It’s a project-car mishmash this time on Roadkill
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MotorTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:02 On this episode of Roadkill, we bring the thunder.
00:13 The rest of the episode is way more fun than this right now.
00:18 I don't know if you realize there's an actual tornado
00:20 warning.
00:21 Oh, that was bright.
00:23 [LAUGHTER]
00:25 [ROARING]
00:28 [GUNSHOTS]
00:30 [ROARING]
00:32 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:35 David's not here yet.
00:56 It's Monday morning, and he has no idea
00:59 that I bought us a pickup.
01:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:03 I bought a 1950 Ford F6 two-ton truck.
01:09 For this episode, we're going to drive from here in Georgia
01:11 at my house all the way to Milwaukee for the Car Craft
01:14 Summer Nationals.
01:14 The original plan was to take a fast car there.
01:18 I didn't buy a fast car at all.
01:20 I bought this, which much lower, much shorter,
01:23 is just as cool as a fast car.
01:24 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:28 I want his natural reaction, so we're
01:32 going to put a bag over his head so that he can't see the truck
01:34 before he gets here in front of the camera.
01:36 And we're going to put a Freiburger's face on it.
01:38 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:41 [LAUGHTER]
01:45 This could be fun.
01:49 He might eat this.
01:50 He might eat this totally.
01:52 Doing good.
01:54 Left, and some brake.
01:56 Brake, brake, brake, brake, brake, stop.
01:58 Wow, that was close.
02:00 I feel pretty good.
02:03 I feel taller.
02:05 I feel chicks are going to dig me more now.
02:08 This isn't embarrassing for you at all.
02:11 OK.
02:12 Ready?
02:12 Yep.
02:14 All right.
02:17 All right, I like it.
02:18 That's 49 Ford.
02:20 You're close.
02:20 It's 50.
02:21 50?
02:22 Yeah.
02:22 58?
02:23 Yeah.
02:23 Really?
02:24 Yeah.
02:24 Does it run?
02:26 Yeah.
02:28 Wow, this is in good shape.
02:29 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:32 I really didn't expect this.
02:33 Yet at the same time, it's not a big surprise.
02:35 We've been talking about doing something
02:37 like this for a long time.
02:38 Wow.
02:41 This is actually like new.
02:42 This was a dump truck for a lot of years.
02:45 So what do we have to do to it?
02:47 Well, that's a bigger discussion.
02:49 What I'd like to do is take these wheels and move them
02:53 here.
02:54 Oh, are we going to shorten it up?
02:55 Yeah.
02:55 And then lower the front.
02:58 And I have a beer keg that we can turn into a gas tank.
03:01 This thing could not be easier to shorten.
03:03 Right.
03:04 Oh, dude.
03:04 I know.
03:05 Pop the rivets off and just slide it all forward
03:07 and cut the back of the truck off.
03:10 Well, I say we start doing the rear end now.
03:12 OK.
03:13 Ready?
03:14 He said yes.
03:16 He said yes.
03:16 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:21 This is a 1950 Ford F6 two-ton truck
03:25 that is powered by a 100-horsepower flathead V8
03:28 and is backed by a non-synchronized manual
03:30 transmission.
03:31 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:36 Miller.
03:38 The truth is I bought the Ford from a farmer who
03:41 towed it to my house.
03:42 So I've only driven it into my driveway.
03:44 And we quickly found out it doesn't fit in my garage.
03:48 We're going to have to deal with brake lines and drive shaft.
03:51 And that's really all.
03:53 The plan here is to take the four leaf spring perches
03:56 and simply slide them forward on the frame.
03:58 So the first thing that we needed to do
03:59 is get out the impact chisel and knock out all the rivets that
04:02 are holding the thing together.
04:03 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:14 This is going pretty good, actually.
04:15 We've got almost all the rivets out.
04:17 I think we're going to have to plasma
04:19 cut some of the harder-to-reach ones.
04:21 But after we do that, we're literally
04:22 just going to take the rear end and roll it forward
04:25 on the chassis and then weld the brackets right back together
04:28 and--
04:29 Leave this afternoon.
04:32 Yeah, what he said.
04:33 [LAUGHS]
04:35 [SAWING]
04:39 [BEEPING]
04:46 Not that loud with headphones on.
04:47 [SAWING]
04:54 Even in a shop, it's roadkill.
04:56 What do you think?
04:57 Two more pieces of my garden stacked on here?
04:59 Will that be enough?
05:00 Wow.
05:02 OK, so if I put wood on that keg,
05:04 can I get a jack stand on there now?
05:05 Yep.
05:06 All right.
05:08 I don't hear anybody objecting, so it must be OK, right?
05:11 Are you just afraid to talk?
05:12 [LAUGHTER]
05:15 What's it going to do, fall past the rear end?
05:17 I don't want to crush our gas tank.
05:19 I don't want to crush my finger.
05:22 This is looking pretty sweet.
05:23 [LAUGHTER]
05:26 Wow.
05:27 I love it.
