Real Ride Challenge

Eventually, what we're looking for is, uh, something that we can take back and forth to the beach on the weekends. We can take out cruising on Saturday night

and, uh, maybe have a little fun with the horsepower, you know, within the law. Of course,

that's Ernest and Amy Smith who brought their 69 olds cutlass here for our real ride challenge makeover.

And our biggest challenge will be to give it more horsepower

with a weak 350 cubic inch engine. The best the cutlass could muster was 150 horses on our

dyno Jet.

Yeah, that's not much of a muscle car.

All right, Ernie and, you know, with a lot of hustle and a little bit of luck. Well, that's exactly what's gonna happen to your old cutlass here today in the shop. Hey, thanks for joining us. And man, what a busy day we've got planned today.

In fact, after the engine swap, we're also gonna replace the transmission with this high performance unit. Plus we're gonna give it a new rear end,

front and rear suspension components and a new exhaust. And finally, we're even gonna upgrade the front and rear brakes.

Now to get a head start, Mike's already removed that tired old 350

the stock tranny to make way for the 455.

Well, since we're under the gun to get a lot of work done today, we first sent Joe to a place called Recon up in Philadelphia. I guess you might say he was on a little bit of a recon mission.

Now, his goal was to find a good rebuildable 455 core, have it machine built

dyno and delivered here today

over the years. Recon has earned a reputation for producing some of the best remanufactured performance engines in the world.

Part of the secret, the founder's philosophy that's endured since the beginning over 30 years ago.

If you lack that passion to get the job done, you ain't never gonna get it done and you ain't gonna enjoy what you're doing.

Of course, our rebuild all starts with a good core. And here in Recons core yard, you'll find 15,000 on any given day. And fortunately for us, a

455 ready for new life.

Every core is first baked at 750 degrees before it's shot blasted

and then Liquid Magna

Lux to detect the tiniest crack.

Once they pass inspection, they're ready to move on to the machining facility for the next ba

here, the crank shaft is micro polished and oil hose

champed.

Each is balanced to ensure there's no vibration

and here at the quality assurance station, the journals are checked for even the slightest peaks and valleys.

Other procedures include using a carbide bit to cut the valve seats for a three angle valve job,

pouring the cylinder walls to specs

and line honing the mains to make sure the crank spins free.

The list goes on and on before they're ready for assembly.

455 will be ready for assembly after Joe Giove

makes a final check of the clearances.

He's the performance engine specialist who will install the new components of our extreme package.

First to go in is our extreme energy comp cams camshaft.

Then the rest of our bottom end including the bearings,

the new crank shaft

and mains,

it uses lots of lube and A RP bolts and torques the mains to 85 ft pounds.

Now to align the thrust bearings,

sharp, tap and reverse

and then

sharp, tap forward

before locking it in place and torquing it down

after installing the new timing set, he's ready for a bit of filing on the new Molly Rings

and you always want to file from the outside in

to prevent chipping of the Marley Face R.

The entire ballot train is new

Cam's high performance pieces.

After installing the head gaskets, a new set of

Alero aluminum performer RPM heads

and after dropping on the Rocker Arms and Valley plate,

Joe can install the Edelbrock performer manifold made for the 455.

But this is it. We've got an old rock 850 quadrajet to feed it

and the patrons

flame thrower to give us some sparks. So this thing is warmed up and ready for some dyno

numbers hit it. Joe.

All right. Mission accomplished 400 horsepower at the crank. These guys really rock

Joe. You rock for getting this 455 back in time. Now, we can go ahead and get it made into the transmission and drop it into place. But first the torque converter,

it's a 9.5 inch or from BT E and it'll give us the stall speed of 28 to 3500 RPM.

And we're using one of their stronger turbo 400 street strip transmissions to replace that original turbo 350.

It's been upgraded with six clutches in low gear, extra tall pump gears to increase line pressure and a shift improver kit.

That deep aluminum pan adds strength to the trans case and helps cool the fluid

before we can bolt in this monster. We first need to cinch down our motor mounts. Then we're gonna bolt in these pulleys and brackets that we got from Mandela performance products.

Yeah. Now I've already laid in those hooker headers and

I'm holding place

with some bungee cords. All right, here we go.

