They’re bringing a 1973 Oldsmobile convertible. It’s an older American car with the top down, which makes it perfect for a summer road trip like Route 66.
Topic
going to towns tour
They’re talking about an earlier driving event they used to test the car. The idea is to catch problems before the bigger trip.
A motor mount holds the engine to the car. If something like a nut is missing, the engine can move around more than it should, which can lead to vibration or other problems.
Electric fans are the fans that pull air through the radiator to cool the engine. They turn on when the engine gets hot, especially at low speeds or in traffic.
Tires are what keep the car stuck to the road. Good tires with enough tread and correct pressure help with stopping, turning, and avoiding blowouts on long trips.
A quarter mile is a short distance used in drag racing—about 1,320 feet. They’re saying you can do a quick test over that distance to check whether the car seems healthy before committing to a longer drive.
The upper radiator hose is a rubber hose that moves coolant from the engine to the radiator to help keep the engine from overheating. If it gets cut or fails, the car can lose coolant quickly and overheat.
Antifreeze is part of the coolant mix that helps control engine temperature and prevents freezing. If you lose coolant from a hose failure, you can’t cool the engine properly.
“Extra parts” means bringing spare items that might break while you’re driving. On older cars, that can be the difference between finishing the trip and getting stuck.
The lower radiator hose brings coolant back from the radiator to the engine after it’s been cooled. If a hose fails, a spare lets you replace it and avoid overheating.
A flex hose is a more flexible temporary coolant tube. It’s used when you can’t get the exact right part right away, so you can keep the car running long enough to fix it properly later.
Here, “spliced” means the hose was cut and joined to make it fit. That kind of patch can be more likely to leak, so the better fix is the right hose length for the car.
A fan belt is a belt that helps run parts of the engine system. If it snaps, the car can stop working correctly fast, so replacing it can help you get going again.
The Firebird is a classic muscle car from Pontiac. The hosts are saying that on older cars, small fixes like replacing a belt can help you keep going instead of getting stranded.
The Corvette is Chevrolet’s performance sports car. The host is using it as an example of a newer car where you can rely on towing and warranty instead of doing repairs yourself.
Hot Rod Power Tour is a big car road trip event for car fans. People drive their cars to different stops and hang out, show off their builds, and meet other enthusiasts.
The Suzuki Samurai is a small, tough 4-wheel-drive SUV. Because it’s light and rugged, people often modify them for off-roading or fun, unusual projects.
A rat rod is a car that looks intentionally rough and rugged. Instead of trying to make it look brand-new, people keep the worn, homemade, or rusty look on purpose.
Topic
hot red power tour
The Hot Rod Power Tour is a big car road trip event. People bring their cars and drive together to different stops where they can show them off and hang out.
Term
highways
“Highways” are the faster main roads. They’re suggesting you avoid them so you can take slower roads and see more interesting places.
GPS is the navigation system that tells you where to go using satellites. Here, they’re saying you can ignore it a bit and still end up in the right general area while exploring.
A Nova is a classic Chevrolet. This one is described as having a six-cylinder engine, meaning it’s the simpler engine option compared with the more powerful V8 versions.
“Power Glide” refers to an older automatic transmission used in many classic GM cars. It’s a 2-speed automatic, so it shifts less often than newer transmissions.
This means the car got redesigned into a newer “generation” of body shape. They’re saying the car they’re talking about looks like the later version, not the earlier one.
A Dodge Dart is a classic Mopar (Chrysler-family) car from the early 1970s. Here, they’re saying a different car they’re talking about has a very similar body shape to a 1972 Dart.
The Plymouth Valiant is another classic Chrysler-family car. In this conversation, they’re comparing it to a Dodge Dart and saying the shapes are very close, with only small differences.
The AMC Marlin is an older American car from AMC. People like it because it looks really distinctive, and it’s the kind of classic you don’t see every day.
The Buick Riviera is an older Buick that’s known for being comfortable and stylish. Here it’s mentioned because it helped get people—especially kids—interested in the cars at the event.
“Rattle cans” are spray paint you shake and spray from a can. It’s an easy DIY way to paint, but it usually won’t look as nice or last as long as professional car paint.
A “show quality paint job” means the paint looks really clean and flawless, like the kind you’d want for a car show. It usually takes more prep and better materials than quick DIY painting.
“Military surplus” means the vehicle came from the military and was later sold to regular people. Those trucks often already have scratches and wear from real use.
“Battle wagon” is a nickname for a tough military vehicle. The point is that it’s built to handle rough treatment, not to stay perfect.
Term
chips in the paint
“Chips in the paint” are little spots where the paint has been knocked off. It’s usually from everyday driving or debris, and it’s pretty normal on rugged vehicles.
The emergency brake is the hand lever/pedal you use to keep the car from rolling when it’s parked. It’s especially helpful on a manual car so the car can’t creep if someone bumps the gear lever.
The parking brake keeps the car from rolling when it’s parked. Here, it’s used as extra safety when someone might be messing with the manual gear lever.
A stick shift is the lever you move to change gears in a manual car. If someone messes with it while the car isn’t secured, the car can move unexpectedly.
Term
RV
An RV is a big vehicle people live in while traveling. They’re saying the roads on this route aren’t set up for that kind of vehicle.
Route planning means looking up the roads ahead of time to make sure your vehicle can handle them. They’re advising you to check the route before leaving, especially if you’re bringing something big.
It’s a narrow, unpaved road with traffic going both ways. They’re saying it can be tighter than it sounds, which can make it hard for big vehicles to fit.
A “beater” is an older, not-very-nice car you drive because it works well enough. It’s the kind of car you’d use for a long trip without worrying too much about it.
They’re talking about their Dodge Ram pickup truck. It broke down because a part in the drivetrain failed, and they had to deal with it while traveling.
A wheel bearing is a small but important part that helps the wheel spin smoothly. If the rear one fails, you may hear loud noises and the car can become unsafe or break down.
