On this episode of Hot Rod Garage Presented by Lincoln Tech
Category
🚗
MotorTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Welcome to another edition of Hot Rod Garage
00:26 presented by Lincoln Tech.
00:28 This time around, we're gonna dive into the world
00:30 of high performance brakes,
00:31 and we're gonna make the El Camino stop a whole lot faster.
00:35 We're also gonna hook up with a guy named Crafty B,
00:38 who sandcasts his own traditional hot rod parts.
00:42 Right now though, we've got a brand new quick tip
00:44 from Lincoln Tech.
00:46 - Hi, I'm Roy Putman.
00:47 I'm an instructor here at Lincoln Tech.
00:49 I've been in the field for 23 years.
00:51 I'm gonna teach you how to plasma arc today.
00:54 To get started, the first thing you need
00:56 is your safety gear.
00:57 You need OSHA approved safety glasses at the proper shade.
01:00 You need a face shield,
01:02 and you need some gloves to protect yourself.
01:04 Let's get started cutting some steel.
01:06 So what we're gonna do right now,
01:07 the first thing you gotta do is check your steel.
01:10 How thick is your steel?
01:11 Set your machine to the proper settings for that thickness.
01:15 Make sure your air pressure is at the right setting
01:18 so you can push the puddle through,
01:20 and then you're ready to set up and strike an arc
01:23 and start cutting.
01:24 Let's get this thing going.
01:25 (machine whirring)
01:29 All right, man, so what we got going on now
01:31 is we have just cut some steel with some electricity
01:35 instead of an oxy fuel.
01:37 Now, the difference is is I can cut steel
01:39 with this plasma arc a lot more precise
01:42 with a lot more artistic talent to it.
01:45 It has a lot less damage and heat into the material,
01:48 therefore not making it brittle or causing carburation.
01:52 We use compressed air and electricity to do this.
01:55 30,000 degrees, and it really is a true art form.
01:59 - Lincoln Tech can teach you
02:00 how to have a career working with cars.
02:02 See link in edu.com.
02:05 (upbeat music)
02:08 - On this Roadkill Project Car Update presented by Dickies,
02:16 we're out here at Camarillo Airport
02:18 testing out the brakes on my wife's car, which are horrible.
02:21 (tires screeching)
02:23 We're gonna compare them to two different sets
02:26 of Wilwood brakes, everything from 11-inch rotors to 14s,
02:29 single-piston calipers to six pistons.
02:32 We're flogging this thing.
02:33 We're gonna destroy the tires by the time we're done here.
02:36 All right, let's do this.
02:38 This'll be one of the most legit tests we've ever done here
02:41 because we've got Benson Kong from Motor Trend here
02:44 with a slew of test equipment
02:45 that is actually gonna tell us
02:47 how long it takes this car to stop
02:50 with the crappy brakes it has now
02:52 and the high-tech stuff from Wilwood.
02:54 So what are we putting on the roof?
02:56 - So we're putting the V-Box antennas on the roof right now.
02:59 This is the final step
03:01 in putting all of the equipment in.
03:03 - Oh, all right, so it's GPS, I'm assuming?
03:05 - Exactly. - All right.
03:07 And that tape's not gonna ruin
03:08 the delicate finish of this car?
03:10 - I guess we'll find out.
03:11 (both laughing)
03:12 - You're like, "Whatever, not mine, don't care."
03:15 So this is my first legit brake test,
03:16 and my assumption here is I look at the speedometer,
03:19 get to 60 miles an hour, lay into the brakes,
03:22 try not to crash, right?
03:23 - Close, so I think the first thing we should do
03:26 is check your speedometer for accuracy.
03:28 It's like one of the V-Boxes will read out the GPS speed,
03:33 and it's like, so we'll check the GPS speed
03:36 against your speedometer.
03:37 - Oh, you doubt my car?
03:39 Man, all right, we'll figure it out.
03:42 Let's see how accurate it is according to your equipment.
03:44 - All right.
03:45 (engine revving)
03:46 - All right, so that's 15.
03:49 - All right.
03:50 - 20.
03:51 (engine revving)
03:53 30.
03:54 40.
03:59 - It says you're going 55.
04:01 - I'm going 50, oh, wait, I'm going 45.
04:03 What does it say now?
04:04 - 60, you're going 60.
04:06 - Oh, wow.
04:07 All right, so this explains all the middle fingers
04:09 I've been getting on the freeway, let's read this.
04:11 (both laughing)
04:12 Wait, so 45 is 60?
04:14 - That's what the GPS says.
04:15 - So I need to go 50 to go 65 or something then, right?
04:19 Let's try that again.
04:20 (engine revving)
04:22 All right, so that's 45,
04:24 40, 48.
04:27 - You're going 70.
04:30 - Wow.