05:31 It's pretty good.
05:32 It's a little bit raked.
05:34 Oh, man, but it looks like this is how it should have been.
05:36 If you don't have a bed, this is what you need to do.
05:39 It looks like an airport tug.
05:42 Yeah.
05:43 I suppose this isn't really the approved method for this,
05:46 but there is no solid method.
05:47 So instead of going for the stack of wood,
05:49 we're going to get his engine hoist out and hook it up.
05:51 We have to lift the rear end higher
05:53 so that we can get enough room to work on the leaf spring
05:56 hangers.
05:57 And he has to move his golf cart.
05:58 [GOLF CART WHIRRING]
05:59 [LAUGHTER]
06:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:05 [GOLF CART WHIRRING]
06:08 Right now, I'm taking out the carrier bearing
06:13 for the front half of our two-piece drive shaft.
06:16 We no longer need a long two-piece drive shaft,
06:18 obviously.
06:20 And we can't lower the frame down right now
06:23 because the drive shaft is now going
06:24 to hit the top of the rear end.
06:26 That's how far forward we move this thing.
06:28 [LAUGHTER]
06:29 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:31 Oh, wait.
06:32 Hold on.
06:32 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:34 Notice that we're doing all of this
06:36 before we even bother to test drive the truck.
06:40 Let's look at Frankenstein.
06:43 Will it be cool?
06:44 Whoa!
06:45 [LAUGHTER]
06:46 Won't be cool if it runs into that trailer.
06:49 Pretty good.
06:51 Pretty good.
06:52 It's great.
06:55 I absolutely love it.
06:56 This thing is so cool.
06:57 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:01 So the truck is pretty good.
07:03 And what we're trying to do to it here is not rocket science.
07:06 We should be able to get it done quickly.
07:08 I'm just concerned that we're 800 miles away from Milwaukee
07:12 and the Car Craft event.
07:14 275 miles a day, something like that, which
07:17 is kind of a big chunk for a '50 Ford F6 with a flathead in it.
07:23 Who knows how many miles are on it
07:24 and how much oil it's going to burn and how much oil
07:27 it's going to burn.
07:28 And what it's going to break.
07:30 So yeah, I don't know.
07:31 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:35 Oh, it came up.
07:48 Oh, yeah.
07:49 Nice.
07:50 The other side might need a little smack, but--
07:53 I think you could kick that with your foot
07:54 and that would come down.
07:55 You could roll the truck away from it.
07:57 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:00 Yeah.
08:01 Wait.
08:02 Hold on.
08:03 I wanted to come watch.
08:04 [LAUGHTER]
08:06 Oh, that is beautiful.
08:08 Way better.
08:09 It does not move at all.
08:11 That's all tire flex.
08:12 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:15 [LAUGHTER]
08:17 This is the best day at work ever.
08:18 Look what we made.
08:20 We took a two-ton truck with a 10-foot long bed
08:24 and made it that big.
08:26 It's perfect.
08:27 It's everything I wanted.
08:28 I don't care how it rides.
08:29 I don't care how it drives.
08:30 It just looks cool.
08:31 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:34 That's a good celebration.
08:37 It's more--
08:38 I mean, it's not a beer, but--
08:40 Well, it could be if you went upstairs.
08:41 You want a beer?
08:42 Yeah.
08:43 What flavor of Mexican do you want?
08:45 I got them all.
08:47 Pacifico.
08:49 I might have drank those.
08:50 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:54 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:57 It's Tuesday morning now, and we got a lot of stuff
09:04 planned for today that will prevent
09:05 us from being anywhere on time.
09:08 Probably most crucial, we got to make the brakes
09:10 work on this thing.
09:11 They're really, really bad.
09:13 But then we have a whole bunch of sort of non-essential things
09:15 that we'll probably do first.
09:17 Here's the other thing we need to do,
09:18 and this is probably most critical to our kidney health.
09:22 We got to pull some springs out of this thing.
09:24 It is rock solid, no suspension.
09:26 And I think we can lower it almost three inches just
09:29 by pulling leafs out of the pack right here.
09:31 [SAWING]
09:34 See how it's picking the whole truck up?
09:39 There we go.
09:40 Oh, water's coming out of it.
09:42 That's nice.
09:43 Bunch of water started pouring out the pinion seal.
09:47 So there's two problems.
09:48 The pinion seal's bad, and it's full of water.
09:52 Awesome.
09:54 It didn't leak before.
09:56 So just undo that thing you did.
10:00 So today's drama begins yesterday, actually.
10:15 Trying to stay ahead of the game.
10:16 We know we're leaving tomorrow.
10:18 So yesterday, I measured for the drive shaft length,
10:21 dropped it off so the guy could shorten it.
10:22 And then when Dave pulled half the leaf springs out
10:30 of this thing and dropped it down,
10:32 that changed the measurement by two inches.
10:33 So he built our slip yoke fully extended.
10:43 Looks like it.
10:44 There would be no jumping this truck.
