Where To Find That Extra Horsepower

Today on trucks, we're gonna take a 66 Ford F 100

drop its twin I beam suspension three inches all the way around. Then we'll show you a Mercedes Benz that can be deployed just about anywhere and simply can't be stopped. Don't miss a rare look at the

Unimog.

Finally, if you gotta have more horsepower, we're gonna show you exactly where to find it.

That's all today on trucks.

Hello, everybody. Welcome to another week of trucks. You know, last season we did a lowering kit on a classic Chevy and the response to that project was overwhelming

problem was about half of you wanted to see the same thing done to a Ford. So this week we're gonna take a 66 blue oval and drop it three inches all the way around.

Now, for years, there wasn't much available for Ford's due to their twin I beam suspension,

but DJ M changed all that with their dream beam kit.

Now it comes with left and right replacement beams, shocks, kingpins

and tie rod extensions.

Not only are we gonna drop our Ford, but while we're at it,

we're also gonna convert it to power front disc brakes. Now, one of the really neat things about these old Fords is you can build a really nice looking ride at minimal cost because you can get most of the parts of a salvage yard.

Now, here's a great example of what we're talking about.

The front disc brakes off a 74 to 79 F series pickup will bolt right on to our application.

And by shopping around, we were able to get this whole set up for only 100 bucks. Now, that's important that you don't spend too much money for these. And we'll tell you why. A little later on

also very important to make sure you get the whole set up including the proportioning valve, which is located down on the front cross member.

Well, now that we have our truck up on the lift and a jack in place, I can get started with the front end disassembly. First thing we need to do is pop off the brake line

and cap it,

get rid of our stock shocks,

then we can knock our tie ride in loose.

I'm also gonna unbolt this radius arm, make sure you hang on to it because you're gonna have to reuse it later on

with the arms unbolted. All you need to do is lower the jack to release the springs and keep in mind you don't need to use a spring compressor for this application

because the spring is held in place by these retaining bolts,

undo the spring retainer

and take out the spring.

Now, unbolt the axle

and pull out the whole assembly

and just repeat the process on the other side.

Now that we have everything out of here, this is a perfect time to clean everything up so we can repaint it. Now, like we said before, we are going to reuse the radius arms as well as the stock coil springs. So we have to clean those up and repaint them as well.

Now, your junkyard parts will need to be cleaned up too. Now, like I said, don't spend too much money for these because chances are you can't use half of them

and look at this rotor. This thing is shot.

Now, the calipers will definitely need to be rebuilt or replaced

and the bearings are cheap enough. Just go ahead and plan on replacing those.

Now, the kingpins are notorious for season up inside of these spindles, so I'll need to press those out.

Ok.

Now, don't just shoot paint on your dirty rusty parts. Take the time to hit them with a wire brush to get all the debris off. This would also be a perfect time to check him for any cracks or damage.

Once you have everything cleaned up and checked out, you need to shoot it with a really good epoxy paint. We use Rust

Dom's hammer tone because the rough finish looks really good on cast parts.

Putting the new beams on is really easy. Just put a little grease on the bushings to keep them from squeaking

and then slide them into place.

Ok. A little bit more to me. All right.

There we go.

It's got it.

It's also important to use a stock height coil spring to keep your camera. Right.

Now. If you try to lower a Ford by just cutting a coil spring, you'll end up with excessive negative camber, which not only looks bad but wears the inside of your tires out quick.

It's always a good idea when you're putting your front end back together to use polyurethane bushings as opposed to the stock rubber ones because they won't deteriorate or deflect like rubber. Urethane bushings will also give you a much firmer and responsive handling truck

with the spring in place, jack up the axle and tighten down the retaining bolt.

Now, we're ready for the spindles. It's amazing what a little paint and elbow grease will do, isn't it?

Now DJ M supplies new bushings that we pressed into the spindles

and they go right here on top of the axle. Now, don't forget to put in the new thrust bearing.