04:31 - 71.
04:32 - So I was going 50 according to the speedometer in the car,
04:35 which was actually 70.
04:36 Whoops.
04:39 (both laughing)
04:40 So essentially for our test,
04:44 I need to be going 48 miles an hour on the Speedo
04:48 to actually go about 65 miles an hour.
04:51 - That's right, anywhere from 45 to 47.
04:55 - Okay, so 45 to 47 mile an hour on the Speedo.
04:58 Okay, and so this is because the rear end gears are stock,
05:02 but the tires are way bigger than stock,
05:03 which is why the Speedo's reading so slow.
05:06 All right, that makes sense.
05:08 We can test now.
05:11 (engine revving)
05:13 Got my wife's El Camino,
05:17 wore out set of drum brakes in the back,
05:19 some fairly decent stock single piston brakes up front.
05:23 60 miles an hour, that's what we're gonna get it up to.
05:27 Then we'll find out how many feet this thing takes to stop.
05:30 All right, so test protocol is
05:33 go to the end of the runway here, stop.
05:37 Then I'm gonna get up to 47 mile an hour on the speedometer,
05:42 which is really 65,
05:44 and I'm gonna hold it there for three seconds
05:47 and then lay into the brakes.
05:49 Come to a complete stop, hold it there for three more seconds.
05:52 Hopefully during that time I've not run into anything.
05:56 All right, let's go.
05:57 (engine revving)
06:00 All right, 30 miles an hour.
06:02 40 miles an hour.
06:06 And all right, there's 47.
06:09 (engine revving)
06:14 (engine stops)
06:17 (laughs)
06:18 Stopped so hard it shut the engine off.
06:20 Okay, number two.
06:23 (engine revving)
06:26 (engine revving)
06:41 (laughs)
06:42 And the car shut off again.
06:44 That was a harder stop for sure.
06:46 All right, enough of that nonsense.
06:50 Let's go put some real brakes in this car.
06:52 (engine revving)
06:55 (upbeat music)
06:58 All right, well our airport brake test revealed
07:00 that the El Camino took 162 feet to stop.
07:04 And a large part of that problem there
07:07 is sitting right here.
07:08 This is the original 10 bolt rear end and drum brakes
07:11 that came on this car in 1969.
07:14 We're gonna ditch all of this
07:15 in favor of a brand new strange nine inch
07:18 with 31 spline axles and an Eaton TrueTrack
07:21 and a bigger, better set of Wilwood discs back here.
07:24 Then we're gonna move up front
07:25 and we're gonna re-ramp the entire brake system
07:28 there as well.
07:29 10 bolt is out and it looks like judging by that,
07:33 this was just in time 'cause the shoes are about
07:36 the thickness of my thumbnail now.
07:39 So good time to get rid of that and bring in this.
07:43 The new hotness.
07:48 All right, we've got a strange fabricated
07:50 nine inch housing here, pro iron case,
07:53 Eaton center section.
07:55 This thing's beefy, it's badass.
07:57 My wife's not breaking this.
08:00 What are those?
08:01 - We're gonna start with the 11 inch brake package
08:03 from Wilwood.
08:04 It uses the DynaPro lug mount caliper, 11 inch rotor.
08:07 It's specifically designed for a 15 inch wheel.
08:10 And the cool thing is the parking brake fits inside
08:13 the hat of the rotor so that we get a parking brake,
08:17 but it's totally hidden.
08:19 - So we're actually putting drum brakes back on this,
08:21 essentially.
08:22 - A tiny little drum brake that functions for parking.
08:24 Yes, that's correct.
08:25 - All right, cool.
08:26 All right, well, let's put it in.
08:28 (upbeat music)
08:30 (upbeat music)
08:33 - All right, so we've got our 10 and a half soft there.
08:51 We're gonna try 11s, we're gonna try 14s.
08:54 How much weight are we gonna save just by swapping
08:56 from an all cast iron deal to an aluminum cast iron thing?
09:00 - The factory 10 and a half inch rotor
09:02 weighs about 18 pounds.
09:04 Our setup with the forged aluminum hub and rotor adapter,
09:08 along with just a cast iron rotor comes in at 12 pounds.
09:12 So we're talking about six pounds of both rotational
09:14 and unsprung mass,
09:16 which is like the holy grail of weight reduction.
09:19 You know, anytime you can get both of those in one place,
09:21 that's really the right answer.
09:23 - And this is gonna weigh more obviously,
09:25 but it's gonna stop better.
09:27 - Right, it's a 14 inch diameter rotor.
09:29 There's no way around the fact it's very heavy.
09:32 You're looking at about 23 pounds
09:33 for the hub and rotor combination here,
09:36 but the increased brake torque
09:37 is really what you're buying there.
