Home

Videos

S 5 : Ep 113

Enjoy Redline Rebuild stories, opinion, and features from across the car world - Hagerty Media

The traditional Redline Rebuild is was just an engine, but in the case of the Honda Trail 70, Davin is working on the motor as just one part of a bigger machine. The engine on these small bikes goes together fast enough at normal speed that the time-lapse concept is almost overkill. Think we’re joking? This week’s Redline Update proves it.

Before assembly can happen, the cleaning must happen. It’s often an off-camera job simply because it is the most boring part of any project. It might be an uninteresting process, but the results are often worth the effort. For the Trail 70, Davin tried vapor honing, a technique he had not yet used on a Redline Rebuild project. The engine case was shipped down to Ohio, where a friend spent a half hour blasting away years of grime and corrosion. The finished product is gleaming and ready for the roller bearings to be pressed in.

Once a few bearings are in place, the assembly goes quickly. Since the Honda is mainly press-fit roller bearings, there is minimal measuring like the automotive engines Davin is used to. The simple transmission tucks in nicely before the crankshaft settles in next to it. The clutch plates soak in oil for a lunch break before going together to wrap up this assembly session.

Next up is the piston and top-end assembly, and if you don’t want to miss a minute of the process be sure to subscribe to the Hagerty YouTube channel to get notifications when each video goes live.

Next episodes

Enjoy Redline Rebuild stories, opinion, and features from across the car world - Hagerty Media

Like many of us, Davin often finds that progress on his many project cars gets delayed. This week, he’s hung up with the ’37 Ford dirt-track racer—and, for once, that’s a good thing, because it’s time to build the Ford’s rear suspension.

Davin customized the leaf springs a few episodes back and now they are mocked up in the car. There is a second part to the suspension puzzle, though: The shocks, which keep the springs from bouncing wildly and thus help with chassis stability and traction. Two very important things in a race car.

Davin could simply bolt on the shocks between the axle and chassis and let “good enough” suffice, but we all know he isn’t that kind of guy. Instead, he takes the time to locate the shocks at the proper angle and distance, trusting that the additional time will pay off in the final build. For dirt-track cars like this one, the suspension is intentionally uneven in an effort to keep all the wheels in contact with the ground. The driver’s rear tire needs to droop while the passenger rear needs more compression, and the shock location and setup need to reflect that attitude. Davin makes the process look easy by fabricating a couple quick mounts that allow him to get all the components located easily.

After realizing he lacks the raw material to fabricate the final bits of the Ford’s shock mounts, Davin takes the delay as an opportunity to grab some parts for the Honda Mini Trail and head to the body shop. The frame is completely sandblasted, but that doesn’t that mean the Honda’s ready for paint.

The crew at Traverse Body and Paint make quick work of removing the one small dent in the pressed sheetmetal, and then add a quick glaze-coat of filler to smooth out any sanding marks or small imperfections. So many people hear “filler” and pucker up, imagining giant chunks of Bondo falling out of quarter panels, but that’s not what is going on here. In fact, the glaze-coat that Dave puts on this Honda is sprayed on and, once dry, mostly sanded off. Its sole purpose is to smooth out sanding marks and other minuscule imperfections. The final coats of color will be done by the experts at Trail Buddy in the coming weeks.

Stay updated on these two projects and many more to come by subscribing to the Hagerty YouTube channel. We promise there are some projects on the horizon you won’t want to miss.

Next episodes

Enjoy Redline Rebuild stories, opinion, and features from across the car world - Hagerty Media

There’s a lot going on in the Redline Rebuild garage—so much, in fact, that Davin needs to change locations for a bit and borrow some fabrication tools at the Hagerty Learning Center.

The 1937 Ford Coupe race car needs a metal box for its fuel cell, so Davin explains that he needs to use a shear, brake, and roll machine to build one. “Usually you buy a kit that has the bladder and the box, but since we already have a bladder … I’m going to bend up a box.”

Davin explains that it “should be pretty easy,” and he certainly makes it look that way. He builds the box in several pieces, then spot-welds it together, leaving a 1.25-inch lip on top to which he can attach the lid.

The top is a little tricky, since it requires a 6-inch hole in the center where the fuel cap sits (plus holes for the inlet and vent hoses). After taking measurements, Davin secures a board in the center of the sheetmetal, drills a hole in the board 6 inches from that center point, inserts a plasma torch into the hole, and rotates the board in a circle until the hole is cut. After smoothing the edges and punching holes along the lip, the lid is ready to be attached with bolts.

