In this episode of HOT ROD Garage Mike Finnegan gets tips for strengthening sheet metal using a bead roller from world-famous fabricator
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MotorTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:32 [ENGINE REVVING]
00:33 On this episode of Hot Rod Garage,
00:35 we're going to dino tune a 454 Chevy that's in our ramp truck
00:39 and pick up big power with nothing more than a new
00:42 distributor and carburetor.
00:43 We're also going to learn how to bead roll sheet metal.
00:45 And right now, we've got a new quick tip from Lincoln Tech.
00:49 Hi, I'm Mike McCormick, collision technician instructor
00:52 here at Lincoln Tech.
00:53 Today, we're going to go over some of the techniques
00:56 of sanding a hood in preparation of paint.
00:58 So one of the very important things to do
01:00 is to use a good sanding technique.
01:03 The absolute perfect smooth surface
01:06 would feel like glass before we ever paint it.
01:08 So what I'm going to do is use a very hard rubber block.
01:13 Reason we use this is it's nice and flat.
01:16 We won't follow any low spots.
01:18 It may be in the metal itself when they formed it.
01:21 So what we do is continue sanding in one direction
01:25 until we feel good and we remove any of the blemishes that
01:29 may be there.
01:30 This pad here is actually a foam pad.
01:33 It will flow and/or follow any curvatures in the panel.
01:38 What will happen when I'm sanding
01:39 with this pan technique, if you look real closely in that hood,
01:44 you will see the grooves from the roundness of my fingers.
01:47 Once I put paint on this, it'll put little ripples in my paint.
01:51 So therefore, you don't have smooth surface.
01:54 Lincoln Tech can teach you how to have
01:56 a career working with cars.
01:57 See LincolnEDU.com.
01:58 [ENGINE REVVING]
02:03 This is the Roadkill Project Car Update, presented by Dickies.
02:06 And this time around, we've got our 1973 Chevy Ramp Truck.
02:11 Which, by the way, is the single most brilliant vehicle
02:14 we've ever bought on Roadkill.
02:16 Not only was it dirt cheap, but it's functional
02:19 and the air conditioning works.
02:20 We bought this at the very end of the episode
02:22 where we drove the Superbee and the Crusher Camaro to Utah,
02:25 completely failed at the drag strip, came back home,
02:27 but then had giant victory when we paid $3,500 for this thing.
02:31 It's a Crew Cab '73, which, as you know,
02:34 is the very first year of the square body style.
02:36 Normally, the hood is bent in half on most of these trucks.
02:40 This one is not.
02:41 And it has no drip rails.
02:42 That's right.
02:43 They screwed those on later once they
02:44 realized that rain poured down your neck
02:46 when you opened the door.
02:48 But no, this one's still faulty because this is Roadkill.
02:50 It's got a 454 in it and a turbo 400.
02:53 And basically, the ramp truck is genius.
02:56 It's a Crew Cab, and we don't need
02:58 to have a trailer with this thing, which
03:00 means we can drive more than 55 miles an hour in California.
03:02 They've got a trailer speed limit of 55.
03:04 The problem is that you're driving this thing
03:06 down the freeway, and it'll just die like that.
03:09 And we can't exactly figure that out.
03:11 He once had to skateboard, like, what,
03:13 two miles off the freeway when the thing died?
03:16 Aw, Siri burned me.
03:17 Siri-- so it breaks down.
03:19 And I know it's going to break down.
03:20 Everything we own breaks down.
03:21 So I always have my skateboard.
03:22 It breaks down.
03:23 Siri says, there's a Pep Boys two miles that way.
03:26 So I skateboard all the way there.
03:28 It was Disneyland.
03:29 Yeah.
03:30 Not a parts store.
03:31 So we're going to hook up a new Holley
03:33 carb, a new MSD distributor, all in the next, like,
03:35 3 and 1/2 minutes.
03:36 And you know what?
03:37 Just that easy.
03:37 Maybe we should change the oil.
03:39 Do you ever think about that?
03:41 There's oil in here?
03:42 We never do anything like that.
03:44 When was the last time we actually
03:45 maintained a Roadkill vehicle?
03:46 Never.
03:47 That's why we have a whole new show, just to fix our cars.
03:50 All right, get at it.
03:50 [ENGINE REVVING]
03:51 [SCREAMING]
03:52 [CRASH]
03:55 We're going to take the hood off right now.
03:56 But before we do that, I'm going to trace the hinges to give us
04:00 a reference mark when we reinstall this.
04:04 And it'll be all lined up.
04:05 If you've got a new build or something without paint on it,
04:08 you can use a scribe like this.
04:10 And that'll actually leave a line there in the metal
04:13 that you'll be able to see through paint and primer
04:15 later on when you reassemble your car.
04:18 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:21 We've got the carburetor off.
04:42 And so now we're going to work on changing the distributor out
04:45 for our new MSD unit.
04:46 Here's what we're going to do.
04:47 We're going to first set the engine to top dead center
04:49 so that we can mark the distributor.
04:51 Then we're going to pull it out and replace it.
04:53 We're going to pull the number one spark plug out.
04:55 And on a Chevy, that's on the driver's side
04:57 all the way at the front.
04:58 I'm going to put my finger over the spark plug hole,
05:00 not in it, because that'll hurt.
05:02 And he's going to crank it a little bit
05:03 so that I can find out when we're on our compression
05:05 stroke.
05:06 Then I'm going to grab the engine by hand
05:08 and turn it over so that it's about 16 degrees
05:10 before top dead center, which is what we
05:12 like this engine to idle at.
05:14 And so that when the distributor goes back in,
05:16 we'll line up the rotor with the number one terminal
05:19 inside the distributor cap.
05:21 And we'll be timed at 16 degrees before top dead center.
05:24 So first thing, make it fart on my finger.
05:29 Ready?
05:29 Hold on.
05:30 OK, bump it.
05:34 Again.
05:35 Starter sounds great.
05:36 Yeah, it's awful.
