Manual Transmission Re-build

Sometimes show ideas are hard to come by but Lou found three and over the top bolt on Subra

connector, the rebuilding of a manual transmission plus the Le Mans advances with some undercoating you can do at home

today on muscle car.

Big smile and don't look at it. Uh

Look at the camera first do your line and then go

dolly.

A few weeks ago, Courtney's crew had some eye candy. I had to take a look at

Highland Daytona Racing offers the only factory built replica of the famous Daytona Coup.

More time, better material and modern technology have enhanced this classic.

This is the result of Rick Ellis and some of the best builders in the country

suspension design. And engineer Guru Terry Satchel brought his skills to the table as well. These are made to order for the high end crowd, definitely out of sight for the weekend warriors like us,

but Rick is starting something we can aspire to.

He's taken orders for the Highland J Hawk. A completely restored and heavily modified second generation Pontiac Trans

Am muscle car

using my greatest talent charm.

I convinced Rick to send us the prototype. It's not totally done yet, but close enough to drool over the front spoiler shaker, scoop and functional side vs aren't here yet, but the mechanics are and you'll have some drive train options. You can keep it all Pontiac with an optional, heavily modified 450 five or place an order for a big block or small block Chevy. And there's seven different transmissions to choose from all the way from a turbo 350 to a 600 tram.

But no matter what you pick, they'll all be housed in this Chrome Molly race ready front clip, it gets rid of the radiator core support. So the body mounts solid to the frame.

The independent suspension shares the same geometry features as their cobra Daytona with an infinite number of adjustments. What's not on the car yet is the rest of the framing to strengthen up that unibody

design is it B

in Subra

connector.

And this rear suspension package which gets rid of leaf springs, converting it to a triangulated four bar set up again, the same suspension geometry that's on their cobras. Here's what piqued my interest. This new front end ends exactly where the old one did. So you could bolt this connector right to your old sub frames with no fabing, no welding,

just drill a couple of holes.

It's triangulated with cross members, adding even more strength and the dual rails allow for a lowered ride height. The back is designed to locate the new rear suspension

and stiffen the rear of the car from side to side.

I'm taking the lee

spring set up out in stages to keep things lined up

the top link brackets bolt to the existing snub mount.

In fact, most of this installs using the existing holes, all but two, that's it

with the rear end supported,

the springs are out

and the lower link bracket and link

are in

additional support for the rear end comes from this lowest shot and link break.

This upper shock mount is a one piece design

to handle the abuse.

Finally, the lower link and his Q A one double adjustable coil overs with the correct spring rate for the Firebird.

That's how it goes in. Here's what it does. This lower bar extends out further than the axle allowing for longer links and greater shock travel giving you the correct geometry designed by the legendary Terry Satchel

bottom line. If a second gen Firebird, a Camaro project is in your plans and you don't have time to fabricate this Subra

connector along with this filing

setup will be an option for you, but all that free time is going to cost you a little over three grand

front clip another eight. If you want a fully loaded turnkey G Hawk Firebird, you're looking at around 85 grand. Now, Rick said he'd let us play with the first one when he gets it done. Stick around, see what we do after the break,

we're back. And the G Hawk is out of here. A few weeks ago, I showed you guys how to rebuild and modify a turbo 350 transmission.

And I've been bombarded with emails ever since on how to rebuild the four speed. Well, now's as good a time as any. I recently rebuilt this Richmond Super T 10.

I'm gonna show you that later. But first, here's how it works.

A

manual transmission works on mechanical power. Unlike an automatic, which is hydraulic power. These gears are heer cut gears, which means the teeth are in an angle. They're quieter than regular straight cut gears and they make for a smoother shift.

When you put your car in first gear, this is the gear that's working. You're cruising along, you hit second gear. This slider actually slides over and engages this gear here which is 2nd, 3rd gear. This slider moves, engaging this gear. When you're in fourth gear, all the gears are working is one, giving you a 1 to 1 ratio. Modifications are limited to swapping out gears. Rebuilds typically replacing worn out sink rows. You might think it's easier to work on in an automatic because there's less parts, not really a

blown apart. Automatic, takes some concentration to reassemble

and you need some special tools to release some snap rings.

The manual has some minor challenges as well. Plus you need access to a press

and you'll need it with the first part to go on new bearings for the house.

The first synch row

and plate gear go on the output shaft, three keys under pressure from two snap rings gives the slider its tension.

The first gear is on next

back to the press again to join the mid play. And the Baron

a snap ring will keep it there

so far. Pretty simple. But the counter shaft is next.

All these tiny needle bearings go in by hand

or greasy fingers, not just one stack p

in but two,

the more grease, the better the chance of them staying in place,

believe it or not, the counter shaft is one piece cut on a lathe for strength.

It rests in place till the input shaft finds its place

and the gears align.

Now cross your fingers that all these needles stay in place.

Two more rounds with the press

to lock things

in place.

More needle bearings finish off the input shaft, making it ready for the output shaft,

but not until it receives a third gear. And another set of sink rows and a slider.

You're on the home stretch. Now as the output slides in.

Well, sort of

all the sink rows and gears will line up. It just needs some persuasion,

then use the midplate to lock it in.

The reverse gears are simple

and same for the seal.

Finally, the rear of the case finishes it off.

