02x18 - Mud bogger

[bunniefuu]

[machine clanging]

[dramatic music]

- [Announcer] Jesse's going whole hog

and he's getting down and dirty.

"Monster Garage" is coming at you.

- [Narrator] Join us now as Jesse

and his g*ng of maverick mechanics

rip, grind, and burn,

transforming ordinary street vehicles

into monster machines in the Monster Garage.

[heavy metal music]

♪ Monster

♪ Monster Garage

♪ Monster

♪ Monster Garage

♪ Monster

♪ Monster Garage

♪ Monster

♪ Monster Garage

- [Narrator] This week's challenge.

Take a stock 1973 Corvette Stingray

and convert it into a ground churning mud bogging racer.

The rules?

When built the monster machine must appear to be stock.

The team can spend no more than 3000 greenbacks for parts.

Jesse and his crew have seven days and nights.

[mud squelching]

On the first day they design.

For the next five they build,

and on the seventh day they race.

If successful, each team member takes home

a $3,400 set of Mac tools and the clock starts now.

[tires screeching]

Jesse James, a direct descendant to the legendary outlaw,

has made his name building custom choppers.

This week he transforms from urban outlaw

to brazen bog runner.

[tires screeching] [heavy metal music]

Jesse gives this old school

pure American muscle car a test drive,

then slides it into the garage.

Ready to get their hands dirty, his design team follows.

[heavy metal music]

- Cool, so you guys ready for this Corvette summer?

- Cool. - Personal thoughts

is it should be an all out just straight mud bog drag racer.

[engine roaring]

- Do you wanna be able to do it once as fast as you can

or do you wanna be able play all afternoon?

- [Jesse] All afternoon sounds slow.

[team laughs] - Yeah.

- If you want to go fast.

- [Narrator] Then Chuck Courty Jr.

an MRO Mud Racing Champion is your man.

[heavy metal music]

- Most people when they think of mud bogging,

think of an old Jeep in a big mud puddle.

Now it's not unusual for us

to get up 130, 140 miles an hour.

My goal is to be the first person

to run faster than two seconds in 200 feet on mud.

Every vehicle I've ever built,

whether it was for the street or for racing,

people have said it won't work.

And that's what makes it so much fun for me

to go out and prove them wrong.

- It's probably one of the wildest forms of drag racing.

Boom! That's it.

It's very, very violent and fast.

[engines roaring]

So basically, how deep is the mud?

Two feet?

- Sometimes they're a lot less than that.

- Now if you took this car

and tried to drive it through that, it would just sink.

- Yeah. - Get enough horsepower

to drive across the lake.

- So basically what we need to do

is give it enough horsepower and suspension

to make it so it's digging in

and it's hydroplaning across it.

- [Narrator] And for that, they'll need some serious tread.

- You kind of need the big tire in the rear for footprint.

- We're not gonna drive the 24 hours of Le Mans,

we're just gonna go 200 feet.

- Oh, I drove the Le Mans in '67.

- Really? - Yeah, set a GT record.

- [Narrator] d*ck Guldstrand's name

is synonymous with Corvette.

His love for racing and the Corvette started in the fifties.

- In those days, you were either

a candy a*s or a hot rodder in Southern California.

- [Narrator] And d*ck is anything but a candy a*s.

- By 1965, I'd won three West Coast Championships

in the Corvette

and then was hired by Roger Penske

as his first professional driver.

You can imagine a southern Californian

being able to win Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans,

particularly in a Corvette.

It's incredibly exciting.

- [Narrator] The Corvette

is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

- To be involved with that car for the 50 years

triggered me to do something special.

- [Narrator] And that something special?

A Guldstrand signature edition 50th anniversary Corvette.

[electric guitar music]

- What about a roll cage and safety stuff and all that?

- Well, pretty easy to put one in.

There's no strength around the top though.

There's nothing up there.

Especially with the T-top. - Yeah.

- If we start modifying the frame much,

we could work a cage into that design.

- You know, just a rear hoop

and then a front hoop with tie bars on it.

- It's about removing the passenger seat for a roll cage

or full bars in the back.

- Yeah, let's make it center steer. [laughs]

- Cool. There you go.

- Keep it side seater. - Yeah.

I don't wanna mess with the T-top anyway.

- Okay. - It's too cool.

- [Narrator] The roll cage will make it look off road,

but this 'vette needs to perform off road.

- I think the majority of our work is gonna be suspension.

You know, we gotta go with like a Toyota

or Jeep differential so we can make it four-wheel drive

and we will chain drive that.

- The rear end's gonna be the problem.

- We should just go like a nine inch or something.

- 94? - Nine inch.

Out of a tiny shot of Ford pickup or?

- Yeah. - Last but not least,

it's gotta look cool.

[Jesse's voice echoing]

- [Narrator] Drawing cool is nothing new to Don Vierstra.

- I've been drawing ever since I was a little kid.

By the time I was about 13 years old,

I developed an interest in cars.

I try to bring in the new cutting edge design

and try to develop that with my style and carry it further

and come up with a really interesting looking vehicle.

[upbeat rock music]

- I can totally visualize it and visualize it working

and seeing all the stuff we need,

but it's gonna be a hell of a lot of labor.