05:37 Again.
05:39 There.
05:39 OK.
05:40 Now we're ready to pull out the distributor.
05:42 But we want to be able to put the new one back in
05:45 in the right place, because you have
05:47 to establish the relationship between the rotor
05:49 inside the distributor and its alignment
05:51 with the terminal inside the distributor cap.
05:53 So we've already set the engine at 12 degrees
05:56 before top dead center on the compression
05:58 stroke of the number one cylinder.
06:00 I was shooting for 16 degrees, but he was cranking it over
06:02 and it landed on 12.
06:03 So good enough to get us close.
06:05 Now we're going to start ripping it apart
06:06 so that we can mark the distributor and rotor
06:09 location.
06:10 I'm going to go ahead and pop the distributor cap off here.
06:13 The HEI has the coil inside the cap,
06:16 so there'll be some wiring that plugs into it.
06:19 One wire that is power to the vehicle,
06:22 and another one that goes to the distributor itself.
06:24 I will also show you later on how
06:26 to get your spark plug wires back in order,
06:28 in the correct firing order of the engine, which
06:30 is why I'm just sort of haphazardly pulling them off
06:32 here, because I know how to figure that out later.
06:34 And soon you will too.
06:36 Now before I pull the distributor out,
06:37 I'm going to mark the location of the rotor on the engine,
06:40 just so that I know where it goes.
06:43 And actually, it looks like someone
06:44 put this in with number one not in the normal Chevy position.
06:48 Usually the rotor is pointing towards the number one
06:51 cylinder, but that's OK.
06:53 And I'll also mark this housing just for grins
06:55 to show where the number one terminal was on the cap.
07:00 Then I can grab my 9/16 and remove the hold down
07:04 clamp on the distributor.
07:07 Might as well cut away for a few minutes.
07:09 Let's go to the band while I'm doing this,
07:11 because it's going to take that long.
07:13 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:16 [RECORD SCRATCH]
07:45 Old 750 CFM Quadrajet, this is the new hotness.
07:50 770 CFM Holley Ultra Street Avenger.
07:54 And it's not just good looking.
07:56 It's got all kinds of bits and features.
07:57 Fillet metering blocks, 100% aluminum construction,
08:01 so it's lighter than the steel.
08:02 Clear sight glasses, so it's easy to set the float level.
08:06 No hassle electric choke.
08:07 Vacuum secondaries for good fuel economy.
08:10 It's just a nice carb.
08:12 It will not go on without this, though.
08:15 This crazy contraption is an adapter plate
08:18 that adapts the spread bore pattern of the Quadrajet
08:23 to the standard four hole of the 4150 style Holley carb.
08:27 Our old distributor is not complete junk.
08:30 You can take the guts out of this, the shaft,
08:32 put it in a power drill, slide it into your engine,
08:36 and you've got yourself an oil pump priming tool, which
08:39 is awesome if you've got an engine that's
08:40 been sitting around for a long time
08:42 and you don't want to dry fire it.
08:44 This will lube it.
08:47 Our new MSD distributor, way cooler.
08:51 100% billet housing.
08:53 The ignition module is fully digital,
08:56 which adds a really nice feature, a built-in rev limiter
08:59 that you can program just by grounding this wire.
09:02 It's got a high output coil.
09:04 This thing will allow your engine
09:06 to rev to the moon while maintaining perfect timing.
09:10 And it will drop right in place of the old one.
09:12 Here is the mechanical advance system for our MSD distributor.
09:16 These springs control the rate at which the advance occurs.
09:19 And there's a bushing on the bottom of this plate
09:21 that limits the travel of the system
09:23 and how much timing we're going to add.
09:25 David has already set our base timing at idle at 12 degrees.
09:29 But there's a bushing in here that's
09:31 going to allow it to travel and give us an extra 21
09:33 degrees as the engine revs for a total of 33 degrees of ignition
09:38 advance.
09:39 [MIMICS ENGINE REVVING]
09:41 Yeah.
09:43 Did it.
09:43 You'll like it.
09:44 I want you to appreciate the fact
09:46 that I already lubed the shaft before putting the O-rings on.
09:48 So have fun with that.
09:49 That's great.
09:52 Made you a good mess.
09:54 All right, you really should do this first.
09:55 But on a Chevy, there are two O-rings
09:59 that need to go in these grooves on the disgustingly
10:02 drippy, gooey shaft.
10:05 I cannot do this with one hand.
10:07 So I need two hands on the shaft.
10:13 So what I'm doing here, making a mess in this goo
10:16 that Finnegan put all over the distributor drive gear,
10:19 is putting on these O-rings that have to go in these grooves
10:22 because they seal the oil that's going down the lifter gallery.
10:25 And it'll just sort of spooge everywhere
10:28 and lose oil pressure if you don't have those on there.
10:31 One of the most important things you
10:32 need to do with your distributor is
10:33 know what drive gear goes on it.
10:36 This is really, really critical.
10:38 To mesh with the camshaft in your Chevy,
10:40 there are four different types of distributor gears.
10:42 There's composite, which in theory works on everything.
10:45 But I've had those go bad.
10:46 So I don't really trust that theory.
10:48 Then there's the regular old cast iron gear,
10:50 which is what this is, which meshes
10:52 with the regular old cast iron camshaft in this engine.
10:55 Then there's going to be a hardened steel gear, which
10:58 is on late model roller cams.
11:00 And then there's a bronze manganese gear,
11:03 which is used for a billet race roller
11:05 cam that's cut out of one piece of steel.
11:08 And you want to have the gear be softer than the camshaft
11:11 so that you don't eat stuff up.
11:13 So you really need to call your cam manufacturer
11:15 and make sure that you've got the right gear on here.
11:17 Also, if you're changing your gear,
11:20 it's a little confusing that a stock Chevy distributor
11:23 shaft is 491 thousandths.
11:25 And all the MSD ones are 500 thousandths.
11:28 So there's two different gears that you can buy.
