Fabricating A Transmission Tunnel For Our '64 Comet A/FX Drag Car

Today on muscle car altered ego gets some cut and paste action. An expert shows us how a convertible top is installed and a look at Plymouth's contribution to the muscle car craze.

Hey guys, welcome to Muscle car. A tribute trans am is hanging out waiting for heaviest C poster to come by and install the new lid. The sheet metal work is finished up on our 61 impala

and it's ready to get knocked back off the chassis for final body work. Now 64 Comet, this poor thing looks like something out of the Flintstones. So that means we got a lot of work to do here today, but it's all gonna start with. The floor is an altered ego.

Last time you saw our Comet drag car, we got the new firewall in it, fed

up a removable transmission crossman.

Now, eventually we need to build a floor all the way to the back and tie it into what's left of the original. But first things first, we need to build tow boards and that means you guessed it templates.

I already cut a piece of cardboard to roughly the size I need. After marking where the first crease is going to be, I can set the clearance for the transmission tunnel

after some trimming and ready to transfer the pattern to some steel

two,

the sheer can chop off the extra material and the plasma that'll give me the clearance I need for the roll bar. A

quick visit to the break and she was ready for a test fit.

Now, panel is looking pretty good but looks can be deceiving because from the factory,

they actually had a stepped floorboard to make clearance for the pedals. That means we're gonna have to cut up a brand new floorboard to follow that contour. Now, there are fancier ways to get this done like using a hammer and a shot bag and finishing out the shape with the English

wheel. But hey, we're keeping it old school with the cut and paste method,

cutting out the pieces and stitching them together. A hole punch is a big time saver, but it does have drawbacks. The jaw is only three quarters of an inch deep.

But that's why we have cordless drills. Just make sure to drill into a piece of wood and don't ram the bed into the floor

with the cut and paste out of the way I can finish out the floorboards by making room for the root.

Ah,

perfect.

That's pretty cool man. Get some floors in here finally. Yeah, it's getting there. I can't weld the mint yet though because I don't know what seats are gonna go in it.

So I gotta put bracing stuff in. I got a cool idea that I'm working on so we can still do the tunnel though. Got any ideas.

Yeah. I was kind of thinking maybe a hex tunnel. Let's bring it back to, like, right here,

you know, we still gotta put a draw shift, hoop in it somewhere. Yeah. I'd like to put one front in the rear. Actually, I'm gonna have to drive this thing

and just keep it around in the center.

Yeah. So cool. That'll work. Yeah.

Do it. Just do it, man.

We don't own stock at a paper mill, but we should with as much cardboard as we go through around here. If you're having trouble finding sheets large enough, go down and make friends with the guys in the loading dock at your local grocery store. It's often used for wrapping and padding pallets after marking where the bins will be a straight edge helps get the shape needed.

All right,

the shift or hole can be cut out now while it's still flat. So it's time to make a few sparks.

The series of 45 degree bends will form the heck shape of the tunnel

with the tunnel in place. Brent can mark what needs to be trimmed out of the firewall and tow boards

a

couple more marks and the rest can be trimmed to match.

How's it coming, man?

Well, the transmission's covered up. Oh, we got a Trans Am over here. It needs to be covered up. Cool, man. Let me get this welded up. I'll see you over there. Cool. I'll get it ready

coming up. Thinking of installing your own convertible top. Find out why it's good to have a pro around.

Hey, we're back. The tribute trans Am is getting closer to hitting the street every week and we're ready to make a big leap in its progress by installing the convertible top

ready to put it in.

Yeah, we need to get the frame installed and adjusted and

then they put the top on there. Cool. We can do that. Let's get them out. Let's do it, man.

Make sure you mount the cylinders into the brackets and install them as one unit or you'll be taking them out again later,

everything needs to be bolted together. But we'll live at lo

because we've got a lot of adjustments to make

the weather stripping goes in now. So the windows will be in the correct position when we adjust the top.

Well, now that we've got the weather stripping installed, it's onto the hard part actually adjusting the frame. Now, I am no convertible top expert, but I do know someone who is

Kevin Lindamood

from. He's custom. How you doing, man? I'm doing good. He's gonna come in, bail me out and help me set this thing up. So, what do we do next, man?

