Now I probably shouldn't be working on my own car right now,
but [clicks tongue] that's just...
that's the perks of being the boss.
[wheels squealing]
That thing takes some abuse.
[Bill] I gave this truck a second life.
Now it's time to give it that third life.
A new chase rack tied up to the rack on the roof
and to the new tailgate.
It's a '52 wrecker.
[Carlos] This is the one that they're building the frame for right now.
[Ryan] That frame should go underneath that in the morning.
Heads or tails.
Way overbuilt, that's just perfect.
Speaking of, here he come!
Whoo! Baby brother.
[both laugh]
I'm Bill Carlton,
I built my first truck when I was 16.
And ever since,
me and my guys have been out here creating with our hands.
Building the biggest, lowest, and baddest custom trucks and cars in the game.
People don't come here for what they need,
they come here for what they want.
This...
...is Texas Metal.
[wheels screech]
You never know when you need a stress reliever.
On the way to lunch sometimes,
I just randomly take a lap.
Just go off the road, go jump some stuff.
Just have a good time.
[wheels squealing]
-[Daniel laughs] -[David] That Bill having all the fun.
Just clears your mind and start the rest of the day off
on a different note.
And, of course, one of my favorite vehicles to do that in
is the orange Baja truck.
Man, that thing takes some abuse.
-[laughs] What's up, Bill? -[chuckles]
-Bro, what are y'all doing over here. -[David] What's up, man?
We're just rolling down the road,
wanna get parked.
See you back here actin' like a fool.
Sometimes you get a little stressed out at the shop,
and you just got to blow off some steam, right?
Oh, we know all about that.
I can't believe this thing is still kicking, dude.
-Still looks-- -Yeah, six years later, right?
It still looks the same.
[Bill] It's showing its age now.
You know, it's been done for quite some time,
-and I've use it constantly. -I can tell!
It's about time to take it back into the shop and give it a little revamp.
Six years back, I bought a 2017 F150 from Dave.
I had a crazy idea to turn it into a Baja-style truck.
And we did exactly that.
Replacing the busted part of the frame,
added a turbo charger,
long travel control arms,
big, heavy-duty coil overs,
traction bars,
and, of course, wheels and tires.
You know, we always did want this truck back.
-[Daniel] Not gonna happen, huh? -Nope.
I'm having too much fun in this.
This is one truck that I'm not getting rid of.
-What you gonna do to it? -[Bill] One of the first things, I'm gonna do
is upgrade the lighting.
A roof rack with a bunch of lights in it
is... is just a must.
You gotta see what you're jumpin'.
-Yeah, night or day. -[Daniel] Okay.
And at night, you wanna make it day.
-[both] There you go! -[laughs]
I just need to wake it up.
Change the bumper up some,
change the grill, new tires,
I'm gonna put some more tires in the back.
So you're gonna do a color change on it?
[Bill] Definitely. I love the color,
but it's time to change that too.
-[Daniel] Somethin' different? -[Bill] Yeah.
Just a total facelift.
What about the back, you're not gonna do nothing back there?
Yeah.
[David] Oh, you know it, he got somethin' up his sleeve.
[Bill] I want a new chase rack,
but something that matches the roof rack
and looks like it's tied into the rack up on the roof,
and flowing down the bedsides
and then flowing down into a cool-looking tailgate
-that ties everything in together. -[David] All flowing together.
And you can see the tires in the back really well too.
The chase rack's signature on a Baja truck.
I love the styling of it, but it's just time for an upgrade.
You know, Bill, I can't wait 'till you get this thing done.
You gotta take me for a ride.
You got it, I'll let you know as soon as I get this done.
I'mma call y'all up.
-I don't know. -He can't even ride.
-We'll strap him in the back. -He gonna be... He gonna be squealing.
-Yeah. -[laughs]
-[Daniel] Woah, that turbo sounds good too. -[David] Yeah.
[Bill] You know, everybody knows that I don't keep vehicles for too long.
But every once in awhile,
one just happens to stick around that I'm pretty fond of.
Not every vehicle you drive can do what it does.
This has a V8, turbo-charge.
I love getting behind the wheel, feeling the power.
Man, it's fun to drive.
Built this truck out of nothing,
a wrecked up F150.
It just turned it into something real cool,
something I'm proud of driving it up and down the street.
But it's showing its age,
so if I'm gonna touch up a couple things,
I might as well just touch up a couple things, right?
I gave this truck a second life,
now it's time to give it that third life.