It goes right here on the bottom.

Now, you're ready for your kingpins,

make sure you grease them up real well and that the notch lines up with the hole for the lock pin. Then you can tap these guys in

because of our three inch drop. We need to put an extension on the tie rod end. Now, the kit comes with this extender, it bolts right onto the existing tire rod.

Once you have it on, put red lock tight on the stud

and torque it down to 100 and 40 ft pounds.

The only thing you need to watch here is that the extension and the spindle are flush against each other when it's all tightened down.

Now, here's where you can really save some money. We got these brand new rotors at the local auto parts store for 30 bucks a pop

and these bearings and seals are $15 a side

on the calipers. You have a choice. You could rebuild your old ones. These kits are about six bucks

or for our application, these fully loaded calipers with the brake pads are only 29 bucks for 29 bucks. We're not gonna mess with rebuilding the old ones

all together. All right,

another cheap piece of insurance with these brand new break hoses. It only cost about $10 but are worth their weight in gold when it comes time to pull in the rings.

Finally, we can install the new gas shocks that come with the kit. Hey, mel, let's get started on the other side and then we can do the rear. Sounds good before we do that. We need to take a break. Stay with us. Trucks will be back right after this a little bit now.

Later in the show, we'll give you a rare look at a classic from Mercedes Benz the

Unimog. But a first we need to finish dropping our 66 blue oval three inches all the way around.

Just can't get enough of trucks. Check us out online at trucks, tv.com.

Welcome back to the truck shop. Everybody. Now that we have a three inch drop and disc brakes on the front of our 66 Ford,

it's time to drop things down in the rear

to do that DJ M supplies everything you'll need, including the new front brackets, rear hangers, all the hardware and of course, brand new gas shocks.

Now, the rear isn't near as involved as the front, but you will need to get a floor jack under the pumpkin so you can move the axle around once you unbolt it. Not to mention it keeps you from having a bench press the dang thing.

Now, you can start tearing things apart back here. Let's go ahead and get started with this front spring bolt.

Then we can get rid of these nasty old sharks that have definitely seen their better days.

Now, we come to the worst part of this project and that's getting rid of this old spring bracket.

Now, you can grind these rivets off or use an air chisel, but we strongly recommend

going down and renting a plasma cutter. It'll save you about three hours of some really nasty labor.

Now come back in here and make sure that there's no wiring or brake lines that you can roast,

then you can melt off the heads of the rivet

after that. Go ahead and knock loose the bracket.

Now, I know you're probably thinking, I'll just take a hammer and tap those rivets out of there. Well, they're pressed in from the factory, which means they might as well be welded in.

If you don't have a plasma cutter, you're gonna have to drill them out

while Stacey is trying to keep hot cherries from rolling down his shirt. I'm gonna get started on these rear shackles. Now, first off, if you don't have some good penetrating lube and knock these old bolts loose, you're working way harder than you have to.

Once you have the shackle off, you can see DJ M gives you a couple options as to how far you can drop your truck.

We're gonna go with this hole here because it'll give us the three inch drop we're after.

Now, the front brackets just like the rear shackle mel just told you about. It's got a couple of options for your ride height

and it also bolts right up to the frame in the holes where we cut out the old rivets

once the spring's back in place, all you have left to do back here is get the new shocks on.

Now, you may have noticed that we're not messing with our drum brakes back here. Now, the reason being is these stock brakes, as long as they're in good shape, are more than enough to stop you.

Now, if you're using a disc and drum combination, like we are, you need to make sure you have a proportioning valve because that makes sure that most of your braking goes to the front on where it belongs.

We already have the proportioning valve we found at the salvage yard and you can mount it down on the frame or the cross member. Now, keep in mind

you will have to run new brake lines to it.

Your other option, which is exactly what we're gonna do is add a power booster and master cylinder combination from master power brakes that already has a proportioning valve built into it.

