[man laughs loudly]
- [Narrator] Hello again, monster freaks.
That's right, we're back in the garage,
and Jesse James is ready to do a burnout up a mountain.
[firecrackers explode]
- Now our car will go fast.
- [Narrator] He's got a new racing helmet
and a date with the flagman.
- Hope he makes it.
- [Narrator] It's Pikes Peak or bust!
[glass shatters]
The next episode of "Monster Garage" is ready to roar!
[Jesse screams]
Join us now as Jesse and his g*ng of maverick mechanics,
grip, grind, and burn,
transforming ordinary street vehicles
[car skids] into monster machines
in the "Monster Garage".
[rock music]
♪ Monster, monster garage
♪ Monster, monster garage
♪ Monster, monster garage
♪ Monster, monster garage
This week's challenge,
transform this 1988 Chevy Blazer
into a Pikes Peak hill climber.
The Falken Tires Pikes Peak International Hill Climb
is an 83-year-old legendary man against mountain time trial
in the perilous Colorado Rockies.
In 12 and a half miles of racing,
Jesse will climb to Pikes 14,000 foot peak
reaching speeds over a hundred miles an hour
on mountain side switchbacks without a single guardrail.
[car crashes]
The rules: the truck must appear to be stock,
the team can spend no more than $5,000 for parts,
Jesse and his crew have seven days and nights.
On the first day, they design.
For the next five, they build.
And on the seventh day, they climb.
If successful,
they walk away with a $4,000 set of Mac's hottest tools.
- The clock starts now.
[Jesse punches clock]
[door shuts]
- [Narrator] For this week's design,
Jesse called upon his buddy Larry Ragland,
a Pikes Peak record holding champion,
Patrick Janicke, a vehicle artist
who dreams up cars for the silver screen,
and Pikes Peak sent their own Randy Ruyle,
whose last name speaks mountains for his authority.
He literally wrote the rules for the legendary race.
- Well, this one I've been thinkin' about for a while,
just 'cause it's something
I think that definitely Monster Garage should tackle.
It's such a cool race.
I think the coolest thing about it
is how special the cars have to be and how dangerous it is.
You know?
- That it is.
- If you go off the road here, what happens?
- Well, there's some places,
I mean, we've had cars go 600 feet off,
but luckily they were in a corner
where there were some rocks.
[car crashes]
- It's a very unforgiving race.
You make a mistake, it's catastrophic.
I mean, you can't, it's bad.
- [Narrator] And this guy
knows the perils of Pikes Peak firsthand.
- I don't care who you are,
you get up there and it, it'll, your hearts beating.
You have to use a certain degree of common sense.
I mean, you can't go there and be fearless.
That's where we're gonna have to work with Jesse.
I mean that, it just, it just won't work.
No matter how good we make the vehicle,
it'll still be up to you, Jesse,
'cause it's really a driver's race.
- I'm used to racing figure 8 man, so, I'm cool,
and I learned how to race figure 8
in the Long Beach traffic circle.
[tires screech]
I think with this thing, yeah, it's a pretty cherry Blazer.
We just gotta figure out how radical we wanna go with it.
I think the biggest chunk of work is make,
it's gotta be safe.
You know, we're gonna have to do a full cage.
- Right.
- It has to be a good cage.
- Yeah, 'cause it's gotta be able
to fall off a 600 foot cliff.
[car crashes]
- Bear in mind, the race starts at about 9,000 feet
goes to 14,000 feet,
so the time you go 14,000, you've lost over 40% of the power
of what it's sitting right now.
We lose 3% every thousand feet.
- [Narrator] The higher you go, the less power you get
thanks to thinner air.
- You know, and you can get with a a little roller motor
small block with a pro charger 700 horsepower easy,
dependable.
- [Narrator] A small block engine
packed with a super charger
will give this monster trailblazing power.
- This is good.
Can't wait to check this one off our list, Pikes Peak.
- [Narrator] To race up Pike's Peak,
Jesse will drop in a roll cage
and lower the Blazer for tight turning.
[upbeat music]
To get up to 14,000 feet,
the monster will unleash a new 350 horsepower motor,
coupled with a supercharger to crank out 600 horses.
[upbeat music]
[tires screech]
Day two, a new day, a new build, a new team.
Straight from Pikes Peak Colorado,
Randy Ruyle sticks around to make this monster.
New Zealander turned Californian, Rhys Millen,
pro racer and Pikes Peak champion.
Sarah Grenier, engineer and mechanic specialist
from Manchester, New Hampshire.