[thunder rumbles]
Whatcha doin'?
[Jamie] What we got goin' on, man.
See you over here brainstorming.
Mmm-hmm!
-You finally selling it, huh? -No.
The lunch shift's just...
[chuckles]
...are too fun.
I'm not getting rid of this.
Now I've had this six years.
She's showin' her age.
Yeah, you know what that's from, right?
-Yeah, it's not from sittin' out there, just hanging out. -No, no.
-Definitely gets used. -[Ryan] Yeah.
[Bill] And if I'mma keep it, gotta make it look good, right?
Paint it now?
[Bill] Definitely gonna change the color.
All my cars are black.
Looks totally out of place in my driveway.
[all laugh]
Your friends are over...
-Yeah. -...they're like, "Who's truck is that?"
-Yeah. [chuckles] -[laughs]
[Bill] It's gotta have an accent color too.
-What color you wanna... what color we thinkin' about? -Guess.
Gold.
[Jamie] Gold. [chuckles]
He's on this gold kick lately.
Everything's gotta be gold.
-Everything gold? -Everything gold.
You already know.
He already know.
It's always lacked lighting too.
So we gotta add a lot more lights.
So I wanna add a roof rack.
-[Ryan] Okay. -[Bill] And then have a bunch of lights up on the roof.
-New lights down in the bumper. -[Jamie] Uh huh.
[Bill] You know, change the bumper up a little bit.
-'Course you gotta change the grill up, you know. -Yeah.
If I put a new roof rack on it,
the chase rack really isn't gonna match.
So I think we're gonna have to build...
...a new chase rack that ties into the roof rack.
-Okay. -I actually want it
to come down the bed rails,
and down into the new tailgate we're gonna build.
-Nice. -So it's all flowing and tied together.
-Nice. -That's gonna look cool.
That way we can see the two spare tires in the back.
-[Jamie] Nice. -You know, needs new tires all the way around.
[chuckles]
[Bill] Just re-powder coat the wheels.
I love the wheels that's on it.
[Ryan] Yeah, that's a good lookin' wheel.
Are you gonna keep it black or are you gonna do the wheel gold too?
I don't know yet, we'll see.
It's gonna be cool man, I'm gettin' excited.
You know, I can't get rid of my old truck, man.
-Oh, man. -No, man, it's been a long time coming.
It'd be great to do it all over again.
-Many, many jumps since then. -[both] Oh, yeah.
I don't know what we're gonna jump over
this time but it's something.
We'll find something.
How 'bout your motorcycle?
-[laughs] -Yeah, his. he was asking you!
[Jamie] No!
-He was asking you. -Hell no.
[Bill laughs]
There's so much caked on mud,
you can barely see the suspension or the frame.
So before we tear it all down,
I'm get the guys to clean it all off.
[Jamie] Look at that.
Pillar right there, where the tire was mashed on it,
'cause it got waded up in that finger well.
-[Ryan] Man. -[Jamie blows raspberry]
I remember building this truck six years ago,
but I fell in love with it right away.
I mean, it just had that Baja look.
Always been into that style of truck.
It's actually when one you get out there and beat up.
I can't tell you how many tires I've changed on this thing.
Broken windows to puttin' band aids
on it here and there, I mean.
We've abused it...
...and that's an understatement.
Think I remember putting these lights in.
-[Ryan] So you're the one to blame. -Yeah!
Pulling this truck all apart definitely brings me back to,
you know, six years ago when we were building this for the first time.
Everything's holding up pretty good.
[Ryan] Did good, buddy.
Considering...
...what all I've put this truck through.
[Jamie] He come this way any?
There you go.
-Oh, it broke it. -Yeah.
[Ryan] Out all that jumping and all that stuff over the years,
that's the only crack that it has right there.
It's split right there.
Do you have to straighten this frame?
Yeah, I... I didn't work on this one.
I remember it being just completely smashed,
and it was, like, the cab, that was it.
And then it had big rails comin' out of the back of it,
and then it turned into the stock frame arms... into that
Jessie!
-What's up, man? -Man.
Changin' up the Baja truck a little bit.
-So... -The Baja. Old Baja?
-Yeah! -All right.
Yeah, it's time for a little revamp.
So I wanna put new lights in the bumper.
Now, I'm gonna put a roof rack on it.
So I want, you know, new lighting on end too.
I want a bunch of lights on this.
So I need a piece cut out,
with seven holes in it, six and a one-eighth.
And same with the roof rack.
