- [Gage] This one's got the 302 in it.
- [Tom] It's what?
302 Ford? - Yes.
- Oh geez.
So what year is this one?
- [Gage] This is an '89.
- [Tom] What'd you pay for it?
- 6,000. - Wow.
- [Shaye] I'm still in the process of the engine swap,
but you won't see-
- [Tom] Oh, so you put a straight six in here?
- [Shaye] I put the L series turbo in here.
- So I gotta tell you, I haven't seen an 810
in more than a quarter of a century.
(mellow music)
It's been a good morning for us so far.
We've met one family whose family passion,
mom, dad, sons, daughter is hot rod Japanese cars.
It's amazing.
It's such a family activity.
It's really pleasing to see.
But this is Brian.
And, Brian, thanks for allowing
us to come over to your house this morning.
- Yeah, good to meet you.
- Brian, tell us how your family's
automotive passion started?
- Well, I've always been a a car guy.
I'm a old school Fox body guy.
Back in the day I just love the Fox body's, had two of 'em.
So, all growing up, my son and I talked about
when he he turned 18, we're gonna build a car together.
He was gonna build a Mustang, right?
So, when he turned 18. - Really?
- He told me, he said, "Dad, I want a Supra."
And then I told him, I said,
"The only way you're gonna make horsepower is with a V8."
Right?
"So let's go get a Fox body and we'll build
that thing and it'll be a hot rod."
And he's like, "Nah, nah."
We go to shows, right?
- With his Supra?.
- With his Supra. - Yeah.
- My wife, his mom, super into it.
So it's a family thing.
So here he is 19, 20 years old.
How many 19, 20 year olds are gonna
go hang out with their mom and dad at a car show?
- [Tom] Is he teaching you things about these cars?
- I'd have to say, yeah.
- That's something.
Can Gage come over here and tell me about his car?
(mellow music)
Wow, wow, wow.
So what year is this one?
- [Gage] This is an '89.
- Wow.
(mellow beats music)
And how did you find this one?
- [Gage] This was on Craigslist then.
This was back in high school.
Senior year.
It was in Missouri.
- [Tom] One owner car?
- Yeah. - Yeah, he bought it new.
He bought it new for $28,000 in 1989.
- [Tom] 28 grand?
- [Brian] In '89.
That was a lot of money back then.
- [Tom] And you bought it what year?
- 2015, '14? - Yeah.
- [Tom] And so what had it deter,
I mean what did you pay for it?
- 6,000.
The only thing really wrong with it
was had it some spider webbing
on the hood from the paint.
- [Tom] you had it repainted?
- [Gage] Yeah, it's the original color,
but not the original paint.
- [Tom] Man, it's beautiful.
Ooh.
Man, this thing is unbelievable.
So originally you'd have a single turbo?
- [Gage] The factory motor actually was single turbo.
- Okay. - It was a 26 millimeter.
It made about 250.
This one's a 66.
So that's a huge upgrade.
- [Tom] And what do you think it's got now?
- I make 600 at the wheel now.
- [Tom] You had it on a dyno? - Yeah.
- [Tom] Oh geez, 600 horse!
And suspension wise?
- That's actually just on lowering springs.
At the time I didn't want to deal
with the rideability of coil overs.
So we just did springs.
- [Tom] All right, so you have a spare Supra.
We all need one.
So your Supra's what year?
- [Gage] '89.
- [Tom] And what year is this one?
- [Gage] This is an '87.
The differences in this is the taillights
and the front end.
But this one doesn't have a front end.
- [Tom] Same basic body.
- [Gage] Same body.
This ones got the 302 in it.
- [Tom] It's what?
- [Gage] It's got a 302 in it.
- 302 Ford? - Yes.
- [Brian] I can sell you that car.
- [Tom] Oh geez!
So is this a drift car?
- [Gage] We were, I was trying to, but it's hard to slide.
It's hard to drift carburetted motors
'cause they bog down around the corners.
- [Tom] Really?
- [Gage] So now it's just kind of hanging out.
- [Tom] Was this motor in there when you bought it?
- Yeah, the only thing we've done is put
that ratchet strap on it.
And that was to keep the belt from flying off.
- [Tom] So what kind of transmission's in there?
- [Gage] It's the BorgWarner T5.
- [Tom] So what are your plans for this?
- [Gage] Well, I was gonna fuel inject it
and try to keep drifting it,
but I'm not too sure, it's having some issues.
