Roadkill Garage

The '56 Chevy Field Car has a long and painful history, but now all that changes. Freiburger and Dulcich try to break into the 10s at the dragstrip by way of more power. After diagnosing the injured 350ci engine, the guys drop in a 571-hp 406ci V-8 that sat for decades. With a new powerplant and some modifications, will the '56 run its fastest times ever?

It's the 100th episode of Roadkill Garage, and to celebrate the occasion, Freiburger and Dulcich hit the road on Hot Rod's Power Tour. With their newly completed, V-8-transplanted '71 Plymouth Duster backed by a four-speed and 8.75-inch rear end, the guys road-test, race and roadside-fix their way along a 1,000-mile trip across multiple states.

What happens when Freiburger and Dulcich take the '56 Chevy Field Car, Bang-Shifting Cougar, and '31 Model A Ford "F-Rod" to test at the dragstrip? You get two out of three down the track, and one is destined to break. Such is the guys' life, but at least they get the suspensions dialed in for some of their fastest runs down the quarter mile in two of their cars.

Freiburger and Dulcich have love for Dusters, but not the slant-six. The guys add V-8 power to their red 1971 Plymouth Duster, whose seized slant-six had seen better days. With the addition of the V-8, four-speed, a beefier new rear end, and a handful of other repairs, the guys get the Red

Recently, Dulcich picked up a rough new project 1974 Dodge Charger that affectionately became the Bro-Charger. Dulcich enlists the help of Wiley Stevens to make the derelict Charger into an actual roadworthy vehicle. After a lot of wrenching, the guys take a road-trip test drive to Las Vegas, Nevada, to meet up with Chris Birdsong and compete in an autocross event.

The problematic pig of a '73 El Camino named El Cochino is back; Freiburger and Dulcich address the camshaft and lifter issues that remain on their factory SS 454 four-speed Chevy, while also attempting to repair a terrible wheel-hop issue.

Freiburger pits his '69 Ford Mustang Mach 1 known as the Disgustang against Dulcich's '67 Mercury Bang-Shifting Cougar. After some suspension and rear-end modifications and upgrades on the Cougar, the guys hit the road and an airport runway to find out which car is the better beater.

Can you have too many Dusters in your life? Not if you're Freiburger or Dulcich. The guys add one more to the fleet. Unfortunately, this 1971 Duster in Rally Red hasn't moved since 1993, but that's not as unfortunate as its slant-six power plant. The guys get the gutless Plymouth back on the road, but it's not long before the engine reveals its true worth.

Dulcich enlists help from Wiley Stevens and Chris Birdsong in order to transplant a third-generation Hemi into the 1974 Dodge D100 known as the Mopar Muscle Truck. After frustrations and issues hold up progress, the guys clean up a new project 1974 Dodge Charger and get it on the road.

Freiburger and Dulcich bring a '60 Ford Ranchero back to life after rescuing it from a backyard and over 40 years of neglect. With a fresh 283 power transplant ahead of the Muncie four-speed, the guys overhaul the entire drivetrain to see if this one is worth keeping, or if they should flip it.

Recently, Freiburger and Dulcich were stopped by some fans who invited the guys to come thrash the Crusher Impala around their property. While there, Freiburger spotted a big-block 440-swapped '68 Dart he couldn’t pass up. Now, the guys pick up the Dart and take it home to give it an impressive engine bay makeover and horsepower-adding tune-up.

Freibuger and Dulcich can't pass up buying a '41 Ford former race car with a 300ci straight-six engine that last saw action in some La Carrera Panamericana road races back in the late '90s. With a little tuning, carburetor rebuild, exhaust modifications and some love, the guys get the Ford back on some winding open roads.

Freiburger and Dulcich tune up the supercharged big block in the '69 Crusher Impala at Westech's dyno before hitting the road and the dragstrip. After some monster burnouts and a romp through the desert to find a possible new project 440 Dart, the guys run the Impala's fastest time in the quarter mile, but discover some new Roadkill-level issues.

