In this episode of Mike Finnegan's Garage we have a rare treat; Michael Cotten, David Newbern and Mike Finnegan are all in the same place at the same time because we just wrapped up filming Faster With Finnegan for 2021. So, we decided to sit down and BS about project cars and life. Hope you enjoy the conversation!

In episode 178 of Finnegan’s Garage, we bring the Death Metal Charger back from the dead. This Toyota 2JZ turbo-swapped ’68 Charger has been dead in the driveway for months with a smashed radiator and water in the oil. Today we swap-in a radiator made for a Volkswagen Scirocco, repair the smashed front end, give it a bath and an oil change, and hit the streets once again with turbo noises!

The crew travels to Iron Mountain Park, an amazing 4,400 acre off-road recreation facility in beautiful Dahlonega, Georgia. The goal is to put Jay Meagher behind the wheel of the Death Metal Charger, our 1968 Dodge Charger.

There's a lot going on in Episode 180 of Mike Finnegan's Garage. We are moving into a larger warehouse and that means we can finally have all of our junk under one roof. Before we moved out of the old spot, though, we had to have a little fun with our neighbors. We also had to get Square Force 1, our 1989 GMC Sierra crew cab ramp truck, fixed up so it could safely haul all of the cars to the new spot. Mike Howe of How's it Doin Garage ( @howes_it_doin_garage) took the challenge of straightening the c-channel frame, adding new crossmembers, and then gusseting the chassis so it would remain straight for years on. He killed it! Now we can cruise SF1 everywhere and no matter what's inside the box she looks nice and straight instead of lookin like the bridge from Tempe of Doom. Once that was handled we moved 6 cars, two boats, one ARGO and yes, the same SCAT Hovercraft that Cletus game me last summer, to the new shop. Hope you like the video. Thanks for watching and supporting our shenani

In this episode of Mike Finnegan’s Garage, we embark upon our most ambitious build yet, a five-seater 21-ft long Eliminator Daytona jet boat. This one will get twin-turbo LSX power and in this video we are gonna show you two tools we bought for less than 100 bucks that made installing the engine much easier!

In Episode 182 of Mike Finnegan's Garage, we escape the frosty winter conditions of Georgia and head to sunny Florida for Tom Bailey's drag and drive event, Sick Week. This event is a lot like Hot Rod Drag Week, which means it's gonna be fun! I'm going to be filming an episode of Roadkill and Newbern is going on vacation with a camera in-hand to cover the event. This video was shot on Sunday, which is Registration day and Test n Tune Day. Racing begins on Monday. The eclectic mix of fast cars is the best I've ever seen and we are gonna try to bring you a new video every day of the event. Have fun and thanks for watching!

In Episode 183 of Mike Finnegan's Garage we are once again out of the garage and on the road! While Finnegan' is filming Roadkill, Newbern is following along the same route in his 1957 Chevy and capturing all the carnage that happens to street/strip cars on a drag and drive racing event.

In Episode 184 of Mike Finnegan's Garage we continue our ridiculous road trip throughout Florida and Georgia. There were so many cool hot rods, muscle cars, imports, trucks and sport compacts on the road today

In Episode 185 of Mike Finnegan's Garage we journeyed from Florida to Georgia for more street/strip car shenanigans. So many epic passes and broken parts today! Two more days to go!In Episode 185 of Mike Finnegan's Garage we journeyed from Florida to Georgia for more street/strip car shenanigans. So many epic passes and broken parts today! Two more days to go!

In Episode 186 of Mike Finnegan's Garage, we motor down the road to South Georgia Motorsports Park in Valdosta, Georgia to experience our fourth day in a row of an epic racing road trip called Sick Week 2022. Lots of stuff went on; we replace a smoked clutch in the Roadkill 1986 Pontiac Firebird, which we are affectionally calling Beef Water, because of the paint job. We also interview Keith Turk about his involvement in running Sick Week and Drag Week events, and Eric Yost shows us how a real trailer is put together to make surviving an event like this. The trailer has a kegerator and a gas-powered margarita blender!

This is Episode 186 of Mike Finnegan's Garage and it concludes our 5 day road trip as part of Sick Week 2022, an awesome drag racing road trip. This vid was shot at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Bradenton, Florida and Cletus McFarland's Freedom Factory, which is located right next door. Some very heavy hitters were in attendance including Cletus, Kevin Smith, Shawn Fink, Rick Prospero, Nicky Bobby, Scott Klepinger, Scott Brown, Doc McEntire, Tom Bailey, and a group of fun-loving Swedish dudes who ultimately ran quicker than everyone else in attendance and took the title as fastest car of the event. Me? I was busy swapping clutches in a 14 second 1986 Pontiac Firebird and filming an episode of Roadkill with David Freiburger so a lot of this video features David Newbern, Matt Knabb and Brandon Wise behind the camera. It came out awesome!