09:39 - Okay, and our car admittedly has a few problems
09:42 with the booster and the brake lines,
09:44 which we are gonna fix,
09:45 but the average guy that's just going
09:47 from the stock 10 and a half to 11
09:49 doesn't have to change the master cylinder, right?
09:51 - That's correct.
09:51 If you've got good functioning factory disc brakes,
09:54 you can go straight to our 11 inch kit,
09:56 put it right on the car, and it'll be just fine.
09:59 And you'll save all that weight
10:01 as well as get a better friction from our upgraded pads.
10:06 - Cool, all right.
10:07 Well, let's go put the front together
10:09 and we'll go test again.
10:11 (upbeat music)
10:13 So we're eliminating the weak points in the Elko here,
10:24 and a big part of that was putting in
10:26 the new strange nine inch rear.
10:28 That gave us stronger axles,
10:30 373 gears instead of the highway gears we had,
10:33 and more traction to go along with our tires,
10:36 which is gonna turn the factory drive shaft
10:38 into our next weak point.
10:40 Coast driveline built this thing for us
10:42 in about an hour, I think.
10:44 And unlike the factory drive shaft,
10:47 which is 065 wall seamed tubing,
10:49 this is 095 wall seamless tubing.
10:53 And this thing is good to about 1,000 horsepower
10:55 according to those guys.
10:57 Unlike the old drive shaft,
10:58 which probably would have twisted into a pretzel
11:00 at about 400 ponies.
11:01 (upbeat music)
11:04 So no more power brakes, we're back to manual,
11:17 which is actually cool 'cause I like the pedal feel
11:19 of a manual master cylinder.
11:21 This is lighter.
11:21 How much lighter is this than the old setup?
11:24 - The factory style booster
11:25 and cast iron master cylinder weigh about 20 pounds.
11:29 This weighs four pounds.
11:30 So 16 pounds off the firewall,
11:33 plus it's aluminum so it won't rust.
11:35 The big thing about moving to manual brakes,
11:37 most hot rods don't make enough vacuum to support a booster,
11:41 and the engine compartment isn't big enough
11:43 for a full size factory 11 inch booster.
11:47 So you end up with something
11:48 that's a small diaphragm booster,
11:49 it doesn't have a lot of area,
11:51 and you're not supplying enough vacuum.
11:53 Ultimately that means the pedal doesn't feel like it should
11:57 and you're not developing enough pressure
11:58 to actuate the brakes very effectively.
12:01 So manual master cylinder is really a great choice
12:03 most of the time.
12:04 - So if you put big brakes on your hot rod
12:06 and you're wondering why they still suck,
12:08 that's probably the problem.
12:10 - The number one problem that we get on the tech line
12:13 is guys go to all the trouble
12:15 of putting new brakes on the car,
12:17 whether they're ours or even just a factory disc style brake
12:20 and they put it on with a booster
12:23 and the whole thing doesn't work.
12:24 The first question we ask is,
12:26 how many inches of vacuum does your engine pull
12:29 and what size booster and master cylinder
12:31 do you have on the car?
12:32 And the answer is usually less than 18 inches of vacuum,
12:35 which is what a booster needs.
12:37 And the booster itself is seven or eight inches
12:41 when it really needs to be something like 11,
12:43 which is what the OE's use.
12:45 - Yeah, God, if you've got 18 inches of vacuum
12:47 in your hot rod, you've got a weenie cam.
12:49 What's the point of a hot rod with a small cam?
12:51 - I agree.
12:52 And I especially like the bracket.
12:54 It's got the proportioning valve built in here.
12:57 School us, what's the proper way to adjust this thing
13:00 once you've got the system functioning?
13:01 - Once you've got everything functioning,
13:03 you wanna get out to an area where you can't hurt yourself
13:05 or anybody else and perform a series of decelerations.
13:10 And you start with the valve
13:11 at absolutely no pressure going to the rear.
13:16 Slowly increase the pressure to the rear brakes,
13:19 make a stop, increase the pressure a little bit,
13:21 make a stop until the rears lock up
13:23 and then back it off at a half turn or so.
13:26 That way you've got max pressure going to the rear
13:28 without locking up the rear brakes.
13:31 - Cool.
13:32 All right, well, we're done, we're bled.
13:34 We just gotta put the cap on this thing
13:35 and then I think we can head back to the airport
13:38 and go test.
13:38 - I think it's time.
13:39 - All right.
13:40 (upbeat music)
13:43 We're back at Camarillo Airfield.
13:45 We're ready to bed in the pads
13:47 on our new 11 inch Wilwood disc brakes.
13:49 We're gonna make a series of hard stops
13:51 followed by a cool off period
13:53 that we're gonna get the tires up to temp.
13:55 And then we're gonna find out
13:56 how much shorter this car will stop with 11 inch brakes
14:00 versus the old drums and 10 and a half inch discs
14:02 we had on here before.
