Roadkill by the numbers.
Two buddies, 426 Hemi,
four speeds, and Dana 60.
We're building it out of the junkyard.
Hemi Belvedere.
[theme music playing]
[David] We're back at Performance Auto in Burlington, Wyoming.
And we're gonna build a Hemi Belvedere in the boneyard.
I've never been here. I've never seen this car.
The thing is almost like brand new.
[David] Yeah, it really is.
And so is that one over there.
They got another Belvedere since the last time I was here.
This junkyard, or actually like personal collection
is basically a Mopar specialist.
They have a whole bunch of project vehicles here. That's what this one was.
It's a '69 Plymouth Belvedere, no engine, no trans.
And I brought parts which I'll fill you in on to make this thing great.
And I'm gonna need both these guys' help 'cause we've got five days.
And we're gonna replace every nut and bolt in the whole drivetrain.
Fortunately they cleared the shop for us. So you wanna help me push it in.
Ah, that's my favorite thing to do.
Ah, this thing rolls great.
And I think Freiburger has been doing most of the pushing.
Who, what, when, where, why?
Who, Steve Dulcich.
So Dulcich is one of my key enablers.
And he's been grinding me to get a '68 or '69 Road Runner
to match his Wreck Runner.
Thing is, they were like 20 grand and such.
So when Finnegan and I were on a road trip in the General Mayhem and stopped here,
at Performance Auto in Wyoming,
I found what I needed. We're buying this one.
Yeah, this has great paint on it. Totally have this.
[David] Which brings us to the "what".
This is a 1969 Plymouth Belvedere.
This car's original 318 car with a three on the tree,
so it was a stick.
This thing is it was so much cheaper than a Road Runner.
But it's the same car.
You may not be aware that a Road Runner
is essentially just a high-performance Belvedere.
Plymouth, back then took their cheapest,
lowest and lightest weight, no-frills car
and they added bigger engines, bigger brakes,
bigger torsion bars, sway bars
and some stickers and stripes and garbage and called them a Road Runner.
And it was a huge, huge hit.
The 1969 Road Runner was the MotorTrend Car of the Year.
I know you're dying to know. I paid 7,000 bucks for this thing.
Then the "when". Right now.
The "why".
Okay. I've been a Mopar guy probably since day one. Since I was a teenager.
And in more recent years I've been fairly critical of the 426 Hemi.
I think they're overpriced, I think they're super heavy.
I think they don't make the torque that a wedge could. So I'm not a hug fan.
But at the same time, the Mopar stroke in me
has always wanted some kind of Hemi car
that I could just turn the key and drive like it was nothing.
And so that's what this car is gonna be.
So recall that we had built the Hemi Gremmie together a long time ago.
And we installed a 426 Hemi iron head motor.
But then we broke a rocker arm on the Gremlin, had to abandon a road trip.
That side.
So that's when Finnegan and friends swiped the thing, brought it over to his place,
built a new Hemi for it.
A new Hemi that I had actually given him in trade
when we were first building the Blasphemi 55 Chevy.
And then that engine ended up getting fragged.
And it was sitting in his place.
He had Bostick Racing Engines got through it.
It makes 700 horsepower. It now lives in the Hemi Gremmie.
Which left me with the spare 426 kicking around.
And that's why we're able to have that used Hemi ready to stab in this car.
So in the next five days we have to install a Hemi,
a used A-833 Four-Speed that I got from here at the yard,
and a used Dana 60 that I brought from another friend.
I think I thought of every possible part that we could use.
Because right here, right now we are an hour from any auto parts store.
So I gotta build it with all the parts that I thought of
and, of course, probably some scraps from this Mopar junkyard.
We've already made more progress today on this project
than we made in the entire first day of that Mustang project in Washington.
Oh, yeah! That was horrible!
We didn't get very far on day number one. This is great!
Basically the car needs engine, trans,
drive shaft, rear end, rear suspension.
-Cooling-- -Everything that makes it go.
-Right. -Yeah.
So do you want to go engine and trans first?
Or do you wanna go rear axle first?
-Well, it has a rear axle currently. -[David] Yeah.
So maybe that's the last thing.
-All right. So let's put the Hemi together. -Okay.
All right. That's step one. Assemble Hemi.
-[Steve] Mike, you want help me get the hood off? -[Mike] Oh, yeah.
-Ready when you are, sir. -Okay.