In Episode 187 of Mike Finnegan's Garage, we continue on with the build of our spankin-new 21ft long Eliminator Daytona jet boat. I've never driven one of these before but know several guys and gals who are hauling the meatloaf behind the wheel of the second shortest Daytona in the Eliminator lineup. This time we are adding accessories to the 427ci Texas Speed LSX, including some mirror image turbochargers from Nelson Racing Engines

This is Episode 188 of Mike Finnegan's Garage and you're gonna love the new project car err truck that just arrived

Episode 189 of Mike Finnegan's Garage will help everyone who's building their own turbo kit at home, especially if they are trying to fit twin whirlybirds inside of a small engine compartment. In this video, we show you how to pie-cut straight aluminum tubing to create the tightest 90-degree bend possible. We'll also show you the tools we used to make it happen. Also, here's an update on the 21ft Eliminator Daytona jet boat build and some new technology for you jet boat guys! This one is heavy on the tech and also features the one and only Mike Cotten behind the ol Youtube Starter Kit aka his smart phone! lol

Episode 190 of Mike Finnegan's Garage is a big one. We've got a road trip, a snowstorm, a broken Cummins-swapped and airbagged crew cab dually, a 53ft long car trailer hauling several Tri-Five Chevy's and it all happens in the span of three days! You're gonna watch this til the end!!!!

We finally address the elephant in the room; the unsafe handling of our 1968 Dodge Charger. We call it Death Metal cause everything about this car is sketchy, and while exciting, it's not always fun to drive because the car constantly wants to crash. Our plan is to replace all of the front suspension, the steering and the brakes in an effort to make the car fun and safe but of course, things don't always go as planned. What began was a relatively simple bolt-on front k-member and coilover/disc brake conversion from QA1, turned into a much larger project, which is why we had to call in reinforcements!

Episode 192 of Mike Finnegan's Garage is so damn good! The Death Metal 1968 Dodge Charger has been keeping it sketchy since the 1970s and now it's mostly fixed! Thanks to Kevin Smith and some slick parts from QA1 and Wilwood, this car handles, stops and steers better than ever! By the end of this video we are doing burnouts and shaving 40ft off of our 60 mph to 0 mph stopping distance. So much win!

In Episode 193 of Mike Finnegan's Garage we take a good, hard look at the current condition of Blasphemi, my Hemi-powered 1955 Chevy Bel Air and make a plan to bring it back to life, better than ever. But before we can move forward with the fixes, we first must remember where we came from so here's the full story on how the car came to be and why I need to revamp the car I've owned the longest. Thanks for watching!

In Episode 195 of Mike Finnegan's Garage, I show you how to mod your welding cart to keep those must-have tools from falling on the floor. Thanks to Miller Welders for providing me with a new tool that will make my wife happy; a Miller Welders fume extractor! This baby inhales the smoke from cutting, welding and grinding in my basement garage so that my wife doesn't have to smell it anymore. She doesn't know it, but she just go an early mother's day present!

In Episode 196 of Mike Finnegan's Garage, we visit Harrell Engine and Dyno and Customs By Bigun in Mooresville, North Carolina. At HED, we check out the broken Hemi that powered Blasphemi, my 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air, to the A/GAS Class win at Hot Rod Drag Week 2019. We also get a good look at the replacement parts Pete Harrell is going to use to upgrade the powerplant.

In Episode 197 of Mike Finnegan's Garage, I jump back into the 21ft Eliminator Daytona twin turbo jet boat project. There's lots of content about this one because my family vacation is coming up quick and my wife wants to drive the five seater hot rod instead of Game Over, the two seater hot rod jet boat. Who can blame her? In this video we are going to build a six-foot long aluminum fuel cell for the boat and since Andy Weyenberg from Miller Welders was in town, i seized the opportunity to have him set up my new Dynasty 400DX welder and compare it two my Multimatic 220 AC/DC. Andy hosts Miller Welders Real Garage on YouTube and he gave us tons of useful tips, which you can use for setting up and using the machines in your garage. Best of all, Andy stuck around long enough to get us a great headstart on the fuel cell.