- Yes, it is.

It's a lot of work. - That's right.

- You know, it's not any small undertaking at all.

All that's left is everything.

[Jesse's voice echoing]

[heavy metal music]

[engine roaring]

- [Narrator] Here's the plan for their big muddy.

Add a roll cage,

rip out the stock drivetrain,

replace the wheels, shocks, and suspension

with heavy duty off-road equivalents.

[mud squelching]

Day two, 7:00 AM.

Jesse handpicked five monster mechanics

who are aching to get down and dirty.

Joining forces?

John Best from Brea, California.

Corvette guru.

Dave "Gnarly" Collier hails from San Marcus, California.

An electrician and off-road specialist.

Bobby McCurdy representing Las Vegas, Nevada.

Mechanical workhorse.

Mike Stapleton, Bellflower, California.

Off-road racing expert and Jesse's longtime friend.

And continuing on from the design team, Chuck Courty Jr.

from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Bog champion.

Time to transform.

Jesse unveils his little white Corvette.

- We're gonna make a mud bog drag racer outta this thing,

which sounds pretty simple.

It sounds like all we have to really do

is put different tires on it and we'd be ready.

But it's actually to get this thing

to do 200 foot dash is a lot of work.

One group tackle the front end,

one tackle the back end.

Above all, I wanna keep it kind of cool looking

and keep the whole car on a rake so it's sitting down low.

The first thing we'll start.

Gut it, gut it, gut it.

- [Narrator] The orders are locked.

The team sinks their teeth

and tools into this vintage 'vette.

[heavy metal music]

- This car's greasy.

I hate stupid greasy cars.

[crew chattering]

- That's 1973 disco sheepskin.

- [Narrator] Monster Garage mantra, disco sucks.

[heavy metal music]

- Uh-oh, I think I needed that wire.

[metal clanging]

- The people that like these cars

would just be appalled with this.

[crew member shouting]

[metal clanging]

I've never heard of a four-wheel drive Corvette before.

There's never been a concept of it.

And we got a concept and we're doing it.

- [Narrator] If it's a Corvette, John Best has vetted it.

He heads the service department at West Coast Corvettes.

- Our typical customers come in

for a lot of modifications, popups.

Basically they wanna customize their cars or produce power.

- [Narrator] John's quest for speed

boosted him into the famous Lane Goldstein Corvette Team.

- Lane is a customer of mine.

He originally bought a Corvette ZR1

but he liked drag racing.

He started bolting on little modifications,

getting it faster and faster.

His goal is to get it as fast as he possibly could

without doing nitrous or supercharging the car.

- [Narrator] And Lane and John succeeded.

At 900 horsepower,

it's considered to be the world's fastest stock Corvette.

[upbeat music]

Jesse rips into his favorite part, the exhaust,

but this one rips back.

[metal clanging]

- Oh man.

Now I know why I'm not a car mechanic anymore.

Oh wait, I guess I kind of am.

I have to do this.

[crew member shouting]

- [Narrator] There's no respect given

to this classic collectible.

If the bogger is going to get to fighting weight,

even the back window must go.

- That's plexiglass I think.

- Is it? - I dunno.

[glass shatters]

- You were wrong! - No, it's real glass.

- [Narrator] With the car a shattered fragment of itself,

it's time to cultivate this Corvette

into a four-wheel drive mud monster.

Step one, gut the old sports car suspension.

- You might be a redneck

when you take a two-wheel drive Corvette.

- I think that was it. - And you put

four-wheel drive on it.

You just might be a redneck. - Yee-haw!

- Never have cut the front end

out of a car like that before.

- It's a complete, totally different suspension system.

So it's gonna be a lot of fabricating little brackets.

Getting the geometry right.

Making the drive shaft work.

[hard rock music] [metal clanging]

[crew member shouts]

- [Narrator] As the parts pile up,

so does the team's to-do list.

Their four-wheel drive dream

is sitting at no wheel drive reality.

The team takes a break

to partake in their now favorite pastime,

sticking the needle to John.

- Never thought you'd ever

take a Corvette apart with a hammer, huh?

- Eh. [group laughing]

- He was crying today

wen the air conditioning box was coming out.

[group laughing]

- Every time a piece hit the floor,

I asked him, how much is that worth?

- [John] 500 bucks, a thousand bucks.

- Could we?

We could hurry up and sell 'em,

we can put that in the budget.

- The rear assembly,

you can easily get 500 bucks for probably more, yeah.

- That's 500 bucks. 500 bucks. - Yeah.

- [Narrator] Enough cash dreams.

Dave has a pipe dream of cold, hard steel.

[cash register dings] [electric guitar music]

- The cage and tube work

is what makes these cars look wicked, wicked, wicked.

- [Narrator] Dave Collier is an electrical contractor

and off-road race car fabricator.

- I enjoy electrical work.

I love being an electrician.

Electricity is kind of a basis of our society.

Without it really wouldn't have much.

- [Narrator] And without steel tubing

you couldn't have off-road racing.

Dave's team Gnarly Racing

runs the dreaded car eating Baja 500.

- The Baja 500 is a tough race 'cause it's such a sprint.

