[ engine revs ]
oh. Oh, god.
There's a cop right there.
This ford coupe we painted
probably 15 years ago,
we ended up putting
the flames on it
and it's pretty ironic
it caught on fire.
Who puts volvo color...
[ chuckles ]
...On a ford hotrod?
Advice -- don't start
your cars on fire.
Yeah, and it's not
starting again.
Seriously?
Fail.
I don't know what I need to do,
to be honest with you, dude.
Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Kevin: Hey, is this that
mustang you told me about --
that's a beautiful car, we just
need to tweak a couple things?
Dave: Just a couple of
drivability issues.
I'm all about it.
Something's wrong.
I feel so
responsible in this.
Is that true?
[ chuckling ] no.
[ engine revs ]
oh, yeah.
[ engine revs ]
whoooo!
Who needs coffee?!
[ laughing ]
I love it!
I gotta get me
one of these.
dave: Clean...
Custom...
Bitchin'.
my name is dave kindig.
Designing and building custom
cars is my life's passion.
With the best mechanics,
technicians, and fabricators
in the business,
quality is our only focus.
We build bitchin' rides.
-- Captions by vitac --
www.Vitac.Com
captions paid for by
discovery communications
alright, so
this ford coupe
we painted probably
we ended up putting
the flames on it.
Dave:
Our good friend bob has been
building transmissions for us
for almost as long
as I've been in business,
and we've done
a lot of stuff with him.
In particular, we've done a
flame job on this car
about 14 years ago.
Well, bob had a hell of a scare
just recently.
And it's pretty ironic...
It caught on fire.
It's not even a realistic
flame paint job.
It's not a funny story
'cause bob, the owner,
got hurt pretty good.
He got some third degree burns
on his hands and on his legs.
Dave: Bob actually had a very
bad accident in his garage.
He had an ignition problem
that basically lit himself
in his car on fire.
Luckily, he's okay.
His car, however, well,
it's going to need
a little bit of work.
Okay, so what happened?
What caused the fire?
What have we
got to look for?
Kevin: I think the seats.
Or something's up with the float
bowls in the carburetors
and it basically
hydrolocked the engine.
But for some reason
it was able to fire over.
It kicked all of the fuel
out of the headers
just in a ball of fire.
Hoo.
Lit his garage on fire.
He said it had a cover on it
and it burned it
directly in half.
What I'd really like to do
before we tear this thing
down all the way is
let's make it work again.
Okay.
Let's get the carbs rebuilt.
Let's start there.
Let's fix the wiring
on the right side
and then we'll tear it down
and we'll give it to
the paint shop
and then we'll
put it together. So --
okay. What kind of
time frame we have on this?
We in a hurry or...?
We kind of slipped him in
'cause bob's a good friend.
So, you know,
obviously everything around
here, the sooner the better,
but --
[ chuckles ]
awesome.
Dave:
We really don't know everything
that went wrong with this thing
other than the fact
we're pretty sure
that the carburetor was
the likely cause of the fire.
So we're going to go ahead
and tear into it and find out
exactly what went wrong
and how much damage is there.
We'll get it running and
we'll let you know what we find.
Awesome. Awesome.
We'll go from there.
Take care of bob.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah. He's a
great dude.
Alright.
lane: We found wiring harnesses.
We found a fuel lines.
I mean, obviously,
the paint and the chassis
and a lot of things that have
been since pretty scorched.
So we're going through and we're
going to disassemble this thing
and fix all the burnt stuff
and get it back to the guy.
But, yeah, it's gonna
require some paint.
It's going to require
some new wiring.
New fuel lines.
Quite a bit of work.
soon as it goes to the floor,
that's where the fire was at,
and so there's a lot of wires
right here
that we had to repair, replace.
And this is wiring
that was going to the starter.
If this would have
burned through,
it could have turned into
a severe electrical fire
as well as a normal fuel fire.
Dave: Definitely found that
all of the wiring
being burnt around the
engine bay
is probably going to have
to be replaced.
This was a freak accident.
You know, some of these
vehicles, especially show cars,
they sit for a time.
You know?
In doing so, sometimes these
carburetors can get plugged up
and things like this can happen.
I'm just thankful that it stayed
clear of the fuel lines.
It could have been a lot worse.
we've gone through and cleaned
up and rebuilt the carburetors
and now we've cleaned up
the wiring, as well.
But we want to make sure
this whole thing runs
before we tear it apart
to make it pretty again.
Collin: We don't know what
this is gonna do,
so just a heads up.
[ chuckles ]
we just wanna make sure
we're super safe here.
It's already got
flames on the car.
We don't want real flames
on the car again, so --
well, no fooling around.
[ chuckles ] we're gonna make
sure that we play it safe.
