World Series of ProMod WAS NUTS | F_cking Cars Podcast Ep 22
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60:05
Concept
5,000 horsepower
Horsepower is how much “pull” the engine can make. 5,000 horsepower is an absurd amount—so the car feels and sounds nothing like a normal car.
Term
earplugs
Earplugs help protect your ears from very loud noise. With race cars, the engine and exhaust can be so loud that it can feel overstimulating even if you’re not right next to it.
Term
revving
Revving is when the driver speeds up the engine by giving it more throttle. Race cars can get really loud and intense when they’re revving.
Term
Pro Mod
Pro Mod (short for Pro Modified) is a drag racing class where cars are heavily modified for maximum acceleration, typically using purpose-built drag cars and specialized engines. The cars are often extremely expensive because of the fabrication, engine development, and safety equipment required to run consistent passes. When someone asks “what is a pro mod go for,” they’re referring to the high cost of building and maintaining a competitive car in that class.
Concept
double-decker trailer
A double-decker trailer is basically a big trailer with two levels. Racing teams use them to bring a lot of gear and supplies with them to events. It’s a sign of how serious and well-funded some teams are.
Concept
drag car
A drag car is a car built mainly to go fast in a straight line for a short race. It’s usually not comfortable or street-friendly, because it’s set up for racing instead of everyday driving.
Concept
four wheeling
Four wheeling is off-road driving using all four wheels for traction on rough terrain like snow, mud, or rocks. On a lake or frozen surface, it often means using a vehicle with enough clearance and traction to move safely over uneven ice.
Term
Honda OEM crank seals
OEM parts are the same type of parts the car manufacturer would use. Getting Honda OEM crank seals usually helps them fit right and seal properly so the leak doesn’t come back.
Term
impact wrench
An impact wrench is a power tool that uses quick hammering force to loosen stuck bolts. Sometimes it still struggles on crank bolts because they’re tightened very hard.
Term
breaker bar
A breaker bar is a heavy-duty tool you use by hand to get extra leverage on a stuck bolt. It’s a common next step when an impact wrench won’t break it free.
Term
seatpans
Seatpans are the metal floors where the seats mount. If they’re rusty or damaged, they get cut out and replaced so the floor is strong again.
Term
seam sealer
Seam sealer is a sealant that fills the gaps where body panels meet. It helps keep water out, but when you’re doing metalwork you usually remove it first so you can repair and re-seal correctly.
Term
door strikers
Door strikers are the parts on the car body that the door latch hits to keep the door closed. If they’re stuck or worn, the door won’t line up or latch correctly.
Concept
exhaust exits off the side
When the exhaust comes out the side, it gets hot right where other parts might be. That makes it harder to route brake lines safely.
Term
ABS unit
ABS is the system that helps prevent the wheels from locking up when you brake hard. In this case, they removed the ABS unit to simplify things and clean up the engine bay.
Term
engine bay
The engine bay is the space under the hood. They’re cleaning it up by removing parts and tidying the layout so everything looks and fits better.
Term
supercharged
Supercharged means the engine has a device that pushes extra air in, usually making it feel stronger. People care because it can change how fast and how rare a car is.
Concept
car max
CarMax is a company that buys used cars from people and then sells them again. The point here is that the car gets sold off quickly through a big used-car store.
Car
Porsche 928
The Porsche 928 is a classic Porsche from the late 1900s. People like it because it looks unusual, and in this conversation they’re talking about turning one into a project or race car.
Term
V8
A V8 is an engine with eight cylinders. It usually makes strong power and has a classic, exciting sound.
Term
salt
In winter, roads often get treated with salt to melt ice. That salt can be rough on the car because it can cause rust over time.
Term
brake line
Brake lines are the tubes that move brake fluid to the brakes. If you change parts or routing on a custom car, you often need different lines and fittings so everything fits and works correctly.
Term
sandblast
Sandblasting is a way to strip paint and grime off metal using a blasting tool. People worry it can bend or warp thin sheet metal if it’s done the wrong way or on the wrong parts.
Concept
profile
“Profile” is how rough the metal surface becomes after blasting. Primer sticks better to the right amount of roughness, but if it’s too rough you have to smooth it again.
Term
semis
“Semis” means big tractor-trailer trucks. They’re common in freight, and shops may repair or repaint them because they see a lot of road wear.
Term
blackjack
“Blackjack” here sounds like the blasting material they used. The important part is that blasting can create sparks or ignition sources, which is risky around a propane leak.
Term
urethane
Urethane is a type of paint used on cars. It’s meant to be tough and shiny after it dries and hardens.
Term
respirator
A respirator is a mask that helps you not breathe in paint fumes and mist. It’s important when spraying paint.
Concept
aftermarket part
Aftermarket parts are made by companies other than the car brand. When you use them in a custom build, you usually have to adjust other things so the new parts work properly.
Part
coilovers
Coilovers are suspension parts that let you change how high or low the car sits. They also help the car handle bumps and corners better, especially if you’re trying to improve performance.
LIVE
What's happening dude got done with the world series of pro mod. I was filming for
Actually the track owner Victor Alvarez and it's 5,000 horsepower 69 Camaro. It was a
Pretty exciting I mean different different experience than than the usual
What I've seen like when I get up close to that
drastically different
it's like I
Can't even relate to it almost because it's like it's so extravagant like
Like 5,000 horsepower. I can't even fathom what like what daddy feels like
Hey
cars
It seems like I don't know whenever I'm around that kind of stuff. It just seems like
Unless somebody's describing it to me or like walking me through all of it
It just seems so foreign because it's just so wild
Yeah, it's
The first time they fired it up I
Was like recording and I was like, okay, this thing's pretty loud, you know
And I was standing off so the zoomies weren't pointing at me and like I'm recording and they went to Revit
I was like
My body is like what got overstimulated like the camera got all wacky
So earplugs
That you're you don't want to be like close close to it when they're revving just like
It pulls air and it'll it'll like it just fucks with you like it'll kind of fucks with you. That's what I heard
I don't know
it was a very
interesting
Like whole body stimulation like the first right right right?
