from Riley Motorsports our front suspension setup and what they did is they located our new engine in the exact same location as a stock like 440 or 383 and what you would want to do to keep in mind if you were going to make your own mounts and that would be the center line of the crankshaft and the surface where the transmission and engine both meet up once you get the engine in place it may give you a sense of accomplishment but in all reality this is where all the work begins because now you have to take all the operating systems of that engine and make them work in Perfect Harmony kind of like the radiator a replacement radiator for a 69 Roadrunner has an inlet on the top passenger side and an outlet on the lower driver side where our 6-4 both of them are on that side the passenger so to make this one connect to that one with a stock unit you're going to have to be a bit creative build you a hose and so forth there are companies out there that make Hemi conversion radiators with both of them on the same side which will make your life a whole lot easier the next thing I want to talk about is your alternator now what we're running is a relocation kit that we picked up from Holley it moves it up and out of the way from the factory the alternator would be located in this area and the problem with it being like that is interference you'll hit your frame rail so to try to make a stock piece work you're going to have to get to slicing and dicing with that one It Bolts right into place and for those of you that have never wrestled with one of these modern engine conversions one of the hurdles that you will run into is just trying to find an alternator that works with your ECU now lucky for us Holly has the solution this setup actually doesn't require the factory Mopar ECU so it's going to work with whatever engine control system we decide to go with all you're going to need is a single wire connected directly to the L terminal which will supply enough juice to spin the alternator and charge your entire electrical system which is going to save Tom and I one heck of a headache because this setup actually ties directly into our Terminator X engine control system so now let's talk about the subject or category that scares people the most with one of these late model conversions and that would be the wiring you have a couple of options one is you can take the stock wiring harness cut it down take out all the stuff you don't need and then have the ECU reworked or you can do like what we did and go with an aftermarket setup this has some convenience to it one each wiring connector comes labeled so you know what goes where plus all this has instructions to eliminate guesswork however your ECU will require a tune but if you're one of those guys that can't leave things well enough alone like swapping in a new cam headers intake so on well that's stock tuned wouldn't work we're not going to get into all that right now we still got a car to build but I do need to put that intake on to see what this thing looks like here bud hold half this awkwardness I got you she may be awkward but man it looks cool man yeah you got velocity Stacks dual quads a long legged intake and a Hemi we're on to something I think we're going to be upsetting every old lady and dog in the neighborhood by the time we get her hooked up up next Joel comes through in a clutch well I'll see if our transmission measures up you know before we even started this build Tom and I agreed that we wanted this car to make a statement and man I got to tell you between these fancy billet wheels this aggressive stance and that big old nasty tunnel ram sticking out the top I'd say we're well on our way well we're going to continue that mindset throughout from front bumper all the way to the back so that means we're going to have to address a portion right here in the middle and that would be the field that you receive while sitting in the driver's seat the way we plan to enhance that emotion is with a manual transmission you know there's just something about the ability to dump the clutch snatch second gear and then power shift through the rest of them this car rode off the assembly line as an automatic you can tell by that big wide brake pedal and there's no hole or hump on the transmission tunnel for a shifter to be sticking back through now you know oftentimes with a ride like this people don't even consider them a muscle car unless they've got three pedals and how could we build this ride without installing a pistol grip shifter yep [Music] [Music] now that we got the windshield and the dash assembly out of the Road Runner I'm going to go ahead and start tearing out that factory brake pedal now believe it or not it's actually easier to just pull that entire brake pedal assembly out as one complete unit basically you got five or six bolts up underneath the dash some extra brackets some Hardware but I'm going to pull all that out sand blast them repaint them make them look pretty again [Music] Beauty [Music] and just like that no muss no fuss the rust is dust the factory mounting brackets and Hardware are all cleaned up sandblasted repainted and look pretty snazzy bolted up to this clutch and brake pedal assembly we got from Steven's performance now some of you at home might be wondering why we decided to go with a reproduction assembly instead of a factory original and the answer quite simply is time I know some guys that have tried doing this conversion at home and it was not easy so why put yourself through the headache when Chrysler has already done the engineering work for you although this particular Road Runner didn't come with a manual transmission a lot of them back in the day did so you already know the parts are out there it really just comes down to whether or not you want to spend the extra time in elbow grease sprucing up a factory original part that you pulled out of a junkyard or if you just wanted to bolt right in place when you pull it out of the box me personally I prefer the latter a roadrunner with a stick in it from the factory would have had a four speed in it which is plenty cool but there's a lot better of an option out there today with our trans swap we're going to be adding an overdrive this Peaks the interest of quite a few folks because it can make your ride a lot more enjoyable to drive because it dramatically lowers the RPM level when you shift into the extra gear to do an upgrade like this there are a lot of pieces to the puzzle to get the job done correctly there are your obvious Parts like your flywheel pressure plate and clutch disc but it's those little pieces that always cause you the most heartache this Pro Fit kit that we picked up from American powertrain saves you all that pain the centerpiece to this swab is obviously the transmission we're going to be running a Tremec tkx that our buddies have doctored on it puts everything in a Sweet Spot the shifter isn't so far forward that it slash the dash or so far back that it's uncomfortable and awkward another great thing about these five speeds are the physical size we've got a 727 automatic like what our Roadrunner would have rolled out of the factory with now if you look at the case in the tail housing you'll notice everything flows together relatively well and it has a small package and it's nice and tight to the shaft that runs throughout the middle of the training when you're doing an automatic to manual swap it can give you the sense that you're trying to fit a square peg in a round hole and the only way you can get it to work is with some whittling now with that tkx cutting is mandatory but it's minimal up next we set our sights on installing Road burners gearbox with a wood grain grip that will trip your trigger the next thing that we need to do is measure from the surface here on the transmission to where this clutch release bearing is going to ride what we're looking for is a hundred and fifty thousandths that's the ideal setup technically the tolerance is between 100 and 200 but that's what we're going for the first part of the equation we need is the distance from the bell housing to the fingers of the pressure plate that gives us 3.886 next we'll measure the distance from the release bearing to the transmission which is 3.749 so now let's see where we're at with our two numbers well we're at 137 The Sweet Spot is 150. that's pretty close and we really can't get to that 150 number without having to do some Machining because there's no shims behind here the next thing we need to do now is basically cut us a hole for this pistol grip to protrude through that transmission tunnel and then we can finally put this thing in foreign we'll just cut a bigger hole correct to make the cut and the transmission tunnel for our new shifter linkage I'm going to be using our new flex head reversing cut off tool we got from Matco it has a quick action rear reversing collar to help keep Sparks away from your face and a three-way Flex head that can change from a neutral position to 25 degrees up or down to help you get into those hard to reach spots [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] do you think your hole is going to make it fit into place just right I think it's going to be slip right in there like a careful where you're working [Music] yeah I think it's gonna fit perfectly [Music] so close [Music] if our old Road Runner came from the factory with a mechanical clutch assembly it would had a bunch of intricate parts to it kind of like it was designed by some crazy cartoon coyote it would have had things like Z Bars and rods and springs and all kinds of stuff going every which direction which is all well and good and works fine for back in the day but it did result in some excessive clutch wear some cramped up legs and even some broken seat bolt studs however American powertrain's hydraulic clutch assembly makes driving a manual feel less like a labor and more like a luxury with this setup every push of the pedal results in direct movement of the clutch and smoother more responsive shifting [Music] the clutch master cylinder bolted in it's time to go ahead and Link it up to the pedal but before I do that I need to go ahead and calculate my pedal ratio this is a commonly overlooked yet super important aspect of the clutch pedal assembly if your ratio is too deep your wrist slamming the push rod into the guts of the clutch master causing it to implode too shallow and your clutch won't fully disengage causing erratic shifting American powertrain recommends a six to one pedal ratio and I already know that the distance