Mud Truck Part II - Best in the Desert / Terribles 250 from Primm, NV

No better place to get down and dirty than in the deep sticky mud today on Xtreme 4x4 part two of our

malicious

Boer with great transmission tech to convert your two wheel drive to spin all fours. Plus outside Vegas dreams of a different kind are made or broken at the Terribles 250.

Now, as you guys know, with a show called Xtreme 4x4, we've kind of carved ourselves into a nice little niche. I mean, every project that we build, it's gonna have to be pretty extreme and it's probably gonna have to be four wheel drive, things like trail trucks, two buggies, rock crawlers and stuff like that.

We are this close to finishing our 1/100 show and you would think that we built one of almost everything. Well, you're wrong

and that's because there are honestly so many different kinds of extreme off roading from the rock sports like rock racing and rock crawling to desert racing out in the middle of nowhere to probably one of the oldest and gnarliest forms of off roading

mud

bogging

after watching a bunch of events from races all over the country and hearing that a lot of you guys wanted to see a mud race truck get built.

It all began with a war out 87 GMC, three quarter ton pickup.

We stripped the truck to a bare frame, took the engine down to the horsepower shop for what we thought would be a simple rebuild,

cut the body up to make it as light as possible

and built a simple cage to keep the driver safe.

Finally, we slipped on some typical mud racing tires.

Boers in the back swampers up front.

Now, when we first pulled the 400 small block out from under the hood of this truck and carried it down to the guys at horsepower. We had no idea they were gonna throw in the garbage and build us this a monster 588 cubic inch big block full of go fast goodies.

It all started with

Merlin tall deck block, eagle specialties, 4340 cranch and srp pistons hung on eagle H beam rods,

Aluna

Billet roller camshaft controls the Jes

Rockers that open the valves inside the

bra Victor series

to finish it up. An aluminum race oil pan from steps and a Super Victor Junior manifold from Edelbrock,

some extra tall valve covers for world products and a monster B LP car

to pour in the fuel.

Now, this engine came off their

dyno

at 820 horsepower and just a shade under 900 ft pounds of torque.

Now, that is way more than we could ever hope to get out of that 400 small block. And the fact that they did this tiny little engine swap on us is not that big of a deal. If you're racing mud trucks, this is where you put your money. And we all know what would happen if we put a 400 in that truck, we make a couple passes on it and we'd be dreaming of a big block anyway. So we might as well put it in right now

to keep this monster from doing cartwheels under the hood. We grabbed an engine midplate from competition engineering

with the engine hung from a cherry picker. We can build some front mount at a 316 flat stock fed through the Scotchman iron workers.

This is obviously a solid mounted set up, but the frame of this truck will twist and flex during acceleration.

So we won't worry about breaking transmission cases or engine blocks.

Mike Joe and buddy signed the motor

except they did it upside down.

Now, when it came time for us to pick a set of headers for this truck, it's pretty obvious the way we're gonna go. I mean, come on, we got a big old school GMC truck, Boers out back, swampers up front and a big block under the hood. So really when it came time, there was only one choice and it is

a set of zoomies from Headman Hustler,

these monster two and a quarter inch individual upturned exhaust tubes will flow like a mother. Thanks to their zero restriction mandrel

band

plus the ceramic coating will ensure that these zoomies look good forever.

Yeah.

Now whether you've got a big block under the hood of your own mud truck or you're just trying to get some ponies out of your trail truck. A good ignition system is key to having those engines perform at their peak abilities. Now, in our truck, we're gonna go ahead and install an MS D six off road ignition control box along with one of their off road rev limiters. And then to power, our spark will be an MS D blaster. High vibration coil,

MS D stands for multiple spark discharge. And the box works hand in hand with either a factory distributor or after market one and the coil to deliver three sparks during the combustion stroke.

Now these multiple sparks ensure that all the fuel in the cylinders burn, meaning more power and in some cases better fuel economy.

Now you learn at a very young age that if you play in the mud, you're gonna get dirty and you're also gonna get wet. So we've got all the electronics for a truck inside the passenger compartment including the battery. But to make sure that we don't have any battery acid spill on us. In the case of a rollover, we're gonna put our battery in this 100% waterproof battery box. That we got from summit racing

up next. Jessi shows us what happens when you don't click it. Plus the pitfalls of wide open racing in the Vegas desert

in extremes event of the week, we're riding with the best in the desert

billed as the richest off road race in Nevada. It's crazy man. Over 300 drivers came out to the Terribles. 250 at trim. It's nuts with a class for everyone.

