Day 6: Drivetrain Installation
Once the C6 transmission provided by Bowler Performance Transmissions is mated to the FRPP Boss 302, Jesse and Wayne Geoffrey from FRPP carefully lower the engine and trans combo into place. The Overhaulin' team is comfortable with the popular Mustang and gets the right oil pan for the installation the first time. It's not uncommon, though, for the engine and trans to be yanked in and out for different oil pans, engine mounts, and so on. | 
Jesse grabs some Royal Purple from the shelf and makes sure the engine has oil in it before moving on to something else. With so many hands in the soup, it would be terrible if someone fired up this sweet engine without any oil in it. | 
Rob Phillips, the team's project manager for each show, is a busy man. If he's not working on the car himself, he's inventorying incoming parts (almost everything is shipped next-day air or obtained locally), or he's on the phone with Summit Racing or another sponsor getting more parts to keep the project rolling. YearOne supplied all the AMK hardware kits to put the SportsRoof back together. We've used these ourselves, and we know what a timesaver they can be when you have old, rusty, or missing hardware. The team would never get this car done in a week if they had to wire wheel and paint every bolt. The team also uses sealable bags to catalog small parts. |
Jesse from FRPP makes the final inspection on the new Boss 302 heart for Hector's '70 SportsRoof. This is only the second one ever built by Ford Racing Performance Parts, and it will find it's way under the hood of this Stang. | 
Chris discusses with Marcelo about the progress on the car. There only 2 days until this car must be finished and driving out of the Overhaulin garage. I am sure there was a lot of pressure on both camps for this to go smoothly. | 
The 9-inch rearend and suspension were put together outside the car to speed things up. Here we see the rotors being put into place. This will all speed things up on it's way into the car. |
Day 7: Interior and Wiring
While there's still exterior work going on-including fabricating the exhaust and welding the frame connectors-the interior is beginning to take shape. Earlier in the week, interior trim panels were scuffed and painted with black trim paint. Now they're installed with a new headliner (we've never seen a headliner installed so fast!). Carpet, dash, door panels, door glass, stereo, and wiring are also installed now. | 
With the battery moved to the trunk to clean up the engine compartment, the stereo installers have to route all wiring to the rear. While working on the wiring, the car was accidentally cranked over, and the engine fired. The producer ran on set and yelled to everyone, "You didn't hear that-the engine did not start," since they hadn't taped the "first start" of the engine for the cameras. Notice the heavy application of Dynamat throughout the car. Not only does it give the car a more solid feel, but it also makes the stereo work more efficiently. | 
The rear of the car is shaping up as well, with the new rear lights, the gas cap (one of three different styles tried by Chip), and the tucked and rechromed bumper with hidden mounting fasteners. |