Roadkill: Can A Dude Just Get A Mustang? Or- 5.0 Junkyard Turbo Swap

Boosted92LX

It's only an inch or two. What's the big deal?
15 Year Member
Dec 19, 2010
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I have always loved the show. If you are a car guy and don't watch it, you either haven't heard about it, or you ain't a car guy.

My one gripe with them is they've never done a Mustang. I understand they are now sponsored by Dodge, but with the long history of Mopar and Chevy, you'd think they could throw us Ford guys a bone and do a pony feature, right? When they announced a Mustang/Camaro shootout I let out a woo hoo only to be let down with this..
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A freaking V6 SN car that was so weak it didn't make it to the competition and ended up like this.. SMH.

Then on instagram, roadkill starts leaking photos. They begin with this:
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I rejoice! It is a clapped out GT vert, my absolute last choice for a foxbody, but hey, I'll take it! Right?? Then more pics start coming..
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The writing is on the wall..

This is their car dubbed the Rotsun. A 240z powered by a 4.3L V6 Chevy, complete with a turbo from a powerstroke truck. When it ran it was actually pretty impressive.. but they kept smoking engines...
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I'd much preferred to see them do a foxbody, but I guess I'll have to wait the two months before this hits the interwebz to see how fast it goes before they scatter 5.0 pieces down the track.. because... roadkill!
 
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They've really built some cool machines. The crusher camaro was tits.. and who could hate the blasphemi 55? Blown stubby bob wheelie truck? Total exercise in cool uselessness.. I love it!
 
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Never heard of the show...but I don't have cable so prob why

You tube: roadkill

They have a motortrend on demand app that runs $4.99 a month you can catch the latest releases. Or just wait another month for the you tube release.
 
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I thought I liked it but I was wrong. (No surprise, right?)
I just can't get past the premise of what it is they get paid to do, then waste my time watching them waste theirs. The words "patina"& "rat rod" get used as a goal way to often, and the object is always to build the most snagulated over the top version of something with both as a design target with the end result being a car that can never really be used anywhere except maybe a track w/ zero tech.

What real "car guy"on the planet wouldn't want a two lane black top 55 chevy?
twolane1.jpg

Why pfck up an completely unobtainable piece of history w/ a straight front axle and a Chrysler hemi?
As much as most here (that can even appreciate the aura that surrounded these cars) hate having their beloved body style bastardized w/ a different branded engine, what makes it ok to take unobtanium and do the same thing to this?
chevy31.jpg

The bottom car is American Graffitti's car, the top is TLBT's car.

Who wouldn't want an increasingly rare 240/260/280z and just drive it ? If you had to swap out the engine,..why not do it with the same goal? How much fun would a 400HP SBF be in a 280z? Instead of that future basket of scatted sht that is the Rotsun?

I absolutely hate rat rods. I hate that the current crop of greaser wannabe's feel the need to partially rescue a body and call that "done". Finnegan is one of those guys,...and Frieburger is the editor that's behind the change of an iconic magazine that pays homage to the fake cult that greases their hair into a pompadour, throws on a leather bomber jacket, a white T shirt, and a pair of cuffed levis', then goes out, and gets a sleeve of tats.

I get that the show is Roadkill. They take discarded crap, and then build the show around making some over the top thing out of it.....Why?
How about they work on saving a non-desirable and turn it into something cool that people want?


Why cant there just be a real show, that follows a real build that doesn't have the staged BS that revolves around a shop of bumbling boobs that pose for pictures w/ their arms crossed?

A 62 falcon for example: An uglier little bastard if there ever was one:

They take this:
medETJhumLV25RiKKj4PC9Q.jpg

and make this:
62b5851230e8db1656eae4a99011f4f4.jpg
 
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I thought I liked it but I was wrong. (No surprise, right?)
I just can't get past the premise of what it is they get paid to do, then waste my time watching them waste theirs. The words "patina"& "rat rod" get used as a goal way to often, and the object is always to build the most snagulated over the top version of something with both as a design target with the end result being a car that can never really be used anywhere except maybe a track w/ zero tech.

What real "car guy"on the planet wouldn't want a two lane black top 55 chevy?
twolane1.jpg

Why pfck up an completely unobtainable piece of history w/ a straight front axle and a Chrysler hemi?
As much as most here (that can even appreciate the aura that surrounded these cars) hate having their beloved body style bastardized w/ a different branded engine, what makes it ok to take unobtanium and do the same thing to this?
chevy31.jpg

The bottom car is American Graffitti's car, the top is TLBT's car.

Who wouldn't want an increasingly rare 240/260/280z and just drive it ? If you had to swap out the engine,..why not do it with the same goal? How much fun would a 400HP SBF be in a 280z? Instead of that future basket of scatted sht that is the Rotsun?