-[Jessie] It's all ready. -Thank you.
Okay, so we had the square lights in here before,
and so now we're gonna go ahead and put the newer style round lights.
But it doesn't fit, so...
I gonna have to cut the bottom of this bumper, cap it.
Then we'll be able to put this piece that Jessie burned in there.
Our round light should fit.
I'm just doin' a rough template of the piece that I cut off.
Maybe cut it down just a little bit,
start welding this thing on.
'Kay, so I made some tabs, bolted them up to the light.
Now we can stick the light in the position.
Go ahead and tack it on.
Find it exactly where we want it at.
Weld it out,
then it's gonna be done for our light bar.
[sizzling]
We're just gonna go with the old eyeball.
[metallic clicking]
[Bill] Yeah.
You know, one of the benefits of driving this Baja as much as I did,
I get to see all the strengths and all the weaknesses.
Driving at night, it just wasn't bright enough.
So this time around, I'm adding a whole lot more lights.
This is gonna do the trick.
Love it.
It's gonna be bright.
Want the rest of 'em?
-Yeah, I wanna... -Do 'em all? Okay.
You know, six, eight years ago,
all the lights were rectangle, square.
That was the trend.
But now, you know, everybody's kinda gettin' away from that.
It's going back to the old school round lights.
Mmm-hmm.
Great, this is exactly what I was talkin' about.
It's gonna be very, very, very bright.
Mmm-hmm.
I can't wait 'till you're in front of me
on the way to work in the morning.
[both laugh]
Over the years, we've gotten used to all sorts of vehicles
rolling into the shop.
But I'm not used to a big yellow school bus rolling in...
...packed with students for a tour.
[Carlos] Hey, Roger, how you doin'? I'm Carlos.
-Morning, nice to meet you. -Nice to meet you sir.
I teach, uh, at Lufkin ISD Automotive.
I've taught there for 28 years.
-[Carlos] You guys ready to see what we do here? -[students] Yes, sir.
Come on this way, guys.
[Roger] We had, uh, an option to go to the drag races,
but we decided to come to Ekstensive.
[Carlos] We have too many of you guys.
[Roger] I've got students that like to weld,
I've got students that like stereo, upholstery.
All of them, hard workers.
-That's cool, man. -If they work hard for me, I brought 'em.
[Carlos] Well, I'll... I'll get the applications ready.
-[laughs] -[Carlos chuckles] Let's start filling them out.
-[Bill] How y'all doin, man, good morning. -[man] Hello!
[Roger] This is Bill that owns the shop, guys.
You started out, what, 16 years old,
working with your dad.
Yeah, I was miserable at the time.
I... I hated goin' to work with him.
I hated doin' what we were doin'.
You know, I really didn't hate welding,
but it was just something just I had to do.
You know, I just didn't want to be forced to have to do it.
So thank god, you know, you passed his trade down to me,
and, uh, just kinda used that over in the automotive side,
which I had a passion for, so I just kinda ran with that.
Man, myself in high school,
I was just very reserved, you know.
I just wasn't a school type of guy.
It all goes back to what your passion is for.
If you wanna learn something, you're gonna learn it.
I mean, if you don't,
if you don't have any interest in it,
you're not gonna learn it.
You know, I wanted to be out.
I wanted to be working with my hands.
I wanted to be creating something.
And, you know, just sitting behind a desk just wasn't for me, personally.
How long does it take to build the frame?
[Bill] A frame, something like this,
with probably two people, two weeks.
You know, just building a back half of a frame,
like the one that's on the table over there?
About three days. And that'll go underneath this truck right here.
'52 wrecker.
It came in, it was all, you know, the factory wrecker bed
from back in the '50s.
We took all that off and just lifted the body off.
We're build' in all new frame.
It is gonna be a wrecker again,
but just, more or less, a hot rod wrecker.
Well, basically, what we do on a project like this frame,
we take some measurements, take a quick little sketch,
and transfer that sketch over onto the table,
and actually pull some metal off the wall, and start buildin'.
We build from the firewall back on the table.
And then we put it up underneath the cab,
establish the wheel base, build some body mounts,
and then we build the front half of it.
That frame should go underneath that in the morning.
You don't know how much we appreciate you
letting us come down and be a part of this.
Yes, it's cool for us to to get to show,
you know, the different stages of everything.
Appreciate y'all comin' by, man.
No, really, thanks.
It's been an eye-opening experience
to have kids come through here.
You guys can see this truck right here,
this is the one that they're building the frame for right now.