11:30 You want to hear a good distributor gear story going
11:33 bad at the wrong moment?
11:34 Sure.
11:36 So I'm going to propose to my wife, right?
11:39 And I met her on my boat at the river.
11:41 So I go back to that same spot.
11:43 All our friends are there.
11:45 We drive up river.
11:46 We're stopped.
11:47 We're floating.
11:47 Everybody's having a cocktail.
11:50 I propose to her, and she says yes.
11:53 Fire up the boat, go to drive back to the casino.
11:55 Immediately, that wears out right after we get engaged.
11:59 So we're stranded the whole rest of the weekend.
12:01 No boat.
12:02 No fun.
12:03 But at least it lasted long enough to get the deal done.
12:05 And the reason it wore out--
12:07 It killed the bronze gear?
12:08 No.
12:08 The wrong gear didn't have the bronze gear.
12:10 It needed the bronze gear.
12:11 Oh, so you wiped out the camshaft.
12:12 Yeah.
12:13 It lasted three miles, maybe.
12:18 Three miles.
12:18 It ate the gear and the cam.
12:20 Wow.
12:20 So that's why it's critical, because you
12:22 need to get married.
12:23 Yeah, you're not getting married if you have the wrong gear.
12:26 The next thing that I am going to do
12:28 is install the cap and mark the housing where the number one
12:32 terminal falls.
12:34 So there I've got the cap on its index mark.
12:38 And I am going to put number one right here.
12:42 So I'm marking that, lining it up
12:44 with the center of this terminal.
12:46 And then when I pull it off, I've
12:47 got a good visual where I can see where the rotor lines up
12:52 with the cap.
12:52 Now, you want your mark to just lead the rotor a little bit.
12:56 This distributor turns clockwise.
12:58 And so as the rotor is spinning, getting
13:01 ready to contact the terminal, the arc
13:04 is going to arc on the leading edge of it.
13:06 So that's where you want to line that up.
13:08 Now, you might want to know before you
13:10 do any of this which direction your distributor spins
13:12 on your engine.
13:13 And here's a tech tip for that.
13:14 Point at the vacuum advance.
13:16 This is rotating clockwise.
13:18 Now we can put the hold down clamp back on.
13:21 And then Finnegan can jump up here and wire it.
13:25 OK.
13:26 Wire it.
13:27 [MUSIC PLAYING]
13:31 So the only difference in wiring between our old HEI distributor
13:35 and our new MSD unit is that this unit has a black wire here
13:39 to ground it and a gray wire here.
13:42 This provides a 12-volt square wave signal to drive a tack.
13:45 This is also the wire we're going to use
13:47 to program the rev limiter.
13:50 So what I'm going to do is ground
13:52 that to the stud on the firewall that's right there,
13:55 wire this up to the tack, put the cap back on,
13:58 put the plug wires on, and we're done.
14:01 Before we go throw a brand new set of wires on this thing,
14:04 we should at least check the old ones.
14:05 And we're going to do that with a digital multimeter set
14:08 to read ohms.
14:09 We're going to put a probe at each end of a plug wire.
14:15 And this particular wire has a reading of 139.8 ohms.
14:19 That is well within the 40 to 50 ohms per foot spec
14:22 that MSD says these 8 and 1/2 millimeter superconductors
14:25 should operate at.
14:27 So no need to put new wires on this thing.
14:30 We can keep rocking the old ones.
14:32 It's time to install the spark plug wires.
14:34 And on a big block Chevy, the firing order is 18436572.
14:42 Freiburg already marked the cap here for number one.
14:46 And so we'll just start installing them
14:50 going clockwise.
14:51 [MUSIC PLAYING]
14:54 I just installed the dual inlet fuel feed line.
15:06 I hate these things.
15:07 They're always cheap.
15:09 You've got to spend a fortune to get one that doesn't leak
15:11 and that isn't a mess.
15:12 But here's the real thing you need to pay attention to
15:15 is that there's two types of Holley carburetors
15:17 with the center hung float bowls.
15:18 A 4160 that does not have a secondary metering block
15:22 and a 4150 that does.
15:23 And that changes how far apart the float bowls are,
15:27 which changes the overall length of this line.
15:29 So it's possible to actually buy the wrong one.
15:32 But there's a lot of kits like this where it's adjustable,
15:35 which usually means opportunities
15:37 for two more leaks.
15:38 But I think it'll work.
15:39 The other thing is we had this butchered piece of AN line
15:43 on here from a roadside repair during our trip to Bonneville.
15:47 And you really don't want to hose clamp those in place.
15:49 It's just not safe.
15:50 So I'm converting it to rubber.
15:52 But you do need to know that if you have a car you want
15:54 to take to the drag strip, NHRA rules
15:56 say that you cannot have more than 12 inches of rubber fuel
15:59 line in the entire vehicle.
16:01 So this would not be the thing to do if you were
16:04 going for a drag race car.
16:07 Okey dokey, artichokey.
16:09 Not attractive, but functional.
16:11 You ready to embarrass us?
16:13 You don't think it's going to start, do you?
16:14 No.
16:15 Me neither.
16:15 Makes two of us.
16:18 Or it'll backfire hideously.
16:19 Probably needs a little bit more timing.
16:21 My guess is it's slightly retarded.
16:24 Like us.
16:26 OK.
16:28 Here we go.
16:29 This thing's too large.
16:37 Normally that's a good problem.
16:44 We got squirty.
16:45 All right, here we go.
16:46 All right.
16:57 Hey.
16:59 That's pretty good for a first fire up.
17:01 God, we're good.
17:03 Yes.
17:03 Minimal fail.
17:04 Yes.
17:06 All right.
17:07 Let's go dyno it and tune it.
17:08 We'll throw the hood on and get out.
17:11 [MUSIC PLAYING]
17:15 I'm back with the Duplicolor Minute.
17:17 We've been showing you amazing stuff you can do
17:19 with the magic of spray cans.
17:21 And this time, it's going to be stuff
17:23 that I have avoided for 20 years.