I like to make this adjustment. So it'll clear the door glass right now.

We get this set and then we can adjust the Len got you. So you actually start on the back and working your way forward.

Ok, cool. Show me what to do.

I'm liking that right there.

Kevin's been doing this for a lot of years, so I'm just letting him guide me through the long drawn out process. Sometimes you just gotta put your faith in an expert.

I like that.

This is way too high. You can actually let that one down a little bit

actually. Right there is where I like it got a bigger gap here than I want it. So we need to adjust the three and slide the whole

I

think forward and down. Maybe I like where we got it here.

Let's leave that, let's tighten everything up right there

and say we're better than we were here

a minute ago.

Ok. Yeah, that help us.

I've got this gap where I like it now.

We just need to adjust this window to fit to make this gap. Right. I think we'll be good.

I need to bring

the bottom forward.

I can live with that.

I'm glad that's over with. Well, nobody said it was gonna be easy. No kidding. I mean, you guys look a little tired, just go get you a little cold drink and I'll take care of these hydraulics for me. Let's go get a nice cold soda. Sounds good to me.

We should have put the first lines on the cylinders before we install them. So they had to come back out

a line from the top of each cylinder goes into a T fitting which then gets attached to the hydraulic pump. These provide the pressure for opening the top

a second T fitting splits the lines out to the bottom of the cylinders providing the pressure for closing the top.

We mocked up the electrical connections to test it out. But the final installation will include a toggle switch hidden in the console.

The pump is cycled to bleed the air out of the lines.

Now only fill the reservoir at three quarters full each time or you might damage the seals. We're using auto trans fluid instead of brake fluid because if it spills, it won't damage the paint,

you'll have to repeat the bleeding process several times before there's enough pressure to raise the cylinders.

The original clips are going back in to hold the lines in place.

Hey, right on. Looks like you got it working.

Oh, yeah.

Cool. Well, let's get the chrome on here

and get these tax strips in the top frame.

Putting the trim back on is a touch procedure. If you get frustrated with it, just walk away for a while because it's too easy to cause some permanent damage here.

I'll tell you what the next one of these I do. I'll bring it over and let you put this on. Thanks.

The tack strips go on next, laying them on the bolts and tap on the back side with a hammer will leave marks to show where the holes need to be drilled. Weather strip adhesive will hold them in place with the help of a couple of clamps while they dry,

the front strips are held down with an eight inch rivet. Kevin's using aluminum one so they won't rust

right on, man. Looks like we're about ready to put on the material. Huh?

Yes, we need to work on the tack rail. The well liner and the curtain will go on first. Ok. Well, cool. So you do that. We're gonna take a little break, but hang tight is coming up later in the show, we'll show you how pro stretches out a convertible top

next on muscle car. We're going commando in a Plymouth GTX.

Today's flashback. A 67 Plymouth GTX

in the mid to late sixties. Your choices for muscle car performance were virtually endless. Pontiac had pioneered the concept of a total muscle car package with the GTO back in 64 and Plymouth wanted a piece of that action.

So for 1967

they came out with a car built to be raced right off the showroom floor with a wink and a nod to its inspiration.

They called it

the GTX

before the GTX. If you walked into a Plymouth dealer, you could get a muscle car. He just had to know what options to pick out.

The GTX removed all that guess work

to boost interest. Richard Petty had already been racing one on the circuits breaking records, picking up 27 trophies along the way.

Plymouth started with its popular Belvedere model and gave it race cars looks by adding hood scoops, dual tail pipes and a pit stop style gas cap

inside. You got bucket seats and a beefy torque white transmission.

The heavy duty suspension was added, combining stiff and shocks and six leaf rear springs so it could handle tight turns with these to top it all off. They dropped in the brand new Super Commando engine

with 440 cubes of raw power

turning out 375 horses. This car was instantly transformed into a road rocket

Mopar

used a similar 440 in its big cars like the Chrysler Imperial,

but they made a few changes to up the power and torque

by revising the camshaft and valve train and adding a free flow intake and exhaust. They were able to coax 100 more horsepower out of it.