Now, the booster is a piece of cake bolts right to the factory holes in the firewall, run some new brake lines, hook up your brake pedal, don't forget to hook up this vacuum line. You're pretty much done. Now, unlike the brake assemblies, the power booster and the master cylinder are two pieces. You do not want to get in a junkyard. Speaking of a junkyard, let's see if we can find a place to dump this.

Finally, we can show you the wheel and tire combination we're gonna run on our classic Ford. Now, the Krager Ss not only set the standard for a good looking five spoke, but it's also very inexpensive, wrap them up in a performance street tire like our Eagle GT twos and you have a very nice alternative to the more expensive larger diameter

billet. Look,

we were able to complete this project for under 2000 bucks and the difference in stance, not to mention, braking and drivability definitely makes the investment worth it. Stay with us. We have more trucks for you right after this.

Later on trucks, we'll show you what to look for when hunting down some serious horsepower.

But before we do, we've got that rare. Look at a go anywhere vehicle from Mercedes Benz

for more information about trucks, check us out online at trucks, tv.com.

Thanks for hanging with us, everybody.

You know, after world war two, Germany pretty much laid in ruin. So Mercedes Benz decided they were going to design a vehicle that could do it all and there's really no limit to how and where the

uno can be deployed, whether it's the desert, the mountains, the farm or even the road. This is one vehicle that simply can't be stopped.

The Unimog has been in production for over 50 years. Now, this unique double cab, 1974 model was imported by Justin Cutler of Franklin Tennessee.

Now, one of the unique features about the mog is it's got an on board air system to assist in the braking like an 18 wheeler and like a tractor.

It's got PT Os front and rear

as well as front and rear hydraulic hookups

running a front end loader or a back or whatever you might need for a construction site or the farm.

Now, as you can see, there are no differential pumpkins hanging down low under the mock.

That's because they have portal axles just like a Hummer that run high and reduce down at the wheel hub, bottom line, high center in this vehicle is virtually impossible.

You could get a Unimog with a gasoline engine,

but this one's equipped with a 352 cubic inch Mercedes Benz diesel. Of course, driving, this thing is a unique experience too.

It's got a six speed transmission,

but a separate lever for reverse. So you can use up to four of these gears

backwards

in case you haven't noticed, not a whole lot of creature comforts on this particular Mercedes. Since this vehicle does have a diesel engine, it basically doesn't need any electrical system once it's running,

which means the snorkel isn't just for show. You can actually go deeper than the driver's head.

In other words, you'll lose the operator long before you lose the unimog to a deep water crossing.

You would think a vehicle that stands 7.5 ft tall would be susceptible to rolling over.

But the fact is the mog will handle up to a 42 degree side slope without tipping over.

The coolest thing about the unimog is they're still in production.

So if you ever need to pull more than 30 tons. This is probably a vehicle that should be high on your list.

If you've just got to have more horsepower, then you're in the right place because we're gonna show you exactly where to find it up next on trucks.

If you want more trucks, check us out online at trucks, tv.com.

Welcome back, everybody. Now, if you're anything like us, you can never have quite enough horsepower. The problem is there's so many ways to go about it. You've got high compression blowers, nitrous oxide and we'll deal with all that stuff later on

today, we're gonna deal with the basics like how to choose a machine shop, how to tell them what you gotta have, what you like to have and what you can do with out now, just like a pizza parlor. A machine shop has a whole mess of choices. You can get just plain old cheese all the way to a deep dish supreme with anchovies. So the first thing you need to ask yourself is what you're gonna use your motor for how much horsepower you wanna get out of it and how much money you can spend. But above all else, you have to be honest with yourself,

any good machine shop has got to have the equipment to clean up your parts.

Ideally they hot tank them and then magni flux them for cracks.

Now, heads are notorious for cracking through the valve seats here.

Magni flexing will point that out. So you don't waste time on a piece of junk.

