The foundation of any custom truck is its frame. Steve's crew began from scratch, fabricating the multi-size, boxed framerails and crossmembers with proper step-ups, front and rear, to achieve the correct suspension travel and ride height. A Heidt's Superide II front crossmember was welded between the framerails, along with Heidt's tubular upper and lower control arms with Heidt's two-inch drop spindles. Adjustable Aldan coilover shocks dampen the front and rear suspension. The Heidt's power steering rack makes for effortless lefts and rights. A Dutchman Ford 9-inch rearend housing received all new bearings, 31-spline axles indexed with an Auburn posi-unit, and Richmond 4.11 gears. The rear suspension has a four-link, eliminating any wheel hop during aggressive acceleration, and a Panhard bar anchors the rearend's lateral movement. Baer disc brakes were the choice of braking, with dual piston calipers clamping down on 13-1/2-inch cross-drilled and vented rotors. The rearend is decelerated with single-piston calipers and 13-inch cross-drilled and vented rotors. The braking muscle comes from a Power Master power booster and master cylinder. Solid stainless steel brake lines were precisely bent and ran inside the boxed framerails. Stainless steel braided brake hose links the solid brake lines to each individual wheel cylinder. Gary's red ride rolls on a set of polished billet aluminum Budnik Fontana aluminum spools, with 18x9-inch wheels up front and 20x10-inch hoops in the rear. Wrapping each front wheel is BFGoodrich g-Force T/A P245/40R18 tires; and out back, the wheels are protected by P295/40R20 rubber.
Raising the hood exposes the eyes to an immaculate engine compartment with a smoothed firewall and hand-formed inner fender panels that hug the engine. Gary wanted to keep this Blue Oval pure-Ford, so they transplanted a stout '96 Mustang Cobra 4.6L DOHC engine between the framerails. A Kenne Bell twin-screw supercharger (TS1000-96C) that produces 15 psi of boost was bolted on, increasing the ponies and torque. On the other end of the combustion chamber is a set of JBA 2-1/2-inch-long tube headers directing the burnt gases into a pair of Flowmaster Hush Power II mufflers. The crank trigger ignition is charged by an MSD coil. A pair of 3-inch, polished stainless steel air intake tubes draw air from the inner fenders, through a pair of 90-degree bends that then parallel the Cobra cylinder heads and Kenne Bell supercharger and collect into a 90-degree collector and go into the rear of the supercharger's throttle-body. A modified Len Tech Ford AOD transmission equipped with a 2,800-rpm stall torque converter was bolted up behind the 4.6L Cobra powerplant.