The box is a success, but after moving back to the Redline Rebuild garage, Davin doesn’t like how the cell sits inside the car. It isn’t level, and the back of the tank “is more rearward than I’d like, so I’m going to cut the braces and slide it forward 3 inches, then level it.” When that is done, Davin fabricates a brace, so the fuel cell won’t bounce around when the car is racing on the track.

Up next: leaf springs and shocks. They don’t come together as easily as Davin had hoped, so he makes plans for more cutting and fabricating. Since he’s reached the end of his day, however, that’ll have to wait until next time.

To stay up-to-date on all the projects the team is working on, be sure to subscribe to the Hagerty YouTube channel and never miss a new video.

Next episodes

Enjoy Redline Rebuild stories, opinion, and features from across the car world - Hagerty Media

The Redline Rebuild master generally looks forward to the work week. The day Davin anticipates most keenly, however, is teardown day. This week, the Cadillac 365 gets torn down so that Davin can see just what he’s getting into with this oddball V-8.

“Tearing into a new project is always exciting for me,” says Davin about the greasy Cadillac. “It’s during this time that I learn the small differences between the various engines we rebuild. Those details are what keep me coming back to the engine stand.”

Davin spots the first oddity in this engine’s design before he even begins taking it apart. The water pump has a radical design compared to a standard small-block GM product: Each cylinder head, along with the transmission, gets its own dedicated feed. Davin hasn’t seen those long hoses that run under the intake manifold to cool the transmission before—but this probably won’t be his last encounter with them.

An engine’s unique touches are fun to think about … until it’s time to order parts for the rebuild. Davin is most worried about sourcing the pistons and piston rings—the last thing he wants is another Buick straight-eight scenario on his hands. Custom pistons are relatively easy to source; the rings, however, are not so straightforward. Now that the Caddy V-8 is torn down and he’s had a look at everything, Davin will start flipping catalog pages and dialing up suppliers to evaluate his options.

If you want to see how Davin solves the piston-ring problem, be sure to subscribe to the Hagerty YouTube channel.

Next episodes

Enjoy Redline Rebuild stories, opinion, and features from across the car world - Hagerty Media

Last week, Davin gave a quick recap of the projects that he’ll be tackling this year. This week it’s time to get down to work. Up first: returning the Buick to the Hagerty Learning Garage, which means Davin gets to play with a new toy that recently arrived—a forklift.

“It might seem like overkill, but a forklift is one of those tools you don’t think you’ll use until you have one, and suddenly you find all kinds of uses for it,” Davin says. “For example, it’s a whole lot easier to lift this whole engine run stand into the pickup than to take the time to disassemble it all carry it piecemeal.”

Once loaded, the Buick straight-eight took a short blanket-covered trip to be reunited with the 1951 Buick that it will be bolted back into. The car, covered in fresh paint and nearing the finish line of its customizations, has been waiting for the engine to arrive. It should come together quickly now, but Davin is not at the shop to lend a hand with that; instead he’s there to pick up the 365 V-8 from the ’57 Cadillac that has already been stripped down to its frame, right next to the Buick.

The 365 is next up in the Redline Rebuild series, but if you want to see it torn down you’ll have to wait until next week. Davin says there are some interesting tidbits about this engine, and he’s going to dive into all that on a future episode of Redline Update.

Next episodes

Enjoy Redline Rebuild stories, opinion, and features from across the car world - Hagerty Media

New year, new projects right? Well, sort of, at least for Davin and the Redline Rebuild crew. Last year was a bit of a debacle, given how the Buick straight-eight progressed (and regressed at times) but all that is behind us. Now the focus is on tackling some things left undone from 2020, while also crossing off some checklist items for 2021.

The first item under consideration is the ’37 Ford race car. The Chrysler 440 block is hung in the chassis now, but a bare block is not going to push this car through laps at a dirt track. Davin is going to get cracking on that engine and kick off the rest of the fabrication to get that car track-ready. He says it will be doing laps this year, which is a big goal, but if anyone is going to knock that project out of the park in that timeline it’s him.

Next on the roster is a new addition to the garage. So many motorcycle riders started their two-wheeled addiction onboard a Honda Trail 70 just like the orange 1973 model that recently came into our care. It’s in good shape cosmetically, but pretty sad shape mechanically. A full teardown and rebuild is in its future—and likely some trail miles, too.

The traditional Redline Rebuild viewers will be pleased to hear at least one future project is an engine, and an interesting one at that. Hagerty has a 1957 Cadillac four-door that has been a part of the company collection for decades, and it is is well deserving of a refresh. Davin will be taking on the engine while another team will be handling the body and other mechanical parts.