The GTX only weighed in at around 3500 pounds

meaning it got about one horsepower for every nine pounds.

No wonder it's so fast.

The GTX only had one engine option available the

hemi

but it would cost you an extra 564 bucks

when you compare 0 to 60 times. The 440 was actually faster with seven seconds versus the

hemi

7.4.

This was because the 440 reached its peak torque at 3200 RPM.

While the

hemi it had to spin all the way up to 4000.

The

hemi did outrun the 440 on the quarter mile though 15 seconds to the 440 S 15.4

in 67. All belvedere including the GTX received some minor styling changes.

The front grill now featured quad headlights and a more prominent center horizontal bar. GTX though featured a red, white and blue emblem in the center.

Both cars had a redesigned lower deck panel with a more fluid horizontal sweep and featured a brushed metal

section.

This GTX has tricked out with some cool factory options like the bullet style turn signals on top of the benders

and boss vinyl upholstery and a floor console complete with a tag.

Despite its racing, pedigree, Plymouth only managed to move about 12,500 gtxs in 67.

It just had a hard time competing against the more established names out there in the muscle car field style was probably also a factor.

GM and Ford were adding more curves to their cars which the customers loved while Plymouth lay stuck with the same straight body lines in angular styling.

But this uniqueness combined with low production numbers are what make it a highly sought after car today.

Yeah, good luck trying to get your hands on this one

up. Next. How do you finish out a convertible top, stretch, smooth and staple

and staple and staple and staple, staple, staple.

Hey, we're back. Kevin's got the well liner attached to the tack strip and next comes the rear curtain. So, what do we need to do here?

We're gonna line up our marks on the curtain and start tacking it to the tack rail and then we'll cut our holes for our bolts to go through.

Cool.

This is all subject to adjustment later.

Ts auto

top sent us the back window and well liner to make installation easier. They pre marked the center where the tax strips need to go and where the mountain holes need to be.

The window is temporarily tacked in place while the tax strips are attached,

the bolts for the tax strips are a pain in the butt to reach. So it's time to put the skinny guy in the trunk.

Once the back is anchored in place, we can pull out the temporary staples and set the height of the rear bow

that sets at 22.5 right in the middle.

Next come the pads so support the top and help it keep its shape.

Well, it's probably obvious by now if you're gonna attempt to install a top yourself, you better have a lot of patience and a really good staple gun

with the pads in place it's time to get the rear window tightened up.

The trick here is to pull it as smooth and flat as possible.

The rear tax strip needs to come back out because the cover gets pinched in between the tax strip and the body.

There we

go.

After a little trimming, we're ready for the main event

keys, auto

tops hooked us up with their Mercedes cloth cover. They also offer vinyl tops, but this isn't a low budget build. So we went with the top of the line

right there. That's here.

Perfect

keyes has patterns for cars dating back to the twenties. So if you think nobody makes a top for your car, you might want to give him a call.

The top comes with a string already threaded through the cover to make installing the tension cables, a snap.

This anchor strip will hold the top of the center bow,

but the tension cables must be installed first

with the top in the up position. Kevin marks where the material will wrap over the front of the header.

The weather stripping is removed to make way for some glue.

Then the material is wrapped in place.

The

excess material is trimmed out from around the rear windows and the weather stripping can go on

a welting strip, finishes out the front edge and a few more staples will hold it down.

The last piece of the puzzle is called hide

em. Why is it called hide them because it hides the staples. Duh.

It's made with an aluminum cord that easily folds over for a clean look. As some gentle pounding with a leather covered hammer, flattens it out

the final touch. A couple of N caps.

Beautiful job on the top, man. If there's one thing I've learned today it that I will not be attempting this anytime soon. Thanks a lot for the help, man. I really appreciate it. It's worth it having a pro on the job. Well, thanks. Thanks. Glad to help.

So, hey, we're out of time for today. So until next time we're out of here,

get us a beer man. Sounds good. Works for me.