U-joints are parts that help the driveshaft keep turning even when the suspension moves up and down. If they wear out, you can get knocking or vibration noises.
An oil change is when you replace the engine oil (and usually the filter) so the engine stays lubricated. The host thinks the timing might be connected to what they were seeing, but the real problem ended up being elsewhere.
Term
limp it
“Limp it” means you drive very carefully for a short distance instead of driving normally. It’s a way to get to help or a safer place when something is wrong.
The Chevrolet Volt is a car that uses electricity to move, and it can also use gasoline when the battery needs help. People talk about it because it can be charged like an electric car, but it doesn’t leave you stranded if you run low. The mention of an inverter is about turning the car’s electrical power into a different type that can run other devices.
“Six volt” means the truck’s electrical system runs on 6 volts instead of the modern 12 volts. That changes what kind of electronics and wiring you can use.
An inverter is a device that changes electrical power so your electronics can work. In this case, it helps run modern stuff from a 6-volt truck system.
Wiring is the set of wires that carries electricity around the car. When you add new electronics, you may need to connect them correctly so they work safely.
Term
modern stereo
A “modern stereo” is a newer car audio system. Putting it into an older truck usually means you have to mount it differently and wire it so it gets the right power.
A pinion is a small gear that works with a bigger gear. Together they help send power to the wheels, and if the gears don’t mesh correctly, they can wear out faster.
Axles are the parts that send power from the drivetrain out to the wheels. If you need to replace one, you have to find the exact correct type for your truck.
Splines are the ridged connection that locks two parts together. If the spline count is different, the parts won’t fit together correctly, even if they look similar.
A dealer is the official parts source for the truck’s brand. If aftermarket parts don’t match your exact axle, the dealer can usually get the correct one.
“392 gears” means the axle has a 3.92 gear ratio. That changes how hard the truck pulls versus how fast it spins at highway speeds.
Term
life expectancy
Here, “life expectancy” means how long a car tends to last before it starts needing major repairs. The host is saying newer cars generally last longer than older ones.
Compression ratio is how tightly the engine squeezes the air-fuel mixture before it ignites. More squeeze can make more power, but it can also cause knocking if the fuel isn’t right.
Term
stove bolt engines
“Stove bolt engines” is a nickname for an older type of Chevrolet inline-six engine. The host is saying these older engines had simpler machining and design compared with modern engines.
LIVE
Welcome back to B Squad. We're here. We've got Jim and Gale and Daniel with us and we're going to talk about
kind of best practices for
Going on a cruise not necessarily a race but a cruise like our Banzai run or power tour or you know something that's
Let's let's get our rig out and take it around and get some get some good quality time in with other car guys
What do you guys think? Yep for that sounds good sounds excellent to me
Number 339 beam directly into your head
If you would like stickers for your toolbox your car or any other place
Send us your mailing address and we will send you some stickers for free because everybody loves free stuff
B squad is at its core a roundtable discussion of
The four of us who are admittedly rank amateurs in the car world trying to figure our way into
hot rotting
Four states three time zones two sets of brothers once a week of a meat and bolts of hot rods
For a B squad hot rod, this is lefty. This is train. This is hollywood and this is woodchuck because a squad has a tv show
Legal disclaimer if you try anything we talk about that's your fault not ours
So clue us in what is it you're getting ready to go do?
So the next one we are planning to go on
We leave next weekend for hot rod power tour to be honest with you. It'll be our first time doing hot rod power tour
But it's always been on my bucket list to do root 66
And although i've done some of the southern sections. I've never done
Chicago down just never done it
so uh gaol happened to notice that this year for hot rod power tour because it is also the 100th anniversary of
root 66
They're doing hot rod power tour down root 66 and I think that's awesome
So we are going to take the 73
Olds convertible because you know if you're doing root 66 in the summer you should have a convertible, right?
Absolutely
Yeah, and so as far as prepping
We ended up talking with one of the organizers who takes care of the registration and stuff
And she's done it several times and her first comment is don't be in a hurry
Um, don't you know stop and see the sites don't be in a hurry. You're not this isn't a race to get there
You're you're trying to hit the checkpoints throughout the day
But don't be in a hurry. You're you're there for the cruise. You're there for the camaraderie
you're there to
Enjoy the company of other people like minded people. So that's rule one
Traffic is part of the experience embrace it or is she put it you are the problem
Traffic is being generated because you guys are all here
That makes good sense to me
And that's since we're including the uh bonds I run as part of the discussion
I think the second thing is to actually have a running vehicle when you go to start the trip
It's it's usually the the most expedient way to make sure you get through the entire trip
I'm feeling attacked here
Hey, hey, hey
You've always completed the bonds I run even if sometimes it's on a trailer. Uh, that's fair. That that is true. Yeah
And we know i'm not casting stones because I just show up and beg to ride shotgun
Yeah, on on the first one we had uh visions of pulling a
Um, oh, I'm forgetting the the name of the event that lefty wanted to do
Well, if he was here for this episode, he could tell us if we were here
Yep, anyway halfway between that and an episode of vice grip garage, right? The problem is
If you watch vice grip garage, it's just Derek doing it when you're trying to be part of an event
It's really tough to you know, just have involuntary maintenance
Every four miles
So I I got to say ma'am
Having a car that did have to be put on a trailer and nearly suffocating to death in it
Even though we were
The only ones going that year it was still it still made life difficult, right? So
So that brings up the do the maintenance on your vehicle before you go
Before we went we just got back from the going to towns tour
And before we left we we went through the car we did wheel bearing, you know back the bearings
Check the brakes
Did a bolt check found the one motor mount that was missing missing a nut on it
You know just doing a nut and bolt check on it change the oil
Make sure your coolant's good
If you have electric fans make sure they're working, you know