10:46 There'd be no driving this truck,
10:48 because it won't get from here to there.
10:52 Well, there's a combination of faults here.
10:55 It's definitely not my fault.
10:57 We're making a list of the criticals instead of the wants.
11:00 We've got taillights, brakes, battery mount, fluids,
11:05 U-bolts, drive shaft, tires is a biggie.
11:08 When I bought this truck, I told the guy
11:10 to give him his full asking price
11:12 if he put a new set of tires on it,
11:13 because these tires are shot.
11:14 Today, he's supposedly bringing the tires,
11:16 and it's 12 o'clock.
11:19 So I'm starting to have my doubts that Farmer Ted's going
11:21 to show up with the tires for this thing.
11:23 If the tires don't show up, we hit the road
11:25 and see how far we can make it before these dry rutted things
11:27 fly into a million pieces.
11:28 But since the truck's only going to go about 25 miles an hour,
11:31 they're probably good.
11:32 Let's be honest.
11:32 We need to do things that make the truck run,
11:34 like adding a completely different fuel system.
11:36 Yeah.
11:36 Even though we have one that functions.
11:38 Does it function?
11:39 It smells like varnish.
11:41 Oh, see, there we go.
11:42 It's terrible.
11:43 Can't use it.
11:44 So we're going to use a beer keg and turn this into our gas
11:46 tank, because that is crucial to making the brakes function
11:50 and testing the motor and getting to the event.
11:55 The wheels on this thing are the old split rim type,
11:58 which no tire shop anywhere will touch.
12:01 Literally, these things are known for killing you,
12:03 as you have to bust the wheels apart and take the tubes out
12:06 of them.
12:07 And then dude shows up.
12:12 Dude is a monster.
12:15 And he goes full Viking on these things.
12:18 [MUSIC PLAYING]
12:22 Meanwhile, we're doing critical work.
12:31 Oh, that smells amazing.
12:32 [LAUGHTER]
12:34 [DRILLING]
12:37 Ow!
12:38 I'm sorry.
12:39 I forgot to tell you that it was coming,
12:41 because that would have made it better.
12:43 [DRILLING]
12:44 [LAUGHTER]
12:47 You did that on purpose.
12:48 I didn't.
12:49 [MUSIC PLAYING]
12:52 Yeah, I think that's much better.
13:05 Now we have the dent here.
13:06 Oh, and did I mention that Finnegan's shop is
13:08 air conditioned?
13:10 Another dent gives a character.
13:11 [MUSIC PLAYING]
13:14 I'd rather be in Alaska than sweating like this.
13:26 [APPLAUSE]
13:29 Man, that guy earned his money when he sold us this truck.
13:37 He never left.
13:38 He didn't go to a shop to do this.
13:39 He's a badass.
13:40 He worked all day, but got the tires done.
13:45 By the time this guy got finished with all six wheels
13:48 on the truck, we weren't even working on it anymore.
13:52 So the 55s go to the Car Craft Summer Nets, too.
13:54 I don't know if we mentioned that.
13:55 And the pilot truck is coming to pick this thing up tomorrow
13:58 morning at 9.
13:59 For those of you that are not hip to the blasphemy,
14:01 here's the deal.
14:02 It's a '55 Chevy Bel Air that David and I
14:04 bought as a bare body.
14:06 We dragged it up to Oregon, slapped a Jim Meyer Racing
14:09 gasser chassis underneath it, then
14:11 stuffed one of David's second gen
14:12 Hemis under the hood behind a six-speed Tremec gearbox.
14:16 So we're stopping our work on the truck
14:18 we need to drive 800 miles that is completely
14:21 sketchy to install a transmission
14:23 on the perfectly reliable car that just drove 800 miles
14:26 on Power Tour that we're not driving to the Car Craft Summer
14:29 Nationals.
14:31 Because if we don't put the trans in,
14:33 there's nothing holding the motor up in the car
14:35 when it gets shipped to Car Craft Summer Nationals.
14:37 So, yeah.
14:38 It all makes sense.
14:39 [MUSIC PLAYING]
14:42 This is going about as well as it always goes.
14:59 Of course, the car wasn't ready to be shipped,
15:01 and it still needed some work.
15:02 So a two-hour clutch replacement took all day for Frye-Burger.
15:05 [MUSIC PLAYING]
15:09 So this is ridiculous.
15:12 It's Tuesday afternoon.
15:13 We need to leave tomorrow morning, in my opinion, anyway.
15:16 We spent half the day battling the transmission in Finnegan's
15:19 55.
15:20 It's still not in yet.
15:21 The pilot truck's going to be picking it up
15:22 first thing in the morning.
15:23 I still haven't fixed the brakes on our truck,
15:26 and Finnegan's messing around with non-critical items,
15:29 like the decorative gas tank.
15:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]
15:33 Right now, I needed a win, and this, for me, is a win.
15:36 Yeah.
15:42 Yeah.