17:25 That's right, spraying vinyl and fabric with a dye.
17:29 Remember the '80s?
17:30 The stuff always used to peel off, fish eye,
17:32 rub onto your t-shirt.
17:34 It was hideous.
17:35 This stuff actually works, and we're going to show you how.
17:37 This thing is off of a Chevy truck,
17:39 and we're just going to use it as a test,
17:41 because it's the type of material
17:42 you'll find in just about any car.
17:44 You need to hit it with some soap and water,
17:45 scrub it out with a brush to get all the dust out.
17:48 And we figure you know what that looks like.
17:50 So by the magic of TV, bam, we've
17:52 got this thing all masked off and cleaned up and pretty.
17:55 I actually didn't do this.
17:56 I trusted my lovely assistant Kalen for that.
17:58 You don't want to see him on TV.
17:59 He's got a face for radio.
18:01 The first thing that we're going to do
18:02 is wipe it down with a prep wipe.
18:03 We're going to break out this special diaper, which smells
18:06 exactly like a urinal cake.
18:07 Once you've cleaned it down, you have to scrub it off
18:10 with a clean, dry rag.
18:11 So I'm going to grab the can after shaking it up,
18:13 and I'm going to give it a really light fog coat.
18:17 OK, I've got a bunch of coats on this.
18:22 Again, a bunch of light ones so that it
18:24 doesn't kill the texture.
18:25 And now I'm going to very carefully peel it off.
18:28 If you don't let this dry long enough,
18:30 it's pretty easy to make it lift.
18:32 So let it just sit overnight, and you know what?
18:34 You're going to get a pretty nice, sharp line,
18:36 pretty good results.
18:37 But hard plastic isn't the challenge
18:39 that I'm really looking for on this stuff.
18:40 So next step, I am going to fog some actual vinyl.
18:45 Here's what makes the soft vinyl a bigger deal.
18:47 You've got more textures to deal with, often more colors.
18:51 This one even has perforations in it.
18:52 And so we're going to have to get the dye into the perforation,
18:55 make sure that this looks OK.
18:56 And of course, they're flexible.
18:58 So we're going to find out if this is like the old school
19:00 spray paint that's going to crack right off,
19:03 or if it's going to work.
19:04 I'm going to fog them with desert sand
19:07 and find out if this color is going
19:09 to make all of these about the same tone,
19:11 or if the base color is going to affect what the final color
19:13 looks like.
19:14 OK, next day, this stuff is all nice and dry.
19:17 Check that out.
19:17 It's not even dusty.
19:19 Wow, the color on them really matches well.
19:21 Now I'm going to try and abuse these things in ways
19:24 you probably would not abuse your own car interior
19:27 and find out how well this stuff is sticking.
19:30 Wow, look at that.
19:32 We're going big guns now.
19:33 Ready?
19:34 Benchmade.
19:37 Dude, that is impressive.
19:40 Look at that.
19:42 I'm actually trashing the material
19:43 before I'm pulling out the color on it.
19:46 That is really good.
19:47 Check that out.
19:48 That is no joking good stuff.
19:55 OK, Duplicolor Minute over.
19:57 [SCREAMING]
20:02 [MUSIC PLAYING]
20:04 We're at West Tech Performance Group now.
20:12 We're going to chassis dyno the ramp truck.
20:14 And Eric Rhee is our resident tuning ninja here
20:18 on the chassis dyno.
20:19 What did this make the last time?
20:21 You've already baselined it.
20:21 I baselined this last time.
20:23 I put down 337 foot pounds of torque at like 3,100 RPM
20:26 and about 213 horse at 3,500 RPM.
20:30 So it's a torque monster.
20:32 It's done early, obviously.
20:34 So we're looking more for gains in torque than horsepower
20:37 with this deal.
20:38 OK.
20:39 So we put a new carb on it, a new distributor.
20:41 We have not re-timed it yet.
20:43 And we just fired it up.
20:45 I didn't even turn the screws on the carb.
20:47 And it runs pretty good.
20:48 OK, that's good.
20:49 With any luck, we can tweak this thing
20:51 and make it run a little better than it did before.
20:53 Absolutely.
20:54 All right, let's do it.
20:55 [MUSIC PLAYING]
20:59 I spent enough time at engine and chassis dynos
21:17 to see a balancer shoot off the front of an engine
21:19 and a drive shaft go through that wall.
21:21 So I only have one rule when I come here.
21:24 Don't stand back there or there.
21:26 I'm moving.
21:27 [MUSIC PLAYING]
21:30 With the new parts in place, we were actually down 73 pound
21:45 feet of torque and 42 horsepower.
21:48 After we dug into the carburetor,
21:49 we figured out exactly what the problem was.
21:52 See that spring?
21:53 This is worth 50 horsepower in the ramp truck.
21:56 On our carburetor, our secondaries open via vacuum.
21:59 There's a small hole in one of the Venturis.
22:01 And the airspeed through the Venturi
22:04 opens the secondary throttle blades.
22:06 Well, there's a spring in there that keeps them closed.
22:08 And we had a spring with too much tension.
22:11 So even though we were going wide open throttle,
22:13 the primaries were opening, the secondaries weren't,
22:15 and we were down on power.
22:17 We just tested that theory by zip tying the secondaries open.
22:21 And we picked up 50 horsepower.
22:22 So now we're going to put the lighter spring in there
22:25 and see if this is the correct one for our application.
22:28 The new spring worked.
22:29 The secondaries opened up at wide open throttle.
22:32 And we picked up 20 pound feet and 30 horsepower
22:35 for a total of 356 pound feet of torque at the tires
22:39 and 244 horsepower.
22:42 I'll admit to having pretty low standards for a ramp truck
22:45 that we paid $3,500 for.
22:46 With any luck, it's going to run every time I get in there.
22:50 Yes, it should.
22:50 So not a bad day on the dyno.
22:52 Not at all.
22:53 It's that time again.