Freiburger and Dulcich hit the road in a '66 Chevy Chevelle purchased sight unseen in an attempt to score two new project cars. A lack of horsepower doesn't equate to a lack of fun as the guys fix and tune their way from Washington to Arizona to rescue a dirt-cheap junkyard '75 Dodge Dart.

The General Mayhem '68 Dodge Charger is back together and better than ever, with its 440 big-block powerplant and rust-free sheet metal! Freiburger and Dulcich finish piecing the Mayhem together and include what will hopefully be some engine-saving modifications before hitting the road for proper break-in procedures, aka burnouts!

The 1970 Plymouth Crop Duster has been a project car for over half a decade, and now it's a truly mint 10-second street car. Freiburger and Dulcich take the freshly painted and finished Crop Duster with its new 440 V8 to the track, before overcoming myriad issues and setbacks to finally achieve their elusive 10-second time slip.

Freiburger and Dulcich finish up the '56 Chevy Field Car build with new coilover front suspension, new gears for their 9-inch rear end, a ported intake and a slew of other modifications in order to get the car down the dragstrip for its best time to date. No rear gears were harmed in the filming of this episode.

The legendary '68 Dodge Charger known as General Mayhem gets stripped of its 707-hp Hellcat engine and all the accompanying electronics, as Freiburger and Dulcich vow to take it from the dragstrip setup back to its motorhome 440-powered V8 and gravel-chucking roots.

You can't beat a good work truck, but you can certainly beat on them. Freiburger and Dulcich do just that through a series of challenges to find out which is better: David's '99 Dodge Ram 2500 V10 4x4 with a five-speed stick or Steve's '73 K20 Chevy 4x4 with a 350ci V8 known as the "Fail Guy." Will Dulcich dominate, or with the Fail Guy live up to its namesake?

Freiburger and Dulcich make some significant progress on the F-Rod, and David goes deep into the automotive wiring abyss, teaching all the tips and tricks he knows for correctly wiring a hot rod. The guys also get reacquainted with the reacquired '68 Chrysler Town & Country known as the Gargantuwagon.

The ‘67 Cougar powered by a Windsor-based 360ci stroker and backed by a four-speed is back! Almost. Freiburger and Dulcich try to fix a multitude of issues and get it back on the road. Then they take a detour with another project, the F-Rod ’31 Model A!

The masterpiece that is the Crop Duster is finally done—if you don’t count the interior, that is. In this episode of Roadkill Garage, Freiburger and Dulcich finish the ’70 Plymouth that has languished away on the farm for so long. See how it has transformed from junk into one of the nicest piles in the Roadkill fleet, and undoubtedly one of the best at brutal burnouts for distance!

Last time you saw the BJ-5, it left a yard sale of parts on the track after racing against the Off-Road Challenger. Freiburger and Dulcich fix the Jeep and thrash it in the sand, leaving only one question: will the supercharged powerplant be too much for the axles?

Freiburger and Dulcich tackle the easy task of upgrading the handling of the T-37, only to have their most infuriating build to date. Will they bounce back to improve in the six-clod test, or will the springs of 2020 keep them homebound?

Freiburger and Dulcich bring back the Wreck Runner, their '68 Satellite Road Runner clone. The guys fix a handful of issues -- brakes, torsion bars, shifter, seats, overall tune and more -- before thrashing it out on the dirt.

Freiburger challenges Dulcich to a showdown between a newly acquired cheap truck and the almighty Ford Muscle Truck. The challenge is this: Can a ’74 Ford F-100 long bed with a 360 FE engine be just as much fun as the FMT with just a few hop-ups?

The guys are finally making some progress marrying the 406 Cleveland engine to their Jeep Commando. They get the drivetrain sorted out, fitting the engine to a Chevrolet transmission, then show how to stuff everything into the Jeep body.

David and Steve nab a '56 Chevy 210 that was once an NHRA champion, but the body is complete garbage -- even by their standards. They try to bring the car closer to its former glory, then it's off for some passes at the Kingman Street Drags on Route 66.