15:42 I'm finishing up this brake line right here,
15:48 and the storm is coming in, which is not that cool,
15:51 because this is as far into the garage as the truck will go,
15:54 because I didn't lower it enough to solve
15:56 that problem right there.
15:57 [MUSIC PLAYING]
16:00 [THUNDER]
16:04 Here's a never-before-seen "because roadkill" moment.
16:19 We've stopped working, not because
16:22 of the hideous thunderstorm and rain,
16:25 but because it knocked all the power out in the house.
16:28 [SIGHS]
16:31 Beer?
16:32 I don't know if the power's going to come back on,
16:34 but if it doesn't, the pilot truck
16:37 will show up in the morning expecting to take the 55, which
16:39 still doesn't have a trans in it.
16:41 We really need to leave, but as you can see,
16:44 Stubby's not together.
16:46 So we may end up just driving the El Camino,
16:48 because that runs right now.
16:49 [THUNDER]
16:52 [MUSIC PLAYING]
16:55 [THUNDER]
16:58 [CRICKETS CHIRPING]
17:01 Wednesday morning, 7 AM.
17:05 This is my Red Bull face.
17:07 The pilot truck is coming in two hours,
17:10 and we still have the transmission out of the 55.
17:12 We've got to make this thing run and drive.
17:14 Then we have to look at the F6 and decide
17:16 if we have enough time left to finish it in time
17:21 to drive it to wherever we're going, Milwaukee.
17:23 We're fine.
17:24 Let me just go ahead and mention the El Camino
17:26 runs and drives really well.
17:27 [MUSIC PLAYING]
17:31 [HORN HONKING]
17:32 This hole.
17:33 OK, up again.
17:34 [MUSIC PLAYING]
17:37 [HORN HONKING]
17:40 Last step, putting in the door bars,
17:42 and then we should be able to put this thing down,
17:44 drive it away.
17:46 And I'm serious.
17:47 [MUSIC PLAYING]
17:50 That is some incredible roadkill timing.
17:54 We just shut the hood as the pilot guy was driving up.
17:56 [MUSIC PLAYING]
18:00 [HORN HONKING]
18:02 [MUSIC PLAYING]
18:06 [HORN HONKING]
18:09 That's one down.
18:11 Yeah.
18:11 [LAUGHS]
18:13 Well, if you're betting against us,
18:15 you lose because look, that car runs.
18:18 It's not the car we intended to make run,
18:19 but one out of two isn't bad.
18:21 [MUSIC PLAYING]
18:24 [BELL RINGING]
18:28 [MUSIC PLAYING]
18:31 Yesterday, we needed to make the brake system work,
18:34 change all the fluids, rig up some sort of 12-volt battery
18:37 and tail lights, and make ourselves a fuel system.
18:40 Today, we need to make the brake system work,
18:42 change all the fluids, and then rig up
18:45 some sort of a 12-volt battery and tail lights,
18:47 and then make the fuel system work.
18:51 I don't know what time it is now,
18:52 but it's way too late for us to be actually
18:55 making it to Milwaukee on time.
18:58 Finnegan's concept of 800 miles is not quite the same as mine.
19:02 His concept of 800 miles is let's make a fancy fuel system.
19:06 [MUSIC PLAYING]
19:09 [HAMMERING]
19:13 [HAMMERING]
19:16 [HAMMERING]
19:20 Four wheels, one keg.
19:21 It's gorgeous.
19:26 You've heard that you're supposed to measure twice and cut once.
19:29 Well, we measured once and cut twice.
19:31 The drive shaft was made at the wrong length the first time,
19:34 but finally, we got the right one in here.
19:36 And at this point, we've done all kinds of work to the truck,
19:38 made it look great, but we have no idea if it's even going
19:41 to make it around the block.
19:44 So we need this battery basically just for tail lights.
19:47 Why are we using an Optima?
19:49 Because they give them to us.
19:50 Because they're our sponsor.
19:52 Get over it.
19:53 The battery that's free is the battery for me.
19:56 There's two more holes he still hasn't drilled
19:58 in the front leaf spring perch.
20:00 He hasn't changed the oil.
20:03 He hasn't wired up the front half of the lights
20:05 to a brake pedal switch.
20:08 I'm really starting to question what he brings to the table
20:11 right now.
20:13 Let me get a drink.
20:15 The time has come.
20:17 We're going to pour gas in this thing and try and fire it up.
20:20 We've got everything done that we need to get done to go
20:22 give it a test drive, just long enough
20:24 to decide whether we're actually going to try and drive
20:26 this thing 800 miles in the next two days or not.
20:29 Let's go drive.
20:31 Rochambeau for driving?
20:33 Sure.
20:33 Is this for driving or for not driving?
20:36 For driving, because I kind of want to drive.
20:38 Winner drives?
20:39 Yeah.
20:40 You can drive.
20:41 That was easy.
20:41 Finally, I win this.
20:43 I never win.
20:44 So you'll note what I'm doing here
20:47 is not so much pouring the gasoline into the new beer keg,
20:51 but into the actual fuel tank in the cab.