In Episode 198 of Mike Finnegan's Garage we make a big push to finally get my wife's 21ft Eliminator Daytona jet boat read to rip the lake. We've got less than a week to make it run and then water test this rocket before I leave on a cross country roadtrip family vacation. This video will show you the Holley Dominator Electronic Fuel Injection system, Earle's Speedflex fittings and hoses, Speedwires relay/switching system, and some trick Motion Raceworks goodies like the stainless steel wastegate mounts. Special thanks to Kelvy Limon for dropping by to wire the entire boat and get the Texas Speed 427 LSX engine fired up for the very first time.

Do me a favor and check out my friend's youtube channels for even more content about this incredible Eliminator Daytona jet boat. Without Kevin Smith and Pete Harrell, Newbern and I wouldn't have gotten wifey's boat done and water-tested in time for our family vacation.

This is the 200th Episode of Mike Finnegan's Garage and its fire! I towed a boat trailer riding on golf cart tires 4,400 miles to go boating for just 5 days. It was worth it just to see my wife finally get to driver HER BOAT! That's right, I really did build this 21 foot long Eliminator Daytona with a twin-turbocharged Texas Speed 427ci LSX engine and Dominator jet drive for her. Sure, she didn't for it but that doesn't mean she didn't want it, right? Want to see more fast boats? Check out the SocalJetBoats Youtube channel.

In Episode 201 of Mike Finnegan's Garage we once again have the honor of hosting automotive legends Pete Harrel and Kevin Smith, in the garage. The guys are here not only to continue tuning my wife's 21ft Eliminator Daytona but also to see if Game Over will once again roar to life after being in pieces for the last 12 months. Do me a favor and go follow both of their channels, Real Good at Doin Stuff and KSR Performance and Fabrication here on YouTube.

Do me a favor and check out my friend Brian Goude's channel, GTV, because he's got a ton of cool content about custom cars and trucks. He also camped out all week to document this new project's transformation from a plain white '86 Toyota mini into a tribal painted '90s throwback custom.

In Episode 203 of Mike Finnegan's Garage we bring back one of our favorite project vehicles, the 1973 Chevy 3+3 Crew Cab ramp truck from Season 2 of Roadkill. This truck has been through a lot and it's spent the last three years being restored. Now it's time to put the final pieces of this puzzle back together so we can start road-tripping this epic tow vehicle again.

In Episode 204 of Mike Finnegan's Garage we hang out at Motor Trend's Roadkill Nights event, which is powered by Dodge. The event is unique because the city of Pontiac, Michigan, allows Roadkill to hold street legal drag racing right on Woodward ave. Newbern and I drove the Roadkill ramp truck there while hauling precious cargo as part of a really cool upcoming episode of Roadkill, which you can see of Motor Trend Plus streaming app. Rather than drive all the way back home to Georgia with an empty ramp truck, we decided to buy a really rusty and slightly butchered pro street 1970 Dodge Charger. The car is a mess but I have a vision and a few used speed parts that will someday go on this car. In the meantime, enjoy the trip and the fun of celebrating Mike Cotten's new car that he bought at RKN as well!

There's something for everyone in Episode 105 of Mike Finnegan's Garage! The legend, Cletus McFarland dropped in to go for a ride in my wife's 21ft Eliminator Daytona jet boat and of course, we had issues. A boat that has ran great all summer long suddenly had an intermittent issue with the crank sensor in the twin-turbo Texas Speed 427 LSX engine. We got that handled and also enlarged our charge tube, which made a massive reduction in the temperature of the air coming from the turbos. This meant the engine made way more power! In this video we show you how to pie-cut tubing and test our new parts while adding six mph to the top speed of the jet boat!

This is Episode 206 of Mike Finnegan's Garage and it's one I've been excited to film for a long time because it's about putting my 1955 Chevy Bel Air back together. Say "Hello" to the new and improved Blasphemi! With a goal of competing at Hot Rod Drag Week 2022 I set out to rebuild this legendary straight axle, stick shift, 8 second street/strip Gasser class car for better looks, more speed and more reliability. In this video we go over the new paintjob, new wheels, and why there's no Hemi under the hood anymore?

n Episode 206 of Mike Finnegan's Garage, myself, David Newbern, and our friend Brandon Wise travelled from Georgia to Tennessee to party with 30 other Youtubers at Cletus McFarland's Bristol 1000 race and Cletus n' Cars burnout competition. Both were held at the Legendary Bristol Motor Speedway, the same high-banked oval track where NASCAR races are held. Taking a page from my wife's playbook, we overpacked for the trip, bringing two ramp trucks, one car and one jet boat for no reason other than to have a good time. This is the story of how I got caught up in the nastiest wreck ever, and rear-ending Kyle Wade's Crown Vic cop car at nearly full speed.