The 455 bolts right up to the 350 frame mounts making this an easy swap,

but the deck height is taller. So you'll need to find the correct 455 accessory brackets

to make it all work. Ok. Come down a couple inches on the picker

I'm in.

Well, guys, that's a great fit. And while we finish bolting up this engine in trans, keep your seat, there's a whole lot real ride makeover left ahead.

Well, our real ride challenge makeover is moving right along. We just finished dropping in a recon 455 big block of BT E transmission and set of hooker headers. Well, now it's time to vote on some of the accessories

like this 100 out one wire alternator from power master,

one of their high torque starters

and the dry cell battery from Optima

that 455 is gonna make a lot more heat than the 350 plus, we're gonna use the factory AC.

So we had B cool send us this drop in replacement with one inch oval tubing and these high efficiency fins that can cool up to 700 horsepower.

Now, on the back of this thing, we bolted up one of their modules with a pair of 11 inch small fans that can move over 2700 CFM. Oh, by the way, they're activated at 100 and 90 degrees by a thermal switch.

While we're up here, here's something else we can bolt on. Now since four wheel disc brakes take more pedal pressure and fluid movements to operate. Master power sent us their new eight inch dual diaphragm booster and high capacity master cylinder.

Well, we had to put the brakes on our work for just a little while with a project. This ambitious, you can't expect everything to work out as planned. Well, like the pulleys that didn't quite line up.

So we decided to have the stock ones sandblasted and powder coated

along with the brackets at a place called Powder Tech in Nashville.

After a lot of hard work and a little bit of improvising. We're finished under the hood.

We ran all of our vacuum lines, water hoses, electrical connections and belts.

Yeah, this power plant's done.

It's a far cry from that tied 350. We took out

an all American muscle car needs some American thunder.

So we ordered up this three inch system from Flowmaster

and we're also going with a couple of their free flowing 50 series mufflers.

Now, even with a larger diameter, notice how these pipes tuck up nice and tight to the floor pan

looks pretty good back here too. But check this, normally this trumpet would pass through a cut out in the bumper, but

it's only got a two inch inlet and with a three inch tail pipe and I guess we gotta blow off the trumpet.

There's another original piece that needs to go. It's the fuel tank and it's 35 years old and probably full of crud.

So the last thing we wanna do is starve the big 455 for fuel. So

let's get this thing out of here and the new one bolted up from year one

before installing the new tank. Be sure to drop in a new pickup

then add the anti squeak strips.

You know, I was just thinking

before we reinstall that gas tank, that would be a great time to get this rear end out of here. But in order for us to do that, we first got to get the car off of this lift and onto our side lift. Now, the upside of it though is it'll give us great access to the rear end, the suspension and the brakes.

All right,

I got these control arms out of the way. Hang

on.

I

think I'm down

there.

Yeah,

we're gonna dump that weak factory rear end and replace it with this new 12 bolt unit from Moser engineering. Now it features a 342 ring gear and an Eaton posse.

Oh, and check this out. They even powder coated it pretty cool. Huh?

Yeah, that is a pretty piece. But, you know, before we can bolt it in the car, we first need to attach our hots

control arms. Now, I want you to check this out. They're made from thick wall, rectangular tubing and they feature these Grez

Urethane bushings here. Let me handle that mic. Oh, and here's something else. It's pretty cool too. The uppers are actually adjustable so you can tune your suspension by changing your pin angle

with the rear end supported on these control arms, we can now put our springs in.

And as you see here, the seat right on this saddle on the rear end

with the springs in place, we can bolt up our Edelbrock shocks.

And finally the sway bar can go up.

We could also install this new aluminum drive shaft. We had

fed up at the drive line shop.

We're gonna replace the old drum brakes with a set of disks from master power. But first, we gotta get the axles in place.

The Moser eliminated the factory sea cliffs and placed them with these Ford style bearings. Now, it's all held in place with this retainer plate.

Next, we can both up the caliber bracket

then slide the rotors over the axle studs,

then the caliper,

finally this new brake line

and our parking brake cable.

Now we can finally get that new gas tank installed and get started on the new front suspension and brakes. Well, not so fast there, partner.

We need to take a little bit of a break of our own,

but we'll be back to finish up the real ride challenge right after this. All right, here we go. Oh, yeah.

