Adding A/C While Keeping Our '69 Firebird Tribute Trans Am Looking Stock

Today on Muscle car, we're going plumb crazy from ac and heater lines to turning a pile of pipes into radiator hoses. Our guys don't need a plumber to get it done. Plus a big bad blue AM X and project overkill return.

Hey guys, welcome to Muscle car. You know, with all the time we've been putting in the altered ego and the tribute trans AM red sled here has been feeling a little neglected. So today we're gonna show her some love. The body needs to come off the frame and get put back on the rotisserie and that means that all these body panels need to come off one more time.

Yeah,

it's amazing how fast the car can go from apparently complete to a shell on a frame. A

few body mounts later and it's a body on a rotisserie.

There's still a lot of body work to be done on our 61 Impala. But the next time body meets frame, it will be shiny red

for now. It's leaving the shot for a long visit to the prep area because we don't want the Trans

Am shiny paint covered in body work dust.

The tribute TRANS AM is getting down to the final assembly since we've got the convertible top on the AC is next.

Now, this car didn't come from the factory originally equipped with air conditioning, but hey, we got to stay cool while we're cruising in this hot ride. So we're gonna use a kit from vintage air to add AC but still keep the stock look.

This kit includes everything, control panel, wiring, duct work, condenser, dryer and all the mounting hardware. It allows you to use the original vents and the control panel mounts in the stock location,

the brackets dryer and lines all need to be pre assembled to the condenser before it goes on the car. There's no rocket science involved here. Just lots of tiny nuts and bolts.

The pressure switch is the last piece of the puzzle before it's mounted to the car.

This condenser uses the original mounting holes so no drilling is required

when you're mounting the evaporator. Keep in mind things like the clearance you're gonna need for your feet, glove box and the electronics that will also need to go under the dash.

Also be aware of where the lines will come through into the engine compartment. You don't want to end up poking them through into the wheel well, or the back of the engine.

Once you've got it where you like it

mark where the holes for the lines go, drop it back out and get your hole saw

we need four holes, two larger ones for the heater hoses and two smaller ones for the AC lines.

We're sealing them up with grommets from Earls to keep unwanted debris and water from leaking into the passenger compartment.

The heater hoses are pretty easy to install, but this kit also includes a valve that needs to be mounted on the feed hose.

It can go anywhere you can make room for it. So we made use of the existing mounting holes under the computer.

The ac lines can be mocked up. Next.

Goddess Show sent us a braided stainless steel and Teflon line kit that includes all the fittings required. We needed ours with a tight bend to clear the hood. But these kits are available with several different options. So that was no problem.

I wrapped the ends of the lines in tape to keep them from framed. The kit supplies you with enough hose to complete the whole system, but it's up to you to cut it to length.

The easiest way to cut these is with a dye grinder. Just make sure to measure twice and cut once because this hose does not come cheap.

We're sending these lines out to have the ends crimped on and it's important to clock and mark them so that whoever does the job knows what position the end should be in.

If they're wrong, you could end up having to twist them out of shape, making them impossible to install,

they should also be numbered to make sure the right fittings end up on the right ends or you could end up with a bunch of expensive but totally useless lines.

There it is.

Now, if these mark, I can send them back to God Show and they'll c

on the ends for us. Now, you can probably find someone local that can do it for. You just make sure they have the right equipment for this type of an end. Now, stick around because after the break, we're gonna take the project in a new direction

coming up. See how the steering comes together on the tribute Trans

Am.

Hey, welcome back. You know, every time we push this car around the shop, we think to ourselves, man. Sure, it would be cool if this thing steered. Well, I figure it's about high time. We put the steering in it, but the linkage has to go around the headers. So these have to go in. First

Doug's pitched in with the headers and we don't want the exhaust leaks. So we're hitting the bolts with some lock tight anti seats because leaky headers

it can make your high dollar rides sound like a neglected

pinto.

The original brake pedal assembly is being pressed back into service and after a quick blasting and powder coat, it looks good as new.

We're using a steering column kit from Flaming River. It comes complete with a column mount that's already been clearance for wire.

We ordered our in raw steel and painted it to match the rest of the dash.

Our linkage will consist of two pieces. The first section will be long enough to extend a few inches into the column and it will place the first knuckle so it clears the exhaust.