from my fulcrum to my foot pedal is 12 inches and from the fulcrum to the push rod is two inches so I'm right in that sweet spot now Tom and I are well aware that a pistol grip shifter wasn't available until 1970 but we just couldn't resist in my opinion it's one of the most iconic centerpieces to Grace the floorboards of any muscle car in history and it truly gives a Mopar its menacing personality check this thing out the wood grain side handle rests easily in the palm of your hand giving you the sensation of holding a 44 magnum hence the name pistol grip today has been a pretty good day we've got quite a bit accomplished now when we kicked it off well it wasn't all fun and games we had to kind of break out a six pack of some elbow grease with everything all shined up we were good to go to drop in that high tower Hemi and I have to say that big Power Plant definitely changes the curb appeal of Road Burner with that in place it was time to bolt into multiplying Factor times five of the driver's seat and that would be that overdrive training Joe what do you think about that pistol grip man you want to talk about the cherry on top of the Sunday I think it looks pretty nasty in there can't wait to start jamming through some gears on the blacktop yeah it's probably going to feel pretty sweet with you over there in the passenger seat I mean you're not going to let me drive Today class is in session and we have several subjects to cover we show you ways to save some cash and improve your curb appeal with little effort potato magic coming up [Music] you know guys as we go through life we all make decisions that can and will have an effect on upcoming events some of these in the moment may seem a little minuscule [Music] and some can put you in an awkward situation quote Mr Newton for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction so what did we learn and whenever it's all said and done it's simply science oh you got us some drinks for the road got some aspirin too that's cool let's ride what I'm referring to is the exterior appearance of your ride are you the I only like shiny kind of person or you are right with primer or do you prefer that worn and weathered look some people never really consider a car complete or finished until the paint and chrome is polished to Perfection you ever heard of the term face value well that's when somebody judges your car based solely on the appearance you know show Reflections are great but there's a few drawbacks one they're expensive two it's got a lot of upkeep and three think about it you always get a little nervous when someone gets too close there are ways to make Mother Nature's handiwork look a whole lot better and some of the techniques used are old school this tip came from an older friend of mine that managed a used car lot and this is a trick that they used to do back in the day to brighten up the color and rejuvenate that faux wood grain on their inventory now these three look completely different my favorite just by rubbing oil on the side of the car is the transmission fluid it actually looks deeper than the other two I'm just curious how long this is going to last and if it's going to stay greasy man that's way greasy now we're going to label all three of these that way when we come back we know which ones what you know the old saying long hand is better than a short memory now some of you guys in The Woodworking industry are probably familiar with linseed oil and whether it's kind of cleaning up an old piece of furniture or sprucing up all that old wood grain in the bed of your pickup truck you've probably used this stuff before and you're familiar with how nasty and tacky it can be so it's not uncommon to reduce it down with some turpentine so just for the sake of science I'll go ahead and apply this just by itself and then we'll come back reduce it and we'll do it on a different section of the panel and just kind of see which one gets the better product [Music] foreign [Music] now just checking out the surface of this old crusty charger you got some original patina that you know might turn out pretty good and then we got some really nasty crusty rustiness and being a curious cat I am I kind of wanted to check out and see what this linseed oil does on both surfaces [Music] at first glance I can already tell the stuff's making a huge difference and if our reduced mixture looks this good I'm pretty excited to see what the linseed oil does by itself just like Tom did over there I'm going to go ahead and Mark my mixtures for future reference [Music] this last product that we're going to be applying is an actual polymer paint sealant it's designed to you know protect your paint now I'm going to do it two different ways I'm going to just spray it on back here in the back and then up here spray it on and then wipe off the excess I'm curious to see if the amount of product on the front and back has a different Sheen to it foreign I'm curious that this is probably going to work better it almost seems like it rubbing or massaging the material into the surface a lot more but we'll just have to come back and see [Music] you know I really am curious to what all this stuff turns out like you've been staying busy oh yeah we were kidding man that linseed oil is kind of nasty kind of nasty that reminds me I know a place we can stop I don't know if I like the sound of that oh it'll be fun trust me might need some change though coming up we don't turn the clock backs we Crank It Up we have a little bit more paintwork that we're needing to take care of on Road Burner and what I'm talking about isn't the usual stuff you normally do a bunch of blocking and sanding trying to achieve a perfect reflection it's obvious that you guys can tell that this doesn't even come close to matching this over here we can't have it sticking out like an old sore thump so we need to give this thing the patina treatment the pain itself is in pretty good shape however it does have a few Nicks and chips here and there and even a couple of spots of rust to get this to look like that isn't all that difficult there are a few techniques that you can apply and some of them are a bit primitive you just need the foresight of what you're trying to accomplish you're basically creating a piece of artwork hmm can you sense the anger of the artist [Music] quite intense the first thing that we're going to address is the rust now normally with paint and body work corrosion is a bad thing but in this instance we're actually looking for a bit more so we got to do some grinding obviously we need some bare steel so some of that orange paint has to come off you can use a grinder paint stripper or even a car by bit it's all up to you and what you're trying to accomplish we're not going to strip this entire thing just the spots where we want the rust to make things rust and hurry it don't take much we need a heat Source a corrosion factor and an oxygen promoter so if you got one of these heating devices some salt and peroxide you're in business I have painted a simulated rust effect on one of our other projects all it took was a couple different colors of paint and a brush but this time we're going authentic with everything all rusty and crusty now it's time to move on Road Burner the main paint color is black with orange under it in some places like the top of the car the black is thin and almost worn and weathered away but on the sides it's mainly all chipped up and has scratches here and there this is what we're trying to duplicate you're probably thinking the next thing we're going to do is paint this entire panel black and then we're going to get all crazy and show us some corporal punishment and make it look all bruised and abused that's really not the case I have a technique here that I want to apply that's a bit more refined however it does cause you to think a little backwards we're using some petroleum jelly as a congealed form of masking tape this prevents the paint we're applying from sticking to the surface sometimes whenever I'm applying this stuff I like to do it over a relatively large area apply my top coat and then wipe it off and check it out and see what it looks like doing it that way it allows you to fine tune your artwork because if you don't like what you see you can just simply apply more of your top coat [Music] also painting this in multiple layers well it creates a stair step effect it's all in what you're wanting to try to do it's kind of like you've painted over chips and then painted it and more chips and you painted it thank you [Music] once the paint is dry to the touch all you have to do is wipe off that petroleum jelly let's do that see what this thing looks like [Music] after a quick rub down with some glass cleaner it was off for the final detail [Music] I have one last touch that I want to do that's going to involve some airbrushing if you'll notice here on the top of the fender there's kind of a rust stain that runs down the top of it and I want to continue that as if it dripped down here onto our panel I also want to kind of complement our rust that we created as that stain look where the water runs down it won't take much but it's definitely going to add some detail [Music] so with a couple of powder pearls mixed in some clear base coat we can simulate that aging effect a little here a little there boom what you looking at let me see your grill the next thing that we're going to address on the outward appearance of our old rusty crusty bird here is the grill but this old Grill it's easy to see that it's seen its better days and I'm going to guess there were many many moons ago with our Chrome and bright work we want it to look fresh and clean kind of like our bumper you can obviously tell that it's been swapped out up here we've got some work to do when these plymouths rolled off the assembly line the grill was definitely a focal point Mopar started with an anodized aluminum shell and gave it multiple colors and textures to increase the appeal around the headlight openings they used a dark gray metallic color with a rough texture then to add a bit of detail and to create some cool effects some semi-gloss black was used if you look close those two Chrome rectangles seem to be floating now what we're about to do is what I refer to as a shade tree restoration with our Grill and headlight bezels having that anodized coating to replicate that usually requires the help of a professional there are companies out there that reproduce these but maybe it's not in your budget or we all know that there has been some supply chain issues