I was bent down to it like just off the back quarter taking the first video and he took off and then like
When he left, you know, I'm trying to hold the camera steady
But when the left it's just like hits you and then when I went to stand up my feet were tingling like it's just like
It's just
And then the guys working on it are like in their mid-20s just like regular dudes and then
You know, they're just popping valve covers off this billet big block hemmy that yeah
right
Yeah, that's nuts. I
Can't imagine what they even got it. What is what what is a pro mod go for like that? It's got to be over a hundred on
Well over a hundred. I'm sure I honestly don't I
Don't ask questions. I don't need answers to well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I wouldn't be the guy asking questions either
Feel like an asshole asking questions like that, but I just I don't even know like how
Unobtainable actually is it, you know
Well
We were one of the only pro mod teams that didn't show up with a semi with a double-decker trailer
No shit
That's hilarious
But it's cool. You're competing that he was competing with people
You know like that have that and he doesn't yeah, he does everything out of a 34 foot. I mean, it's a really nice trailer
Yeah, I yeah, it looks like a pretty baller trailer. No, why it's pretty baller, but
He was laughing, you know, he owns the track, but he tries not to play
He lets somebody else run the events
He lets somebody else manage the track because especially when he's racing
He's like he was he was in the grass like he didn't even take a pavement spot in the pits. Sure
They were telling us it's a real grass roots
System, you know
grass roots
But
But
Yeah, he tries to play it fair. He's like he was laughing. He's like we're the only ones out here with a you know
A small trailer for a pro mod, but I mean they
What do you really what's the big trailer really do for you at the end of the day?
Yeah, I don't know. You know, there's even shops like
That think they need this big trailer and huge awning to take to every show and it's like
It's cool and I give I guess it gives you validation to a certain extent, but also
Who wants to fucking have $400,000 payment being $400,000 rig just to go to a car show. It's fucking nuts
I think a lot of it is
They need business
Yeah, but you got to be making a shitload of money to have to have to have a write-off
Well, I'm telling you
I think that's what's going on
Because there was I don't think
I don't think billionaires are going after going like buying up custom automotive automotive shops
Uh
A lot of these guys weren't
Shop owners a lot of them like had you know, there was a guy out there that sold lawnmowers and he like had a
You know, that's exactly what I'm saying. There's more money in lawnmowers
Yeah, so they're they're doing other businesses and then this is their
Their fun thing there was a guy that we went against in qualifying and apparently last year world series pro mod was the first year of the event
Drag Illustrated magazine puts it on
Apparently last year was the first year of it and this guy came down with his family
His family's like we should get a place in florida
So they got a house in st. Petersburg and then they went to this drag race, you know, since they were new to florida or whatever
I don't know if it's their full-time home or whatever
But uh, they went to the drag race and they were like, man, we should really do this
So from watching it last year
We should really do this
They built a pro mod team double-decker trailer full car
I mean set up he won he had rookie of the year and when I checked last night. He was in the semifinals
Jesus now, I mean like you can spend money
And buy a car and buy a team and get all this the goodies, but there's still you have to drive the 5000 horsepower car
uh
The guy I think he's like from drag illustrator or whatever he did a speech at the
The draw they did like a chip draw to see who was up against each other
You drew a token out of a bag and then whoever got the same number you went against in the first first elimination
And uh, he gave a speech. He's like people don't understand is we're racing eighth mile. That's two city blocks
And he goes and they're going zero to over 200 miles an hour
in two city blocks
So like you got to have you got to have something in you to be able to
Just even do that, you know
So yeah your reaction you got to be like, uh, you got to be on point
I don't think I could do it. No way
I have no interest in it
Like it's cool
Yeah
Yeah
Uh, yeah, I just like the whole fast cars like drag car thing just zero parts of me wants one like a drag car like a
Dedicated. Yeah, like a legit legit drag car. Yeah to me. There's no I don't really understand the
it's so specific
and
unusable on the road
it's just
To me it's it's cool, but you know, it's no different than any other kind of racing I guess like
You're not gonna be able to drive around the road normally
I looked the guy that the guy that built a team in one year got second place
Wow first place
150,000 cash
his first the first place
Yeah, I mean he's that's probably an eighth of what he has into the first year, but
No, this yeah, so that guy that got rookie of the year
He got second place but still in one year from watching the event
He was able to place second in the world series and so they they figured there's 600 pro mod cars in the world
active
Sure, and that guy got second
There was people from like australia and europe and all sorts of stuff there. It's kind of
Yeah
Wow, that's nuts
It's really weird
But I guess if you got it
They don't have any more uh drag racing on the ice it's gonna I wanted I always miss in the maryl ice drags
In the last one. I think was last weekend or something
I always miss it and still we're still in the butthole of winter. I don't know why they're still not doing it
You know
Every time they stop it. There's always at least a month yet of like usable
ice, you know
Yeah, they want to play it safe. I guess
Probably
I always miss it though
When there's a kid once not as a kid like
Probably a teenager. I was probably a teenager in my 20s probably
But uh, yeah, that was pretty rad the first time we were just like four wheeling on the on the lake
Just because we were up there fucking around with four wheels and shit like that and we drove up
We knew it was kind of going on and we drive up and there's like dragsters with
Three inch nails sticking out of their tires and shit like that's pretty wild. That's pretty cool
Yeah
Yeah, yeah
So you get your Honda running yet?