Collin: Ready?
And it did a whole lot
of nothing. There's --
lane:
I don't understand.
Which...Don't.
Did we burn up the
neutral safety switch?
Try that.
Neutral safety switch.
Yep.
A neutral safety switch
allows you to not start the car
if it's not neutral or in park.
That way you're insured
to not start the car
without your foot on the brake
and it's in gear and you sh**t
through the back of your garage.
Which I happen to know
a couple of people
who have done that.
Not me.
Here goes nothing,
right?
There's --
[ exhales rapidly ]
yeah, and it's not
starting again.
Seriously?
Fail.
Well, with the car
not starting up,
it's pretty easy to tell
the starter's not working.
[ wrenching ]
man, oh, man.
Yeah, that thing cooked.
Like,
medium rare?
Well done.
[ chuckles ]
kevin:
The starter is scorched,
so we're gonna have
to get a new one.
This is an easy replacement,
but I wanna find one fast.
I wanna get this car runnin'.
got it.
Sometimes when you need
a part in a hurry,
you gotta get a little creative.
what's happening
on this end, collin?
[ clears throat ]
starter for starter --
easy-breezy.
Few moments of my time
and now we'll try again.
Ready?
[ starter cranks,
engine turns over ]
well?
It does run.
It's not gonna
catch fire.
It's not bleeding fuel
past the float bowls,
so I still believe that
that was the initial problem.
I would have to
agree with you.
Dave: So with the carbs
being rebuilt,
the starter being replaced
and all of the wiring
going in that area
has all been refurbished
and is now starting,
now, we can tear it
all apart again
and get rid of all those
scorched panels.
Take it all
back apart now?
Yeah. So far,
so good, dude.
Sweet.
alright, brandon,
you got the camera.
Let's see what color
this thing is.
We'll have to do
a little bit of paint matching
and make sure that we got
the right color of blue
so we can repaint
the bottom of the floor,
the very edge of the rocker,
and, of course,
we'll just go ahead and freshen
up the entire chassis
and the motor and transmission.
I thought it was like
a ford blue.
But let's --
that's what I actually
thought, too.
Ford trucks and stuff?
Right? Let's see
what you got.
Let's put the camera
on there and see
what we --
just basically,
just gotta set up
on here like so.
Dave: This tool's super cool.
What it does is it takes
a picture of the color
and tells you all of
the pigments in our paint line
that it takes
to make that color.
It'll give you a couple
of options of different formulas
and you can pick the one
that's the closest to it
and then just simply tint
from there.
[ beeps ]
okay,
so, go green.
Okay.
You on the flat?
[ beeps ]
so you're going that way
and you're going that way
so you get both angles.
Mm-hmm.
And then the variances
will come up inside here
and we can look them up.
On the computer...
On the computer.
...And it'll tell what it
thinks the recipe is to make...
Yes.
...That particular blue.
It might be a
honda blue.
It could be this.
It could be that.
And it'll basically narrow it
down and you can look at that?
Usually end up having to do
a couple of spray-outs
and narrow it down
to what it is.
Get it to where
it's dead-on and --
mm-hmm. When you
get that,
if you need a second
set of eyes,
we need to move the car
outside or whatever,
just let me know and we'll
just make sure that it matches.
Okay. Will do.
Cool.
Sounds good.
Okay.
Rockin'.
Thanks, buddy.
You're welcome.
[ whirring ]
dave: We got two formulas that
come up as a really close match,
so we'll just simply build
a very small amount
of each of these formulas
and do a spray-out and see
which one matches the best.
what you got there, b?
You got something?
Two spray-outs.
These are the closest ones
we came up with, so --
I think that one's
a mile off.
I think this is gonna
be it right here.
It looks
a lot better.
That almost looks like
it'd go with the ghost flames.
Yeah.
There's that guy.
Ohh.
That one looks
really good, actually.
Yeah, I think that color
is pretty much dead-on.
Let me see that.
Oh, yeah.
See the flops
right on there, too.
No, that's good.
I'm buying that.
What'd it end up being?
I say the volvo color.
Volvo?
Who puts a volvo color...
[ chuckles ]
...On ford hot rod?
dave: This is a beautiful color
on a volvo,
but it's even more beautiful
on a '33 coupe.
Now that we've got the color
picked out,
all we gotta do is
do a little bit of light scuff
on the bulk of the chassis.
We're gonna go ahead
and touch up a couple of chips.
And of course, this area
that got scorched pretty good.
And then we'll simply get
some primer on those areas,
block them back in,
and go straight to the paint.
one of the things the guys
really need to look for
is any damage to body filler
and the under primer
on this metal of this chassis.
