04x17 - DC High School Build

[bunniefuu]

- [Big Schwag] Pay attention, Monster Freakazoids.

This week we're taking the show on the road

and heading to the capital.

Yeah, that's right.

We're in Washington DC, but Jesse's not running for office.

He's recruiting some unsuspecting high school students

for a monster build.

- That's pretty damn good.

[cheerleaders cheering]

- [Narrator] Join us now as Jesse and his g*ng

of Maverick Mechanics rip, grind, and burn,

transforming ordinary street vehicles

into monster machines in the "Monster Garage."

♪ Monster, Monster Garage

♪ Monster, Monster Garage

♪ Monster, Monster Garage

♪ Monster, Monster Garage

♪ Monster, Monster Garage

♪ Monster Garage

This week's challenge, transform these auto shop students

into the youngest Monster Build crew ever.

Pulling a surprise maneuver, Jesse shows up at school

to teach the kids how to put together a West Coast chopper.

- [Jesse] Did you do your homework?

- [Narrator] The rules, the team will get

five large for parts.

They'll have only five days to complete their monster,

but they have to finish their regular school day first.

If successful, each team member will receive

a Jesse James toolkit worth 700 bucks and Ballou High School

will score two $4,000 Mac toolkits for their shop program.

It's day one at Ballou High School

in southeast Washington, DC.

[students murmuring]

[bell ringing]

They don't know it yet, but this group of auto shop students

is about to be monsterized.

In a covert operation, Jesse made plans with their teachers

to set up a monster class.

Before making the trip, Jesse and the entire

Monster Garage crew had to get fingerprinted

to be allowed on school property.

Did this outlaw pass?

- Very good fingerprints.

Not worn out, means he works hard and it shows.

- [Narrator] Up until now, the kids have no idea

that they're going to be on "Monster Garage."

- [Derek] Well, here's the representative.

- Oh, that's that guy that be on "Monster Garage."

- [Derek] We have Mr. Jesse James

coming in from "Monster Garage."

- What's up?

How you doing?

- Derek. - Jesse.

- How you doing, Dwayne. - What's up?

[students laughing]

- I watch that show every night.

I swear to God I watch that show.

- You didn't think we were gonna make you do

an instructional video, did you?

[students laughing]

We told your parents we were just doing

an instructional video, so they would let you film.

We didn't wanna tell 'em what it was for

'cause I was afraid they would ruin the surprise.

We were pulling a little joke on you guys,

but we're gonna change it up a little this week,

and you guys wanna build a bike?

- Yeah. - Yeah.

- Yeah. - All right.

[students laughing]

It'll basically, you know, since you guys

don't know anything about bikes,

so I'll teach you from start to finish, you know?

- Oh my God, this is...

- [Jesse] What are you guys working on right now in class?

- I'm in a band and we going to California the 19th

and we had a lot of practices.

- [Jesse] I heard you guys

got a pretty good band here, yeah.

What do you play?

- I play just about every instrument besides the clarinet.

- [Jesse] You're not that guy up front with the big hat.

- Nah, not the drum major.

- No? - No, that's after.

- What are you guys working on in this class right now?

- Nothing. - Same.

[students laughing]

- We changing brakes.

- Yeah, that's the way our shop was

when I was in high school.

All we did was change tires and oil for the teacher's cars.

- Yeah. - Man.

- They thought it was like their free auto shop.

- Change their brakes for 'em. - Exactly now.

- Yeah.

- Maybe he made us change his brakes on this Jaguar.

Tell us, I need this.

- I paid y'all for that? - Yeah.

- It says class credit. - Oh, okay.

- Get your brakes changed.

- I heard about you.

You're supposed to be pretty good.

- I am? - Yeah.

So I got, your teachers handpicked you guys,

said you guys are the best students.

So I figure...

- We not gonna argue with 'em.

We not gonna argue with 'em.

- I knew I was gonna get picked.

- No arguing.

- This week, we get to the good stuff.

We'll actually build something from scratch and hear it run.

So I think a good goal would be we'll start

with just boxes of parts and then by the end,

by Friday night, if we can fire it up and get it to run

and maybe ride around the parking lot,

we'll give you guys some sets of tools.

- Oh, okay. - Cool?

- Yeah. - Yes.

- All right.

You wanna go out there and see what stuff we have?

Yeah.

- [Narrator] School's out

and Monster Mechanics 101 is in session.

Representing hardworking high school students everywhere are

Chris Meriwether,

Charles Stutz,

Andre Lee,

Timothy Williams,

Mark Hargrove,

Geneva Robertson.

And at the head of the class, the dynamic teaching duo,

Mr. Derek Butler and Mr. Dwayne French.

- Take it up a little higher. - Go up high, Tim.

- [Narrator] First things first, the kids christen the build

with the "Monster Garage" sign.

- [Jesse] That's cool.

I need a picture of that.

- [Narrator] Now that the Pristine Auto Shop

has become an official Monster Garage site,

the kids open all the boxes of parts

that were shipped in advance and lay out the goods.

- We can probably move that big bench over there if you want

and bring everything to it.