20:54 We're missing a single fitting to plumb the keg.
20:57 Yeah.
20:58 Maybe on the road.
20:59 At this point, we've worked on a couple different cars
21:02 for a couple different days.
21:03 We're way behind schedule for getting up to Milwaukee,
21:05 and we're going to go for our very first test drive.
21:08 OK.
21:09 Let's go.
21:10 This is going to be fun.
21:11 Rear end's in gear.
21:24 Rear end's in gear.
21:25 We're rolling.
21:26 Wow.
21:27 Oh.
21:27 We're moving.
21:28 Yeah.
21:29 This is pretty exciting.
21:35 Yeah, it is actually.
21:40 Let's go to second.
21:41 Double clutching.
21:48 Oh, it's going.
21:50 Oh.
21:52 You have to match the engine RPM, too.
21:56 Ah.
21:57 [LAUGHS]
22:03 Sorry.
22:05 That's a flat spot.
22:06 Yeah.
22:07 Sorry about that.
22:08 It didn't ride that bad.
22:10 Oh, corners like it's on rails.
22:18 Hey, that's a pretty good turning radius.
22:22 Ah.
22:23 Ah.
22:24 Got it.
22:26 Coming to a stop.
22:27 The rear end here has a barn button.
22:28 Did you hear stop?
22:29 Yeah.
22:30 I just worry about the three pump.
22:33 Keep rolling.
22:34 Keep rolling.
22:34 We can't stop.
22:36 [MUSIC PLAYING]
22:39 So-- so we can't really drive it with that way, right?
22:48 Uh, let me try to stop again.
22:50 Will it actually not come to a stop?
22:52 You mean like for that deer?
22:57 Deer.
22:57 Wow.
23:01 You got to lay into it.
23:03 We can't drive that.
23:05 [MUSIC PLAYING]
23:08 The rear end came out of gear.
23:19 I don't think I've ever said that in my life.
23:21 [LAUGHS]
23:22 Our two-speed rear end came out of gear.
23:28 That's crazy.
23:29 The drive shaft's spinning, but we're not going anywhere.
23:32 [INAUDIBLE]
23:35 Yeah.
23:40 All right, go ahead.
23:42 Oh, it's in gear now.
23:44 OK.
23:45 This feels good.
23:47 This is a good truck.
23:48 Bye.
23:52 The no-brake thing, that's a problem.
23:59 [SWISH]
24:00 [SIGHS]
24:04 [MUSIC PLAYING]
24:07 It's a beautiful disaster.
24:12 I mean, it doesn't work well at all.
24:15 Yeah.
24:15 But it is awesome looking.
24:17 Right.
24:17 Ready to take the El Camino to Car Craft Nationals?
24:19 [LAUGHS]
24:21 I really hate to give up on this thing.
24:23 The thing is, if this was a regular road kill,
24:25 I would say, let's just hit the road and go do it.
24:28 But since we have to be there--
24:30 On time.
24:31 On time.
24:33 The other thing is, if we don't show up,
24:35 we're going to let a lot of fans down.
24:37 But I think they'd want to see this.
24:39 Well, yeah, but if you don't get there with it--
24:41 [LAUGHS]
24:43 They won't see it if we crash it, because there's no brakes.
24:46 Yeah.
24:46 Because we just dumped a whole lot of time and effort
24:48 into this, and it's still old and crappy and breaking down.
24:54 And now we're not driving a Milwaukee in it.
24:56 So we're going to go ahead and hop in the El Camino
24:58 and get there.
25:00 No more problems from this point on.
25:01 Agreed?
25:02 [LAUGHS]
25:04 In the meantime, I think it's just
25:06 going to sit over there and annoy my neighbor,
25:09 because it leaks onto his property.
25:11 [MUSIC PLAYING]
25:22 We're going to bring tools, or meh?
25:24 No, if we bring tools, we'll need them.
25:25 [LAUGHS]
25:26 I don't bring tools.
25:27 It's like an ambulance.
25:28 It's got to work the other way.
25:29 If you don't bring them, then you'll need them.
25:31 If you do bring them, then you don't need them.
25:33 I have opposite luck.
25:34 This is going to go fine.
25:35 So what we're going to do now is drive the El Camino
25:39 800 miles up to Milwaukee.
25:41 We're probably going to make it to Indianapolis tonight.
25:44 That's the plan.
25:45 Let's cannonball.
25:46 [MUSIC PLAYING]
25:50 Goodbye, truck.
25:52 See you in about three years.
25:55 [MUSIC PLAYING]
26:17 Well, aside from a potentially deadly stench of gas
26:21 from a leak that we can't find, everything's
26:23 been going really smooth so far.
26:24 We just stopped in Nashville for lunch.
26:26 And what's really cool is we got fans coming out and checking
26:28 us out, because we're running the live GPS map off the phone.
26:31 One guy here has got a really neat little RX7,
26:33 and he's going to come and have lunch with us right now.