If it's been burnt all the way
down to the bare metal,
you gotta make sure
you take it all the way
down to bare metal
and bring it back up.
I was not looking forward
to repainting these flames.
So luckily for us,
it looks like we just scorched
a little bit of the clear coat.
It should be able
to be wet-sanded off
and maybe even polished.
If anything else,
we'll just blend our blue
on the bottom of the body
that needs to be done there,
then we can just take it up
the side of the cowl.
But no graphic needed.
[ inhales deeply,
exhales forcefully ]
trying to take off burnt paint
off of the vehicle.
Advice --
don't start your cars on fire.
mike's talented,
so he knows what he's doing
as far as his blends and how
many coats he has put on.
He's gonna do
roughly two coats --
a base. Probably about
four or five coats of clear.
We just want it to look
really nice and glossy.
So after it comes out,
if we have to cut and polish
anything, we can.
If we don't, be easier
to go back together.
This is a good looking blue.
Beautiful blue.
So far, so good.
It's coming out nice.
Mike: We got the body
for the ford in the booth.
This is the last part.
brandon: It's a beautiful blue.
It's a solvent-based paint.
Now we're re-spraying the new
paint and clear on there.
Dave: The paint match
came out beautifully.
The paint job looks awesome.
The polish job looks awesome.
Now it's time to put the body
back on the chassis
and get this car back together.
But I'm thinking this
[bleep] is gonna slide
right the [bleep] off
with these rags on here.
Kevin: The body's off
the body cart and it's stable.
But we want to be quick about
getting the chassis
underneath this thing,
because when this paint is new,
it can be a little slippery,
especially with the rags,
and this is just a time
where we need to be
very careful, very cautious,
and move like the wind --
super fast.
The front slants up
and it's freshly painted
and slippery using rags
so you don't scratch it
and you don't want
it to slide out, you know?
Should we go and set it to where
this can't kick out,
you know what I mean?
It's on a tooth.
Let's go up.
Go up a little,
collin.
Sketch [bleep] tastic.
But I'm thinking this
[bleep] is gonna slide
right the [bleep] off
with these rags on here.
The front slants up and it's
freshly painted and slippery.
Dave: We found
the cause of the fire,
and we've done all of
the repairs and the repaint.
Now we're trying to marry
the body to the chassis
and this looks like it's going
to be
a little bit of a
slippery project.
Justin: Using rags so you
don't scratch it
and you don't want it
to slide out, you know?
Should we go --
let's set it to where
this can't kick out.
You know what I mean?
It's on a tooth.
Let's go up.
Go up a little,
collin.
[ chuckling ]
baby bumps, dude.
I about [bleep] myself.
And mine, I can kick out.
Not really. Maybe bump up?
[ whirs ]
again.
[ whirs ]
okay.
I got the lock set up
to where mine can't kick out.
I mean --
can't kick out.
Sketch [bleep] tastic.
Kevin: Just give it a bump
and let's just go slow.
Let's make sure we're good.
Little bit more.
Alright, bump it again.
[ whirs ]
I think we're good.
Go ahead and go up.
Gettin' all I need.
Don't worry.
We got it.
this is super tight
because the body
rolls over the sides
of the chassis on this.
I mean, there's like
if we're lucky.
Now we're gonna be
crazy close back here.
Let's get your head
out of there.
Just go real slow.
The back's close.
Go ahead and
go down real slow.
How's your lifter?
Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Justin:
Did I help you?
By justin bumping
over the front,
it basically just tipped the
back out just enough,
and it's so close.
We just have to make sure
that we are both communicating
and going really,
really, really slow.
Okay.
We're coming down
right through the notch.
we're good.
We're good.
I think she's landed.
Think she's landed, captain.
Dave: Here she is.
Justin: Yeah, we're perfect.
I think she'll go.
dave: We have a new car
in the shop today.
It's a '67 fastback mustang.
It needs a couple
of things repaired
and make a couple of things work
just a little bit better
than they do.
Kevin: Hey, is this that
mustang you told me about --
that's a beautiful car, we just
need to tweak a couple things?
Dave: Just a couple of
drivability issues.
I mean, there's
a vibration,
having a hard time going into
fourth and in reverse.
Kevin:
Mustangs are a very iconic car,
but this has to be
one of the most iconic.
This style of car
was in a movie.
Nicolas cage drove it and
we're going to get this car
working like
it's way better than new.
He's already got a pretty good
complaint
and he's pretty adamant
about there's
some stuff in
the transmission.
Okay.
So I think
we probably have
to start there so that
we can put it
through all of the gears
and make sure
everything's working
and then start nit-picking some
of the other stuff on the list.
But I think that's
the biggest stuff.
Perfect.
Kevin: This vibration could be
caused by a myriad of things --
an out of balance tire,
an out of balance drive shaft,
maybe some worn gears.
