Real Ride Paint

Thanks for joining us and don't pay any attention to that thing right now, we'll tell you what it's about later. Meanwhile, it's payoff time for our real ride challenge project. Now, today we're gonna pump up the appearance of the 69 Os cutlass, add some other goodies and we'll eventually turn the keys back over to the proud owners. Now, this project has been quite a challenge for us too. And here's a flashback of what's gone down so far.

We picked Ernest and Amy Smith's car from thousands of email pictures, a decent looking olds with indecently weak horsepower.

We went to recon and got it a 455 big block to replace the tire 350

beefed it up with Edelbrock heads intake and carb.

Then we made it into a turbo 400 for BT

E installed a Mosier 12 volt rear end to plant the power

added hooker headers and a Flowmaster three inch exhaust. Then Hotchkiss

and Edelbrock suspension components to help the handling.

We installed disc brakes all the way around from master power

and finished up phase one with 17 inch Crager wheels on Cooper Zon rubber

on our dyno Jet, the Os made 320 horsepower at the rear wheels, a big jump over its 159 baseline.

Meanwhile, this car was a definite 20 footer and up close you could see pitted chrome,

cracked lenses, rotted weather stripping, ratty carpet. You know, the things you'd expect from a car 35 years old.

But since the paint was in pretty good shape, we just had it clay buffed and waxed.

It's amazing what a little bit of elbow grease and time did to this car. You got that right. Of course, our main goal here is horse power performance, not some

gaudy radical cosmetic makeover. However, we're gonna show you how to pump up the appearance of video muscle car starting with the interior

and when we get done, Ernie's car is gonna look just as good as it runs. Now, here are some of the reproduction pieces we got from year one's catalog, everything from carpet seat covers, front and rear door panels, window cranks armrest, and pretty much everything in between.

Well, the Oldsmobile originally had blue seats before they got covered in this black stuff some time ago.

Now, our replacements from year one are direct originals and,

well, this is a job you could do at home if you had the time and patience. We're under the gun though. So we enlisted some help from PU I the company that manufactures our replacement covers

with the floor pan cleaned out. We can go ahead and install the new carpet. But first check this out, it came with the underlay already attached. Now that'll help reduce road noise and heat.

All this comes pre cut for the floor pan

and just need some slots for the dimmer switch and seat belts.

Now, we can install the rest of our replacement pieces. These reproduction door panels are vinyl skin over padding

and weatherproof backing, all heat sealed together. Now, they're correct in detail all the way down to this chrome mylar.

All the other pieces we're adding are true to the originals as well.

And they're pretty simple to install with very basic hand tools.

Now, this can be a fairly easy way to freshen up the looks of your street machine's interior

and just a few of these replacements can make a big difference

and down to the new convertible boot sure makes a big difference in Erie's interior.

Think you'll like it.

I'm sure he will, but we're not quite done inside here yet.

You know, you'd be hard pressed to find a reproduction console like this when we took out or even a good used one. But you know what?

We don't have to find one.

We're upgrading the shifter with this B and M Quicksilver set up

and it comes with a classic looking console that looks right at home in the cutlass.

Over the years, this car steering has become loose and unstable. Plus the ignition switch on the column has been getting stuck to the on position, which kind of sucks. So we're solving both problems with this steel tilt column from I did it now, not only will we improve the looks, but you also get all the modern day features and relays for high amp electronics.

After feeding the column into the engine bay,

we install a new U joint that links the column to the intermediate shaft.

Then this rag joint between the intermediate shaft and the gearbox

with the steering shaft tightened and the wiring all finished up. I'm installing the steering wheel adapter to top it off with this pro series wheel from Grant

and with that, our inside upgrades are done.

But does that mean we're finished improving the looks of this classic goals,

not an outside chance. There's a whole lot left to do when we come back.

Hey, welcome back in case you just joined us, we're in the middle of making our real ride challenge car a lot easier on the ice. Our challenge now though is to make the outside as good looking as the interior. We just finished

a few days ago, Mike removed the front and rear bumpers that were badly pitted, dented and even had chrome flaking off

when he got them back from advanced plating in Nashville. They were definitely good as new.