- Like this, right?

[upbeat rock music]

Well, we'll double it.

We'll put this, stack this so we have,

and we'll put that other one on top of there.

Then we'll have a four-inch ride height.

And then when we set up, we set the wheels and tires

and we'll build all the suspension

right to that ride height. - Okay.

- I'm gonna give you guys a little quick explanation then

'cause you look like you're a little bit lost.

Can we erase some of this stuff?

- Sure.

- If the ride isn't set up right, it ruins the whole look

of the bike and a lot of people don't get that.

And I think it's like one of my little secrets, you know?

Because I don't tell a lot of people, you know,

and they think they're building,

"oh, my bike's just as good as Jesse's."

But then it's all funky looking ride height, you know?

[students laughing]

I usually set it up only like three quarters of an inch

lower in front and that gives the whole bike a whole,

I think it gives it like a look, like the bike's going fast,

just sitting there.

To me the most important thing,

if you're gonna build a bike, you gotta look cool

and the bike's gotta look cool going down the road.

The motor is separate from everything else.

The motor turns, then you have a big fat belt drive

on one side, that goes back and that turns the transmission.

Transmission has a sprocket inside that

that turns the rear wheel.

Who's good at electrical?

[students laughing]

Any of you guys?

'Cause I suck.

[students laughing]

I'm the worst.

You know, girls are supposed to be the best welders, right?

- Yeah.

[students laughing]

- [Narrator] Geneva Robertson is at the top of her game.

She's the captain of the volleyball team

and at just 17, she's already got men figured out.

- I hate been the only girl in the class.

It's like, once the boys are doing something

and then he'll tell me to go do it

and I'll do it right and they'll do it wrong.

He was like, and then they'll joke on me

and it's like, then you don't wanna do it right

the first time you wanna mess up

just so they won't say anything about you.

And I'm like...

Yeah, sometimes I'll be, and I just don't say anything.

Like, he'll ask a question,

I just won't raise my hand, you know?

Just to make them feel more superior sometimes.

'Cause sometimes I think males just need that.

[Geneva and interviewer laughing]

- Lemme make it blue and yellow.

- That's what I'm talking about.

- Yeah, is that your school colors?

- That's for basketball and football.

- [Geneva] Gold.

- How about blue and candy gold?

- That'll work. - Yeah.

- [Jesse] 'Cause yellow, I've never painted a bike yellow

because yellow- - It's not yellow.

- [Jesse] Yellow's the universal symbol for scared.

[students laughing]

- [Narrator] Armed with more knowledge,

the Ballou builders tackle the task at hand.

- Mr. Butler. - What's up?

- Can I beat the saw man? - Sure.

- Hold this, hold that tight against there

and then you can push down a little bit.

- [Narrator] Mark cuts the cross members

to stand the bike on.

[metal clanking] [group chatting indistinctly]

- It'll probably go up a little bit in back

once we put the axle on, but not much.

And then you figure once the weight of this thing,

the tire's gonna squish down a little bit.

- The cylinder. - I think they're cool.

I was nervous.

I mean, coming in here today, I didn't know,

you know, [laughs] I'm so used to dealing with know-it-alls

and experts and you know, it's kind of nice

that they don't know anything.

So hopefully by the end of the week,

it'll be a positive experience and they can,

you know, maybe one of 'em want to build a bike one day.

- S and S. - Oh look at that y'all.

- Hey.

[students laughing]

- Hey, this seems so fake.

Can I wake up now?

[students laughing]

I was like, that's the man off of "Monster Garage," Jesse.

I was like so excited.

I never thought I'd actually

get to build a motorcycle before.

And when I first started watching Jesse's show,

I would ask Mr. French,

"Mr. French, are we gonna be doing things

with motorcycles or anything?"

"No, Mark.

It's just a regular auto mechanics class."

I was like, "okay."

- [Narrator] 17-year-old Mark Hargrove

is one of those rare kids that loves school.

- It's like being at home.

I look at Mr. French and Mr. Butler

as like big brothers or a father.

They don't know it though,

but I look at 'em as, like, as a father figure.

- [Narrator] Mark has faced

terrible tragedy in his young life.

- My brother was beat to death in his house.

One night he came home from school,

and somebody broke in and beat him to death.

Well I've been living around here for 13 years.

It is a good neighborhood,

but it's not a good neighborhood sometimes.

Like, a lot of things go on.

I seen somebody get k*lled in front of me before.

There's a lot of things that I wish

I could just get up and go.

That's why I'm so glad that's why I'm going to California.

- [Narrator] Mark is heading west

with the Ballou Marching Band

that he's been part of since seventh grade.

- I love the way we march.

I love the way we play songs and things like that.

I love it, that's my life.

That's my second life.

[drums beating rhythmically]

- You kind of gotta go bottom in first and kind of tilt it.

We gotta take the carburetor off.

It's hitting that motor mount.

[drums resounding]

Cool. - Not too tight, now.

- [Geneva] Really that close.

- We might have to loosen the tr*nny up.

These ones are piece of cake.

Yeah, let's tighten the motor and trans

before we cinch this down.