The knuckles use set screws that hold the shaft in position. So I'm drilling the indents they sink into

with the first link in place. I can drop in the second knuckle and measure the length of the last piece.

The test fit looks great. So we're almost there. The lower column mount goes in and the steering wheel can go on

keeping with the Trans

AM theme year one hooked us up with a La

Carra wheel.

It comes with an original style adapter and horn switch and it's a modern version of a classic design.

The crowning jewel is a horn button with the iconic screaming chicken.

There's one more thing we can do in the engine compartment before we put the Trans Am up on the lip for the pluming and exhaust. And that's the radiator hoses. Now, the LS seven here he is using an intake, the size of a sewer pipe. So that means we're gonna have to get a little creative.

Oh,

cool. You got,

we can use that man. Yeah, that'll work.

I tell you what we can use the hose here for a connector.

Bring this in and chop the ends off and use these bins here and run across underneath. What do you think

that could work

as long as we can get it over here with a straight connector on that end?

That should be all right. Huh.

Yeah,

cool. Let's chop it up.

Borrowing a trick for the street rod crowd. We use an exhaust pipe to make a radiator hose.

The main thing you have to remember when doing this is all the cuts have to be 90 degrees to the pipe.

It's a lot like building header tubes just without the collectors

starting from the radiator and working my way to the water neck. I'm taping the pieces in place and clocking them as I go,

it may look difficult, but it's actually easier than finding a preformed hose to fit and it ends up being kind of fun

while I'm making the lower hose. Brent's sticking the pieces together.

We're planning on powder coating these pieces. So we use the tig welder because the welds are cleaner and they'll be easier to dress

right on, man. Looks good.

Yeah, it looks pretty good. Well, you ain't done yet.

Still got the bottom to do.

Trade

you.

I'll prep this one out for uh, powder coating.

These are gonna see a lot of heat cycles and we don't want the finish to come off. So I'm gonna sandblast them to give them a rough texture for the powder coat to bite onto it.

You can also sand them down with some 80 grid for the same result.

Pull

up there, Richard. Got it ready.

Yeah, man. All right. Fire up the oven.

All right, cool.

We got our hoses, powder coated and clamped in place with a few inches of rubber on each end. And that means that our engine cooling system is done. Now, keep your butt glued to that seat because later on in the show, we're gonna be rolling in a project that I'll bet you guys thought we forgot about

up next. I think American muscle begins and ends with the big three A MC proves otherwise.

Today's flashback. A 1969 AM X,

you can drive these cars with three fingers,

34 inches either way, makes a world of difference right now,

Todd Harrison and he's talking about a 69 American Motors experimental

and most muscle car enthusiasts will think big three when you ask them what their favorite riot is, but not Todd. He is a MC all the way and this is one of four American

motor cars. He has parked in his garage.

This big bad blue 69. It was love at first sight for Todd. A

couple of cars and a bunch of parts came available and

my buddy Tim Kemp was telling me about it and said, you see it, you, you'll, you'll buy it, went and looked at it and

went and bought it the next day.

This rare AM X has only a little over 29,000 ticks on the odometer and it's in great shape

after Todd bought the car in OSE,

all it needed was a little engine work.

Now, some guys might lock up a car and stuff full of mothballs after this sort of a fight, but not Todd. He bought this car for the go and with a 390 under the hood,

it's got plenty of it

when you're accelerating to pass a car or accelerating in any way, it just gains so much speed so fast that you give it a little bit of gas and you're really moving before, you know, it, it like this shouldn't be this fast already.

Borg Warner T 10 4 speed backs up the 390

dual torque links coupled with a Posi

rear end. Make sure all that power makes it to the asphalt

with the wheelbase and overall length exactly 12 inches less than its big brother. The Javelin.

The AM X was made to race

the shorter wheelbase allowed tighter handling through the windy roads that Trans Am racers were constantly subjected to round the curves, little windy roads or whatever. It's great in town

and it's also comfortable to drive on the interstate. It's a good all around vehicle.

The outward styling of these cars scream AMC,

the front bumper was painted to match the rest of the car in 69 but it was changed to chrome in 70.

The sloping hatchback design keeps the car's aerodynamics in check and Outback AMC kept it simple with more paint on the bumpers and limited badges

as if these cars don't already stand out in a crowd. A MC decided to make three big bad colors. In 69

284 were big green.

