All language subtitles for M M S01E10 1080p WEB h264-BETTY_track3_[eng]

Who enjoys being left
out of things? Not me.

But the test subject
of our next myth

happens to be a two-seater.

So, we drew straws.

And guess who gets to
scope out the next location?

I'm gonna hit the road
and I'll catch y'all
on the flipside.

[clicks tongue]
Enjoy this one.

[Tory]
This is like an artform.

It's just like, making sure
the steel's lining up.

Making sure
the form is perfect.

Following the original top.

It's more like sculpting
than it is fabricating.

Oh, she's ready to drive.

-We got a chop top.
-Yes we do, sir.

Jim, look at how much
headspace we have in there.

[announcer] Meet the team.

[screaming, chuckling]

[Tory] This might be the
miracle coolant

that everybody's been
searching for.

-Oh, no!
-Oh, jeez.

[announcer] With the
mechanical expertise...

[Faye] My main concern
is structural integrity.

[announcer] To test
all things automotive.

-Oh! [chuckles]
-The engine died. [chuckles]

[Bisi] The more air
we push through,

the more fuel we siphon out.

And boom!

[announcer] This is
Motor MythBusters.

Hit it!

[announcer] Where science...

[screaming]

[announcer]
...meets the streets.

[upbeat music playing]

This car is insane!
Do you hear that engine?

[engine roaring]

[Tory] It just
wants to go fast.

But it's not just
about the engine,

it's also a lot to do
with the aerodynamics.

Back in the old days,
the guys driving hot rods,

they figured if they
chopped their cars

and lowered the roof,

that would give 'em
better aerodynamics.

Therefore, allowing
their vehicles to go faster.

[announcer]
Chopping the roof off
a stock vehicle

is a topic often talked about
in hot rod forums.

It's a technique
that was first pioneered
in the mid-1930s.

[man] Believe it or not,
from a standing start,

some of these draggers
would beat a jet plane down
that quarter-mile stretch.

[announcer] But did lowering
a hot rod's roof

really make it go faster?

[Tory] So that is the myth.

If we chop our car,

can we get more speed?

In order to test this,
we need a vehicle.

[Tory gasps, chuckles] Oh!

So, Tory,
I have the perfect vehicle.

The most unaerodynamic
car we have.

The worst vehicle we have
in the whole fleet

-of vehicles on MythBusters?
-[Bisi] Yeah. [chuckles]

[Bisi] The Tradesman
is perfect.

Brake pedal.

[Bisi] This van was used
when we tested a movie scene

about sabotaging brake lines.

-Oh, that feels good.
-Yeah. All right.

And returns beautifully.

[Bisi] For that myth,
we moved the driver position

and controls from the front
to the backseat.

-[Tory] Oh, my gosh!
-[screaming]

[both laughing]

[Bisi] But this time
it's going to get an even more
radical makeover.

All right.
So we're gonna chop this.

-Yes. Well--
-But first, we need
to get some data.

[Tory] To see the top speed
of this big, crazy van.

[Bisi] Yee-haw.

[Tory] All right.
Why don't we do
a control test?

We'll get this to
the end of the runway,
I'll floor it.

Oh! You're going
21 miles an hour.
Look at that.

Oh, my gosh!

[Tory] So we're going to see
how fast we get up to

in the quarter mile.

Then we'll be able to
compare results before
and after we modify it.

[Tory] Are we sure
we're good?

-Are there any more
airplanes coming?
-I don't,

-I don't see anything.
-Are they not?

[Tory] Here we are
on an active airport

and let's just say
that this runway
is quite active today.

[both chuckle]

-This is exciting.
-You feel that adrenaline?

-Oh, totally.
-Oh, yes.

-Oh, it's there,
right? [chuckles]
-Yeah.

[Bisi] And on the mark,
you go pedal to the metal.

I'm gonna go
through the metal.
Pedal to the rust.

-Might go through the floor.
-[both laughing]

[Tory] All right. Here we go.

[Bisi] Three! Two! One! Go!