A good chrome plating shop can save the day. Sometimes particularly with parts that aren't being re popped like this radiator hold down

and these mirror brackets that we install later

before we could vote up that shiny re chrome bumper. I wanna get rid of these grill pieces. Now, these things are pretty beat up after 3.5 decades of serious abuse. In fact, just check out the difference in this one

and our replacement from year one.

In fact, we're using their reproductions for the rest of our exterior work.

These exterior replacement pieces are even easier to install than the ones we used inside the cutlass.

And again, they're true to our intention of keeping the classic muscle car looks

while making horsepower and performance. Our main goal.

Whoa, we got a problem

here. I'll see,

man. That thing's not gonna clear. Is it

too much engine?

No such thing?

All this tall motor needs is a shorter air cleaner

and we're back in business.

Wow. Imagine seeing this thing come up in your rearview mirror. Now, I never was much of a cutlass fan, but I gotta admit I'm starting to love the looks of this thing.

And, you know, Ernie, there's only one set of keys to that new column

and I've got them.

Well, this job may not do as much for the appearance, but it's definitely one of the most important replacing the weather stripping in your car can not only protect you and it from the elements,

it also can add to its life. It might even save it.

Now. Year one offers this repot weather stripping that looks and seals just like the original.

And in the case of door stripping has these clips and correct in pads. So it's a cinch to install.

It goes on amazingly quick and with a couple of push tabs, this job's a snap.

We also replace the stripping here a place. Some people overlook, it's the glass sealer or window sweeper. Some people call it

ever noticed the way that some windows rattle when you shut the doors of an old car.

Now, this one,

of course, we can't forget about the convertible top. Moisture eats away the weather stripping here over the years and our replacement pieces go on with just a few screws.

The trunk may be the most important place to replace the weather stripping,

old cracked rubber, not only chips paint, it lets in water and that's why this is the most notorious place to find rust.

The new stuff comes in 16 ft lengths that you just trim to fit.

Now, this real ride old runs like a bat out of hell and looks like a beauty queen.

But there's one thing that's missing.

Yeah, you'll see what that is after the break. Meanwhile, it's my turn.

You got that thing out. Yeah,

getting pretty close.

Hey, welcome back to the last lap of our real ride challenge. Build up

when Ernest and Amy Smith drive away in the cutlass today, we already know they're gonna be two Happy Cruisers. But there's one thing, every cool muscle cars gotta have. That's a hot sound system. Yeah. And we got one that's nothing like your grandfather's old stereo. We wanted everything high performance. So, MTX hooked us up with this kick ass system for an AMP. They sent us their Thunder series 895 which is a five chance

amp that cranks out 890 watts. Now, of course, being five channels, you can run all your speakers and subs anyone who's heavy into the car audio will tell you that speakers are the most critical part of a system.

We have that covered with their thunder 8000 series speakers that will mount in the car

6.5 up front, five and a quarter in the back. Well, here's a cool feature for the tweeters. They use a one inch silk dome for accurate high frequency reproduction.

Here's the part the old man over there hates. It's the subwoofers. Their MTX is dual 10 inch sledgehammers that are rated at 800 watts

and they come already installed in this rectangular ported box that was specifically designed for their subs.

Ok. Here's an important piece that will mount on that box and as close to the AMP as possible, it's a power station capacitor we got from street wires.

It keeps a constant supply of voltage to the amp. Even during changes in frequency,

any time you install a high powered system like this. You wanna make sure you don't cut any corners in the wiring.

We're using a power station kit from street wires that comes with all your terminal lens wiring

and even an A GU fuse holder with 80 amp fuse for a source of all the sounds. We're going with this head unit for Panasonic that'll play everything from C DS to MP threes.

It also has a sound quality function so you can tweak it for your type of tunes. You can also change the background display by choosing from several built in still and moving images or create your own.

It also has a tilt face to load your disk and can be set in three positions for easy viewing.

Now that the installation is done. Let's see how this baby thumps.

