Hemi Air Ride Suspension, Big Brakes and the '70 AMX!

Question, what does NASCAR technology have to do with building a classic molar?

And what do you do with those body panels that don't exactly fit perfectly well. The incident

of

and my latest invention

right now, a muscle car.

Hey guys, welcome to muscle car. As you can see, we've been pretty busy here in the shop. Our great Camaro is really coming together

and our restoration modification of the 70 Dodge Challenger has come a long way since we rolled it in last month.

You guys are gonna see a lot of action on both projects. Today, we're gonna go over some body details in the Camaro. That'll make a big difference before it sees paint and we're gonna put the front suspension in this baby. But first we gotta get you up to speed.

The first order of business, get our project torn down and stripped to bare metal by media, blasting it

now nice and clean of all the surface rust. We lower the challenger onto a frame jig to keep it fixed and level.

We shaved all the unnecessary holes in the firewall and replaced the inner fenders,

but not before straightening our bent front clip. This allowed us to be able to hang our new front fenders.

I

like fire a lot but

fire,

fire,

fire.

I do now

sweet.

All that rust and rot in the lower windshield frame

was cut out and replaced with new fabricated window channels on both sides.

We also replaced the rusty parts of the cow and firewall.

We hung new quarter panels, then eliminated the rust in the roof and the rear window channel then with a chassis straight. Oh, that is so much better. Most of the metal work done on the body. Our challengers back in good enough shape to start on the front suspension.

Like we mentioned earlier, the challenge is getting an air ride set up front and rear and here's what's going in up front. This system from air ride technologies features these tubular upper control arms and this pair of shock wave 3.0 air bags. They're made for independent front suspensions and feature double convoluted air spring bellows that will definitely handle the low capacity of the monster hemi.

We're going to

put in this thing, not to mention with the shock and the spring out of the way you get a whole lot more tire clearance. So it's a lot neater package

and it just looks good.

We thought why bolt all that cool stuff, the 40 year old technology. So we're gonna scrap the stock cam member and go with this trick. New part from red top speed shop. This thing's stronger, lighter and it's gonna allow us to be able to use a lot more modern parts.

Another awesome thing is this thing implements a lot of the same suspension and steering components the NASCAR guys use on the weekends and if it's good enough for them to go 200 miles an hour with, it's gonna be good enough for our challenger.

Now, for you guys using the stock K member in your

Ebo Air Ride makes a bolt in kit featuring the Shockwave 7000 series, then installs without any fabrication.

Now, this piece is just a prototype which works perfect for what we're doing. But the K members at Red Top speed shop shipped to the public will be a lot more refined.

Now, this K member was designed to have bolts going through the frame in the back, but being that we had to make some structure repairs, we don't want to have to do that. So we're going to find another way to mount it.

We're gonna bolt in the upper control arms that air ride supplied us with. They go in the stock location to work with a shock win

with our control arms installed. It's time to start thinking about a spindle. Now we got several options. When we do this, we can go with the stock spindle like the one that came off of our 70 challenger

or go with this S 10 spindle like we got in the junkyard, but we're gonna go with this modified spindle from Bear brakes and I'm gonna tell you why

the stock spindle's got a host of problems.

Like it's 36 years old and the aftermarket's very narrow. It's gonna be hard to find those big brakes and things like the steering components that you're looking for. And let me show you what we got from Bear.

This thing's already been modified to house their big caliper and rotor

and it comes with this trick hub that already has our stock dodge bolt pattern on it. But before we can use this, we're gonna have to do some modifications of our own.

The ball joint hold in our spindles need to be enlarged to fit bigger and stronger. After market ball joint

to do this, we're gonna use a ball joint,

mark the ball joints just before the end of the table.

Then you can start to enlarge the holes with the lemon.

Always remember to take your time and check the fit because you don't want to take too much metal out of the spindle.

Grab it again. Then

when you can fit the ball joint through, it's time to install it on the control arm.