Make sure the maintenance is done on your vehicle and make sure you have good tires and stuff too
So that's the first thing is making sure you have a vehicle that is capable of doing the cruise
I'm going to go ahead and throw in there a good
test route as well
And it needs to be more than a quarter mile
again
You're referring to the same bonds I run
So, uh, um not to say anything bad there, but the uh the uh going to towns tour was the test route for
For uh hot rod power tour
Yeah, but even before the
Your first event you had taken that car out and it had driven
A significant amount you had gotten it up to temp. You had gotten it up to speed
You know things like that rather than you know
Going down literally a quarter mile and saying oh, yeah, this car is good enough to start this trip on
Here go with that
We had done a number of short-ish trips called it, you know 20 miles 25 miles
Um, we'd done several of those we had done a couple of one-hour trips
But we certainly hadn't you know run it down the highway for five hours
Yeah, yep
I'm just looking back going if we would have put two miles on that car at a time
We would have found all the problems we were having that stopped us 10 miles into the end of the run
um
So, you know you take it into town make sure you're running it more than a handful of miles and
Do some testing. Yeah. Yeah, don't take it for granted because very few of us have the the skills know-how and ability to pull off a
by-script garage
Uh run
Um, okay. Mavon Mavon Kaylee might be two of those people but the rest of us B squad don't have those skills
That's why we brought a trailer and don't get me wrong
Even having done the prep work even having run through everything we could think of that was going to be an issue
We ended up on the way to the cruise on the way to go into town
So we ran into a problem and ended up cutting an upper radiator hose
So even with the best of preparation
Don't get me wrong. We were carrying water and antifreeze, but we were not
Which brings me to the next step is have
Parts you think extra parts you think if you're running an older car
Have extra ads of the parts you think might fail. I had an extra radiator hose
I happen to have an extra lower radiator hose and the one we blew was the upper radiator hose
okay, but we were we had enough stuff to limp it to town and
Get a new radiator hose there
Get get you know flex hose enough to get us through the week and then when we got home we changed it out to a
good radiator hose a
One that's actually the right length for the car instead of being spliced
It happens. So have that and have the tools
To do the repairs you may need to do you don't need every tool on the planet
Um, but you need a good basic set
We we had the stuff there to do that. We had
We ended up helping I a guy with an international harvester truck to a quick repair
We ended up helping a person the last day
Put a fan belt on his firebird so that you could get into the last stop
so having some basic tools with you is
Definitely worth it as well if you're running an older car
I mean don't get me wrong if you're going on a cruise and you're brand new bmw
with
You know a brand new Corvette at that point, you know, you've got towing and you probably have
You know still under warranty and you're not really going to be doing most of the work
But we don't roll that way. So I'm going to say that that's not something I would do
That is totally a squad material right there
right
Oh, it's people with you know, it's like daniel, you know big campus coe
And
Again, I am not a squad and that ain't in my budget
But boy is it pretty
Um, and then okay. So the next thing is
Having all the route with you. They'll give it to you that first day
Look it over check it out. You know make sure that you know at least generally where the directions you're going
Um, did we take a wrong turn and go 20 miles outside of our route? Sure. Were we able to recover it?
Sure. The other thing about that one was
The route was a suggested route
But that day
Which was the last day of the cruise
It was a long distance between gas stations and some people needed to take that that route if they did not have a large tank
So that they could get to the next gas station
So plan for that and then the last one I'll bring up and then I'll let gale jump in here
Is bring stuff for in the car bring water bring
Snack food bring whatever. I mean if you don't want food in your car. I mean, well, don't ride with me. That's fine
Snacks are required for a road trip. Yeah, we had a cooler and we had food in the back and the whole line yards
Um, and there were times, you know and be like stupid hot and we'd be like, hey, you know
Grab grab an extra water grab a grab a soda out of the back or whatever, you know
So we had a cooler back there and things like that
So it seems there's this recurring theme that is kind of foreign to me
It seems like in all these things you're you're saying what you need to do is
Think ahead and plan ahead and prepare beforehand
Yeah
Yeah
Well, okay, either have to have that or big pockets. Well, see I'm out of luck on both counts. I don't have steven cfo
Um, the other ones are things that I'll I'll say, you know for fun
Actually, I'll let gale go down that road if she wants of course. She's just gonna look at me funny
Okay, she's gonna wear your head and keep keep rambling
It sounds like a road trip to me
So so we took some extra b-squad stickers with us and gave them a way to a bunch of people to promote the show
Um, one of the big ones for hot rod power tour is hot wheels to give to the kids
You know, oh, that's good. Thank you man
Yep, um
Take a marker take a magic marker
So if you see somebody and you want them to give you an autograph
Have something that they can sign, you know or they sign with at least
Um, we got some of the people going I've I've already seen going on the hot rod power tour that if I catch up with them
Hey, I'd like to get you out of graph man, you know
But if I don't catch up with them, that's okay, too
And uh, you know, we had some of the best times each evening on this last one
Just sitting around the parking lot
Everybody's sitting around the parking lot talking about cars whole nine yards
The best thing about this one is there was no, uh, no drama
Nobody having to be oh, you know, yes, I've got you know, 700 horsepower. Okay, whatever
You know
Everybody was just out there and they appreciated all the different types of cars that were out there
We had people out there and their daily drivers
Um, we had one guy out there in a rat rod Suzuki samurai
You know, oh, I love it. Oh, it was interesting
You know, I I think he chose not to do the entire tour because it would have killed him
Um, his back would be, you know, a spine would have been about four inches shorter
But it was it was very much a
uh
Just a fun run to do and I'm everything I've heard about hot rod power tour is it's a little more
Uptight as the word that comes to mind. Yeah
A little more regimented. Yeah
The other thing is they're dealing on a different scale
That's what I was going to ask because that's that's much bigger. Isn't it?