[engine revs]

[Bisi laughs]

-[Bisi] Twenty-seven, 30.
-[laughs]

-Look how long it's taking
to get up to speed.
-[Bisi] 40.

[Bisi] Fifty.

[Bisi] Fifty-nine. 60.

Sixty-five. 67. 68.

[Tory] 71 miles an hour.

Whoo-hoo.

The throttle's stuck. Bisi!

Oh.

[Tory chuckling]

-That was exciting.
-Throttle was stuck.

-[Tory] I kinda feel like a
near death experience.
-Oh, no! Stop!

[Tory laughing]

-Is your heart beating fast?
-No.

-You're fine. You're fine.
-That was awesome.

-It was cool.
-It was literally,
it literally was like,

Oh, my God!

[Tory] When that throttle
stuck and the brakes
stopped working.

[engine revving]

It was like, "Oh, wow.

The runway is almost finished.

How are we gonna
stop this thing?"

-[engine revving]
-Oh.

Anyway, bottom line is,

-we were hauling that--
-Yeah.

-71 miles an hour.
-Yes.

[Bisi] Sixty-seven.

[Bisi] Now with
two more runs...

That's it.

Whoo-hoo.

Go.

[Bisi] ...we've got
all the data we need.

[Bisi] Sixty-seven. 68.

That's it. Quarter mile!

All right.

[Tory] So, now that we know
our average top speed
of our unchopped van,

before we actually chop it,
we should get more info
on its aerodynamics.

Oh! I have the perfect
answer for that.

-What?
-So in racing, I did a lot
of tuft testing.

-Oh!
-I don't know if you know
what tufts are.

-Tufts are when you put
little pieces of fabric...
-Yeah.

-on the outside
of the vehicle.
-Yeah!

I love using yarn,
especially one that contrasts
the body of the car.

-Yeah.
-Color-wise,
that'll be perfect!

And it's funny,
'cause it seems
a little archaic,

but they still use it
in modern-day racing.

Anyone who is serious
about aerodynamics,

-still today respects
that particular procedure.
-I love it.

[Bisi] Now we'll use
these pink tufts,

as a weight, see what type of
turbulence we see on the van.

I know it looks like we're
decorating a Christmas tree,

but this is actually
very important
science business.

[Bisi] Pink is good because
it really stands off
very nicely

and as we film
it allows the opportunity

to see how we can improve

on the aerodynamics
of the van.

[Tory] I think
a huge problem
you're gonna see is just,

-right now, this is just
such a big, flat surface.
-Yes.

Up to the top, you know,
up to the windshield,

you know, that means,
this a wall
pushing through wind.

I think, we're gonna see
a lot of problems.

What I'd be very curious
about as well is,
what happens in this region,

-so if you put tufts here...
-Oh, yeah.

-you see things
standing right up?
-100%,

-we definitely
do the roof as well.
-Yeah.

[Bisi] And if we see
any movement that goes
upwards or downwards,

we know we have turbulence
and we need to modify
the van accordingly.

[upbeat music playing]

All right.
We're all tufted up.

-Yeah.
-We're going to see how
aerodynamic this thing is.

This van is looking
pretty tuffed.

Here we go.

[Tory] Tracking with us
is a car with
a high speed camera.

Filming at 5000 frames
per second.

To get an adequate amount
of airflow over the van,

we need to get it up
to around 25 miles an hour.

-We're getting a lot
of turbulence on the top.
-[Bisi] Okay.

-Tremendous amount
of turbulence.
-[Tory] Yeah.

[Bisi] As in the eddies
are forming
on the top there,

the string will just
pull them right up.

-Flipping around.
-Yeah.

And then we've got a really
good wind flow just
on the windshield

but I mean, that makes sense,

-that's where most of the wind
is getting pushed.
-[Bisi] Of course.

[Tory] Everywhere around
the flat windshield,

-we're getting
all kind of turbulence.
-[Bisi] Absolutely.

[Tory] It's going
to be interesting

to see what the high-speed
camera is picking up.

[Bisi] We're limited
to what we can see here.