We're going to have to
look at some things.
So we have to drive it because
it's drivability issues, right?
Right.
[ claps ] I'm all about it.
So we'll just
start a checklist on it.
We'll start looking it over.
And what I find,
I'll let you know
and then you can call him.
Cool.
Alright.
Sounds good.
Alright, man. Sounds good.
Okay.
Rockin'.
Even I know there's going to
be some issues with this car,
I'm excited to take it
around the block.
We're just gonna
see how this thing drives.
See what these
complaints are about.
[ clutch grinding,
engine revs ]
the clutch feels really weird.
I have a hard time with this car
getting into gear,
and I almost feel like it's a
clutch adjustment of some kind.
I'm gonna have to either
check the pack and the stack
and just see what's going on.
It was hard to go into gear
and I can feel that.
Definitely is not as smooth
as it should be.
And then there was a good
rear end whine.
When these things
start to whine,
they don't do it at low speed,
so we're going to have to
get up, like, around 45.
At least 45, 50.
[ engine whining ]
oh, yeah. Hear that whine?
That would drive anybody crazy
on the freeway.
Yeah, that's --
something's wrong.
I think that's probably
the biggest problem.
Yeah, we'll get it into the shop
and get it fixed.
Or at least see
what the problem is.
Hopefully it's not too
extensive.
Upon further inspection,
we found out
that the transmission angle
to the rear end is way off.
We're going to have to
definitely make some
adjustments.
engine transmission
was almost 5 degrees down,
putting a really gnarly bind
on the drive shaft.
That just ain't gonna work.
lane: We actually found that
the pinion angle on this car
was completely jacked.
Engine transmission
was almost 5 degrees down,
putting a really gnarly bind
on the drive shaft.
Having the pinion angle
set wrong at the transmission
or the rear end
can cause vibration.
It can cause excessive or
premature wear on u-joints.
It causes a ton
of different issues.
You just have to
set these up right.
Lane: The transmission actually
had to come up about 1 1/2 inch.
That's a ton.
And I think that
the transmission
and everything
was down so far
is because they wanted
to keep the factory tunnel.
That just ain't gonna work.
Dave: So when building a car
from scratch
or certainly a resto-mod
like this car,
you gotta make sure that
the pinion angle is correct.
That way you won't get
high-speed vibrations.
This car is all over the place
and unfortunately,
there's not enough room
in the floor
to take the transmission up to
where it needs to go
to correct that pinion angle.
Cut this thing wide open.
See if it works.
I got out my old trusty saw
and cut wide-open
the trans tunnel.
So there's the top
of the transmission tunnel.
You can actually see all
the places that the transmission
was actually directly contacting
the floorboard of the car.
The rear axle didn't have
any other room
to be pivoted or moved.
So that means
that the transmission
and engine need to come up.
When you move one thing,
it's going to move.
This could get a little tricky.
There was
electronic e-braking at any stop
and it was mounted in a location
where it could come in contact
with the drive shaft.
We didn't have the clearance
for it any longer.
I searched the car
to find a nice home for it
and it's going to be
hidden behind the back seat.
Basically, there was
a false wall there
and I'm gonna
hide it back there.
So the e-stop went in
really well,
and the back seat
has been now reassembled
and I can pull
the transmission out.
I just got daniel over here
from the metal shop.
He has built a template to fill
the hole in the trans tunnel.
So he's got a nice,
solid template.
We're gonna have to remove
the transmission
so he has broad access
to all of the areas
he needs to that's welded in.
We're gonna need
transmission out anyway
to re-texture the floor.
This really isn't that big
of a deal to get out.
It won't drop out.
So we just need to open it up
and be able to pull the top off.
You just pull the shifter
clean out of it, no?
Maybe?
We can make it so that
It isn't that big of a deal.
Just remove the shifter.
if you loosen
the shifter enough,
the transmission should have
enough room to come out.
If not, we just gotta
start cutting.
so everything is set up
right mechanically.
Now we need to get over
to the metal shop
so they can take care
of the tunnel.
[ lift whirs ]
[ air whooshes ]
we just need a few able bodies
to get this car moving.
[ chuckles ]
I'm like... About ready
to hand pump it, brother.
and it does actually help if
someone can steer the car.
Lane: Park.
let's go straight
up the hill.
Forwards?
Yeah.
Whatever.
Come that way.
Read my mind.
for all the people
we could pick in the shop
to steer this car,
we pick the guy that can
barely see over the dashboard.
This ridiculous.
you're good.
Straight ahead with
the front. You're good.
Moving the car with manpower
gets the job done,
but we need to get the car
moving on horsepower.