Um, they limited registration this year to 6 000 cars. Holy moly's
Yeah, and you're gonna be wrong. This is a big year. Um, I
Haven't found a good number for what the normal is but it's closer to about 3000 from
Random numbers. I have found nothing consistent. Uh, but yeah, they and don't get me wrong
They have taken it into account
The venues that they booked for the you know for these stops each night are huge
Three of the five are racetracks. It's designed to handle 6 000 cars in parking lots, you know
So they do understand the scale they're dealing with that's that's good. Um,
But yeah, it's big
Wow
I do know it sold out. Oh
So yeah, and that's an order of magnitude bigger than they go into towns tour, right?
Going to towns was limited to 350. Oh, so like 20 times bigger. I asked. I was curious. Yep
I asked Derek Beary and that was the number. They limited it to was 350
And yes, I'm still jealous. You got to meet one of our heroes
He he is everything you see online. I just to back that up. He's just one
He's just the nicest guy and he takes the time
to
See everyone wants to see him and he is just just genuinely
A nice guy and that's how you can break world records for parade length
Yeah, so then I guess my other thing is like you guys
Like try to plan out other personal stuff. You're like, ooh, this looks really cool to me
What do you got is just kind of wing that stuff or where do you get information on stuff that you're like?
Hey, I want to check this out
On the routes
I was actually mentally lamenting the fact that your son wasn't along to figure out interesting things to stop it
I must admit he did really well. I hope you listen to this episode
So on the bonds I run
to catch everybody up
we
We had a record bonds. I run this year
Not even nearly the 350 cars. We almost got to the 10 we were trying to get to but uh, uh, Daniel and his son came out and
Daniel's son was kind enough to basically be the uh, hey, let's find the cool thing to do at the next stop
Coordinator for us. Uh, and we we saw some cool stuff
There's I mean, there aren't a lot of major things in between salt lake in las vegas
But we found some cool holes in the wall and um, so that was awesome
We we really appreciated that and just for the record. I didn't drive a car out there to join the bonds
I run we were just lazy and rid shotgun
But it was awesome having you along we're we're glad you came
Me too. It's a lot of fun. I highly encourage folks to come join us for whatever we go do
There will be fun and debauchery to answer your question
The real question. Oh, um, what was my question? Oh heck. I forgot whether we planned ahead for the things to do and as far as
You know
Activities or touristy stuff to do along the route if we pre-planned that in advance before we left or just figured it out on the road
The going to towns was in in an area. We had been to before it's not all that far from where we live
Um, and although we we vacationed and part of the route
We'd been to other portions of it and had I mean it went to Sturgis
We had literally spent a day knocking around Sturgis for a few years ago
So for this one for going to towns
We just figured out whatever we wanted to do along the way because we actually had sort of a familiarity with the area
um
as for
hot red power tour
I started looking at that a couple of days ago and went, huh, should we figure this out in advance?
so uh, I was considering the fact that what I really wanted to do was
Oh, this is this is planning
I was seriously considering the fact that I wanted to take the start and the end date or the start and the end
points for each day
And put my hotel at the end of that
I wanted to make like a list so that I didn't have to look up my hotel reservations on the road while we're driving
every day
um
That's as far as I actually got
I haven't done that yet. I thought of it. Um, nor have I actually done anything about figuring out what to do that would be
You know fun tourist stuff along the way
So I've considered the fact that I should that's step one, right? This is a 12 step program
Oh
Shoot that's great
So the cool part about this one though is it's route 66
There are so many guides about what to do about downward 66
um
That you know, it's just a matter of finding the one you like and
Go see the world's largest ball of twine go see the world's biggest rocking chair
Every town every little town along route 66 has their claim to fame
and so
This one's a little easier to find things to do along the way
I the other thing I think probably makes a difference is if you have a navigator
Um, that did occur to me. We we traveled together. So consequently. He's driving. I'm navigating. That's the way it works
And it does mean that we can figure things out on the fly a little easier because there is somebody to do that while you're making
You know while you're driving down the road
If you were doing it alone, I think you'd pretty much have to plan it out or stop a lot
Because we do not contone being on your phone while you're driving on b squad
Do as I say not as I do. Is that what you're saying here? I will neither confirm nor deny
allegedly
So I think that's probably one of the things that uh made williams so good at picking out things
Is because that's kind of just how we've always done our road trips. Yeah, we have a
A goal where we want to wind up at the end of the day and I I think that
Not only applies to you know the the awesome
Trip you guys are going to go on being part of power tour
But I think vacations and everything in between that's just kind of how we've always done it is
We'll we'll know we want to wind up in this point when we get done
But how we get there and just developing that is is part of the adventure and just getting out and seeing this amazing country
So I think that's a huge thing
That uh, unfortunately, it's it's hard to do if you're always stuck on the interstate
You know that that little option of
Skip highways when you're going places is amazing and highly recommended
One that derrick mentioned and one of his recent ones that I really liked was take the wrong turn
Just come up and and take that wrong
Corner that's going to lead you in the general direction
But not necessarily exactly what your gps is saying
And drive down that road for a while and see what you see
And it's such a cool way of just doing it just finding that that other
Corner and and you find these little towns
The other thing that was really neat about the last one we were on
Is we had a lot of people that we were traveling with that couldn't even do 75
We we spent a lot quite a bit of time with some folks with a six-cylinder nova
Uh with a power glide in it and top speed for them was 65
The impressive part is they came all the way from pennsylvania to do it
Wow
That's a long trip. trip at 65 miles an hour
Um, the highways up there were 80
But we were all we took mostly back roads
So you're doing 65 miles an hour, but you see more at that 65 than you do at the 80
I don't want don't know how else to say it other than that's what you get
Slow down and you're gonna get that
Well, I think one of the things that has always helped me is uh, you know roadsideamerican.com
I mean, it's one of those interactive maps that it has all the weird balls of twine
That's from kansas by the way
And all the other crazy things to go see
And I think every town kind of has its own flavor so taking your time and hitting that local place and
You know the little cafe that's that's downtown
Is the place to stop and grab some food and and just find out all those neat things and and uh,
I think that's really good advice that we we all should do a better job of
Taking a little extra time to go do and build those memories
If you'd like we don't have to beat up on kansas and talk about the largest ball of twine
I once visited the town in iowa was that was the hybrid dandelion capital of iowa
Well in all fairness dandelion salads are yummy and you can make wine out of them too so
One of my favorite things about spring in kansas the
And uh, every time I make a bunch of salads out of the greens off of them
And then when they ball out I run around my yard like a kid and kick all the seeds
So I got more salads for next year and y'all have met me. You know, I don't eat very many salads
I
I can't see you running around
Blowing the dandelion seeds all over the place though
Yeah, I didn't know if I used my size 14s and doing with my feet, you know
I'm about efficiency, but I totally run around like a kid do it
It makes me think about my grandfather who was in a constant war to eliminate all dandelions from the planet
And I just smiled the whole time thinking about him and heaven looking down on me going dang it kid
Well, what can I see?