It's so critical for us to
take a look at the film...

-Yeah.
-And see what our tufts
are doing around the vehicle.

All right. Before we start,

-we're gonna look at our
modern-day vehicles.
-All right.

Just to see what
an aerodynamic car
should look like.

[Bisi] What's interesting is,
as you see

it's flat across all around.

-We don't have any eddies
or vortices forming,
-Right.

-which is pretty nice.
-And we're definitely seeing

a little bit of turbulence
in the back here,

-which you expect.
-To be expected.

But, I mean, this is what
a aerodynamically-designed
vehicle would look like.

This is good though.
Because now we're seeing
how the tufts should behave.

[Bisi] Yes. We have a frame
of reference.

-Yeah and then I can't wait
to see how our van looks like.
-[Bisi screams]

-Okay.
-Okay, here's our van.

And... Look at
the top of the roof,
there's nothing hugging.

Things are actually...
The tufts
actually move upwards.

Yeah. [chuckles]
They're just
flapping all over.

-They're like...
-Yeah, they're partying...

-[Tory chuckling]
-And we weren't invited.

[Tory] It's almost like,
a flat wall.

You know what this points to?

Once we chop this roof,
we're gonna
gain significantly.

Imagine getting
rid of all of this.

-Yeah.
-The advantages
we could experience.

-[Tory] Yeah. 'Cause it will
just be a big wedge.
-Oh!

You know what would be cool,
is if we could actually build
a 3D model of the van.

Then we could play with the
shape of it and see if we can
make it more aerodynamic.

Wow. That's pretty
cost-effective

and to do that properly,

we need to digitally
scan the car.

And then, in software,
model anything we desire.

-Yeah.
-And test accordingly.

-I like where that's going.
-Yup.

I know the perfect person
to call for
this particular exercise.

-Awesome.
-Yeah.

[engine revving]

[Bisi] In the olden days,
hot rodders had to physically
cut the roof of their cars,

without even knowing
if the results
will be positive or not.

Nowadays we have access
to modern technology,
we can digitize our vehicles,

model them in CAD software,
3D print them
and do a small-scale test.

Now, that's exactly what
we're gonna do with our van.

To do that today, we have
Martin Horton,
from blupointscan

and he's going to scan
the entire vehicle and allow
us to model properly.

These are scanning targets.

They're a five-millimeter
diameter target

and the scanner picks up
the center of each one
of these targets

and assigns an XYZ coordinate
to it.

And from that, it develops
what that surface looks like.

-Very nice.
-Yeah.

-I'd love to see a test scan.
-Okay, let's try one.

So, what we can do here
is set up the scanner
so that

I have all of these targets
that are gonna be captured

in the scan,

and I'm gonna capture
a surface.

-And there's my surface.
-Very nice.

So, what would happen if I
put my head into the photo
when you take a scan?

-Well, your head would get
captured in the scan.
-[chuckles] Oh, okay.

-'Kay?
-Okay.

Hey, we got it! Check it out.

[laughing] Oh, my goodness,
that's crazy!

It captured me properly.

-[Martin] Yeah. Yeah.
-Oh, my goodness,
with good detail too.

-Oh, yeah!
-Oh, wow!

How long will it take
to scan this entire vehicle?

Probably about four hours.

I'm gonna scan the side,

the front,

the roof and then the rear.

-And stitch
all of these together.
-Wow.

Well, Bisi, I have taken
the model of the van
that we scanned

and so now we can modify
this van in any way we want
with the computer.

That is really good.

So, in this myth,
we want to see

if chopping the roof would
help us get
any aerodynamic advantage.

So, I'm thinking about, yes,
doing something standard

and...

old school, just to see,
and it may look pretty cool,

we chop the front
and then have that section
taper upwards

-towards the factory rear.
-Oh, okay.

So, you're thinking of taking
a chunk out of the A pillar,
maybe a little bit of B pillar

-and leaving the back
of the van the same?
-Yes, absolutely.

So, let's see.

How much roughly would you say
are we taking out of this,
on the real van?