Back on Episode 87 of Roadkill, David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan bought a completely wrecked ’68 Road Runner and brought it back to life, creating the world’s only C-Body Road Runner. Now on this episode of Roadkill Garage, Freiburger and Steve Dulcich are finally seeing through with the original plan of using the C-Body as a parts car. Follow along as the guys turn a straight ’68 Plymouth Satellite body purchased for $500 into an awesome 383, four-speed Road Runner clone for under $10K.

Finding the time to complete a project is hard enough, but being able to fix multiple problems on multiple projects at the same time? It’s nearly impossible, unless you’re David Freiburger and Steve Dulcich, of course! On this episode of Roadkill Garage, Freiburger and Dulcich take on the problems plaguing the off-road Challenger called Vanishing Paint and the Super Bee, in order to get them ready for a special Roadkill Nights shootout. If that wasn’t enough, the guys even find time to pick up a new project that’s not quite a mini Mopar muscle truck, but is 100-percent Rampage!

It took Michelangelo four years to paint the Sistine Chapel, but for Steve Dulcich it took only two years to paint the Crop Duster! That’s right, the Crop Duster is finally painted, and it’s a masterpiece! Way back on Episode 18 of Roadkill Garage, Dulcich set out on Part 1 of a DIY paint- and bodywork job and today that project is complete. Follow along as Dulcich and David Freiburger lift a huge weight off their shoulders, while also getting the ’67 long-bed C10 back up and running. Watch this paint-and-body episode that’s two-plus years in the making!

The Disgustang is back! David Freiburger and Steve Dulcich are going all in to finally give the 1969 Mach 1 the attention it deserves. Originally rescued from decades of junkyard neglect on Episode 66 of Roadkill, then engine-swapped and road-tripped over 1,300 miles only to be beaten around DirtFish Rally School on Episode 73, it will now be made into the ultimate Roadkill daily driver. What’s the plan, you ask? A power steering conversion, an engine bay refresh and paint, a five-speed trans swap, and a little cosmetic love. It’s an ambitious task to complete in five days, and the guys take to bang-shifting the Cougar for inspiration. Have they bitten off more than they can chew in a week’s time, or will they have it fired back up and running? Find out on this episode of Roadkill Garage.

The ’67 Chevy C10 shortbed is back. Its storied past started in HOT ROD Garage and then multiple episodes of Roadkill and Roadkill Garage, but now it’s time to finally make it a clean and respectable daily driver. David Freiburger and Steve Dulcich take on the task of a DIY paint match on the bed, a five-lug conversion, interior upgrades, new wheels, and a new gas tank that doesn’t put rust into the fuel system. Watch and learn on this episode of Roadkill Garage, as the C10 transforms into something that’s probably way too nice for Freiburger, but not too nice to thrash on.

On this episode of Roadkill Garage, David Freiburger and Steve Dulcich have been challenged by Fred Williams and Dave Chappelle from Dirt Every Day to a Jeep build-off. What’s the best way to improve a 1975 CJ-5 with a small-block Chevy? Step one: Don't focus on the suspension, axles, gearing, and so forth. Step two: Add more power, of course! With some leftover parts from Engine Masters, the guys swap in a 383 short-block topped with a Weiand 671 supercharger and create the blown CJ-5 now known as the BJ-5! Before heading to the driving challenge set up by the Dirt Heads, the guys call in JP Editor Rick Péwé to help sort out some other mechanical issues and take the blown Jeep for its first off-road test drive.

For years, David Freiburger has wanted a true running and drivable hot rod but has never been able to pull one from the halls of neglect to finish it…until now. On this episode of Roadkill Garage powered by Dodge, meet Freiburger and Steve Dulcich's new project car, a Model A on ’32 Ford rails. With three days to get this roller running, there’s not much to do other than install a Chevy small-block and Turbo 350 trans, build the brakes, install new axles and gears, do all of the wiring and plumbing, and, of course, add a tunnel-ram! Maybe it’s a little ambitious to build in three days, but Freiburger’s mantra is: don’t get it right, just get it running. After all, you really have to get a hot rod on the road before you can tell if you’re in love or not. The guys hit some roadblocks with compression issues that send their heads spinning but manage to eventually get it on the road. This leaves only one question unanswered: Will Freiburger love it or will another project fall to neglect?