That'll probably, that'll tighten this belt up.

You guys tired?

Thought you were gonna go home right after school?

- [Mark] How many times I asked y'all to help me?

- [Jesse] Thanks for letting me come in here

and show you guys what to do.

- You can come in anytime. - Thank you.

- [Tim] Come more often. [laughs]

- [Geneva] You been asked for an autograph yet?

- [Mark] That's what I'm thinking.

Nah, I think we're cool, we're cool.

- [Jesse] You think other kids are gonna be jealous?

They're gonna be hating on you?

They got us building a bike in school today.

What are you guys building, that Toyota Corolla?

- And my friend had just asked me,

"what are y'all doing good in auto mechanic?"

I said, "nothing besides changing oil."

And I tell 'em this, he going to transfer tomorrow. So yeah.

- [Jesse] Why don't you guys do some motorcycle homework?

Everybody think of a person that has a bike you like.

- [Mark] I did my homework already.

- [Jesse] And maybe take and write a paragraph

and describe it why you like that bike.

- [Narrator] After Professor James

hands out a homework assignment, these junior builders

get sent home with an A+ for effort

on their first build day.

"Monster Garage" factoid.

At the Home Depot National Battle of the Bands Competition

in Carson, California, the Ballou Senior High Marching Band

came in second out of 110 bands.

♪ Monster, Monster Garage

It's day two at Ballou High School.

These freshman fabricators are now ready

to get their monster groove on after they finally absorbed

the initial shock of Jesse's arrival.

And the master motivator rolls in armed with a lesson plan.

- [Derek] Mr. James, we have a special guest today.

Victoria Walker.

She's gonna be in on the build with us.

- Hi, Victoria Walker. - Hi, how are you?

- Let me see your shoes.

- [Narrator] Jesse checks out Victoria's shoes.

- [Jesse] Those aren't steel toe.

[students laughing]

She's gonna look good, though.

- I was gonna go get my tennis shoes,

but I had to come right back.

- Did you do your homework?

You did?

Well since she wasn't here yesterday.

I'll give you guys till tomorrow.

The reason why I'm doing this is once we take them

and you describe why you like it,

we'll take all those descriptions

and we'll put that into when we make this,

when we do the paint and the pipes and stuff like that

and make it look cool.

They're not even gonna know what powers they possess

until they hear that motor start and they feel it

in their chest and they're all of a sudden it's gonna like,

"oh man, we built a bike."

This is your front end.

You got inner bearing spacer.

These are the races going in the hub like this

for the wheel that the spokes are going into.

Bearings, spacer, and the axle.

So all that stuff.

If that's not boring you too much.

All that stuff, that's what we're putting together today.

Think you guys can handle that?

[students exclaiming and laughing]

- [Narrator] Yesterday, they put together the drive train.

Today, they'll move on to the front end.

- This is your suspension for the front.

You know, these collapse when you hit bumps and...

- [Charles] Oh, okay.

- You put oil in it and it keeps it from snapping back.

- [Tim] They got springs in it or something?

- Yeah, springs and like a dampener, you know where-

- [Mark] Like a little front, back.

- [Narrator] But they don't have the proper hardware yet

to put together the front end,

so they work on the back end instead.

- We can't put it together.

We can put put the back one together first.

You hear that little bit of click?

It's all you want.

You're just pressing the bearings against that inner race.

Anybody want to feel that?

- I think it's gonna get stuck.

Oh, yes it did.

[students laughing]

- Don't force it, just let it slide in 'cause it doesn't...

[upbeat rock music]

Make sure your sprockets are lined up.

If it's off, it'll pull these bolts right out of it.

- [Narrator] Jesse's pupils

are starting to lose their focus.

- Come on, man, pay attention.

You're running behind, holding us back.

- What I'm doing, y'all are just talking.

- You supervisor?

You Jesse now?

- You Jesse? Jesse Junior? - No, you Jesse Junior.

- I don't think we have any. - Shh.

- JJJ. - You a stalker.

I wonder if it got left already.

- I'm not a stalker.

I just said I like the man's show.

- [Charles] You know everything about him.

- [Mark] That's because I watched the show.

That don't mean nothing.

- Okay. - Stop.

[students chatting indistinctly]

- Go ahead, JJJ.

- Don't give me your name, dog.

- That's your name. - That's your name.

My name was JJ.

Your name's JJJ.

- [Jesse] It's starting to almost look like a bike.

- [Narrator] The junior gearheads are getting into the build

and they all want to point out their efforts

for extra credit.

- [Jesse] That should be all right.

- [Chris] This is all the stuff I worked on so far.

That, that, that, that, that.

- We need a... - There ain't a part on here

I ain't work on yet. - Call him on that.

- Me and Vicky did this.

- I touched it. - I did this.

- I sat it in place.

I was right there and put that in.

- I did this by myself.

I did that carburetor and I put this on.

- I did that too. - You repositioned.

Everybody did this.

- Hey, I put it all together

before any of you guys touched this, so.

- He did it.

- [Narrator] While Mark has come to be known as JJ Junior,

Charles takes a shot at playing the host.