[Steve] Just hold up the front a little bit.
Oh, wow. We just handled that like nothing.
-This is pretty light, too. -Yeah.
[Davi grunts] Steve, can you tighten this around?
There we go.
Stop. That's it.
-Okay. -Yeah.
-Man. -Oh, that doesn't go to the main cap.
-What does that go to? -Here's the main cap, right here.
-That's that angle bracket. That-- We're not using it. -Oh.
I'm changing the oil pan because I have learned my lesson so many times
about, like thrashing on dirt in corners without a road race pan.
Okay.
I think that's it. Right?
Okay.
All right. I'm gonna need some pipe plugs.
All right. Oil pump next.
[grunting] There we go.
One of the things I wanna do is modify the steering column.
Now this is a column shift car so it has these arms here
which come off the bottom of the column and activate the transmission shifter.
And, uh, they're just in the way when we're gonna put that big Hemi in there.
So I'm gonna cut those off.
That actually came out pretty good.
The 426 Hemi uses a different motor mount
than the other big-block V8s in the Chrysler line.
The good news is that the K-member in thew car is the same
be it a 318 or a Big Block.
The thing is the Hemi won't bolt to the Big Block K-member
unless you've got this kit right here from Schumacher Creative Services.
It is an adapter mount that allows the Hemi three-bolt pattern
to go onto that K-member.
A normal 440 or 383 would have like, cast in ears that come off here.
This has this instead.
Now the other thing you need to know about the Hemi is these three bolts right here
are not blind. They go all the way through to the crank case.
So they will leak oil.
So you do need to seal them a little bit.
All right. I hear good things happening.
[Mike] Sound of beer being cracked open, or...
What are we talking about? What kind of good things?
I know we're gonna break this in properly
for two or three hundred miles before the first burn out, or,
you know, drag race. So I'm gonna go the extra mile and...
wipe my handprints off of this.
[reading] 80 to 129 grit surface finish. Uh-huh.
Uh-huh. Driving...
750 miles on the highway.
We don't need that kind of negativity here on Roadkill.
So we're just gonna send it.
[Steve] Little higher.
You know what we don't have are dowels on the back of this block.
-Oh, really? -[Mike] Yeah.
[David] That's a good catch.
Finnegan had the astute observation
that the dowel pins were missing from the back of the block.
And those are critical for locating the bell housing.
I mean, you probably knew that because you probably took them out.
-My guess. -[Mike] Yeah.
So there's supposed to be a stack of big blocks over here.
We're gonna go find it.
He's 440s.
Well, I found a couple of Big Block Chryslers here that have the parts that we need,
including distributor hold down,
and dowel pins on the bell housing surface.
[Steve] I have my feet down on terra firma.
When it comes to taking out dowel pins I don't live an illusion,
you know. I'm not trying to send a rocket to Mars.
I know that they're gonna be stuck!
These are all Big Blocks and they're firma.
Now if you had a small block
they go all the way through when you can hammer 'em.
-Oh, this is working, Steve. You're a genius. -[Steve] Ah, yeah.
-That'll work. -For you.
-Here you go. -Next one.
-Ah! -Got it.
Bingo.
-Now we can put the engine in the car. -Like butter.
[David] Right there.
[Mike] Want a souvenir?
[David] We have our new dowels in the block.
We're gonna bolt the bell-housing on with a couple of bolts.
We're actually gonna test fit the transmission out here
just to make sure everything's cool,
and that the splines will line up with the pilot bearing in there.
And that way, hopefully we don't have to fight it as much
once we get in underneath the car.
[Mike] This little ear, right here.
You know I used to say we're not very good at this.
And, uh, that used to bother Freiburger.
And now my opinion has changed. This is Season 13.
We are very good at this. You know how I know?
Because last year we'd have got all excited and just thrown the Hemi in the car,
and then spent the next four hours on our backs finding out that...
Oh, hey, the bell-housing doesn't go on.
And when you try to put the headers on, they hit the bell-housing.
But not today. No!
We're test fitting things.
Perfect.
Oh, yeah. We're good.
-[Steve] Cleared? -[David] Yeah, let's try the other side.
That clears it.
-Let's, um, just slide the trans and see if it goes. -Okay.
I think we just need to... turn it.
Okay. It's not in the spline yet.
[Mike] I think it's trying to but it's stuck on the disc.