I have not I have the motor almost ready to go in. Um, nice
So then I can do like the final fit up of the like the two mounts I have to fabricate
I've got one to locate it and then there's two that I've got to modify
sure, but uh
The crank seal leaks
All right, this this whole thing's thrown me off. So last weekend
I was I got a new Honda OEM crank seals like $11
It goes on the timing cover
I text my buddy just kind of whining to him my friend that works on gtrs and supra's and whatever
And I was like I was just kind of whining. I was like I cannot get this crank pulley off
I don't know how many engines I've worked on in my life
This crank bolt just does not want to come out and he goes. Oh, yeah, and Honda's you got to have a weighted
impact socket
I don't think I've ever heard of that. Yeah, so it's like a it's like four times thicker. It's like an inch and an eighth outside diameter for a three-quarter
Wow
But even with it my impact still didn't want to break the bolt loose
But I mean I'm operating in my two car garage with like a 30 gallon compressor
But you'd think even when my impact
Is 15 years old
Maybe so combination. Yeah, I think it's just a lot of stuff and I'm probably just below it
But it also came with this there's like a large hex in the crank pulley
Um around like around the bolt and when I bought the weighted socket
It came with a Honda tool that you hold that with so when you tighten the bolt you have something to tighten the bolt and like hold the crank pulley
So I'm going to put that on
and then a long bar
And then try to just break it free with like a breaker bar. I tried doing that the other day with just like a
half inch ratchet
I tried doing it
Thursday morning and I put a half inch ratchet on this like hex tool that holds the crank pulley
All I did was just lift the Honda engine because you can you know
Like one person can pretty much lift the motor up. So I got to get a long enough bar that it's
pushing against the earth not lifting the motor
right
Yeah
That's a
interesting problem
Yeah, what's been happening in your shop the last couple weeks
I'm just thinking about I've never even heard of a weighted socket. That's pretty nuts either of I I'm glad he knew about it
Because I wouldn't have ever come to that conclusion
I've never even seen anything like that. Anyways, um
weighted socket here
Right, like I've never like for sale like even tool sales or tool trucks or whatever. Yeah, anyways, um
We got uh
A bunch of stuff done got the the 67 up on the rotisserie. Uh, that was like my goal for the end of the month and
Nailed it. So it's basically all stripped out. There's only like some
Like rubber plugs that got to be cut out like
So
Some seam sealer it's got to be scraped out
We got cut the seatpans up before it gets blasted because he's wants convertible inter rockers and
Subframe connectors. So we're just cutting that stuff out of the way because there's
Might as well have cut it out of the way and then blast it, you know, it's going to be cut out of the way anyways
so
Just some prep to do before it gets goes to get blasted and then yeah other things
Such a nice car the interestingly the only problem bolts I had were
the
strikers
Like the door strikers never had like you couldn't turn them
Like I've never been able to not turn them on a Mustang like they've never been a problem, you know
And yeah, this uh was a problem
I welded a nut on the end of it and then the head of the bolt like the phillips head popped off the stud
I've never had that happen and that happened on two of them. It was like
What a weird problem. They've probably never been turned like the factory
Because they were painted over and shit
Yeah, because I had one paint job and that was painted over so I'm assuming that
They've never been moved like ever ever and that's interesting. There's like
The parts under the dash they all had like the factory
Board part numbers on them yet
Like they're all good and like they well they started to fall if I started touching it myself. It was it's pretty cool
It was cool. I've never seen I've no no you you had a 67 Mustang, right? Yeah
Did it have like this pump thing?
like a foot pump for the
washer fluid
Not that I recall
Yeah, this has got a little foot pump thing with a diaphragm
That it's got a hose that comes down into it and then a hose that comes back out
yeah, I've never
I I've personally never seen one before I've never put together a ton of mustangs, you know
I'm usually the I was usually the guy that was
Getting the metal stuff to get it painted or somebody else would assemble it. But uh, yeah, it's
It works. It's like it's really cool. I don't if the customer doesn't want it
I kind of want to keep it for something. It's pretty pretty great
Doesn't it sound like something you'd get from jc whitney?
Yeah, right a foot pump
Uh with squirter. Yeah, I would assume maybe it was because the six
The sixth cylinder that was in it, uh
Maybe didn't have enough vacuum or something or I'm not sure
I don't know that I've ever dealt with one that didn't just operate with a little tiny electric motor
Yeah, right. I mean earlier early like 40s cars 50s cars had like
Vacuum operated, but I've never seen I guess no it wouldn't it wouldn't be vacuum operated
It's the squirter. Why would it be vacuum operated talking about the life that's something at wipers
Yeah, I don't know weird
That was pretty cool
And it like still works. It looks brand it literally really looks brand new
The unit does so it was like can't throw any of this stuff away
What a unit
Right mustangs. Anyways, I got the firewall and the transtunnel in that 58 Chevy truck cab
um, basically moved the engine back and had to recess and move everything and
I got that all fabbed up and kind of clinked together. It still needs to be like fit better
But it's uh, it's there and it looks I mean it gives you enough room to actually work on the engine
Like you get your hands in there versus like something that's so piled up that you need to
Move the engine to work on the back of the engine kind of a thing, you know
Kind of like the Mustang the 66 that's just soaked with the coyote in there
If you have to work on the back of the motor, you pretty much got to pull it because it's just that everything is so tight in that car
But yeah, that's definitely a ton of room or makes makes a lot of you can make yourself a lot of room
if you
spot
Um, what else did we get done?
Got the majority of the aside from the hood
On that 70s Monte Carlo. We got the majority of the filler work done on that
Aside from the hood and the little nose piece
Got brake lines started and
Stuff for the 66 Mustang me and
Trapper are working on that just trying to there's like no good way to run these lines on this heart march and chassis
So we're gonna cut hole two holes in the frame and weld tubing in
Just to make sure it's you know retains its rigidity and shit
But it's just uh, it's because exhaust exits off the side
There's no good way to run the anything back there without it getting like running next to exhaust basically
right
So it's a kind of a lot more of a challenge than a guy would think it would be that's why it's been put off this long
But we have everything we got to start last week and then we realized we still needed a few more parts which
With brake stuff. I'm I've never been good at like
I think unless you have like a bin of everything that you can like just take out of it's like
You almost got to get started
We could probably put a kid in planning together, but I'm just not that mr brake line guys
Mr brake line guy
Yeah
It's not it's not the funnest stuff. I mean I can do it
It's just if I can have somebody else help me do that and then I can help I can keep moving on somewhere else on the car, you know
Why not
On the Honda I just got rid of the abs unit and
um
Just trying to clean the engine bay up because I kind of want that you know
That Honda jewelry box engine bay where you open it up and it's pretty simplistic and then the motor just kind of sitting there in the middle
um
So I got rid of the abs and all that because I mean it's a 98 Honda
I'm trying to retain air conditioning and power steering if I can most guys just elite both, but this is florida
And also I'd like my wife to drive it whenever she wants so power steering is nice
What was that?