On this episode of Roadkill Garage presented by Dodge, we’re back with the 1970 Dodge Challenger known as Vanishing Paint. This car dates back to Episode 4, when we thrashed it together, and then we revisited it in Episode 34 as we upgraded the whole drivetrain. This time, we continue the theme of “make it pretty good but not excellent” with a homegrown package of average-guy suspension add-ons for cornering performance. And then we test it in the six-clod, our new secret test method!

One of the most popular projects from Roadkill Garage is the "Vanishing Paint" 1970 Dodge Challenger from way back on Episode 4 of the series. The car has been ignored for 30 episodes now, but when Tire Rack invited Roadkill to a race coming up later this year, David Freiburger and Steve Dulcich decided to lower their lofty goals for the car and just get it running well enough to make the trip. You’ll see the installation of the 360ci small-block that was assembled over 16 episodes of our Roadkill Extra “How to Build Your First Engine” series, plus the guys will hop up the TorqueFlite trans and show you the most affordable way to convert a muscle car to a new Ford 9-inch rearend. Of course the show closes with some traditional Roadkill Garage exhibitions of speed, but this isn’t the last you’ll see of the Vanishing Paint: stick with Motor Trend Premium to see an upcoming episode of Roadkill, where Freiburger and Dulcich will finish the suspension and hit the road to meet up with Tire Rack at an SCCA autocross!

Yes, we’re talking 650 horsepower from a Ford Cleveland engine in a Jeep Commando! If you’re thinking this is stupid, you’re right; in Roadkill style, we’re putting great parts on questionable cars in the hunt for massive burnouts, fast quarter-mile times, big wheelies, and—this time—ridiculously overpowered action in the sand and dirt drags. The Clevo Commando will take months to finish, but we’re kicking off the project on this episode that gives you a gander at the weirdo Jeep as we hack the sheetmetal to clear big Bogger tires, then give you the buildup recipe for a 406ci Cleveland that proves its power with bigger numbers on the dyno than even expected, even from guest-star Steve Brulé of Engine Masters. Stay tuned for a future episode where we wrap it all up.

Steve Dulcich had big dreams for his 1968 Plymouth Barracuda, but then it burned to the ground in the California wildfires. Dulcich was devastated, and his buddy David Freiburger realized an intervention was needed. The answer: make the car live again! Every single piece of mechanically functional rubber and plastic in the car would need to be replaced; it would need basic rewiring; and the brakes, including every hardline, would need to be renewed. As for engine and trans, the guys could use the 400hp 318ci small-block that was removed from the Mopar Muscle Truck on Episode 15 of Roadkill Garage. All that needed to happen was to get the barbecued ’Cuda running and driving again and doing burnouts to lift Dulcich’s spirits and give the car new life as the BBQuda!

“Station wagons: there is no finer American institution.” That’s what David Freiburger wrote way back in 1998 as the editor of Car Craft magazine. Twenty years later, it’s still true! Hot rodders love old station wagons, and surprisingly, many models can still be purchased cheaply. That’s proven in this episode of Roadkill Garage as Freiburger scores a 1968 Chrysler Town & Country wagon for $1,800—and it has a 440ci big-block for power! It’s soon dubbed the Gargantuwagon. Freiburger and Steve Dulcich show you how to give any old car a basic once-over before they also teach you how to give one a good thrashing without really hurting much. Soon it becomes clear that Dulcich’s 1967 Pontiac Bonneville wagon from Episode 11 needs to come play along—and if two full-size American land barges are good, then three are better as Lucky Costa from the HOT ROD Garage show jumps in with his 1966 Plymouth Fury wagon loaded with 512ci of big-block power!

Freiburger and Dulcich have a new project car, a quick and dirty ’40 Ford Fordor. Other than the lack of interior, some rust, poor suspension it really only has one main problem…it’s too slow! The guys decide to beef it up with some new heads, a new carb and a supercharger. The ’40 Ford already has a small-block Chevy power plant that either needs some TLC or to be retired completely. The guys dig into the grimy engine and find it’s more trouble than it’s worth, but they have a solution and end up hitting the farm roads to relive some bootlegging outlaw action.