[Bill] I can't wait to see what that generation
is gonna be doing 10 years from now,
once they find their passion,
to see what they create.
[John] Never shut anything out.
If you're trying to learn cars and trying to learn things in the car industry,
be a sponge, absorb it all in and learn it all.
[Bill] We're always looking for somebody at Ekstensive that likes what they do,
and can't wait to get to work in the morning.
Who knows,
once these kids graduate, they need to find a place for employment...
...and might see 'em again.
Ready?
We're the finishin' the frame on the '52 wrecker.
And from there we can get it up underneath the cab...
-It's like a 30 second off. -[Bill] Damn.
...then start working on the suspension.
[Ryan] Yeah.
Tack it?
You know, Ryan did a badass job on the rails.
There's not too many vehicles with a frame like this around it, for sure.
The transition between the 2 by 5s ups and the 2 by 4
with the truss under here is super, super strong.
The next step on this is tying in the back of the frame together.
And I want everything 100% super strong.
I know the truck's not gonna actually haul a car,
but if he ever does want to, he can do it.
Way overbuilt,
but that's just perfect.
About six and a half.
This side's good.
You know, this right here is the beginning
of what holds the whole rear suspension.
What holds the axle into the truck itself is the four-link mount.
Beaut'.
It's gonna have air suspension on this,
that's why there's a big, oblong shape here.
So that big drive shaft can go all the way through
and still have that movement to articulate up and down.
You know, there's gonna be an upper four-link bar
that goes out from here out to the axle.
A lower four-link bar
that goes from here to the bottom of the axle.
All the torque of the engine
it all goes through this point right here.
So, this has to be one of the strongest points
on the whole suspension itself.
[Ryan] Heads or tails?
[Bill] It's on the money, man.
That's how you do it.
The next step is getting the rear end in place.
We're gonna kinda aim the pinion
at the rear of the transmission.
And that's gonna establish the pinion angle.
Once that's done, we start building suspension.
[Bill] Oh, oh.
Hmm! [laughs]
[Ryan] Mmm-hmm.
All right, we got our wheel base established,
we got our four-link mounts.
And it's lookin' real good.
The next step is just burning out the lower bag mount.
That way we can have our plates
and be able to weld right onto the four-link tabs themselves.
And that'll tie everything in, all nice and together.
So it'll be a super strong base for our air bag
which is gonna hold all the weight on the whole... the whole truck.
So I'mma send these over to Jessie,
have him burn out a quarter inch plate for me.
And we'll have some nice, cool, strong back mounts
to weld right onto the four-link tabs.
[sizzling]
[Ryan] Know where the other bracket went?
Oh.
Now that we have the frame mocked up and built for the '52 wrecker,
we're movin' on to the upper back mounts.
And then we'll just...
...boom shaka laka from here.
Well, this is three, so how about just an inch and a half?
There you go, that'll work too.
[Bill] You know, a lotta stuff we build the bottom up.
In this case, we're gonna build the top back mounts, and then work our way down.
So build from the top on this, make sure it's 100% perfectly level,
and then we'll build down.
[Ryan] And then... Ow! Don't get my finger.
Dang old... Ow.
[Bill] We can go ahead and tack the bottom to that.
-Then we hold it all together. -[Ryan] Then we can take all this off.
-Yeah. Then it'll be... -And we can just drop that pipe right on.
-Then it'll be where it needs to be. -Yeah.
[Bill] Put one clamp all the way through it.
Cool.
[Ryan] You want to bend both of 'em, right, come out?
-Boom boom? -[Bill] No, they just go straight out.
[Ryan] Because if I go straight out on this one,
-It's gonna get right into our holes. -[Bill] Bend it.
[Ryan] Put a little slight bend in it right here.
[Bill] Bend it, chop it.
[singing] ♪ Jessie, can I come over ♪
All right, so, got the back brackets done.
Everything's tacked in.
We'll wait to throw some welds on there.
And we're gonna build a few more things out,
and, uh, just keep rolling with this.
I've been known to be a little hard on my vehicles.
That couldn't be more true on that 2017 Baja.
One of the things it really needs is some new tires.
So I'm gonna get my boy Billy to get me hooked up and get 'em mounted.
I can't even remember how long, but I've known Bill for a long time.
He's hard on everything.
But when it comes to these bead locks, this works well for him.
The bead locks will ensure that he can get home safe,
get back to the trailer
without a tire falling off of the wheel.
So what we'll do...
...come over here.
Break the bottom bead down.