So what's going on here is that he's trying to mimic the struggle
that we're gonna have underneath the car later by solving it now.
The Hemi Four-Speed is distinguished by and 18 spline input.
And this has a 23. It's just the transmission that was available.
So it's a little smaller. It's not technically "correct".
But we don't care.
[Mike] You know, we're trying to test fit things
and make sure that once it's in the car
we don't have a problem putting the transmission
and mating it to the back of the motor.
And, uh, sure enough, it does not wanna go in there.
It could be that our clutch disc is not perfectly in line
with the back of the crank and the trans.
It's out of alignment. The tool won't even go in now.
So we need to loosen up the clutch.
Nice.
We just did this on Finnegan's Daytona.
And we know that with this oil pan it won't go in
with the clutch and flywheel 'cause it'll hit the firewall.
So we should remove it after all that trouble we just went through.
We spent so much effort getting the clutch perfectly aligned
and now it's gotta come back off.
[grunts] Oh, that disc is slippery.
This car is at this moment
-getting a Hemi for the very first time. -[David] It is.
[Mike] In a shop that's never had a Hemi in it before.
-[Steve] Yes. -[David] That's what they said.
[Mike] Looking good.
[Steve] Let's, uh, get the headers in.
Let's go halfway down first.
Wow. That wants to go down really quickly.
We're gonna have to kick one away.
Why don't we get this header in?
[David] This Hemi's 426 inches, and it has been built up a little bit.
It started out as a Mopar Crate Engine.
It's 10 to one compression.
It has a small hydraulic roller cam in it.
It's like 242 to 50, I think.
And on our Engine Masters show this thing made 560 horsepower.
So it's not a killer. But it'll be fun.
[Mike] We are real close to my motor mount.
[David] Yeah, you're square over the motor mount.
-That header is gonna-- -You've got it too far back.
If you go down then that helps my situation.
[David] All right. Here it comes down... very carefully.
[Mike] So this isn't perfectly aligned.
'Cause a screwdriver will do through it, but this bolt won't.
[David] Coming up.
-[Steve] Is that engine tilting? -Yeah.
-Or am I crushing the oil pan? -No, it's tilting.
Let's go slow.
Oof.
Yikes.
Now's when we find out how rusty this is underneath.
Okay, this will go right on.
Let's bolt it in.
Did it go?
[Mike] Before we put this header in,
let's put the flywheel and the clutch in.
This is disturbingly easy. I feel like something's about to go wrong.
-Don't talk like that. -David!
-Why would you say that? -Can you just--
Now we're gonna install the clutch again.
After we test fit it outside of the car.
This is a McLeod Street Extreme setup.
I like it because it's got the ceramic pucks on both sides of the disc.
And Steve and I have figured out that these withstand our abuse
right out of the box better than, like, the typical friction material.
Okay.
-Good? -I think so.
Here we go.
We're actually about to try and put the transmission in.
We've been making incredible progress.
The B-body actually uses a different cross member for a Four-Speed
than it does for a Three-Speed or an automatic.
So I had to order that on eBay.
They didn't have one here at the yard.
Get a little on that, on the tip.
-You know, just... -Oh, yeah.
This thing's actually really rust-free.
It's undercoated, which is a bummer to me.
But it's not bad.
Al right. Go ahead.
-Yeah. -Okay. Up.
It should go in.
I don't know how we're looking, left to right.
But this thing should go in.
The back of the trans has to come up a little bit.
-[David] There we go. -[Mike] Nice.
-Nailed it. -Is it all the way in?
It's real close. We just need to put bolts in it.
Trans is in.
It's installed but not tightened.
We still have a lot to do.
But I'm concerned about the piece of wood that we put between
the Hemi and the firewall.
I hope it's not caving in my firewall right now.
Look! A Hemi in a Belvedere.
-I know! -That's pretty sweet.
Yeah!
-And... -I'm just gonna take the chain off right now
-'cause I don't think we're gonna need it. -No.
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say this was the most
successful first day in the history of any Roadkill shoot.
It was pretty incredible.
-Like, wow! -Yeah!
-Pretty amazing. Yeah. -[Steve] It's in the car.
[David] Day two. We cranked it yesterday.
[Mike] Yeah, we go so much done. Oh, my gosh.
So, Steve, what's your plan for today?
Well, I mean, I think we have a whole bunch of stuff to do here at the back of the car.