So now daniel is making
any adjustments
to the transmission tunnel
that are needed.
Well, now we gotta know where
all the little sparks
are gonna go or anything like
that,
so I don't want to ruin
anything.
I think lane brought it up
but I added a good
so we got more clearance
so it can rock back and forth.
Just test fit everything before
I start cutting it again
to make sure it all fits right.
Kevin:
The guys over on the assembly
side just removed enough
to get the transmission in.
Now, daniel's going
to take it from here
and make it all smooth and nice.
he needs to reshape
the top plate
so the two edges
meet up perfectly.
everything's in place.
Looks like it should
be ready to weld.
I got one last request
for the guys in the metal shop
that will really help this car.
This hokey crossmember --
I would just like
to see it rebuilt
with basically the transmission
platform up that much higher.
That way, I don't have to have
an aluminum block
there for a spacer
or anything like that.
And ultimately, it'd benefit.
This one's chintzy.
By the time it's all
said and done,
I think we're going to end up
rebuilding this crossmember
and part of the exhaust.
Maybe the engine covers.
Definitely the driveline.
Pinion angle's
gonna get changed on racks.
There's a lot of things
going on here.
transmission crossmember -- inch
and a half, probably.
Got my templates, so I just
gotta get on the computer.
Like, it's not symmetrical,
but that's the way
the body of the car is,
so that's why it's got to be.
I just designed it off
of the one that was there.
I just raised it up
from where it was
'cause we can't shim it
that much.
Good to cut.
got these guys all cut.
They're perfect.
Just had to drill out
the hole size.
now, I gotta build the center,
which is where the bolts
are going to actually go
through for the transmission.
so I got it all cut out
and tacked together,
so I just gotta
test it in the car
and make sure it's
all gonna work out.
I think it fits pretty good
as long as the transmission
sits right,
then it should be good.
this car can use
a little attitude.
Maybe some
exhaust cutouts? Hmmm.
Jason: This is something
that got added later.
We usually add to all of our
cars is the cutouts.
Gives you it that
really mean, awesome,
unmuffled car sound
that everybody loves.
This sounds so much better.
Tack them in.
Go back. Just weld them
around and we'll be done.
Super easy.
the key here to these
exhaust cutouts is to make sure
you still have
plenty of ground clearance
and make sure they look
even.
We got the one side on, roughly
installed, and tacked in place.
So now I can go back
with this guy
and after chasing after.
I want to make sure we've got
these at the same angle.
The exhaust spout is fit
in the same direction.
The cutouts look great
and we're done for the most part
with all of the fabrication
on this mustang.
But we're not quite out
of the woods yet.
We have to ensure that all of
the work we've done
to the drivability
has actually worked out.
So it's time
to get it on the road.
So this car came to us having
a really, really awful vibration
and noisy transmission
and driveline.
So what we've done now
and what I'm testing now
is the proper angle
on the rear end.
I took it up,
angled it up about a degree
to see if our vibration gets
worse,
better, or doesn't change.
We can kind of determine whether
or not we're in the right spot
or we need to move to another
point of the driveline
where our issue is going to lie.
We've gotten the vibration
way better
than when it originally came in.
The only issue now
is that around 80 miles an hour
is when the vibration is very
prevalent and very violent.
So we're going to pull it
back in the shop
and put a little bit
more shim in it.
Jason: Back to it.
[ straining ] yeah. Back to it
make some more adjustments.
we just got done adjusting the
pinion angle again,
so we're going to go
and drive it
and see how this vibration is.
The vibration is still there.
Personally, I think
it might be a touch better
and we're really aiming and
sh**ting for it to be perfect.
So we're still getting just
a little bit of vibration
around 80 miles an hour.
so we just got done moving
the rear end up 1/2 a degree
to change the angle
on the driveline
to see if we can help
the vibration.
So basically, right now,
it's kind of a
trial and error thing.
We're trying to find
the happy medium.
But the thing that
is really hard
is you can move the rear end up
and down
as much as you want
and have it be crazy angles,
but with this transmission
in that rear end
and a rule of thumb --
you want to have a spec,
if you will, within 3 degrees,
give or take,
of total angle change
throughout the entire driveline.
Does it like it going more
this way or more that way?
And so that's really what
we're testing now
to see if we're improving
or making worse.
And we can make more adjustments
based on this test.
Dave: Pull it back in the shop
again until we're convinced
that the customer
is gonna be happy.
Collin: I don't know this
customer personally,
so I don't know
how they drive it.
But we always want to put
the car through its paces
and not necessarily
be super nice to it,
only because we're not sure on
how the customer drives it
all the time.
If he drives it really hard,
obviously,
we want to mimic that
and make sure the customer
is going to have a very sound
car for him to drive hard.