so for you chalk Mark style guys out there what we're about to do isn't correct for your application however this procedure is going to make these pieces Stand Tall when we're all said and done so let's check out what we're working with our headlight bezels really aren't in that bad of shape there are a few Nicks here and there as expected kind of like this big one where the hood has actually came in contact with it I asked for our Grill it's about the same except for we've got a rather large Dent here but that's all swelling good we'll just have to massage this stuff out first thing [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] these things look a whole lot better just getting all that old paint off of them the next thing that we're going to do is spray them down with some self-etching primer and then follow that up with some filler primer there are a few little blemishes here that have some Nicks and stuff on them I'm going to use some sandpaper mow them down first then we can get to priming now we're also going to be using this stuff inside of our big fancy Prep Station and you don't have to have one of these you just need to make sure wherever you do it is a well ventilated area [Music] if you're wondering why we're applying Edge down first it's actually to improve adhesion of our Coatings self-etching primer has chemical adhering properties along with mechanical now we're going to be applying some filler primer this helps to fill in those Nicks and chips small imperfections now it's better to apply this stuff with several light coats don't try to cover it in one heavy coat one this allows it to dry actually faster and more thoroughly I feel like a graffiti artist after a few rounds of priming and sanding our headlight bezels and Grill shell is really turning out slick the next thing we're going to be doing is applying our color I'm going to be using some black some charcoal metallic and even some simulated Chrome now with this I'm going to apply those in a different sequence from the headlight bezels to the grill shell because of the complexity of the shape of them foreign [Music] cool little paint technique here on the silver that we just sprayed on now I have let this dry for about an hour but what we're going to do now is give this a simulated brushed effect I'm going to use a little gray scuff pad here and basically all you do is drag it right across the surface you don't want to press down too hard and you also don't want to do it in multiple directions because it kind of gives it a crosshatch effect foreign I also like to use a gray and red pad they have different grits to them thus creating different depths of scratches [Music] the last step to this little do-it-yourself project is going to be applying the top coat or what often time is referred to as a clear coat this will give our parts quite a bit more depth and luster foreign [Music] minimal effort spent plus experimentation equals drastic improvement we're definitely not in the office today we're down in Stevens performance checking on a science experiment that we're in the middle of that's right we basically applied a bunch of Goo to some old cars we're going to see which one gave us the best result we're gonna use it on the road burner project speaking of project that's what this whole thing is I roll that window back up I don't know it's kind of a peach oh she's something a lot of fancy stuff isn't it who needs sunny beaches in Florida when you got a view like this now this first car is where I applied a whole bunch of lubricants which is basically motor oil transmission fluid and even some penetrating oil really it just looks like we cleaned it this one here on the back where the transmission fluid is it looks a little bit more greasy I don't really have much of a stickiness to it but the transmission fluid does look the best but I don't think I want to go down this path so what'd you do up here on this one boss well you can kind of see right here this section's a little bit shinier than the rest of the car and this is just linseed oil by itself and then on this back part is a 50 50 mixture of linseed oil and turpentine at first glance looks like the shines are pretty similar this one's got some stickiness back here on the back it almost looks like the green is a little more concentrated I wonder if that turpentine worked as a cleaner but they are really close to the same but suck that it's sticky Joe on this old yard bird here if you will I've sprayed on that polymer net shield and on this one I sprayed it on and wiped it off back here I just simply squirted it onto the quarter panel up here it's really not sticky at all in that red under the decal does look a lot better it's not all faded out yet not too shiny either what do you think there's a clear difference right there I mean like here it's way more shiny almost too much really is it sticky at all yeah just a little bit let's go further and get back to work let's do it believe it or not one of the main reasons we picked this exact car is the look and condition of the paint we wanted a ride that looked battered and abused with patina the color can be somewhat rejuvenated and that was the whole reason we took that field trip down to the Mopar cemetery and a basically really bring it back you have to exfoliate the surface laying on top is a bunch of dead paint giving you that dull gray reflection now you don't want to get too aggressive here you're just trying to take off that top layer and just like whenever you're preparing for a night out on a town and you want to look your best it's time to take a bath our plan of attack on cleaning this thing is super simple we're going to take the hose pipe wet the surface and then spray the body down with some heavy duty Degreaser and cleaner like you would pick up at a home improvement or even a parts store and after it sets for a little while we're going to scrub it down with some of these old grease racks and it's pretty cool to watch you'll actually get to see some of that dead paint wind up into the floor [Music] now if you want some words of wisdom as far as the key to success here about all I can tell you is you better be prepared to use some elbow grease [Music] so after that little science experiment what we did down there at the salvage yard the conclusion that we came up with is we're going to be using sonax polymer net Shield this will give us the look that we want with the added benefit of some paint protection an application of this product is as easy as it gets [Music] to completely coat a car it only takes about 15 minutes to apply you want to do this in small sections normally a two foot by two foot square [Applause] you don't want the service that you're using this on to be hot it needs to be cool to the touch [Music] it's easy to see that we went from ashy to Allure check it out our old Road Burner definitely looks a whole lot better plus it doesn't have a sticky or greasy feel like some of those other options had if anything she's soft to the touch you know I think we got quite a bit accomplished for the amount of effort we spent yeah so what do you want to tackle next I'm thinking probably a sandwich sounds good to me no we still got rock paper scissors on who's going to wire this thing we did and you lost today on Detroit Muscle we dashed towards the Finish Line on Road Burner and don't stop there Joel and I play around with some retro vinyl and turn up the heat on our interior [Music] man oh man we have some information for you all next thing we're going to get into is some insider trading and not to go through with this next step would be a downright cry I'm not talking about breaking any laws however we've got to do Road Burner Justice what I'm referring to is the interior yeah I know Road Burner has that worn and weathered look but that's not going to be the case in here we have definitely dabbled with giving this old Plymouth a race car attitude one thing that we're not interested in is all those tendencies that can come along with it and you know what I'm talking about that ear piercing sound and everything rattling and so on plus this ride will be on the road way more than a quarter mile at a time so some really nice interior will go a long way quieting down all that unwanted Ruckus so the first order of business is going to be tackling that old Dash foreign some of this stuff will be reused [Music] some will be headed to the trash [Music] there's nothing wrong with taking a few photos making notes and tagging and bagging any items that come up this era of b-body had a few different style of gauge clusters and ours may not be the coolest one but it's still gonna look pretty dope what are you doing just finishing up that's not what I'm referring to well with the oldest talk of insider trading and other illegal activities some people would like to avoid incarceration and be able to walk out of here without revealing their identity now it was just a metaphor for installing new interior bless his heart now for a few of you guys out there you know what I mean now with our Dash all stripped down to the bare skeleton we're gonna have to make a couple of repairs here on the top of the dash he's got a big dent and then we've got some extra holes that was probably for some race car switches or rocket launchers and so on all right ready to get started and get some on your shirt they're slick [Music] now this repair is not nearly as dramatic as this awesome montage we're just plugging some holes doing a little grinding welding sanding and that should take care of everything but hey who doesn't like some rock and roll all right foreign [Music] well we got all of our holes welded up and after a little body and filler work ready slap on some polyester primer [Music] foreign [Music] this polyester primer has saved my skin on many occasions [Music] it can hide those blemishes and smooth things out [Music] after that I'll top it off with a coat of epoxy single stage black [Music] coming up 1672 piece puzzle no sweat now it's time for us to start refurbishing some of the old pieces that we're going to be reusing on our shiny Dash now some pieces will be simply replaced but not all of them now with this bezel that's around the gauge cluster I've got a trick up my sleeve to make it look like a million bucks [Music] whenever you're building your Play Pretty sometimes you've got to get creative with your ride and your budget and that's what we're doing with this piece it is available in the aftermarket but it's a couple hundred bucks what we're gonna do is spend some time and