Few shops will do this for you. Typically they just swap it out. What's the fun in that? The parts are cheap and if you can find someone to share a press with, you've got one more thing to brag about a flashback is next,

stick around after the break. We've got a storm of cyclones. The weatherman never saw coming.

This week's muscle car flashback. A double threat of 1969 cyclones

in 1969 NASCAR was hawking only one mail enhancer. American steel, unlike the homogenous 150 mile an hour billboards running laps today. If you watch the race on Sunday, you could walk into the dealership on Monday

and buy the same car that just took the checkered flag.

Mercury's weapon of mass destruction in 69 was the cyclone spoiler but to increase its chances of taking the checkered flag,

it needed a little help.

During the late sixties, there was a real

development happening as far as aerodynamics in NASCAR racing, a

more aerodynamic front end was needed, but NASCAR mandated that at least 500 cars be made available to the public in order to race on the track.

And the spoiler with its w nose front end was a far cry from an arrow

nose car. The solution build a new spoiler. The other car was the spoiler too,

which had a handbuilt aerodynamic front end.

The spoiler too had to be built fast

and the opening races were quickly approaching.

Cyclone spoilers were rolled off the assembly line and were taken in the tent outside the factory for a nose job and some lipo

the stock fenders were cut off in about this location,

cut off here

and this piece hand built and added on

a Torino grill took the place of the old one and some Ford van lights were tossed behind it

since the new front bumper had no openings. It's actually the rear bumper which is taken and cut into three sections

rewelded,

put a little V in it,

but it wasn't just the front end that needed some improvement. Spoiler. Twos had to have the same ride height as their racing counterparts.

NASCAR took that measurement from the rocker panel to the track by rolling this in and raising it.

It allowed the race cars to be lowered an inch in all reality

to achieve the distance. It's on the, the spoiler

that allowed the cars

a good several miles an hour on the Super speedways and much better handling by being closer to the ground.

These cars came equipped with a 351 Windsor backed by a three speed automatic transmission

outside two paint schemes. The Dan Gurney special was white with a blue top and it was sold on the west coast

while the Kale Yarborough special was white with a red top and it was sold east of the Mississippi.

The W no spoiler was available with any engine transmission combination

and was also made limited numbers as a gurney or Yarborough special from the back. These cars look identical and they are the sloping fast back design smoothly, directs air over the top of the car to the rear deck lid mounted spoiler which gives these cyclones their names.

Either one of these cars would make a great addition to any collection but only the most diligent of mercury collectors would have one of each.

Richard Flea has spent years searching for both of these cars. His spoiler too is a Dan Gurney

and the spoiler. It's a Kale Yarborough.

And until we bought this car, we had never seen a

Kale Yarborough car in person.

This extremely rare Merck is one of only 41 Kale Yarborough spoilers that was ever made with a 428 Co

Jet and only one of 10 known to still exist. AC six automatic was bolted up to handle the conservatively rated 335 horses

and the complete package rolls on a set of 14 inch wheels,

punch the throttle and nearly two tons of steel will race through the quarter mile in less than 14 seconds

with 0 to 60 times right around six ticks.

That's of course, if you can handle it,

you have to drive it, it doesn't just,

you don't just take and guide it down the road, you have to drive it all the time.

The bright red interior matches the color scheme outside bench seats, front, rear, make room for the driver plus five more adrenaline junkies.

It's hard to miss a site like this,

but in case you're not paying attention,

the high flow exhaust that came standard on both spoilers should turn your head.

Nowadays, you can still buy your favorite stop car. But I wouldn't recommend picking a fight with one of these at a red light.

Stick around.

There's more muscle car after the break.

We're almost done for the day and it's a little too late in the show to start anything in depth. So here's what we got going on

right around the floor to suit his need for perfection, etching primer, apply

normal for raw metal

but also useful for the next step

to protect the undecided car and act as a sound barrier. We're trying out duple colors, truck bed coding. It's a vinyl polymer base and it's strong enough to use it under coding. The cool thing is you can do it yourself. You can get this little kit that comes with a roller too slow for us or you can get this spray gun with an access lid.

We're doing this now before finishing the body in case we get sloppy

this gun siphons the go to the head. A

standard airline is all you'll need to save time. Both me and Bren are packing.

We're also wearing respirators. This coating requires having fresh air running through your shop. We don't

to protect the other people in here with us. We rolled in our duster 3000 from Island Clean Air.

It's like a portable prep room air is forced out of the top to start the circulating motion holes in the arm blow dust or fuse downwards to be sucked in and filtered

OS

A and epa friendly.

You probably know a men's room that could use one of these

a few last minute repairs and the coding continues

the same principle in painting applies.

But instead of multiple thin coats, a little thicker is recommended.

It helps with sound deadening and it dries super fast like us

today was definitely a plethora of projects

and there's still more outside.

So what's in store for next week? If I knew,

I tell you,

we could finish off the mustang with body work and paint

overkill still needs to be wired up and the interior is still in Fox's major cool points there.

Tightening up. There is a 69 Firebird convertible. Soon to be a Trans

Am clone with a twist think G machine

underneath a salvageable 61 Impala

co

a great find. Only 850 of these were built.

Lots of opportunities there.

And our latest arrival was literally found in a barn, a 64 Caliente soon to be transformed into an old Gasser.

So you see my problem. These are all cool projects. Now on Monday, I'll stand out here a while and wait for one of them to talk to me until then I'm out of here later.