You have one problem, you're out of the race.

It's one of the most challenging places

to put a car through, especially a rear engine,

two-wheel drive Volkswagen powered car.

Baja 500 has kicked my a*s every time.

[engine roaring]

What we're doing with the roll bar is just trying

to build a structure to hang the coil over shocks.

Giving something to hang the suspension on

and give something to protect the driver.

In case of a mud box

[metal clanging]

catastrophe.

- [Narrator] In record time,

the roll cage goes from inception to Jesse James

and the seventies T-top protection.

[heavy guitar music]

- I think it's gonna do pretty good.

I think it'll be a very competitive vehicle.

If the next three days

or four days go this smooth, we'll be in good shape.

My biggest concern is

are we gonna have enough motor, enough horsepower?

We should be able to get 500 or 600 horsepower out of it.

- Big motor, big tires, bigfoot.

[engine roaring]

- [Narrator] Monster Garage factoid.

The first Corvette rolled off the assembly line

in 1953 with a $3,500 price tag.

Today, a mint condition '53 Vette

will set you back 140,000.

♪ Monster

♪ Monster Garage

[mud squelching]

- [Narrator] Day three.

The 'vette may be down to its bogging weight,

but the team's stuck in the mud.

They need parts

and the only thing coming through the door

is a Corvette junk collector

and he's buying not delivering.

- Works out to 800 bucks.

[cash register dings] [heavy guitar music]

- [Narrator] With the budget muscled up,

they decide to muscle up the front end

with heavy duty steel support.

Dave and Mike compare rods.

- Looks good.

We're building some roll bar tubes to tie in

to the front of it that we can hook our shock mounts

and everything to

to hang our new front suspension on.

The way it's all tied into the cage and stuff now

it's gonna be way better.

Oh, this thing's gonna go 10 miles or something.

So we do stuff a little bit different

because it's gotta last a long time with what we're doing.

My stuff's gotta live for years.

- [Narrator] As crew chief for famed Wilson Motorsports,

Mike Stapleton knows durability.

He's in charge of their Baja 500

and their pro dirt champion winning vehicles.

- I do all the fabbing, the designing,

building most of the pieces.

I've been working now with them for 13 years.

The desert itself is the most challenging part

because you just never know

what the next bump's gonna entail in front of you.

[engine roaring]

I only got one more tube to put in

and we're pretty much at a standstill

until we can get some more parts.

- [Narrator] But before they can say standstill,

the first delivery of the day finally rolls in.

Mickey Thompson off-road tires.

- See those wheels? Those are good ones.

- Those wheels are gonna look great on a Corvette.

They look like vintage Corvette wheels.

[tires screeching]



It might look like a Corvette

but it'll be a mud bogger when it's done.

- [Narrator] Time for a southern style monster makeover,

the fiberglass is peeled away

to make room for the oversized 35 inch tires.

- Hey Chuck, we need to go lower on the front.

Cool.

Woo!

That looks like some hillbilly's dream car.

- [Narrator] But not hillbilly enough for Jesse.

If this 'vette's gonna bog, it needs a rebel yell first.

- Flush with the hood or taller than the roof.

- I say tall. - Straight. Straight.

- Hillbilly, hillbilly style.

[Jesse shouting] [engine roaring]

If you can't hear it before you see it,

then why even bother?

- [Narrator] With his trademark zoomies in sparks,

the front end planning continues.

Cramming so many components into the engine compartment

is giving Dave a headache.

- We're not gonna have really anything

strong enough to hang this.

It's just kind of planning.

You know, we don't want to build everything

and then have to cut things apart and change it.

I think that bar's gotta come out.

- [Narrator] Good plan, Dave.

- 'Cause this radiator ain't gonna fit in any other way.

I got ahead of myself.

That's why they make Sawzalls.

- [Narrator] Dave's headache just got bigger.

He undoes what he did and then he does what he does.

Ending in a flurry of sparks.

[hard rock music]

Chuck and Bobby struggle

with their team's first real major expense,

a nine inch Ford rear axle.

[cash register dings] [hard rock music]

[engine roaring]

Minutes later the front axle arrives from the junkyard.

Wheeling from the rear,

they go dirt cheap on the Toyota front axle.

- Ah! - Watch out.

- [Narrator] It may be high mileage and a little rusty,

but it's the right price.

- [Echoing Voice] Freebie.

Zip, zero, nada.

- I'm not getting nothing either.

- I'm not getting anything.

- This thing, it's not locking.

We gotta have a steering arm for it.

- We can eyeball this to mock stuff up.

- Yeah. - But this thing's hammered.

We're good but not that good.

- [Narrator] The team's miscalculated.

In an attempt to be frugal with the budget,

their freebie becomes anything but.

It'll cost them hard dollars and half a day's wait.

Monster Garage mantra, time wastes away rusty parts.

Rusty parts waste away time.

But this team's not about to let a rusty axle bog them down.

They concentrate all their efforts on the rear axle

and off-road suspension.

[hard rock music]

Chuck and Bobby etch out their plan

for the rear suspension brackets.

- [Chuck] Copying my suspension geometry off of my car.

- [Narrator] They'll hold the axle to the chassis.

