Australia’s Wildest Rat Rod Now Shoots FLAMES!

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:07]And the wheel cap. That's not supposed to be a wheel up there.

[00:00:14]IF IT'S RUSTY, WE'RE INTO IT.

[00:00:18]SO, A ONE TON OLD FARM or rally one is cool for a lot of reasons, but um it's missing a key ingredient to make it even cooler.

[00:00:27]Fire.

[00:00:28]Everything's cooler with fire. That's just a known fact. First things first, I'm going to send you back in time where you ripped the exhaust off this last time we went to Summernats, and that's no good. We need the exhaust gases coming out of them stacks in the rear, so send you back in time to where we fix that exhaust.

[00:00:48]So, back with rally one, and there's an exhaust.

[00:00:52]Let's get it on the hoist.

[00:01:00]Last Summernats, we ripped the exhaust off coming off.

[00:01:04]The noise is coming from here.

[00:01:06]Should be coming from here.

[00:01:08]I just wanted to turn the car in, and we already bogged.

[00:01:12]I didn't hit it with enough speed.

[00:01:21]All right.

[00:01:23]We've got this absolute nugget up on the hoist.

[00:01:26]And uh I think it's the first time it's been on the hoist, and I've really got to look under it.

[00:01:32]It's pretty rudimentary. So, as you can see, it's on the one ton of chassis.

[00:01:40]The spring perches have been moved up in the back.

[00:01:45]Homemade lowering blocks, and as for the body, there's just like bits of angle iron welded to the body, and then bolted to the chassis. I do need to chase these brake lines cuz we've got a leak somewhere. So, the hydro's not really working in the rear at the moment. Hopefully, that'll be an easy fix. Yeah, as you can tell, we ripped the exhaust off.

[00:02:11]So, I'm going to route try route this a bit better, get it up in this hole.

[00:02:15]Whereas before, it was hanging down under here. You want the middle of your exhaust to be as high as possible.

[00:02:21]Yeah, well, with the front wheels, the front of the car's not going to hit.

[00:02:25]The back of the car's not going to hit.

[00:02:27]It's in the middle where it scrapes going up and down. This all I might weld some of all this up cuz this pretty ratchet. So, uh yeah, we'll just get this bit of maintenance done, do a bit of cleaning, and um if I get time, we'll get on to some more fun stuff.

[00:02:46]Oh, look at that, mate.

[00:02:49]Bloody sealed up. I didn't have any exhaust pipe. All I had was a bit of fence post.

[00:02:56]And I started trying to make it to work, and I just couldn't do it. I mean, rat rods are about using what you got, but that was just rubbish.

[00:03:06]Trying to make a 90, cutting slits in it, and re-welding it. I might as well go dumpster diving at the exhaust shop and uh pick something out of there.

[00:03:14]Dumpster diving, great success.

[00:03:30]>> [music] >> All right.

[00:03:35]It's the next day cuz I ran out of gas.

[00:03:38]Don't mind the uh dog [ __ ] welds, but that's our exhaust.

[00:03:44]I still need to weld this up in here cuz I ran out of gas.

[00:03:47]It was pretty late in the afternoon, and I wasn't prepared, so I just rushed everything as quick as possible.

[00:03:54]I can do some better work than that.

[00:03:57]But anyway, that's perfect. It's good enough for this [ __ ] thing.

[00:04:01]I'm going to go swap out the gas bottle, weld the other flange on, bolt it all up. That's exhaust done.

[00:04:08]Oh, look at that, mate. What an abomination.

[00:04:15]Tucked up nicely, especially in the middle here. Before, it was under here, which meant it was lower than the frame. The lowest part of it is off the header, but that's pretty close to the front, so should be all right.

[00:04:32]That thing can scrape on the ground and show itself clearance eventually.

[00:04:50]All right. So, that's that beautiful craftsmanship, which is uh [ __ ] but plenty good enough for this thing. And we got the exhaust coming out the stacks in the right place. Mint.