22:58 This is the part of the show where we show you parts
23:01 that look a lot like porn.
23:02 This is Jamie Jordan.
23:04 He owns the Handmade Seat Company,
23:07 which is pretty epic because I remember
23:10 you being a mini trucker.
23:12 And I remember back in the day when we were all rocking tweed
23:14 seats, you know, Honda Civic buckets, Accord buckets.
23:18 And then you came out with a set of seats
23:20 and a mini truck that just put the world on its ear.
23:23 Yeah.
23:24 And now you're making art.
23:26 Got your own line of tools.
23:27 I mean, how did you get from there to here?
23:29 Really, it was just changing around,
23:31 working at a few different hot rod shops and mini truck shops,
23:33 stuff like that.
23:34 About '06, '07, most of the customers that we had
23:37 pretty much lost their money.
23:39 Nobody wanted to spend money on toys.
23:41 So I started building seats.
23:42 I saw them on eBay and thought they were interesting.
23:44 And I thought, well, maybe I can make some.
23:46 And on the side, use the tools I already
23:48 had to actually make a few dollars.
23:49 And that's what I did.
23:50 I started doing that on the side and just continuously kept
23:54 building seats, building seats.
23:55 And then I quit my job and went home.
23:58 Small 20 by 20 shop, which I still work out of today.
24:01 I kind of ran out of customers after a while.
24:03 And I kind of figured that I needed
24:05 to do something to actually bring in a little bit more
24:07 extra cash.
24:08 So I started trying to play with a bead roller
24:10 and spending time with a bead roller as much as I did.
24:13 I just sat there and started creating
24:15 new dyes, new shapes, new styles,
24:17 and just trying to figure out different ways
24:18 to push the limits of what could be done with the machines.
24:20 Then after I did that, I was lucky enough
24:22 to take it to Mittler Brothers and get a full deal with them
24:26 on selling tools and having my own line.
24:29 Cool.
24:30 The bead roller is something I've got very little experience
24:32 with, so I'm definitely interested in getting
24:34 some tips from you.
24:35 I know you've got a line of DVDs,
24:36 but having you here in our shop is pretty huge for me
24:39 because I know you're going to be able to show me
24:42 how to make that by tomorrow.
24:43 Yeah, I'll be able to knock this out real easy.
24:45 Real easy, real easy.
24:47 All right, so before we get started,
24:48 I imagine we need to lay out a pattern here,
24:51 something for me to follow, to trace.
24:53 Yeah, we're going to keep it pretty simple.
24:54 We're just going to do a nice little border
24:55 around this panel.
24:57 One of the things I always recommend to people
24:58 is to find a nice straight edge,
25:00 or go to your shear and grab a piece of metal
25:03 and cut it out in different lengths and sizes.
25:04 That way, every time you walk up to lay something out,
25:07 you don't have to guess how many inches it is every time.
25:09 You can just grab that piece, throw it against it,
25:11 and just mark it right out like I'm going to do here.
25:14 If you're using like a regular 3/8 bead or a bead dye,
25:17 it's good to use a fatter tip sharpie like this.
25:20 If you're using a step dye,
25:21 it's nice to have something like this, like a fine tip.
25:24 That way, you won't find yourself walking around
25:26 through the line itself.
25:28 So we're going to do a step dye.
25:30 So we're just going to use this one.
25:32 That last tip assumes a really high level of precision
25:35 if you're worried about walking in a line like that thick,
25:38 which is probably what I'm going to do.
25:40 All right, now that we laid out
25:41 a nice two-inch border around it,
25:43 we're going to give Mike a chance to see
25:44 what he can do with a bead roller.
25:46 This isn't our only piece, is it?
25:47 - Yes, yes, this is it.
25:48 We brought nothing else.
25:49 - That's a lot of pressure.
25:50 - It is, it is.
25:51 Always is.
25:52 - All right, so we'll grab the bead roller.
25:54 So we've got a manual machine here,
25:55 which this is going to be like driver's ed.
25:57 You're going to be cranking.
25:59 I'm going to be steering the metal through it.
26:01 - That's right, that's right.
26:02 - We're going to bond right now.
26:03 - Yeah, we're going to bond.
26:03 You better learn how to bond
26:04 when you're using one of these machines.
26:05 - All right.
26:06 - One of the things that I wanted to also recommend
26:08 is whenever you're starting a panel like this,
26:10 you always want to try to make sure you start
26:13 where the center of the bolt is not on the line.
26:17 You want to take the center of the bolt
26:18 and move it to where it is to the backside here,
26:23 and that's where the line starts.
26:24 I can't see it, so Mike,
26:25 you're going to have to line us up over here.
26:26 - Okay, so the line is our stopping point.
26:28 So if we were to run the center of the bolt over it,
26:31 we'd be going further than we want it to.
26:33 - Exactly, that's one of the things
26:34 that a lot of people don't realize.
26:35 Whenever you're trying to make
26:36 these really nice tight corners,
26:38 if you'll go past and take that center line
26:41 and put it right in the center of your bead roller,
26:42 you have already gone past the line.
26:45 So every one of your corners
26:46 are going to have a little bit of a crosshatch on it,
26:48 but if you'll stop short, you'll never really notice it,
26:51 especially after it's already been scuffed, painted, primed,
26:53 whatever it is you're going to do afterwards,
26:55 you won't notice it, and that'll just be
26:57 that little extra thing
26:58 that you don't have to go back and fix.
26:59 So what you want to do now is use the edge of this line
27:02 and line it up with the edge here, okay?
27:04 And the next thing you're going to do
27:05 is no matter if it's a machine like this
27:07 or it's a higher-end model,
27:10 you'll want to make sure that when the machine tightens down
27:13 right here, you're going to try to think in your head.
27:15 You're going to think 12, six,
27:17 however which way you want to try to configure it,
27:19 think about it as a clock.
27:21 We're going to start here at 12 o'clock,
27:22 meaning here, because that's where the metal starts,
27:25 and now we're going to rotate it.