Really drive without power steering
It's just no cars there
No racks kind of feel
It's not that bad. I guess I mean
There's just they're so little and so light that I they just don't fight a lot
But like I said, I have the pump. I just have to make a couple lines. I'm
So I mean it shouldn't be that bad
Whatever
I'm still on par for my thousand dollar swap
budget
Actually, I can't believe how good the youtube video is doing on this build
Like it's beating out the mr. Sam's 55 Chevy that I welded patch panels in
It's funny. There's a lot of Honda guys I guess
I think there's I honestly think there's just a lot of guys that are our age
You know 30s 40s that
They're looking. I mean it sounds so corny. It sounds super corny, but they're
Still watching Fast and the Furious and they just kind of want to start dabbling again
Like no lie. I really think that
It's all it's always I've always said it's generational and now our generation is starting to be the one that's
Bringing something back like I honestly think that I think that you're gonna see
like
Or like night for early 90s
Civics going for shit loads of money in the next 10 years
like shit
I think you're gonna see like a fucking dx go for 50 grand if it's nice
It's like I'm telling you if it's if it's a cherry if it's cherry and it's got like something done to it tastefully
Like I guarantee you it will go for that much for the right person
Right, maybe it's good. You couldn't have it built for that
right
Time will tell I think the people that were grew up watching American graffiti
When they came of an age where like the kids are growing up and whatever they started building hot rods
I think the people that grew up watching bullet
They started getting
And that is that is I think it's the pop culture combined with the cars that are out at the time
So
It's going to be a combination of the two regardless of what generation you are because you're gonna have
The Mustang out when all these other pop culture things are happening
So people are gonna do this to the Mustang and then you know people that wanted mercs
In the 50s have have enough money in the 80s to do them. So then they're all gonna be like
Somewhat like that's where I think can these can dig at handles in some of the in some of these cars are going to be like
The goofy mirror on the on the mercs
Like it's going to be a tale of like you were able to tell when it was customized, you know not to knock it, but it's
like there's going to be
People shying away from can dig at handles for a long time after they're after they get popular
Or how much they are popular
Um, I think there's going to be a phase away from it and then in however many years
There's going to be another resurgence of things like yeah, that's always what happens
It's just a matter of time
That's what I mean
If your guy was smart you'd just be buying all kinds of really nice cars and waiting to sell them like that Bonneville
I sent you
That is third grand for 98 Bonneville. Come on is insane
Yeah, that that's super nuts
Yeah, I can't believe that
And it wasn't even like I don't even think it was a supercharged version. It was just a fucking was it supercharged?
I think it said ssei on it, which is the supercharge. Yeah, sure
Maybe that's why they think it's worth gold
It's still a four door Bonneville
God
It's outrageous
But
Oh
Side subject
Yesterday when I was driving home, even though I made this drive
400 miles on the truck in three days by the way
Going back towards the racetrack
Something happened when we got really cold here and I got air in my rear brakes again
I don't know it was like the fluid was thick because we had those frosts
I sent Quentin some videos me scraping ice off my windshield
That you just it got there was still maybe air left in it and the thicker fluid just like pushed it into a spot
Or just driving it that long it moved the bubble moved
Maybe I just we had that cold morning. I was driving to work and all of a sudden the pedal got fluffy and then
I mean, I could still like just farther down on the pedal front brakes grab great
But I have like a lot of movement in between and then
I
Don't think that's
Uncommon after doing that much doing brakes. Yeah, I mean basically I had to rebreat bleed every line from scratch. Yeah
But it's strange that it was like, you know 2000 miles on it before I had a problem
But who knows so like I said, I think with the cold the fluid being thicker and you know
The bubble just moved or whatever and for whatever reason with the proportioning valve I have it seems like
It's something if there's they're getting trapped something with that like or slowed down like there is a break in air bubble
But with the proportioning valve, it's only going through
The beginning is a proportioning valve was holding up some air or you know
Something like that
I'm not I'm definitely not mr. Break service guy. I mean I could make brake lines and get them to connect and stuff, but
I don't know. I'm not gonna say I'm a mechanic. That's for sure
Um
Yeah, my uh, but on the way home yesterday
I've seen this kind of car sitting in like the weeds a couple times and just thought
Like oh, I wonder what that is. You know, I mean it looked different, but not like insane
Sure, I got a good look at it because I was driving home in the daylight yesterday and uh
There's a Maserati sun bleached in the weeds at like kind of a
There's like a couple big pole buildings
And what kind of a Friday did you find out yet? I want to look at
I would say probably like something from like 2010
Oh, really? Yeah
Oh shit, you know
It was like an older one or like a 90s or something like that
No, you know, we've had the conversations about how you like Maserati's don't hold value and also you know
Like I've been at Walmart and seen like, you know, some young guys pulling up in a Maserati with a couple dings in it and stuff
It's like that, you know, I don't know 10 15 year old Maserati body style that you see pretty cheap. I think it was a two door
I can't I don't know that Maserati's well enough to know the names of the models, but you know long hood
Maserati grill with the trident in it
black sun bleached
like it looked rough
and I was like
That could be a fun like no title drift car or something
You put an LS in that thing. That'd be fucking dope. Yeah
Uh, like no title don't care 500 bucks. Let's go, you know, yeah
Yeah, that'd be fucking right
Imagine parts are worth something so if you stripped out like the drive train you could probably sell stuff to somebody
Yeah, right them because I that the problem with Maserati's is they're really high value. They're really nice cars
But what happens is like after a few years
When they start having issues
They're not really worth
paying Maserati to fix them and the parts are so expensive and I guess I think I heard Maserati doesn't really
Back stock
parts after a few years
So like once stuff sells it's sold
And so then you just buy a new Maserati because the people are buying Maserati's aren't
The kind of people that only buy a car every 20 years
Right, so then they just fluff it off to somebody at car max and then
I don't know
Well, Maserati drift car
That would be pretty sweet
would be pretty rad
That's gotta be a steel body, huh? I think they make aluminum
People who's aluminum
Or something like ultra like I'm not sure
Let's see. I don't know anything about Maserati's
Either do I they're Italian
Oh, it's not a threat. That's all
So they have the quadruporto and the grand teresmo. Let's see what the grand teresmo looks like
I don't think it's a grand teresmo. I think it might be the quadruporto
I'm just wondering what the body's made out of
Crudger portay, sorry
Um
Maybe so the quadruporta is a four door. I didn't think it was a four door, but even if it was who cares
That's probably why it's a quadruporta. Well, I don't know
All right, google says they are a steel unibody
uh
Yeah
Like I said, it'd just be like a funny body if it was really cheap to put something in
right
Those um
What is that Porsche is it like a nine two eight?