14:04 (upbeat music)
14:06 - Basic procedure is accelerate up to about 50 miles an hour.
14:13 The first stop, just kind of moderate on the brakes
14:16 down to about 10, 15.
14:18 Second one up to 50 miles an hour,
14:20 harder on the brakes down to 10, 15.
14:22 Third one, harder on the brakes down to 10, 15.
14:25 By then we should be able to smell the brake pads.
14:27 Once you can smell them,
14:28 just lay off the brakes and cruise around
14:31 at 40 miles an hour in a circle for a few laps,
14:34 you know, to cool them down and done deal.
14:36 - I don't know what 50 miles an hour is,
14:43 but I'm gonna guess we're there.
14:44 - Yeah, I'd say so.
14:46 (car engine roaring)
14:49 On it again.
14:50 - Okay.
14:51 (car engine roaring)
14:54 - And now hard on them again.
14:57 Making U-turn.
15:01 - Do it again.
15:01 - Do it again.
15:02 (car engine roaring)
15:05 Probably go ahead and wire up for some stop testing.
15:14 Good news, we're ready to put the V-Box in
15:17 and start brake testing.
15:19 Time to test out our new 11 inch Wilwood brakes.
15:22 Excited about this.
15:25 Before when you drive this car,
15:28 you pretty much had to follow all the rules
15:31 that you learned in driver's ed regarding stopping distance
15:34 because if you didn't leave a couple of buses
15:37 between you and the next car,
15:38 you were probably plowing into them.
15:42 Our new 373 gears actually corrected our speedometer.
15:46 So I'm shooting for 66 miles an hour on the Speedo,
15:50 which will give me 65 mile an hour on the test equipment.
15:52 And then we'll brake hard.
15:55 Here we go.
15:56 (car engine roaring)
15:59 Definitely accelerates better with the new gears.
16:05 All right, I'm gonna bring it down to 65 here and brake.
16:11 (car engine roaring)
16:14 Oh, that's good.
16:17 That's really good.
16:18 I had to have been shorter.
16:21 Didn't lock up at all, just a good firm pedal feel.
16:25 And the car just hustled to a stop there.
16:31 Here we go.
16:34 (car engine roaring)
16:38 (car engine roaring)
16:41 64, 65 miles an hour and stop.
16:47 On the floor.
16:51 Wow.
16:52 Didn't lock up at all.
16:55 These have to be working a little bit better
16:57 'cause it's taking a little more effort
16:58 to keep me in the seat with the lap belt on.
17:01 The stock brakes suck.
17:03 Took 162 feet to slow this thing down from 60 miles an hour
17:07 and the pedal was super twitchy.
17:09 Very easy to lock up the tires.
17:11 The 11 inch Wilwoods, much better pedal feel,
17:14 only took 139 feet to stop the car.
17:17 My only complaint is that you almost have to go to the floor
17:21 to get the tires to lock up.
17:23 The guys at Wilwood are telling me
17:24 that the master cylinder they put on here
17:26 is really sized for the 14s, which is perfect
17:29 because we're gonna head back to their shop
17:31 and put them on right now.
17:32 (car engine roaring)
17:36 (upbeat music)
17:39 (upbeat music)
18:08 This might be our last test
18:09 'cause we're running out of time,
18:10 but we now have the 14 inch discs all the way around,
18:14 six piston calipers up front,
18:16 four piston calipers in the back.
18:18 See how much distance it eats up.
18:20 (car engine roaring)
18:24 Yeah, there's 65 miles an hour.
18:36 (tires screeching)
18:39 Not bad, I could probably get into the brakes
18:45 a little harder at the beginning, so I'll try that.
18:47 It's a lot better pedal feel now.
18:49 It applies way more pressure earlier in the run,
18:53 way better clamping, which is prompting me
18:56 to lock them up sooner than I need to.
18:59 So this time I'm gonna try to go firm at the beginning
19:03 and let off just a little bit and try not to lock them up,
19:05 just get the car to slow down to a stop.
19:07 (car engine roaring)
19:11 50 miles an hour, 60 miles an hour,
19:17 65, here we go.
19:20 That's pretty good.
19:26 All right, let's see how that stacks up.
19:29 (car engine roaring)
19:34 This brake test really taught me
19:36 that I need to decide what this car is.
19:39 Is this my wife's daily driver
19:40 that she bitches about the primered fender?
19:42 Is it a street strip car?
19:44 We're gonna auto cross it, are we gonna road race it?
19:46 What are we gonna do?
19:47 Because the brake system you end up with
19:50 really depends on the application.
19:52 The stock brakes took 162 feet to stop this thing
19:55 from 65 miles an hour.
19:57 The pedal was very touchy,
19:59 really easy to lock these wheels up.