So we're gonna try to revive it, but not entirely-
- [Tom] This is kinda like your two worlds colliding.
- Well, that's, so he bought this a couple years ago
and he and he knew that, you know,
'cause I'm a Fox body guy. - Yeah, yeah.
- [Brian] Of course I now like Toyota
and he gave me the keys.
He said, "Here, it's yours."
I was like, "No, you keep it and have fun with it."
- [Tom] So these are glass fenders?
- [Gage] Yeah, they're fiberglass.
Yeah, these are actually really nice fenders,
they got really beat up, but this is what everybody wants.
These are the wide body fenders.
- So now you have got some of your friends here,
part of your club.
(Supra revving)
(mellow hard rock)
So your name is? - Cameron.
- Cameron, okay.
So this is a real hot rod.
In my mind this is a real hot rod
because it didn't have that motor to begin with.
- [Cameron] No sir.
- [Tom] So what kind of shape was
this car in when you bought it?
- So it was a completely bone stock Mach 1.
So-
- [Tom] So it was a V8 car?
- [Cameron] It's still a V8 car.
Still a four cam car.
- [Tom] Manual gear box?
- [Cameron] Yep, still manual.
It was a five speed.
It's a six speed now.
- [Tom] So can you flip this hood up so we can see?
- [Cameron] Yeah, absolutely.
(mellow hard rock)
- So that's a four cam, 4.6 liter?
- 4.6 liter V8, yep.
Came across a good deal on a Cobra.
Pulled all the guts out of it.
- [Tom] And that, look how wide that sucker is.
Was it a challenge to kind of get-
- We lifted the front end of the car up,
took the bumper off and actually had an engine hoist
through the bumper bar and took the strut towers loose,
and then dropped the entire K member
out of the bottom of the car.
This pulley's smaller, if you look down in there,
that's actually a two pound lower pulley as well.
- [Tom] Okay.
- So it makes that pulley bigger
so it spins the supercharger.
It makes about 15 to 16 pounds of boost.
- [Tom] Whoa!
And what's the horsepower stock?
- [Cameron] I believe 430, somewhere around there.
So it's right about 100 more than stock.
- [Tom] All right, my man, thank you.
- [Cameron] Thank you.
- This is an unusual scene here
because we have a Japanese hot rod car.
We have the the Mustang Cobra hot rod car.
And now we have Zach's Mercedes-Benz AMG,
where this one is a factory hot rod.
Those other two had to be modified
with different engines and things.
This one came from the factory.
So, Zach, thanks for bringing this thing out this morning.
- Not a problem.
- So what year is this car?
- [Zach] This is a 2003.
It's a CLK 55 AMG.
- [Tom] Almost 20 years old, wow!
- It is, yeah. - How many miles on it?
- It just hit 153k.
I believe there was only 1,500 of them
produced for each year outta three years to '06.
You don't see a lot of 'em on the road.
I was on Marketplace the same night I sold my Camaro,
and a guy in Virginia had this car.
And I started looking into it
and I found out how rare it was,
and it's got a 5.5 liter M113 V8 in it.
It makes almost 400 horse. - Naturally aspirated?
- Naturally aspirated, yep.
And so I wanted to jump on it.
So I called my buddy, Gage,
and we're on the road to Virginia that night
and I drove it back and- - Really?
So you're pleased with it?
How long ago did you buy it?
- [Zach] It's been a little over a year now.
So I'm gonna probably keep her around for a while.
- Well, thank you so much.
Great car, man.
- Thank you.
(upbeat country rock)
- It's been an amazing morning where
a lot of families we've met
are into it as a family activity.
Now we're at Shaye's house, a few miles from where we were.
We're in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
And he's into cars that I kind of get it.
Like, this is my generation stuff, Z cars.
So, Shaye, thanks for- - Yeah.
- Inviting us over.
Did you take off from work today?
- No, I work from home.
I'm a part-time school teacher so I can do that online.
So luckily I get to be here for this.
- [Tom] All right.
So your thing is Datsuns.
Not even Nissans, they're really Datsuns
- It kind of spilled over into Nissans,
just to get some variety.
But yeah, it's mainly all Datsuns.
- What was the first car you had
that turned on this passion?
- The gold S30 in front of us.
I've had that one for about eight or nine years now.
- [Tom] Yep.
- [Shaye] And it's been kind of a slow learning process,
but I rebuilt everything on it.
Learned how to do everything myself.
Cut, weld-
- So this car was a stock Z car when you got it?