- It's twice as strong as it needs to be

without adding any extra weight.

- [Narrator] Jesse observes

as his team positions the rear axle.

- These four length bars are actually what pushes the car.

The axle's pushing on those bars.

- [Narrator] But they need to proceed with serious caution.

Their weapon of choice? The tape measure.

One miscalculation

and this mud racer could end up with mud in its face.

- Well if they were off by two inches

the car would react really weird.

I mean it would dart and over steer

and steer the opposite directions.

- [Narrator] They tack the axle into position

but they won't know if they got it right until test day.

- You didn't think we could do

that good that quick did ya? - No.

- You thought this was gonna be a two day.

- No, no, no.

- [Chuck] You thought this is gonna be a two day thing

trying to put this rear in there.

- No, not all.

- [Narrator] Skeptics aside, this team is southern fried.

Time for a recap.

[tools whirring]

- We blasted through as much busy work

as we could get done without having parts.

Now we need parts.

You guys are a good crew.

Usually I have to like, totally babysit.

Babysit everybody.

- [Narrator] Day three ends

with the car looking a little bit country.

- Well cool guys, keep jamming.

It's awesome.

[light bluesy music]

[garage door rumbles]

[mud squelches] [toilet flushes]

- [Narrator] They hit early morning pay dirt

with a replacement Toyota front axle

and assorted drive shafts.

$600 of pay dirt.

- Five for the rear axle. - All right.

[hard rock music]

[crew member grunting]

- Looks a little bit better than that other one.

Yeah? - Yeah.

- It's got 150,000 less miles on it.

- It's all connected. That's all it matters.

- This one here is complete.

We can pretty much put this in and put the tires on

and hook the brakes up and we're done.

- [Narrator] Dave's not convinced.

He eyes another problem.

Somehow they will have to link

the stock Corvette steering box

to their new Toyota front end.

- [Dave] Just swinging the pitman arm to the side.

- [Chuck] It's gonna turn the right direction.

- Well, that's what we'd have to check and see.

If it was behind the axle to turn left.

- Corvette rear steer. - Yeah.

- Push and pull, basically.

- It'll be close enough.

- That'll save us a lotta. - Save us a lot of work.

A lot of money too.

- [Narrator] With their task in hand,

the team begins the conversion.

But the pitman arm has spent the last 30 years

locked in this position

and it plans on strong arming this team.

[metal clanging] [hard rock music]

- [Crew Member] Yeah!

- [Narrator] After 15 minutes of being hammered,

burned, and battered into submission,

Mike places the pitman arm in position.

- I like guys that don't care too much about being on TV.

They just wanna put their heads down and work.

[engine roaring]

- [Narrator] The true test is about to come.

Bobby trims the remaining fat off the front axle

and now it's time to lock it into position.

- This is for the front, yeah.

- Okay. Whoa. - Let's go. [grunts]

[tools whirring]

- [Narrator] Chuck gathers the group.

He takes pen to steel

and maps out his time tested front suspension system.

- Just about every chassis I've built has been this set up.

Or maybe four link in the front also

like my current mud racer.

- [Narrator] Engine compartment space is at a premium

yet Chuck won't give up on his three link suspension plan.

- The back we got around a four link or three link.

It won't work with a two link with two front.

- Let's just gimme like two ladder parts.

- Like connecting arms.

You know how rear trailing arm is on a NASCAR?

- Yeah. - Where it has,

where it basically lays.

- It's a W. - It lays flat

underneath here like this.

You know, it's flat going in here.

- [Narrator] Jesse's plan is to use

a NASCAR type two link suspension system.

A pair of two by four trailing arms

will connect the front axle to the frame of the car.

It'll save space and keep the car low to the ground.

But even Jesse's ingenious plan

is fraught with serious controversy.

- This way? - Yeah.

- See that, Chuck? - Oh no.

Put the tubing the other way.

Put it vertical.

Yeah, that's where your strength's at.

- I think it's stronger flat

'cause it's taken all the side to side out of it.

This is gonna have a tendency I think to fall over.

- I think it needs to be standing up.

All the trail arms on our truck are this way.

- Right, on the Blazer are all standing up.

- All Lakewood ladder bars are all like that.

- All standing up.

- Well I guess they lay it down on NASCAR

just for ground clearance then.

- [Chuck] Probably.

- It looks cooler laying down though.

- I think it looks cooler standing up.

[group laughing]

- It's a regional thing.

- [Narrator] Looks like East Coast cool wins out.

Bobby dives in.

[heavy metal music]

- There if any of this snaps front end will fall off.

Car will go end over end.

It's gotta be pretty industrial.

- He's going great. - Thank you.

- I'd never expect this nice of a part

to end up on that car.

It looks better than a bought part.

I want his phone number before we leave. [laughs]

[energetic music]

- I own Illicit Rod and Custom in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Pretty much my daily job would be custom designing

suspensions, chopping tops, suiciding doors,

shaving tailgates, anything involving customizing a car.

- [Narrator] His illicit business is brisk.

- Word travels fast when you're doing good work.

[heavy metal music]

- [Narrator] With Bobby's brackets in hand,

Jesse's low profile suspension system comes into focus.