20:01 When we stepped up to the 11 inch brakes,
20:04 almost impossible to lock up the tires,
20:06 only took 139 feet to stop the car,
20:09 but there's a little bit of fade there over time.
20:12 When they get really hot, they're gonna fade.
20:14 So it's perfect for light auto cross use, everyday driving.
20:18 When we put on the 14 inch brakes,
20:20 obviously they cost more,
20:22 but we stopped a whole lot sooner.
20:24 In fact, it stopped at 128 feet and they don't fade.
20:28 I whooped on these things.
20:29 At one point I did like nine or 10 stop tests in a row
20:32 and the pedal feel was exactly the same every time.
20:35 So the 14s are perfect for serious auto crossing
20:39 and road racing, which let's be honest,
20:42 this car is not adept at either one of those things,
20:44 but I'm gonna keep pretending it is
20:46 because it's a hell of a good time to drive it.
20:48 (car engine roaring)
20:51 It's that time again.
20:53 We are gonna check out parts that look a whole lot like porn.
20:57 And today, here with a guy named Crafty B,
21:01 a man with a legal name that I don't know,
21:04 from Michigan with a business of sand casting
21:07 amazing traditional hot rod parts.
21:08 This is all hand machine, there's no CNC involved.
21:12 - No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
21:13 Just how they would have done it back 50 years ago.
21:15 - Very cool.
21:16 And do you have your own foundry or do you?
21:18 - I have the capability of pouring my own parts,
21:21 but I don't.
21:22 I work with a local foundry that are really good
21:25 and are car enthusiasts.
21:27 So they get just excited about the parts as I do.
21:30 - All of this stuff looks like it belongs
21:31 on a pre-war car, even though it's all new.
21:35 You've made all of this.
21:36 - It is all new, yeah.
21:37 10 years ago, I had built this little 41 Ford pickup
21:42 and it started out that it was gonna be
21:43 just a little driver.
21:45 And like most projects, it got away from me
21:47 and I made a headlight bracket
21:49 that was unusual compared to most.
21:51 So the headlight bracket kind of launched me
21:54 into trying to up myself with each part.
21:58 And by the time the truck was done,
21:59 it was pretty much all handmade with all kinds of this.
22:03 - Right.
22:04 - And then people started asking me
22:06 if they could buy the gas caps.
22:08 It was mainly the gas caps that launched it.
22:10 - To be honest, the gas cap is the reason you're here
22:13 because I was surfing Instagram when I saw one of these
22:17 and it looked old.
22:18 The combination of the brushed finish, the brass,
22:21 it all, the casting, it all worked so well together.
22:24 And I realized you're building these now.
22:26 And I thought, God, this is a creative guy.
22:28 I wanna know how he does this
22:30 because I've heard about sand casting
22:32 but I have no idea how it works.
22:33 Like how do you get from a piece of wood,
22:35 I'm imagining, to this?
22:36 - Yeah, yeah, I start with a piece of wood.
22:39 Here's a little teardrop cap.
22:42 This is really early on.
22:43 I just kind of get my head wrapped around the shape
22:46 and the concept.
22:47 Basically what you have here
22:49 is what the end product's gonna look like
22:51 'cause all you're doing is gonna pack sand around this
22:53 and pour the hot metal in the hole.
22:55 The better the pattern that you make,
22:58 the better the casting will be.
22:59 So you try to sand it and get it as smooth as possible.
23:03 - And then is it literally just a box of sand?
23:05 - It's two boxes of sand.
23:07 - Two boxes of sand. - Yeah, basically.
23:08 I have a pattern right here.
23:09 - Okay.
23:11 - So basically this all started out as wood
23:14 and I put it in a lathe
23:15 and I make the actual product how it's gonna look.
23:17 - Now are these things glued to this
23:19 or is this one big giant chunk?
23:21 No, you put it in a lathe.
23:22 - That's glued.
23:23 These are all separate pieces.
23:24 And just the real simple explanation,
23:27 there's a box that fits on top
23:30 and there's a box that fits on bottom
23:31 and they fill the top box with sand
23:34 and they fill the bottom box with sand.
23:37 They compress it all down
23:39 and then they take the top box off,
23:42 take this pattern out and set that box back on.
23:45 And what it does is it leaves this void
23:48 in the middle of a big block of sand.
23:50 - Why doesn't the sand move around?
23:52 - It's sticky.
23:53 It's casting sand.
23:54 It's made to stick together.
23:57 So basically--
23:58 - Don't go to the beach and--
23:59 - Snap your sand.
24:00 - Try to start building.
24:01 - No. - That's okay.