283. Well, those are big orange

and only 100 and 95 were made like Tods in big bad blue.

The stripe that runs over the top indicated. This is a power pack car.

This option was only available in the 343 or 390 AM X and it included power disk brakes, red line tires, twin grip axle and 140 mile an hour speedometer.

The insides of these cars are down

small, two bucket seats up front and that's all she wrote. The gauges are oversized and easy to read and every AM X has a gas plate with a unique production number.

There's a lot of things that can be said about a 69 AM X but Todd likes to keep a simple philosophy on his

ranch wash and enjoy.

Don't go anywhere. There's a lot more muscle car coming at you after the break.

Hey guys, welcome back. And we got a lot of really cool projects going on here in muscle car

and everybody's got their favorite but one in particular that gets a lot of attention. Anywhere it goes is the same one that you guys have been sending us a lot of emails about our 1970 challenger

project overkill

year one brought us this car. It was in bad shape. It had been used and abused as a stunt car in the movie. Too fast, too furious. It needed some serious TLC

to bring it back to its former glory. It was blasted, had its many rust problems solved, got some new panels and had the firewall smoothed out.

The mean

528 met up with a five speed gearbox and embracing was added along with a custom three inch exhaust.

Brent, finished up the bodywork and blocking and sprayed on the vitamin C orange.

The body was dropped on to the K member. The D A

60 was bolted up along with a suspension and it got some finishing touches

and year one has been great about supplying any parts we need to get project overkill back on the road. And Keith Manny is here to talk to us about everything that's been done since the last time you guys saw it. How you doing Keith? Very well.

Welcome to the shop, man. Appreciate it. Good to see you, Brett. You too, man.

Since uh the last time everybody really saw the car, we've gotten quite a bit done. We've gotten all the plumbing done for the fuel system

and the brake system. We've got the air ride installed and we've got about 90% of the wiring done. Cool. Very cool. What do you say? We get her on the lift and check out the plumbing.

All right,

we can do that.

Well, we already got our lines run. We'll just start back here. Just tell us a little something about the ascending unit. There. One of the cool things that we offer, year one, you know, for, for these cars is ascending unit that, that already has a modified pickup, a half inch pickup. You know, this thing's got a big thirsty hemi

in it

and the

hemi is gonna have a lot of gas. So if you know, if you're after gas mileage, don't buy a

hemi,

ok.

So we've got to feed this thing and that necessitated running a half inch line everywhere.

Now, the difficult part of that is if you're using a stock type tank and have a stock type pickup, how do you get that half inch line to meet up with the, the stock piece? So we actually reproduced one with a half inch pickup. Takes care of that problem for you.

Now, obviously, this car's been modified on the bottom so much that we had to bend our own lines. You know, you guys are involved in all of that.

So we've used tube nuts, half inch stainless steel line running all the way to the front. The other line that you see here is actually a return because one of the cool things that we'll do is like the original hemi

cars we'll use a vapor separator up front

and that we'll feed it with a half inch line.

There's a quarter inch return line that comes back, that circulates the fuel keeps the fuel cooler

actually helps with emissions too.

Ok. Once we get up here to the wheel, well, it turns 90 runs up along the frame rail and then turns 90 again into the engine compartment. Or it will really go from, from the hard line to braided stainless line

to run to the vapor of separator and then the fuel pump.

Well, that takes care of the fuel line. What about the brake lines?

Well, Rick, it's pretty much the same story on the brake lines. You know,

the, the car's been modified so much, we couldn't use the prebent off the shelf line. So we pretty much made them all, you know, started with a kit that's a big roll of, of steel tubing and,

and got busy. One of the cool things that we did when you're done, we take a pre bent line or get some of this armor,

you know, and slide on it. So it not only looks a little more original, but it does provide some protection to the brake line itself.

Stuff over the top. Right. Right. And that's it,

uh, stainless steel lines, you know, that actually go out to the, to the calipers on, on all four corners. That's

not only safer but provides a much better, more firm brake pedal field.

Well, that just about covers all the plumbing, but we also still have the wiring and the air ride system to go over. But for this week, we're about out of time. So make sure to check us out next week to get the low down on all that stuff. Hey, Keith, I wanna say thanks for coming in and give us a hand, man. I appreciate it. No problem. I like hanging out with you guys. Sweet. Come back next week. Sure.

Right on. But for now we're out here.