Project Over Kill Paint and Reassembly

How is it possible that the silver screen or nowadays the plasma can catapult a star or a car into history.

Two things, a stunt double and a good makeup artist. This 70 challenger proves that very well. It's one of seven sacrificed in the name of entertainment.

And year one wants our help to save it.

Our

goal an over the top trip to the spa

every inch has been reworked or modified.

Then Brent took over to finish the bodywork

countless hours of detailed repair.

Three coats of sanded and blocked polyester primer

and then three more blocked out cos of your

thing,

his attention to detail and refusal to be rushed, finally paid off.

That'd be totally rad.

That's the word

trash

auto body paint supply, mixed the perfect vitamin C orange color for the base

followed by three codes of clear.

Two days later, Brent came out of hiding. This project's been going on for more than a year now and the final assembly is gonna take some serious time.

Too much for one show,

the wiring and plumbing, it's boring TV. And you've seen it before.

So today we're gonna concentrate on things

that will rack your opinion.

And our goal is to get that on the ground, get as many parts on it as possible. And it all starts with this. A

hemi

of course,

this 528 crate from Mo part performance puts out 610 horse with 650 ft pounds of torque

making it fit wasn't tough

making it fit better than the factory. Took some thinking Mo Pao

says they're engine a few inches to the passenger side and here's why needle bearings have to constantly spin so they won't burn up. So a straight shot to the rear end

simply won't work. Gm Took care of this by raising or lowering the engine Ford took care of it by offsetting its opinion, Mo

Par's engine offset did the same thing. But you know what? We wanted our hemi

to sit dead center in the engine compartment

just because it looks good.

This K member from red top does just that.

It's a custom order that allows for that five inch ride height.

A little black powder coating will keep it looking good.

We can install it to the engine first. We're gambling that it's gonna fit from the bottom up. Not only is this quicker, we didn't wanna scratch up that smoothed out engine bed. Hold

what you got? We got lucky

barely.

There's another reason we centered this engine. There's just not a lot of room to share with this

hemi

not to mention, it looks really good. That offset drive shaft problem. Here's how we fix that

this day in the 60 we got from Curry.

It's what Chrysler put behind the original hemi

cars.

Everything about it is oversized and the added weight helps the balance.

We set our p lower than the engine to create the right angle needed for the drive shaft to keep those needle bearings, spinning,

adjustable air bags for those speed bump encounters.

The steering link goes in before the front suspension.

This adjustable centrelink from Laughlin racing is seeing seed from a solid piece of steel

and this stock steering box was modified for a closer ratio by a gr

the steering shaft is next. But while we still have room, we're going to install our manifolds. These high flow cast iron headers are from year one and they've been ceramic coated by nitro plate. The combination will lower our under the hood temperature

that keeps the engine's intake cooler and protects everything around it from cooking.

Where are you using the star steering column?

But the shaft needs to be shortened.

This one came from Flaming River and it telescopes for some leeway

that front suspension is gonna have to wait a little bit longer because the final top guy is here.

Final assembly on most projects require some outside help.

This is Kevin from

he's customs

and he comes with tools and a reputation,

Kevin. You know anyone that's attempted this or does this themselves.

I know a lot of guys that can build cars but they just usually leave the vinyl top to me. Come on, man. It can't be that tough.

Uh, it can be tricky but

it's not that hard.

We'll be the judge of that

first step stuff and clean the top

after finding the center of the roof and the vinyl, a fellow calibrated eye lines it up

with some upholstery adhesive spray about a foot down the center

recheck the alignment and stick it on.

This is why I couldn't do this at home. I don't have that many neighbors that like me

looks good to me fellow then spray the roof and the back side of the vinyl one side at a time

and start the tug of war.

This is where experience pays off and where a novice could really screw it up.

Once it's laid down, it's not moving

p it, this is gonna be a high profile steamer car. We decided to sign it.

We'll know it's here

decades from now when this car is getting upgraded with a flux capacitor.

Someone will see this and say,

who the heck were those guys?

Well, it seem tight.

There you go. There you go. With a lot more tugging, rubbing, pushing and cutting.

It's time for the glass guy.

Something else I'm not gonna do.

We got this from JRD International

and Mike's steady hands will avoid any sealer mess

and his patience won't make us order any more glass

overkill is sporting the classic top half and our time capsule signatures.

I don't think our grip understood the concept.

We'll blame it on the glue and finally get back on the suspension. Somebody poisoned the watering hole.

The upper arms are from air ride. These stock spindles have been modified for the larger brakes. We're running

cushioned by more adjustable bags.

13 inch rotors and dual piston calipers will slow it down.

BFGS on American racing torque thrust was the right choice

that vitamin C orange is really starting to pop with a little bit of black and chrome added to it, but we're not done yet. So go grab yourself a juice and we'll be back in a minute.

The Mo Park fans around here are peeking in the window. That's because project overkill is getting ready to live up to its name. Now you won't see it go down the road today, but you will see it with its prom clothes on.

Brent's back in seclusion, finishing the hood.

Some say Chrysler put flat black on to stop the sun's reflection.

I think it's just plain cool.

They make a sticker kit for this and the Bumblebee stripe on the back, but that's not Brent's style

painting flatt black isn't easy. The coats have to be extremely consistent.

Otherwise some areas will start to gloss up on you

so a wider fan can help

the tape comes off right away. So the paint can hopefully roll down for a nice, smooth edge,

Tommy and I are moving ahead with the doors. You need to find a neighbor who likes you for this one too.

You ready

go.

But one with some common sense,

no belt buckles the size of a dinner plate or those spiky things that kids attach to themselves. Either

the doors don't need to be aligned perfectly just yet.