- Talk about my teammates for a second?

- [Dwayne] Sure.

- They not appreciative of me.

I try to work hard and they talk about me

like I'm taking all the camera.

- [Narrator] When Charles Stotz isn't wrenching

in auto shop, he's playing hoops,

but he doesn't want to play professionally.

- I wanna be a veterinarian when I get older,

but I don't really wanna have to put no animals down.

I don't wanna k*ll no animals, I wanna save them.

I ain't never think I was gonna be building no motorcycle.

Not in my life, so this this a new thing for me,

but I'm just gonna try my best.

What side did this go on?

That's what I'm trying to figure out.

- [Jesse] Yeah, put the the nut on the other side.

- On this side? - Yeah.

- Every time people ask us what school we go to,

if we say Bellou, they like,

"oh, people get shot in that school."

But that's not how it is.

Most of the time, it's a nice, fun school.

There might be a few fights that go on,

but that's in every school.

They just give us the news,

so it seems like we the worst school ever.

But I don't think we are.

This one of my best friends here.

His name Tim.

You know what I'm saying?

So this Chris.

He goes, you know what I'm saying, with Simone.

This is Dre, he lazy.

This is Vicky, she the prettiest girl

in the class right now.

Just for right now 'cause there ain't no other girls.

[students laughing]

- [Victoria] How you gonna compliment me with an insult?

- That's all I wanted to say.

Thank y'all.

This is "Monster Garage." [laughs]

- Whoever doesn't do their homework,

doesn't get to work tomorrow.

You guys just stay in the classroom.

- [Narrator] With that stern warning,

Jesse dismisses Monster Class and these builders in training

get to go home after a long day at the shop.

"Monster Garage" factoid.

In 1900, Charles Metz built the first American motorcycle.

He fitted a so-called safety bicycle

with a 20-cubic-inch engine

and set the first motorcycle speed record

covering five miles in just over seven minutes.

♪ Monster, Monster Garage

It's day three and the build crew

comes to Monster Class prepared.

- No mask. - Oh, look at that.

Look at that, he's got it in color too.

- Oh. - Damn.

- See? - Chris.

- [Jesse] Showing you guys what's up?

You still working on yours?

He's got a...

When I first started building bikes and cars,

I always saw cool stuff, but I didn't know what it was

and as I found out what it was,

that's how I learned how to make everything.

Cool.

- [Geneva] I know Andre wants to do the electrical, so...

- Yeah? - Yeah.

- [Jesse] Whew, you're braver than me.

I'm like... - Yeah, I'm not doing that.

- I can make a whole bike by hand,

but when it comes comes to wiring it, woo, I'm horrible.

Cool?

All right, let's go.

[upbeat music]

- I'm trying to take on the front end today.

I wanna work on putting the front end on and weld.

- [Narrator] While Tim and Charles have teamed up

to finish the front end,

Gigi and Mark partner up at the back of the bike.

- I guess we're going to thread it through there

and bring it back out and put the link on.

[upbeat music continues]

All right.

We put the chain on.

- Did you get it on? - Yep.

- That's cool.

You could pull it right here.

- [Mark] We make a good team, Geneva.

Me and Gigi, we put the chain on.

- Did you help her or did you make her do all the work?

- No, I actually put the chain in, she grabbed it.

- Hold that right there.

- Our mission was to put the chain on.

- We put the chain on. - We completed it. [laughs]

- We completed our mission, guys.

Hold on a second. - I'm not gonna put-

- [Jesse] It's not, dog, it's just grease.

Tighten this one up so it doesn't wiggle.

Let me see, that's good.

That's too tight, gotta loosen it up a little bit

because then it'll wear, when you're turning,

it'll go like, and it'll stay that way.

- [Narrator] The front end is coming together,

so Jesse assigns the rest of the work.

- You wanna start.

I put that, you starting on electrical stuff?

Did you get that diagram?

- Yeah. - I put some other stuff

on that little bench right there, too.

- [Narrator] Andre Lee is the cool, collected one.

He quietly takes on wiring the bike

and tries as hard as he can

to learn as much as he can from this build.

- I just laid back.

When I gotta do something, I do it

because I wanted to get into the electrical stuff more,

be a technician or just try to start my own business.

- I think they're pretty much done in the front.

- Turn this to the side a little bit, Tim. Dang.

- Did you get this one tight?

- Not yet, 'cause I couldn't get it in

'cause he wouldn't turn it.

- He gonna blame it on me.

- [Jesse] Is that all he does is complain every day?

- I'll complain, that's all right.

- You seeing it for yourself.

- I ain't complaining at all the first day.

- [Jesse] You've been here for three days.

- For yourself. - I be complaining.

- [Jesse] Wants everybody do everything for him.

- I'm staying out of it. - I don't want nobody

do nothing for me.

I be trying to do it all.

- I'm staying out of it.

- I be trying to do it all.

That's what they be complaining about.

- Over here.

It's kind of new to them so I'm gonna have to help

guide em through the way.

- [Narrator] Mr. Dwayne French has been teaching auto shop

at Ballou for three years.