a couple of Hamiltons and it's going to save us a couple of Benjamins [Music] final thing that we're going to be doing is applying a wrinkle finish paint now to apply this stuff they want you to scuff it and clean it like we did and then apply three different coats in three different directions what that helps to do is have enough material on there for the wrinkle action to work plus it helps to ensure that you've got all of the panel covered [Music] foreign well we still got a couple pieces that we want to spruce up before we're ready for final assembly on our Dash including this heater vent control panel that has a little bit of oxidation on the outside and since Media Blasting would be a bit too aggressive for this application I'm going to go ahead and just soak it in some liquidated rust dissolver now you can pick this stuff up at your local hardware store or Auto Parts Outlet or even the old interweb since it's chemically designed to Target only rust it's not going to eat up any of these little plastic pieces or tarnish our original finish [Music] placing this vent control panel in an airtight sealed plastic bag will help accelerate the diffusion process this powerful proprietary formulation takes the hard work out of rust removal we'll leave this to soak for about two hours [Music] our old switch panel cover is a piece we're going to reuse some sandblasting and a Fresh coat of trim black makes all the difference the before and after picks definitely tell the story [Music] now add a bit of detail with a fresh silver marker on the top of the letters and it shines like new [Music] foreign [Music] looks like treasure though [Music] I like it [Music] restoring a complete Dash can be a tedious process there are so many pieces trim painted parts switches and so on all of these have to work in harmony plus you want them to look nice when it's all said and done because it's a focal point of the interior now on Road Burner we didn't start with much but with some DLC an upgraded Dakota Digital gauge set from Summit Racing and a few restoration components that we snag from Steven's performance it looks pretty good if we wanted to toot our own horn [Music] up next we iron out some problems for now and later the next interior task that we're going to be tackling can be a bit intimidating and whenever it's done incorrectly is downright embarrassing however it's also one of those things that whenever it's done right you don't even notice it what I'm referring to is the headliner now this is just like any other upholstery work there's some pulling and tugging some gluing and some screwing so whenever you apply those simple techniques you'll definitely finish with a smile on your face [Music] now on these older cars they have what's referred to as headliner bows and they're what hold the headliner material up now if you're removing an old setup make sure to number the rides as they come out maybe from front to back so that you can return them to the correct position now with ours we didn't really know so we talked to the guys that know these cars inside and out and they informed us that you go from the flattish rod up front moving toward the rear to the one that has the most curve in it now to install these they just simply slide in a hoop or Loop that sewn into the material let's start with the back one bud you know I once thought about starting my own headliner installation business excited not to go through with it though way too much overhead don't get on that passenger side I'll hand it over to you family good [Music] why are you cutting on our brand new headliner what I'm trying to do is give a little bit of a relief cut here on those rods what that does is it allows you to pull it tight here on the side if you don't do that it kind of bunches up and it just doesn't stretch out right whenever you're installing a headliner the main thing you don't want is wrinkles and ripples there are a few tips and tricks to make your life a whole lot easier start in the front and in the center then work out to the edges if this is your first time doing it I'm going to recommend when you think this thing is pulled tight enough just pull a little more how far to stretch up there oh it's got to be all the two inches [Music] well we got our headliner all stretched out from front to back a few little wrinkles on the sides but we can work those out later and we're using a professional gray glue because it has a much stronger Bond and it's going to last longer a little extra coin now it's going to save us that headache later [Music] when you're applying the sticky junk there's no need to hose it on [Music] applied on both surfaces and once it's dried to the touch it's ready to get stuck [Music] work a little on both sides as you make your way to the rear window [Music] if you find yourself having a few hard wrinkles like it being packaged too tight you can add a little heat to relax those imperfections [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] at first glance Old Road Burner definitely makes one heck of a statement and it has nothing to do with practicality take a look at those big dual quads and velocity Stacks sticking way above the top of the fenders as for the interior something a bit more sensible wouldn't be too bad adding some soft Parts like headliner and so on sure does make writing in this thing on road trips a whole lot more tolerable so we have a bit more work to do to improve the ambiance carpet does a lot more than just cover the floor it helps a dampen vibration and also lower unwanted temperatures that can be transferred through the floor from the engine transmission and exhaust when you're looking to buy this stuff you've got a couple of options one is you can buy it by the roll this takes some work to make it look right you cut and hem each piece for a custom tailored look and when it's done correctly it's nice then there's molded carpet this makes life much easier it has a stock look and this is going to be perfect for us [Music] now we're not quite ready to nail this thing down yet because we still got some work to do a trick up our sleeves with our seats but we haven't got everything back from the upholstery shop so we're just doing some minor cutting and trimming to rough it in and the gain is some ground [Music] hey man can you grab those seal plates so that we can test fit those um did you order them I thought you ordered them so you're not even going to talk to me all the way to tents then huh you know communication is key coming up a road trip to check out some rare Goods foreign [Music] look who's back yeah we're here because we need something as usual such as I got a small list of this small I hope there's a lot of stuff on it think you can help us out yeah we ought to have all that no problem show us around we can do it follow you sir well you got quiet to set up here Ted has a guy even get started in something like this uh well you know what they say uh necessity is the mother of invention and we were storing cars and couldn't find parts so we started hunting parts and finding parts and it turned into this I know this is just a drop in the bucket of what you have for us let's call it used inventory you know some of this stuff is really piled up you get to dig for whatever you're looking for but there's some general organization to it now you have any idea how many cars that you guys actually have somewhere between two and three thousand I'm not really sure how many there are like I said I never gone there and counted them it's probably something I need to do but I haven't done that'll be your project this afternoon you can count them we'll let Joel he's the new guy yeah we'll let Joel here he's pretty good at you should get him to organize all these headlight bezels yeah that's probably a good idea you know I never knew you even had that much old inventory off oh yeah yeah there's a lot of stuff off that's used parts in there this this building here has got mostly new parts in it [Music] holy smokes Ted I said I know you've got quite an inventory of reproduction but you know the Holy Grail is on this side of the wall NOS stuff yeah that's a bunch of stuff and it doesn't grow like it used to this stuff used to come on a pretty regular basis but those days are are are dwindling how do you how do you cultivate that stuff or how do you find it used to you go to dealerships and find it but you hardly ever do that anymore and some of its collections that other people are breaking down some of we buy swap meets my focus stuff over in the floor that just came in from uh a meet up in Indianapolis some of this uh this exhaust stuff here in the floor some of it's New Old Stock some of its uh reproduction now with the old Parts you keep them around also to help the guys that have the Survivor cars right yeah because like if you're working with a Survivor car you don't want to put a new uh a new exhaust system on the car per se because you can tell that it's new if you've got either New Old Stock parts that have been sitting around for 45 or 50 years or nice takeoffs that came off cars you know back in the day that works out real well too now with that Mopar stuff that you're saying the Holy Grail what do you have it's close by that is purely Mopar that's aged but it's still brand new this is a grill here I want to help the man but I'm scared if I help him drop it if you drop this you know you'll have to pay for it there you go I think we have the original box for this here somewhere now there is a reproduction available on this now but that's now if you've got that 71 Hemi Cuda convertible you got to have this all right I guess we need to grab that bucket of parts and get back at it let's put this back in the Box take it back to the shop and hang it up well let's do that too I guess now it's no lie that in today's times that whenever it comes to restoring an automobile that a person may have to get a bit creative or even compromise now we've hit a little snag with our 69b body as you can imagine the front door panels are a lot more popular than the rear that's why we were able to find these in black but up front we're actually going to transform these from bright white to black first step to a task like this is you have to get things clean we're using Scott heavy duty shop towels to Aid in this process they're resistant to solvents and can be used both wet or dried we're going to have to do a few rounds of cleaning here and having these disposable Rags is Handy [Music] not only for the job at hand but also cleaning up after the work is done well we