[heavy metal music]

A few welds later

and it's locked into place awaiting his approval.

- Cool, that look awesome.

It definitely doesn't look

like Monster Garage type of stuff.

- [John] Does that mean we're fired?

- Yeah, you guys did it too good.

It needs to look like a dog chewed the inside.

[crew laughing] [dog barks]

- [Narrator] Mike is getting nervous

about the team's lack of parts.

He heads out to a friend's shop

to secure some heavy duty shocks.

- Get the front end on, get the shock mounts on,

and rear shock mounts on

before we go home tonight's our plan,

so it could be a late night.

- Holy. - Shocks ready to go.

- [Echoing Voice] Freebie.

Zip, zero, nada.

[intense music]

- [Narrator] Back at the garage,

Jesse, always the perfectionist,

lays some serious beads

on the axle stabilizing Panhard bar.

A nonstop assembly line,

Dave locks the Panhard bar into place.

- This thing's gonna go, wah!

Wait 'til the shocks get here.

Then we're gonna be talking some smack.

This thing's gonna be bitchin'.

- [Narrator] The rear suspension is almost complete.

[metal clanging]

- The shocks are on their way, right?

- At some point we gotta

just have all the parts here and start going.

That's making me a nervous man.

I don't like to be nervous.

- Here you go.

It's what you've been waiting for.

- Yeah! - That stiff enough for you?

- Oh yeah! - Listen, good.

- Shocking, man. This is shocking.

[cartoonish voice laughs]

[both vocalizing]

[both laughing]

- [Narrator] It's a full team effort

to get this monster suspended from all fours.

[energetic music]

- Got a 400, 450.

The car is gonna look mean just sitting there.

It's gonna look like a monster just sitting.

Looks like it's gonna growl at you when it's parked.

[intense music]

- [Narrator] The car is shocked and so is John.

He's not feeling part of the team

and has banished himself to the basement.

- Everybody works perfectly.

I mean sometimes I feel like I'm not pulling my load

just because, you know,

everybody's so busy going, going, going.

I'm basically sl*ve labor and cleanup for everybody.

I just want to get everything prepped for them.

I got stuff prepped for myself

and basically what anybody needs me to do, I'm doing.

[intense music]

- Wow, you getting fancy here, bud.

- Looks good.

- The welding crew seems to be

spending a lot of time making it a little prettier

than maybe it needs to be.

Now I'd rather kind of do that at the end

if we have leftover time.

- Overkill is better, definitely.

You know, if you wanna go to that extra,

take that extra step.

Throw a gusset here and do it

because last thing we wanna do is have this thing

break or fail or have a problem with it.

[tools whirring]

- All my stuff's made.

So the second that box drops off that brown truck tomorrow

I'll have an exhaust system on it two hours later.

- We have all set goals on what our timeframe is

to do this certain job

and with problems like getting that bad front axle.

A couple setbacks is what we don't have time for.

- Unless someone dies tomorrow,

we're gonna make it with flying colors

but it's gonna be down to the wire.

Tomorrow's gonna be a huge day.

- We still got parts that are coming.

- Parts, parts, parts.

- Parts, parts. - Parts.

- I think everybody on the whole team

is waiting for something.

The brown truck's controlling Monster Garage.

- [Narrator] Their suspension may be suspended

but this team's in a state of suspension.

The engine's in pieces

and their four-wheel drive plan is only a plan.

[hard rock music]

Monster Garage factoid.

There are roughly 273 million acres

of muddy wetlands in the US.

It would take 130 billion Corvettes

parked side by side to cover all that mud.

[bubbles popping] [hard rock music]

♪ Monster

♪ Monster Garage

- [Narrator] Day five, the 'vette lingers between mud bogger

and American muscle car.

The team is confident of only one thing.

They are on the crest of victory or failure.

- So there we were,

cresting the peak of Mount Everest

and we realized this is a long ways down.

- [Narrator] The car still lacks four-wheel drive

and their engine parts are a monster no show.

The team is tight and they are about to get tighter.

- Trouble is everybody's gonna be working

in the same location.

Everybody's in the front of the car,

the motor, steering, and the shocks,

all in the same four feet of car. [chuckles]

- I'll be putting the motor together,

get that handled as well.

- So we'll give you an hour to get the whole motor together

before we come up there and start welding.

Is that gonna be enough time? - All right.

- [Narrator] The pressure is on for this 'vette specialist.

The biggest uncertainty and potential sinkhole

is John's engine work.

The first dilemma of the morning, drive shafts.

They must mesh together

a Frankenstein-like patchwork of parts

to link the Corvette transmission

to the heavy duty off-road axles.

A chain drive will simultaneously power the wheels

marching this mudder into four-wheel drive harmony.

With a plan that's as clear as mud,

they get back to the Monster Garage time tested method

of cutting, banging and welding.

Jesse and Mike take a second out

to talk about their 12 year friendship.

When Jesse was a young outlaw.

- We all rode together.

- When Jesse rode the shovel head.

When he rode a real bike.

- Yeah, now I'm a sellout.

I ride bikes that run good.

- [Narrator] Mike goes so far back with Jesse

that he witnessed the big bang style creation

of West Coast Choppers.