So, you know, I kind
of still want to be able
to see out the van.

[chuckles] That's a good idea.

So maybe,10 inches.

10 inches or so?
Let's see, we have a bit
of a slant chop here.

-[Bisi] Oh, that's perfect.
-Yeah, there we go.

-So, that's from
the other side.
-[Bisi] Mm-hmm.

We can look at it.
Perfect.
That's roughly 10 inches.

Nice.
But I still want to explore
the traditional full chop.

-Yeah--
-So, 10 inches all across.

Yeah, same idea.
Taking roughly 10 inches
out of the front A pillar.

But now we're extending that
all the way to the back.

So we've got 10 inches,
10 inches and 10 inches here.

-Beautiful.
-Is that about what
you were thinking?

-That's perfect.
-Right on.

-Looks pretty cool.
And strange.
-Yeah.

[Bisi] Now that we have
our models iterations done,
we're gonna 3D print them

and compare them
against each other
in a small-scale test.

All right, so now it's time
to pick what type of chop
we're gonna do on this van.

So, we have our 3D-printed
van models.

We have the regular shape,
then we have our slanted shape

and then we just have
the straight chop shape.

We have created our own
little wind tunnel.

We're gonna put each
of those shapes in

so that way we can decide
which version is the most
aerodynamic.

[Bisi] This is my smoke leak
detector.

I use it for turbo charge
applications

to see if the systems have
any leaks.

Oh, I see some smoke
right here.

So we need to fix that.

But it's the perfect device
to create smoke for our
miniature wind tunnel.

[Tory] What is it?

-It is vape juice.
-[laughs] Is that really
vape juice?

It is.
Without the nicotine.

Don't stick you head
in the end of the box.

Yeah, that looks great.

Our home-made wind tunnel
is done.

We have our plexiglass shape,

we have our fans
that are blowing air
into the tunnel.

Then it's going through
a bunch of straws.

Now the straws are going
to keep that air moving
in one direction,

which we need, so
we could see our line
of smoke.

And then we have a fan
at the other end
of our chamber,

that's actually pulling
the air out.

So, that way we get a nice,
even flow of air

so when we send our smoke
through the tunnel,

we can see which van shape
is most aerodynamic.

-This is our base model,
we're looking at...
-Yeah.

In terms of the factory then
and how it looks
in its originality.

And what we're gonna look for
is that flow around
the entire van,

-better that we can see,
while sitting inside the van.
-Yeah.

I feel like a mad scientist.
All right.

-You ready?
-Yes, so here we go.

-Okay. So, Tory, you see
that upward stream?
-Yeah.

It hits around the wind shield
and it has a large disruption
just like we saw in the video.

-Very similar.
-[Tory] You know what else
is happening?

Look back here,
at the back of the van.

See, there's like a vortex
being created?

Yes, we have a lot of eddies
forming back there.

-[Tory] That's not good.
-Which is to be expected.

So, now, we are going to do
another test.

[mocking engine sound]

So, this is the van now,
that has the flat top,
no rake whatsoever.

-Standard chop.
-Here we go.

Okay, Tory,
this is painfully obvious.
Look what's happening.

-Look at that.
-That is beautiful!
That's exactly what we want.

[Tory] And we decreased
the wind drag at the back
of the van, tremendously.

It's obvious,
this is a much more
aerodynamic design.

Yeah.

You see how that upper current
flows so nicely

and doesn't have
that disruption
the initial one had?

-[Tory] Yeah.
-That's very promising.

-And if you look at the smoke,
it's just rolling off...
-[Bisi] Absolutely.

[Tory] The back
of the vehicle,
where before,

we saw a huge amount
of turbulence
right at the back of the van.

So you're telling me,
those old hot rodders
were onto something?

-[chuckles] I think so.
-Oh, my goodness.

-Okay.
-All right, the last design

we're gonna go for,
is the slanted roof.

-I'm not too
excited about this one.
-[Tory laughs] No.

Only because,

I mean, just looking
at this shape, and how
air will go...