I absolutely hate rat rods. I hate that the current crop of greaser wannabe's feel the need to partially rescue a body and call that "done". Finnegan is one of those guys,...and Frieburger is the editor that's behind the change of an iconic magazine that pays homage to the fake cult that greases their hair into a pompadour, throws on a leather bomber jacket, a white T shirt, and a pair of cuffed levis', then goes out, and gets a sleeve of tats.

Why cant there just be a real show, that follows a real build that doesn't have the staged BS that revolves around a shop of bumbling boobs that pose for pictures w/ their arms crossed?

Seriously? You spent three years building a fairmont!

I think you completely missed the point of the show. They do NOT cater to greasers or the wannabe patina crowd. They take junk, and almost no money and try to build something that is either fast, or they can drive across the country. It really is as real as it gets. As far as the 55.. that was Finnegan's dream car he built. And it was a turd when he got it. All he did was improve it.

Maybe you should come to grips with the fact , Mike. You are a car snob..
 
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Because that real show would be a booring, time consuming waiting on parts, waste of advertising dollars so no sponsors would back it.
Yes it is ridiculous, yes they do stupid crap, yes they get paid to do it.
The only real vehicles they have are the crusher camaro and the blasphemy straight axel chevy, that doesn't count their personal junk, the rest is hacked up junk that they can think up stupid crap to do them, with the exception of stubby bob.
I think the cool factor here is that some of that crap actually works! Boost on a trailer? Man you gotta love that, thats hot rodding!
Now hook'n up three leaf blowers for boost? Thats stupid crap, but it worked, kinda, sorta like, not really.
It's still better than watching a bunch of commercialized hacks swaring and throwing tools around trying to make you think they can polish a turd and turn a profit at barrett jackson in a week.
I doubt count what his name can go to a junk yard and find a piece of crap, stick an engine in it, fix the brakes, put tires on it with a Mexican blanket on bare seat springs and drive it to LA
 
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Pretty Big Roadkill fan here. The episodes where they drive cross country to an event etc are usually my favorites.
Like the junkyard 'cuda they took drag racing-
IMG_1412.JPG

The Ranchero they took to Alaska for ice racing-
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the muscle truck
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Really liked General Mayhem when it was still a 440 car-hellcat is cool and all,just liked it better with the 440 lol
IMG_1411.JPG

Draguar-why not ? Lol
IMG_1409.JPG
 
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Because that real show would be a booring, time consuming waiting on parts, waste of advertising dollars so no sponsors would back it.
Yes it is ridiculous, yes they do stupid crap, yes they get paid to do it.
The only real vehicles they have are the crusher camaro and the blasphemy straight axel chevy, that doesn't count their personal junk, the rest is hacked up junk that they can think up stupid crap to do them, with the exception of stubby bob.
I think the cool factor here is that some of that crap actually works! Boost on a trailer? Man you gotta love that, thats hot rodding!
Now hook'n up three leaf blowers for boost? Thats stupid crap, but it worked, kinda, sorta like, not really.
It's still better than watching a bunch of commercialized hacks swaring and throwing tools around trying to make you think they can polish a turd and turn a profit at barrett jackson in a week.
I doubt count what his name can go to a junk yard and find a piece of crap, stick an engine in it, fix the brakes, put tires on it with a Mexican blanket on bare seat springs and drive it to LA

Quoted for the truth. So much better than the bullchit drama in fast and loud. Roadkill does the stuff I did when I was young and didn't have money, but plenty of time. It truly is hotrodding at it's very core despite what the car snobs think. Do they build every car a bad ass show car? No. And that would not be realistic either. Junkyard 5.0 turbo ftw.
 
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Pretty Big Roadkill fan here. The episodes where they drive cross country to an event etc are usually my favorites.
Like the junkyard 'cuda they took drag racing-
IMG_1412.JPG

The Ranchero they took to Alaska for ice racing-
IMG_1413.JPG
the muscle truck
IMG_1410.JPG

Really liked General Mayhem when it was still a 440 car-hellcat is cool and all,just liked it better with the 440 lol
IMG_1411.JPG

Draguar-why not ? Lol
IMG_1409.JPG

I actually owned an xj12 identical to the one that became the draguar. When the water pump locked up on the v12, and the new pump was going to cost $1200... I traded it off for a trashed 84 GT.
 
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Seriously? You spent three years building a fairmont!

I think you completely missed the point of the show. They do NOT cater to greasers or the wannabe patina crowd. They take junk, and almost no money and try to build something that is either fast, or they can drive across the country. It really is as real as it gets. As far as the 55.. that was Finnegan's dream car he built. And it was a turd when he got it. All he did was improve it.

Maybe you should come to grips with the fact , Mike. You are a car snob..

It's 3.5 years actually.

And your point?