He's developed a strong bond with his students.

- Many other students look at us as older brothers.

They joke with us, and for me, most of them joke about

the fact that my wife beats up on me or whatever.

- Mrs. French, if you are watching this,

he's been acting up, he's been flirting with this.

- [Chris] Talk about his motorcycle, too.

- [Tim] Why y'all gotta put my man-

- Oh yeah, he's talking about buying this motorcycle.

- [Tim] Why y'all gotta put my man, Mr. French, on the spot?

- He got us in trouble. - He said he don't care

what you said. - We gonna take it up

for you, Mr. French.

- Let them put him- - That's an A in class.

- On the spot, he be puttin' us on the spot.

- It's a family atmosphere in the shop.

And if they could stay down in the shop all day

of school day, I think many of them would opt to do that.

So this is the main bulk of our wiring harness.

If we put that there, run the headlights.

- What's that? - That way,

then we can drop this down.

This is your feed for y'all starter.

- It's not really that complicated.

A lot of little stuff but- - So that's it though.

- You know, as long as you got a mill and a lathe

and a CNC machine and hill arch, it bolts right together.

- [Dwayne] Pass me that socket.

- Let's go, DJ.

- [Jesse] Just kind of turn it, turn it like this.

Yeah, this is what pops in that seal.

Torque it to 50 pounds, then tighten this up

and that that aligns your front end.

- [Derek] Oh, okay.

- So it pulls everything tight against here.

- [Derek] Alright.

- [Jesse] Just push those back ones through a little bit.

[steady rock music]

[tools clattering]

- You see this center down? - Ooh.

- See if that's centered.

- [Chris] We good at what we do.

- You know why you're good at what you do?

- We learn from the best. - Got a good teacher.

- Oh. - Mr. Butler, Mr. French.

- Mr. Butler my favorite teacher out of this class.

- [Narrator] The team dwindles down to only three,

Gigi heads to her volleyball game,

Mark has band practice, and after playing mechanic

most of the day, Tim has to take off to play some football.

- The team need me right now to step up

so we can win this game.

[horn blaring]

B A A.

One, two, three... - Team.

- I love football.

It's a physical sport.

It's the only time you can knock somebody out or something

and don't go to jail or get in trouble about it.

- [Narrator] This wide receiver has caught on

to the benefits of shop class.

- When you get older, you don't have to go

to a mechanic and pay nobody to fix your car

'cause you already know how to do it.

Or if your mother need her car fixed

and y'all stranded one day, you can already

know how to change the tire or something.

- [Narrator] Jesse secures the oil tank

and Charles handles the handlebars.

- It's not that tough.

It's just like a big bicycle, right?

Kind of the same thing.

- Except we got motors, brakes.

- Howley, right?

- Brake master cylinder, clutch master cylinder,

they'll slide on first before that throttle.

- These go before the throttle.

- [Narrator] With the handlebars attached,

Charles moves right on to the brakes.

[steady rock music]

The team continues cranking on their chopper

while the Ballou Marching Band gets ready to crank it up

with a surprise performance for the builders.

[scaling horn music]

- They're working on a motorcycle in the middle.

So when you go around, you're gonna come around this way,

swing around and just come right back out the door.

Get it? - Get it.

- Get it? - Get it.

- Got it? - Got it.

- All right, let's go.

[cheerleaders cheering]

[whistle screeching]

- [Cheerleaders] One, two, three, four.

Nice.

- Here comes the band.

Band's pretty good, yeah?

- Yeah. - Oh, yeah.

[upbeat band music]

[group cheering]

[whistle screeching]

[loud horn music]

[band shouting]

- Yeah. - Go Ballou.

[group cheering]

- [Derek] That was all for you, Charles.

- [Jesse] If that don't get you motivated, you're dead.

- That was all for you. - I was already motivated.

I'm back.

Who's ready to work now?

[sparks crackling] [Charles shouting]

Oh, got me.

[students laughing]

Oh, it's like take your face off.

- [laughs] Did you flinch?

[Jesse laughing]

[upbeat music]

- Did you clamp this down tight already on the bars?

- No, sir. - No?

- [Charles] No, sir.

- [Jesse] You sure?

- Why y'all wanna fight with me?

It's my big debut.

[Jesse laughing]

- You guys are gonna be on TV,

pretty soon you'll have agents.

- Don't worry. - Start singing after that.

- You start a boy band, all you guys.

[upbeat music continues]

I think that's cool.

Let's clean it up.

Get the hell outta here.

- [Narrator] Jesse closes the books

on an action-packed day three.

The front end is done, the tires have been mounted,

and they've got a good start on the wiring.

Team Ballou has passed their midterm exam.

It's day four.

After being at school all day,

the gearheads-in-training march into Monster Lab

where Professor James lays out today's assignment.

- So we gotta get a bunch of stuff done today.

We try to get everything bled, all the electrical done,

the gas tank and fenders mounted.

All right, let's get to it.

- Mr. Butler recruits Charles and Tim

to help him bleed the brakes.

- [Derek] Hold it straight up.

- How's that? - It looks pretty good.