He's the one who first got me to enjoy cars in an old plymouth valiant
Which was the car I learned to drive in, you know, and to this day
It's a car I would love to have one of and no that doesn't mean you need to find me one
nav
I
Was thinking wait, I've seen one for sale recently couple months. Where was that?
I was gonna say it's been more than three seconds. They've got it found already old style or new style
Like like the like the early 60s style or like the 70s style and always figure in 60s style since he was talking about being his dad
I
Yes, the
Second generation body style not the 50 style the 60 style
Okay, like the 69
Okay, so my my my actual first car was a 72 dart
72 dodge dart, which is basically the same body style. Yeah, real close. Really close. I think his was uh
66 maybe
Oh, I don't remember the the if I remember right one or the other my think the valiant was
Three or four inches longer is the only difference between them
Um, you know, other than that like defenders cross over and stuff like that
There's it's I'd have to look it up again, but well not that I'm encouraging you to look for me or anything
So you do not understand shopping for cars is a form of amusement for us
And if somebody else is going to pay for them then it's better
It's better
Because we can show up and and feel like we're you know
accomplishing something and a little less likely to spend more money on more project cars
And and the other thing is this would be a whole lot less than that. Uh, coe
Yeah, I'm sure you're right about that. Yeah, at least a factor of 10 less
So
Hence the reason I closed the tab and stopped looking
Yeah, you didn't want to though. Nope
I'm I'm just foreseeing this frankenstein valiant cab over
crossover
Hideous-looking vehicle going yeah, I could see that on b squad
Oh shoot, that was good memories. Thanks for taking me back there thinking about kicking dandelions getting yelled at by my grandpa
Um, so yeah, oh, yeah, there's a whole bunch of them right nearby here, man. It's not a problem
hush
So get back on topic for a minute. Okay, huh? What? Oh
Yeah, yeah
We kind of touched on it a little bit
But i'm gonna go back to this being patient is important
Okay, whether there's a bazillion 6000 cars and you're the problem
Patient if you do break down and you're working on it on the side of the road
Getting flustered and upset and screaming at each other
Doesn't help be patient. There's an approach. There's something you can do to fix it
I mean, we've talked about whether you limp it into town or you you know
Call a tow truck
But getting upset about it. Whatever it is rarely improves the situation very rarely improves the situation
so
going into it with the right mindset to
Be willing to deal you don't have to be there at this second
um
No, nobody wants to break down
But if you're not freaking out about it your ability to fix it improves on a whole lot of things not just breakdowns
But work for a solution not just get upset. There's my two cents as a mom be patient
Yeah
Well, it helps that you have snacks, you know, I mean I can be way more patient setting in traffic traffic
If I have a nice chilled bag of peanut butter m&m's in a mountain dew for sure
We fit the car most of our flat of water
Turns out that can make the car chill
It got us to the next place that had water we could put in it
Oh
So I I was thinking a lot along the same lines
Um, probably very similar. So just to add my two cents
You got to expect something going wrong and that's going to be part of it, right?
If you lose a radiator fan belt or whatever and you're you're in the parking lot and you're
Trying to fix it, you know, probably flustered and some guy comes up to you and says hey
You need a hand you you look like
You might want some help if you wave them off and and like no, I got this
I just got to get back on the road or you could spend an hour with somebody else and you know
That guy or gal may have a really cool backstory and it might be really awesome to talk to him for an hour
You know could be chuck berry's grandkid or you know
Um working chip foos his shop or you know any other random thing
I'm just pulling out of the top of my head right now
You never know and it's part of the experience, right? And when you get home, it's going to be like, oh, yeah
The trip was good, you know, I lost that fan belt and this guy came up and helped me and he does
xyz and
Here he is doing this thing on youtube or you know, whatever and it'd be like, yeah
I hung out with that guy for an hour is awesome
Um be open to the experiences that are put in front of you. Yep. Yep. And I I definitely
I definitely learned that uh
actually the first semen we went to with this podcast and that was a
Uh an object lesson in hey things are going to go wrong
Just because you want them to go right doesn't mean they do and you know, sometimes it can be better that they don't
and along that line
Um be willing to sit and talk with people just in general as I said some of the best
Best conversations I had were sitting around
Uh in the parking lots after the day's cruise
Um, there may have allegedly been, you know, some a few cold snacks there
There may have allegedly been a lot of cold snacks there
And you know, just people talking people
Telling stories, you know about their first car or you know, the
Things they saw on the road that day or or hey trivia about this
Weird somebody was there in an amc marlin. That was beautiful
And he had stuff about diet and i'm pretty i'm pretty good with car trivia
He had things I had no idea about on that. Um, and it was cool to just talk with it for a while
The kids
People will be bringing their kids on these things
And the kids are just fascinated by the cars one of the questions that keeps coming up is how do we keep
The next generation and get them interested just talk to them like their people
um, we we had uh family that ran
Kind of close to us a fair amount of the time with a Buick Riviera
And there's an is on the spectrum somewhere
And he just thought that it was so cool that everyone would sit and talk with him
And just talk to him
And it would the parents were great with it too. Just be willing to sit there and talk to people
Part of that slow down thing and i'll cruise. It's not a competition. There are competitive people. Don't get me wrong
But the cruise
Yeah, 11 of uh, their name is gale
I never claimed not to be competitive
I am well aware of these tenants. No, it's not tendency. That's a fundamental personality trait
And silence out of math
That's because he's smart
He's competitive too
To be honest next thing we know we'll hear something going
Across the room and
I know when to keep my mouth all mute before I throw things at him
Oh man boy, I hadn't thought about that value in a long time. Oh man. Anyhow, sorry
So so not that we're competitive or anything, but you might want to check the chat
Yeah, but yeah, I have been
For those of you that can't see the chat there is link after for uh,
Valiance for sale on facebook marketplace for daniel to check out
One was a dart, but okay
Oh, yeah, I didn't check them all out. Sorry. Yeah
But those are just the ones that are available within a hundred miles of me
Um
Yeah, I haven't taken cars to a lot of car shows. I've been to a lot of car shows
Well, I've been to my fair share right not a lot, but you know more than a few
And it's always
you got very pretty cars
And generally the rule is don't touch them, right?