26:35 [MUSIC PLAYING]
26:40 [ENGINE REVVING]
26:43 [MUSIC PLAYING]
26:47 I'm ready to pass out from the fumes.
27:07 We're driving down the road, and it's just
27:09 peeing gas out of the vent.
27:11 Yeah, this is strangely familiar.
27:13 I think episode 7, 12, 19, 36, pretty much.
27:18 Every time we get in an old car, we suffocate.
27:21 [MUSIC PLAYING]
27:24 Morning, sunshine.
27:36 Good morning.
27:37 It's Friday morning now, and we made it to Indy yesterday.
27:40 Friday?
27:41 Eight hours on the road, unusually reliable.
27:44 When all we have to deal with is a fuel leak,
27:46 that's hardly roadkill at all.
27:48 But that's actually because the El Camino
27:49 is quite a bit different than the last time
27:51 you saw it on roadkill.
27:54 This is my wife's grandfather's 1969 El Camino.
27:57 We've added 14-inch Wilwood brakes, a GearStar 4L7D
28:01 transmission, and a complete RideTech coilover suspension.
28:05 It corners hard.
28:06 It runs hard.
28:07 It's awesome, except for the fumes.
28:11 We got 24 miles per gallon yesterday.
28:13 Yeah.
28:14 This thing really shouldn't even be allowed to be on the show.
28:16 We need to get the summer nets and get the Blast-O-Mingo
28:18 racing.
28:19 That's my plan.
28:19 Yeah, because we could break that.
28:21 Fear not, audience.
28:22 More breakage will ensue.
28:24 Always does.
28:27 Always does.
28:28 [MUSIC PLAYING]
28:31 [ENGINE REVVING]
28:35 [MUSIC PLAYING]
28:38 This was like the easiest roadkill trip ever,
28:55 except for this.
28:56 We were one full day late.
28:58 I got barbecued by management and let
29:00 down a whole bunch of fans.
29:02 [MUSIC PLAYING]
29:05 But the good news is that the Car Craft Summer Nationals
29:08 is going off.
29:10 [ENGINE REVVING]
29:13 [MUSIC PLAYING]
29:16 On Saturday morning, the place was packed,
29:20 and we went out and hit the autocross.
29:23 I'm confident that we will beat the kid with the stock
29:26 four-cylinder Ford Ranger who ran a 3.5-liter engine
29:30 and a four-cylinder who ran a 36.5-second lap.
29:34 He had less than 100 horsepower.
29:36 If we can't beat that, let's just burn the internet down.
29:39 You heard it here, folks.
29:40 You're driving first.
29:41 [LAUGHS]
29:42 Gosh.
29:43 [BLEEP]
29:43 [ENGINE REVVING]
29:46 All right, ready?
29:47 Yep.
29:48 Let's go.
29:49 [ENGINE REVVING]
29:52 [MUSIC PLAYING]
29:54 Right.
29:56 Big left.
29:59 No way.
30:00 It might not have fallen over.
30:01 [ENGINE REVVING]
30:04 And big right.
30:10 Whoa.
30:11 Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak.
30:12 [LAUGHS]
30:13 The engine keeps shutting off.
30:14 Here's the finish, just rolling.
30:16 There you go.
30:18 Yes, sir.
30:19 All right.
30:20 Woo!
30:21 Yeah.
30:21 Thank you.
30:22 $34,997.
30:24 Results do not include penalties.
30:26 Ah.
30:27 So yeah.
30:28 Go again?
30:29 So yeah, officially, you've got to go again.
30:30 All right.
30:31 [ENGINE REVVING]
30:33 There you go.
30:39 Yeah.
30:41 There goes Hanson again.
30:42 Yep.
30:43 That's a bummer.
30:44 [TIRES SCREECHING]
30:47 Yeah.
30:47 Good.
30:51 There you go.
30:57 34.351.
30:58 A little quicker.
30:59 Yep.
31:00 You want to take a crack at it?
31:01 Yeah.
31:01 All right.
31:02 34.35 seconds.
31:04 Suck it, Ford Ranger kid.
31:06 I don't care if you do have a four-cylinder.
31:08 You lose.
31:08 I'm going to drive now.
31:09 I've got the advantage of having seen the track, which
31:11 he didn't on his first pass.
31:13 But I'm scared of the brake pedal action on this thing.
31:15 Ready?
31:16 Yeah.
31:17 [ENGINE REVVING]
31:18 [MUSIC PLAYING]
31:21 Oh, boy.
31:22 [TIRES SCREECHING]
31:23 [MUSIC PLAYING]
31:26 It's too early here.
31:28 Yep.
31:28 Oh, too wide.
31:32 Oh, that's a lot of cones.
31:34 Wow.
31:36 That power steering is weird.
31:38 Here, grab the cone.
31:40 I'm not quite sure where this came from,
31:41 but it doesn't belong on--
31:42 [LAUGHTER]
31:45 That was awesome.
31:46 Hold on, give me a slip.
31:47 Yeah.