-it's still gonna
hit the top of this, but...
-Yeah.

Who knows,
maybe it'll help us.

Okay.

[Bisi] The rear
dimensions are the same
as the original van,

but the front has
a much lower frontal area.

So, I'm curious to how
this is gonna work out.

And...

[Bisi] So, we have a nice

stream going all over the top,
onto the middle--

-[Tory] Yeah, there's a lot
of turbulence.
-We have turbulence

-from the middle.
-I'm not really thrilled
about this

design, even though
it looks cool,

it doesn't seem
to be helping aerodynamics.

It does not.

[upbeat music playing]

[Tory] Well, right now,
I'm favoring just
the straight chop.

[Bisi] I'm right
there with you.

So, the winning design
is the straight chop.

Now, I was actually hoping
that this wedge chop

would be the winner,
just because it looks cooler,

but it turns out,
the old school,
just dropping the roof,

is going to be
the most aerodynamic, so...

now all we have to do...

is do this,

to our real van.

[upbeat music playing]

[Bisi] You know, Tory,
I've never cut
a van up before.

-You know what, I've sheered
the top off of a car.
-Oh.

-On purpose?
-Yeah.

-Driving underneath
a semi-trailer.
-[laughing] Oh, my God.

But, I've never
actually done

a proper chopping
of a hot rod.

-But I know how,
like I kinda know the basics.
-[Bisi] Okay.

-All right.
-And so we wanna cut it down,
almost ten inches.

-[laughing] Okay.
-Sorry.

-Seriously, I mean--
-So, basically,
we're gonna have...

Like viewing of...
we'll have like a six-inch

viewing windshield.

-I think if, you know,
if we get real low...
-[Bisi laughing]

-I mean that's how
hot rods did it, right?
-[Bisi] Yeah.

-That's a healthy chunk of...
-Yes, it is.

...of cut there.

-What if we
took out 16 inches?
-[laughing] What?

-If 10 inches is good,
16 inches--
-[laughs maniacally] Oh, my...

-16 inches might be amazing.
-Tory!

-Like, just think about it.
-Tory...

-Just listen, hear me out,
hear me out.
-Okay.

Okay, so, we have...

-like 15 and a half inches,
so we could technically...
-Right.

cut this to 12...

-And you still have--
-And you have
three inches of windshield?

-How big are your eyeballs?
You don't need to see--
-[Bisi scoffs]

All we need to see,
is the road.

Like, look, look,
all we need to do, is this.

-Look at this.
-See, here's Tory again,

-Look...
-going crazy.
He's always trying to find...

take something extreme,
and even go...

-Tory extreme with it.
It's, it's...
-Look at this.

I have plenty of head room.

Why does everything
have to be crazy with you?

Why can't you just be...

-normal? Oh, my God.
-If it's worth doing, it's
worth overdoing, right?

-When we start winning races
with this van, you'll know.
-[Bisi] Then...

"Now I understand
what you were talking about."

[Bisi] Okay,
you know, that's...

-That gives us 12 inches.
-It's still aggressive,
but that's not as bad.

-Twelve I'm okay with...
that'll be pretty cool.
-I love it.

-Okay. Cool.
-It would look so sick
when we're done.

[Bisi] So, after a bit
of back and forth,

Tory and I have decided
to chop 12 inches.

Will this be enough
to improve its aerodynamics,

and beat 71 miles an hour,
in a quarter mile?

-I'm excited. My first chop.
-Me, too.

-[Tory] All right.
-[Bisi] But
before we get chopping,

we've got to get weighing.

'Cause once we chop
this vehicle,

-our weight's gonna change,
quite a bit.
-Oh, totally.

And I think
it's very important
that we keep our van

-the same weight
as the control test.
-[Bisi] Good point.

[Tory] That way we keep it
just looking at...

Is the aerodynamics
making this van go faster?

-[Bisi] Ah... right there,
right there, right there.
-[Tory] Okay.

All right, how much does
the van weigh with us in it?

[Bisi] 4,198 pounds.