had the problem that there weren't any black panels available solution paint some white panels black now for those of you who were wondering why I painted these black panels black again well I wanted the sheens to match I didn't want eggshell in the back and semi-gloss up front we're a far more sophisticated than that we are well on our way with the interior on Road Burner and one thing's for sure it feels good to see the fruits of your labor a few of the things that we've done today may seem a little bit out of order but that's okay whenever you're waiting on parts there's still plenty of work to do and there's no reason to just sit around plus this just puts you further down the road and closer to your end goal now all I have to say for you guys to look at the big picture and from where I'm sitting looks pretty sweet today on Detroit Muscle we give you some simple hacks to get you amped up about that scary road trip down Electric Avenue that's your Detroit iron can't live without foreign [Music] Tom you in here Tom okay I get it that's it with the new guy come on man it's not funny anymore [Music] whoa no nope nope doesn't count nope you didn't scare me nope I'm not scared you should be uh why because we're wiring the car [Music] this next task that we're going to tackle has to be the most intimidating part of building restoring or just plainly working on your projects so why is that well the electrical system usually has some form of involvement with the operations of majority of the components of your vehicle you do something wrong an exorcist type of stuff starts happening or even worse fire and smoke special effects become reality then there are electrical Gremlins that can be caused by improper alteration and then that can take hours upon hours to locate troubleshoot and repair and whenever you talk to a shop about working on this it's going to be very expensive because time is money but with a plan some simple tools and a little bit of time wiring isn't nearly as dramatic as one might think so let's go through a few things that may help you with your project if you're thinking about giving this a go on Road Burner we're starting with a clean slate all that old stuff has been removed the only wiring that we currently have is the engine harness therefore we have to tie into that and wire everything else up all this colorful spaghetti you see spread out across the floor is our electrical system now before any of you guys go looking for a setup for your ride well you're going to want to ask yourselves a couple of questions for example what a universal harness work for your application or should you go for something a little more original the answer to all that has to do with the personality of your four-wheeled treasure if everything under the hood looked as if it rolled off the assembly line you probably need something that has more of an OG appearance but if you're right has a bit more of a hot rod Vibe the tailorable unit would be more of what you're looking for oftentimes guys prefer this way so that they can hide those copper core electric hoses for a much cleaner look another thing to consider is how many circuits are you going to need well that all depends on the power options that you plan to be running what we're going to be installing on our Plymouth is what you'd call a semi-direct fit harness meaning it's got a fuse block and connector assembly similar to what would have came on the car originally but we are still going to have to cut and terminate a few of those connections this allows you to move some of your wiring around with the option to connect to some of your factory components now we're running a late model power plant which is way different than what that car would have came from the factory with but we still plan to use the stock switches in our dashboard if we would have tried to use a OE style harness it would have taken several modifications to make it work a setup like this can also save you a bunch of time because each wire is individually labeled and to precisely determine which wire is which can be a lot of work especially considering there's usually more than one red wire and a harness and to trace and identify wires based solely on their terminals it's not fun for anybody for upgraded harness has another thing going forward it has more than enough circuits than we need which can be convenient if you're looking to do some upgrades later on yeah at this point you really want to just make sure that you're making the correct choice for your harness you don't want to max out something like this a few extra circuits now makes additions later way easier coming up we expose some secrets on the best way to strip and make a connection well I bet for a few of you all you may be squirming in your seat a little bit from the looks of things now that pretty harness that we had stretched out over there in the floor is now kind of just strolled out into our Plymouth now if you're looking to do something like this there's a few things you should keep in mind just like in the engine bay and throughout the rest of the car you've got a lot of moving Parts in here as well between your pedal assembly your shifter and even your own two feet you've got more than enough opportunity to get tangled up in your own wiring job but taking the extra time and care to tuck everything up into the firewall will not only help keep everything nice and neat but it'll limit that possibility of damaging your harness when you're ready to start finalizing those connections well you're going to need a few tools to make this process go a whole lot smoother kind of like some crimpers Cutters strippers and so on for a little wiring 101 let's talk about strippers now there's several different types out there but they all basically do the same thing and that is remove the protective coating to expose the wire however there is a wrong way to use them they have designated places for different size or gauge wires if you choose the wrong one you can damage the wire what it will do is cut into the wire and that can lead to a poor connection you can see a few pieces of copper here in the sheathing and you don't want this okay the next thing let's say you want to connect two wires let's start with the most basic way and that is with the pigtail or rat tail splice that's where you take two or more wires and simply twist them together a connection like this works but it has its drawbacks one is it's not a very strong connection unless it's soldered if you wrap it with electrical tape moisture can still get in because of the Gap and it's not very pleasing to the eye but one thing's for sure it's easy another way you can make a connection is with crimp connectors these are easy to use and they're gauge specific let's start with the wire you will need to remove some of the insulation now with that all you're trying to do is go about halfway through this connector you don't need a bunch of wiring sticking out from the end of it so let's cut some off here now if you look on your connector there's a seam on it if you're using the type of pliers with the bump on it you want to be on the opposite side of that seam then all you need to do is take your pliers and clamp it down this helps to ensure a lot stronger of a crimp now after you're done give this thing a little bit of a tuck I don't get all He-Man on it you're just checking to see if it's loose if it is that can lead to a short all right this next thing isn't necessarily mandatory but it is preferred by many and that is to solder your crimp now to do this you can use a soldering iron ore gun or what I like to use and that is a micro torch this thing helps to speed up the process just heat things up a bit dab with some solder that will get it done now when soldering too much heat and this stuff can be a bad thing if you throw the heat to it you can burn up the protective coating on The Wire [Music] and if you pour on the solder it basically make the wire solid you know keeping your electrical work nice and neat can really complement your build and if you don't believe me take a look at all these wires strung out the front of this car kind of rattles the nerves a little bit doesn't it and all we're really trying to do is kind of help calm those nerves a little bit so that you guys aren't quite as intimidated by a task such as this get your game plan stay focused kind of separate the harness out into groups and start terminating wires from there you know what they say the best way to eat an elephant one bite at a time after using some of the techniques that Tommy was just talking about over there the next thing you want to focus on is shielding your work and you have plenty of options in that department as well starting off good old-fashioned electrical vinyl tape now this stuff is actually a pretty good insulator when used properly and there are a few different styles and colors to choose from that factor in heat moisture and vibration and application is about as easy as it gets just simply wrap it around your work however I would not recommend it as a standalone repair to severely damaged or unspliced wires next up we have what is called liquid electrical tape which I would consider more of a problem-solving solution and in terms of Aesthetics there are far better Alternatives but if your trailer wires fall apart going down the road this stuff will at least get you home for premium shielding when it comes to appearance longevity and weatherproofing I would highly recommend heat shrink especially the kind with the Hot Melt sealer not only does it look cool when you're applying it it also creates a trouble-free repair that looks nice to boot and makes your wiring job look professional whether you are or not and at this point it could be really hard to gauge how much work we still have to do on this car and the answer just might shock you but we are getting down to the wire all we can do is focus on the current task at hand and as long as we don't sell ourselves short we can do it an epic fail up next we hook up with electrifying results well guys so far our eyes haven't been too big for our stomachs as you can plainly see we've been chewing through our elephant bite by bite Tom tackled the spaghetti up underneath the dash while I sank my teeth into the front headlight and turn signal assembly the detailed instructions and color-coded wiring made this process fairly simple and easy however some portions have been easier to digest than others for example if you've ever wired an engine harness before you understand the complications