Hey, welcome back to our real ride challenge makeover. Now, if you're just joining us, we started out with a 69 olds Cutlass convertible that belongs to Ernest and Amy Smith.

Now he was earnest about wanting some more power. So we gave it to him

starting with a 455 from Recon and the Turbo 400 from BT E

A set of hooker headers,

a Flowmaster three inch exhaust

and a Moser 12 bolt rear end with Hotchkiss suspension components.

Now, we're gonna help that cut loose, cut a few corners with some more

hoss components.

Then we wanna help haul it down with this master power front disc set up

and when we're done, well, this thing ought to stop on a dime and maybe even give us a little change back.

You know, we're gonna start the reassembly process now, but we're gonna use the stock control arms.

We've gone ahead and upgraded these though, with these urethane bushings from energy suspension. Now these things won't mush out like those stock rubber pieces and they're gonna help keep suspension deflection too minimum. Oh, and here's something else you always want to replace the ball joints too while everything's apart.

Make sure you put some grease on the outside of the bushings

before installing the lower control arms in the frame.

Then install the upper control arms

and finally

high rate springs from Hodgkiss.

We're tying the upper and lower control arms together with this new disc brake spindle from master power and once we get it sent down, we can reattach the steering arm

and add a new dust shield.

Now, we're gonna install the Edelbrock shocks.

Then the caliber brackets get bolted up

and after packing the wheel bearings, the rotors go on,

followed by the calipers pads and more new break horses.

Now, we can install this monster engine 38 sway bar.

Obviously, we got pretty carried away replacing parts under here. But once you get started, it's kind of hard to stop.

And after countless hours of work, we've just about totally redone the undercarriage of Ernie's cutlass.

This pile of old parts we snatched off the car is pretty good proof of that.

The cutlass came from the factory with a set of 14 inch rims,

but they just won't work with our big four wheel disc set up. So what we did was ordered a set of these 17 inch

Krager Ss wheels and they're gonna give us the clearance that we need around those big calipers and rotors.

Plus they're a classic design that allow us to use some 21st century rubber. And speaking of that, we mounted them on some Cooper

Zions. We're using a 2 45 45 up front and a 2 75 40 out back.

You know, something. This has been one long hard week, but I got a feeling it's about to be all worth it. Go ahead and fire this baby up, Mike.

You gotta love that sound

and just to refresh your memory,

here's how the car sounded when we first brought it into the shop

back when it made a measly 150 horsepower at the rear rollers.

Now, that's one hell of a difference.

Now, remember we've got a heavy muscle car here with a turbo 400 that draws a lot of power.

All yours.

It's not a racer. It's a serious pavement pounder with a lot of power potential

that now makes a pretty stout 320 horsepower at the rear wheels.

Ernie's gonna love this thing.

No doubt. We'll bring the cutlass back in a couple of weeks to pump up the appearance inside and out. But

I'm not talking about some wild weird radical body and paint makeover. After all, we gotta keep this thing a classic American muscle machine.

I mean, horsepower is what it's all about. Right.

Stay with us. We'll be back.

Say has your street machine become a real pig? Well, in that case, these air hog high performance filters from Fram can increase your engine's horsepower and improve its performance. Now, they use a four layer cotton gauze

media that flows much more air than paper. Plus they're completely washable and reusable. Now you can get these at Walmart and other retailers and well, to get one, you'll just have to pork over. I mean fork over about 40 bucks

if you ride so dirty, you feel like kicking the bucket. Well, try this one. It's full of quality car care products from Eagle One, everything from car wash and wheel cleaner to tire shine and their new wax as you dry now it's seven products in all. Plus you get the bucket for right at 50 bucks. A little noise from your car's exhaust can be

cool but noise from your tires. Not cool. Well, now Falcon rubber has this new Azeus

ST 15

that's designed to give you a high performance with extremely low noise. It uses a compound filled with micro vacuum capsules that literally soak up the road racket.

At the same time, they add stiffness to the base tread then that makes for more handling stability.

Now, the prices for these started under 200

this one looks pretty hot mounted on one of their one piece cast aluminum wheels. Well, we earn our keep for today working on the olds, but next week we're gonna put the cutlass to rest and jump back on our 55 Chevy Super Shoe Box. That will be a super show and we'll see you then.