Oh, yeah, the goofy headlights, but they're aluminum bodies. There's that would be a cool
I think those are kind of quirky quirky enough to where I like put an ls and something like that would be fucking
Like I'm sure people
There's a guy I know he parts out boats and stuff and he's got a like one with a roll cage sitting there
But he wants like $3,500 for a no engine
Nine two eight chassis with roll cage and it says I don't know to me. It's probably worth it. Oh, it's the right person
Yeah, but I mean if you're making a race car and you can adapt the parts to that
I don't feel like a front engine Porsches will ever have value value
Yeah, I don't think I don't think anybody that's going to be it'd be somebody like me
That's not like like a Porsche nut, but you could put
Like your american muscle version in the car and it'd be lighter than the other junk out there
Yeah, right I saw one render of a nine two eight that actually looked cool other than that
I've never actually seen one like executed well
Challenge accepted
Uh
To me sir, so I I think uh, uh 80s
What the hell are they that 80s?
Corvette the worst one
C4 C or like I think
There's like
I seen a couple renderings of one of some that were really close to being cool
But think that there is just I think it's cool platform that you guy could really
Do a lot with
But I don't know you got to find the right guy that's gonna want one in here wants one in the end
That's ultra expensive, you know
I've always liked them and then um, they came with the LT five at one point
I believe it was the LT five
With like quad cam aluminum v8 made by mercury racing like mercury motor or marine
Yeah
Yeah, that's pretty crazy
I just
The they were just never I don't know I think the styling was just like at the time cool whatever
I'm sure I know when I was a kid I liked them, but
I still like grape soda too
Nobody likes grape soda
There's people that like grapes
I guess
Yeah, yeah
So I'm not gonna tell you what it is and uh, I'm not gonna tell the world what it is until maybe next week, but I bought a car
The only details I'm going to share or that it was
Or that it's a six speed and a v8
That's it
I know super surprise
What's that clip hanger? I know you know what it is
It's uh, I drove the other day it was nice out and it was super fun
So now I got to wash it because I got it all full of shit and uh, yeah
Now I get something to wash it once in a while. That's fun, right? Does it make you happy to look at?
I just bought yep. We're just looking at it. We're not doing anything with it
No, I mean, it's gonna be more of a summer ride probably
I mean, it's seen salt so it's not the big at the end of the world if it take it out on an okay day, but
I'm just gonna try and keep it as nice as I can for as long as I can
I don't know it's fun to drive so
Has a wife driven it? No, she hasn't even uh, she sat in it once and
I mean she understands it, but I don't think she's she hasn't taken it. She hasn't gone in a ride for it
So she's not like she doesn't get it. Oh, I get it
But yeah
I'm excited. It's just now it's super antsy is getting nice weather, you know
I think next week it's supposed to get in the 50s again next weekend. So it's gonna be like
Just rain four times and get it over with clean the roads. There you go
There's uh, I don't know if they salt it again, but there's looking this morning
There's piles of salt intersections again
So I don't I took the car off for a ride it there wasn't I'm kind of in the country
And it wasn't like the roads weren't like solid white or anything. So it didn't seem bad. That's a plus
What are you
Point till
Yeah, I don't
We're not that far away, but still not that close. All right
What do you got going on this week?
I gotta do bills right away, which is nice
Everybody likes to hear about that
Yeah, destiny's child had it right
bills bills bills
Um
Well, we're bogeying forward still with this 66 brake line stuff. We've got to we have all the stuff here for now
I think so
We had to get some different rubber lines or flexible lines from willwood and some
as willwood changes everything to 3an to their for their
Flexible line
So you think you have everything and then you need like
Five more 3an fittings and and one more flexi hose just because the setup we have going on here. Um, but um
Yeah, it's it's it's
Shouldn't be too bad. Anyway, that's what else we got going on. I have to
Order some parts for the nash headlights. They're like they don't make a retrofit kit for the nash. So
we're just going to order the kit that they have and
And then I'm going to because the headlights need metal repair
So I'm just if they need to be adjusted to fit the
Retro the retrofit kit that's you have to buy it by inch length like
It's really not made for like any specific car
They just like make them to make the the trim ring so big and if it works it works kind of a thing
So we're going to make get the trim ring kit before I fix the metal on and so if I need to make them a little bigger
We can make them a little bigger to accept the the retrofit kit. So
That's a whole different. I mean, I've been putting off this last month because I have all I'll count to other ship to do
But yeah, we'll have to tackle that
Um, hopefully get this 67 Mustang same blasted. What else?
Um, we just got wheel tubs for that 58
Chevy truck for the back so now we can mock them up
And then we need to order the bed floor kit so we can lay out the bed floor
That's going to be raised because of the notch in the frame
Just like a lot of fab work there just like mocking stuff up
I'm excited to get uh to do the bed though because once we weld the bed like the bed's going to be all welded together
It's not going to be like blown apart into pieces
Which makes it
Fuck it. I have Mara put together
like after paint it just
It's never easy like you can be as careful as you want and you're gonna you're gonna like
You're gonna be touching it up somewhere, you know, especially for the bed panels. It's just nuts, but um
Yeah, it'll be all welded together. So I'm excited that we're just going to be like taking it off
Easy to bodywork easy to do all that bullshit. So anyway, sure
Oh, what else what else so I got two questions
okay
what makes you go sandblast on the
On the 67 versus other stripping methods
What kind of other stripping methods would you would would would you use?