involved especially considering how critical each connection is I like to compare it as being just as important to your electrical system as the blood vessels are to your body it carries electricity from one component to the next to ensure everything is functioning in harmony that being said it doesn't mean there wasn't a little bit of room for improvement using the process of elimination we were able to trim a little fat and get rid of some of these wires we weren't using which not only helped ease the headache but also gave our engine bay a nice clean and organized look along with that we're sticking with our hot rod and race car Theme by installing the battery inside the trunk of the car we're also going to go ahead and put in this high output connection kit that's going to work as a junction block between the alternator the battery and the starter this high output connection kit assists your OE style harness to be able to handle a high amperage alternator a setup like this can come in a variety of different wiring terminals boots and more based on your application detailed instructions are also included to help facilitate your installation with our Dash finally installed we can move on to the next thing and that is going to be installing the steering column and we want to show you a few tips on how to do it properly this may sound like a straightforward task but it would blow your mind on how many hot rods that I've worked on in the past that has what could be called a subpar install and I just don't get it why someone would want to skimp on something like this I can't even comprehend it's kind of like your brakes if something goes wrong well this stuff can keep you out of Harm's Way it's very important for the column to be mounted in a solid Fashion on both ends a column with just one location point is downright dangerous the column that we're going to be installing is designed to bolt right into place it reuses the stock upper bracket it comes with its own lower plate and it gives us both points like the factory engineered if you wanted to go with a universal path well the column is going to come with a smooth tube and you're going to have to Fab or buy some brackets to mount both ends properly [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign 's in so now let's talk about connecting it to the rack now to get this job done we're going to have to use a couple of U-joints like this one and a steering shaft we already have one of our U-joints slid onto the shaft of the rack down here and we're going to run up from there and connect to the input side of our steering column now what you're going to be looking for is obstructions between these two points now another thing that you can run into is clearance problems with the motor mounts and frame rails if you're working on some custom application and just as a rule of thumb you want at least a half inch of clearance around any obstacle to properly install one of these into this there's a couple things that you need to keep in mind one is you don't want to slide the shaft in too far because you'll bottom out and that'll mess up the innards that's a big malfunction this will limit the operation range of the U-joint what you want to do is slide that shaft out to it's basically flush right there on the inside and that gives you back the swing that you want second with this style joint everything is held in place with a couple of set screws and that's what goes in these two holes once you get everything dialed in perfectly you want to take and Mark where that set screw is going to come in contact with this shaft and make a dimple [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] next we toot our own horn Mopar Style me me we've all probably heard that old sand has all the bells and whistles well in the case of our road runner this thing is pretty Bare Bones however it has to have that one piece of mopar history that this thing came standard with and that would be that iconic BB porn this small piece of Plymouth magic only came on two of their models that would be the super bird and the Road Runner the tone of this safety device sings A Familiar song of that bird that was dressed for the occasion and he wasn't blending to let any grass grow under his feet the story behind this clever noisemaker is quite interesting Plymouth had to pay Warner Brothers a healthy sum for the rights to use the sound and likeness of our throttle junkie feathered friend as for development rumor has it a member of mopar brass was in one of their warehouses and heard the famous note he followed it to the source and lo and behold what they were looking for was on a forklift foreign oftentimes if you're looking to install some form of an electrical accessory under your ride that it didn't come from the factory with but you're going to have to deal with some relays a relay is basically a switch that allows you to take a low electrical input and convert it to a higher current output they're used all the time whenever you're running stuff like electric fuel pumps and fans because they take a good bit of juice to make them run they come in many different styles you've got 20 30 40 amp ratings you've got some with a tab some without and they even make a weatherproof Style to wire up one of these isn't too bad let's start with the larger gauge wires you basically have a higher amperage input and output the input goes to the Battery Source and the output to whatever you're trying to run like a fan the relay that we're working with here is referred to as a normally open Style that means it has to be activated to complete the circuit relays are available as normally closed which would operate just the opposite then you have your trigger wires one is a positive input the other is a ground and depending how you're wanting let's say that fan to operate well you're going to have to make some decisions if you just wanted it to come on with a toggle switch you could hook the 12 volt input to a power source and the other wire to a ground and it would work flip of a switch with the relay you also have the option to control items on the ground side of things on a cooling fan you can install a temperature switch once it gets to the trigger degree it completes the circuit and turns the vans on this is only a small portion of the things that you can do with a relay well we're just about ready to test fire all the components of our electrical system and to help feed spark to the heart of this Dragon we're going to be using a Duralast Pro Power Ultra battery that we got from AutoZone this particular juice box is an OE exact fit that replaces a factory original Pro Power Ultras are known for being proven tough plus the impact resistant construction minimizes damage from inevitable vibration when Tom dumps the clutch and starts whipping the tail on this fire-breathing lizard well I'm not seeing any Sparks or blue smoke so we're off to a good start you'll see if everything works like it's supposed to hey Lauren work s headlights got headlights cool we got dash lights left turn signal yep right turn signal it's blinking how about those tail lights you only have two of them brake lights oh yeah they got brighter guys we know something like this is a huge task but if you pay attention apply some of these simple techniques and you can accomplish your goals without any hiccups yeah just take it one component at a time one wire at a time and before you know it you'll be admiring your own handiwork dude I always get nervous hooking that battery up for the first time yeah know what you mean but whole Road Burner is getting dangerously close to being done yeah all we really lack is some exhaust and some fuel we could basically hit the key and bring this thing back to life hey grab him lights mmm [Music] today on Detroit Muscle it's a hodgepodge of odds and ends we're all over the place from front to back inside and out we get creative with the tips to boot foreign [Music] just four wheels and a bunch of parts bolted together they have their own identity and their personal traits need to work together like interior exterior tone and feel for it to be considered a perfect package when they don't well your Masterpiece can look similar to abstract art you know the rides I'm talking about we've all seen them they stick out like a sore thumb and kind of cross thread your thoughts leave you confused wondering what the heck were they thinking now there's nothing wrong with making a statement you just have to realize that every component that you screw or glue into place is a small piece to the big picture with our Plymouth it's easy to see that it looks more like a delinquent than a modeled Citizen and that's exactly what we were going for with its Rough Around the Edges exterior the dinosaur burning power plant that's in plain sight looking like it could breathe fire at any given moment and a stance of it's just waiting to pounce this may be too radical your style may be more shiny paint velor interior and cruise control which is totally fine and if that's the case well this Oldsmobile probably right up your alley it has plenty of pizzazz in its own right with its two-tone paint bright red Pinstripes and that iconic Hurst Olds Banner that just grabs your attention if you take a peek at the interior that lightning rod shifter poking through the center console just a multiplying factor of how much fun you can have sitting in the driver's seat and these are just two examples of why so many people love American Muscle each one has its own story to tell and they are far more than just a means of transportation this next trick that we have up Our Sleeve is kind of a custom touch that we're going to add to complement the Persona of Road Burner a while back we was rummaging around in a Candy Land of battered and abused Mopars after checking out a few historic relics and what more than likely is their final resting place we came up with this rustic idea to let a few of them live on as a name plate for Road Burner we collected several letters with different fonts to spell out the word burner to make our emblem now we want this thing to have a creepy feel to it kind of like a ransom note to get a sneak peek of what our end result could look like we're going to use an art technique called rubbing all that is needed is some paper and a colored pencil after that we can cut them out and arrange them to see what it's all going to look like too shabby oh yeah that'll work with several of our studs broken off our strategy for mounting these is to use some epoxy I went ahead and made