27:27 Now we're back to 12 again.
27:29 - And this is setting the depth.
27:30 - This is setting the depth here.
27:32 That way, we're going to go one and a half turns,
27:34 so that would be back to six there.
27:36 What you want to do is try to remember
27:39 how many rotations you did.
27:40 We did one all the way around and then back to six.
27:42 That way, every time we do it,
27:44 we'll always go back to that same mark.
27:46 And as you get more familiar with your machine,
27:48 you'll start learning it, and you'll know in your head,
27:50 one revolution will do this, two will do this,
27:52 three will do that.
27:54 And it works real well for every one of your dies.
27:56 So.
27:58 - So my job here is to make sure this goes straight.
28:00 - Yep, yep, yep, yep.
28:01 - No pressure.
28:02 - No pressure there.
28:03 (upbeat music)
28:06 (upbeat music)
28:09 - Finished product.
28:13 Let's see how bad this is.
28:15 'Cause I know that I wobbled right here,
28:19 and you overran the corner just a little bit.
28:21 - Just a little bit.
28:22 - We'll blame that on you.
28:22 - Yeah, that's my fault, that's my fault.
28:24 - It's way stiffer.
28:25 - It is stiffer, it is a lot stiffer.
28:27 And it's just a simple step all the way around your panel
28:30 is really going to stiffen up everything
28:32 as you're working on it,
28:33 and it'll really help out a lot.
28:35 I know that's our first run together,
28:37 and I'm sure as we kept going,
28:40 I'm sure we'd get a lot better and you know.
28:42 - I feel like I've been married to you
28:43 for at least 20 years.
28:43 - At least, we already kind of met at each other.
28:45 - In terms of bead roll.
28:47 - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
28:48 - Well, I gotta admit, it's a little difficult
28:49 to get excited about what I made there, with your help,
28:53 when it's standing next to stuff like that.
28:57 - It's really just all about the dies, it really is.
28:59 It's just about taking the time
29:01 and knowing some of the fundamentals,
29:02 and really just having the right tools, you know,
29:05 for the job, just about like anything, you know.
29:07 We came up with a whole line of dies
29:09 that actually use this tip and die on top,
29:11 and we actually have a few different lower dies
29:13 that you can actually switch out to,
29:15 which really help you create this look,
29:17 and you know, try to do the things that we do here.
29:19 - So the top die is pretty much standard.
29:22 - Yep, that's gonna be just a hem die, or tipping die.
29:25 It's a steel die that's actually gonna be able to carve
29:27 and do all this type of intricate work.
29:29 And the lower dies are the ones you're gonna switch out.
29:31 You can switch these lower dies out
29:32 to get every different type of effect
29:34 that you're looking for.
29:35 And if you wanna step it up and do a pleat like this,
29:37 we call the universal groove,
29:39 and that's what these designs here.
29:41 - Okay.
29:42 - And as you're going, you can see, here we started,
29:45 you can kinda see that as it's crossing over,
29:47 it's not crushing each other.
29:48 And then as we moved over to this one,
29:50 all it's done here,
29:51 and then we started working on the border.
29:54 The border, the way we do the border is we use step dies,
29:57 just like what you were using before.
29:58 It's just one on the inside and one on the outside.
30:01 All these Nylatron dies are plastic.
30:03 It's a really hard plastic.
30:04 It's very similar to Delron,
30:06 but it has no oil impregnation in it.
30:08 So it won't mark or mar the metal as you're working on it.
30:10 - That's a good set of skateboard wheels right there.
30:12 - There you go.
30:13 - There he goes.
30:14 Cool, well, thank you very much for coming out.
30:16 I'm not completely confident in bead rolling right now,
30:19 but at least I have somewhat of a clue what I'm doing,
30:21 and that's really rad.
30:23 - Thank you, man.
30:23 I appreciate it. - Thanks, man.
30:24 (upbeat music)
30:27 - This is the question and answer part of Hot Rod Garage.
30:30 This is where we go on our Facebook page,
30:32 which is Hot Rod Garage Show on Facebook.
30:35 So facebook.com/hotrodgarageshow.
30:38 Ask whatever you like.
30:39 We'll ignore most of them and answer some of them here.
30:41 - Kevin Payne loves episode 26 of "Roadkill."
30:44 That was the one where we took a '71 Datsun 240Z,
30:48 swapped a 4.3 liter Chevy V6 into it
30:51 with a turbo out of a Ford 7.3 liter diesel.
30:55 And he's got one of his own and wants to know,
30:57 are we going to build a drift car out of ours?
31:00 Ours doesn't even run right now.
31:02 - It doesn't drift either.
31:03 - One of the things we didn't really reveal
31:04 in that episode of "Roadkill"
31:06 is that we got all the way to the end,
31:08 the camera stopped rolling,
31:10 we're cannonballing home from Phoenix,
31:12 and "Roadkill" doesn't stop
31:14 just because the camera stopped rolling.
31:16 - We still gotta drive home.
31:16 - We still gotta drive home.
31:17 We're driving the thing from Phoenix to LA,
31:19 and all of a sudden, what was it?
31:20 We hear it start clattering, it's making some noise,
31:22 and I'm thinking, ah, it's a body panel flapping.
31:24 - Okay, back up.
31:25 - And Vinny's like, no, that's a lifter.
31:26 - Back up.
31:27 You were in the dirt putting it on the rev limiter
31:29 for the intro of the show.
31:31 Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang on the rev limiter.
31:33 - Watch the footage, there's no rev limiter.
31:34 - I'm not blaming you.
31:36 You had it on the rev limiter for, I don't know, 30 seconds,
31:39 and then we got back on the road
31:40 after the oil cap fell off the valve cover.
31:42 - Right.
31:43 - Found the oil cap in the middle of the desert,
31:45 got back on the road, and all of a sudden it just said,
31:47 - No thanks. - I'm a lifter.
31:49 - Yeah. - We could hear it.
31:49 I'm a lifter going away.