31:48 Direction.
31:49 Exactly.
31:52 We'll go, and then you can embarrass us.
31:55 I'll embarrass myself.
31:57 Again.
31:58 Yeah, go one more lap and we're out of here.
31:59 You think?
32:00 Yeah.
32:00 Oh, yeah.
32:01 All right, whenever you're ready.
32:02 OK, ready to crash again?
32:04 Let's go.
32:04 [TIRES SCREECHING]
32:06 Good haul shot.
32:07 I like it.
32:09 Oh.
32:09 [CLAPPING]
32:11 Oh, was that a cone?
32:12 That might have been a cone.
32:14 I don't know if it went down, though.
32:15 Water bottle under my foot.
32:17 Oh, well.
32:18 Thank you very much.
32:20 [LAUGHTER]
32:22 That is unbelievable.
32:23 [LAUGHTER]
32:25 [LAUGHTER]
32:27 That is unfortunate.
32:28 I know.
32:30 Here's the thing.
32:32 We humiliate ourselves in front of like a million viewers
32:35 every single episode.
32:36 Right.
32:37 And I'm like, whatever.
32:38 But doing it in front of like 75 people standing around here
32:41 at the grandstands is much worse.
32:43 I respect the fact that you're not saying I threw the water
32:46 bottle under there, you know, or that it was my water bottle that
32:49 landed under the brake pedal.
32:50 I didn't need to, [BLEEP] clearly.
32:52 I own this course.
32:54 I'm going to be relentless tonight when you suck in the 55
32:57 and miss shifts.
32:58 I can't suck in a 55.
32:59 [MUSIC PLAYING]
33:04 [LAUGHTER]
33:05 [MUSIC PLAYING]
33:09 Oh!
33:27 OK, I'm running.
33:28 You know, I could be wrong, but this
33:30 could affect our plans to go to the drag strip tonight.
33:33 No, we can still go.
33:35 This is what it's like to take a shower with a dozen people.
33:38 That's exactly what it feels like right now.
33:43 Yeah, we're in Wisconsin.
33:44 Strange things happen in Wisconsin, like curds, AMCs,
33:49 and the sun coming out and being like 80 degrees and humid
33:52 like 20 minutes after the thunderstorm and the tornado.
33:55 Those pants are going to work out real well for you.
33:57 Yeah, you know what the good news is about that, though?
34:00 The pants?
34:01 No.
34:01 Oh, what?
34:02 We're going drag racing.
34:03 Yes, we are.
34:04 Heading over to Union Grove, Great Lakes Dragway.
34:07 Let's do this.
34:07 [ENGINE REVVING]
34:10 [MUSIC PLAYING]
34:14 [ENGINE REVVING]
34:18 Oh my god, we are here at Great Lakes Dragway in--
34:37 where are we?
34:38 Union Grove, Wisconsin.
34:39 Union Grove, Wisconsin, yeah, where the cheese is
34:42 and where the rain's gone.
34:43 And I get to finally drive my car with a decent set
34:45 of tires on it.
34:46 Earlier today, we were at the Car Craft Summer Nationals,
34:49 which is a car show.
34:50 This is the Car Craft Midnight Drags, which is a car race.
34:54 [MUSIC PLAYING]
34:58 [ENGINE REVVING]
35:02 So this car has been to a drag strip one time.
35:21 And it was on these tires, the same tires, the Firestone
35:24 Cheater Slicks that we drove cross-country on last summer.
35:27 And they've got, I think, almost 7,000 miles on them.
35:31 And the thing about them is they're
35:32 a really hard, indestructible tire.
35:34 Like, they're not worn out.
35:35 But they also don't hook.
35:37 So this is the first time I'll actually
35:38 go down a drag strip with a decent soft set of slicks
35:41 on this.
35:42 So far, it's been 11.16 at 131 on these tires,
35:46 just spinning the whole way.
35:48 So I'm excited about this.
35:49 My goal is wheelie.
35:51 And if I can't wheelie, try to get in the tent.
35:54 [MUSIC PLAYING]
35:58 Hey, [BLEEP]
36:07 Hey, Dave.
36:08 Hey, Fryburger.
36:12 What's going on?
36:14 We got no slicks tonight.
36:15 But we got one slick.
36:17 What happened?
36:18 Well, they tried-- they drilled the other bolt pattern too
36:21 small.
36:22 I can't get the lug nut in.
36:24 That's a because road kill.
36:25 Yeah, that side's drilled fine.
36:26 It's a full-on because road kill.
36:28 Wheels on the car.
36:29 Had the new wheels drilled with the bolt pattern of the car.
36:31 One wheel is drilled with the hole large enough
36:33 for the lug nut I have.
36:34 The other wheel is not.
36:35 It's drilled one size too small.
36:38 Anybody got 9/16 drill bit?
36:40 You find anything?
36:46 Nope.
36:47 You need about a 7.05 hole.
36:49 And the holes were so small, it was
36:50 like a press fit.