Mechanic and hotrod builder, Doug Evans,
from San Marcos, Texas.
And the LBC's Mike Cook,
special projects director for West Coast Choppers.
- I'm Jesse.
- Rhys. - How you doing, Rhys?
- Sarah. - Hi Sarah.
- Doug. - What's up Doug?
Pikes Peak, I think it's gonna be a lot of work
to get it to work right, to get it to turn.
- What's your goal to get up there
or to get up there fast?
- Fast.
We'll probably get it stripped
and get it down to the, you know,
bare frame motor trans out of it,
and then just start building stuff back up from there.
Start on the roll cage, all that stuff, makin' it safe.
- [Narrator] Before they rip into this Blazer,
Jesse explains that in order to get high,
he needs to go low.
- Just gotta get it down.
This has to be like right here.
- [Randy] Where?
[Monster Garage cast laughs]
Okay. - [Randy] Oh, okay.
- [Jesse] Yeah, we need to lower it 12 inches at least.
- [Narrator] No more talking.
It's time to do some damage.
[car parts bang] [man yells]
[upholstery rips]
[drills buzz]
[car parts bang]
[plasma torch crackles]
- There is not a single person in my family
knows how to turn a wrench.
My mom swears she has no idea where I came from.
- [Narrator] Sarah Grenier is a mechanical engineer
who has tamed her own hill climbing racer.
- It's a Volkswagen Rabbit
that I completely built from the ground up.
Replaced everything on the car, you know,
modified the suspension, the motor, built a full cage in it.
It's got a full racing seat.
It's a fully prepared race car.
All the work is done by me, maintained by myself,
and it works great.
[Sarah laughs] [engine revs]
[drill buzzes] - Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
- [Narrator] Jesse breaks from tearing out
to track down a freebie motor.
- I just got a motor, like a, like a 355 from JEGS.
- Nice.
- Low compression with a Vortech supercharger.
So the motor will probably be here late Wednesday,
early Thursday.
- That'll be a busy two days.
- [Jesse] Yeah, yeah, that's cuttin' it close.
- [Narrator] The beating heart of this hill climbing monster
won't arrive until their fourth build day.
- We've gotta make the most of that,
that downtime to finish everything else,
so all of us can concentrate on getting that done,
'cause it is a lot of work.
- [Narrator] Rhys Millen has racing in his blood.
Son of champion Pikes Peak Hill climber Rod Millage,
his thing is the hottest new motor sport.
Drifting is, essentially, it's a controlled power slide.
You come into the corner
and you induce the car into a slide by adding throttle.
Your competitors are basically trying to mimic your move.
- [Narrator] The winner is determined by a panel of judges.
It's not a race, but the cars hit it hard.
- We're hitting at speeds 90, 100 mile an hour
with the car at sometimes 30, 40 degree slide angles.
- [Narrator] The hill climber will be a rear powered racer,
so both axles will be replaced.
[metal clinks]
[drill buzzes]
[drill buzzes]
[metal clinking]
- No, we wanna throw this as far away as possible.
We don't like it, it's horrible.
[epic music]
- [Narrator] Last order of business,
pull out the stock motor,
but this 16-year-old Blazer's holding on tight.
- [Rhys] You can see it binding.
- [Mike] Nah, this side's still got a bolt.
- The transfer case yoke is hooked on the cross member.
- [Narrator] There's no problem that can't be solved
with a plasma torch.
[plasma torch crackles]
[hammer pounds] [plasma torch crackles]
- The plasma cutters are our friend.
- [Narrator] It's been a very destructive first day,
time to call it a night.
- Well the front end, the rear end,
and the engine and transmission,
probably none of those are gonna show up 'til Wednesday,
so. - [Jesse] That's what I had
said earlier. - That's a bit of a problem.
- [Narrator] The car's been gutted.
Tomorrow it starts the uphill battle,
transforming from Blazer into a monster mountain climber.
Monster Garage factoid:
During an exploratory expedition in 1806,
Lieutenant Zebulon Montgomery Pike came across a mountain.
After failing to reach the summit,
he claimed it would never be climbed.
In 1994, Rod Millen made it to the top
in 10 minutes and 4 seconds.
♪ Monster
♪ Monster Garage
Day three in the garage starts with Mike taking the reins
and laying out the plans.
- We need to try and focus a little bit
on the different subsystems of the car
and make sure that we've got the parts.
If we can't get them right away,
make sure that we've at least nailed down
exactly what it is that we want and where it's coming from
and when it's gonna show up.
Well, we better get on it.