- He first did the first West Coast Chopper shirt ever

and I made like 10 of 'em for all of us and nobody wore 'em.

I showed him like this is my shirt, West Coast Choppers.

They're like, "You ain't got no shop.

"There ain't no West Coast Choppers."

- Now look what it is today. - We made it to the top.

- [Mike] Yep, Monster Garage.

[twinkling music]

- [Narrator] The brown trucks make good

on their promise of early morning delivery.

- [Jesse] It's Christmas, guys.

- [Echoing Voice] Freebie.

Zip, zero, nada.

- [Narrator] And like kids at Christmas,

the mechanics cut into their $3,000 worth of loot.

- Cool. - Fuel cell.

- Wow. - Header flanges for Jesse.

This is our performance cam. - Nitrous kit.

[Dave singing]

- Squeal like a pig! Squeal!

[pig oinking]

This year mud bogger is gonna be straight out of the woods.

- We're stoked.

- [Narrator] With all of the critical parts in,

there are no more excuses, just work.

With everyone enlisted on other projects,

it falls on Bobby to give the engine a nitrous oxide boost.

He needs a NOS mentor.

- Anything that I don't know,

I'm not scared to ask a question about.

I won't just try to wing it.

Especially on something like this.

- [Jesse] Wow, those are nice. Look at those.

Got the little flanges and they're decked.

- [Narrator] Jesse gives the flanges a test.

Perfect fit.

A quick cut and they're engine ready.

[metal clanging]

[tools whirring]

With the entire team working on the front end,

Jesse retreats to his private work area.

- I made that jig

'cause there's too many people working on the car

and I got tired of climbing up and down off the lift

so I just eyeballed it

and then jigged off the flange and this

and this should work for both ways.

They'll weld on and be straight.

You know Chuck's gonna try to steal

my mud bogger zoom jig, huh?

- Yeah.

Yeah! [echoing]

[upbeat music]

[metal clanging]

- This thing is probably 190 horsepower at the rear wheels.

- Our goal is to get as close

to 600 horsepower when we're done as possible.

- [Narrator] It's up to John to get another 410 horses

out of this big block engine.

His first move? A new camshaft.

It allows more air and fuel into the combustion chamber.

Boosting the engine 20 horsepower closer to their goal.

- [John] Instructions.

- [Narrator] But it's his confidence

that really needs the boost.

- Better be right on it, right?

- Yeah.

[energetic music]

[tools whirring]

- [Narrator] With the engine well on its way,

Dave positions the fuel cell.

- You know what'd be tricked?

Here, I'll do this.

I'll sh**t a bar across here, we'll run up there.

I'll weld some nuts inside the tubing.

So all you do is we just run a bolt right down into it

and that way we're not tapping anything off.

It'll look clean. - All right.

- We want the fittings at the rear of the tank

so that under acceleration,

the fuel stage going into the fuel pump

because we don't want to get a lean condition.

Lean condition.

- [Narrator] Monster Garage definition, lean condition.

[expl*si*n rumbles] [heavy guitar music]

The team takes a break to think back

about where they got their skills.

- I've learned probably 90% of what I know

just from watching people

whether they knew they were teaching me or not,

they were teaching me.

- This particular job, we learned a lot off of everybody

'cause everybody's from- - Except for me.

You learned nothing off of me.

- Oh, come on. - No, we learned a lot

from you though try and take the car apart and stuff.

- Yeah.

- We learned how to stay clean from you.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

- We're all gonna get sued by John

after the show's over for getting secondhand dirt on him.

[group laughing]

- I learned a lot of people skills from Chuck.

- Yeah. - People skills?

- Yeah, just interacting.

[group laughing]

- He's my ride at home.

I can't say anything.

[group laughing]

[tool whirring]

It's gonna be a mud slinger.

So we'll call it the Sling Ray.

- The Sling Ray.

- I don't think there's one part of this car

that hasn't been modified.

The only thing that we haven't touched yet

is this cross member and that's next.

- [Narrator] It's time to link

the axle's four-wheel drive style.

Chuck begins the chain drive system.

- Once this is attached,

power will get transmitted from this sprocket

on the rear drive shaft to this sprocket on this jackshaft,

which will drive the front differential.

We'll just put this together, swing it up,

weld it, brace it, and we're done.

- We need a little work music.

[heavy metal music]

[Dave shouts]

♪ They keep me down

- Chuck, we're way off. - Yeah.

♪ Going back

♪ You need me down

- What?

[heavy metal music]

- We have four-wheel drive. - Big time.

[heavy metal music]

- As usual, it didn't fit.

- Jesse's almost done with the header.

[Dave laughs]

Take one for the team, brother.

We wanna have this thing running today.

- It will be. - You sure?

- [John] Yes sir.

- You're not leaving 'til it is, right?

- Alright, listen.

- Seven o'clock in Pittsburgh.

- Ah!

[heavy metal music]

- There are no brains on this operation.

[Dave laughs]

[heavy guitar music]

- Freebie, zip, zero, nada.

- Woo-hoo!

- [Narrator] Jesse, true to his word

finishes his headers in time.

[heavy rock music]

- [Dave] Hey Jesse,

I hate to be the one to tell you this, but.