And that's very fair
A lot of money goes into a lot of these cars and a lot of that money's in the paint and if you look at it sideways
It gets scratched
So that's that's a pretty fair rule
Uh, the only car shows I've taken vehicles to I've taken the Humvee
I painted the Humvee with rattle cans, right and it still doesn't look
It's certainly not a show quality paint job nor is it supposed to be it is a
Uh, a military surplus and and looks like a military surplus Humvee
So it is a battle wagon. It's got chips in the paint. It's got
You know damage from 19 year olds driving it like it's not theirs because it wasn't
And my best times
We're having kids come up go. Oh, it's an army truck. How cool is that? It's like, yeah
You want to sit in it? You want to sit on top of it? You want to climb all over it?
By all means I know the guy who owns it go for it. He's not gonna mind
And they're like really I'm like, yeah sit up there on the hood take pictures. It'll be fine
And their eyes just light up and they're in the truck jumping on the seat
Yanking on the steering wheel like they're trying to drive it
their friends hanging out the window shooting
shooting their hand machine guns
Um, and they're they're just having a ball and that is the most rewarding thing to me because they're just
out having a great time and you were able to provide that right because it's
In that situation, you're not worried about the paint job
You're not worried about them messing messing something up inside of a a Humvee and
We've talked about it before but those military Humvees they they are Spartan and you are not going to hurt the inside of them
No matter what you do
And it's not like they can drive away with it because it's so slow
Exactly. Yeah
Even if they do figure out it doesn't take a key. Yeah
I usually disconnect the battery that way if they're sitting in the driver's seat. They can't accidentally turn it on
Because literally it's a flip of a switch
with those military ones
but
You know, they're they're not going to hurt it and it's it's no big deal
I also learned to put on the emergency brake if it's a manual because they also like to play with the stick shift
Yes. Yeah. Yep. Yeah, I have a moment on that once
I'm not saying, you know, if you have a Lamborghini let the kids crawl on top of the hood
But you know, if you can give them
Something to smile about something to go. Hey, that guy. Let me sit in his Lamborghini
That's that's something they'll take home and they'll remember for a long time
And I I think that's another part of of getting those those little ones
into the the
Hobby and on a cruise there may be ample room to to do that
Uh, I had one random thought here to add on the if you're going on a cruise and prep work
You might need to do because you were talking about very high-end cars with very nice paint
We drive to cruises. car shows
We rarely we do occasionally if they don't go highway speeds
But we rarely trailer our cars
There are a lot of people who go on cruises who trailer their cars to the start point of the cruise
If you're going to do that make sure you have somewhere pre arranged to park your trailer
Well, that seems off illogical and thank goodness. We have one adult in the room
I
The organizers of the cruise are going to help, you know, dealt with that for you
Yep, um, and check your air b&b reservations
There was one year where we were promised four parking spots
We could not park one full-size truck in anyone or all of those parking spots
Let alone trailers if if we would have brought them
Uh, so yeah 100 backy up on that one gale. That's that is something to figure out if you need extra parking spaces
Thanks mom
You bet that's my job. I'm apparently the windy of this group of lost ones
Another another one that came up as part of the last tour we were on is a lot of the roads were
narrow
Um, then you know very narrow and they've actually put out ahead of time
This is not something for your rv. This is not something for pulling a trailer through
Trailers are for boats. Um, you know, they but they flat out said, you know
Be aware even doolies are going to have a problem through this stuff
Make sure your route is set up for the car you're bringing
Um, they they were clear about it. You know, it's just checking your route before you go is another
Good hint for doing this
Hey, we're leaving in a week. Maybe I should do that
Hey, there's no problem. It's route 66
Yeah, or if you're bringing something out of the norm, right
If you've got a monster truck if you've got a a tank you want to bring if you know
Any of those really crazy stuff you probably know the limitations
And they're they're not normal, right?