- [Narrator] From axles to motor to seatbelts,
this team needs to rebuild with racing parts,
and Sarah just scored a nice freebie.
- A bunch of stuff from Sparco,
the seat, the harness, quick release steering hub,
the steering wheel, and all that stuff, so that's great.
That's a really big help.
- [Narrator] But this week
isn't just about assembling primo parts,
scrounging junk and giving it new life
is the way of the garage.
- Couple of hundred bucks?
Oh that sounds good.
We've located a front end for a Ford Ranger '99 model.
It's got everything on it.
- We're, 'cause we're committed now
we have to weld something on there.
- We gotta put something on there.
Put some shopping cart wheels. - If we can get it today
that would be rad. - Yeah, what do you think,
just some shopping cart wheels?
- [Doug] Shopping cart, lawnmower wheels, yeah.
- I thought highly of you yesterday.
- Get one that goes like this, you know, wiggly wheel.
- [Narrator] Mike Cook comes from England,
but now he works in Long Beach at West Coast Choppers.
- Right now I'm special projects coordinator for Jesse.
I can't tell you what they are.
That's, it's a secret.
No, no you can't come in here.
[door slams]
- [Narrator] But he's happy to show off
his own special project.
- I've developed a prototype bike.
My own opinion is that while American custom bikes
are really cool, you know,
they've seemed to have gone all the way of the chopper
and it's a bit passe.
- Well the front clip is great.
The rear end is still an issue,
but it should put us in good shape for tomorrow.
- [Narrator] While waiting for parts,
Doug steps up to build a boulder proof roll cage.
- I've never used this kind of bender before
so it's gonna be, I'm not sure what the take up is gonna be.
Whereas when you bend it,
it takes a certain amount of tubing during the bend,
you know, so this corner to corner measurement
isn't really that accurate, so.
So we go from the end of the bend, right?
- No, just measure around the outside
from where your bend started.
That bend should have started right here.
- Oh, okay.
- Trial and error of the new bender operators.
This part has to be in the bender,
so you've gotta go over here.
[upbeat music]
[Mike laughs]
Are we two monkeys?
Good it fits.
- [Doug] Just about, with a big hammer it will.
- [Narrator] Jesse rolls into the shop
and spots some surprise body modification going on.
- You weren't doing those
'cause that Dieter did 'em in the drawing, were you?
- Yeah.
- [Jesse] Really? - Yeah.
- I just told him, I was totally screwing around
when I told him to put Testarossa scoops
on there. - [Rhys] Oh, really?
- I told him as a joke to, I go,
why don't you put some Ferrari Testarossa scoops on the side
and he did it, and Rhys is making them.
- Yeah. - And I did it
just to get him to shut up so we could design the car.
- [Narrator] Too late to turn back,
the jokes on the monster.
Jesse grabs a mock-up seat to direct the final phases
of the roll cage.
- We're gonna have to have something back here
for your seat mount. - I think,
I think one going across just to.
- A NASCAR bar?
- Yeah, just to keep it from
- Twisting.
- collapsin' on my head.
[rock music]
[plasma torch crackles]
[hammer pounds]
That cage looks pretty good.
- [Narrator] The first purchase part has arrived,
a used $400 Ford Ranger front clip.
- Yeah, no, it'll work for sure.
- That'll do.
We're gonna have to do some finagling with the frame rails,
but that's what we're here for, right?
- [Narrator] It's not pretty,
but this ain't no fashion show.
It's just gotta work.
- There's a nail in it for. - [Mike] Well,
there's no nut on there and there's just a nail in there,
yeah, I know.
We probably can't leave it like that.
- I wouldn't. [Mike laughs]
- We got a torch and some welders,
we can make anything work.
- I'm pretty sure it's gonna work just fine.
- [Narrator] Before attaching the front clip,
Jesse lowers the Blazer
to leave a mere seven inches of ground clearance.
- It looks better already.
You know, this thing was like four wheel drive,
high center of gravity so it could fit over big rocks and,
you know, stuff like that,
and I think with the race car,
the lower the center of gravity,
the better it'll handle
because it won't roll in the corners, you know,
it won't like teeter.
The lower, you know, it's stuck and planted
and the car will stay, you know, perpendicular to the road.
[engine revs]
[Jesse yawns] - [Narrator] It's late
in the day and before he splits,
Jesse plans with his race team.
- By the end of the day tomorrow,
if we get all the suspension done, work on the front,
get everything buttoned up,
so all we have to do Thursday and Friday is drive train.
- [Narrator] Jesse burns out in his suite '71 Cuda
leaving the team to figure out
how to mate a Ford front end to a Chevy frame.