Well, I mean we've talked about dipping before
That has its own sort of problem. Everything has its own sort of problems, you know, um, and I mean, then there's obviously just
mechanically
Removing everything which sucks like wire wheels and sanding and yeah
So but I the I guess the gripe everybody has with sandblasting is panel warpage thoughts feelings
Well
If you're I mean
We're not sandblasting the exterior panels
but
Yeah, you're I've never sandblasted the exterior like
If you're gonna sandblast the outside body panel, you're gonna fuck it up like that's right. That's just some
It's just a fact. So yeah, we just just blast the jams. I'll usually like on this car. We'll have it
Where the exterior body panels won't be completely stripped
Like like down to bare clean steel, but where it'll be down to down to where if there's a problem area
We'll sharpie on the car sandblast this of the outside
Body panel, but we're staying away from the outside body panels
That would be final mechanically stripped, but everything else top bottom top bottom side inside will all be blasted
The place that we're having blast does reclaimed glass
crushed glass so it's
Very fluffy and ultimately better than anybody that's gonna come and do exterior like blasting outside
Because they're not using reclaimed anything and it's very coarse doesn't get into
the small pits if there are small pits and also
If you're using new material it leaves such a
It's a fucking profile, man. I mean if you want something with a profile that that something primer's gonna stick into great
But we don't we're not looking for a deep profile that we have to sand down again. So when you have that fine material, it's like
It doesn't feel like smooth steel, but it it's also
Five times smoother than new media profile
Um and also the cost the guy the the company that's doing it
Um, they're coming to pick the car up blast it and then drop it back off
The last car they did for us was this model a which was last month or something
and I mean it was under a thousand dollars to do that so
Very reasonable. Is that the place in rhinelander?
No
That is the property we used to work at
Oh
The guy that took the guy that bought the business uh or bought that block
Does it's industrial blasting and in blasting and coating or something? So they just they don't dabble
I mean they do a collision repair and shit like that, but they don't like do restoration or anything like that. They just do
it's mainly
blasting and then dump bodies painting dump bodies painting semis
Big truck repair that's like, you know 200 an hour that kind of shit, you know
I
Speaking of that before my second question
Did I say on here about how our our lovely boss at that shop had me sandblasting one time?
A propane truck that they knew had leaked
They knew it had leaks and they had me sandblasting it with blackjack
Which sparks? Yep
He's like just get in there on a ladder and blast it
Yeah
Yeah, like
I have all kinds. Yeah, I have nothing nice to say. I'm gonna not say anything
I guess we're not saying his name, but I just don't want to get sued
Like just looking back. I'm like what?
You know, there's there's a time in your life. It's amazing that
It's amazing that nobody really got hurt there
But the we did work with I don't know if you I don't think you were there at the time
Um
But there was a guy that I worked with who worked at a big truck place in rinelander
Where you remember when they did dumb body or blackout the bottoms of the
Like frame blackouts. Yeah, I think you you did a bunch of frame blackouts, right?
Yep
Where they put a piece like a board underneath the over the you know, so the body doesn't come down and crush anybody
Well, he worked at a place where
Oh, yeah
Got crushed like there's a guy crushed
Yeah, it's very like
Who's he heard that is like
I'm a turn like dude, you're just painting a frame on a truck. You don't you shouldn't you know
Not supposed to be able to just die doing this, you know, it's fucking crazy
What a job that was to do, you know
You suit up in your paint suit that you're basically gonna have to throw away you glove up
You have acille in your wrists. You put a headstock on your
Respirator on you fastly in your face and you wear safety glasses because you're just gonna be coated in urethane
Yep or acrylic urethane enamel or whatever
Right UAE 100 or something
you
Something like that UA 100 something like that. I can't remember all the products
But uh, but yeah, it's bullshit. I'm all you guys coming out of the booth and you're like literally black topped them out
Yeah, it was a horrible thing to do
On a creeper spraying with a with a pressure pot above your head
Just raining
I think I helped on one I've helped tape up some but I don't think I ever sprayed one
What do you think our
about that
I don't know he fucking asked kid rock probably
It's about what he would say
But diggy diggy diggy set the funky. Yep
Exactly my second right in those lyrics
Yeah
Diggy diggy diggy set the funky diggy diggy. No wait one more diggy three diggies
Set the funky
set up
and then
Drop the boogie
Yeah, what a song
Well, I actually had that my uh, I had a co-worker. He's like 28 or 29 years old. He had never heard that song in his life
What I was like, how is that even possible?
What do you mean? I played it and he's like
The first like two minutes of the song. He's like I have never heard anything like this and I was like, dude
What this came out in like 96 and I remember when it came out, you know
It'd come on the radio and I kind of on the boombox and I crank it up and I'd play it
It was awesome
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Yeah, now he's in the white house wearing a red white and blue tuxedo
So
Uh, what a time
What was my other question now?
I don't know
Oh, I remember how excited are you to get
The 66 all set up get all these little things built just to take it apart to paint everything and then to do it all again
Uh, I don't know. I just that's something I've been doing all my life
And to me it's just like part of the process
There's some people that come in like so you got to take this all apart again. I'm like, yeah, like
Probably 10 times
And I you get very good at doing it like like taking the front end off this 66 is like
I can do it in probably 15 minutes, you know
I can take the whole front end off getting it out everything back on and lined up is another story
But right now I have you can tighten the bolts down
I have the bolts all tight so the body panels line up, but the corners have klecos on it
So they're going right back in the same spot, you know, so it's
Sometimes it's just working smarter
To make sure the end product is better, you know
If you're if you got to get the fender off and put it back on a bunch of times
Just make sure it goes back in the same spot because if you put it back in the wrong spot one time and you fab one bracket
you know, it's
Building cars like this is way different than doing a restoration. It's like
You're outside in inside out
It's like you got to make sure that you're not screwing yourself 10 steps later or 20 steps later or
You know the guy that's got to change the oil
You know, that's that's 100 steps later, you know
Yeah, I just I just thought it's kind of like uh
that'd be I like
I'm taking it apart and putting it back the other a bunch of times like you said you just kind of used to it
It's kind of like wiping your butt. You could be like well, why wipe your butt?