So, we'll chop the top,

make all the modifications,
and, when we're done,

-with you and I,
in the car...
-Yeah.

-[Bisi] We need to have
this as our control weight.
-[Tory] Yup.

All right, first thing
we need to do is,
we need to strip

-the entire interior
of the van.
-[Bisi] Yes.

[Tory] 'Cause if we're gonna
be cutting this, there's
gonna be sparks flying.

-We don't wanna set the
interior of the van on fire.
-[Bisi] Yeah.

[Bisi] Now that
we know our weight...

[clanking]

[Bisi] We can take everything
out, and just put the weight
back in, as we need.

[Tory] Sounds good.

[clanking]

So far, so good.

[Bisi] So, right now, I notice
that the front windshield
is really dry-rotted.

So, I'm gonna cut
this seal on the inside,
which is little more pliable,

[Bisi] allowing me to release
the pressure around the
windshield, push it outwards,

and hopefully
save the windshield.

Because we're gonna
replace the glass with a
polycarbonate-style material,

and I want to use
that windshield as a base,

to form that polycarbonate,
so we can have a nice shape

to the front of the van,

[Tory] Uh, Rose, we have
some questions for you.

We're about
to start this chop,

and neither of us
have ever done like
a professional chop.

Yeah, the size
makes sense, but...

to be able
to make this section,

that's where
I'm a bit confused.

Automobiles are a football
shape, so as you
lower the roof,

it's a little too narrow.

So, we've either
got to widen the top,

or we've got to move
the pillars in.

-The plan is, we wanna
take out 12 inches--
-[Rose] Oh, that's good.

Cause when you cut
these roofs, you should
cut them a lot.

-Yeah, that. See?
-Oh!

-[Tory] She agrees with me.
-You're onto something.

[upbeat music playing]

Thanks.

[Tory] What I'm doing
right now, is just putting
in some cross bracing,

because once we cut
the top of this van off,

those walls are gonna
wanna fluctuate,

and we don't wanna
loose our shape, so...

once we have
those welded in place,

then we can start
cutting our support beams.

[Bisi] If we don't cut
these structures out,

it'll really pose
a problem for us,
to remove the top entirely.

And then, we can
actually do the roof chop.

[upbeat music playing]

My first door. [laughs]

-[Tory] This is just
a straight edge.
-So you can use that to...

-So, it'll be a nice
straight cut.
-Okay.

[Bisi] I'm partial to vans
and I put tons of power
in them.

I love building
1000 horsepower minivans

but cutting
the roof off of one,

I have never,
ever done that,

even thought
I'd ever do it.

[Tory] So, we're making
some great progress
on the van chop.

Once we have
the entire thing cut,

we'll drop the roof,
and see how it looks.

So, Rose is bringing
the forklift in,

-because we're at a very
critical point right now,
-[Rose] Coming in.

[Tory] where the roof
is actually going to

be detached from the van.

So, we don't want
that thing just to fall
on us,

so we're gonna
put the forks in,

cut the rest
of the door frames,

and then, our front supports,

once we're done with that.

It's a good thing we got
the forklift in place.

[Tory] This is so
cool-looking.

This is gonna be...

-crazy, huh?
-ridiculous, I mean...

it's gonna sit right
on the dashboard.

[clanking]

That was a lot of rust.

All right, you guys ready?

[Tory] And then we're gonna
start lowering that roof.

Gonna get it
to the right height.

[Bisi] Oh, my goodness!

[Tory] But we are
at the point where
this van is chopped.

[laughing maniacally]

That looks, oh, my God,
that looks cool!

-[Bisi] Like,
that's ridiculous.
-[Tory laughs]

-[Bisi] Is that not hilarious?
-[Tory] It is.

-Tory, can you see me?
-[Tory] Oh, I've got
plenty of room.

[Tory] We just got
to get rid of these visors.

[Bisi laughing]

Well, we chopped
12 inches out, and now...

you know, Bisi said
I was crazy. I'm starting
to feel like, maybe I am

a little crazy, too.

I only have, maybe about...