- Just try and match those frame rails up to those
at that height.
They're just gonna go together like this and then,
then we're just gonna zip it up.
Yeah, it's gonna be great.
- [Narrator] Lowering with scrounged parts
is easier said than done.
The front suspension
needs more than seven inches of clearance.
- Well where is it there?
That's, that's like nine and a half there.
- [Doug] Right.
- But this is as low as we can go
for this front suspension to work.
Agree? - Yeah, oh yeah.
That's as low as we can get it
and still have suspension travel.
- [Rhys] Yeah.
- [Narrator] And it's not just the height,
it's the steering as well.
- Well then, so what's your biggest concern?
- This here.
Steering is a big concern.
- See how low the tunnel is in comparison to the k-member?
- Yeah.
- This distance,
the distance between this and the top of here,
we're gonna end up cuttin' all this out, I think.
- You're creating so many more issues and so much more work
because we're trying to get the vehicle low.
If it was two inches higher, I'll weld a two inch piece
of frickin' stripped steel down the side,
so it looks the same height as what he wants.
I don't know. [Rhys laughs]
Yeah, is it?
Does he want it to look low or
- Be low?
- be low?
This is, we're trying to make this be low
and it's screwin' us everywhere else.
- [Narrator] The team is faced with a decision,
go against Jesse's wishes by raising the truck,
or spend days trying to make this height work?
- Kind of at a finish point for this evening.
- Yeah, well let's sleep on it.
- [Narrator] The team's decision:
they'll decide in the morning.
Day four, will it be a mountain or a molehill?
Resting on jack stands,
the Blazer's at Jesse's desired ride height,
which isn't matching the front end.
And upon closer inspection, this lower clearance
also conflicts with the rear axle assembly.
- We need to raise the car up two inches.
It's too low right now for the rear axle.
- What you're saying is if you cut this away.
- Well, I'm gonna bring it back to
about here. - [Sarah] Yeah,
cause I mean, - Which and
and then I gotta. - [Sarah] I mean
you gotta have room for it to travel.
- So you're essentially,
your whole frame could break off.
- That's not a good thing, is it?
- No.
If we raise it two inches, then we can box this in,
bring the strength back to the frame.
It helps us everywhere.
- [Sarah] We don't worry about the axle when,
you know. - It helps with the alignment
of those front plates too.
- Yeah, and it helps with the steering column.
- Well, it's a shame we have to raise the car up but.
- I think it just, it just needs, it has to happen,
but everyone has to agree on it.
- Yeah.
- Okay, that's fine with me.
It makes our job easier on the front end.
- All right.
- Let's do it then.
- [Narrator] Easier on their front end
might make it harder on their rear end
when Jesse finds out they're raising his monster
without his approval.
- [Sarah] I was gonna suggest maybe we don't tell him.
[Sarah laughs]
- You wanna tell him?
- I got no reason to tell him.
[Sarah laughs]
[Camera Operator] You guys crack the news?
- What news?
- We're gonna see how observant he is first.
[Sarah laughs]
- Someone will spill the beans.
- [Narrator] Secrets from the boss rarely work out,
but Doug makes this decision permanent.
- We're pretty good.
I'm gonna weld it solid so it doesn't move,
so we have it there.
We're gonna finish platin' this up.
Make some plates, glue 'em on or weld 'em on
to either side of the frame rail, make it nice and strong,
and we'll have our front end on it.
- [Narrator] Doug Evans is short on the details
of his first career.
I was a rock musician for 13 years.
I can't really remember a lot of that real good.
- [Narrator] Doug, the band was called The Didjits.
Now, he's a fabricator and welder.
I'm not doing this to be on TV.
I want that box of tools.
I need it, you know?
I've never been able to afford good, good tools,
so this, that would be really cool.
- [Narrator] Work continues on marrying Ford to Chevy.
A union that could only happen in the Monster Garage.
[welding stick crackles]
On the rear, the leaf springs
will be tucked further inside the body
to keep the truck low.
[upbeat music]
Then, they'll put in a new racing axle.
- Takin' off all the brackets here.
We'll clean it up, put on new pads.
We'll slide it onto our leaf springs, set it up,
and hopefully here in a couple hours it should be in place
ready to go.
[plasma torch crackles]
[plasma torch crackles]
[rock music]
- This rocks man.
Now our car will go fast.
[heavy metal music]
Yeah, now our car will go fast.
- I've got a real mullet.
Jesse asked me if I wanted a mullet wig.
I said I don't need one.