Well, I think you guys are gonna mess with that.
And I'm gonna go to the front and finish up bolting the headers in,
bolting the trans in.
[exclaims]
Stay!
[Mike] That is 60 inches.
[Steve] 60. Okay. That sounds right.
[Mike] 58 and a half.
[Mike] But then we have to add the, uh, rotor hats.
Quarter inch per side.
-So... -So it's 59.
-59. So it's an inch narrower. -It'll work.
[Mike] Let's measure the perch width.
44 and three quarters.
[Steve] Oh, these are way narrow. These are 35 and a half.
[Mike] But we are in luck.
We can weld a brand new set of perches like these
on our new rear end without even removing the old ones,
saving all kinds of time. Which makes me happy.
Oh, wow. That was a good one.
-[metal clanks] -[all exclaiming]
-Okay. -It's frightening.
[David] All right. I'm just wrapping up the headers here.
These are a two and an eight inch header.
That's the primary size from TTI Exhaust.
I got the chrome ones 'cause they're cheaper than the ceramic coated ones.
And they fit really well. However...
you cannot fit a bigger torsion bar in this car without denting the header.
Aside from that, mint!
[Mike] Oh.
-294 gear set in this thing. -[Steve] Oh, wow.
-Oh, that would've done great burn outs. -Yes.
It's a cool suspension company from back in the day that made these.
Big, long lift shackles that on this car were used
just because the leaf springs were completely flat.
But the added bonus of these is someone put 'em on upside down,
this is supposed to do down.
So that you can pick your ride height with three different spring positions.
We're just assuming that this gas tank's all full of crud,
so we're replacing it.
We gotta work the fill tube out of its grommet.
Okay.
You catching?
Got it.
Out.
Hardy got anything in it.
Look at this. New leaf springs.
We are replacing a worn out set that were virtually flat
with the weight of the car sitting on them.
These are after-market springs.
These are from Mopar Performance.
These are specifically for a car that has a Hemi in it.
The passenger's side of the car has one more leaf than the driver's side.
Here's a little problem that's gonna delay putting in the the rear end.
We're gonna weld these spring perches on.
But the hole right here that indexes to the pan on the leaf spring,
is oversized. So we need to bush that down.
We don't have any kind of tubing that's gonna do that job.
So I'm gonna take this shank-style lug nut
and turn down the outside till it fits in that spring perch just perfectly.
And then we'll take a half inch drill, drill it out in the middle,
and that'll fit the pin.
And here we have the perfect adapter to make
that spring perch work with our leaf spring.
What we're doing right now is we're gonna loosely bolt the rear end on.
The spring perches are in place.
And then, uh, once the U-bolts are in,
we can just jack it up and the whole assembly'll come up,
we can mount the rear spring hangers.
[Steve] The question is, this is a race.
Will I get my side done before Freiburger?
[Mike] No.
[David] That's the spot. All right. Tell me when to stop.
[Mike] It's pointed down a little bit.
All right. Now that we have it sort of mocked up in there,
and the axle is centered side to side,
we're gonna put the wheels and tires on and put weight on the car
so that we can then determine the pin angle
before we weld in the leaf spring perches.
[Steve] The problem we have is the studs on our rear end are super long racing studs.
And those take an open-ended lug nut.
So I'm gonna take these shank type lug nuts
'cause we can't buy replacements that are open-faced,
and just grind the cap off the end of it so that they can...
screw it all the way on the stud and tighten the wheels up.
Okay, that's all done.
This is it, the first time we're gonna set the car all the way down on the ground
with the new wheels, tires, springs, and differential.
We're gonna set it down and then figure out a pinion angle.
-[Mike] Ooh. -[David] Ooh, this is gonna be good.
-[Mike] Wow! -[David] Not bad.
-[Mike] That is tucking a lot of tire. -[David] Yeah.
So this is a 15 by 8 with a 275-60-15 on the back.
And the back spacing and stuff is weird,
because this read end ends up being a little narrower than stock.
We're actually gonna wanna space the wheels out.
There's too much space here.
But... it looks like it doesn't sit too bad.
[Mike] No. And the front will come down when you put the right sized tire on it.
[David] Today we had some slowdowns,
and it wasn't quite as much of a win as yesterday,
but we do have the entire drivetrain in the car, Hemi, Four-Speed and Dana 60.
So we're gonna call it for the night. We'll be back tomorrow.