This video and every other video from my trip to Hot Rod Drag Week 2022 was made possible by the good people at Wire Care.

Here's a recap of Test n Tune/Registration Day of Hot Rod Drag Week 2022.

Well, we did a good job of wounding the 535ci Mopar Hemi V8 in my 1955 Chevy Bel Air. However, after attempting to swap David Freiburger's Hemi Gremmie engine into the car and subsequently failing to complete the swap, I started to stare at my engine more and asked myself the question: Can we fix it? The answer is yes, but only if we figure out how bad the damage is and get the parts to fix it ASAP. Since Tony Angelo from the Stay Tuned Youtube channel and I do not quit, we are continuing on. We are lucky to have a video crew who's as nuts as we are and so we will forgo sleep if we need to but we are going to try and make my car run again if we can before the event is over.

In this episode of Mike Finnegan's Garage, we are engine-swapping one of my favorite vehicles, my 1994 Yamaha Superjet. For the last 15 years this thing has been mostly stock and pretty damn reliable. Lately, though, it's been giving me lots of trouble so that was the perfect excuse to hook up with the boys at Ericson Machine and Performance to make some serious upgrades to the drivetrain of this water rocket. We swap out the stock 701 Yamaha engine for a fully built stroker deal from Ericson and we trade the stock jet drive for a ported version with upgraded internals! Top all of that off with a Factory B pipe and dual carbs and with some expert tuning this Yamaha Superjet is a water rocket!

In this episode of Mike Finnegan's Garage, we fix the problem that melted the Hemi on Day 1 of Hot Rod Drag Week 2022. Luckily, sharing info with Pete Harrel from Harrell Engine and Dyno and Robin Lawrence of Holley EFI made us realize that we had a fuel delivery issue and not just a half-empty fuel tank during our first pass at Drag Week, which is what made the engine lose fuel pressure and kill a piston and all of the rings. Not only do we change fuel pumps and fix the problem but we also show you a cheap and useful tool for mounting parts to sheetmetal that we are sure you'll love.

I get back to work on my 1973 Chevrolet Crew Cab Ramp Truck aka the Roadkill Ramp Truck. This is my Cummins 12 Valve diesel-swapped hauler that recently underwent a restoration, which included new paint and new upholstery. We also installed a new audio system, which included a five-channel, 1,100 watt amplifier from Arc Audio. Unfortunately, that amplifier had a bad subwoofer channel so we were never able to really take advantage of the dual 10-inch Subwoofers mounted behind the rear bench seat. Today we fix that issue, give the truck a much-needed bath, and open some fan mail.

It's time to say goodbye to Game Over. We are taking the boat apart to ready is for a cross-country trip home with its new owner. I'm definitely keeping the 711ci twin-turbo Sonny Leonard Racing Engines Hemi engine but the rest of the boat and trailer are leaving. Don't worry, there are some excellent tips and parts used in this video because, of course, nothing ever comes apart easily, even if it's only been together for a couple of years.

I'm so excited about it because not only is my new t-shirt design making me laugh my butt off, but its also live right now at

Mike Finnegan's Garage and we are working on the Rubber Duck Firebird, a barn find 1967 Pontiac Firebird 400 that we found hibernating for 16 years in a Georgia barn behind a dragstrip. This was originally a 400/4speed car that was modified in the early 1990s into a big tire bracket racer with a Big Block Chevy engine instead of the original Pontiac powerplant. Recently, the car appeared in an Episode of the Motor Trend Show, Faster With Finnegan, where we replaced the bent Dana 60 rear axle with a new 9 inch from Quick Performance. We also replaced the leaf springs and custom ladder bar rear suspension with beefier Ladder bars from Applied Racing Technology and also a pair of Mod Series coilovers from QA1. Doing all of that work required cutting out most of the floor behind the front seats of the cars and it there wasn't time to repair that during filming of Faster With Finnegan so I'm doing that by myself in my home garage. This video is all about bending sheet

It's been six years since I've attended a drag boat race and 10 years since I drove a jet boat at a National Jet Boat Association event. Mike Finnegan's Garage is Part 1 of a 3 Part Series about my first weekend back behind the wheel of a real drag boat. Over the next three days I'll drop the complete series of videos on this channel. It's my Thanksgiving holiday gift to you guys; three videos in three days about the highs and lows and the ups and downs about racing my latest purchase, a carbon fiber jet boat. This is a 2016 Ralls Precision Machine Cheyenne jet boat and what makes this thing unique is that Andy Ralls, cnc-machined all of the aluminum hardware on this boat to be as light as possible. He also had E-Ticket Boats in Lake Havasu, Arizona, laminated the hull entirely from carbon fiber. KMG Boats painted the red, black and gray hues, while Marine Performance Design blueprinted the Dominator jet drive. The boat is powered by a naturally aspirated 632ci, 10.5