That's it,

gaps even all the way

that's good

defenders are next. And we're gonna put tape on anything that can get bumped together because we don't want Brent getting all wacky on us.

These holes were drilled the last time we align these up,

the same size drill bit, gets it back in place.

Since we know the fenders are spot on, we can get the door spacing where it needs to be

aligning. The doors can take some time,

but these gaps can make or break the appearance of the car.

I learned some sealer skills from the glass guy

handy for the trunk weather strip and I put on earlier

some tape to keep it there till it dries.

Rattle can paint for the mounts

and the same drill bit for more alignment holes.

I will install no part before it's time. And Brent decides that,

in other words, the hood's done

that flat black along with the design of the hood is where the attitude starts to come to life.

The balances of the last painted parts, Brent lived with for the last six weeks. He also shaved the rear bumper ras

all those times we test fitted, this car paid off.

We've come a long way in a short amount of time

and we're not done yet. The trim work is as important as the rest of the car. And after the break, a few problems, better yet some solutions

on every project I've ever done. One of the most hair shaving issues is finding nice trim work. Let's face it. Nobody makes every piece and I've had to install some borderline parts before but not anymore.

We're fortunate enough to be right down the road from nationally known advanced plating in Nashville, Tennessee.

We sent our camera crew out to show you what goes into a chrome job that's done right.

This 60,000 square foot facility is where all the magic happens.

The work order for the challenger was a bit steeper than just slapping on some new chrome after being knocked around in Hollywood and trim was in rough shape.

A lot of this stuff just isn't made anymore and we're having a hard time finding usable trim.

Good thing for us. Advanced plating is more than just a chrome shop. They do full restoration of trim and other hard to find parts.

A lot of shops won't even touch this stuff. But in advanced plating, the restoration is rapidly a growing part of their business

when a piece comes into advance. It's catalog and engrave

that way. You know, you're getting your piece back after being labeled, the parts are taken to a strip room and all the dirt and grime is removed.

Every part is soaked in a heated caustic acid bath.

After just a few seconds, the chemistry takes over and a clean water rinse is needed to stop the chemicals from eating through your hard to find trim parts.

A nitric acid bath removes any residue from the caustic. Then it's back into a clean water rinse one more time

after the pieces are stripped and cleaned

all the places that need to be filled and hammered out can be seen.

That's when Jeff Brown takes over and begins the tedious process of bringing the trim back to its original shape.

As you can see, this is no in and out job

after the big dents are taken care of. Jeff polishes out the thieves so he can see the minor flaws and then

he starts fine tuning.

This could take a while

me

that

way.

Other pieces like our Lamons taillight. Bezels are joining the endangered parts list as well. Ours needs plenty of attention after the old copper is taken off. A copper cyanide bath provides a solid starting point for the repair workers.

Joe Zajac lines up the pieces of our busted Bezzel and with the help of some copper wire and a steady hand silver sawers, it all back together.

Any holes are filled with soda and then sand and smooth. Once back in its original shape, the piece heads back out to start the plating process.

You can't have good chrome without a good base. And that's where another copper cyanide bath comes into play.

It not only protects our parts from corrosion but supplies the conductive surface. That's a must for quality chrome.

Once the cyanide copper is applied, it's plated with acid copper to fill any minor holes or imperfections.

Then it's back to the buffing room to smooth out this copper based,

ensuring clean finish

with five coats of copper and equal amounts of trips to the repair and bus shop.

It's time to make this piece shine.

First stop. The nickel bag,

nickel will bond with copper and the amount of nickel deposit that builds up on the piece determines the depth of the shine.

It takes about an hour to make sure the nickel plate is thick enough.

Our

La

Mon's bezel is dipped into the chrome tank where it's left for almost two minutes.

Once it develops a haze, the max amount of chrome has been deposited

after three separate rinses. It's back to the shine shop leaving nothing but a perfect shine. It's a lot of work but it's the only way to go if you really care about quality chrome

and we'll show you how their artistry pays off on the challenger after the break.

Welcome back. We're running out of time but not things to do. We showed you how advanced planting saves those hard to find pieces of trim if that didn't impress you,

check this out.

Here's the grill we got stuck with on the Challenger. It was two rivets away from the trash

and you can't buy a new one.

Look at what those hammer slinging elves did for us. They straightened out all the aluminum, they replaced any missing pieces in the grate

and as usual, the polishing is flawless.

The aluminum trim came out just as nice and the clear coat they spray on them will keep it that way.

This piece was a mangled mess. No way I could have taken the time to straighten it out.

The stainless steel parts are polished only they need no clear coat.

It should go without saying, don't get too enthusiastic here. All these edges have been smoothed out but they're still sharp enough to cut into the paint.

It usually hurts to hide the engine. Not this time. There's more shine on this grill than the factory gave it.

And because it's the one that came off, there's no surprises putting it back on.

The bumpers are originals too straightened out and sporting some new chrome.

The rest of the pieces year one came through with

good thing. These taillight parts would be hard to find.

Same with the marker lights and the mirror

you don't want shiny wiper arms, the sun's glare could blind you.

The originals were oxidated and just plain trash. Tommy's got this trick to show us

with the P si down to 20 on the glass blaster.

A gentle spray will clean them up and it gives it that nice flat finish to stock one tag.

You should still wear your shades though because you'll just look plain cool.

The fat lady may not be singing but she sure is a humming. Now, we didn't keep track of the thousands of man hours that we logged behind the scenes on this project. Not to mention the hundreds still to come. Was it worth it? Time? Will tell.

It's a classic. It's done, right? Not to mention it's a movie car. If taken care of, who knows what price it could bring in 30 years,

we'll have it back soon to do the interior and clock a few miles on it till then

later.