And this thing will be even more victorious.
I do love it though. It's great.
-[Steve] Just getting better and better. -[David] Yep.
Thank you, guys, for all the labor.
Good mornin'. Big rain last night.
More comin' in over there. I'm out shopping.
We realized that I neglected to order a fuel pump for the Hemi.
I just need to find a 361, a 383, a 440.
And find out if the fuel pump
will oink or not. I'll show you that in a minute.
Let's see if I can find one.
This is my unit right here.
[screws]
Here we go.
And there's the pump.
Remember I mentioned to you that I'm gonna find out if it oinks?
You gotta know if the diaphragm
inside the thing is wasted or not.
Then if you move the lever,
and it sort of makes an oinking sound,
then you're usually pretty good.
That one is locked up solid.
That's junk. Okay.
All right. Will this one oink?
Nah, this one's gonna be frozen solid also.
Yup. That's junk.
A-ha!
Found another one.
[grunts] These are all
rusted solid.
[grunts] All right. I'm gonna try one more and then I'm gonna call it.
That one's also locked up.
I'm giving up. It's freezing.
We're gonna go back and see if I can find a way
to get a fuel pump brand-new here this afternoon. Whoa.
Four-forty's... You failed me.
I'm gonna install the driveshaft
even though the rear U-joint is wrong.
We have the fuel pump on order.
We also have a conversion U-joint on order.
However, I can mock it up in there
so that we can set the car down
and start looking at that pinion angle that we didn't do yesterday.
And then we will zap the, uh, leaf spring pads in place.
The other thing we're gonna find out right now
is if the driveshaft
that we ordered blind,
is the right length and...
Ooh.
Yes. We scored.
I am just going to put the caps on this
and hold that in, even though...
So you can see the cup size is too small for the yoke.
[whirring]
Breakfast.
Okay. One down.
Oh, you're there, buddy.
Done.
Now we're back to what we left behind yesterday,
which is dropping it on the ground, putting weight on the car,
setting the pinion angle and then tacking the leaf spring pads in place.
[whirring]
[Steve] Go more forward.
All right.
Okay, stop.
I think that's rotating, right?
-[Steve] Oh, it's rotating alright. -Yeah.
Driveshaft, zero.
Yeah, I get nine degrees on the yoke and I get...
eleven degrees on the web.
[Steve] Oh. That's ballpark where we want it, right?
[David] Probably.
Okay. The driveshaft is two.
-[Steve] Two down? -Uh-huh.
[Steve] That's pretty much what they are.
-Something like that. -[David] Yup.
Dave and Steve got the pinion angle all dialed in on the rear end in which means...
I can now go under there and MIG weld
just little tacks
to hold the saddles
to the axle tubes.
If I throw one more tack on it, we could lift it up.
With the wheels off, I might be able to weld the thing
without taking the axle back out.
The car is off the ground,
in the air, the wheels are off.
'Cause I'm just going to do all the welding here.
We're not even gonna take the rear end out
'cause I think we're just all really excited
to finish this thing and hear it roar to life.
[whirring]
[David] I keep wanting to put it down and work on the engine.
But we have a ton more to do underneath. Like...
the rear brakes need the rotors cleaned, mount the calipers.
-Hoses. Hardlines. -No.
Vice grip, and the whole back
of the brake system's done, bro.
[David] It's possible.
I'll start coordinating getting all the braking system
-working in the back. -Okay.
I'm excited to get to the part
-where we work on the Hemi. -[David] Yeah.
We can make the Hemi run all we want
and the car's still not drivable without all that stuff though.
[Mike] Hey, the parts are in there. And the shoes are new.
It's all brand-new. Leave it alone.
That wasn't adjusted good.
Or well.
Like new.
Good enough.
I mean, it's only got a Hemi for power.
Ten-inch brakes should be fine.
The older Mopar's came with left-handed lug nuts
on the left-hand side of the car.
The theory being, I guess, that the lug nuts wouldn't spin off
with the rotation of the wheel. Jeeps did this too.
I'm gonna change the drum
on the driver's side to a drum from the passenger side.
So that I get regular lug nuts.
Bleh.
I'll be changing the disc brakes soon enough on this thing.
Our used Dava 60 rearend came with this really nice Wilwood brake assembly.
The only problem is it didn't come with all the hardware.
So we're gonna get that tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I've got everything mocked up.