Best in the desert. They have everything. It doesn't matter if you drive a big dollar trick truck or a build it in the yard buggy.

Every racer is welcomed at a best in the desert event. You got a lot of professionals guys who do this for a living and you got guys that are just great drivers and, uh you got your beginners out here. One thing Casey's done in this sport is he's developed all these classes.

Anyone could race. We created an organization here that's very strong.

I think it's one of the most professional organizations in the United States when it comes to this type of sport from humble beginnings. 15 years ago, the best in the desert race is now massive. There's no other thing like it in the desert, that's for sure. Still the series hasn't forgotten its roots.

Tell you what it's a fabulous organization, the camaraderie that everybody has and they really treat you well. So, I mean best and Desert organization is just awesome

group of people. That's exactly what we're all about. We want to keep the camaraderie there with all of the folks. It is a family sport and we invite in which we have here, the best offer

races

in the world. Best of all with the events taking place here in our own backyard.

The drivers can leave their passports at home and focus on racing. We're picking up a lot of people who decide not to race Baha

and decide to race in our own country where you're a little safer

at

250 miles. Prim was the shortest race of the season. The longest desert races we do are over 1000 miles. This is definitely more of a sprint race, which means they had to be on it. You're at max speed right off the start all the way to the finish. Seconds matter out here.

What may look flat and tranquil. There's gonna be some,

some graveyards out there. The southern Nevada desert is some of the nastiest terrain in the world. Pretty brutal out here. It's just a beast. It's a little bit of everything out here in the southwest. You got dry lake beds, you got sand washes, you got rocky mountains, you got rocky mountain passes, everything without fear. They push their machines well past 100

MPH, I'll tell you it's a hardcore sport. You're on the edge, man, a machine against everything. What looks to be

a

of individuals

is anything but teamwork is very critical behind each driver. An army of volunteers prepped the car, the crew a couple nights a week, every week, every month for every race. So,

you know, there's hundreds and hundreds of hours put into these cars to get it done. There were three pitting areas for the three lap 80 mile loop course and the crew stood ready. You don't know what's going to happen in a race. So you try to prepare, prepare for everything where every second is critical.

You have down time, you lost. The pits are crucial. Slackers are not welcome. Everybody wants it in and out as quick as they can get it in and out.

A lot of times we're gone within less than a minute. They had a flat out there, change out that spare, got them on the road. Every person on the team has to do their function and

you know, it's like a well oiled machine. If one little cog or one little wheel falls out of that machine,

the whole thing breaks down. Sometimes the car breaks down long before the team. We're just giving our competitive. Here's a little head start so we can actually call it a race.

If you break down, you have to have the tools, the equipment, the means on board with you and your crew to repair it. They bring a lot, but they can't bring everything

over for us. The coyote had 67 miles on a brand moon.

You know, you come to the race and you get ad NF it's very disappointing

whether they break down or go on to victory a best in the desert race is about so much more than winning and losing.

It's the challenge, conquering the elements and making some great friends along the way. Even when we do bad when the team really pitches in. You know, everybody has that,

that warm feeling at the end of the day where, you know, we all feel a little bit closer and,

you know, we're all like brothers out here when it comes down to it.

We're very lucky

time now for an Xtreme 4x4 tech tip

is actually a trail t

now we told you the importance of a good suspension seat.

But by far the most important safety device that you can have in your rig is a good five point harness.

This competitor learned that first hand when he was so pumped up about getting a good start, he left the gate without checking his harness.

The result could have been devastating. Thankfully, he walked away but was DQ for not following the rules?

I

remember a good seat belt works only if you use it. So buckle up,

we're back on Xtreme 4x4 and we're right in the middle of our big block powered mud bog race truck and with the engine underneath the hood, we can go ahead and concentrate on the transmission. Now, we picked up this nice cheap used turbo 350 automatic.

Now this will be a great lightweight three speed for behind our engine.