Built on the cheap in episode 8, and winner of the highly debated and socially contested autocross of episode 9, the beloved Crew Cab Chevelle is back! The goal: find out how fast the old four door can go in a standing mile. After sitting on the farm for over a year the Chevelle gets a land speed makeover with a full roll cage, a safety adjustment or two, and a homemade aero package. Freiburger gives Dulcich the honor of piloting the crew cab to new heights and only one transmission exploded in the process!

The very first episode of Roadkill Garage featured David Freiburger and Steve Dulcich doing a cheapy rebuild of the 351 Cleveland engine that had been swapped into Freiburger’s 1967 Mercury Cougar, but the most memorable moments from that show were Dulcich powershifting the car’s Top Loader four-speed trans like a madman. Now, 22 episodes later, both the Cougar and the legendary gear-banging are back! The difference? The car now belongs to Dulcich, and this time the guys are jerking the haggard Cleveland in favor of a 450hp, 363ci, Windsor-based stroker small-block. That poor Top Loader didn’t even know what hit it!

The Dulcich D100 is back! On Roadkill Garage Episode 15, you were introduced to this Mopar Muscle Truck, a shortbed stepside that we loaded with a 500hp, 360ci small-block before taking it drag racing at Roadkill’s first-ever Zip-Tie Drags. After that, Steve Dulcich drove the truck everywhere for months, including using it for tow duty. Unfortunately, after the Dodge was used to haul the Crusher Camaro to the track one day, it had a massive meltdown, when a hole appeared in a cylinder wall. Dulcich removed the 360 and installed a 400hp, 318ci engine to keep the truck in service. David Freiburger couldn’t allow that, downgrading the Mopar Muscle Truck to the Mopar Yoga-Class Truck. Watch the action on this episode as the guys install a fresh, 550hp, 408ci engine! Were the truck’s other dragstrip deficiencies addressed? Of course not! But that never stops Roadkill Garage from trying—even if it leaves our projects in pieces by the time we’re done.

This special episode of Roadkill Garage finds us well outside the garage, heading into the outback of Colorado to revive a `68 Jeep Wagoneer that had been sitting untouched for 22 years! We’ve also got special guest host Rick Péwé, editor of Jp Magazine—but fear not, because regular host Steve Dulcich and his dog farm will be back in the next episode. Meanwhile, watch David Freiburger and Péwé struggle with the obscure 327ci Rambler V-8 in the old Jeep. They’ll also grapple with Freiburger’s original concept of turning this rig into the DRAGoneer, a weirdo of a sleeper drag-racing machine; could the “Waggy” just be too good to tear up, Roadkill style? Decide for yourself by the time you reach the end of this Roadkill Garage field trip.

There is no episode of Roadkill or Roadkill Garage that out-Mad-Maxes this one, because absolutely no one these days hacks the sheetmetal off of a 1970 Dodge Challenger to fit giant off-road tires and go desert bashing. Except Freiburger and Dulcich. And even if people did slice up desirable muscle cars, they’d be smarter than Freiburger and Dulcich and wouldn’t drive them into a lava flow during a 100-year sandstorm that strips paint, shreds skin, and tears up eyeballs. Ah, but there’s no glory without suffering, and this time on Roadkill Garage, there’s plenty of glory. Not only that, but the guys turned a mundane dirt-track race car (seen in Roadkill episodes 54 and 56) into an unforgettable E-body off-roader. BTW, don’t worry—this car was no rest candidate to begin with.

Lurking in the background of many episodes of Roadkill Garage is Steve Dulcich’s 1973 Dodge D100 stepside pickup, his pet project loaded with a 550hp, 360ci, 7,000-rpm small-block Mopar and a four-speed. In this episode, the Mopar Muscle Truck comes into the spotlight as Dulcich and David Freiburger finally wrap up the last details of the buildup that have been lingering for more than a year, then hit the road. A shootout with the LS6-powered Roadkill 1974 Chevy C10 stepside seemed like the obvious plotline. But can the famed Roadkill Muscle Truck outrun the Roadkill Garage Mopar Muscle Truck? Inquiring minds will watch the episode to find out.