this little aluminum tray that I'm going to fill with goo and then press those emblems into place and now later after everything sets up I will bend this thing off hopefully it goes as expected if not that tray may end up being a part of the artwork with the post I'm just going to grind them down flush I'm also going to rough up the back of each emblem to help the bond of the epoxy [Music] everything all mixed up it goes in the tray [Music] the emblems take a dip and I can dial in the alignment [Music] I need some steel shavings to sprinkle over the top so I grabbed our catch can off the grinder this will Rust up and hide all that glorified glue foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] I'm going to force rust our rear emblem Ransom note by using our trusty crusty concoction first I'll hit it with some peroxide then a dash of salt and finally blast it with the heat gun until our logo looks like it's been a part of Road Burner all along Turbo stick that dude on now [Music] think you can pass glass this tip for your ride is free well you can see clearly now our glass is gone the windshield in our old Road Runner was in pretty rough shape so it had to go the general condition of automotive glass can be classified into three different forms You've Got The Good the Bad and the Ugly when it's nice it gives you a clear perspective of all obstacles in your way but when it's crummy it can be blatantly obvious and seem impossible to repair however I do know a few tricks of the trade that'll help take your glassware from fouled up to fabulous a while back Tom and I disposed of Road burners weathered and cracked up old windshield the gasket was all tore up it was taped in place and between all the fractures Swirls and pock marks visibility was new guarantee so the best thing for that old hunk of laminated glass was to just toss it into file 13. now obviously running this car without a windshield is not an option not only is it illegal in most States but some would consider it cruel and immoral to risk the possibility of messing up Tom's hairdo he works really hard on it you know so what are your options when it comes to sprucing up the glass in your right well for us it was just a matter of tracking down a brand new windshield and getting it delivered to our front doorstep courtesy of Steven's performance however some of you may not have that same luxury for a variety of reasons for one you may be running into the supply chain issues that we've touched on in the past and can't get a proper replacement in a timely manner or you're just one of those chalkboard guys that want to ensure some authenticity to the vehicle you're restoring for example these old Mopars actually have date coated glass you can tell by the inscription here we have the trademark Chrysler pentastar as well as the number six and eight indicating this vent window was manufactured in June of 1968. now this may not pertain to those of you who look at it as just another piece of glass and for the rest of you well it's just as important as the numbers matching on the engine using this raggedy old windshield as our guinea pig I'm gonna be running you guys through a few techniques that I know of that's going to restore some Optical Clarity back into your whip I'll mask off three different sections that will work as a divider between the different applications the far one on the end will remain dirty and grimy so that we can reference it later the middle section will get a bath and some sonax glass cleaner what we've noticed about this sonax formula is that not only does it penetrate the surface and wash away a lot of residue it also leaves behind a streak-free shine that deflects a lot of future debris so next glass cleaner is even safe to use on your household windows so you can soak in the Rays of a bright sunshiny day now for this last section on the end I'm going to be doing something that may seem a little unorthodox but it's a tried and true method that really works all you're going to need is some quadruple or triple ought steel wool and some distilled water [Music] thank you distilled water works as a purified mineral-free lubricant to help the steel wool Glide across the surface similar to wet sanding a body panel it scours the area just enough to polish it but not damage it the end result is a silky exterior that's smooth to the touch I'm sure you're all very familiar with what happens when that rubber gasket on your windshield wiper gives up the ghost starts moving back and forth and making god-awful noises similar to Nails on a chalkboard not only is it irritating to the ears but to the eyes as well to help simulate this Optical interference I'm going to scrape the surface with some 600 grit sandpaper then we'll rejuvenate it using this glass polishing kit we got from Summit Racing to start off simply dump a few ounces of the supplied Diamond fast powder into the lid of the container add in some distilled water a few drops at a time and mix until you get a consistency similar to that of toothpaste apply a thin layer of paste over the surface of your pad before finally using a variable speed drill to polish the work area spray the distilled water as you go to help reduce friction heat and avoid unpleasant swirl marks [Music] last step clean with ammonia-free glass cleaner and declare victory [Music] depending on the extent of the damage the amount of time it takes to elevate your glass to First Class may vary and in all reality these methods really didn't require that much sweat from our brow and this was in pretty rough shape knowing what you know now just imagine what you could do if you have a decent piece to begin with won't know until you try excuse me is this seat taken under the hood chick cool stance check interior finish nope not yet we've been making some good Headway and we're getting dangerously close of calling a Road Burner finished one of the last things that we need to do to check off the list is some seats we wanted to carry over that racy Vibe of our old Plymouth into the interior normally with a car built for the track everything in here gets gutted to save weight but with our ride it's going to be a lot more Street than strip so that's why we wanted a full interior road runners rolled off the assembly line with a tasteful but usually basic upholstery so a little dressing up and a performance touch would go a long way and this old park bench just wasn't going to cut it it's heavy was going to require a ton of work not to mention it's ugly we were okay with the seats making a statement but it needed to be the right one we wanted an aggressive appeal without anything looking out of place so we had to get a bit creative after ordering a pair of aluminum bucket seats from Summit [Music] we sent them out to our buddies at Blast from the Past for a subtle Custom Touch then gill from speed and Design worked his magic this is what we have a set of jet black seats front and rear these buckets give you a pretty good indication you get an opportunity to get in Road Burner you sit back and hold on the Fun's about to start to hold the front ones in place there's a whole bunch of options that you could go with the kit that we have is very Universal it has multiple holes in the brackets to make adjustments on all four corners we also opted for the sliders now if it's just you that's going to be driving your pride and joy you may not need them this is just a basic upgrade and it's only missed when you need it oh yeah now there are several things you have to consider when you're installing seats in a car but the most important stuff is right here in the driver's seat is Comfort your main focus the case you just need to get everything dialed into that sweet spot that makes you feel good but if you're more of a driver than a Styler you're going to have some different specs commonly the steering wheel is in a 20 to 30 degree angle to give you optimal control adjust the seat so that when you're sitting with your shoulders against the seat back your arm is practically straight and your wrist is just forward of the back side of the steering wheel on the top using this setup positions your body in a location that allows you to steer comfortably and helps to reduce fatigue also with the pedals you don't want your legs to fully extend when you press them down if the seat is too far back this will be an issue what you're looking for is a slight Bend in your knee when you mash them to the floor it's all about the details if you look close pattern on the front cover matches the rear seat and we also use the same two different vegan leather materials to make sure it was accurate from the beginning what we had wasn't much it's easy to say that our interior was picked to the Bone but with some parts and help from some good friends along with a little sweat and effort on our part we was able to transform this empty shell of neglect back to what it once was [Music] a prideful Feast of Detroit Muscle [Music] next we make some connections will they put us in a bind Sparks Fly Road burners almost finished one of the last things oftentimes a person tackles on their project is the exhaust system you could take it down to your local exhaust shop and have them take care of things for you or you could buy yourself a pre-bent kit like oftentimes we do either way the process is basically the same you start here at the headers and begin to make your way toward the back of the car after you hang a few pieces of pipe well you just forward the rear axle and this is where you're normally going to mount up your Mufflers finally you're at the back of the car and you get to weld on a tip or get creative with a cool slice to doll things up an exhaust system is made using multiple pieces connected together that connection can be had several different ways let's talk about the most basic one first clamps there are several different styles and depending on your goals would help you determine which one to use now this one is the old school two-piece style and is oftentimes found on Classics it requires one piece of pipe to slide into the other with it in place just tighten the nuts up and it compresses the outer onto the inner [Music] if you're in the middle of a restoration of some Detroit iron and going for that OG look there's a really good chance that this is what you'll be using this one is what's referred to as a band clamp style it works really well whenever you're trying to join two pieces of pipe together that are the same diameter [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign you just slide it