Dude,...I have over a quarter of a million page views on a fairmont build. How is it that one old guy building up a less than popular bodystyle on a relatively obscure web forum, in an equally "niched" portion of that web forum (the fox section) can garner 1/4 million page views?

It's all been real....(well the cat getting sucked into the radiator,.....I may have embellished a little there) but there's no staged sht here.
In the style of Roadkill, What if I had just thrown a Chinese turbo on the existing 1bbl'd 3.3 L in there and left it at that? It all ran when I got it home. I'd be driving the thing years ago.
How much more interesting would that 1 month build have been?

Maybe I am...a car snob.

Maybe if they just did that the show would make sense. Maybe if they just saved a neglected or unpopular bodystyle, gave it some notoriety when they bought it put it on ebay, then along the way, do what they do for diversion all while offering up artist conceptions as to how cool it could be as an "inspiration" for that car that'd be different.

Here's the link to the show seasons....Look at how many times the projects have the word rat rod in them
https://www.google.com/webhp?source...727&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=roadkill+episodes
 
It's 3.5 years actually.

And your point?

Dude,...I have over a quarter of a million page views on a fairmont build. How is it that one old guy building up a less than popular bodystyle on a relatively obscure web forum, in an equally "niched" portion of that web forum (the fox section) can garner 1/4 million page views?

It's all been real....(well the cat getting sucked into the radiator,.....I may have embellished a little there) but there's no staged sht here.
In the style of Roadkill, What if I had just thrown a Chinese turbo on the existing 1bbl'd 3.3 L in there and left it at that? It all ran when I got it home. I'd be driving the thing years ago.
How much more interesting would that 1 month build have been?

Maybe I am...a car snob.

Maybe if they just did that the show would make sense. Maybe if they just saved a neglected or unpopular bodystyle, gave it some notoriety when they bought it put it on ebay, then along the way, do what they do for diversion all while offering up artist conceptions as to how cool it could be as an "inspiration" for that car that'd be different.

Here's the link to the show seasons....Look at how many times the projects have the word rat rod in them
https://www.google.com/webhp?source...727&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=roadkill+episodes

They used "rat rod" twice. Did you watch those episodes? They built neither of those vehicles, but did make a point with them.


My point is this: Not trying to take away from your build, it was bad ass! But the point of it??

What was the point of spending 3.5 years on a fairmont? Hot rodding. That's the only point, the only possible answer.

Now if you have a side project internet hotrod show you do when you aren't editing hot rod magazine, how long would it take people to get bored with a 3.5 year build? Not long. Do they fail at what they attempt? Regularly. Knda like someone I know.. who built a fairmont.

The point here is, they take nothin' and try to make somethin' in their spare time and turn out an episode once a month. How freakin often can you turn out a finished project??? These guys do more in twelve months than most hotrodders do their WHOLE LIVES. I'll admit, some episodes leave me disappointed. But, I ask myself if I could have done what they tried, and the answer, every time... is NO. Is the result a beautiful shiny car? No.. but what really is hotrodding?
 
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It's 3.5 years actually.

And your point?

Dude,...I have over a quarter of a million page views on a fairmont build. How is it that one old guy building up a less than popular bodystyle on a relatively obscure web forum, in an equally "niched" portion of that web forum (the fox section) can garner 1/4 million page views?

It's all been real....(well the cat getting sucked into the radiator,.....I may have embellished a little there) but there's no staged sht here.
In the style of Roadkill, What if I had just thrown a Chinese turbo on the existing 1bbl'd 3.3 L in there and left it at that? It all ran when I got it home. I'd be driving the thing years ago.
How much more interesting would that 1 month build have been?

Maybe I am...a car snob.

Maybe if they just did that the show would make sense. Maybe if they just saved a neglected or unpopular bodystyle, gave it some notoriety when they bought it put it on ebay, then along the way, do what they do for diversion all while offering up artist conceptions as to how cool it could be as an "inspiration" for that car that'd be different.

Here's the link to the show seasons....Look at how many times the projects have the word rat rod in them
https://www.google.com/webhp?source...727&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=roadkill+episodes
I don't care for the words 'rat rod' or 'patina' that's political correctness for looks like a pos.
They do what was done back in the early days of hot rodding with the exception of parts store purchases. But they are changing parts in a parking lot while its snowing or raining or whatever, thats the point of the 'show'.
Hook up a boat and tow it to a lake I don't remember like 4 hrs away yank the engine out of the truck stick it in the boat blast all over the lake for the afternoon then stuff it back in the truck and tow the boat back to LA, thats crazy your only gonna do that once kinda stuff.
Sit back and grab a bacon flavored beer and enjoy the show, it's the adventure, AND THEY GET PAID TO DO IT, far more awesome than counting fast and throwing a fit for the stupid audience unreality show these mindless f's on tv produce.