24:02 - So basically what happens is all of this shape
24:05 is encased in the middle of a giant block of sand
24:09 and then they poke some holes,
24:11 pour the molten metal in right here
24:13 until it fills up and once it cools,
24:15 they push this big block of sand on the floor
24:18 and then this appears like a skeleton with these parts.
24:22 - Wow.
24:23 - At this point, it's all machine work,
24:24 secondary type machining.
24:26 It takes a while to get it nice.
24:28 - Quite a contrast from some of the other characters
24:30 we've had on here before that, you know,
24:32 with their billet, five axis, water jet, you know.
24:36 This is very cool because it's old world
24:40 and I can see you take a lot of pride
24:42 in building this stuff.
24:43 Are they all one offs, I call?
24:45 - There's a series of maybe six different bodies and lids
24:51 but then it's up to you what you might want.
24:53 You might say I want that or I might want,
24:56 it's basically the same design.
24:58 This has stainless, polished stainless and a polished lid
25:02 with a, you know, a polished lip.
25:04 - I like the lightning holes.
25:06 - This one's actually off my 32,
25:08 so I brought it because this one has lots going on.
25:10 It's got double arms.
25:12 This follows the rear quarter of the car,
25:15 so it fits really nice
25:17 and I think you have some photos of it.
25:18 - And then, okay, so I'm a product of the 90s,
25:21 a car that would have a friction shock on it
25:24 was not in my high school parking lot,
25:26 so I'm totally unfamiliar with how this works.
25:29 School me.
25:30 - Well, it works on friction.
25:32 There's a clutch lining inside each side of the body
25:35 with a disc that's attached to the center shaft.
25:38 You crank these down and it applies more pressure.
25:41 Thus, you know, you can have little
25:44 or you can crank it down so it barely moves.
25:46 And that just fits on the front of the car.
25:49 This would get attached to a wishbone
25:51 or the front axle, it's kind of up to you,
25:52 but super traditional.
25:55 - Yeah, and it looks really cool.
25:57 I mean, obviously you're not adjusting compression
26:00 and rebound and dialing the ride in much,
26:02 but it's very cool looking.
26:04 You're hand assembling these, right?
26:05 All the pins, all the machining.
26:07 - Yeah, everything's done with just basic bridge port,
26:10 a lathe, sanders, grinders.
26:12 This particular cap uses stainless steel pins,
26:14 so I have to use, you know, drill and ream those
26:17 and press them in there.
26:18 - And this is all done on a manual bridge port.
26:20 - I bought one recently,
26:22 and it's the greatest tool I've ever bought.
26:23 - Oh, yeah.
26:24 - And I hate myself for this,
26:25 but I never took any machinery classes in school.
26:28 And so all I'm using it for these days is to--
26:30 - Is this drill press?
26:31 - No, well, yeah, yeah.
26:33 But I'm windowing parts for the stuff I race
26:37 just to make them lighter.
26:38 But I wish I had the time to go back
26:40 and actually learn how to use that thing as God intended,
26:43 'cause it's a really powerful tool.
26:45 - Yeah, I use it like every day.
26:47 - And they're cheap, you know?
26:49 If you're a kid, learn this stuff, you know?
26:52 I mean, there's nothing cooler than being self-sufficient.
26:54 - Yeah, yeah.
26:55 - You're a man who's able to--
26:56 - I don't like to outsource anything.
26:58 That's kind of one of, I wish I could,
27:01 but I make everything.
27:03 I just can't, unless I have to.
27:05 - That's very cool looking.
27:09 - Yeah, I thought you'd like that.
27:10 This is my company logo, the Flying Anvil,
27:13 so I thought it would be appropriate to bring one along
27:15 to maybe be a mascot or--
27:17 - Oh, that's awesome.
27:19 That needs to go on the hood of every car from now on.
27:21 - I think if you could, yeah.
27:22 - Well, dude, thank you for coming by.
27:23 - Yeah, man, it was fun.
27:24 - Damn nice to meet you. - Thanks for having me.
27:25 - It was great.
27:26 - And if you guys are interested in getting
27:28 your own custom traditional gas cap or friction shock
27:31 or hell, wheel knockoffs, any of that,
27:34 visit craftybee.com, there's a hyphen in there.
27:37 It's crafty-bee.com.
27:40 (upbeat music)
27:42 - Welcome to the question and answer part of Hot Rod Garage
27:46 and check out our new garage lounge
27:49 that was thrown together for us by the video guys.
27:51 These are actually the seats out of the Ratsen,
27:53 our little 240Z.
27:55 - Lot of money spent on the set dressing here.
27:58 - You'll see not a lot of gesticulation or action here
28:01 because I will fall directly off this thing.
28:04 - Oh, look, look, look, look, look at that.
28:06 - Yeah, that's a good auto. - Foot rest is adjustable
28:08 right here.
28:09 - This is where we answer questions
28:11 that are posted by viewers on our Facebook page,
28:13 which is facebook.com/hotrodgarageshow.