[00:05:03]So, now we're going to move on to the ignition system for the exhaust flamethrower. Snap, crackle, pop, anti-lag, whatever, whatever. It's awesome. It's cool. This we're going to do a bit different. We want to be able to have consistent flame coming out of the stacks. And I've come up with an ignition system, stand-alone, to do that. We don't have to run off the distributor or look for a signal or anything off the engine. Full stand-alone ignition. I've done a little bench test at home, and um I'll show you that footage now so you can kind of get an idea for how it all works.

[00:05:36]All right. So, we're going to work on the ignition system for this flamethrower. That's going to be the spark plug in the exhaust that is igniting the fuel.

[00:05:44]First things first, you need your switch relay to turn it on and off. A good tip, if you got relays and holders like mine, is to just write what number the pin is and where it is.

[00:05:58]So, you don't have to pull this off and on and look at the bottom of it.

[00:06:00]Unfortunately, these are the only holders I could get that are only two colors. So, we'll reference numbers, not colors, cuz they're all bloody different. This is what's going to bring the full 12 volts to our ignition system.

[00:06:13]Um number 30 is your battery positive.

[00:06:16]Number 85 is going to go to our ignition switch, which will bring power from the ignition.

[00:06:23]And we'll put a switch on here so we can arm it and disarm it.

[00:06:26]I'm not a how-to channel, but this is pretty simple.

[00:06:32]Even for someone like me that's scared of wiring. Switch.

[00:06:36]This end will go to your ignition switch or, you know, key-on 12-V power.

[00:06:41]This resistor, this condenser, and this coil all came off a Datsun 1200. So, you should be able to find them pretty cheap. A condenser, the wired side is your positive side.

[00:06:54]And then the hard case just grounds. So, you don't even need to actually put a wire on that. I'm just going to freaking twist and tape this one.

[00:07:02]That'll do for now.

[00:07:03]>> [sighs] >> The other switch side, all right?

[00:07:08]Battery, ignition switch, which turns this relay on, then sends power out this side.

[00:07:14]Will go to our relay, which would be power in. So, number 30, this will also go to our positive side of our condenser.

[00:07:22]This is going to make no sense.

[00:07:24]I'm sorry, everyone.

[00:07:26]So, our first switch, battery power number 30, ignition switch number 85, which will go to power in your ignition.

[00:07:37]We then have 86, which is our ground.

[00:07:41]Ground to chassis. We then have 87 which will go to our positive side of our condenser and our power in of our other relay. And our other relay we got 86 going to ground again as it should.

[00:07:56]And then we are left with 87A.

[00:08:00]We don't use 87, we use 87A and 85 which will go to our negative side of our condenser and into our ballast resister.

[00:08:11]This bad boy.

[00:08:12]Ballast resisters don't have an in and out. I think it's just whatever way you want.

[00:08:17]I honestly don't even know what they do.

[00:08:20]And then our other side of our ballast resister goes to the positive.

[00:08:25]Woo!

[00:08:26]Turn my switch on. We should hear a high-pitched noise which will be the relay clicking on and off.

[00:08:35]Fat juicy spark.

[00:08:38]On.

[00:08:40]Off.

[00:08:44]That works so good. So simple, so easy.

[00:08:46]Right, so we got the ignition system.

[00:08:48]It's all working. Now it's time to put it into the car, wire up that switch somewhere we can reach it, and get them spark plugs in the exhaust.

[00:08:57]After that, we got to work on the fueling. I'm waiting for bits to make a bit more of a legit fueling system, but I think I've got an idea where we can dodgy something up for now and get this video out to y'all. This is already where the wiring gets scary.

[00:09:14]Lucky this mess was made by me and I think I remember. But this is our power block. That'll be power from the battery. We'll put power on the other side of our main ignition switch.

[00:09:26]That'll be our ignition and then we'll put another switch. Put it in the dash.

[00:09:31]This is our headlights that we wired in.

[00:09:35]This is our rudimentary indicators.

[00:09:41]Yeah, mate.

[00:09:46]We're kind of midway through uh installation. Mounted the coils up under the under the rear parcel shelf.

[00:09:54]The wiring's all still just dangling down here for now. If I turn this little switch on, we should have spark.

[00:10:03]That's the relay turning off and on rapidly.

[00:10:07]And there it is.

[00:10:11]You need oxygen and fuel to make fire.