- If you tap on it, you get bubbles that come out.

Hold it right, just like that.

- [Charles] You want bubble to come out?

- Yeah 'cause all the air, 'cause that's what makes

like, your brake pedals spongy.

- I want run this past you, Tim.

I think I got something that's complicated here.

- [Narrator] Derek Butler is a graduate of Ballou

and after 18 years of teaching auto shop here, he knows...

- You can't actually make someone get their hands dirty.

That's something that they have to want to do.

Pull it through the grease, and what you're gonna look

to see is see grease come out this side.

I hope from the experience with "Monster Garage" coming here

that they'll see that no matter where you come from,

you can make something of yourself.

And I think Jesse has really shown them

the true side of America, you know?

- What?

- I'm sure that this will carry them for the rest of life.

[tool whirring]

- [Narrator] Jesse grinds the gas tank to fit just right.

He gets ready to weld it on.

- Not even gonna go on. - Just hold on.

[students laughing]

- Oh, hang on.

- [Narrator] But he's forgetting something.

- Oh, I didn't have my helmet on.

[students laughing]

I'm tired.

[Jesse laughing]

- [Narrator] Being the master motivator

has taken a toll on the master fabricator.

So when I get on it, [screeches],

boom, you gone.

- There you go, Mark. - How was that again?

- Oh, we got it. - Do that again.

[Mark imitating engine revving]

[Jesse laughing]

- [Narrator] Mr. French takes over

and gets everyone dialed into wiring the bike,

and Jesse throws a jab.

- If this wiring works. [laughs]

- [Dwayne] The wiring's about to work right now.

- Okay.

- He told me he don't understand wiring,

so I don't understand why he's doubting something

he doesn't understand.

- Hey, I'm cool with that.

[Jesse and Dwayne laughing]

I think it's cool we put this whole thing together

with no instruction manual.

Righty, tighty, lefty, loosey,

just like on everything else.

- Oh, we got it, we got it.

All right, now, oh.

- [Narrator] Looks like Mr. French passed the wiring test.

- Can I ride it off the table? [laughs]

[starter clicking]

- It should be cool.

- [Narrator] With the electrical done,

day four ends with a bad starter.

- [Jesse] That ain't too uncommon, though.

We get those starters, about every third one is bad.

So we'll have to go buy one from the Harley dealer tomorrow.

Well, let's clean up and we'll get a new starter tomorrow.

- [Narrator] With only one build day left,

these pumped up pupils

will have to get a good start tomorrow

if they're gonna best their final exam.

- [Big Schwag] Will Team Ballou

be able to fire up their chopper tomorrow

or will they get a big fat F?

- Sure hope this thing runs.

Gonna look pretty stupid if it doesn't.

♪ Monster, Monster Garage

- [Narrator] It's the last day of the build

and as the builders chow down during their lunch break,

Jesse gets to work.

[sparks crackling]

- Who wasn't here yesterday? You?

- That guy. - You can get out here

and help us clean up, then. Come on.

You can clean up all the tools from everybody else

that was working yesterday.

- Oh yeah? - Oh yeah.

- Yes. - Okay.

Just put everything off.

They spilled a bunch of brake fluid and stuff.

Put all the tools on that little,

you can use that little cart.

I'll take that box off that way.

- [Chris] That's cool.

- 16-year-old Chris Meriwether cleans up

after his teammates with a winning smile.

- When Jesse first walked into class,

felt like a dream come true

just to see him coming all the way to DC.

There's nothing more you could ask for.

I never thought I'd be putting together a whole chopper.

I wouldn't even have thought about

even trying to put one together.

- [Narrator] But Chris has thought long and hard

about his unusual career choice.

- I want to be a forensic scientist or a criminal lawyer.

I like working with the dead.

I mean, I like, and I like...

I like to see justice made

and those who belong where they belong. Yeah.

- And we still got stuff to do.

We gotta mount the seat, the rear fender.

- Let's do it. - And then I made

all these oil lines.

You guys need to take 'em off.

That's your feed line, so that goes

on the bottom of the tank.

- [Mark] Did somebody else want to go get the starter?

- Shh, I'm talking. - I apologize.

- I sure hope this thing runs.

Gonna look pretty stupid if it doesn't.

Should we give 'em all detention if it doesn't?

- [Derek] We have to.

- [Narrator] Jesse gets on the phone with Gigi

who's running late today.

- Hurry up, dammit.

You're gonna miss it.

[students laughing]

- [Narrator] And there's no sign of Andre,

so Jesse and Mr. Butler go looking for him at his house.

On the way, they encounter a sadly common occurrence.

- [Jesse] Oh, there's a police getting ready to do a raid.

You see that? - Yeah.

- [Jesse] Let's go back and talk to 'em. Turn around.

You guys getting ready to go serve a warrant?

- Maybe. - Yeah?

We're gonna go serve a warrant on a kid

and take him back to school.

He didn't show up today.

- [Officer] What'd you do?

- [Jesse] I'm going right now to get him.

- Are you? - Yeah.

Crime always goes down when it rains.

- Oh man, around here, I'm telling you.