You're just gonna shower at the end of the day, you know what I mean
Same thing
It's hot take but it's not take hot take
Taking cars apart and putting them back together is like wiping
your heini
Flip that put it in the intro
I
Okay, you don't know I mean, it's just uh if you're gonna work on cars that is the I mean
Nobody that's working on cars
like
I don't know what you do
I mean besides detailing them you're still taking them apart to a certain extent
So if you're working on them you're taking them apart like that just is
That is part of working on cars because I mean if you work on a toaster
You're gonna have it apart
Right
You take up my you have a microwave to get work done
Something's gonna have to come apart. So to a certain extent taking them apart is the is the job, you know, it's a lifestyle
But the what I I guess what I was getting at that's a good transition into going back to the 66 though
Is when you're putting them together and taking them apart
When you're doing all custom thing everything you're doing touching this custom
It's not like you're introducing one aftermarket part and you have to make that quirky thing work. It's like
You're you're like 15 aftermarket things and you're cutting this off here and making it work here
and it's like
Some of the parts are aftermarket that you buy like
Uh this flaming river steering column
Is an idyllic column that flaming river buys cuts the bottom off welds their
Electric motor on it. So you get two sets of instructions and that's just one part you bought and introduced to the car with two sets of instructions
So like that's just a flavor of how like frankenstein-y it gets really crazy
And in the end you have a part that's and what you did to that part to make it work
really
Yeah, it's true even
The clutch pedal has a master like you shorten the clutch pedal. So now it's
full custom to the car like this. It's like hardly any part that's actually like
Uh, we bolted it out and it worked
everything like
900 percent, you know
right
We're not really selling people on working on cars being fun with this conversation
officially like the uh that oil and whiskey that roaster shop podcast they actually I think they had a coming
like
they all like
They must have sat down at some point and said we need to stop telling people that you can't make money doing this
It's always ship on the industry and then they're like, oh, but we are like, you know
They're like kind of top of not top of their top of the game
But I mean they're fucking pretty high up there
They make chassis and they they got big semi trailers then they go to all the shows, you know
So I think they're pretty high up there as far as like a being a custom shop and
Yeah, and they're like, we could make any money
Yeah, you guys are making fun. Um, you're just not billionaire millionaires. That's and that's the difference, you know
I think everybody they might be millionaires. Who knows but uh, I think
They very well could I think once you start getting to that a certain level you just you just feel like it's still not enough
So, I mean at the end of the day they're all you're still you can be the tap
what's what I I like about this field is
You can be a nobody and show up with a car and all the sudden like if it's the right car and everybody else
Thinks it's the right car too and it has the right things done to it. You're automatically like
not saying
You're gonna be rubbing elbows and at the top of your game right away either, but you're like
You get recognition pretty quick
if it's the right car, it's not like you're
You know some people in some industry like
When you compare to like music
You can put 10 albums out there and nobody even knows your name
In the music industry
But in this if you do like 10 cars and they're all top of their game
It doesn't you they've you've been noticed already, you know, right? I don't know. It's weird
Well, I mean I I guess I
I'll go ahead. I mean you can't really argue with the result if you have the result
And yeah, exactly like the proof is in the pudding and that's what I like about
I mean I've
Hored like hours and hours into a band making music and everybody's like, oh, yeah good song and then like, you know
Six months later. It's they're on to the next thing and to me this art form. There's a little more relevant
Longer like it's
It's rolling art for a long time as long as you keep keeping maintained it stuff, you know, I do it the right way
So I don't know to me. It's uh
A little more rewarding that way
Some validation
So
Get into the car industry. It's a great thing and the world needs you. That's what we're saying
That's hit they've been knocking on your door for like a couple months now, right?
Get out of boats crack in the cars
Right, I keep telling everybody like I get these like messages these text messages that just like make me laugh out
because I'm like
I have this outrageous opportunity and for some reason I'm hesitant
It just keeps having okay like
um
I've been looking at a set of coilovers for the Honda
Some eBay ones because it's a it's a budget Honda build. Everything's got to be from eBay. Like I said before
I could get stuff from amazon, but for whatever reason
With the civic I feel like I need to buy it from eBay. I just don't know
It's just like seems like the right channel for civic stuff
Even though it's the same part and I've gotten eBay parts that come into amazon shipment because amazon's selling on eBay
But eBay and Honda's go hand in hand
Email eBay and try and get a try and get something together. So I was looking at these coilovers
From a you know a a known chinese brand will call it
I opened my email the other day
I have a sponsor email from them suggesting to get me some stuff
Like the exact company that I already have stuff in my eBay card from like i'm just like what is happening
to me
Now them and I haven't come to an agreement yet
They wanted to send me some like oem stuff like struts and I was like my car is not going oem height
That's not going to work for me and then I
Aimed aimed for a home run and I sent them like you know a whole suspension kit trying to get a whole
Like control arms and everything for free and they were like we'll give you half off on it if you want it
But I haven't responded yet
Get 50 off it's 50 off
Fuck yeah
It's pretty good
50 off of anything is awesome
But what i'm saying is oh and then I can still get commit like I can make the video
Use a coupon code and get commission on sales
Nice
But I haven't responded yet because I was
Filming world series at pro mod when I got the email and I was just like not in the negotiating mood
It's very weird because like I've been to the drag races a bunch
And I filmed some stuff here and there like with my buddy going up there
But like to be there to film
It's like a very different
And like the driver
You know he operates two businesses has a family he's got all these you know this race team, you know
So maybe I guess you could call it more businesses, but like
He's very
In his head there's a lot of things going on so I gotta be like hey video before you do this run
Like I had to catch him constantly like talk about the run before talk about the run after like
Talk about whatever mechanical stuff we're doing now like and like try to prompt stuff so we could have a chronological story
Makes sense
one because it's nice for the people watching and two because
Selfishly
Be mad about it. He's just I guarantee it's stuff. You just look over you know
Yeah, he's he has a problem with his channel because even though he's yeah, I have a problem with my channel 127,000 subscribers
but uh
because
You know he is a busy dude
um
But when and like when you can get when you get eye contact and you're talking to him
He's there and present so that's nice and like it's just a regular guy
But what happens is he's got two phones and he's doing stuff
You know and so he's like just
busy
But uh, so he forgets like when he was when he tries to record for himself. He has a hard time
racing
And dealing with two phones and checking in on the family and recording everything that's going on
So like the videos suffer and then the channel suffers and then he's like
You know, I mean it just is like a it's a snowball effect
But
Yeah, I was a refining in the lot and we were trying to keep like a storyline going and so far it's going good
I think I checked this morning and in 12 hours the video from yesterday that I filmed and edited
Is that like 20,000 views and 12 hours or something? So that's a good kick
Speaking of videos my Honda video the one that's doing surprisingly well because apparently
It's doing better than any of my truck videos did
Any of them and this video is me pressure washing Honda parts. I pulled the engine out of the parts car
I pressure washed parts and like pressure wash the engine bay and
rattle can the engine bay
Like nothing to me I was like this video is gonna suck but I have to do it. It's part of the process
and as a
I
South African friend came in my head on a lark. He says as it's like a joke as a funny
I put a Tina Turner. What's love got to do with it as the background music? I don't know if you watched the video, but uh
There's a lot of comments about how like
They really enjoyed the song because I just like was like well, it'd be funny and it's like off the beaten path for normal
But also kind of error correct. You know what I mean?
