Hot Rod Garage

We have fun showing you how to install a 4L60-E overdrive transmission into a 1969 Chevy El Camino, drop a 700-hp blown small-block into a 1974 Jaguar XJ12, get TIG welding lessons from the guys at ToxicFab and do smoky burnouts at every opportunity. There's dragstrip testing, a live punk band, bad jokes, great parts, and lots of inside info into the cars that have appeared on Roadkill.

Finnegan blows up the stock clutch in a borrowed 2010 Camaro SS at the drag strip after installing an SLP supercharger kit and a pair of drag radials. The blower pushed the power output from 420 to 575 horsepower and except for a couple extra holes in the valance, bolted-right onto the stock LS2. Freiburger and Finnegan offer tips on assembling soft and hard fuel lines, relay wiring, and gives a closer look at this righteous street/strip car.

Mike Finnegan gets tips for strengthening sheet metal using a bead roller from world-famous fabricator, Jamey Jordan, owner of Handmade Seat Company.

Kirk Brown stops by the shop to school us on the art of sand casting traditional hot rod parts. From flip-top gas caps to old-school friction shocks, Kirk creates parts that turn vintage iron into period-correct hot rods under his Crafty-B moniker. Finnegan also drives the infamous Roadkill 69 El Camino to Camarillo airfield to find out how badly the factory brakes perform and then Wilwood Brakes gives the Elco a serious binder upgrade.

A revamp of the 1974 Chevrolet C10 Muscle Truck, adding fenders and a new bed floor. Functionality is added by covering the massive step notch in the rear frame rails with sheet metal. As usual, Finnegan and Freiburger will answer viewer questions pulled from our Facebook page and Lincoln Tech instructors and students will drop a bit of knowledge.

A lowridin' 1965 Pontiac LeMans transforms into a corner-carving muscle car with a budget-minded suspension system, a quick-ratio steering box and disc brakes. Once the LeMans is sorted, the guys work on a 1973 Chevy Ramp Truck during a Dickies Roadkill Project Car Update.

David Freiburger's Hemi-powered Dodge Super Bee project car gains a much needed fourth gear and a few more in between in its three-speed 727 trans. Plus, another Q-and-A session with Mike Finnegan and David Freiburger as they discuss road trips, muscle cars and of course, Carlos Lago's ability to drive a car.

David Freiburger updates the Crusher Camaro. He installs a single stage nitrous oxide system from NOS onto the Mast Motorsports LS7 to break the car into 9-second territory at the dragstrip. He also changed the transmission and swapped out the converters.

The crew tunes the FAST XFI 2.0 electronic fuel injection system of Mike Finnegan's '55 Chevy Bel Air for wide-open throttle performance, lowers the front suspension, adds a pair of Viking adjustable dampers and installs a Hurst Roll Control line lock for better burnouts. Then Finnegan takes to the drag strip to find out how well the car performs on the same wore-out pair of Firestone Cheater Slicks that he drove cross-country on. In the Q & A session, Freiburger and Finnegan discuss vintage Mustang Sportroofs, old Roadkill project cars, the F-Bomb Camaro, and of course, the staff of Motor Trend.

The team revamps the suspension on our 1969 Chevy El Camino to turn this lowly hauler into a real corner-carver. The crew from Ridetech not only helped swap out the old mismatched suspension and steering components, but gave us a couple of shock-tuning tricks.

The team replaces an engine on an El Camino, to lose some weight and reset the track record on the autocross course.

Mike Finnegan journeys to Sonny Leonard Racing Engines in Lynchburg, Virginia, to help assemble his new engine. It's a 771ci Big-Block Chevy topped with Hemi heads, which is primed to produce ridiculous pump-gas horsepower and torque.