Now that's what we were after.

Hm. I guess music's really changed a lot. Huh?

Meanwhile, Ernest and Amy will be here any minute and we can't wait to get their reaction. However, I wanna share something with you right now.

Back when we announced the Real Ride challenge selection, we showed some other pictures to you including

this one from a four 14 year old boy named Matthew Bartle who just begged us to work on his ailing go-cart. Well, obviously not a real ride makeover candidate, so we're not gonna work on that kid's Go

Kart.

That's why this is here. We're giving him a brand new carter 1150 X TV.

It's got a 1 50 cc air cooled engine that makes 12.5 horsepower at 7500 RPM.

Also has a variable ratio, automatic trans

positive traction, rear axle and double coil, rear shocks

up front. It has dual a arms and another set of oil field coil over shocks.

There's a four point harness here in this racing bucket seat,

electric starter with a kick start back up and of course, halogen lights.

Now, why did we do this?

Well, just an investment in the future of high performance.

Enjoy your new ride. Matt.

We'll be right back.

Good morning. This is Amy.

There it is.

Hey, look at those wheels.

That's nice.

Where's our girl? That's nice.

Look, they got the top boot on there where it didn't fit before?

Oh

my gosh.

Nice seats.

That's

red.

Everything's brand new.

I like those wheels. It's nice.

Those rooms are perfect.

Yeah.

Look

at that.

Well, we thought about

purple flames and all that kind of stuff, but we,

we just love the classic one.

I do too. I, I'm glad you left it the way you did

all the chrome still on. It looks great.

Oh, look at that grill. Wow. The bumpers look nice too.

Yeah, I know. You love that. 350. But

we got something a little different.

Wow.

Look at that.

Look at all that chrome

455.

That's nice. My God,

that's nice.

It's a good thing. We don't have neighbors.

So, what do you think we can get to the beach a little quicker? Now,

look at that rear end. That's nice.

And what gear is in the factory? It's a 342. Ok.

So I still have some highway.

It's

so much more than I could have ever done to it myself.

I'm, I'm really thankful that, uh, you guys did all this for us. It's good to hear. We're glad we could do it. Absolutely. Very happy with it. Now, you can't get in too much trouble with it though.

I will, I will try not to, I'll make sure that uh, I don't let her drive.

Oh, wow.

Look at that.

That's something there, isn't it?

10 inch, uh, sledgehammers from MTX

890 watt ounce capacitor. What?

Yeah, thing looks like it belongs in the space shuttle.

Now you got the, you got the looks, you got the speed and now you can even, you know, hang out and

bump on the beach with the rest of the onions

because you guys did everything that I wanted to do to it, everything from the engine and the exhaust and the transmission to that nice rear end it's in there.

Uh, it, it's just how I'd wanna do it. It's perfect.

You don't know how glad that makes

us.

We got the car in the first place because we like the way it looked classic muscle is just what I was wanting

I'm very glad that that's the uh the route you guys chose to take. I think it worked out. Perfect. See how she feels. Thanks Mike.

Now, I was hoping

for the wheels and the brakes and the engine and the transmission rear end. If you did some engine work, that'd be great and everything else would be gravy.

Nice.

We trusted you guys. Yeah, we knew you'd

do right by us.

It looks good and it sounds good

and it goes best

go

if you want a smooth safe ride in your daily drive or maybe you need some assurance. That's the name of this new model tire from Goodyear. It uses a system of densely packed tread blocks for comfort,

an absorbent layer between the tread and belt to absorb vibration

and an additive called Perma black to maintain this new tire fence.

Well, how about the finish on this new cat

back exhaust set up?

It's made by performance trends for the popular Subaru Wrx and it features high flow straight through mufflers. It's available in stainless steel or 100% Titanium and you get all the installation hardware you need to bolt it up and enjoy it.

Well, we hope you enjoyed our real ride challenge project. It's been a lot of exhausting hard work. Our shop is a mess but you know what

we think it was worth it and

I know somebody else does too.

See you next time.

Oh, go Kart.

You go

C.