It some of those things can't go down your standard
Quote unquote two-lane dirt road because it's only actually a lane and a half, you know things like that
Don't uh, don't be trying to be the big showboats
If you know, what's not going to work, right? You're just going to cause a problem
Yeah, don't get me wrong. I'd love to go cruising in a monster truck and just
It's not meant for the open road
No, I don't know. Never mind. I do know where you'd park a monster truck. It's fine
Of course you do
Sure any place yeah, any find any Honda you find
We on b squad do not condone running over Hondas
And monster trucks unless you make sure they're empty first
Oh, yeah, I don't want to run over the people and hate mail goes to train
I do love that. We are generating content that will
Okay, having hate mail to try and get trained more active. I think that's important
We could all just write him hate mail. Well, that's a thought
Oh
National right train some hate mail day. We need to we need to make that a thing
You get a free orange cone and free stickers if you send it in the form of a poem
No, I think that's all sound advice though. I mean, you know for myself the concept of
Doing a
Trip, you know me being located in Kansas and we we've met in Salt Lake, you know
The concept of hopping in my old beater and tooling halfway across the country
In it is something that definitely brings a certain amount of trevitation
You know, it's like what happens when you break down and you need stuff in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road
And and you know, how do you deal with those kinds of situations? Because I I think you know
30 years ago that was a lot more common. I mean people would fix stuff, you know on the fly
And now I just I think myself included I I'm used to having a vehicle that I can hop in and you know
Hit the starter button and rock and roll in and by starter button. I mean the electric one on the dash, you know, not
What do I do when things go wrong? So
I applaud you guys, you know
Getting ready to bonsai across and road trip down make a giant loop. I think it's awesome. So, you know major
cold wet snack being held in the air to salute you guys
If you build them right and or do all your maintenance before you leave
Generally speaking, you don't break down any more than you would in a modern car
Sometimes different kinds of things fail
But if you prep it right you there's a slightly higher chance you'll break down but not a lot higher
Well, I think we need a reference back to uh, you know, who you're talking to here
I mean, it did take take me, you know, nine months to figure out why my
68 wouldn't go over 55 mile an hour. So, you know
Was that the axle issue? Oh, no, that was with my daily driver. Actually. Oh, oh, okay
Because you know for the listeners
I I had some involuntary maintenance and on my daily driver
Dodge ram truck that popped up this week
And I I certainly can't hate this thing has
289,000 and some change miles and this is the first time it's ever left me stranded
The rear wheel bearing on the truck went out. I was headed from
Kansas middle Kansas where I live down to northwest Arkansas and Muddy's neck of the woods
For some stuff I was planning to do this weekend and
I had noticed kind of a weird sound
While I was tooling down the highway
And you know, you drive a vehicle a lot if there's something out of the norm you tend to notice it
So I stopped a couple times, you know got under check the u joints
You know, I couldn't really tell where the squeak was coming from at first and
Checked the hubs, you know, to see if anything was getting hot. Nothing was
Didn't really smell anything the first stop didn't really smell anything the second stop
I'm like, well, we just did an oil change
you know, maybe I'm getting a little oil burned because the guy spilled a little or something and
About 150 miles down the road all of a sudden the sound changed quite a bit
It went from the occasional weird squawk sound to the really nice grinding noise that makes you rather nervous
and
fortunately, I was able to limp it
down the road a bit farther and
get stopped off at a family member's house and
arrange a couple phone calls and
And uh get a ride back so that the next day I could take a truck and a trailer and pick it out
Unfortunately, it smoked the wheel bearing pretty good and boy it was letting out some smoke when I pulled into my uncle freddy's house
But uh, I made it it didn't catch fire and it could have been a lot worse
But it definitely had us talking about the difference between now and then you know with cell phones and that kind of stuff
You know trying to trying to get a phone call and call somebody and catch them at home
So you could get them to come get you in the old days is definitely a whole lot more difficult than nowadays
so
You know that magic little computer box in our pocket is definitely a tool that is very very helpful in those types of situations
Yes, without a question
Now without without a big question on that one, you know bring a charger
I know it sounds dumb
If you don't have a charger stop by your uh stop by one of the truck stops on the way and pick one up
or you know
Dollar world or whatever and pick one up to charge your bloody phone
And and have something to plug it into in your vehicle
Yep, that's occasionally an issue if you're running really old stuff
Well, you know
Not not every vehicle had the old finger burner 6000 in it
Otherwise known as a cigarette lighter from back in the day. I have cars that are still six bolt
You can't plug in anything to charge your phone
Okay, fair enough. How do you charge your phone when you take it you don't or you take a battery
Most of them don't don't easily do highway speeds. They'll do 55 65, but they don't like 75 for long distances
So they're not ones that I tend to drive to I drive them to local car shows and I drive them
You know around town. I don't tend to drive them on. Yeah, you know
Several hundred mile cruises. So I just accept the fact that my battery is gonna last long enough to not need to charge it
In that in those cars. Oh, so you like have your phone charged ahead that time. Here we are gale thinking ahead
Planning thing. Yeah, remember who we're talking to
No, oh boy, I I think they do make specialty
Um converters that you could plug into
six volts
Uh, but that doesn't mean they're cheap and honestly if if you don't need them then it it might not be a thing as
as gale is proving
Um, because I was looking for the same thing going the other way with the Humvee
um, of course the 24 volt
Systems are are much more plentiful because most of the big rigs run on 24 volts too as far as I understand it
So, um, and those are pretty easy to come by
So even going six to 12 isn't that tricky nor that expensive
Um, the 51 Chevy we've got the wipers are 12 volt
car six volt. I put an inverter in
Um, you know, you have to know how to do a little bit of wiring, but it's not that tricky and you know
And so it actually has a modern stereo
Not permanently met will semi permanently mounted not in the dashboard
Oh, thank you for not cutting the dashboard. Thank you. Oh, yes
Not cutting it. Yeah
Yeah, no, we we we mounted it. It's a
It's mounted underneath the dashboard and it's in a 3d printed
Wait to hold it in place that looks all fancy and has uh, you know
Bill agree on and stuff like that under that's not the right word, but you know
It it looked it's got a little too hot now and it's printed out of PLA
So it it's a little less fancy than it used to be it stretched a little bit. I need to make you do one
It's got some three-dimensional character. Yeah, there you go. I need to mount it better. That's I
I was trying to work from existing holes
I didn't want to drill even holes and even the underside of the dash plate to mount it and so
It's not quite as robust
We'll get there now
Strangely enough not to hijack the uh getting ready for your road trip topic
But of all things what got me the most about my truck was the difficulty in getting parts
Because the one axle it spun slightly, you know
Could I repair the axle safely? Yeah, I actually can I I know how to preheat post heat
I could you know spray arc it and recut it in the lathe and fix it and all this kind of stuff. Absolutely that is an option
But you're back to the you know, your time has worked something
So I'm like, hey, you know, this thing does have almost 300 000 miles on it
I'm gonna take this apart. I'm gonna put it back together. The backlash was still good
On the pinion. There wasn't any real wear. I even dyke them to see, you know, how the mesh still was
It's like it's all good, right?