31:51 So-- - Hydraulic roller lifter, done.
31:54 - Well, the autopsy revealed, just yesterday, actually,
31:57 wasn't the lifter. - Really?
31:59 - Rod bearing's gone.
32:00 - No way!
32:01 So that's your fault.
32:03 - We don't know.
32:03 - No, wait, who assembled that short pipe?
32:05 - Well, we don't know. - Wait?
32:06 - We don't know.
32:07 It was me. - Okay.
32:09 - No, no, no, but the reason for the rod bearing going out,
32:12 we're still trying to figure out what that is.
32:13 - Well, here's why I blame it.
32:14 The V6 actually has a 2200 rod bearing.
32:17 That's way too big.
32:18 It's bigger than a 2100 on a small block Chevy.
32:20 Too much bearing speed, it just couldn't handle the power.
32:23 - That could be it.
32:24 There was also three quarts too many in that oil pan.
32:28 - What? - Yeah.
32:29 - How?
32:31 - I remember we puked it at the track, added more,
32:34 didn't know how much.
32:36 Not saying that's what could, but--
32:36 - You do not want to trust us with a roadkill car,
32:39 because here's what happens on roadkill.
32:41 The way we screw up so much stuff is--
32:43 - No nipsticks?
32:44 - We're on a schedule, we don't really care,
32:46 it's not our money into it,
32:48 and we're rushing, rushing, rushing.
32:50 So often we gotta make last second decisions,
32:51 like, "Huh, do you think it's low on oil?
32:53 "Probably, pour in three."
32:54 Then it turns out aerating the whole oil
32:56 and destroying the whole motor,
32:57 which had nothing to do with me having it
32:59 on the rev limiter for maybe three seconds at a time.
33:01 - No, no, no, no.
33:02 - Really, it killed a rod bearing.
33:06 - Well, I don't know that the overfilling of the oil did it,
33:08 but I'm sure it didn't help.
33:09 - Oh, well, for sure.
33:10 A lot of people don't realize that.
33:12 If you overfill the oil, then the crank is whipping
33:14 through it, and the oil just turns into a froth in the pan,
33:18 and generally your oil pressure will actually drop
33:20 with too much oil in the motor.
33:22 - The bearings were blue.
33:24 - Okay.
33:25 (laughing)
33:25 I'm guessing that's what happened.
33:27 All of them?
33:28 - Just the one I saw the picture of.
33:30 - Who took it apart?
33:32 - Brule.
33:33 - Oh, really?
33:33 Oh, I bet you that was a good phone call.
33:36 - Actually, he texted me.
33:37 He said the bearing looked like Kim Kardashian's ass
33:39 because it started out like this and then went like that.
33:42 (laughing)
33:45 - Tyler Harris wants to know where you're going
33:48 with the El Camino.
33:49 He needs an LS motor in the thing
33:51 'cause we already put in a transmission.
33:53 It's already got the full suspension on it.
33:55 It's already got those Falcons on it,
33:57 and those wheels that are worth more
33:58 than every car in the shop combined.
34:00 What's next?
34:02 - I gotta admit, it needs an LS because the small block,
34:05 the brand new one, leaks everywhere.
34:06 An LS is a surefire fix for that,
34:10 but I still, this is horrible,
34:12 I still wanna put a V6 back in it.
34:14 - You still wanna do the aluminum V6 with turbo?
34:16 - The aluminum V6 with the turbos in the bed.
34:18 - Yep, that was a good idea.
34:20 - And the only reason to do this is
34:22 it's got these edges in the sides of the bed
34:25 that are perfect for a flat panel K&N,
34:27 which are a perfect air intake for the turbos
34:29 that would go in that wasted area under the bed.
34:31 - Yeah, the toolbox in the El Camino,
34:34 which is right behind the cab,
34:35 you lift that up and there's plenty of room in there
34:38 for a couple turbos, intercoolers, the whole shebang.
34:40 That was our original plan with that car,
34:42 is an all aluminum V6 with turbos in the back.
34:44 But to do that, you're gonna have to trade me
34:46 a Hemi back for the V6.
34:48 - How about I trade you another V6 back?
34:51 - Another V6?
34:52 Like a broken one with rod bearings dusted out?
34:54 Like Kardashian?
34:55 - That was how I got it from you.
34:56 (laughing)
34:58 - No, it was a split block.
34:59 I didn't screw up any bearings, I just broke the block.
35:01 - Same thing, right?
35:02 - See, there's pride in breaking a block with power,
35:04 not so much in completely smashing bearings
35:06 'cause the clearance was probably way too small.
35:09 - The El Camino would be such a sleeper with that combo.
35:12 'Cause we talked about this.
35:14 Turbos under the bed, raise the trans tunnel,
35:16 charge tube right up the back of the trans
35:18 into the stock air cleaner, welded shut.
35:20 Oh, it'd be amazing.
35:22 Wanna do it.
35:23 But no, I don't have a Hemi to give.
35:25 Felipe Aguilar wants to know,
35:27 did we acid bath the 55 to take off all the rust
35:31 before we primed it?
35:33 We didn't use acid.
35:35 We took it to a company in LA that media blasted it
35:37 and not with walnuts or anything like that.
35:40 They used, I think it was garnet.
35:42 - Really?
35:42 I thought it was baking powder.
35:43 - No, no, I think it was garnet.
35:45 And they had varying,
35:47 varying, what the hell is the word?
35:50 - Thicknesses, granule sizes, abrasiveness.
35:53 - Yeah, and they masked off the windows
35:56 and just went to town and blew massive chunks
35:58 of body filler off the quarter panels.
36:00 Like I have a piece that big
36:02 that I will turn into a necklace someday
36:04 'cause it's a souvenir at this point.
36:05 And so yeah, it took about, I don't know,
36:07 four or five hours and they media blasted the entire thing
36:10 down to bare metal, which is how we discovered
36:12 it needed floors, quarter panels, trunk floor.