- Yes.
- And now it's very hot rodded, I guess.
- Yeah.
- [Tom] So what did you weld on it?
- I made my own floor pans and frame rails.
So that was the most daunting thing.
Other than that, I've done coil over suspension,
changed out the interior, race bucket seats.
Done some mechanical stuff to the engine.
Just things you can do to maintain an old engine
and kind of spruce 'em up, you know?
Just been cleaned up with a little bit of cam advance on it.
Fresh spark plugs, bigger wires, bigger coil.
- [Tom] Have you auto crushed it or anything?
- I've taken it to a couple Piedmont drift events.
That's been a lot of fun.
That course is crazy.
Gotten a couple other cars to take out there
and kind of saved this one from beating on it.
But that's what kind of the original motivation was
when putting this car together.
- [Tom] Okay, you show us the engine here?
- [Shaye] Yeah, absolutely.
- [Tom] So did you buy it?
Was it in pretty good shape?
Did it have a paint job on there?
- This was resprayed in the '80s.
It was aged, it's got about 115,000 miles on it.
So redid the head, built it up.
These come with three adjustments
of cam timing from the factory.
As the engine ages you can adjust it.
So I just threw full advance on it
and it seems to sing pretty well.
- Oh wow, cool.
- [Shaye] Walbro 255 fuel pump, bigger radiators,
just kind of reliability mods.
- [Tom] How did you find this car?
- This was back when Craigslist was still useful.
(Tom laughing)
And it was on, just kind of tucked underneath
a tree somewhere up in like a farm
up in Salisbury, North Carolina.
- Really? - Yeah.
And this kid had just, you know, his Dad had it.
He kind of just got it running to sell
and it was right before
these things really took off as, like, collector cars.
- And so where'd you go from here?
- Oh, I've gone through a bunch of cars,
but I think the next thing was would be the 810.
- So I gotta tell you I haven't seen
an 810 in more than a quarter of a century.
- I wish it was a little bit cleaner to show you guys,
but I mean it's a-
- So what the 810 was, was taking this engine,
like a Z car straight six cylinder motor,
and putting it in a four door sedan.
So it was kind of a sedan version of a Z car.
Is that 20-
- [Shaye] It's an L24 with fuel injection.
- So it's a 240Z drive train.
- Yes. - Yeah.
- [Tom] Okay, so what year is it?
- [Shaye] This one is a '77.
- [Tom] So how did you find this?
There can't be, like, three in the world.
- This one again was in kind of
the Piedmont area of Carolina.
This one I found in a 810 Datsun Maxima Facebook group.
Someone just shared it, it wasn't theirs.
They're like, "Hey, someone go grab this."
- [Tom] Wow!
- And, again, 1,000 bucks, drove it onto the trailer,
put a new radiator in it, that's all it needed.
- [Tom] And have you had to go through the motor,
or just that's the way it was?
- [Shaye] Spark plugs, wires, new belts.
I've done a couple seals here and there.
A coolant temp sensor.
These are really simple kind of analog fuel injection.
So if it sees good temperature here and this is spinning
and there's pressure there, everything kind of works.
- [Tom] Do you torque the head occasionally?
'Cause I know these had a habit of blowing head gaskets
when they've got some miles on them.
- [Shaye] Checked the heads, check the valve clearances,
and they're tough old tractor motors.
- So what's your intention with this?
Just enjoy it the way it is?
- It's comfy, I drive it all the time.
I take it to town, take it to Cars and Coffee.
(Tom laughing)
- Have you ever had anybody know what it is?
I mean-
- [Shaye] Rarely.
Maybe, like, one or two people.
- [Tom] I bet.
Well, I like this.
I mean, I really like this.
It's like a big boy 510. - Yeah.
- [Tom] What other Z cars you got in the garage here?
- [Shaye] So these ones I'm just working on
for some friends.
If you wanna see 'em though,
the green one has triple carbs on it.
- [Tom] Yeah, sure.
- They wanted to put the triple carbs on it
so I installed the kit for 'em,
went through the head and made sure that everything
was in timing, checked valve clearances.
- [Tom] What shape was this is when your buddy got it?
- [Shaye] About this.
This one is relatively rust free.
It, I guess, had a turbo engine in it at one point
- [Tom] And then this one's a later one.
- So, again, a friend of a friend,
she had one of these in high school in the '80s.
This is an '88 two-plus-two 300ZX.
She knew I was into cars.