[00:10:14]That's why the spark plug's so far up the exhaust. Hopefully it gets a bit of oxygen oxygen with turbulence in the end of it. Trying to think of a temporary fuel solution.

[00:10:25]Do not try this at home. Everything's plastic.

[00:10:27]There's a washer bottle.

[00:10:29]I just stuck it in the esky for now.

[00:10:31]I've just put a bit of water in there for now and uh crush the end of this pipe. Eventually I want to get like a NOS nozzle jet and then a welding fitting and weld it into the exhaust with a bit of hose and a NOS jet and that'll inject the fuel into the exhaust. Let's see if she squirts.

[00:10:50]Oh, Jesus.

[00:10:52]I miss her.

[00:11:07]I think it's pretty obvious what happened there.

[00:11:10]Um the fuel's not getting atomized with that crushed bit of pipe.

[00:11:15]So, I'm going to have to wait until the jets come in to properly atomize the fuel in the exhaust. Cuz the fuel's got a long way to travel up them stacks before it sees spark.

[00:11:24]So, the fuel was probably just pooling in the bottom and that's why I was only spitting flames when I revved it up to get that fuel to actually move.

[00:11:32]I've never done this before. This isn't a how-to channel.

[00:11:36]I'm just trying to figure it out as I go.

[00:11:39]And I'm bringing you lot along for the ride with me.

[00:11:42]But the goal is constant flames at idle. I don't want to have to rev it up.

[00:12:10][ __ ] YEAH!

[00:12:21]YEAH, BABY.

[00:13:47]>> I'M SICK AS A DOG.

[00:13:49]Still working on this thing.

[00:13:51]We were positive we had a broken axle.

[00:13:54]The uh Axle's completely fine.

[00:13:58]God, I do terrible camera work.

[00:14:02]The axle's fine.

[00:14:04]I mean we probably broken the diff center.

[00:14:07]Or the welds on the diff.

[00:14:12]So now we got to pull both axles out, pull the rear cover off, and investigate further.

[00:14:18]Axles on old Holdens are easy. You don't even have to take the brake off the thing. You just undo four bolts, rip the axle out, put a new one in. Feel like it's a blessing, but it's not really a blessing.

[00:14:29]Going to be a pain in the ass to have to do the diff center.

[00:14:33]Oh, well.

[00:14:34]All right.

[00:14:35]Well, that's not supposed to be like that.

[00:14:40]Bloody hell.

[00:14:51]You've broken the bloody spider gears out of the diff.

[00:15:06]Which doesn't really make sense.

[00:15:15]Yeah, that sucks.

[00:15:18]But I don't really want to pull the whole center out.

[00:15:21]The other diff I got, I've got no idea if the ratio is the same, so then I might might have to change the pinion as well, which means pulling all that out.

[00:15:35]I want to really just weld a bit of plate in there and freaking send the dog.

[00:15:41]Oh, what a pain in the ass.

[00:15:45]Or maybe I could weld these side gears to the casing.

[00:15:55]Either way, none of it's an ideal situation.

[00:16:01]Right.

[00:16:03]So, the rear brakes are run off a hydraulic hand brake in up in the cab.

[00:16:10]And uh we split a line like years and years ago.

[00:16:15]And I couldn't remember where the split was, so I stuffed around for ages.

[00:16:19]Started bleeding it, was actually getting some pressure in the braking system. And then obviously the split made itself known again.

[00:16:31]It's right here in the middle of the line.

[00:16:35]In the longest part of the line as well.

[00:16:38]That goes all the way around, up around the fuel tank, yada yada yada.

[00:16:44]Uh back here into the rubber hose.

[00:16:48]And then across to the brakes.

[00:16:51]So, that's a pretty [ __ ] spot.

[00:16:55]We do have a union here, which then goes up into the cab, into the hand brake. But right now, I don't have a flare ti- a flare tool.

[00:17:05]I'm thinking maybe if I like just undo all of this side and make it a straight shot through the rear firewall straight to the diff, I might have a might enough length.

[00:17:17]I'm not sure.

[00:17:20]I also have a Datsun uh brake line.

[00:17:25]But, the odds of freaking 70's Holden and 70's Datsun being the same I don't like my odds.