and all I really wanted was
A set of axles the left and right because I'm gonna take out the one on the right hand side
Obviously, I might as well put a new axle put new bearings in it new seals
And of all things those axles were shockingly difficult to find
I reached out to multiple aftermarket sources and they all said the same thing. Well, no that axle that's in there is a
A higher spline count than what was in the later bodies and it's not very available
You know, I ended up having to go to the dealer
It was the only place I could find to be able to get axles for this thing
like man, oh man, it shouldn't be this difficult on a
2019 model truck to get parts
I would agree
But I did learn a lot about the truck and the axles in it. So, you know, I guess
Maybe that's why it lasted so long. It's got uh,
392 gears in it and is a big big diameter axle set
So it actually has heavy front and rear axles in it for the half tons
And so but that's also why it's hard to find parts. So, you know
Turns out if the parts don't break they don't have a big reason to make more
Well, and tying that back to cruising
I would have expected those to be readily available or an order in
Or, you know, they'll have next
There are things I do not expect them to have
Okay
And those are some things you need to pack if you would think that there is going to be an issue
I I didn't expect somebody to have the proper upper radiator hose for
It's 73 old
Okay, no big deal. You can work with that
Um, if you're driving a Chevy most of that stuff is fairly available if you're driving a Buick do not expect
your
Local O'Reilly's or whatever O'Reilly's you happen to end up at or whatever cars, you know parts place you end up at
If you've broken down on the road to have
1960s Pontiac parts you're not going to expect them to have 50s Buick parts
There's some of this stuff if it's super critical and you have any reason to think it's going to fail
I need to take those with you
I think that's that whole planning ahead thing, you know, I'm all for planning ahead. I am I wish I did it better
I you know, I think that ties in to you know, it's amazing the difference between
You know a 60s vehicle 70s vehicle
80s vehicle and you know a modern vehicle just a life expectancy and don't get me wrong
Modern vehicles and the complexity of the systems and whatnot is is its own can of worms
but just
The the reliability and you know how vehicles have evolved over time and became so much more reliable is is just astounding
It really is. I mean
We the simplicity of older vehicles is hard to beat for sure, but man
Used to be a vehicle at 100,000 miles was wore out. It was at the end of its life, you know
And now the running joke on a one ton diesel pickup is 100,000 miles. It's just getting broke in
Yeah, I mean it has it has shifted a lot. That's very true
I mean, I joke about the fact that stove bolts the the machining on
On stove bolt engines. I mean, they were 66 to 16 and a half to one compression
The machining's not that tight
The thing's gonna run forever because there's just there's no there's no wear
They've got an actual pressurized running system in real bearings not bad, but bearings
Um, because they're not the tolerances aren't that tight and so they keep running even when the tolerances have
Walked out some that's amazing
But they don't make a lot of horsepower
Yes for sure and I do not hate horsepower unlike some of the others
I don't hate horsepower. I just i'm not willing to spend as much to get it as some other people are
I
Still need to get one of those shirts horsepower equals money squared
I'm not sure squared is the high enough value for somebody with an fe engine just saying
Oh, yeah, that's that's another multiplier on top of that for sure
I I still maintain that they're right when they say fe stands for freaking expensive
All right, uh to kind of sum up if you're going on a cruise
You need some preparation and some patience
and
the willing to
Have a good time no matter what what comes along. Is that is that about it right?
I mean, I mean, we had a lot of good nuggets of knowledge, but does that sum it up fairly close?
And snacks don't forget the snacks. Yes
Water and snacks for the road and wobble pops for afterwards
Snacks do an amazing job of improving people's attitudes. They really do. Okay. Oh, I think that's a fair fair assessment
Little preparation can go a long ways. Oh god. I sound like an adult
Everybody knows you're the adult it's okay
Somebody's got to balance out me
I
I think if gale is windy then daniel you were definitely peter pan and you were just you know
The crazy kid flying all over the place that it just has no regard for fighting pirates with a dagger
That's probably the one part i'm down for it any given moment
I mean, let's be truthful if any of us would just randomly end up in a fight with a pirate. I'm probably the person
All right
With that send us the pictures of you on your cruise
In your barn find weekend racer or trailer queen for p squad hot rod. This is steve
This is daniel. This is chib and gale because a squad plans ahead
Thank you for listening to b squad. See all you hot rod heroes next week
If you want to help us out subscribe and review us on your podcast app of choice
Don't find us on social media. We're on facebook and twitter at b squad hot rod
Also emails go to hosts at b squad hot rod dot com
The uh, it's amazing how well this mic picked up. I had him set up in my uh the complete other end of my office that's uh
It's like 20 foot wide by 50 foot long
And it's crazy. It was picking up me
All the way at the other end of the room
Well, you know, it's just matter of how loud that's a really polite way you telling me i'm a loudmouth
I didn't say that
Maybe i implied it
Wait, you're right. You've met me
So clue us in what is it you're getting ready to go do so we are okay. Let's see. Oh, I was just gonna say me nothing
Yeah
And this is where I hate my past self for making my future self edit this so go ahead Jim
About this episode
The B Squad crew gears up for Hot Rod Power Tour, focusing on how to prep for a long car cruise (not a race). They discuss lessons learned from prior events, including why short test drives aren’t enough and the value of a proper maintenance checklist. Topics include carrying spare parts (like radiator hoses), bringing basic tools, planning the route and gas stops, and packing water/snacks. They also share the fun side—parking-lot camaraderie, stickers for fans, and autograph markers—while noting Power Tour’s bigger, more regimented scale (up to 6,000 cars) and the Root 66 theme for 2026.
We're talking tips and tricks for making an event with your car, hotrod or project successful with stories from the recent..and not so recent car events B squad has participated in.