Everything about this tire is just...
...tough.
So if I can get some lube up underneath that bead,
and let it drop back down.
Now it's lubed between the bead and the wheel,
so now when I go back on it...
...make tires a little bit easier,
and it'll drop off that rim flange.
Use lube.
It makes your life easier,
makes the machine last longer.
Less chance of scratching a wheel.
So what we'll do is we'll also replace this valve stem.
It's just always good to replace the rubber.
Rubber deteriorates.
Last thing I wanna do is do all this work,
you go down the road and your valve stem breaks,
because we didn't do a simple one minute replacement on a valve stem.
[grunts lightly]
Now what we'll do is line this bead up on top of this.
Make sure it's all in there.
And go and put that ring on there with the new bolts.
What we're gonna do is put all these in.
It's best that you go in a circle in these bead locks,
because you don't really wanna go in a star pattern,
like we're doing everything else.
You can pinch a tire if it's not under the flange here
for the bead... for this outer ring
to... to clamp down on the tire.
And then I'mma go back with the torque wrench,
and we're gonna go around three circles.
And we're gonna torque it down to 20 foot pounds,
and that will make sure that all the bolts are evenly torqued.
We're gonna go ahead and throw it in our tire cage here. We plate it.
I'm gonna plate it up at 35 psi.
And then we'll go ahead and balance it.
The best balance is to do a dynamic balance.
Dynamic balance is balancing on two planes.
Up and down.
It also balances the tire from side to side.
I always watch the assembly spin,
just to make sure that I've done it correctly,
make sure I didn't make a mistake.
All right.
Machinery's okay, okay on both planes.
This one's all ready to go, all balanced,
Uh, because Bill's running two spares
on his prerunner truck, I got five more to go.
[tires screech]
[claps] You ready?
-I'm here. -Let's do it.
Instead of building a custom roof rack
for my F-150 Baja,
I got this one to save some fabrication time,
but we'll incorporate it into the new chase rack,
so it'll all flow together...
Where are you at? On a rib?
I think we're pretty even right there, actually.
I think we're right in the same, exact spot.
[Bill] ...but it's just one of those things
I always wanted on top of the truck,
but never found the time to make it happen.
[Bill] The chase rack we're building is gonna go
from the roof rack
all the way back to the tailgate,
so I'm gonna start out building bed rails.
Jessie did a good job
burning out the eighth-inch plate.
We're gonna bend them,
so we can cap the bed sides, and bed front,
and I'm gonna start filling in the back of the bed.
If we just drill a couple holes,
we can bolt it later,
with, like, quarter-inch bolts,
but right now, we can just put a couple tek screws in it,
just to hold it.
What is this one for, here? What is that?
[Bill] Man, this is gonna work.
Whoo!
This is the layout I think, aesthetically,
is gonna look the best,
you know, tie everything together,
so I'm gonna have Jessie cut out four plates,
put them all in place,
lean them in just a little bit,
and bring them in
a little bit closer together on the top,
so it's not the same thickness.
You know, it gives a little more style to it.
[Jessie] I think it's gonna look badass now.
After I finish cutting these side pieces,
I'm gonna just pick them off the plasma table,
and I'm gonna clean them on the flat.
[Jamie] If I'm doing something custom here,
I definitely want to pay attention,
especially to the boss' truck.
If I don't do this right, Bill's gonna fire me.
You know, a lot of times,
when you already finished a build,
you're thinking, "What can I do next?"
Getting another chance on the F-150 Baja
is something I've been thinking about
for awhile now.
A custom chase rack was on the top of my list.
[Jamie] Everything's parallel in my pieces,
so I'm gonna go ahead and use
some two and a half inch three-sixteenths flat bar,
and start capping the back side.
You know, I want a little bit thicker material right here on the edge.
If any things ever happen,
I want to make sure my end's solid.
I don't know if y'all know, but Bill drives crazy.
I mean, he sees a jump,
[claps] he's gotta hit it.
I've got the outsides tacked in now,
so I'm gonna go ahead and start moving
to the inside.
This one's got a slight radius to it,
so I'm gonna have to roll it.
Once I get both pieces rolled...
I do believe that's gonna work.
...tack them in.
Once I get them all tacked in,
I'm gonna go ahead and snap these off,
tack on the back pieces,
weld them down.
[Bill] He's like,
"I know you got some treats for me in that pouch."
[Dustin chuckles]
You remember that one time, when you weren't hungry?