[Doug laughs]
- [Narrator] The axle's ready,
but first they'll place the elevated stocked leaf springs.
- [Sarah] Keep goin', another one.
Alright, stop there, that's pretty close.
[plasma torch crackles]
- It tastes like burning.
- [Narrator] Add a $2,000 axle,
and they've got a finely precisioned racing rear end.
[rock music]
The final step is attaching rear shocks,
but the Kiwi and the Brit don't agree on the process.
- Just put a half inch bolt.
- And weld it on there.
And why did I say
that's no good? - Cut the head off of it
- Yeah. - and weld it on.
- Why did I say it's no good?
- Because it was gonna get hot.
- When you weld it, it's gonna get hot,
which will fatigue the bolt and break off
and you lose your shots.
What will she do?
[Mike makes motorboat noise]
- Exactly.
- [Narrator] Mike wants the easy way out, but Rhys prevails.
Chalk one up for the colonies.
- We got presents.
Yeah, steering wheel, harnesses, carbon fiber seat.
- [Narrator] Before the seat gets installed,
the steering wheel needs to be fitted
to the master pedal masher.
- Bring her back there, good buddy.
- [Voice on Walkie Talkie] 10-4, copy that.
Right there is perfect
- [Mike] Okay. - and I'm not gonna hit
my elbows.
I reckon I'm pretty good at drivin' fast,
not too good at drivin' slow though.
[police siren]
[rock music]
Let me check the clearance.
Okay, it's good.
[welding stick crackles] [rock music]
- Right now, I think it looks really ugly,
but by the end of Friday, I think it'll look really good.
- [Narrator] After three days of hard work,
it's starting to come together
for this team of mountain men.
Jesse decides to light their fuse.
[firecrackers explode]
- It's Long Beach New Year.
[rock music]
[firecrackers explode]
Whoa, what was that?
- [Narrator] There's just two days left
and still lots of holes to fill.
Jesse's worried.
- We need stuff man.
- We need a motor and a transmission.
We need to install the drive shaft.
Obviously, the motor has to be mounted.
We have to fabricate custom motor mounts
'cause it's a Chevy motor on a Ford front end.
We have to make sure that the ride height's correct,
run all the lines, all the electricity.
Put the fuel cell in
'cause we haven't got the fuel cell yet.
Put the radiator in 'cause we don't have the radiator yet.
[Sarah laughs]
- [Narrator] The team still has a mountain of parts
to tackle before their monster can take on a mountain.
"Monster Garage" factoid:
In 1929, Bill Williams used his nose
to push a peanut up Pikes Peak.
It took him 3 weeks, 184 peanuts, and 170 pairs of pants
to reach the summit.
Afterwards, he sold each of his 170 pairs of pants
for $1.00.
♪ Monster
♪ Monster garage
Day five finds the team facing a ton of work
and a mountain of parts to install.
- Now we need an engine, transmission,
- [Sarah] Fuel cell.
- Radiator, fuel cell, fuel lines, brake lines,
wiring, mules, tires.
- We gotta make radiator support.
We gotta make
a grill support. - [Doug] Man, the more I talk,
the more depressed I get, so someone else talk.
- [Rhys] Me too.
[Sarah, Rhys, and Doug laugh]
- [Narrator] It's a mad dash
to have the truck as finished as possible
before their 12 o'clock motor delivery.
- This little hooky do here is a steering quickener.
Basically your input is increased on the outside 1.5 ratio.
So whereas what used to turn three turns lock to lock
is now gonna be one and a half turns.
- [Narrator] Whatever it's called,
hooky do or steering quickener, it's a tricky install.
Mike steps in to help out.
- What do you need me to do?
When we started to put the steering quickener in there,
we eliminated one of our movable pivot points
on the inside of the car,
so now we have to get the geometry straight again.
Otherwise the steering column will bind up.
It's a bugger.
Kiwi's, no wonder they're so far away.
Can I get in there now?
- You married one didn't you?
- Yeah. - Yeah, all right.
- Nevermind, don't put that on.
- Stop looking at me that way. - Don't put that on the show.
- [Narrator] With the help of heim joints,
this crooked steering column fits perfectly.
- [Mike] Is that in there yet?
- [Rhys] Yeah, yeah, it's gotta go.
- The column is pretty critical.
Lots of people have had nasty accidents
'cause steering columns broke or the wheels came off
or something like that,
so I wanna make sure that we do a good job on this.
That is a beautiful thing.
- [Narrator] Finally, the horse
that will get them up the mountain: a JEGS 350 crate engine.
