Roadkill

More than any other episode, this Roadkill reveals what it's really like to work at HOT ROD Magazine. Follow along to get the behind-the-scenes dirt on how we pulled off the Roadkill Live engine swap in the Crusher Camaro at the 2013 Performance Racing Industry trade show, then watch the 2,400-mile trip home from Indy to LA in the Crusher Camaro--including visits with Funny Car Racer Tony Pedregon, Steve Schmidt Racing Engines, and Finnegan's dad! It all ends with a session at the drag strip where the Crusher went quicker than it ever has.

On this episode of Roadkill, we celebrate with a 44-minute special that includes details on what's become of every Roadkill project car since the start, plus a big-action showdown of 9 of the popular survivors. As a bonus, we invited Motor Trend hosts and editors Jonny Lieberman and Carlos Lago to come make fun of us. Make sure to hang to the end for the big nine-car drag race and some hellacious tire smoke!

What do you get when you cross a rusted 1971 Datsun 240Z with a Chevy 4.3L V6 and a turbo from a Ford Power Stroke Diesel? The Rotsun! During Roadkill Episode 25, Freiburger and Finnegan revived the Rotsun expecting it to dominate in the 9-car autocross showdown of previous Roadkill project cars. It also needed to beat a 2014 Kia Rio 5, but failed to do so with the Rotsun shamefully breaking down before completing a decent lap. So in this episode: revenge. After swapping in the mismatched turbo and making nearly 400 rear-wheel horsepower, the guys head to the autocross at the Goodguys 5th Spring Nationals in Scottsdale, Arizona and mingle with fans on their way to a rematch with that dastardly Kia.

Chevy runs deep! This time Freiburger and Finnegan find out just how deep as they visit the infamous sinkhole that opened up inside the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. To do it Roadkill style, the guys find the worst Corvette they can buy, get it running after sitting for six years, break auto parts, experience gators firsthand, and visit the Corvette assembly plant. Finally, they try and convince the Corvette Museum to let them leave their '75 Stingray behind......inside the sinkhole.

Remember the drag racing '74 Chevy Muscle Truck from Roadkill Episode 18? It's back, but with a twist: it's gonna become a true dual-sport ride for surf and turf, shedding its drag slicks for Super Swamper Boggers and hitting the sand dunes...hard! And to prove that a lowered, two-wheel-drive pickup can dominate the dunes, Freiburger and Finnegan set up a shootout with Fred Williams from the Dirt Every Day series on the Motor Trend channel. Fred brought out his '69 VW Baja Bug from DED Episode 23 and went head to head with the Muscle Truck on the beach at Pismo, California. The Roadkill/HOT ROD Magazine Muscle Truck is a '74 Chevy C10 shortbed, stepside, with a GM LS6 crate engine (like the all-aluminum V8 found in a C6 ZO6 Corvette). It's stock other than a small crane cam, midlength headers, and a new addition for this episode: MSD's Atomic EFI (the truck used to run a carburetor). The Atomic setup is atop a BBK intake manifold, and uses a stock LS1 throttle body. That legendary exhaust sound comes from 3-inch pipe with 4-inch Dynomax Bullet race mufflers. The truck's transmission is a JW Turbo 400 backed by a Gear Vendors over/underdrive unit. And it really needs overdrive because the Ford 9-inch rear carries 5.13 gears and a spool. The suspension features dropped spindles and Ridetech Strong Arms and air bags up front. In the rear, two leaves were removed from the stock spring packs, they were flipped under the axle, and traction is delivered by Caltrac's bars

In Episode 8 of Roadkill we introduced you to the greatest engine swap project ever—a Hemi into a 1955 Chevy Bel Air. Nearly two years later, we finally get Mike Finnegan's Mopar-powered Tri-Five on the road, but not without a few problems along the way. Blown head gaskets, frayed wires, and severe sleep-deprivation are all overcome as Finnegan, Freiburger, and friends push to get this polarizing project car running again in time for an epic road trip. The BlaspHEMI '55 Chevy rides on a Jim Meyer Racing Gasser tube chassis with Viking coilover dampers and Firestone Cheater slicks out back. Up front the car has a tubular straight axle, parallel leaf springs and tires small enough to fit on a VW Bug. The rear axle is a John's Industries 9-inch with 5.43:1 gears. The Hemi began life as a 528ci Mopar crate engine, which Finnegan rebuilt with a 0.030-inch overbore, ported aluminum heads, and a Comp Cams solid roller cam. The mill is topped off with a Hilborn stack injection system with EFI controlled by a FAST EFI ECU. An Aeromotive Stealth fuel tank and pump provides the fuel while MSD provides the spark. The engine is backed by a Tremec Magnum six-speed manual gearbox with an American Powertrain installation kit and a twin-disc clutch. The car was wired with a Speedwires kit and the guys built their own fenderwell headers using parts from Hedman. To save weight, the original steel front clip was swapped out for a lightweight fiberglass tilt front end from Unlimited Products and the windows were replaced with lexan parts from ProGlass. The rollcage is a 10-point arrangement built from chrome-moly steel and TIG welded to the floor and frame. To save a ton of time, High Tech Auto Wraps covered the car in flat black vinyl instead of paint while the last of the parts were installed onto the car.