As long as we build it to hit,

handle the power that we're putting out. Now, one of the problems when you're building up a transmission like this is knowing exactly what to replace. Now, the guys at monster transmission have it all figured out for us. They have a kit that they call a monster in a box. Not only does it include all the standard items you'd expect to get in a rebuild kit. They also upgrade the parts that are prone to failure like the front and rear sprag, as well as a new hardened race assembly, new red al

race clutch disks and some heavy duty cole

steels

use a Kevlar reinforced band

as well as an adjustable modulator. We'll top it off with a 4000 RPM stall torque converter, an aluminum pan to aid in cooling and then finally a complete shift kit.

Now, honestly, guys over the past 20 years, I've probably rebuilt about 300 transmission

and I know how unnerving it can be to get everything apart onto the bench and hope you remember where it goes. Just take your time. It'll be ok.

Now, we've rebuilt a lot of transmissions here at extreme and we've taken you through what happens inside this case before. Now. Honestly, rebuilding a turbo 350 is very easy. Is get a manual and a rebuild kit and you'll be ok. So instead of showing you how to rebuild this transmission specifically, we're gonna go ahead and answer some of the most popular questions that we get asked about automatics. And the first one is, can you turn a two wheel drive transmission into a four wheel drive? Well, the answer is pretty simple and it's yes,

almost all transmissions from the original equipment manufacturers, whether it be standard or automatic were almost the exact same from the mounting flange and the motor back to where the rear extension housing mounts both inside and out. The only difference is on the two wheel drive version, there's a long extension housing and a longer output shaft. So to convert a transmission like this one, you just need to get the shorter four wheel drive output shaft along with the match

extension housing that will make your transfer case up behind whatever transmission that you have.

I'm sure some of you guys are wondering why would you do this? Why would you buy a two wheel drive transmission and convert it? Well, a couple of reasons first off cost a used two wheel drive transmission like a turbo 350

that's 100 and $25. The four wheel drive version would almost be double that because they get burned up more often and therefore they're worth more money. Another reason if you're using an after market

like this one from advanced adapters to adapt the GM transmission to Toyota.

You're gonna have to go in and replace the output shaft anyway. So you can save a little bit of money up front and just pick up a two wheel drive transmission that you gotta tear down no matter what one tip though. Before you swap in that new shaft, you're gonna wanna go ahead and make sure that the spines bearing surfaces as well as the fluid passage ports are the same on both shafts. That way you won't have a problem after you do the work.

Another confusing area for most people is a shift kit. What does it do? And how does it work? Well, they're available for almost all transmissions and it works inside the valve body itself. And although all these fluid passages in here look pretty confusing. Just think of them as pipes in your plumbing at home.

Now, before the fluid can go from the lower valve body into the transmission itself, it has to go through a spacer plate. Now, inside the spacer plate manufacturers,

factory restrictions to slow the fluid down. Now, what this will do is basically give you a nice soft, comfortable shift, but we don't want that. We want a hard shift. So the shift kit, you're gonna drill out those restrictions

and it also will include usually springs to install inside the valve body for the same reason. It's actually not that difficult if you just follow the instructions. The biggest benefit is going to be a firm shift. The clutches aren't gonna slip. It's gonna get your power to the wheels

today on Xtreme 4x4. We've been working on our mud bog race truck and right now we're converting this two wheel drive automatic over to four wheel drive. And at the same time, we're answering a lot of questions. We get asked about rebuilding automatics in general, things like, well, what should I expect to replace inside my transmission once I have it torn down. Now, if the transmission was working fine in the truck and you're just in there to freshen it up, you can probably get away with a gasket seal kit from your local parts store.

But if you get in there and find clutch disks that look like this

and you probably had a problem before it came out and you're in for a major overhaul that's going to include at least replacing the clutches as well as most of the steels. But the way I look at it is this rebuilding an automatic is an investment in time. The best way to do it is to get everything you can replace it all and just rebuild your transmission one time.

Now, one other tip, when you go to install the piston back into the drum, go ahead and use a very thin feeler gauge to hold down the lip of the seal. The seals are like a little umbrella. And if you push the piston down the edge can catch and just fold right over. Now, that'll let fluid leak past and it won't apply the clutch and then it will burn it out and you'll have transmission failure. And I'm gonna go ahead and finish rebuilding this 350. And then the next time we have the mud truck back in the shop, we'll go ahead and take care of all the plumbing, get the brakes done. Get up in the air just a little bit further and then we'll be ready to hit the mud hole good and hard.