She was like, "Hey, can you find me one?"
I was like, "I'll keep an eye out."
And went and scooped this up.
It was running and driving and as soon as you look
at something underneath the hood on these things,
it spirals outta control into a full top end rebuild.
You know, pull the engine out, change all the seals out,
change all the bushings out,
'cause everything's just falling apart on these older cars.
But this one is, you know,
getting towards the last bits
of it being put back together and and being sent home.
- Oh, cool. - Yeah.
- [Tom] Now, the 240SX, is that yours?
- [Shaye] Yes.
- [Tom] Oh, let's take a look at that.
- [Shaye] That one's pretty interesting.
Cheap Marketplace find.
This one ran and drove really good.
- [Tom] Where was this car?
- [Shaye] This one was somewhere near
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
And it was all stock, has, you know, full interior.
It's just an aged '89 240SX.
- [Tom] So you've slammed it?
It was stock when you got it?
- [Shaye] It had coil overs on it.
I've just adjusted 'em down.
- [Tom] Okay.
- [Shaye] Now it's got a full factory angle kit on it.
I've done-
- [Tom] That's a loud hawk isn't it?
- [Shaye] I'm still in the process of the engine swap.
You won't see-
- [Tom] Oh, so you put a straight six in here.
- [Shaye] I put the L series turbo in here.
So this is an L28.
- [Tom] So this was a four cylinder?
- [Shaye] Yeah, this was a single overhead cam-
- Yeah, yeah. - KA.
- [Tom] And so you had the room.
- [Shaye] There was room to fit.
I mean, I see people swap RBs and 2JZs into these cars.
I'm like, "Well I've got a straight six lying around.
I can maybe just make this."
- [Tom] I've seen these cars with LS Chevys in 'em.
- [Shaye] And then, with that you get
a ton of room with that.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
So this one, this is what I'm really excited
to have rip around.
- [Tom] No kidding.
Is this manual transmission?
- Yeah, five speed.
The original five speed from the car adapted
to run with the older engine.
So swap some bell housings around,
machine work a little bit here and there.
- [Tom] And those are Z car wheels?
- Yeah, matching from the donor car of the engine.
A '81 Turbo ZX.
- [Tom] Wow, you've got it pretty bad, I'd say.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- [Shaye] Yeah, it's a bug and its-
- [Tom] Do you have a favorite?
Like if I took away all your cars
and said you could have one back, which would it be?
(Tom laughing)
- Oh man, it's like, which kidney do I need most?
- Yeah, yeah.
- You know, I've cut my teeth the most on that gold one,
but honestly I think the 240 would take it.
- [Tom] Really?
- Yeah, just because the uniqueness of the swap
and from a driving perspective
these chassis are really nice.
- Yeah. - They're comfortable
for daily driving and they're very sporty.
- [Tom] So like I see a driveway and a garage full of cars.
How did this sickness happen?
- I think Hot Wheels were like the first trap
that got me into this.
I remember seeing a Datsun at a car meet
when I was probably like 12 years old,
and it was in rough shape.
It wasn't painted, it was dented.
It was running on, like, four cylinders.
But the shape of it just really caught my eye.
That's kind of what fueled it for me to find one later on.
- [Tom] Yeah.
- I had a poster from old "Super Street" magazines
of that on the wall and then I found the gold one
and I was, like, "I'm in." - Cool, cool.
- [Shaye] It's just a rabbit hole from there.
- [Tom] Yep.
Well, I appreciate you- - Absolutely.
- Come and share your collection here.
- Absolutely. - Thanks so much, man.
- Yeah.
- And I hope you've enjoyed
another episode of "Barn Find Hunter."
Happy Hunting.
700 bucks you paid for this?
- The body was all intact.
It was just the motor.
Somebody had done the timing belt
and didn't line up the cams gears right,
so it locked the motor up.
- And this is Lisa's car.
- This is a 2000 GS300 Lexus.
- [Tom] So you've done the body work
and paint already obviously 'cause it looks beautiful.
- It used to be a really nice car
but a tractor trailer tire took out the front end.
- And that's the engine out of it?
- [Brian] So we took the engine out,
then we have another engine for hers
over here under wraps.
That one's another 2JZ, just like that one.
Be around 600 horsepower.
(Tom blowing)
With a 57 millimeter-
- I mean, do you need 600?
- Hey, I need to get the grocery store, you know?
(Tom laughing)
- Gotta get there quick.
(mellow rock music)