Red Sled gets a 409

Today on muscle car. Red sled gets a fine 409. How to make inner fenders on the cheap and a trip to the year one experience.

Yeah, there's a lot of famous muscle cars out there like the Bullet Mustang or the Challenger from vanishing point while Detroit was building them. California was making them famous in movies and music, but one of the most recognizable songs out there isn't even about the car. It's about the engine. Chevrolet's infamous 409.

Hey, Brent.

Check out what I found out in front of horsepower. Oh, cool. Engine for Red slid. Yeah, it doesn't get any cooler than a 409 in an impala. I heard that.

Well, what do you say? We put it in, man? I'd like to make some inner fenders right here.

Let me bolt up the headers and steering. See what kind of room we got in there. Cool. Works for me, man. Put it together. Let's do it

in order to make this old hunk of steel worthy of its new heart. We braced up the old X frame, put in air ride, suspension,

widened, the tubs

patched up the old sheet metal got started on the body work and smoothed out the bumpers.

Our heads were pretty full so the guys down at horsepower stepped up to build the engine. Joe headed down to Georgia for help from 409 expert Lamar Walden.

They set us up with a vintage 409 block borden stroked it to 476 then decked and honed it to perfection.

Then they custom made some high compression aluminum pistons and balanced our eagle crane

back at the shop buddy, Mike and Joe brought it all together with Edelbrock W series performer RPM heads and intake topped off with Edelbrock classic four

valve covers and a pair of their 600 CFM performer carbs. It was ready for the

dyno

with hooker's competition headers bolted on it pulled 497 horsepower and 525 ft pounds of torque.

Now that we've got our hands on it, we can bolt up the tranny and drop it into red sleds.

The Bellen

we're using as a dust shield that needs to go on first. Then the flywheel

using an alignment tool, the clutch disc goes on next. Then the haze pressure plate.

Yeah,

be sure to install the clutch port first. Then to lessen the odds of those clutch parts entering the passenger compartment. We're going to cover it up with a Lakewood scatter shield

in keeping with the nostalgia vibe. A Richland Super T 10 4 speed brings up the back.

So

pro's

Urethane motor mounts will keep this 49 in place better than the stock ones with less flex and less deterioration

time to kick the cool factor up on project red sled another notch and stab this baby in a GM used the same mounts from 283 all the way up to 454. So that means we can actually use the original 283 mounts on our frame

even with the core support out of the way, a little finesse is required to get the engine to meet up with the mouse, but it's nothing that jack and the little patients can't take care of. We're

actually looking pretty good. Take the, the old jack

and shove it to the passenger side

since clearance is tight. We're using Doug's stock style ceramic coated headers. We'll lose a few horsepower from the free flowing style, but these are designed to work in the tight quarters that we have to deal with.

These stage eight locking fasteners will hold them in place and they'll never have to be re tightened

since some Apollos came with four speeds. The stock cross member still works

time to drop the core support back in.

Then we can set the hinges in place. So we know how much clearance we'll have for wheel wheels.

We considered using original style wheel wells, but we didn't for two reasons. A the old ones were rusted out junk and B we couldn't find any replacements. Our only option left to build our own.

I've started by measuring the overall dimensions and transferring them to cardboard from there. Let the trimming begin.

Yeah.

One,

I

start out by making rough cuts to get the general shape,

then trim a little at a time to get a more precise template.

Now, before we go any further, I'm gonna set these prebuilt fenders in place. That way I know all my measurements are correct. I picked up these trailer fenders from a farm supply store for under 50 bucks a pair. They come in a ton of different sizes and they'll save you a lot of time

with the suspension fully compressed. I'm using a roll of three quarter inch masking tape to set the clearance to the tire.

Hey, Brent, wanna do some cutting.

Sure,

sweet. I got the measurements right there on the top for you.

Cool.

Our tires are wider than the fenders and there is no way we're putting skinnier tires on. So something's got to give and the first thing to go is the inner lip

next for,

for sha

in the radius to match the tires more closely. They would have worked fine as they were, but we like a tighter fit. Well, just because it looks better.