They stand out here with umbrellas.

- You going to serve a warrant?

"Maybe," as he's strapping on his bulletproof vest.

No, we're Avon ladies.

Which house? - Little house there.

- [Jesse] This neighborhood doesn't look any different

from the neighborhood I grew up in.

Come on, man.

You all right? You sleep in? - Yeah.

- [Derek] Andre, what about school this morning?

- Huh?

- [Derek] What about school this morning?

- I was sleeping. - You were sleeping?

So school wasn't important?

- I didn't wake up.

- [Jesse] So you just tired or what?

We're almost done.

You worked your a*s off yesterday.

Can't give up before we're done.

- [Andre] I had everything going.

I was about to leave out and leave off.

- What about the rest of school?

You know, that's not important or...

- [Andre] Yeah. I going to school.

- You just gotta make it up in your own mind.

You know, your mom could tell you,

Mr. Butler could tell you, I could tell you, everyone,

but unless you want to do it yourself,

you're never gonna do it.

'Cause I didn't want to go to school.

I hated it and so I just didn't go, you know?

Ended up paying for it, you know?

- We have missing in action, y'all.

- And they could. - But now they have-

- Dre. - Games.

And it was like, after school.

the building's closed.

- [Jesse] He was sick.

He said he had the flu.

- Really? - He got over it already.

- Oh.

- [Jesse] I was trying to help you out a little bit.

- The whole entire team.

What a closeup, what a close...

I'm the star, and I'm not supposed

to be running from the camera.

Jesse not, no.

The camera's not actually here for Jesse anymore.

They're here for me.

- What'd you say?

- Don't show- - What?

- Huh? - What?

- [Mark] I just said don't show 'em that.

I said the cameras were here for you.

- No, they're here for you guys.

- Oh, okay.

So I'm the star.

Jesse's not the star anymore.

Get 'em out of here, get 'em out.

- I can't play no trumpet.

[Mark laughing]

I seen you all.

[Jesse mimics trumpet]

[students laughing]

- [Narrator] Now that everyone is present,

Jesse decides it's time for Welding 101.

- This is just like a squirt g*n.

All it's doing is squirting.

It's squirting steel out,

and when it touches, it's like it connecting electricity

and the more electricity that runs through that,

the hotter it gets.

This will actually melt.

So you're squirting metal in a puddle

and then you're gonna go right along here.

Go ahead.

[sparks crackling]

Slow down just a little bit.

Cool.

That's pretty damn good.

Here's your angle right here.

- I can't even see. - Well, stop.

Okay, make sure lean forward.

Get your arm back up like this, make sure you can see.

That's perfect.

- It was pretty easy, but I couldn't see it.

- There you go.

Look at that.

That's better than mine.

That was awesome, look at that.

- [Mark] That's the straightest one.

- [Narrator] Then it's the teacher's turn.

- [Jesse] Oh, you're not even on the crack.

Get over here. [laughs]

Go ahead. I'll start you off and then you go straight.

You ready? Go ahead.

[sparks crackling]

- [Derek] I'm not on the line?

Oh, I can't see. Okay.

Whoa, [censored].

[students laughing]

I can't see it.

[sparks crackling]

- Whoa. - Not too bad.

- We got one teacher can weld a little bit.

- [Jesse] Hey, welders make 25 bucks an hour.

- Okay, I'll do it. - I think so.

- I will weld. - I might.

I'm not gonna say I won't now.



- [Narrator] Now that almost everyone knows how to weld,

they get back to finishing the build

and Jesse shows the team how to fit the back fender.

[steady rock music]

- That towel gives us kind of the right, like, a even gap,

so it's sitting off the tire just enough so it doesn't rub.

- [Narrator] They're ready to bolt on the exhaust,

but get a little sidetracked.

- Mark, we have a tuba for you.

- You wouldn't know what a tuba looked like

if you had it in your hand.

- [Jesse] The coil and everything.

[Chris whistling]

[both imitating musical instruments]

- The school's principal, Mr. Hudson, drops in

to check out the build.

- That's no different from some of the other cycles

that you're building?

- No. - On the regular.

- I think it's better 'cause they did it.

- Yeah.

- [Jesse] They're being all mouthy and loud and talking.

Now that you walked in,

now they're all quiet all of a sudden.

- Ha ha ha. - I don't doubt that.

- We're just working.

I think the principal walking in here and these kids

are laughing and having a great time was awesome.

They're high fiving and gave me a,

kids high fiving each other,

giving me a hug and stuff like that.

You think that goes on in in, like,

Home EC or history class?

Yay, the pilgrims.

- [Narrator] This build attracted a lot of press,

including the news magazine, "60 Minutes."

The reporter asks Jesse some hard-hitting questions.

- Is it gonna work?

- Sure. - Sure.

Is it gonna fly?

Top speed?

- I told 'em if it doesn't work,

we're gonna give 'em all detention.

- What about giving him an F?

- [Narrator] With the seat welded on,

exhaust bolted in place, and all the lines hooked up,

the bike is ready to come down

so they can finish bleeding the brakes and the clutch.