I've got the rotor in place
and I'm gonna mock up the caliper.
Mike welded some tabs on the rear end
'cause we're running flexible hose back here,
off the caliper, that allows it to be removed and put back on
without having to disconnect the hydraulic system.
Then we're gonna plumb the hardlines
and all of this rear portion of the braking system
will be all done.
[David] All right. We've done everything we can underneath the car.
Next...
Hemi power. Yeah. We're gonna put dual quads on this thing.
[groans] Man, it hit again.
How in the world could it be hitting it though?
-[David] Yeah. -[Steve] You go ahead and turn it, David?
Okay. Yep.
[grunts] Wow.
The head of the ring gear is...
this part of the flywheel and it's hitting the body of the starter.
For the last half hour, we've been staring at this car going,
"Why doesn't the engine wanna turn over very easily?"
And I look up and I see that the...
the body of the starter is actually hitting the flywheel.
And I'm really hoping that when he moves this starter out of the way,
that that solves the whole problem.
Spin it.
Easy.
-[Mike] Make three easy. Yes. -Easy.
-That's it. -Four easies?
-Easy. -Perfect.
-Yeah, so the engine is good now. -Whoo.
But I feel something right there.
Yeah, it's still up against it.
I can feel the, um, starter 'cause I have my hand there.
Right...
-there. -Yeah, you just...
it just machined the flywheel with the starter body.
So we just need to put a little chamfer on it...
-Uh-huh. -...and it should be good to go.
-[Mike] I'll get a grinder. -[David] Whoo.
[Mike] Starter's hitting the flywheel, that's no good.
We need to shave the body of the starter down
right where it's contacting the flywheel.
We gotta take probably three-sixteenth's
of an inch worth of material off this thing
so that it doesn't hit the flywheel anymore.
So if you guys remember, this particular Hemi
hasn't seen any action
since the last time
it was between the fenders of the Gremlin.
And the reason is
that we actually had a push rod,
this one right here,
pop out of the lifter,
pop out of the rocker arm adjuster.
[David] If you've got any kind of adjustable valve train,
you can glance at the adjuster nuts
and look at where the set screw is
in relation to the nut.
And look at all of these, how they're virtually flush,
and then, boom.
You got to this one
and you can see that that adjuster
is backed way off.
And you go... There's probably a problem here
and then you do this.
Oops.
That's a disaster.
That rocker arm, the cup of the adjustor was wasted,
so was the body of the rocker.
So we bought a new one
and we need to install it.
First we need to install a new lash cap on top of the valve.
You need to make sure the lash cap actually sits flat
on top of the valve stem tip
because sometimes it can get stuck
on the keeper in there.
I'm gonna find out what our depth is
in our little keeper there using a cotter pin.
And I'm gonna mark the cotter pin...
with a very fine tip sharpie.
I'm gonna place the cotter pin...
into the bottom side of the lash cap.
And then I'm gonna sit there and compare my mark.
And that'll tell me will this sit flat
on the top of the valve
or is this thing gonna bottom out
on the keeper that's holding the retainer to the valve?
Mike is adjusting the pre-load on that one lifter
where we removed the rocker arm.
This thing has a hydraulic roller camshaft in it
which is unusual for me.
And so what he's gonna do is rotate the push rod
as he's tightening the adjuster
until he just feels it a little bit dragging
and then he'll give it probably half a turn...
and then lock her down.
[Mike] Done.
We're working on the engine now and
we're gonna finally make it look like a Hemi.
I'm gonna drop the dual quad setup on this thing.
This manifold is just like
a production dual plane
except the carburetor pads are spread apart
so that you can have Holleys on here
instead of the Carter carburetors.
Okay.
Got this all cleaned up
and ready to go.
And, plunk.
[Steve] Wow.
That looked reckless
and yet it was as precise as could be.
Of course, Steve.
That was a precision plunk.
Think this'll clear the hood?
[David] Uh...
This car came with a column shift manual transmission.
And the floor shift car came with this auxiliary hump
and, uh, a hole cut into the floor pan.
So we've gotta add that component.
I've got the floor marked
and it already been hacked out pretty roughly.
So I've gotta cut it out for shifter clearance.
Then we'll weld this in
and we'll have converted this thing
to a proper floor shift car.