36:51 So he's run off to a local machine shop
36:53 to try and get the holes hogged out so that we can actually
36:56 race this garbage tonight.
36:57 We've just been saved.
37:06 Absolutely saved by-- it's SRT, right?
37:08 Yep.
37:09 Yeah, SRT racing engines three miles from here.
37:11 And if I don't even think three miles from here,
37:13 pick me up, pick the tire up, go to their shop.
37:16 We didn't even have to drill the wheels out.
37:17 He just deburred them.
37:19 What's going on here tonight is that there's
37:20 a lot of overflow racing from the rain earlier in the day.
37:23 They got a lot of bracket cars, a bunch of nostalgia cars,
37:26 things like that.
37:27 And there's the Car Craft midnight drags thing going on.
37:29 But all we're really doing is test and tune.
37:31 We're not racing against anybody except for ourselves
37:33 and our potential breakage.
37:35 Well, as far as I know, the car is ready.
37:37 So I'm suiting up.
37:38 I'm going to get in.
37:39 We'll go see what she does with some new tires
37:41 here in Wisconsin.
37:43 [MUSIC PLAYING]
37:47 [ENGINE REVVING]
37:51 [TIRES SQUEALING]
38:17 [ENGINE REVVING]
38:20 Wow, those tires are sticky.
38:32 I launched at 3 grand, which before you could never
38:35 do with this car.
38:36 And it immediately stuck.
38:37 And I was like, whoa, traction.
38:39 So I went right to the floor, and the engine bogged.
38:41 And the car was kind of hopping a little bit.
38:43 And when it finally straightened itself out,
38:46 it went 11.80 at 128 and changed.
38:49 So it's a lot of mile an hour for a really bad ETE.
38:52 So if we can get the suspension ironed out,
38:54 make this thing lean hard, we could get in the 10s.
38:58 Totally could get in the 10s.
38:59 Our first pass is over, if you could possibly call it a pass.
39:03 I got to admit, I don't know exactly what's
39:05 going on with the car.
39:06 We had that porpoising action really bad.
39:08 Probably my bad on setting up the shock absorber deal.
39:11 So we've returned to a neutral position on the shock
39:13 so that I could sort of start from a more regular baseline
39:16 to find out what might be going on.
39:18 And are you going to launch with more RPM?
39:20 I'd like to.
39:21 OK.
39:21 All right.
39:22 Go to town.
39:23 Not my car.
39:24 [MUSIC PLAYING]
39:27 [ENGINE REVVING]
39:32 [ENGINE REVVING]
39:35 [MUSIC PLAYING]
39:39 It's a quarter to 12.
39:57 This is almost over.
39:58 We're going to get in line, try to go one more time
40:00 and make a halfway decent run.
40:02 Because so far, we've just battling ourselves.
40:05 We have traction now.
40:06 And now we've got an engine that bogged.
40:08 So we got out the laptop, tuned it a little bit.
40:10 I think it's better.
40:11 And we'll go find out.
40:12 [ENGINE REVVING]
40:16 [MUSIC PLAYING]
40:19 [ENGINE REVVING]
40:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]
40:33 That could have gone better.
40:37 How could I fail thee?
40:39 Let me count the ways.
40:40 [LAUGHTER]
40:41 We built a shorty truck that was really great around the block
40:45 once--
40:46 brakes died on that thing.
40:48 Had a great drive in the El Camino all the way up to here.
40:51 We learned how to boil gas, I guess.
40:52 But that's technically a fail because there was no roadkill
40:55 entertainment there.
40:56 So that's a big letdown.
40:57 And then, out on the autocross, I completely drove over cones
41:01 and then got a water bottle under the brake pedal.
41:03 So that was good.
41:04 How was this?
41:04 Oh, this--
41:05 Pure dragster.
41:06 You know what?
41:06 I've got to be honest.
41:07 I was just happy to drive the car.
41:09 As bad as it went, I was just happy to drive the car.
41:12 A lot of fail in one episode.
41:14 I've been awake for 24 hours now.
41:16 And so we're going to call it a wrap on this episode of Roadkill.
41:19 [MUSIC PLAYING]
41:27 [INAUDIBLE]
41:29 If anyone-- turn right.
41:32 Turn right.
41:32 Where are you going?
41:33 There's a dog chasing us.
41:35 Yeah, she's going to run in front of you.
41:37 OK.
41:42 I'm going to march you.
41:43 OK.
41:43 All right?
41:44 You're good.
41:45 You're good.
41:46 [INAUDIBLE]
41:47 There's also a nice [INAUDIBLE]
41:49 Hang on one second.
41:51 [HONKING]
41:52 [LAUGHTER]
41:56 [INAUDIBLE]
41:58 Oh, wow.
42:00 Oh, wow.
42:02 Oh, that's a little cold.
42:04 Oh, is this the sideways rain I've heard about?
42:07 OK.
42:08 Now can we go in the pilot?
42:10 I love earthquakes.
42:12 I'd trade one of those right now for one of these.