Lastly, our 1946 Ford pickup will be getting a T5 transmission to replace the original three-speed. Davin already started on this project, but like any big swap, it hasn’t been without its challenges. None of these hurdles can’t be jumped, of course, but the process takes a little time. Getting it right the first time is priority number one.

All of this will, of course, be thoroughly documented with weekly updates and also larger feature videos. If you want to see the work done and also how we do it, be sure to subscribe to the Hagerty Youtube channel.

Next episodes

Enjoy Redline Rebuild stories, opinion, and features from across the car world - Hagerty Media

The Redline Rebuild process is never easy. Taking what is typically a heap of an engine and returning it to its former glory—or better—requires patience, time, and resources. When he first saw the Buick straight-eight, Davin thought it couldn’t possibly be worse than the boat anchor of a Buick Nailhead V-8 he tackled in 2019. If only he had known.

“This straight-eight was a runner, but it was real tired,” Davin says. “The goal of producing hot-rod looks and performance gave me some leeway in planning the build, but the hurdles I came up against were going to be problems even if we went back to a stock setup.”

The long-block came out of Hagerty’s 1951 Buick convertible, which had been languishing in the corner of the garage for years. There was great debate regarding the fate of the car and, consequently, that of its engine. We decided to create a period hot-rod and thus pulled the straight-eight and sent it over to Davin and team for a refresh and restyle.

“Since it was already a running engine, the teardown was pretty quick. There were no real signs of damage, but the block was plain worn out,” Davin says.

All eight cylinders received a heavy cut followed by pressed-in sleeves to bring the block back to serviceable condition. This process is fairly standard and made sense in the Buick’s case because the worn-out cylinders had already been bored .040 inch over stock, and larger pistons were not readily available. With the block tuned up, the cylinder head received the full machine-shop treatment as well and was cut for larger valves.

Those larger valves evolved into the first hurdle during the reassembly process, since the Buick 401 V-8 valves Davin chose are produced in two varieties. One design includes a straight valve stem; the other has a small step cut into its stem. Davin originally sourced the second variety—and discovered that the small step was perfectly positioned to destroy any valve stem seals. He had to order a second, straight-stemmed set—which was a pain, but nothing compared to the trouble he encountered with pistons.

The pistons took three rounds to get right. The first custom set came out with a goofy design that didn’t spark Davin’s confidence. The second set looked great, but the casting was incorrect and the piston rings didn’t fit. Finally, the third set worked, and he could button up the rotating assembly.

Once the long-block was built, the period-correct Edmunds intake manifold and modern tubular split header were carefully bolted into place, a process that required the use of all three of Davin’s arms—and he might have used a leg when the camera wasn’t rolling.

“That intake and exhaust manifold situation was something else,” Davin says. “For sure, something I am not in any rush to do again.”

At last, in this video, the engine moves over to the run stand for a test-fire and break-in before it heads back to its home in the Buick chassis. Success! The split manifold sound is spot-on hot-rod. Between the sound and the look, this straight-eight might be one of the coolest Redline Rebuild engines so far. After all, who knows what Davin has up his sleeve for 2021?

Next episodes

Enjoy Redline Rebuild stories, opinion, and features from across the car world - Hagerty Media

Every project has its critical milestones, and the Redline Rebuild Buick straight-eight just crossed off another one. Both engine and Davin are primed for starting.

This week’s update covers a lot of assembly. Most of it is fairly simple, but nevertheless quite important. The motor mounts, spark plug wires, and oil filter are all cool, but the star of the assembly show is on the driver’s side of the engine, where the custom headers and intake manifold are mounted up.

“Getting this all in place is not going to be fun,” says Davin as he prepares to thread more than a dozen studs into the engine block. “These studs all need to be in place, and then I’ll need an extra thumb or two to hold the intake and exhaust pieces in place while getting the hardware started and tightened up.”

Luckily, all the parts slip together on the first try. (I would bet Davin bought a lottery ticket on the way home with that kind of luck.) Bolting the manifold up does not mean this engine is ready for fuel to flow, though. The car this engine is destined for requires an electric choke, which means the factory Holley three-bolt carbs are not going to work. The intake manifold could not be re-fit, so Davin gets creative and started playing with plastic.

Using the gaskets for the intake manifold and Rochester carbs, Davin creates an adapter system that allows the four-bolt carbs to be fitted to the three-bolt intake manifold. It also looks pretty good with the reproduction Edmunds air cleaners perched atop the carbs.

With fuel, air, and spark now primed and ready on this engine, there are a few ancillary items to take care of once it goes on the engine stand. That, of course, is a task for next week. If you don’t want to miss hearing this hot rod straight-eight roar to life, be sure to subscribe to the Hagerty YouTube channel and watch for the latest Redline Update videos every Monday.