Close behind is enough work
to keep the team busy for a week.
- Transmission, right on.
- [Narrator] Too bad they've only got a day and a half.
- We have a B&M
turbo hydramatic 400 performance transmission.
Looks good.
- [Narrator] Their 350 horses will get a helping hand
with this monster freebie.
- Vortech supercharger.
- Alright, cool,
excellent. - Nice.
- That'll make some horsepower.
[Doug whistles] - It's a really nice
little system.
When you get it on there, - [Mike] It looks great.
- you'll see, yeah.
- I think stock the engine is about 350 horsepower,
maybe a little bit more,
but then when we put the blower on there,
the Vortech guys tell us that we should be good
for about 600 horsepower at 7 pounds of boost,
something like that.
And then if we need more, we just overdrive the blower.
- [Narrator] First things first,
see if the engine fits in the Blazer.
- See if we have to cut the firewall transmission tunnel,
where the exhaust is gonna come out,
where the headers are gonna, you know,
where the headers are gonna go,
and if we're gonna have any other unexpected problems.
- Okay, let it down a little.
That's good.
- It looks good.
We're taking our time and just making sure everything's,
you know, detailed and done to spec, you know?
I think it's gonna be a good little racecar when it's done.
- That's up against the tunnel right there.
That'll work, that will work.
I mean, that'll work great.
It's almost a straight shot into the pinion.
- That's it.
- [Narrator] The engine's cool,
but now it's time for Vortech specialist Ricky Best
to do what he does best: mount a supercharger.
- This is the carb enclosure assembly.
Houses the carburetor,
so that when the motor goes into boost,
there's equal pressure all the way around the carburetor.
I'll put this thing on, I'll bolt it down,
and then bolt the blower bracket assembly on.
- [Narrator] For those out there wondering,
here's how it's playing out: Vortech to JEGS
to B&M to Ford to Chevy.
Mark that down on your score sheet.
- An ugly redheaded stepchild of a car.
- [Narrator] The supercharger fits, good job guys.
Ricky Best has a quick smoke to celebrate.
They'll fine tune it tomorrow.
The build team plumbs their new engine
and Sarah opens up another freebie.
- [Sarah] Big giant fuel cell.
- [Narrator] The truck will have two fuel cells,
one to crank up the engine
- [Sarah] Beautiful
- [Narrator] and one for cooling it down.
- Five gallon fuel cell for the water sprayer.
- [Narrator] To chill off a super hot engine at 14,000 feet,
this monster will mist water onto its own radiator.
- This is the master cylinders for the brakes.
In the Pikes Peak Hill Climb rules,
you gotta run two master cylinders.
This way if you break one line,
you still might have front or rear.
If you break two lines, you're still in bad shape.
[plasma torches crackle]
- Sweet.
[plasma torch crackles]
- [Mike] Okay, so that goes on there.
- This is like a real racecar, man.
No, this is good.
- It's come together really well.
It's all in place.
It's just a matter of plumbing it and
- We just can't - just firing it.
- drop our guard tomorrow.
- No, uh uh, no, no, no.
- We've got a full day.
- [Sarah] Come in and.
- [Narrator] With one day left, the team leaves dog tired
knowing they get no bones until the monster howls.
Coming up.
Will Jesse hit his peak on Pike or will he bite the dust?
- You might see I'm a little bit moody.
- [Narrator] Stay tuned!
[Jesse makes flatulence noise]
♪ Monster
♪ Monster garage
Day six, the team's last day in the garage
and they've got a race car that has no wheels,
no cover, and isn't running.
- Last day, we've got a lot of work, guys.
- Yeah, I think it's gonna go 'til the last second.
- [Rhys] 10 o'clock.
- [Doug] The amount
of time that we have. - I reckon 10 o'clock.
Hold me to 10 o'clock.
[soft music]
- Hold me until 10 o'clock? [Sarah laughs]
I can't hold you 'til 10 o'clock, my arms will get tired.
- [Narrator] With jokes like these,
they might as well get to work.
The team starts with a free racing radiator,
but this huge part wasn't made to fit on a Ford front end.
- [Rhys] You can cut it off to the front edge
- [Sarah] Okay. - [Rhys] up here,
right? - [Sarah] Yep.
- [Rhys] And then blow off these mounts as well.
- [Sarah] Okay.
[plasma torch crackles]
This is the third time I've used a plasma cutter.
Rhys taught me how to use it on Wednesday.
I'm not very good at it, but it's still fun.
- Buildin' a core support for the radiator.