We're putting mesh in the tailgate,
roof rack, bumper,
chase rack.
Same, same.
Does it fit?
It looks nice.
Chase rack's coming along really good.
You know, it's got some really cool contours
and shapes to it.
Tilt it back a little bit.
You know, you never see
nothing like this, on anything else.
That's the coolest part, I think, about it.
I probably shouldn't be working on
my own car right now,
but that's just the perks of being the boss.
I want the tailgate gone.
You know, when you see Baja trucks,
they don't have a tailgate. You see what's in the back.
I just want something a little bit more
of the off-road look.
We're building the chase rack,
we're building some style into that,
and I just want to carry that same styling
back into the tailgate,
so just trying to get back and really look
at what works the best,
what ties the tailgate end to the chase rack,
and ties the whole truck together,
from front to back.
Justin got these burned out and fit up real nice
for the tailgate over here.
We're gonna make
the inner structure here, now, and then,
cap the ends the same way.
All right, so I got these pieces bent up.
They fit good in here.
I'm gonna give it a few tacks, to get that
kind of fit in there how I like,
and then, work on the outside.
So, I could have made this all in one bend,
but I didn't want to.
I'm just gonna take some flat bar,
now that that's tacked in,
and get a really hard edge,
right here,
instead of having that round edge
that doesn't follow the flow
of anything else that we got going on.
It takes about 15 extra minutes,
but whatever, you know.
It'll look better in the end.
It'll look super cool whenever we get them
all cleaned up, and everything.
We got this mesh piece that's gonna go on here,
and it matches everything else we got going on
with the front bumpers,
the roof rack,
the chase rack, the whole nine.
This being on the tailgate is just gonna tie all that in,
keep the flow of everything going,
and keep this dude happy.
Oh, it's way too long.
Mmm-hmm.
Sixteen.
Right. Good eyeball.
The suspension on this 1952 wrecker
is coming along nicely.
The next pieces are gonna be those upper bag brackets.
[Ryan] And that's the way the cookie crumbled.
So, we started with everything being flat,
and on the same plane, and everything,
and come through here,
and just bent this little bar up,
give it a little bit of character,
and it also goes with the flow of everything else going on.
You know, 45's everywhere, or a nice roll.
This is also, you know, my upper bag bracket, too,
so this, you know, is gonna be able to hold
any weight that he decides to put behind this thing,
but we'll add another piece in here,
and keep the flow going.
You can see the flow,
what we were talking about, you know,
and now, we got out bag brackets done,
some bracing, you know, some more aesthetics.
Also goes into the structure of everything.
It's looking really good.
I'm pretty happy with it all.
All right, let's pick it up, and I gotta get
these shock tabs over this bar.
We're ready to put the frame suspension
right underneath that '52 wrecker cab.
We're going out that way?
I guess.
[all grunting]
-[Ryan] Once. -[Jessie] You ready?
[Ryan] Yeah.
-Wait. -[Jamie] Okay, set it right there.
-Set it right there. Set it there. -[Ryan] I got it.
[Bill] Getting that frame underneath the truck
is a big deal...
Come on, man. Come on. Take it easy.
...'cause everything else gets built off of this.
[Ryan] Go up front and set it.
[Bill] From here, it's finishing the frame...
-[Jamie] Stand? -[Ryan] All right. All right, right there. Right there.
[Bill] ...and building that front suspension...
[Jamie] Center it up now, some?
[Ryan] Yeah.
[Bill] ...building the wrecker bed,
and that wrecker boom...
I'm just gonna eyeball
in between the two bolts right there, about center.
[Bill] ...installing that LT4,
the interior, paint, you know, everything.
It's supposed to be 18.
There you go.
[Bill] I always wish and hope things can go faster,
but after so many builds under my belt,
I know it's just starting to get exciting.
[Ryan] All right. Perfect.
Man, you're right on time.
Bill! How's it going, man?
-What's up, Billy? -Good to see you.
Billy's dropping off the wheels and tires
for the 2017 Baja.
All right, so we got you all fixed up.
Got them all mounted,
got the beadlocks all locked in,
went ahead and got them all balanced for you as well.
Was it a pain in the butt?
-I know some of them bolts had to... -Ah, a little bit of work,
but it wasn't too bad.
They're balanced so good,
they're gonna ride like a Cadillac,
-until you hit the trail and put mud on them, so... -Yeah.
-But it'll be good. -I want to do that.
Yeah. You ready to unload them?
Yeah, man.
-All right. -[Bill] Appreciate you, man.