Now, if they check out

and you decide to have them rebuilt, spend the extra money and get a three angle valve job done.

Reusing a stock crank for a basic build up is fairly common, but you will have to check for cracks and straightness. Then you have to have a machine for the main bearings and also for the rods. Now, most stock cranks are cast. But if you're looking to unleash some serious horsepower, better drop the extra cash for a Ford steel crank.

Now, most of the times you're gonna wanna replace the pistons,

the connecting rods on the other hand can usually be reconditioned and reused without any problem.

Now, when you're choosing your pistons, it's real important to stick to your guns and what the engine is gonna be used for.

As you can see, these stalkers are dished and that's gonna give you low compression,

these flat tops, give you higher compression, that'll give you more horsepower.

And finally, these guys with the domes are gonna take your compression so high

that you probably have to use racing gas,

a line honing the block ensures that all the mains are the exact same size and are perfectly aligned. Now, as you can see, our engine has a four bolt main cap which is stronger for performance. Now, not all blocks need to be a line hone, but if the shop recommends this process, you have to do it first because all the machine steps are referenced from the mains decking. The block is one step that you should never skip.

Now, this makes sure that the deck surface area where the heads bolt to is perfectly flat and this will keep you from blowing head gaskets. It's also possible to pick up 8 to 10 horsepower by deck in the block because it increases your compression. Of course, we've only scratched the surface of engine building and machine work. And in the weeks to come we'll talk about blowers, nitrous fuel injection. And don't worry, we never leave out Carbury

after. You've spent your hard earned money on a nice set of bright colored spark plug wires.

The last thing you want to see is for them to get all greasy and grimy. Now you can take lacquer thinner and wipe them down, but

that usually does more damage than good. And there's a better way to do it.

Now, I like to take a standard hand cleaner,

put it on a rag

and then just wipe down the wires.

As you can see, it takes the *** off the wire as well as it does your hands. And the best part is you can do this over and over and over again and not damage the wire.

As you can see, this guy is going nowhere fast in off roading turns when you get hung up on your axle or the body on a rock or obstruction,

you've experienced what's known as high centering and it's time to pull out the win.

And now truck gear, parts, tools and equipment for pickups and sport utilities.

If you're into showing off your shine, then you gotta have a buffing tool. This dual action electric polisher from mcguire's will help you get a shine out of your paint job that everyone will notice. It's got a variable speed, so you won't burn through the paint and you can use a six or eight inch pad that's held in place with Velcro for quick and easy changes with the shine of your paint with Maguire's electric polisher for about $225.

Now, for you guys that are working on a mid fifties Ford pickup and want to get rid of that old leaf spring suspension in the rear

total cost involved has exactly what you need with this four bar suspension kit.

Now, it comes with the front brackets, the axle brackets, the four bars themselves, a Panter bar and bracket coil over shocks and of course a cross member.

Now these bars are available in plain steel or polished stainless like we've got hold on to your rear end with TCIS help for prices around 770 bucks.

Well, now that sinister Silverado has a six inch left getting in and out of the cab has become a much more difficult task. So to keep ourselves from pulling something. We went ahead and bolted on a tubular set of sidesteps from steel horse. They have a sidestep pad

reduces slipping when you're wheeling in the mud. And the matte black powder cook holds up much better against the rocks. Let steel horse help you in and out of the cab of your truck for about 250 bucks.

That's gonna do it for truck gear. Here's a preview of next week's show.

We'll turn our attention to the business end of project Harry Hauler by bolting on a four bar suspension and extra stout rear end as we continue to get our hauler ready for the street and the strip.

After that, we'll show you a dandy delivery that used to bring home the bread.

Then we'll take you off road with some tire tech.

That's all next week on trucks.

Well, that's gonna do it for this week's show. We appreciate you hanging out with us. Yeah, we look forward to trucking with you again. Next week

trucks is an RT M production.