Mike Finnegan's Garage is Part 2 of a 3 Part Series about my first weekend back behind the wheel of a real drag boat and it did not go well. We had parts fall off the boat, corroded parts that didn't work, and we ended the day with a motor milkshake and broken valve springs. But, we did make a couple of really good passes down the liquid dragstrip at over 131 mph in our naturally aspirated 2016 Ralls Precision Machine Cheyenne jet boat and so I'm still very happy. What makes this boat unique is that Andy Ralls cnc-machined all of the aluminum hardware on this boat to be as light as possible. He also had E-Ticket Boats in Lake Havasu, Arizona, laminate the hull entirely from carbon fiber. KMG Boats painted the red, black and gray hues, while Marine Performance Design blueprinted the Dominator jet drive. The boat is powered by a naturally-aspirated 632ci, 10.5 liter aluminum Big Block Chevy engine that produces 1,300hp without nitrous, or turbos or a supercharger. The engine was origi

Mike Finnegan's Garage is special because it's the grande finale of a 3 Part Series about my first weekend back behind the wheel of a real drag boat. Although fun, it really did not go well. LOL. We overcame adversity in the form of a severe motor milkshake, which was the result of too much water pressure in the cooling system. We also had to replace several broken valve springs in the 632ci Big-Block Chevy. After solving both of those problems we believed my new 2016 Ralls Precision Machine Cheyenne jet boat was ready for race day. As you'll see in this video, boy were we wrong! What makes this boat unique is that Andy Ralls cnc-machined all of the aluminum hardware on this boat to be as light as possible. He also had E-Ticket Boats in Lake Havasu, Arizona, laminate the hull entirely from carbon fiber. KMG Boats painted the red, black and gray hues, while Marine Performance Design blueprinted the Dominator jet drive. The boat is powered by a naturally-aspirated 632ci, 10.5 liter al

I'm so excited about it because not only is my new t-shirt design making me laugh my butt off, but its also live right now at https://www.fsmgarage.com Here's the charity benefiting law enforcement officers mentioned in this video: Team blue line https://www.teamblueline.org and the 3d printed, battery-powered flashlight tool can be found here: 3D Printing On-Demand https://cce3d.com And thanks you all, the new postal box is overflowing with letters and random gifts from you guys and girls! Every day feels like a Christmas when UPS sends me a text letting me know that the mailbox is crammed with stuff for me to open. As usual, everyone who sent me something that I opened during this video will get a cool FSM shirt or hat from me.

It's time to get back to work on my favorite new project and the one you've been asking for an update on...The Caddy! This 1961 Cadillac Coupe De Ville is a high strung, low slung, badass land yacht that is destined for glory both on the street and the dragstrip. The goal is to run 8 second quarter mile. passes while still being completely streetable. I found the car in an airplane hangar and bought it with 46,000 miles on the odometer. It's clean, rust free, and now sports a mandrel bent pro-touring style chassis from MRC Fab. It rolls on Mickey Thompson drag radials and Weld double bead lock wheels. The engine is going to be a twin-turbo big-block Chevy with AC and power steering. In this video, I modify the rollcage, test fit the twin-turbo Sonny Leonard 711ci Hemi engine that I took out of my jet boat, and re-organize my garage. Check it out and let me know what you think in the comments section. Thanks for watching!

While I wait for my parts for the '61 Cadillac so that I can continue wrenching on it, I decided to film another unboxing video. This is Episode #124 of Mike Finnegan's Garage and I gotta say that the love I'm feeling every time I visit my local UPS store has been incredible! I've had so much fun opening all of the mail you have sent. From the fruitcakes (please no more!) to the 10mm sockets and other handmade gifts; it's all been so cool. Thanks to everyone who bothered to take the time to send stuff to my box.

We lift the curtain off our entire five day experience at Hot Rod Drag Week 2022. All of the highs (We had a few!) and every low moment we endured is here for you to enjoy. It's Tony Angelo's and my Christmas gift to you; two unfiltered hours of suffering and triumph and the best part is we are just getting started! On December 31st, we'll drop the thrilling conclusion to this epic adventure. You might think you know the story but trust me, you don't!

Part 2 of our epic movie that lifts the curtain off our entire five day experience at Hot Rod Drag Week 2022. This is Tony Angelo and my give to you; 2.5 unfiltered hours of suffering and triumph! You might think you know the story but trust me, you don't!