Collin seems to be very
satisfied with the drivability
on this car.
But you know what?
I want to check it out
for myself
before we sign it off
and send it back.
Collin: Well, we got everything
pretty much wrapped up on this.
We're going back together
with all interior stuff now,
which is obviously
the last thing we do.
That way we can get all the
interior in, go and drive it,
and make sure that
the noise is even better.
So I think with the added
deadening from the carpet,
center console,
extra seat in the back,
the harmonics are
gonna be way better.
We're going to drive it again
once we get everything
stabbed back in here.
Hopefully shipping to the
customer soon.
[ engine starts ]
this car sounds great.
I want to get it on the road.
[ engine revs ]
[ chuckles ]
[ laughs ]
I feel so responsible
in this.
Is that true?
[ laughs ] no.
[ laughs ]
[ laughs ]
the first time that I drove
this thing.
That's a nice car.
It needed a little tweaking here
and there, but overall,
it's a really nice car.
Well, if there was
any vibrations before,
I'm not feeling them now.
There's, like,
no vibration.
It just feels like there's a lot
of power waiting to get out.
There's a lot of power, and
that's a supercharged 5.0,
so...
It's nice.
Actually, these cars
are pretty cool.
Yeah. You know,
this is kind of an iconic car,
at least for my generation.
Right.
I mean, right about when I got
my driver's license is about
when this movie came out.
Right.
Nicholas cage.
This was his eleanor.
This was the car
you can never steal.
Gt 500...
It's the one
that got away.
...1967.
[ engine revs ]
oh, god. There's a cop
right there.
Dave: I got a little excited
and accelerated a little quicker
than I should have
on this particular road.
Oops. Let's go back
and take my lumps.
I'm embarrassed.
Sorry.
I am sorry.
Sorry.
[ laughs ]
no, we apologize.
Sorry. [ laughs ]
sorry.
I get it.
Thank you.
Thanks, buddy.
[ laughing ]
how embarrassing was that?
[ chuckles ]
fortunately,
the nice officer let me off
with a kind warning,
but I think next time we'll have
to test drive somewhere else.
Kevin: I think this is
probably a little bit faster
than "nicolas cage's" car.
[ laughs ] I think his was a
"movie car."
yeah.
And this is a "real car,"
"reality"
[ high-pitched voice ] I'm a
real boy.
[ high-pitched voice ] I'm a
real boy, now.
I've got a supercharger.
[ normal voice ] yeah. So we
cleaned up a couple of things.
We did an electric e-brake.
We did.
We did zumiez.
we had to obviously
redo the transmission tunnel
to get the
transmission higher.
To get the driveline
angles correct.
So the vibration
is nil at this point.
I think you guys have done a
great job on the car.
I think it's good.
Feels good.
I think he's going
to really like it.
Dave: So we fixed the vibration
and now the car
is driving like it should.
But I'm going to be sure.
I'm going to give it
one more little test drive.
[ engine revs ]
holy smokes,
that's loud and gnarly.
[ laughs ] I love it.
I've got to get me one of these.
collin:
Our '33 coupe project is heading
its way through the shop.
Last stop is assembly.
The blower has arrived.
We got it all freshened up.
We got teflon strips in there
and this thing's actually
going to build some boost.
Just got the blower
back from bds
and we're just
unwrapping everything.
Dave: Here kindig-it design,
we take pride in making sure
everything's perfect.
So it might be that
we revisit each
and every detail two,
maybe even three,
and sometimes four times
to make sure it's perfect.
We rebuilt the carbs before we
pulled everything off
and made sure that it did run
and everything was okay before
it went over to paint
and got all the paint repairs
done from the fire.
We do know it runs
and everything is fine.
It should run a lot better now
according to what they found out
with this thing.
But I've got some assembly
to do.
shiny.
So this is actually gonna be
your tensioner right there.
Dave: So if there was
any kind of great news
to come out of this fire
is the fact that we found
that the blower was not making
any kind of boost whatsoever.
[ beeps ]
[ beeps ]
can't imagine what would go
through that.
Dave: Now that we've had it
rebuilt and relined,
this thing should actually build
a lot more boost
and a lot more horsepower,
which means a lot more smiles.
It looks really good.
They got the blower fixed up.
All shined up.
We got some new seals in
and we're going to put
some new oil in it.
This thing should
be good as new,
probably making more boost
than it ever has. So.
we could probably come around
a little baby hammer
and then you just indent it
and we'll cut right
on that line.
Let's grab the bolts
that keep it in place.
this is just kind
of a generic gasket.
[ hammering ]
doesn't really fit that well.
So what we're doing
is we bolted it
in place kind of loosely.