28:17 Make sure to follow that, look for our questions
28:19 and throw us some ones where we can try and be funny,
28:22 that's kind of the point, as well as informative.
28:25 - Dare to dream.
28:27 - Mitchell Forrester is one of many wise-ass audience members
28:30 who has to always say when we cover
28:33 like the Dupli-Color custom wrap, spray on, peel off stuff,
28:36 or Armor All has custom shield,
28:40 everyone goes, "Oh, you mean Plasti-Dip?"
28:43 I guess so, I'm not really hip to the whole Plasti-Dip thing,
28:45 I guess it's kind of a thing.
28:47 - So, everything's Kleenex,
28:50 you can never have another brand of facial tissue.
28:51 - No, no competitive brands whatsoever.
28:54 - Grant Jocelyn wants to know the story behind my first car,
28:58 a 1976 Camaro that I totaled.
29:01 - I think there was an annotation in one of our videos
29:03 about how you had your first Camaro but wrecked it,
29:06 and so people are wanting to know
29:07 what's the full story on that.
29:09 - That's embarrassing.
29:10 Yeah, I totaled my first car.
29:12 Second gen Camaro, it rained for--
29:16 - It sat like this?
29:16 - Yeah, it did.
29:18 So, this is a long story.
29:19 I bought the second gen Camaro--
29:21 - Want me to take a break?
29:22 - You might have to, more beer.
29:24 So, I bought the second gen Camaro solely
29:26 because it had M&H Race Masters on the back,
29:30 and which went flat three weeks after I bought the car,
29:32 and I ended up with Unaroyal Tiger paws,
29:35 not nearly as cool a tire, or as big.
29:39 That's neither here nor there.
29:41 Rainstorm, really bad, road flooded, going too fast.
29:45 I hydroplaned the car head on into a brick wall,
29:49 and then the river that was running across the road
29:52 pushed the car sideways into a phone pole,
29:55 and the pole hit the driver's door,
29:57 ripped the driver's seat out of the floorboard
29:59 with me in it, so I was wearing a seatbelt,
30:01 and laid me into the passenger seat,
30:03 and that car ultimately ended up being
30:04 like a foot and a half shorter, U-shape,
30:07 all the windows blown out.
30:08 - Hence the term taco.
30:09 - Yeah.
30:10 - You taco'd it around.
30:11 - Taco'd a Camaro, so, didn't fix that one.
30:14 Drive slower.
30:15 - But it was like a '76, so nobody cared, right?
30:17 - Yeah, nobody cared.
30:18 - Sorry, all you '76 Camaro owners.
30:22 James Gordon wants to know when I stabbed myself
30:24 into the leg.
30:25 Apparently this right here is pretty visible
30:27 in a couple episodes of Hot Rod Garage.
30:29 - Well, and that one too.
30:30 - First time I had the maxi pad taped to my leg,
30:32 remember that?
30:33 - You said taste.
30:34 - Taste, taped.
30:36 It was really ugly.
30:38 And then there's this one right here.
30:40 So this one was working on Finnegan's '55 Chevy,
30:43 and the whiz wheel that I was working with
30:46 flew apart and zinged right past me.
30:48 I think that was a Rolex Scotch-Brite.
30:50 And over here, once again, drawing blood
30:52 from Finnegan's '55, I had just cut the end
30:55 of a roll bar tube that I was fitting,
30:57 and I swung it down to walk away,
30:59 and it gashed me deep.
31:01 And it got all swollen and infected,
31:04 and I actually went to the quick nurse.
31:05 She's like, "Were you wearing shorts when these happened?"
31:08 I was like, "Yeah, you should wear pants."
31:11 Yeah, I didn't take that advice.
31:13 I'm wearing shoes though.
31:14 Joe Brown's asking about the olive-colored piston,
31:16 and I think that was the CP section.
31:19 - I know what it is.
31:20 - And I'm sure it was a top fuel piston,
31:22 'cause they usually are.
31:23 - Yeah.
31:24 - Top fuel hemi piston is weird,
31:25 because even though it's a hemi,
31:27 it's virtually flat on top with a couple small reliefs,
31:30 and the domes on those things are like that.
31:32 They're gnarly.
31:33 - But I don't know what the green coating is, do you?
31:36 - Thermal barrier coating, I believe.
31:37 - Is it, or nitro?
31:39 Does it come off in one pass?
31:40 - Pretty much the piston comes off every once, so yeah.
31:43 - That's true.
31:44 Matisse Rohwer, and I probably pronounced that wrong,
31:47 because I'm not from Norway like that person is.
31:51 I almost said like he is, but I'm not even sure
31:52 of the gender of that person from Norway.
31:54 - He's from Burbank.