- [Jesse] What's it hitting?

- [Dave] I think the flange is on upside down.

[voice echoing]

- No, it's not

because we tapped it with it on there.

- [Dave] Yeah, but how you gonna put the spark plug in?

- Oh [bleep]!

Damn it.

[crew laughing]

I welded the flange on upside down.

Oh well.

Damn it. - Pull it out.

- Wait, hold it up there. Let me see.

Does it look cool anyway?

- Oh, it looked great. - Oh yeah.

- How we get back to this? - That sucks!

- [Narrator] It appears that the master fabricator

was just mastered by a header flange.

- Stupid thing.

These notches are for the spark plugs.

They're for the bottom. What time is it?

- [Producer] Quarter to five.

[toilet flushes]

[clock whirring]

- Hmm, hmm.

The second that box drops off that brown truck tomorrow,

I'll have an exhaust system on it two hours later.

Two hours later. [echoing]

- [Narrator] Lord Jesse has been humbled in his own house.

His team takes it well.

- It's just a little mud hole in the road.

[intense music]

- Careful, you lift up.

[heavy rock music]

[metal clanging]

- But the problem is we're trying to go

from big tube to little tube.

So we're having to weld up big gap.

Trial and error things, all this is.

[heavy rock music]

- It's easy, but I'm tired.

- That's really bright.

[heavy rock music]

- [Narrator] John slips in the carburetor,

it inches his team 50 horsepower closer to their goal.

[heavy rock music]

- Looks pretty punk rock though.

- Yeah.

[Jesse chuckles]

- [Narrator] At the end of day five

with one Monster Garage day left,

the fuel cell is one weld away from being in place.

But tomorrow it needs to be plumbed.

The engine is prepped

and awaiting a 200 horsepower nitrous boost.

The front drive shaft assembly is complete.

The rear drive shaft is in pieces.

And most importantly, the team can't test fire the engine

until Jesse finishes his second zoomie.

- I don't know if this has ever been done before.

Anybody ever took a two-wheel drive, big block one owner,



- Definitely not in five days.

- If they get it, they pick it up.

Put it on some other chassis. - Yeah, exactly.

- Well, don't pat ourselves on the back yet.

We haven't finished it, so,

but I'm pretty, pretty confident it's gonna be all right.

- [Narrator] And what does Jesse really think?

- If I hadn't have welded that exhaust plane,

John, upside down, I'd say no problem.

But you know that was a major setback. [echoing]

- [Announcer] Coming up,

a toast to Jesse in his new Sling Ray.

Here's mud in your eye!

[glass shatters]

♪ Monster

♪ Monster Garage

[mud squelching]

- [Narrator] Day six.

Five will enter to fight their final battle with the 'vette.

One will enter to prove himself.

Minutes later, Jesse arrives.

Yesterday's mistake still ringing in his ears.

The team is now complete.

Focused, he digs straight into his second set of headers.

Dave sparkles up the lower shock mounts.

Mike tackles the rear drive shaft.

Bobby fabricates a bracket for a NOS surprise.

Chuck is the master of the drive train.

John's untested engine hovers 340 horsepower short

of the team's 600 horsepower goal.

- I'm not really feeling any pressure whatsoever.

I'm fairly very confident

that this is gonna fire right up.

- [Narrator] It's a race against time and each other.

No one wants to be the last man out, including Jesse.

Wired for NOS, a push of the button

and this team's 200 horsepower closer to their goal,

but still lacking.

- This is the end.

If this isn't right,

the car will just sit there and make noise.

[metal clanging]

- [Narrator] The drive shaft's cut, welded and balanced.

Chuck slips it into position.

Hammers in the chain link.

Now the monster is ready to run on all fours.

[heavy rock music]

Time to add the cobra seat.

Bobby and Mike hit a puddle in the road.

The nitrous bottle needs to be moved back a notch.

The Sawzall fixes all.

Bobby takes a test fit.

- Hell yeah. It's flush.

- [Narrator] Every hillbilly needs a wingman.

- Come on, we're checking out the lean,

making sure we're gonna look

good when we're driving this thing.

[heavy rock music]

- Okay, here we have our team members.

Can't forget Jesse.

He's back here where he's supposed to be

welding those headers up 'cause we're waiting for him.

- [Narrator] Mr. Corvette, d*ck Guldstrand

from the design team arrives to check out the car.

- I'm really impressed with the innovations,

you know, and the tenacity.

- [Narrator] Now the build team plus one

waits for Jesse and his zoomies.

Someone's got to be the last man out.

This time, it's our own master fabricator.

[Jesse burps]

Jesse finally finishes the headers.

The moment of truth.

- Let's put a few Meyer holes in the hood.

- It looks too good to hide all that.

- Yeah. - Leave it open?

- It would look a lot better. - Leave it.

- If you were in Arkansas and you had a mud bog Corvette,

would you have a,

[group laughing]

would you have a hood on it?

- I wouldn't have a hood on it.

- [Narrator] John's getting anxious.

All eyes are about to be on him.

We have zoomies, but with only a 55 horsepower gain,

it looks like the team struck out, but wait.