[Billy] Any time.
Yeah. Yeah.
Okay.
[Bill] Man, got me all six hooked up, man.
Thank you very much, as always.
You're welcome. Any time, Bill
-[Bill] All right. -Always happy to help.
All right. Thanks, Bill.
[Bill] Any time you're building something
on the outside of the vehicle,
especially when it's as big as the Baja chase rack,
your eye's definitely gonna be drawn to it,
so it's really important
to make sure all those lines are perfect,
from the top all the way down to the tailgate.
I like it.
All that hard work is gonna be worth it.
Now we got the chase rack
fully assembled, and fit together.
The tailgate's in here,
with a little roll pan addition.
Got the little added pieces in here,
mesh grilles and the whole nine,
and so, we'll get this sent off to powder coat,
that nice, gold color on here,
we'll see what it looks like when it comes back.
[Bill] It's time to go back.
You know, the thing that really stands out
the most on that Baja is the color.
After six years of the orange,
it's time to go with something a little more on point
with all of our other trucks.
[Patrick] All right, what I got right here
is the first stage in this perfect black paint job.
It's the sealer.
It gives you a nice, solid base
to enhance the color,
so we'll give it one good coat of this,
and give it a few minutes to flash,
and then, we'll come with that Ekstensive black.
Most people think
black is just black, but it's not.
It's complicated.
It's got, like,
six different tones in it
to make a black.
That'll be nine grams of red,
which is not a lot,
but it's enough to make the color
totally different if it's not there.
Gonna get this lid on.
Out to the shaker.
Uh, right now, we're getting ready
for the second stage,
which is the brilliant black Ekstensive style.
Here at Ekstensive, we don't do just plain colors.
We go above and beyond,
but what I'm trying to achieve is a real shiny, deep black.
A not so good black will look kind of, I would say, shady,
and not so much intense as black should be.
A real good black will be real dark, and real shiny.
Now, painting is like science,
as far as the mixtures and the chemicals,
and it's an art,
because not anybody can just paint.
You gotta really want to do it.
It's gotta be within you.
The last, final, final step
in this beautiful paint job will be
the clear coat, the most important step,
to give it that flash, that glass,
that everything that you're looking for,
the depth,
and when we get there, we're at the finish line.
[David] I've known Bill several, several years.
I remember going over there,
buying oxyacetylene from his dad,
and I literally watched him grow up.
And once again, we gotta come and save Bill's ass!
[all chuckling]
I introduced Daniel to Bill in their younger days,
and you know, Daniel ended up getting a job there.
Now, Daniel's with me, and we're working together,
and we branched off on our own.
Bill, he does a lot of custom work,
and one-off stuff.
We're more into the 4x4 mud life.
[Daniel] Bill's definitely been an inspiration.
He's always pushing the bar, you know,
and I do the off-roading,
and it makes me push my bar,
and you know, he's ventured off
into off-roading things, too.
[David] We try to help one another out.
We try to work together. He's just been a real good friend.
You know, sometimes Bill will call us needing something.
I said, "Bill don't call.
Just come get it.
You know it's here."
And you know, that's the best part
of being on the Northside, man.
We're all like one big family.
We all got different styles, and different tastes,
but when it comes time, we all help each other out.
Thank you.
[Bill] Everything's back from the powder coater
for the 2017 F-150 Baja,
and it's either black or gold.
[Jamie] Now, Bill has been
kind of a little rough on my truck.
Traction bar mount gave out,
so I went ahead and put a gusset right in it.
Now this thing is golden.
[Bill] The Baja's been just a fixture at the shop.
You know, it's a truck I just really like.
I've just had a lot of fun with it.
Building a custom car is always cool.
You make it fit your personality at the time,
but years later, you know, it's showing wear and tear,
it's time for a new change, a new look,
and a new attitude,
so I called up Dave and Daniel and told them to come on,
I got something to show them, and it's time for a ride.
[David] I'm gonna check it out. I wanna see it.
[Daniel] Dude, I can't believe he got it done.
The tailgate is what I'm most excited about.
I wanna see what he did there.
You know, he's just gonna throw that old tailgate away.
Well, you know, he gonna have it off the chain.
-He gonna go to the top with it. -I know.
Speaking of...
Here he comes. Check it out.
-Oh, man! -[Daniel] Whoo!
You know, the gold with the black,
it just blends in. It's perfect, you know.
When Bill comes up with an idea,
whoo! it looks good.