4 inches of windscreen

[Tory] to see out of,
but, I don't know,

this might actually work.

-[Bisi] Wow.
-[Tory laughing]

I don't think I have said
as many wows in my life,
as I have today.

-Yeah, you've been saying wow.
-Wow, wow, wow!

-Bisi, you've been wowed
by this whole thing.
-Yes, I have been.

[Tory] So, now that
we've cut out 12 inches
from our pillar,

the pillars don't
match up any more.

So, what we need to do,
is actually cut the roof,

[Tory] into couple
of sections...

[upbeat music playing]

[Tory] ...bring them out,
so the pillars line up.

[upbeat music playing]

[Tory] Let's just make
it a convertible.

Weld those...

We gotta make sure
all of our angles
are lining up,

so this thing goes back
together beautifully.

-Look at that.
-So, imagine...

-Imagine it's a nice,
summer day...
-Oh, yeah.

-[laughing]
-Can you just sit lower?

-Oh, yeah.
-That's what I'm talking
about. [laughing]

Whoa!

[Tory] Then we have
to put pieces of steel
in between our gaps.

[Bisi] These pieces
allow for adhesion
of the center section

to the outer sections, and...

I had the opportunity
to curve them using
a hammer and anvil,

to allow for a nice curvature,
so it can follow
the same lines

as the top of the van.

[Tory] Meanwhile,
Rose is using the planishing
hammer to shape

the largest two pieces
that will fill in the bigger
sections of the roof.

Yeah this gives it strength,
so, that's you know,
it's dent resistant.

So, it has
dimensional stability.

So, it gives it a little
bit more structure.

-Yeah.
-Good.

[upbeat music playing]

[Tory] It's just
like an art form.

It's just like, making sure
the steel's lining up,

making sure the form,
the top of the van,
is perfect,

following the original top.

It's more like sculpting
than it is fabricating.

[upbeat music playing]

[Bisi] Oh,
she's ready to drive.

-We got a chop top!
-Yes, we do, sir.

Dude, look at how
much head space
we have in there.

That's plenty of room to see.

[Bisi] Our steering
and pedals go back
to the original position,

and the seats
are bolted to the floor.

[Tory] So, this is all
about aerodynamics
and it's not about weight.

3,952.

[Tory] We need to make sure
it weighs the same as it did

before we chopped it.

All right,
what are we at, Bisi?

We are 4,228.

[clanking]

[Tory] How about now?

[Bisi] 4,199.

-[Bisi] I'll take it. 4199.
-Close enough.

[Bisi] I christen her...
Ruster.

Ah, I love it.

-How's that?
-[Tory] Perfect.
There you go.

[dramatic music playing]

-[Tory laughs]
-[Bisi] Wow!

-[Tory] This thing
is so cool-looking.
-[Bisi] It's beautiful.

[dramatic music playing]

[Tory] I have built vans
in my time, but nothing
this exquisite.

And, I thought when we said
we're gonna chop this van,

it was gonna be as easy as

-take out a section,
drop the roof...
-[Bisi] Oh, no.

[Tory] Weld it back,
and we're done.

I had no idea
how much work this
was gonna take,

but hopefully,
it's gonna pay off.

[Bisi] Well, there's
only one way to find out.

Take it to the tarmac,
and see what happens.

I love it when
a van comes together.

-I pity the fool
who doesn't like this van.
-[both laugh]

[announcer] Does size matter,
or not?

They're about to find out.

With the top of the van
now 12 inches lower,

it's time to discover
whether chopping the roof off

really does make
a vehicle go faster.

But first they're gonna
re-do the tuft test,

to compare the van's
pre and post chop
aerodynamics.

-All right, Bisi,
the chop is done.
-Yes.

-We have the tufts on it.
It's time to do a run...
-[Bisi] Absolutely.

To see if our chop helped us,
or hurt us.

Yes, we saw some good
results in a small-scale test.

Now, we can
monitor what happens

in real life!

-All right,
you ready to do this?
-I'm ready, sir.