36:16 - I really liked the look of that car
36:17 when we picked it up, the patina of it,
36:19 the sort of rot and everything.
36:21 And I wanted to leave it that way,
36:22 but the car was such garbage
36:25 after it came back from blasting
36:26 that he had to replace the quarters and floors
36:28 and everything and then you have to prime it.
36:30 And you know what, here's something that went down.
36:32 If you saw episode 29 of "Roadkill"
36:34 where we built the '55 Chevy,
36:36 you watch the episode and the continuity's not great
36:38 because the car goes primer,
36:40 kind of black and primer, all black,
36:42 kind of primer, black.
36:43 We had the car vinyl wrapped by Moody at Hi-Tech Wraps
36:47 who's in Placentia, California.
36:49 And he came out here and killed himself
36:51 for three days working on that car.
36:53 And we never even showed him in the video
36:54 because he just hit the cutting room floor.
36:56 And I feel bad 'cause the guy worked hard.
36:58 - Oh, and it was so convenient.
37:00 You know, we didn't have time to paint the car
37:02 and we were literally like welding
37:04 on this side of the roll cage
37:06 and he was on the other side of the car
37:07 putting vinyl down on it.
37:08 And then we'd move and he'd move
37:10 and he sat there for three days.
37:11 - Yeah, and people, when we had the car powered to her,
37:13 they didn't realize it until we told them,
37:14 yeah, this car is wrapped.
37:15 They're like, really?
37:16 They came up and looked at it.
37:17 Why didn't you paint it?
37:18 Well, the thing we discovered,
37:19 and this is a Roadkill tip for the future,
37:21 is that you can have somebody wrapping a car
37:23 while you're working on the engine
37:25 and the brakes and the interior.
37:26 You can't do that when you paint something.
37:28 So that's a new slipshod technique for us.
37:30 Richard Barber wants to say
37:35 that episode one of Hot Rod Garage
37:37 was the highlight of his birthday
37:38 and does that make him pathetic?
37:41 I'm gonna go dude.
37:42 Did you read the comments?
37:43 Yes, that makes you pretty pathetic.
37:45 - Oh, low standards on that one.
37:47 - That's right, and you know what really helps
37:48 our ratings here is tearing down the audience
37:50 by criticizing them.
37:51 - Sorry, Rich.
37:52 - Richard Barber, thank you for watching our show.
37:54 We deeply appreciate it.
37:56 Next question.
37:56 - Go buy some comic books.
37:58 - Jaden Sedino's saying that we should take
38:00 the blown big block out of the Crusher Camaro
38:02 and put it in the General Mayhem '68 Charger.
38:05 - A Chevy and a Mopar?
38:05 - Will we just put a Mopar in a Chevy?
38:07 Yeah, can't do it.
38:09 We would never do that.
38:10 - We would do that, that's crazy.
38:12 - Scott Reed wants to know why we always use
38:14 what he calls the rippled rad hoses with the steel inside.
38:17 Those are the universal flexi radiator hoses.
38:19 - They're ribbed for our pleasure.
38:21 - So most of the reason to use those
38:25 is that they're universal,
38:27 and we're always putting different motors
38:28 in different cars with wrong radiators,
38:30 and so they don't make a preformed hose
38:32 that gets you from here to there,
38:33 so we use the universal ones,
38:34 and then he takes them home at night.
38:37 - Get that image out of your head, dare ya.
38:39 Just try.
38:40 - Joey Heshin wants to know our 240Z
38:43 versus the Motor Trend 240SX, what wins?
38:46 - Oh, the Z, they can't drive.
38:48 - Does theirs run?
38:49 - No.
38:50 - No?
38:51 So our dead rod bearings versus their incompetence,
38:53 which goes ahead?
38:54 (laughing)
38:56 You know what the hilarious thing about this
38:59 is that all of the guys who work on the Motor Trend shows
39:02 are actually working on this show as well,
39:04 so when we're criticizing like this on camera,
39:06 I think, eh, maybe when it gets posted,
39:08 they won't watch it and won't know
39:09 that we're laughing at them,
39:10 but the thing is, they're watching it right now in post.
39:12 They're going, those guys are dicks.
39:14 - The fisticuffs are about to erupt behind set
39:17 any minute now.
39:18 - Do you think Carlos would ever actually walk on set
39:20 and go, no, my 240SX is way better than the 240Z?
39:24 He wouldn't, because he actually watches Roadkill.
39:28 - I like Carlos.
39:29 - No, Carlos is great.
39:30 - He worked on my car, sort of.
39:32 - We have a Roadkill sticker on his car.
39:33 - He sort of worked on my car.
39:35 He was there, next to me.
39:37 - You watched?
39:38 - Oh, he sanded.
39:39 - Oh, that's right.
39:40 - Yep, he's legit, he sanded.
39:41 - Carlos is good.
39:41 - Yeah.
39:43 - As long as you don't want anything driven.
39:44 Apparently, that's the end of our really lame questions
39:49 and answers for the day.
39:50 - You've offended enough people for once.
39:52 - I have completely destroyed the audience this time.
39:54 You can do better next time.
39:55 Go check us out on facebook.com/hotrodgarageshow
40:00 and ask your questions or comment all month long.
40:03 You can come back and criticize us every bit as much
40:05 as we just made fun of you.
40:07 - I used to think that episode one
40:08 was where we jumped the shark.
40:09 I think this is it right here.
40:10 - You think this is pretty much it?
40:11 - Yeah.
40:12 - We're done.
40:13 - We're done.
40:13 (rock music)
40:16 - Oh, the urinal cake wipe is key.
40:25 You need the diaper soaked with the urinal cake flavor.
40:29 I mean, smell.
40:29 We figure you know what that looks like,
40:40 so by the magic of TV, bam!
40:43 Do you wanna do that whole thing again first?
40:49 Okay.
40:50 Ready?
40:59 Bam!
41:00 We've got this thing all masked off
41:02 and cleaned up and pretty.
41:03 (upbeat music)