Well,

I

something you'll need to know when you're doing air ride is the right height of the bag you choose because this is gonna be your spring and in order for it to work right, it has to be at the correct ride height when it's going down the road. This one's supposed to be at 13 inches

that's gonna dictate or we fabricate the lower control arm mount. And as you can see, we're gonna have to get into some fabrication on the frame rail before we can put this bag in.

So let's get started.

Remove the two factory B stops because they're in the way

and then cut away part of the frame rail for bag clearance. I am marking where we need to cut the bag

and then we have to re brace the frame. Now we're in the area that we cut away.

Mhm

Next, we're gonna put the suspension back together

and then put the bag in and check it and make sure everything's clearance enough.

This area here represents the ground. We have a wheel that's 24 inches in overall diameter including the tire. So we're gonna wanna set our axle at 12 inch center

lou made this awesome little jig

that's gonna do just that

up.

Now, what I did because I used because I worked alone so much

is I actually got bored one night and made this jig that holds the hub in place and it's what it is. I drilled it for every bolt pattern from five on 4.5 to 5 on five. This way when it's on there, it locks it down and you can do all your fabrication.

This will also allow us to set the bag up at ride height so we can make our lower shock mount

awesome.

Later on muscle car, the little pony that could we flash back to the 70 AM X.

But up next

you want your panels to fit. Nice. Jared's got the tricks

muscle car fast back.

Chevrolet's first true race engine was the famed Z 11

offered up as an option in the 63 Impala.

This 4, 27 cubic inch beast burned up Daytona and set a track record at the time of 163

MPH.

Well, there she is or should we say will be when we finish our great Camaro project, all new new body, new fenders, new hood, all made from original dice from a 1969 Camaro and like our challenger, it's gonna be better than new when we get done with it.

One thing that can really set your car apart from the others is attention to details like door gas. So we're gonna take a look at what's involved to get the gaps on our Camaro really dialed in

something that will really help you guys when you're fixing your door gaps, install your latches and your strikers first. This way, it holds the door nice and tight while you're setting them up. Let me show you guys what we're talking about here at these door gaps and this is an issue you're gonna have on any muscle car. Now, even though our panel fitments really good. It's still not perfect.

Like we have an inconsistent gap here on the back edge of the door.

And what we're gonna do in the tight areas is grind them and we're gonna add to the wide areas and then take a piece of 3/16 thick metal. It's a good way to gauge your gap. Then you can check your f at the end,

I'll mark the back edge of the door with tape so that when I open it, I'll know where to grind to.

Here's an uncommon use for vice scripts.

I like to stick them on as a hand dress for her. And I'm welding

works out great because otherwise,

so hard to just, you know, hold your hand out in free air.

You can see where the edge of the door is split because it's actually multiple layers of metal and grinding. It's caused it to come apart. So, what we're gonna do is go back and weld this edge and then grind it again.

Blue it up my man.

Oh, yeah. Huh.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

That, that's the ticket, huh?

That's the way it's supposed to be. And that's where it's at.

Just finished the doors and now it's time to make the trunk gap look the same.

It's a little tight across the back. So we're gonna take some off and put it back on

gaps like these are good enough for some car guys. But in the world I came from,

everything's gotta be perfect. So I can't live with something like this. I want every gap to be uniform. So I'm gonna go the extra mile to make that happen.

I use tape to establish where I want the new gap.

Lot of take

and then I'll grind the trunk skin back,

the edge is gonna split. So I have to weld it.

Then I'll just use the old calibrated eyeball when I grind the weld down,

using a piece of wood like this distributes that blow evenly across the panel. So I don't make a dent.

Oh Ya.

Mm Sometimes if a panel don't fit, you gotta make it fit.

Lou check this out. Remember how high it was up in there?

Oh Yeah, man. It's come down a lot. I know. Check it out over here. Feel this. Remember that?

Oh Yeah. The bonus plan.

Do what I say.

That's very pretty

right.

See how it works, how it

works.

Mhm

All right. Now, that's what I'm talking about. It took a little bit of extra time and effort. But if you really slow down and pay attention to things like this, it's gonna help your panels fit a lot. Nicer. We'll see you guys after the break.