- [Jesse] Come on, 700 pound bench press,

help me lift the front of this.

Grab it right here. - I got it.

- [Jesse] Just leave the back wheel on there.

- JJ, what is you doing? - Everyone.

- Ow. - Okay.

- [Jesse] There's our air. Watch, look.

That's like the motherlode of air.

That's what's keeping her.

- [Narrator] All the air is pumped out

and the final tweaks are done.

Time for the big moment.

- It's got gas. Watch yourself.

If that backfires, that'll trim your eyebrows.

[students laughing]

[engine squeaking]

[engine igniting]

[engine revving]

[engine rumbling]

[engine revving]

- Get me.

What was that sound?

- [Jesse] Just the caps.

- Dang. - Fool.

- [Mark] Hey, we got this.

- [Tim] Got caps flying.

[engine rumbling]

- [Mark] Ooh, Jesse, come on, baby.

I thought you knew where you was going.

- [Narrator] The rainy weather keeps Jesse

from riding around the school,

so he lets the kids take turns on it instead.

- I just wanna sit on it.

I ain't gonna touch no nothing.

I just wanna sit on this. - Grab it.

- Get the legs, man. - I couldn't ride this.

- Yes, you could, son. - I'd fall off.

- You fit perfect. - It's too heavy.

- [Jesse] Yeah, you do look pretty badass on it.

You don't want, you don't want that.

- [Andre] I'll take a sports bike.

[Jesse laughing]

- Too much for me. - You don't want that

'cause then girls will be all around you and stuff.

- [Mark] That's what you doing, huh?

- [Jesse] Yeah.

She got the attitude. Whoa.

- That's heavy. - She's got it.

[Geneva laughing]

- [Jesse] Come on, you got the heart now.

- There we go.

- [Charles] Little.

[students laughing]

- [Mark] Looks good on that bike.

That's a real nice bike.

- [Jesse] Alright, you guys want some tools?

- Yeah. - Yeah.

- You did a good job.

- [Charles] And now I want...

- You glad you showed up today?

Yeah?

[students laughing]

I think you guys should thank these two teachers

because, you know... - Thanks for this.

- You know, I really appreciate it.

- Because in all honesty, I stood back a lot,

and let them show you everything.

Hey, I'm talking. Shh.

Dammit.

[students laughing]

These two guys helped you do everything so, you know,

maybe you should thank them a little bit.

- Thank you. - You're very welcome.

- Thank you, Mr. French. - Thank you, Mr. Butler.

- So just like all the other "Monster Garage" teams,

you guys got our "Motorcycle Mania" CD.

And I got a tool set for each of you guys that I make.

So you guys can take those home with you.

And then we got two big tool sets

and some extra stuff for the shop here.

- Okay. - Cool?

- All right. - Yeah.

[students clapping]

- You guys did awesome.

What'd you think when that thing fired up?

Was it cool?

- Yeah. - That was nice.

- [Jesse] What did I tell you?

♪ Monster, Monster Garage

- [Big Schwag] Hey, Monster Fans, school's back in session.

Lesson one, before any monster makes it to the challenge,

it's got to be painted.

West Coast Chopper's own Pete Finland

applies his magic touch.

Then it's time to strike up the band.

The Ballou High School Marching Knights.

[upbeat band music]

Jesse's brought the Ballou Chopper

back to DC for show and tell.

[engine rumbling]

Where's your hall pass?

Watch out, monster coming through.

[upbeat band music continues]

The monster educator has a startling confession

about the first build day.

- I was really nervous going in

'cause I totally put the motor in the bike backwards

and it's something I've done like 10,000 times.

I was so focused on making a good impression

and stuff like that and being a positive impact

for these kids that I totally, I was nervous.

- Look at that thing.

- That turned out all right. Yeah.

[students clapping]

- Yeah. - Yes.

- Hey man. - Thank you.

- Hey, that blue looks dope. - Look at this, though.

- We appreciate the efforts you've given

to these young ladies and young men.

- Hey, don't thank me, thank those kids.

You guys built it themselves,

so you know, I just helped a little.

[students cheering]

- Come on, Geneva. - Get on.

- Come on. - Come on.

- I fell over last time.

[students laughing]

- You know, even though it's something dumb

like just a bike, I think it's going to impact

these kids' lives for the better, and it impacted me.

You know, I feel compelled now to stay in contact

with all of 'em and make sure they're all cool

and make sure they all, you know,

go after their dreams and stuff like that.

- Yeah.

- [Big Schwag] Jesse plans to sell the Ballou chopper

and donate the proceeds

to the DC Public School Automotive Program.

- Alright, you guys go back to school.

- Alright, we gotta go back. - All right, Jesse.

- See you guys. - Keep in touch with us.

- Yeah, I'll kick it with you.

- All right.

- Lemme know how you guys are doing.

Bye. - Bye.

- [Big Schwag] Jesse's got no time for kids who quit school,

choppers that aren't cool, and teachers' dirty looks.

He's got metal to burn, sparks to fly.

The next "Monster Garage" challenge is just around the bend.

[upbeat rock music]

[logo chiming musically]