That's fun and I don't know people like it so now I have to figure out the next
Civic build video son
Yeah
Just kind of dabble the pop look into the pop chart list
Yeah from like the 80s and 90s
Yeah
Yeah, yeah
That's right
That's right. I call that it was sometimes I like I like driving when you're driving an old car. It's fun to like
Uh, listen to what like when that car was new what they would have listened to when it was new
That's something like that's like a really fun thing
A fun thing for me
Yeah, like I keep uh instagrams figured out that i'm stuck in
2000 and two or whatever 2005
So it keeps sending me these like things like and I sent you on the uh pioneer
Deck with the dolphins and the jets on the digital screen
It's just so cool. And now I like the other day. I saw a period built 2000 like a
300zx twin turbo and it had like the old school sub set up with like the amps and the clear doors
That's the kind of car that's gonna go for loads of money. Oh, yeah
That's what I want to do for myself. I think it's build a 240 sx
pig nose like mine was
My first one, which honestly was my least valuable 240 sx. I probably owned
But it's the you know, I mean, it's the first year of them and I liked it a lot of memories
blaring blueberry yum yum by ludicrous and stuff, you know what I mean?
Yeah
With the with the band pass box in the back
I'm a big ludicrous
Yeah, uh, so but I think it would be really cool to do with that like a period build
Yeah
So every time you sit and then you're in high school again
Yeah, yeah, I mean honestly the good car I bought I feel
Feel a little high schooly
That's nice. I needed a good driving experience and that's kind of what this is
It's definitely hit so
Yeah, I want to drive it right now, but it's like shittie. Oh, it's salt everywhere. It's like just
We're just parking out go outside and just like sit in it wrong
Oh, yeah, I like to do a lot of one-ever car like I like to just do a lot of sitting and looking at it
You know music in the background
To me, that's how you get to like
Oh that body line needs to get moved down a little bit that that line could get moved there
That's that's always when the problems start to happening like when you're sitting around looking at it like
There's just a couple things off about this car. It would be totally fucking sick. I'm like, you know
Five years later your car is still cut up
That's what they put into me. I had similar problems. I was like sitting there looking at my car and I'm like
I could see a giant samurai painted across the whole side of this thing and then the next day you come home from work early and you're just like
Yeah
Here it is
And then you're like, oh, this needs a this needs the moon the full moon behind the samurai and then you're adding this
Taping off the samurai now so you can put a full moon behind them, you know, and then you got to drop shade it in
Yeah, it's a whole thing
It's a whole thing. Don't stay up too late and look at your car. There's no good ideas
Well, they're all good ideas
I don't know if they're good
I mean driving on the road is usually the good part
Having a part for years is not the good part if I would have known
I was going to start a business when I did because it kind of just came out of the blue
As far as the decision being made, I wouldn't cut apart my car when I did because it was like right before
Like look at what I'm doing also. Oh looks like I'm doing this you're going to do this full time and
Car sits. Yeah, what are you gonna do?
Can't do time to refine some ideas, you know, I mean honestly it is but
To me it's almost refining skills. So it doesn't take me so damn long what actually would come my car to
which
I'm exponentially faster at metal shaping now than I was
Or five years ago
Actually, we were four years ago
a little over four years ago
Because we started the business in actually four years ago right now, February, February, so yeah, right now
Four years happy anniversary. Hey, thanks, man breakfast club
Did it and on that note, I think we should end on a high one
Yeah, get yourself where can they find you man? Oh, you can find me everywhere
That's here shark tv youtube instagram tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock
Facebook and uh go check out victor alparez's channel. There's some videos from world series of pro mod
Tell me if I failed or did a good job. Where can they find you?
Instagram facebook and the youtube hunger hollow customs
Uh, that's uh about all I got. That's it. No more. Maybe next week. I'll tell you what I bought
Something to look forward to
And uh, I'm sure by the time this comes out all the videos will be out but quentin tomorrow
I'll be or today. I'll be sending you a link. I just sent them the next video for the next qualifying day
That I added it this morning
Because we're letting one go every day chronologically until they're all
Done
Look at you. Bye
About this episode
A behind-the-scenes chat covering World Series of ProMod chaos, including filming Victor Alvarez’s 5,000-hp 69 Camaro and the mind-bending sensory overload of revving pro mod engines. They also dig into the economics of big drag setups (and why some teams stay grass-roots), plus the mindset required to race eighth-mile, 200+ mph. Between stories, the hosts swap shop updates: Honda swap progress, brake-line headaches, and major metalwork on a 67 Mustang, 58 Chevy truck, and 70s Monte Carlo—plus debates on sandblasting, value trends, and what makes car builds “frankenstein-y.”
Original notes
Welcome back to the F_cking Cars Podcast, where Ethan and Quintin dive deep into the builds, breakdowns, and bullshit that shape real shop life. Every week we tackle the projects on our lifts, the chaos happening in the automotive world, and the stories that only come from long nights in the garage. From custom fabrication to wild engine swaps, questionable Craigslist finds, and the philosophy behind why we keep doing this to ourselves—nothing is off-limits.
If you love cars, craftsmanship, and unfiltered shop talk, you’re in the right place. Grab a drink, settle in, and let’s get into it.
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