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The car was taken down to the bare shell and put on a rotisserie. Not one nut or bolt remained on the car. I then had the entire chassis walnut shell blasted and stripped. I was going for a complete concours restoration. I located every missing or incorrect part. Parts like an original Boss 302 block, air cleaner, snorkel, heat shield, all the smog, rev limiter, distributor etc. I mean everything, I spent a fortune. Everything was NOS. It is a standard bore block with original TRW "Ford" updated pistons, standard NOS crank, NOS cylinder heads with factory Ford valves and valve springs. I completed the engine assembly along with all the smog and accessories . It would sit on that engine stand for 10 years.
The body,chassis and engine bay was finally painted in 1996 and the reassembly process was finally ready to begin. Every original body piece was retained except for the hood. I replaced the hood because it was warped from a small carburetor fire that had occurred prior to my ownership.
Another goal was I wanted to use as many "period" parts as possible, otherwise I would have just installed things such as an MSD. I installed an original Cross Boss/Autolite intake setup, Hooker Super Comps with a 3 ½ " Dr. Gas X-Pipe that exits in front of the rear wheels and utilixes slide in mufflers. I installed a 289 HiPo distributor with mechanical advance with a Pertronix for two reasons. One was I had a clearance problem with the vacuum advance unit on the Boss distributor with the Cross Boss intake and there wasn't any provisions for a vacuum source on the Cross Boss setup. I didn't want to start drilling holes into the Cross Boss setup. I also utilized an original Cobra upper radiator hose splitter for adapting the dual water inlet on the Cross Boss. The engine cranks via a Tilton weight gear reduction mini starter. I used a black Pertronix blaster coil and painted the top yellow to try and simulate an original coil. I also tried to duplicate the Trans Am crankcase breather setup and built this piece myself. The PCV setup had to be eliminated because again there were no provisions in the Cross Boss intake. I also eliminated the heater hoses as it made for a much cleaner engine bay and being in Southern California I would rarely use it anyways. I added hood pins, which Boss's never came with, despite the thought that some Boss's did. I added two original factor options, a fold down rear seat and the drag pac oil cooler. It also has a very rare Ford hood mount tach that was available over the counter from Ford. It was the perfect addition, as the car did not come with the tachometer option. Also added are the headlight stone guards, Koni shocks, an original Cobra aluminum T-oil pan and the Minilite wheels that were run on the Trans Am cars. The car is lowered 1 ½ " front and rear, utilizing cross drilled rotors in the front with oversized Nascar style quick change wheel studs all the way around. Tires are the raised yellow lettered Goodyear Nascar simulated Eagle 1s with 275x60x15 in the rear and 245x60x15 in the front. The car also is driven by an aluminum drive shaft.