Next episodes

Enjoy Redline Rebuild stories, opinion, and features from across the car world - Hagerty Media

Hydraulic lifters are a gift from above when it comes to keeping an engine running reliably for years on end. However, that only stays true if said lifters are properly set up during assembly. That is precisely what what Davin intends to do today, so let’s see how it’s done in this week’s Redline Update.

There are two types of lifters that concern us here—solid and hydraulic. (There are also roller and flat-tappet lifters, but for this discussion we are concentrating on the first two.) The difference lies in the body of the lifter. A hydraulic design fills with a cushion of oil that allows for the expansion and contraction of parts that happens with heat and wear. Solid lifters are, well, solid, which means that these lifters require maintenance at regular intervals to check for proper tolerance and prevent a catastrophic meltdown.

The Buick’s 16 lifters are all hydraulic, which means assembling the valvetrain can go fairly quickly. The key is to have the camshaft rotated to the appropriate place, so that the lifters are on the base circle of the cam when adjusting the final settings. This process can be unique to each engine, and as such, Davin had to check the procedure on the Buick a few times to make sure it all went to plan.

“On this Buick the trick is to adjust the intake just as the exhaust valve starts to open, and adjust the exhaust just as the intake starts to close,” says Davin, while locking the adjusters atop the bare rocker arms. “That’s because of how the lobes on the cam are positioned and overlap.”

With the cam and roller relationship straightened out, the next step is to tighten down the adjuster until there is zero lash on the pushrod. Typically this is done by rotating the pushrod between two fingers while tightening the adjuster, when there is just a bit of drag in the rotation. That’s zero lash. Then, add one-half turn to the adjuster, lock it down, and move on to the next one. That extra half turn is to preload the hydraulic portion of the lifter so that it works properly across the temperature and oil pressure range that the engine will see during use.

Yes, this is one of the easier steps of engine assembly, but there is still room for error. Take it slow and check your work as you go. If you’re at this stage on your project car, it likely means that means the first start-up is in sight, but we won’t hear the sound of our ol’ Buick roaring to life just yet. You’ll have to subscribe to the Hagerty YouTube channel and keep an eye out for when that episode hits our channel.

Next episodes

Enjoy Redline Rebuild stories, opinion, and features from across the car world - Hagerty Media

In the latest Redline Update, Davin tackles the ratty manual transmission in the 1937 Ford that used to belong to Snowball Bishop. The Mopar-440-powered racer uses a Chrysler A-833 four-speed manual. From the outside, the gearbox looks pretty rough. Although it seems to shift OK, the case is rusty and the shift lever was the recipient of a number of expedient welding jobs. Hey, racing can be a dirty business.

Disassembly involves some light hammer work and a bit of coaxing by way of an oxy-acetylene torch. With the side cover off, Davin discovers that the clean lube he’d found when draining the transmission was no red herring; the gears look good. Regardless, there’s work to be done and all of the four-speed’s guts have to come out for a proper rebuild. Into the hot tank with all of you!

These Redline Update episodes use a totally different format than the longer-form Redline Rebuild stop-motion videos, but this one still manages to include a bit of time-lapse. So make sure to watch for some transmission tech along with some movie magic from our film crew.

Enjoy Redline Rebuild stories, opinion, and features from across the car world - Hagerty Media

Next episodes

You may also like

Popular videos

Enjoy Redline Rebuild stories, opinion, and features from across the car world - Hagerty Media

Next episodes

You may also like

Popular videos

Enjoy Redline Rebuild stories, opinion, and features from across the car world - Hagerty Media

Next episodes

You may also like

Popular videos

Enjoy Redline Rebuild stories, opinion, and features from across the car world - Hagerty Media

Next episodes

You may also like

Popular videos

Enjoy Redline Rebuild stories, opinion, and features from across the car world - Hagerty Media

Next episodes

You may also like

Popular videos

Enjoy Redline Rebuild stories, opinion, and features from across the car world - Hagerty Media

Next episodes

You may also like

Popular videos

Enjoy Redline Rebuild stories, opinion, and features from across the car world - Hagerty Media

Next episodes

You may also like

Popular videos

Enjoy Redline Rebuild stories, opinion, and features from across the car world - Hagerty Media

Next episodes

You may also like

Popular videos

Enjoy Redline Rebuild stories, opinion, and features from across the car world - Hagerty Media

Next episodes

You may also like

Popular videos

Enjoy Redline Rebuild stories, opinion, and features from across the car world - Hagerty Media

Next episodes

You may also like

Popular videos