into place [Music] tighten everything up [Music] and it's good to go a much more permanent solution to building your plumbing is through welding and when it comes to the Alloys involved well you've got a few different options including mild steel aluminized stainless and even some exotic ones like titanium and ink canal and to fuse those pieces together you're either going to be using a MIG or a TIG welder now with mild steel and aluminized a smaller Mig setup like this will do the trick and you can use a bigger one if you want but it's a little bit Overkill we're not exactly building a skyscraper here and another advantage is the wand size not only will it help you get into those hard to reach spots but it also get the job done quicker now with stainless steel you can use a MIG welder but if you're going to go that route you basically got two options one you could weld it with the standard steel wire but your beads are going to be more prone to corrosion or two a better way is to swap out your steel wire for stainless along with the proper shielding gas which in that case would be helium not only are you going to have the convenience of a MIG welder but your welds aren't going to be as prone to corrosion if you really want to dress up that exhaust and take it that extra mile a TIG is the way to go you can weld all those exotic Alloys I mentioned earlier just make sure you use the proper filler rod for the material you're working with for our application all we need is the trusty MIG welder just like everything else on this Mopar the tune coming out of the exhaust is going to be easily noticed and obviously aggressive so let me introduce you to the American Thunder series exhaust by Flowmaster we make some pretty good power with that Hemi so these three inch mandrel bent pieces of Automotive Perfection will allow our power plant to breathe easy that combined with a pair of Super 40 chambered Mufflers will generate a deep and powerful sound to perk up the year of any red-blooded throttle pedal Junkie this kit should fit right up under Road Burner but we may have to do a small amount of massaging to accommodate that four-link rear that we're running from Riley Motorsports but that's just a stone for a stepper and you know what they say a hot rod is never truly completely done but after some mandatory Optical improvements some stylish enhancements and a one-of-a-kind accessory it's just about time to take this little girl out for a night on the towel we still have a few other loose ends that we're going to have to tie up but the next time that you get to see this piece of Detroit Muscle there's going to be plenty of fire and smoke emphasis on the smoke [Music] today on Detroit Muscle we take a trip in Road Burner to see what it takes to become a legend plus we give you the cheat sheet on how you can optimize your ride [Music] through the passing of time what once was new becomes aged items fall to Decay and become discarded at this point dismantling is set into action by both man and Mother Nature some are left to dissolve into non-existence and are consumed by their environment what is left often appears as a lifeless shell laying and waiting as its days are numbered It Takes A Soulful body with an eye to see what once was and what could be a creation associated with magnitude requires many items to harness its capabilities requires components of Speed and Agility an unsightly collection is not an option because without form the eye begins to wander sight becomes crude to accomplish this with appeal strength and might equal success from the very beginning this old Mopar has always had a haunting aura about it [Music] so we set out to build something that would strike fear into those Who Came Upon it foreign muscle machine that would have an aggressive stance a decibel piercing power plant [Music] and a raw attitude [Music] foreign [Music] we wanted to build something that made a statement now that all the pieces of the puzzle are together I think it's safe to say that message will be heard loud and clear [Music] every car that was brought in today is worthy of being a Hot Wheels the Hot Wheels Legends tour is one of the most unique Car events worldwide Tommy and I got the opportunity to be judges for the Atlanta show and we saw some amazing custom cars and Trick Trucks well I have to say this has been pure honored to hang out with the Hot Wheels crew and actually just parking our car in front of that billboard man it feels yeah I'm speeches and that says I gotta say man I I don't think we could have came up with a better payoff for this Road Burner project like this thing literally looks like a Hot Wheels car when you think about the history The Heritage and the wild Charisma that Hot Wheels is known for this car reflects it man I tell you what I do want to do though that's it let's go get an ice cream cone because it's hot wanna figure out your Optimum vehicle performance we give you the solution using simple math road tripping in our old Plymouth sure was a whole lot of fun after getting a few miles on it now we've got it back up on the lift to check to see if we've shook anything loose also to verify that we don't have any leaks or seeps yeah and we really didn't have too many issues to speak of except for when we ran out of gas because we forgot to calibrate the fuel gauge let's not get caught up on the details we still got to do that another thing that impressed us was how well this thing cruised down the highway it cornered nice and drove like a dream and a lot of that goes to the guys at RMS and their suspension setup if you were to judge this car by its appearance something you might assume is that it would be crazy loud but in all reality it's not unless of course you flip the switch to open the cutouts yes the exhaust and mufflers you choose can increase or decrease the decibel level but there's another thing you should keep in mind that would be the amount of RPMs you're turning so with your project you got to ask yourself a couple of questions are you going for a track car a road car and will the majority of sea time be spent making hot laps down the quarter mile or cruising down the Boulevard on a Saturday night with Road Burner we wanted to be able to stroll around in it and hop on the interstate without sounding like it was geared like a tractor meaning when it's at 70 it's redlining attack to determine your RPM versus mile per hour there is a mathematical equation one part of the information that you're going to need is tire diameter and you can get this in a couple different ways you can check with the manufacturer and get an exact measurement or you can kick it old school with a tape measure looks like we're about 28 inches it says 28.1 on the website it's killing me another thing you're going to need to determine is the gear ratio coming out of your transmission for example a one-to-one ratio would mean that for every revolution of the engine is equivalent to one revolution coming out of the output shaft if you have a power glide or a C4 a C6 or even a 727 more than likely you're going to be running a one-to-one ratio in high gear we're running a little bit more of a modern setup that has overdrive therefore the math and the variables change but it's important to know by how much depending on the manufacturer they can come in a few different ratios like our tkx this one has a 0.68 to 1. but they're offered in a 0.72 and a 0.81 while we're on the subject of Gears well you're going to need to know what your setup is in the rear diff now we installed a set of 355s when we were doing our suspension upgrade so we know exactly what we have you have no idea here's a little tip for you that'll get you pretty close make a mark on the wheel like here on the top then make a mark on the flange or yoke where the drive shaft would attach as you spin the wheel count the Revolutions of the pinion two three and almost a half that would give us a 355 ish so how many times that goes around combined with the percentage of the next turn will get you in the ballpark this is the equation that you can use to determine your miles per hour at a given RPM now we pretty much already have most of our information like tire diameter and our ratios now usually when you're driving one of these old hot Roddy cars the normal RPM level is somewhere between 2 and 2200 RPM so for the sake of what we're doing we're gonna go with 2200. foreign to Joel We got a 28.1 tire diameter trans ratio with 0.68 and rear was 355. now let's do some math see what we come up with [Music] that 100 times 28 1 equals one eight twenty 0.68 times 3.55 times 336 811. let's divide these two zero divided by eight eleven ten that gives us 76 .21 so what all these numbers mean is the parts that we've chose to put in Old Road Burner if we're ever out on a Saturday afternoon hot lap well the tack isn't going to be mad and the engine is going to be in that sweet spot and we're almost not breaking the laws Old Road Burner has been a blast to build and drive and we can't wait to get it out on the track to start snatching through some gears at wide open throttle you know we like to take care of our projects even when they're just hanging out Road Burner is done for now and we want to make sure nothing happens to all of our hard work especially since it's missing the hood this works well for indoor and outdoor applications made of a breathable material to help allow heat moisture and condensation to escape and if you're looking for a cover for long-term storage situations this may be the one for you installation is a breeze and it fits like a tailored suit you know it's almost a shame to put all this work into this car just to put it to bed till we can get it out to the track oh yeah it's going to be fun though don't worry about it yeah you know at some point we should probably pull that Hurst Olds out of hibernation yeah I'm not gonna say I'm tired of working on a Mopar but I'm ready to work on something different you know what you mean you know me you don't have to twist my arm to work on a GM product foreign [Music]

Channel: POWERNATION

Views: 4,315,689

Keywords: Car, PowerNation, howto, how-to, diy, automotive, cars, trucks, automobile, do it yourself, automobiles, auto, powerblock, muscle car, full build, detroit muscle, road burner, plymouth road runner, plymouth, mopar, omaha orange road runner, road runner, complete project build, powernation full build, 1969 road runner, plymouth roadrunner

Id: 52xOveqNjuM

Length: 178min 38sec (10718 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 24 2022