David Freiburger's 1971 Plymouth Road Runner is all neato and stuff, but it's shamefully gutless. In this episode of Roadkill Garage, we’ll show you how to do some basic engine checks on an older car to find out why it's not making power. The guys will also hop it up a little with a vintage intake manifold and fresh Holley carb, then "scientifically" test the results.

For no good reason, David Freiburger has always wanted to drive a Pontiac Bonneville to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah—a freakish landscape of dead-flat, hard-packed salt where land-speed racing has been taking place since 1914. It’s also where Freiburger has set a number of records between 225 and 251 mph, but this time it’s all about the vacation and not the speed. After Steve Dulcich buys a 1967 Pontiac Bonneville station wagon, the guys do minimal prep and hit the road for adventure and zip tie–wielding fun before they arrive at Bonneville for a big surprise.

Steve Dulcich – “Roadkill Garage mixes low-tech wrenching for the glory of achieving better than expected performance and plenty of fun. In episode 9 we performed simple but effective modifications to a junk 1966 Chevelle four-door sedan, including an all-used drivetrain. The capper here is a head-to-head autocross shootout against a very well set up Pro Touring style Chevelle with surprising results.

David Freiburger finally gets to do some four-wheeling on Roadkill! Or Roadkill Garage, anyway. In this episode, he and Steve Dulcich attack the Jeep Scrambler that's been in the Freiburger fleet for about 20 years. It's a quality, old-school rockcrawler with 42-inch Swampers, Dana 60s, Air Lockers, 7.17 gears, an Atlas transfer case and NV4500 trans, and spring-over suspension. But it's been neglected for a decade, with only occasional car-crushing action. The guys pull it out of hiding, spiff up the mechanical glitches, and head out for some hard-core rockcrawling—with predictable #BecauseRoadkill results.

David Freiburger and Steve Dulcich thrive on rescuing long-abandoned vehicles from rotting neglect, and this time they revive a 1967 Jeep J100 panel truck from the backyard of Jp Magazine Editor Rick Péwé. The truck is an Army-issue Audio-Visual Panel Delivery that was used for field media production and, from what we can tell, only about 2,500 of these trucks were made. It’s loaded with an AMC 232ci straight-six, three-on-the-tree manual trans, and Dana 20 transfer case for four-wheel drive. It’s sweet, but it has not been on the road since 1995, and Freiburger’s on a deadline to drive it up to the Southern California Timing Association’s land speed races at El Mirage Dry Lake so he can work patrol duty…and then do some four-wheeling with the old beast that’s now known as the Flannel Wagon.

Roadkill Garage is all about what two average guys can get done in a single weekend of wrenching, and this time hosts David Freiburger and Steve Dulcich will show you how to revive an engine that’s been rotting outside since Ronald Reagan was president. The patient is a gutted 1975ish Dodge pickup with a 360ci small-block V-8. When the adventure starts, the guys have no clue if the engine can be saved at all, but in the end, it’s out doing donuts! Watch and learn how to get a long-neglected engine back on the road

This is the pilot episode of an all-new show that will be appearing exclusively on Motor Trend On Demand monthly in 2016. Roadkill Garage features David Freiburger from Roadkill and Steve Dulcich from Engine Masters (but, don't worry, Mike Finnegan is still the co-host on Roadkill). RK Garage will show Freiburger and Dulcich wrenching on Roadkill project cars and other things that meet the Roadkill vibe. They'll show you how to do the wrong things the right way. In this episode, the guys attempt a three-day overhaul of the 351 Cleveland engine from the '67 Mercury Cougar that belonged to Freiburger when the show began, but that transferred to Dulcich before the shoot was over. The "rebuild" is not exactly kosher, but it's dirt cheap and generates good tire smoke!