31:55 - The question is, what's going on with the General Mayhem,
31:58 which is of course my '68 Charger
31:59 that we built in an episode of Roadkill,
32:01 my favorite episode of Roadkill.
32:03 I thought that was the most hilarious.
32:05 - Is it your favorite because of the used motor home parts?
32:08 - Oh, the motor home part is just hilarity.
32:10 So is the derbying the Charger.
32:12 But it's sitting right there, just off camera,
32:16 and I've been working on it for the past week.
32:19 I put more money in the suspension this week
32:21 than the whole rest of the car is worth.
32:23 You'll remember on the autocross episode,
32:25 that thing handled horribly.
32:28 Hoping to fix that.
32:29 - Me too.
32:31 (laughing)
32:33 - Jared Padilla, I think what he's asking about
32:36 is how we got from a fuel hardline to AN line,
32:41 what that coupler was that we used on your '55.
32:43 You can actually get those fittings
32:45 from any of the AN manufacturers.
32:47 It's literally half inch aluminum or stainless hardline.
32:49 There's a collet that goes into it,
32:51 and an end that will then thread into a hose end for AN.
32:55 I don't know how else to say it.
32:56 You can get them from any of the AN companies.
32:58 - It's a flare fitting, and on the other end
33:00 it's just two.
33:01 - Right.
33:03 Ours came from Earl's, so you can get them there.
33:06 I did see a viewer ask if Chuck Norris knows
33:09 that you stole his beard.
33:11 (laughing)
33:13 - No, but I do use the ab roller.
33:15 - The ab roller?
33:17 - Yeah.
33:17 You don't ever watch TV, do you?
33:19 - Suzanne Somers?
33:20 - Yeah.
33:20 - Simon Sutter is going way back, pre-Roadkill.
33:24 He wants to know what happened to that Chrysler 300C
33:28 that was in the Super B episode
33:30 where we drove that thing to Las Vegas
33:31 and raced it and blew it up and came home.
33:33 Remember that?
33:34 The junkyard in-- - Yeah.
33:35 I bought it from a drunk guy on an ATV.
33:37 - And then I forbade it.
33:39 I was like, dude, you're a chump.
33:40 I still don't know what you were thinking
33:43 wanting that thing.
33:44 - Oh, all white interior.
33:46 It was beautiful. - Green.
33:48 - It wasn't you that put a kibosh on that.
33:49 It was my wife.
33:50 - Oh, that's right.
33:52 - She actually said, "Where you parking that PC?"
33:54 - Right, that's true.
33:55 - I didn't have a good answer for her.
33:57 - It's still sitting there.
33:58 - I'm sure it's still there.
33:59 - I cut a deal with him for $300,
34:02 which he doesn't remember 'cause he's wasted still.
34:06 And I never went back and got it, actually.
34:08 So, still sitting there.
34:10 If you ever wanna go to Baker, California
34:12 and get yourself a beautiful '73-ish Chrysler 300--
34:17 - Behind the Hawaiian Hotel there.
34:18 - Behind the Hawaiian Hotel.
34:19 - Yep, just get past the guy with the shotgun
34:22 and the Doberman and then the chain link fence
34:24 with the razor wire on the top,
34:26 and you could own that.
34:28 Okay, that was pretty brutal, wasn't it?
34:29 You can make it better next time.
34:30 You, at home.
34:32 Because you can go on facebook.com/hotrodgarageshow
34:37 and ask any question you want
34:39 so that you can get it professionally answered
34:42 with absolute wit and wisdom, as you've seen here today.
34:45 - Ask some better ones.
34:47 Help us be funny.
34:48 - Yeah, help us be funny.
34:50 - Softballs.
34:51 Lob 'em in there.
34:52 (rock music)
34:56 (indistinct chatter)
35:00 - Perfect.
35:01 All right, well there it is.
35:02 Another killer episode of Hot Rod Garage in the Can.
35:05 We learned how to sand cast awesome hot rod parts.
35:08 We shaved 31 feet off the stopping distance of the Elko
35:11 and had a killer time doing it.
35:13 Come back next month for more tips and tricks.
35:15 And if you wanna see the behind the scenes action,
35:17 check out Hot Rod Garage Show on Facebook.
35:20 (rock music)
35:23 (laughing)
35:25 - Nails Hard Licka.
35:27 Who are you people?
35:28 When you go on the witness protection program,
35:36 apparently you change your name to Nails Hard Licka.
35:39 (laughing)
35:54 - No more beer.
35:55 - I'm not drunk, I'm just unstable.
35:57 - Actually, you can probably lean back
35:59 into the wrong chair, it might work.
36:01 Okay, that ends this segment of question and answer
36:06 here on Hot Rod Garage.
36:08 Mike Finnegan's completely lost it.
36:10 - Bam!