[plasma torch crackles]
- [Narrator] Nearly every part
the team stitched onto their Frankenstein's front end
has been modified.
- Headers.
- Let's just pray to the header gods that they fit.
- Oh, you missed it.
- Oh, pretty, pretty, pretty.
- [Narrator] The exhaust stays true to form.
- Oh, I think we got a little work ahead of us here,
but at least we've got some pieces to start with.
- [Narrator] The man in black pulls up.
When there's a showdown with a set of headers,
we all know who's going to pull the trigger.
- Which side's worse, the other side?
- This side.
- I'll start on the crappy one first.
Ford Courier frame with small block Chevy motor
wasn't meant to have a big free flowing exhaust system.
This side S-u-c-k-s.
[metal clinks]
This exhaust is not gonna be pretty, but it's gonna work.
- [Narrator] Back outside, another freebie.
The latest in hill climber mountain wear.
The super light Hannemann fiberglass fenders
are placed on the race truck.
- Smell's fresh.
- [Narrator] And after a breather,
Jesse continues banging his head against the headers.
- Crap.
It's double the work to take the easy way out.
As usual, I should have just started from scratch
and made my own set.
- [Narrator] To make the headers fit,
Jesse uses scrap tubing to redirect the pipes.
[plasma torch crackles]
[metal clinks]
[hammer pounds]
- I'm tired.
How tired I am is in direct reflection
to how tight I fit the joints on the pipes.
At the beginning of the day, the gap,
you can't even fit a hair through.
At the end of the day, it's just like, oh, whatever.
[Jesse makes flatulence noise with mouth]
- [Narrator] The exhaust pipes have nearly done Jesse in
and Randy's nearly done with the electrical.
- This wire here is going back to the water cell.
This is the main battery cable from the back,
put the battery in the back.
These wires here go up to the starter
and power the ignition.
This is the main switch.
This is your key.
- [Narrator] It's halfway through their final build day
and the engine's wired, but still not ready to run.
The supercharger can't go in
until Jesse's done battling headers.
To keep the mountaineers climbing,
their final racing freebies arrive.
It's the last day and it's getting late.
While the team finishes plumbing the fuel system,
Jesse's fuming over his custom headers.
[glass breaks]
[metal clinks]
- Ah.
[firecrackers explode]
You notice how when stuff fits it affects my mood?
[metal crunches]
I hate that stupid light.
You might see I'm a little bit moody.
[glass shatters]
That makes me feel better.
- [Narrator] His mood swings out of the way,
Jesse finally sets the reshaped headers in place.
- I got it, it fits,
but then I smashed the hell out of my finger.
- [Narrator] With the garage frozen in time,
the supercharger specialist returns to tweak the blower.
- As long as this fuel system stuff goes okay,
we'll be good to go. - [Sarah] We'll let him live.
- If it doesn't, happy I got a fast car.
- [Mike] That's beautiful.
- Well, did you make that throttle cable bracket?
[Jesse laughs]
I don't feel so bad about the headers now.
Look at that, it looks like.
That's beautiful, that's like metal sculpture.
- Yeah.
- I don't think we're gonna reach my goal of 10 o'clock,
but we gotta make the goal of 12 o'clock.
- [Narrator] It's their final build day,
it's after 10:00 PM,
and these race car specialists have yet
to turn over their brand new engine.
- We are ready to throw some gas in it and fire it up.
I'm not that excited 'cause I'm a little nervous.
[Rhys laughs]
- You think that the pump's on?
- I don't know, I can't tell.
- Is that fitting leaking right there?
- This one right here? - No.
- [Narrator] Before he turns it over, Jesse spots a flaw.
- Have we got any rags?
- We've got a little fitting,
that black hard line's leaking that.
- I think it's leaking from the front one.
- Yeah, it has brakes.
- Can you get on that? - Yeah.
- [Narrator] A pause in the action provides a chance
to check out the engine's mist cooling system.
- [Jesse] Look at that.
- Anybody else?
- [Jesse] It's like one of those things at the fair
when you're hot.
- [Narrator] Hoses tightened, clock ticking,
and Jesse's ready to hear his new monster roar.
- All right.
[car cranks]
- [Narrator] This race truck built from scratch
growls like a mountain lion ready to pounce.
[engine revs]
[Sarah yells]
[upbeat music]
Not many mountains in Long Beach, but Jesse's still anxious
to let his new monster out of the garage.
[Jesse laughs]
[car engine revs]
He lays down a challenge to one of his old friends
who goes by the name of Build-O.
We'll start down by those light posts there
where that throughway is,
and then we'll race this way and then go up the hill
and stop before we get to Ocean.