-[Daniel] Uh, I think he has enough lights. -[David] Mmm-hmm.
I don't think he's gonna let us borrow it.
-[chuckles] -[Daniel chuckles]
-How are you doing? How are you doing? -What's up, fellas?
You sure that's the same truck?
-Man, you say that every time. -[David laughs]
You know what he's gonna say next.
No, it's not for sale.
-Come on, man! -[chuckles]
No, no, no, no.
-You sure? -Man, I have too much fun in that thing.
Okay.
[Daniel] I love how you kept the gold,
but didn't just, like, overdo it. It's perfect, man.
Man, I appreciate it.
You know, that was the first thing.
-The orange, yeah, it was cool... -[Daniel] Right.
-Yep. -[Bill] ...but it's time for a change, you know?
All my cars now are all black, so...
Okay. You gotta match it.
Gotta keep it in the fleet.
-There you go. -Uh-huh.
[Bill] And accented with the gold.
You know, I just love the gold color.
-Man, it pops perfect. -[Bill] Right?
Powder coated everything gold,
and how they do that is
-they powder coat SuperChrome first... -[Daniel] Oh, okay.
-[Bill] ...and then, a transparent gold over it. -Yeah.
-Like a candy. -Exactly.
-And just, man! It makes that tinted glass... -[Daniel] I see.
-[Bill] ...kind of look in color. -[Daniel] Right.
It really, really stands out.
And then, all the suspension, took it all apart,
redid all that awesome, same suspension,
but it looks totally different...
-[Daniel] Yeah. Yes it does. -[Bill] ...with that new color it has.
Yeah, that's the two-stage. It looks good.
[Bill] Those tires were on there for awhile, too.
Had to get the new tires, and had to put
new grade eight bolts, 'cause everything's gold.
-Might as well put... -[David] Right.
-[Daniel] It's all gotta match. -[Bill] ...grade eight bolts
-in the beadlock, right? -[Daniel] Yeah. I love it.
I love how the lights you got tied in
from the roof rack to the bumper.
[Bill] Had a bunch of lights in it,
but it just... It wasn't enough.
-[Daniel] Yeah. -[Bill] You know, the old lighting on it
was all square,
so cut off the front of it,
and had Jessie just burn out
a new plate with the right spacing,
and finished it off
with the mesh on the outside, also.
-I thought it was a whole new bumper. -And the roof rack,
man, I've had that in the back of the shop for years.
[chuckling] I know about that.
-[David] Yeah. -[Bill] Yeah. You know, it was time.
I love what you did up here, but when I seen you come in,
I seen some tires back there.
Let's see what we got going on back here with this beast.
Damn, Bill.
I tell you what, you made a right decision
throwing that tailgate away.
Gotta let the guy behind you see
-what kind of tires you got, right? -[Daniel chuckling] Yeah.
[Bill] And everything you see is all handmade.
I mean, that's all burned out plate,
all welded together,
-sanded, smoothed, and powder coated from there. -[Daniel] You got some hours.
-[Bill] Oh, yeah. There's definitely some hours. -[Daniel] Some hours, yeah.
[Bill] Had to change out the chase rack, too,
you know, putting all the contours
against the cab, and you know,
-that old, tired roof rack I had... -[Daniel chuckling] Yeah.
[Bill] ...already had the mesh in it,
so had to carry that all in
to the chase rack and to the tailgate pieces.
[Daniel] I love how you can see all the welds.
They look beautiful.
[Bill] Man, I appreciate it. You know, I appreciate it.
I've known you for a long time, Bill,
and I know why you got two spares,
the way you be tearing up...
[both laugh]
...but we're ready to go test it out.
-Mmm-hmm. -I know you ready.
He say you're gonna put him in the back.
I'd rather drive.
-You know? -Man, you ain't scared, are you?
I seen you drive.
[Bill] We'll take it easy on him.
-[David and Daniel] Yeah. -Come on, man.
-You better. -[chuckling] Come on.
You know, it's really cool to give this truck
one more life, I think its third life now,
and I can't say thank you enough to all the guys,
everybody that helps me out,
all day, every day, and to pitch in
for one of my builds one more time.
[Daniel] That just come out so good, so well.
Think he'd build us one?
Well, he ain't gonna sell you that one.
Nope. I know that.
Whoo! This baby's running!
[laughs exultantly]
[Daniel chuckles]
[Daniel] I like this little berm right here.
Yeah!
[Daniel] Yeah, I like the little berm.
[Bill] Come on, man!
[chuckles]