And we're just taking this
and we're just making some marks
and we're going to trim
this gasket back
so it actually looks like
it goes to this car.
dave:
With the gasket now installed,
it's time to put that blower
on top of it
and get this thing running.
I think the hardest part
is going to be lifting
this thing up and putting it
on the actual engine
just because it's so heavy
and awkward.
Oh, god. So heavy.
Kevin: Here, jump on the
other side.
Don't drop it.
No, I got it.
Just get out of my way and
let me get this on.
[ snorts ]
kevin:
We'll see -- but see,
you can fit your leg
between there.
I cannot.
collin:
Just like that,
I'm pretty money, too.
I got a good straight line
on the gasket over here.
I think we're good.
Yeah.
So with the engine in,
the body all in,
we're getting everything wired,
we're going to triple check
everything just to make sure
we don't have another
"fire maybe."
we have some final adjustments
just to make sure
everything is clean and safe
and then we're done.
Bottle it up.
front ones
are working.
Well, they're
all working.
bottle it up.
Collin: Oh.
What?
Look over here.
Okay. Look here.
Hold on, hold.
Look what we're doing
right now.
That's bad.
Yes, that's exactly
what happened last time.
So upon the last start, after
we got this whole car together,
we found one little issue --
when we fired it up,
the fuel pump ran
and it looked like the rear carb
was still pumping fuel
into the blower.
We were we were hoping
we were ready to start,
but we keyed it up and
we did have a small fuel issue.
With this carb,
it looks like it's leaking.
That's exactly what caused
the fire in the first place.
So we want to make sure
that nothing's going on.
I know that the guys
rebuilt the carb,
so we just need to check
and see what's going on.
We need to pull
that one off
if we can.
Do you need to get into
the float?
I don't know what I need to do,
to be honest with you, dude.
God, I hate having that much
fuel in there.
They all work.
Why is this one pushing
past the seat?
Do I have to take
the top off?
You wanna try again?
Let's key it up
really quickly.
See, we're good. You just needed
to build some pressure.
Kevin: Once it got a little fuel
in there,
it finally just wetted the
gasket was able to seal.
Yeah. It's not leaking now.
We're good.
Okay.
We're going to --
we need to keep an eye
on that the entire time we're
running this.
I 100% agree with you.
Maybe my timing --
when there's no other fuel
leaks on the bottom.
I don't hear anything.
I got 6-pounds
of fuel pressure.
I think we're good now.
The carbs aren't
leaking fuel anymore.
They're full of gas, they're all
primed, ready to rock.
Let's hit the key.
Just set it there
by that tire.
Kind of behind the tire
because we're filming.
Well, you're filming.
Just get it behind the tire,
like by the lift.
[ laughs ]
hold on a minute.
We spent all this time
rebuilding this car,
and now you're worried
at this moment
that it might catch
on fire...Again?
Thanks, buddy.
[ chuckles ]
I want to have ---
I'm trying to show confidence
in your work, dude.
I know.
So much for trying
to help a guy out.
Okay, well let's fire it up.
Let's see what we got.
Ready?
See what we've got.
[ engine cranking ]
nuh-uh.
What's wrong?
Is the battery dead?
It might be.
Voltage is....
That's what I've
got here.
What does it drop down to?
Whatever I --
hit it.
[ engine cranks, grinds ]
yes, she dead.
It ain't enough.
Seems like every time
we get to the moment of firing
an engine, something's wrong.
We have no fuel pressure.
The battery's dead.
Spark plug wires are messed up.
Something's going on.
We're out of coolant.
There's a coolant leak.
The ac is not charged.
The list goes on and on and on.
We'll just get a jump box
and we'll get this thing going.
[ engine cranking, rattling ]
[ engine stops ]
go ahead.
[ engine cranking, popping ]
[ engine stops ]
[ engine sputters ]
go ahead.
[ engine sputters, starts ]
[inaudible]
this car sounds awesome.
I think bob's going to love
to hear this thing not on fire.
We might have to mess
with the idle just a little bit.
But other than that,
everything is looking good.
We had a oil pressure
when we fired.
Some minor tweaks
and we should be good to go.
bob and his family
have been through so much.
We want to get this car
cleaned up, ready to go
so he can enjoy it all summer.
jason: We fired it,
we've set the timing,
and we've tuned it.
Get this together
and we go drive it
and get it back to the owner.
Dave: Bob has been a great
friend and a good partner
of my shop for a very long time,
and his '33
is no stranger to us.
When this happened,
it was a heartbreaker.
We was really happy
to see that bob survived it.
This car's like brand
new again.
Oh, it's beautiful.
so, bob, what exactly
do you figure happened
when this car ignited
on fire in your garage?
When this happened,
it was a heartbreaker.
We was really happy
to see that bob survived it.