Cool. Got it trimmed up. Oh, yeah. Get it ready to go. Looks good. I do see a problem though. What's that?

This is hanging down here. So far, I bet you can see it through the wheel. Well,

oh, yeah, you can

like quite a bit.

We're gonna have to lose probably four or five inches off the tail end of that right there. Hey,

what do you say? We take the other side,

flip it around

and have it swoop back in,

swap the side to side and kind of get a nest curvet. Would that be cool and just blend it into the firewall in the back?

Yeah, that'll work. Cut it up, dude. Cool

on the bright side. You don't have to worry about cutting these things up. They're cheap and if you screw one up beyond repair, they made a lot more and it won't eat up your whole paycheck to replace it.

Drop us in there, Richard.

Hey, that's looking pretty good. Yeah, I don't think it looks too bad.

The whole idea we had about swapping these two cut off pieces though isn't gonna work bummer.

But

I think the piece we cut off of it though will though. No, that's cool. As long as we got to tie it into the firewall somewhere. So it's not slinging stuff up. That'll work.

Yeah, that's fine. Get these sides made up, man.

I'm on it.

Well, hey, don't go anywhere because coming up after the break, we're gonna figure out how all this stuff is gonna go together

up next. The Trans Am takes some big steps toward getting color.

Hey, Welcome back. Our renter fenders are coming along nice. And once I get the side panels cut out, we can set them in place and trim them to fit those trailer fenders that Brent modified

after making an initial cut with the sheer

and the pass of the plasma cutter,

I'm trimming it up on the band song.

We've got to get the suspension out to get the rough cut piece in place.

Then we'll drop it back down until it just kisses the top of the tire.

The wheel well, gets set in place so we can mark off the metal that's gonna go in the scrapper

once the side piece is free again, I'm trimming it on the band saw one more time.

Hey, Brent, got your present.

All

right. I hear you are the master bead roller.

You probably heard incorrect,

but I'll give it a shot. I,

this part is not going to be under a lot of stress, but it will be under a lot of scrutiny and the beads. Well, they just look cool. Brent's marking out a rough idea of where they need to be and the bead roller does the rest

with the bead rolling done. The whole thing can be stuck together with a T

dressing it up with the grinder will get it ready for some plastic fillers.

When Brent finishes the, installing those wheel wells, I can turn my attention back to the trans. Am I got the body work done and she's ready for first prime man. I must have blown about 500 pounds of dust out of this thing. Now, all I have to do is finish masking it up.

The reason why you wanna put the paper in between the plastic and the surface that you're painting is because if you run the plastic all the way down and attach it

as you're coming across with your coats, it's gonna build up on that plastic. And the next time you come by with that coat, the plastic is gonna be going like this and all those little pieces of paint are gonna break off of there and land back in the stuff that you're trying to shoot.

The paper is there to absorb the over spray

with the masking done. It's time to bust out the rusty fender primer.

I'll be putting on three coats plenty to block this thing out.

It's all primed and guide coded. It's time to break out the long boards and make some more dust. After we get all the blocking done, then we can go back and take care of some odds and ends like sea, sea

and door jams before the final prime

120 grid on some dura blocks and lots of flexing of the old guns. And I mean, lots and the body will be one step closer to pain,

you know, with all the projects we have going, sometimes it feels like we live here in the shop. Now, this car is gonna be representing year one. So we'll take as much time as we need to, to make it just right. But you know what, we need a break. So we're gonna head down to Atlanta, Georgia. See what's happening at the year one experience. And if you ask me nice, I'll even let you call a shotgun. Hey, Brent,

you ready to get out of here? Go on a road trip.

Oh, yeah, cool. We're gone

after the break. Muscle car hits the road to check out a car. Lover's paradise

Brent. And I need a break. So we're heading down to Braselton, Georgia for the year one experience at road Atlanta.

Hey, we made it. The cars ran great. I only got one ticket. We're here with the who's who? And the, what's what we got? Muscle cars, street rods, we got trucks, we got everything. Let's go check it out.