[00:17:35]Japanese versus Aussie, who knows? I don't know if brake lines are pretty universal or not.

[00:17:41]But, we'll stuff around with that for a bit.

[00:17:44]Try to get the handbrake working cuz that would be nice and handy.

[00:17:48]Handy handbrake.

[00:17:50]All right.

[00:17:56]We got the uh Datsun brake line in there.

[00:18:05]The fitting wasn't the same [clears throat] on the hydro here. So, we connected to the uni under the car, back to the diff.

[00:18:12]And we're just doing a bit of a bleed.

[00:18:17]And then we'll lock it all off.

[00:18:22]Give it a real yank and make sure nothing's leaking.

[00:18:26]But, so far, so good.

[00:18:34]Now, the way I bleed bleed brakes, and I don't really care about your opinion cuz it seems to work for me, is that the bleed nipple in the back.

[00:18:48]Put that hose into a bottle and make sure it's submerged in liquid.

[00:19:00]Give it a few good cranks at the brake pedal or the lever, whatever you're bleeding, and then come and lock this off.

[00:19:07]That ensures it doesn't suck up air because it's submerged in liquid. If it's going to suck up, it's going to suck up liquid. You pump pump pump pump pump till there's no more air coming out. Come out, lock this off, top her up, done.

[00:19:20]It's just just means all you want is the fluids to be 100% filled with liquid.

[00:19:26]With brake fluid and no air.

[00:19:30]So, that seems to do the job. It takes a lot of liquid and a lot of pumping.

[00:19:35]So, like it's a bit wasteful, but if you're solo, it gets you out of a pickle.

[00:19:41]So, now I'm going to check for leaks everywhere.

[00:19:46]I've already done it, but you want to clean things, obviously with brake clean or whatever.

[00:19:52]YOU CAN BURN off oils, etc. like that if you really want to.

[00:19:56]Don't be a freaking [ __ ] and do it near fuel tanks or fuel lines, obviously.

[00:20:02]But, yeah, if things are all wet and oily, it makes it hard to see where the leak's coming from.

[00:20:09]Especially when you got a [ __ ] lighting like my shed.

[00:20:12]But, if you give it a spray and a quick then it looks all dry and then you'll straight away spot any sort of wet patches that come through.

[00:20:23]So, I went through all my joints in the brake line, etc. All mint. But, when I was pulling putting a lot of pressure on that hydro handbrake, I could feel it pushing fluid. Like, it wasn't solid. It was just slowly releasing.

[00:20:40]Everywhere was dry. I found brake fluid leaking out of the brake drum. So, we've got a leaking brake cylinder on this one side, so As part of the game, man. I'm going to have to pull that cylinder out, try to replace it, and bleed everything, and do it all again.

[00:20:59]Damn.

[00:20:59]>> [clears throat] >> Yep, we can see all that wet fluid underneath.

[00:21:10]I'm going to pull this part and replace that.

[00:21:17]I have a spare one here.

[00:21:21]But it's off an old diff. I got no history of it.

[00:21:24]So I've got no idea if it's actually any good or not.

[00:21:28]I guess we'll put it in and we'll find out.

[00:21:33]Got the old one out. It came out pretty easy, so fingers crossed it's all good.

[00:21:37]Although the brake lines on that thing just like snapped. They were that rusty.

[00:21:42]>> [sighs] >> Should be working on my Datsun, man.

[00:21:45]Should be WORKING ON THE DATSUN.

[00:21:48]CHECK THIS OUT. Speak up so they can bloody hear you.

[00:21:54]See that?

[00:21:57]That's weird stuff.

[00:21:59]In the wheel cap.

[00:22:02]Mhm, bit concerning.

[00:22:07]Anyway, fill her up with some oil, mate.

[00:22:12]>> [snorts] >> She'll live to see another day.

[00:22:17]Love these things for gearboxes and diffs.

[00:22:21]Pretty inconvenient for an engine.

[00:22:28]Look, rat rods probably shouldn't have stickers, but I think we kind of cooked with that one, mate.

[00:22:39]I reckon that's sick.

[00:22:42]That looks cracker.

[00:22:46]Who filmed it, Frank, mate?

[00:22:49]Frankie!