- Alright.
- [Narrator] Build-O's brought his '88 Blazer,
but can it take on a monster?
[engine revs]
[engines rev]
[Monster Garage crew laughs]
- It died and I still won.
[Monster Garage crew applauds]
- [Mike] That was awesome.
- It handle's good, I like it.
- Good job man.
- Thanks man.
- [Jesse] Yeah, that was bitchin'.
- I'm like, man, I think I could catch him.
Still ain't got no power windows.
- Did you see me catching you?
- Oh, I don't know.
I only saw you when you went by.
- All right, you guys want some tools?
- [Sarah] Yeah. - Cool.
Good job.
- [Rhys] That was fun.
- New Mac tool boxes.
- [Mike] Yeah, those are great.
- New Monster Garage CD.
It was awesome, it's fun.
I like that.
I like busting a*s for somethin' that's gonna haul a*s.
[rock music]
- [Narrator] Build cost tally:
hard cash, freebie value, vehicle cost, grand total.
♪ Monster
♪ Monster garage
[crowd applauds] Okay, monster mountaineers,
it's time to go up or shut up.
We're high up in the Colorado Rocky Mountains
ready for Jesse James to race his new monster
straight into the clouds.
Jesse and his team turned a 1988 Chevy Blazer
into a Pikes Peak Hill climber.
What do you do with something like that?
I'll tell ya, you race it up the mountain as fast as you can
and hope you don't go over the edge!
[car crashes]
- There's no other race like this in the world.
[engine revs]
- It's a rush.
[engine revs] - [Interviewer] Would you
do it?
- No.
- They are all crazy people like me.
[man loudly laughs]
- Lord, we just ask for our drivers
that you'd grant them wisdom and insight
as they tackle this road
that just changes and changes and changes.
Help them to see everything that they need to see
to make the very best run that they can.
Amen, go get 'em guys.
- All right. - [Camera Person] Bye.
- Let's get to gettin'.
- [Narrator] Wait a second, what's with the cane, Jesse?
It seems a few weeks ago he had a run in
with the wall at Irwindale Speedway.
Ouch!
He was knocked out for three minutes
and rushed off to a hospital.
A broken foot, four broken ribs, and a busted nose later
Way Fast Whitey is ready to take on the mountain!
You gotta love this guy.
- What's up?
I'm keeping you in business.
[spectators laugh]
Whose idea was this?
- [Narrator] Running in the exhibition class,
Jesse will be the first off at number 69.
The start is at 9,300 feet.
at an oxygen starved 14,100 feet.
- Hope he makes it.
- [Announcer] Jesse James will be starting off
the 82nd running
of the Falken Tire Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
He revs the engine.
He is ready to go.
The green flag drops and there he goes.
He is down the course heading into the first turn
and heading up to 16 mile.
[upbeat music]
[engine revs]
- [Narrator] It's all dirt from here to the top.
[engine revs]
[engine revs]
Oh yeah, push it Jesse, push it!
He's up past the tree line.
[engine revs]
[upbeat music]
The man has no fear.
Jesse's on the ragged edge.
[engine revs]
[upbeat music]
[engine revs]
[upbeat music]
[engine revs]
Oh yeah!
[engine revs]
[upbeat music]
[engine revs]
[upbeat music]
[engine revs]
[upbeat music]
[engine revs]
[upbeat music]
Bring it home, Jesse!
[engine revs]
There's the flagman!
[upbeat music]
- I was on it. [Jesse laughs]
[water sprays]
What's my time?
- [Narrator] 15 minutes and 4 seconds.
Now that's a hell of a time for a Pike's Peak rookie!
- That was good. [Jesse laughs]
That means it's a good build.
- [Camera Person] What's going through your mind
this whole time?
- Dude, I'm like trippin'.
I don't know whether I wanna like jump up and down
and sh**t a shotgun in the air or start crying or what.
I just, that was awesome.
This is the best one yet without a doubt.
I just wanna throw a rock at the wheely car now.
Stupid wheely.
- [Narrator] Jesse's got no time for anything weak,
pikes that don't peak
and monsters that don't make his hands shake!
He's got metal to burn, sparks to fly!
The next Monster Garage Challenge is just around the bend!
[rock music]
[soft music]
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04x05 - Pike's Peak Hill Climber
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A team of five people with mechanical, fabricating, or modifying expertise was assembled to modify a vehicle into a "monster machine."
A team of five people with mechanical, fabricating, or modifying expertise was assembled to modify a vehicle into a "monster machine."