[engine starts]

-[Tory] All right, here we go.
-[Bisi] All right.

[engine revving]

-Might help to put it in gear.
-That would help a little bit.

[laughs]

[Tory] Like before,
we're being tracked
by a high-speed camera.

[Bisi] Oh, wow!

[Bisi] Oh, look at that.
So, initially, with
the old body,

-we saw a lot
of turbulence on top.
-[Tory] Yeah.

Everything's laying flat.

-Remember we had
a lot of disturbance before?
-Yes!

-All on the roof before
they were flapped around...
-It's just laying flat.

[Tory] And now
they're laying flat.

Look at our windshield.
Beautiful.

I mean,
that's hopeful for us.

I think we're
in the right path, Tory.

[dramatic music playing]

Let's see if this
changed the aerodynamics.

[Bisi] Wow, Tory,
look at that.

[Tory] That shape
actually has made
a difference.

[Bisi] Initially, when
the van was in factory form,

we saw a significant
amount of turbulence,
on the roof of the van...

-[Tory] Yeah.
-[Bisi] telling us that
it didn't do very well

-in allowing us to cut
through the wind easily.
-[Tory] Yeah.

-And now, all that--
-And now,
everything's just laying flat.

-They're all laying flat.
-Oh, my goodness.

[Bisi] It's like we've almost
created a wedge
to cut through the air.

[Tory] A beautiful,
aerodynamic wedge.

I'm excited because,
this is now mimicking
the aerodynamic profile

-of a modern car.
-[Tory] Yeah.

[Bisi] That means, what
we saw on the small scale,
translated very well,

-to real life.
-[Tory] Which also means,
that might translate

-to us getting a faster speed.
-[Bisi] Can we do it?

-Ready for the real test?
-I'm so ready.

[dramatic music playing]

[Tory] If we get
a faster speed,

than 71 miles an hour,

this is a completely
confirmed myth.

I agree.

[Bisi] Chop top, final test.

Quarter mile.

Three.

Two.

One.

-[Bisi] Hit it.
-[engine accelerating]

[both exclaiming]

[suspenseful music playing]

C'mon, baby!

[Tory] You can do it.

[Bisi] 49.

50.

[engine accelerating]

-[Bisi] 60.
-[Tory] C'mon!

[suspenseful music playing]

-[Bisi] Are we gonna do it?
-[exclaiming excitedly]

[Tory] We're gonna do this!

-[both exclaiming]
-[Bisi] That's good!

-[Bisi] We did it!
-[Tory] That's great!

-We went
6 miles per hour faster.
-I will take it.

-I will take it.
I will take that.
-[whooping triumphantly]

[announcer] And,
after two more runs...

[Bisi] That's good!

[whooping triumphantly]

-[Tory] It's crazy!
-[Bisi] Oh, my God!

Three, two, one.

[announcer] ...it's
a done deal.

[Bisi] You can do it!

[announcer] Chopping,
and lowering this
van's roof...

-[Bisi] Oh, my goodness!
-We confirmed it.

[announcer] ...has
made it quicker.

Those old timers knew
what they were talking about.

-Chopping your car
will make you go faster!
-[Bisi] Absolutely!

-That's great!
-[Tory screams] It worked!

-[Tory laughs]
-[Bisi] Wow!

That was crazy!

I can't believe it.

Ruster did it.

[Tory] All we did is, we just
chopped it and brought
it down by 12 inches.

And that gave us
a faster speed.

You're absolutely correct.
The van weighs the same,

[Bisi] same driver,
same low horsepower
power plant,

six miles an hour
is a big deal.

-I'll take that.
-[Tory] Yes.

[Tory] And the thing is,
in a race, any little bit
of advantage you can take,

-you'll take it.
-Right.

-So, we had
to confirm this myth.
-Yes!

Those old hot rodders,
they were onto something.

-They knew
what they were doing.
-Awesome.

-Good job.
-That was a lot of work.

[Tory] Let's go see
if we can find people
to drag.

Oh, they won't know
what's coming.

[dramatic music playing]