Welcome to muscle car where we like to turn back the clock and look at the cars that defined an era.

This week, a little pony car that tried to take on the big dogs.

Muscle car flashback this week, the 1970 AM X.

In the late sixties, the big three were cranking out tens of thousands GT Os Mustang

Chevelle and charges a dollar bill for you. Four gallons of gas

and performance ruled the streets as well as the showrooms. But American Motors ramble classic wagon. See it at your friendly giant. It's planned economy, car reputation was losing millions and Kenosha needed a competitive muscle car back

the best shot. The 1970 American Motors experimental a powerful short wheel base two seat pony car.

The new AM X was built on a section Javelin floor plan

with a flying buttress roof line that extended to the tips of the rear quarters, steep angle, rear glass accentuated the car's signature muscle car look. The smooth fast back profile featured rocker panel moldings, black mag paint and distinctive c striped ratchets

up front functional ram air hood plush mount grill and bumper air vents to cool the brakes providing an aggressive look.

But backing up that new look was gonna take a lot more muscle but out

AM C's new 390 inch

three and a quarter horse V8 optional 10 to 1 compression. This motor was the weapon of choice with a Holly four barrel and new cylinder heads.

A 70 was the debut of the dog like heads, which was an excellent flowing head design. One of the best in a small block era,

delivering a tire smoking 425 pounds of torque. The 390 with its optional M 12 4

point transmission

ran the corner in mid 14

still ball joint front end and traction bars are stock but side exhaust pipes, spoilers and more were dealer add-ons,

bucket seats, sport wheel, optional wood trim with rally pack gauges and N

dash plaques to complete the cabin

with an MS RP of only 3395. It was a lot of car for the price, but unfortunately, just 4000, 116 were sold way short of AM C's break even point at 10,000 units.

In retrospect, it was affordable. It had the look plus it had performance but by 1970 for a MC, it was too little, too late

up next. Jared's winging it on the Camaro while Lou buttons up Challengers front suspension

muscle car. We'll be right back

now that we got the deck lid fitting good. We're gonna put a Trans Am wing on this bad. Mamma Jamma.

You guys are drilling holes in sheet metal. You're gonna be tempted to grab a standard bit

but grab a unit bit. This thing is gonna save you a lot of headaches because it's less likely to tear the metal.

Let's ride. W

we got a wing on this thing.

Jared's been hammering out the seams on the crate. Camaro and everything's starting to line up. Perfect. And Lou's been going to town on our Challenger suspension and what's awesome. About this thing is you'll be able to go lay the smack down at a drag strip in one state, then drive to the next state and go rip around a road. Course, this thing's got the best parts that we could throw on it and let me tell you something. It's gonna be one nasty street fighter. So let's get it done

before I can put in the steering. I need to finish both sides of the suspension.

Hey, tough guy. What do you want? Santiago? I'm busy. No, you're not. You're lollygagging.

Let's put the bag in real quick, man.

Mhm.

Now that we've got our steering box installed up front out of the way of that big massive

hemi, we're gonna install something even cooler. Take this centrelink from Laughlin racing. Not only is it neat, but it's adjustable. You can take these slugs

and go anywhere between dead center to 38 of an inch off center. Now, see those nextel cup guys is what they do. They set it up so it leans to the left so they can go around them turns at 200 miles an hour, but that's not what we want to do. We want to set ours up for a little more road race action. We can knock out that bump steer and it's just overall a cool piece.

First, I'll install the centrelink to the pitman arm, then the in and out of tie rod ends and attach them to the spindles.

Then on the passenger side, the Isler arm attaches to the chassis,

then to the centrelink,

it's down to throwing on the last three body panels,

the header panel.

Oh, I don't want a tool in my hand anymore. I just let it go.

Let's drop it.

Cold, light,

front balance

and the cow.

Oh, can you say bad? Our 69 Camaro

just keeps getting tougher.

Ok. Now, this is what I'm talking about, man. Plenty of tire clearance. We'll be able to drive the wheels off this thing able to cut those donuts. That's bad.

Hey, man, check back with us next week because this thing is only gonna get further along later.