You know, it'd been
sitting all winter.
And I turned
the ignition key on
and I heard
the fuel pump
running and running
and running and running.
And it had been with
the ignition on
for probably
Once he healed this car,
needed some healing
and he brought it
to dr. Dave and the guys.
Boom.
And...
When I come back
and hit the key, it acted ---
well, it was hydrolock.
You know?
It acted like
it had a dead battery,
but it went to crank
and just kind of loaded itself.
And then when it fired,
it blew, you know,
two gallons of gas.
Fuel everywhere.
Out both headers.
I'm bob romney.
I've been dealing with dave and
kev for a lot of years.
When it got caught in the fire
and actually in the car,
you know, it was severely
burned.
I knew there was nobody else
out there in the business
that could match the paint.
Match the flames. You know?
Probably the carburetor was just
stuffed up.
Needle and seats must have been
stuck sitting there all winter.
Filled up
the motor and party on.
I've tried to keep it
pretty clean
and as beautiful as I can,
you know,
without as much wear and tear.
That's why I was just sick,
you know, when it got caught
on fire like that.
The car itself.
I mean, well, take a look
for yourself.
This car's like
brand new again.
Oh, it's beautiful.
so, you know, the front axle --
we repainted that.
Went through
the brakes and stuff,
but this is -- that's
the moneymaker right there.
I'm so glad that [ chuckles ] it
just came --
it came out great.
You can't even tell.
Oh, I can't even see where they
cut the line off on it.
You know what I mean?
If it's painted
and I understand
the whole frame
front axle and rear axle
and the motor
and trans had
to be painted.
You can't even tell anything
happened to it,
to be honest with you.
But I am just so impressed that,
you know, they could cut
the line that easily and
make it look that good.
I mean, it's beautiful.
We cleared up into here
and then right down that,
we basically just
went through,
did the clean up.
We cleared it, polished it.
It absolutely
looks fantastic.
Some of the aluminum pieces,
the oil pan,
the tr*nny pan,
the valve covers, the blower,
you know, I didn't think
there was no way
I figured it was replace it,
replace it, replace it,
but he must have had them guys
polish, clean and polish,
and clean that stuff
for hours on hours.
Basically, the carburetors, we
went through, cleaned those up.
We noticed also
when we were in there,
the blower couldn't have been
making very much boost,
if anything at all.
Oh, really?
Yeah, you actually --
the spacing between the blades
was just completely out.
So we actually sent
that back to bds.
They went through
and they actually carved in
and put the teflon strips
in this one.
Oh, really?
So, yeah.
This thing will probably ride a
wheelie if it hooks up.
It really -- it runs quite well.
That's good.
Yeah.
It's absolutely
beautiful. It looks good.
Dave: With all
of the attention to details
that the guys over
at the shop did,
they did a really nice job
to make sure that this car
was brought back
to show quality and fresh.
Ready to get off of the trailer
and go and do a burnout.
Well, you ought to make sure
that it drives.
Why don't you get in?
Let's go for a little burn.
Okay.
[ engine starts ]
oh, yeah.
[ engine revs ]
[ laughs ]
oh, god.
Whooo!
Who needs coffee?!
Holy [bleep]
it's definitely building
some boost now. [ chuckles ]
bob: Today, when I first walked
up to it, it kind of reminded me
of, you know, getting it 12, 14
years ago going,
"that thing's brand new.
Let's go put some miles on.
Let's wear the knobs
off the tires,
you know,
let's see what it'll do."
and, you know,
with the blower problem
that they found, too,
it sounds like
it might even be a little
faster.
This gets it on.
Feel a little bit better
with the blower?
Yeah.
Dave: One of the biggest things
we noticed
was the damage
to not just the chassis,
but the entire bottom
of the car.
And, of course,
the motor and transmission
took a lot of heat, as well.
So we needed to basically blow
this thing apart
and attend to every last detail
and make it perfect
like it was before.
It drives good.
Yeah.
Feels good.
Feels good.
You know, we've been
such good friends with bob
and his wife for so long
and we love working with him,
and to be able to do
something nice for him,
get his car back on the road.
And of course,
we're very thankful
that not only his car was safe,
but certainly that bob was safe.
So keep a fire extinguisher
in that hot rod
or in your garage, guys,
because you never know
when it might happen.
[ engine revs ]
right on.
[ laughs ]
we lost the
camera guy.
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07x04 - Fireproof
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Reality show featuring Dave Kindig from the Salt Lake City, Utah-based company Kindig It Designs as they show their process of restoring and rebuilding vehicles.
Reality show featuring Dave Kindig from the Salt Lake City, Utah-based company Kindig It Designs as they show their process of restoring and rebuilding vehicles.