On this episode of Roadkill, it's 2,600 miles, 530 cubic inches, 700 horsepower, six speeds, 17 mpg, and two fun visits with some friends from TV. Last time, on Roadkill Episode 29, we finished our Chrysler-Hemi-powered 1955 Chevrolet gasser in about two weeks of thrashing (it's the same car you saw us take, as a bare shell, to Jim Meyer Racing in Oregon in Episode 8). On this latest episode, we drive it around the block once, then hit the road on a 2,600-mile journey from Los Angeles to the kickoff party of the 2014 HOT ROD Power Tour in Concord, North Carolina. On the way, there's the breakdowns you expect from Roadkill, plus two surprises: a stop at Midwest Street Cars with Justin "Big Chief" Shearer and Shawn "Murder Nova" Ellington from Street Outlaws, and another with Rutledge Wood from Top Gear USA. The '55 Chevy is based on an original body with new quarters and floors and a fiberglass decklid and tilt front end, and Lexan windows from ProGlass. It's not in primer: the car was wrapped in satin black by Moody from High-Tech Auto Wraps. The car sits on a complete gasser chassis from Jim Meyer Racing with a solid front axle on leaf springs and a ladder-bar setup with Vicking coilovers on the rear. The rear tires are reproduction Firestone piecrust slicks from Coker tire, and the fronts are just like stock VW Bug tires. The engine is a 530ci Hemi based on a Mopar Performance crate engine. With a Comp solid roller cam, 10.5:1 compression, homemade 2-1/4-inch headers from a Hedman kit, and Hilborn stack injection powered by a FAST XFI controller and Aeromotive fuel system, it makes 700 horsepower and 700 lb-ft of torque. We were stunned to see 17 mpg a few times on the cross-country trip, especially with absurd 5.43 gears in the Ford 9-inch rear axle. The key to it all is the Tremec T56 Magnum six-speed manual double-overdrive trans installed with a conversion kit from American Powertrain. The car uses a Speedwires harness, charging and starting by Powermaster, and a Braille lightweight battery in the trunk.

One of the most incredible junkyards in the history of junk is Turner's Auto Wrecking in Fresno, California—and on this episode of Roadkill, Freiburger and Finnegan hit those 100 acres of vintage sheetmetal and go spelunking for gold! After considerable debate, the guys select a 1950 GMC shortbed truck that had been off the road for 26 years and jam to get it running and driving for the trip home to Los Angeles. At least there was a 50-percent victory. Watch as the guys revamp the Jimmy inline six, panic over a wrecked master cylinder, sweat their cajones off for four days, and explore one of the greatest old-car stashes ever!

In this extra special episode of Roadkill, Subaru's all-new 2015 Legacy goes head-to-head with three of Roadkill's most famous project cars in tests of agility. Can the efficiency and traction of Subaru's Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive outrun the horsepower of the 1968 Ford Ranchero, the 1968 Dodge Charger "General Mayhem," and the turbo-Chevy-powered '71 "Rotsun" 240Z? You'll find out here in Roadkill's longest and most action-packed episode to date, as the guys thrash the cars mercilessly on a figure-8 obstacle course, at the DirtFish Rally School, and in a wheel-to wheel chase through a post-apocalyptic neighborhood. Roadkill is presented by Dickies, Built to Work.

This time, Freiburger and Finnegan were out for a gearhead vacation, heading from the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indy to HOT ROD Drag Week in Tulsa, but they had no car to drive. Posting on the Roadkill Facebook page was all it took to get fans to bring about a dozen cars for the guys to consider buying. After a struggle, they ended up letting a 5-year-old pick the car for them: a '67 Ford Country Sedan wagon. Next it was hanging on the starting line with mega-team owner Don Schumacher and other stars of the NHRA, a road trip that involved getting threatened by an old man with a steel pipe, and a final destination with the action of HOT ROD Drag Week. A past Roadkill co-star ended up winning that race overall, and you'll also watch as Larry Larson sets the record for the single quickest pass of all time for a street-legal vehicle

Has it been that long already? Yup, we are 34 episodes deep into this thing we call Roadkill and although this episode might seem like we are mailin’ it in, we are in fact not slowing down at all. This is the good stuff, the moments that didn’t make the cut because we just couldn’t fit them in, and the inside dirt on what really happens when we hit the road with 20 bucks in our pockets and a headful of good ideas. Sit back, pop open a few cold ones, and take a trip down memory lane with Freiburger and Finnegan as they reminisce on puking dogs, smashed hybrids and why nobody seems to like it when they drive to Alaska. Next month we’ll be back with an even bigger episode of Roadkill so stay tuned.

On this episode of Roadkill, we hack the entire body off a C4 Corvette, cage it, and call it a race car! Freiburger and Finnegan fulfill a dream that began four-plus years ago when they first wrote the "Vette Hack" article for HOT ROD magazine, slicing 900 pounds of ugly fiberglass off of a 1985 Corvette to prove that it would handle better in the autocross. Less weight means more acceleration, better cornering, and better stopping. The idea is proven once again here as the guys add a 350-horsepower rat-rod engine, rebuild the trans, remove more weight, and make it rigid, safe, and stylish with a full rollcage. Next, they head into a shootout with a 2014 Corvette upgraded by Lingenfelter Performance Engineering with an Edelbrock blower, Kooks headers, and Corsa exhaust for a wicked-sounding 640 horsepower. And then, of course, there's the off-road mayhem. The Vette Kart rocks!