One of the signatures of the Hemi engine
is that the spark plug is at top dead center
right between the two valves and that means that spark plug
goes right down the middle of the valve cover
which means you need these tubes
that go down here and seal it off
and the spark plug threads in
at the bottom of the tube into the cylinder head.
Honestly, mine are a little bit sketchy
because these valve covers
don't perfectly fit this valve train.
And we've got two gaskets
and a quarter inch steel spacer in there to make it seal.
Goes right like...
Bink! That.
Finnegan and I are making a new throttle bracket.
I'm cutting. He's gonna weld and fab.
[David] We're just fiddling with the small details.
Finnegan just made a genius throttle cable
and return spring setup.
I got a fuel pump push rod
with a bronze tip 'cause of the billet camshaft.
Oh, the guys from the junkyard had a brand new fuel pump.
Probably not what I would have chosen for myself,
but, hey, it's gonna make the Hemi run.
That's all we're tryin' to do.
What're you guys gonna do next?
Uh, cross something off, hopefully.
I feel like we did a lot this morning.
-[David] Yeah. -[Mike] But I gotta be honest,
-there's not a lot on here to cross. -[David] No, probably not.
I'm about to put all sorts of grease
on the fuel pump push rod
so that it sticks up in its hole
so I can put the fuel pump in.
Ready?
Blurp!
[Mike] Uh, well, right now Freiburger is finishing up the rear brake line
which caps off the entire brake system
on the back half of the car.
Dulcich is under the bottom of the car
hooking up a new Hurst shifter
and somehow I got sucked into the nightmare
that is wiring the starter which is behind the header.
And I can't see anything.
So, I'll be over here...
crying.
[Steve] Can you adjust that one so it goes in there?
[David] Um...
Okay.
And first, second, third, fourth.
Reverse.
Our rear end takes a 1350 U-Joint
which is, kind of, a big one
and the, uh, driveshaft was made
with 7290s
which for the heavy duty U-joints for a Mopar.
But we got this combination joint,
7290 on one side,
1350 on the other.
I'm gonna knock this old one out
and I'm gonna slam this one in
using nothing but a hammer.
Well, that just about installed itself.
Now I'm gonna go put it in the car.
That's it.
Drive shaft completely done.
I think at some point in this car's life,
it got in a fight with...
something much stronger than it was
and, well, it bent the core support
in a fashion that doesn't allow us to install a radiator.
So I'm just gonna beat it into submission here.
Or I'm gonna swing and hit my thumb.
It's not really working but it's fun.
I think I moved it.
[David] That's it.
There you go. It's actually tweaking it and straightening it.
The radiator will probably go in now.
I mean, it's still all tweaked but...
It's gonna go.
We're finally ready to get the radiator in here.
Let me give you a couple tips
about Mopar Muscle Car radiators.
There's two sizes basically.
A 22 inch core and a 26 inch core.
This thing had a 318 engine in it originally
and it had the 22 inch core.
We're gonna be putting a 26 inch core
that is actually out of a C-body
which would be like a Town & Country
or a full size Polara.
What you should do when you install the bigger radiator
is cut this section out right here
so that you got more airflow.
But, honestly, we're running out of time.
We gotta get this thing going.
So we're gonna drop the radiator in.
Mike just drilled a hole and we're gonna bolt it in
and it's gonna work even with a 22 inch opening.
This is yet another come back and make it right later kind of moment.
[chuckles]
[chuckling]
This car is rapidly becoming one of my favorites.
Great.
[David] Those guys gave me this shroud
off off this radiator.
Man, this thing is gonna cool good.
I really have my fingers crossed
that all the wiring on the car is still good.
But one thing we didn't have was the ignition key.
Now, that might seem like an insurmountable problem
but we're a a wrecking yard with a whole bunch of Mopar, so...
I got a new ignition,
or, let's say, an old ignition,
with the key, and, uh, I got the old one out.
All I've got left to do here is tighten up the bezel
and that installation is all done.
I'll be a miracle if it works
but I'm gonna see if this'll make the starter bark.
-[engine revs] -[David] Whoa!
-Whoa! -[David] Nice!
-Freiburger! -Don't crank it long.
There's no pipe plug in the back of the block.
It'll... [blows raspberry]
-That's a total win. -[David] Full win.
That means we can make this run.
I have to like, scab an MSD on here.
And we'll be good to fire it up after we plug that pipe plug.
Wow, look at that. Actual coolant.
Or should I say anti-freeze?