Year one is all about the cars and this yearly event is no different. It's a chance to check out all kinds of rides. Plus catch up on the latest in automotive products and technology. Dude. I'm on swag patrol over here.

Look at that reflexes of a cat.

Hey, who am I to turn down some free stuff?

Hey, this thing looks familiar, Rick. Yeah, it kind of does, huh? It's one of the thing that looks familiar, but kind of not.

Yeah.

What's different about it?

The tires are too small

and of course, we have to find out what's new and cool.

Let's just call it, uh, research you do is equalize the pressure coming out of the motor.

So we've developed this, it's called

Dear scavenger pipe. But eventually the cars were calling our names. You

have a car right here.

I

like it.

I like it too.

There's an incredible variety of cars and trucks here from customs and hot rods to modern muscle and matching numbers, classics along with everything in between.

Now, personally, you would never ever wanna give me a correct restored car like that because I'd ruin it.

This is kind of familiar to

a

little bit. It's familiar, but there's something different about it

and of course where there's cool cars, there's also great people.

I'd like you to meet the demented man who built this ride.

How you doing? I'm Rick

Mike Bone. Awesome car, man.

I dig it.

Yeah, I saw that one. It's a beautiful piece.

Thank you. You see the bed. They all go like this. And

so what the heck is that?

It's great to get a chance to hang out with some of our fans.

Hey, how you doing?

Even the four legged guys.

But we did have one serious mission.

Year one asked us to join the panel of judges for the year one cup and we're given an award of our own for best muscle car. And I'll tell you the competition is tough,

not really a muscle car but pretty cool.

I like the green

and I like the purple.

This is a nice, nice car.

There's hundreds of cars out here and I think we looked at pretty much all of them. No easy task, but, hey, someone's got to do it.

Don't go east bound them down because more muscle car from the year one experience right after the break

coming up, Rick cuts a deal that has the

lemon smoking.

I hear he wants to sign a couple of tires. Right. That's

right. I'll make you a deal.

We'll sign the tire

and you give us a couple of tires for the,

I think we can make that work. We can make that work.

And a hot award goes to a cool Camaro.

Hey, welcome back. We're down here at BFT and they are true to their word. They're hooking us up with some fresh skins so you can't go to a burnout contest with rubber looking like that.

If you were watching earlier this season, you know, the lemons can create some serious fire smoke, but there's just nothing left of the old kdws.

Once these guys set us up, we'll be ready to roast them off again.

So we're headed to the Burnett Exhibition to see what's smoking.

I've got a muscle car television here today. How many people watch muscle car TV?

Let's do it.

That was cool.

46 seconds and one more set of tires down the tubes, but it was worth it.

Now to hold up our end of the bargain BF Goodridge is carving logos and signatures from some automotive greats including Brent and myself into this tire. It's being presented as a thank you gift to year one, President Kevin King.

It's not done yet, but when it is, it'll be a true work of art.

Now, for the highlight of our day presenting the muscle car best of Show award, metal fabricator, Tom

Mase,

he's accepting the award for the 67 Camaro which is owned by Bob

Betson Brent. And I agreed this car is everything. A rusto mod should be keeping the classic feel of a Camaro with lots of modern innovation.

Then it was horsepower's turn to present their best engine award. The winner goes to a 1968 Dodge RT convertible. Congratulations

last but not least the coveted year one cup went to Richard Ryder's 55 Bel Air.

Today's been a blast and that's no surprise because this is an event for car lovers presented by car lovers. The year one experience is kind of the ultimate automotive deal for gearheads. It's, it's just like one big family deal and, and we welcome any type of car and everybody automotive that, that, that's into this hobby or just like

cars and wants to be outside and have some fun to be able to take your car to a road course

and, and an auto cross and a wet auto cross. Just anything you might could imagine you'd want to do in a car on a track or driving

and here you have it. It's the year one experience and special. Thanks for the folks at muscle car for being here. Keep watching the show

today has been a heck of a day, man. We got to check out some cars cruise around, give away an award burn off another set of tires and we still didn't get to do everything, but you know what, we're out of time. So for now we're out of here.