- [Mike] Your time to shine, baby.

- [Jesse] It's all on you now, John.

- [Narrator] Camshaft, carb, nitrous oxide, Jesse's zoomies.

[suspenseful music]

[metal clicking]

[engine roaring]

[crew cheering]

The car's complete.

Jesse's zoomies allow the engine to breathe deeper.

Any gearhead will tell you

the synergy of the parts is greater than the whole.

They've nailed a 615 horsepower grand slam.

- [Jesse] I am very, very relieved.

We had complete faith in him.

- [Narrator] John's one of the team now.

After five grueling angst filled days,

this newly minted monster is looking and running perfectly.

- Ah [bleep] I missed a weld.

- [Narrator] A quick fix

and it's time to see what this mudder fudder can do.

[engine revving]

[heavy rock music]

- You got some adjustments? - Yeah, that's clear.

- [Producer] Hang on, Jesse.

- I got my safety gloves on.

[heavy rock music]

[engine revving]

- Give it a whack.

[engine roaring]

- Yeah! - Yeah, baby! [laughs]

Yeah, baby!

[crew cheering]

[energetic music]

- Congratulations, man. - Yeah!

- [Narrator] As the crew rests,

the 'vette is handed over to Tom Pruitt

of Damon's Motorcycle Creations.

The blending of bogger

and '70s street racer has inspired him.

- We're gonna give it a little blend paint job today.

We're gonna go ahead and put a coat of white primer on it

to get the whole thing a nice even color.

I'm gonna start out by blending some snow white pearl

with some true blue.

We're gonna come with a nice light blue,

blend it all the way back to the magic blue.

[light funky music]

Kind of make the car

look like it's going fast sitting still.

[light funky music]

- [Narrator] Monster Garage factoid.

The Corvette was named after a class of highly maneuverable

escort warships used during World w*r II.

This sea bearing 'vette's engine

cranked out 2,750 horsepower.

[bubbles popping] [heavy metal music]

♪ Monster

♪ Monster Garage

[hard rock music]

- [Big Swag] Okay, you monstrosities!

Big Swag here.

- [Frankie] And Frankie Whiteside here.

- [Big Swag] And we are getting down

and dirty for the next Monster Garage challenge.

- [Frankie] That's right, Swagman.

Our off-roader friends have come to Paris, California

to welcome a new monster into the world.

- [Big Swag] They got a name for this new monster, Frankie?

- [Frankie] It's a Corvette Stingray

turned into a mud thrower.

Swaggy, say hello to Sling Ray.

- [Big Swag] Check out that blue sparkle

Tom Pruitt paint job.

What does Jesse think of his new 600 horsepower beast?

- That's it.

It's very, very violent and fast.

[heavy metal music]

- [Big Swag] Frankie, are there any rules

for this mudder of all races?

- [Frankie] It's Jesse against all comers.



The mud pack is lined up, revved up and ready to roll!

Jesse's coming up on the pack.

He's sh**ting a gap.

- [Big Swag] Get ready!

They're off!

[engines roaring]

- Jesse's hydroplaning. - He's jet skiing.

- [Frankie] The mudder truckers are giving chase.

- [Big Swag] Jesse's giving them a rooster tail of mud b*mb.

- He's winning! - He's won!

- [Frankie] Sling Ray rocks!

- [Big Swag] Sling Ray's shown

it can keep up with the big boys.

[heavy metal music]

- [Frankie] Sling Ray sure slung some mud.

What does Jesse think?

- Made these truck guys respect their little Corvette.

They probably thought it was gonna get stuck.

Showed them.

[engine revving]

I think it's a success.

Any one of 'em would probably swap me in a second.

- I wanna see it blow up.

Nice expl*si*n, big.

- You wanna see it blow up? - Yeah.

- [Narrator] Get that guy outta here!

[cartoonish voice laughs]

- Poor motor. [crew laughing]

- [Big Swag] Looks like Sling Ray will need some work

before it races again.

- Looking good. - That's okay, Schwag.

We still have the rest of the off-roaders.

- [Big Swag] Oh yeah!

Time for some drag racing in the mud.

[engines roaring] [heavy rock music]

[pig oinking]

[heavy rock music]

Frankie, what do you say

we watch Jesse and Sling Ray one more time?

- [Frankie] Nothing I'd like better, Schwagster.

[heavy rock music] [engines roaring]

- [Big Swag] But Jesse's got no time

for Mudbox, Dirty Jokes, or Road Hot.

- You want another cookie? - Here.

- [Big Swag] He's got metal of bird! Sparks to fly!

The next Monster Garage Challenge is just around the bend!

[upbeat music]

- By far the most talented crew we've had in what? 19 shows.

So Mac Tools, Monster Garage CDs.

[crew laughing]

- Right on. - Cool. Cool.

- Good job, guys. - Thank you.

♪ Monster

♪ Monster Garage

♪ Monster

♪ Monster Garage

♪ Monster

♪ Monster Garage

♪ Monster

♪ Monster Garage

♪ Monster

♪ Monster Garage

♪ Monster

♪ Monster Garage

♪ Monster

♪ Monster Garage

♪ Monster

♪ Monster

[bright music]

[dramatic music]