Because it freezes here in Wyoming.
And this thing's gonna stay here for a little while.
We're right now at the point of like, rushed butchering.
The wiring is a disaster, but it's functional.
We just wanna hear the thing run tonight.
So, I think we gotta do the anti-freeze,
uh, needs fluid in the transmission so we don't spin that dry.
-Gas in the tank? -Gas in the tank.
Turn the key.
-That's it? -Yeah.
It's gonna be loud.
You might think this is full of sweet honey barbecue sauce.
-But it's actually premium, high-octane gasoline. -It is.
It's at a perfect size to inject the gasoline
right into the bowl without spilling a drop.
You got the extinguisher? [chuckles]
Let me just...
When this backfires because the ignition is too far advanced,
-uh, it's gotta be a big fire. -Gonna be a bam.
-[sighs] There we go. -[David groans]
-That's a lot of gas. -Well, that's a moderate amount.
I'm ready to start it, how about you?
I'm pretty final on myself, so.
Well, let's check if the pump's shot.
It has it, I just checked it.
Oh, okay.
-[Steve] Ready? -[David] Yep.
-[Mike] Yeah. -[switches click]
[engine starts and roars]
Whoa! First try.
Dude! [laughs]
Yes.
[engine revs]
-[David] That's pretty good. -[engine stops]
[both cheering]
[David] That's all we needed to know.
We wanted to be a little further ahead tonight, but hey,
it's drivin' tomorrow.
[Steve] We have a running 426 Hemi.
[Mike] Dude.
-Nice work, fellas. -Yep.
Thank you guys for all that trash, I mean,
little butch around the edges, but it's a perfect start.
I'm gonna sleep in tonight.
-[Steve] Yeah. -[David] Me too.
'Cause we're gonna do burnouts tomorrow.
Yes, we are.
This feels like our final major step.
We have to make the clutch linkage work.
Obviously, we already have the throw out bearing in there,
but we need the clutch fork,
we need the push rod, we need the Z bar,
we need the rod from the pedal with the Z bar.
It's gonna take a little fiddling.
What I think is gonna be the last step here
is putting in the Z bar,
which goes from the bell housing to the frame
and activates all the clutch operation.
-[Mike] Mmm. -What do you think, Mike?
I feel like your plan of using worn-out parts
-to pivot on is the way to go. -[David] Yes.
'Cause the new ones don't fit.
-They're too tight. -[both] Yeah.
-[hammering] -[Steve] Let's wrastle this thing up in there.
-There you go. -Oh.
-Smooth. -Yeah. It's better.
[drilling]
[David] Uh, these offset washers are terrible.
[drilling]
[David groans]
[drilling]
-Shocks are on. -[Mike] Battery's mounted.
-[Mike] This will be pretty sweet if this fits. -[David] I know.
[David] I do not have high hopes, but I do hope.
[drilling]
And we attempt it.
-[Mike] Yes. -[David] All right.
-Dude. -We're gonna actually try and drive it.
-Who gets to drive? -[David] Oh...
[Mike] Well, who do you think?
-[men laugh] -[Mike] Hemi.
I'm totally content to watch it zoom by.
-I gotta be honest. -[Steve] Me too.
[David] I'm now Hemi Dave.
I am ready. Let's go.
[engine stutters and starts]
[Mike] First drive.
[engine revs]
Woo-hoo!
[laughs]
Yeah! [laughs]
Yay!
Well, we did it.
Yeah!
This thing's awesome.
Great work, Dulcich.
Great work, Freiburger.
I wonder when the last time this ran and went down the road was.
Some grandma bought this thing new
and putted it around with a 3-18 and three speed on the tree.
And now, it's a hot rod.
[engine revving]
[David] There is it.
My 1969 Plymouth Belvedere
that is now loaded with a 426 Hemi, a 4-Speed and a Dana 60.
I hope that I can actually live up to my dream
of driving a Hemi car like it's nothing.
Now, I realize, not all of you have a spare Hemi sitting around.
But here's what you need to do.
Come up with some semblance of your dream car
and just get some buddies and make it happen.
Stack up the parts,
assemble the car, make it run and drive,
and you know what, it's gonna be rough around the edges.
You're gonna need to tune it up.
You're gonna have to fix the stance.
But you will have a running, driving dream car,
and that gives you the motivation to continue.
Just like we do every time on Roadkill.