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1968 Project Green Hornet

Stathy

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
96
Location
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Good evening (and morning to some of you). I've been slowly amassing parts and information over the past few years in order to recreate to the best of my ability the Green Hornet (EXP500). It's been an interesting few years gathering the data that I'd need to slowly put together this car.

Before I go to far, is it alright to be chronicling my restoration on 1) this forum and 2) in this section?

I think most of you would find it interesting as this is quite a fascinating car and has struck many conversations through threads on this forum.

Please let me know as I have many pics that i'd like to share with everyone. Non of them pretty so far but interesting to say the least.
By the way, this is only the second car i've tackled so my perspective might be interesting to some of you. Updates will be slow unfortunately as the bank account has been depleted by a huge bathroom reno. Hey...i have to please the boss or else this project goes on permanent hold.

Cheers
Stan in Vancouver
1968 coupe
 

nates68

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
Messages
169
Hi stan, i tried to copy big red with my car. But i went black with white stripes. Check out my gallery. Cant wait to see yours.


Nates68
 

hookedtrout

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 28, 2003
Messages
1,929
Location
Idaho
I'd say you are in the absolute correct place Stan, I for one would love to see your work as it takes shape and I'm sure everyone else would as well. Post up those pictures.

Thanks, Cory
 

Timmknz

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 29, 2007
Messages
222
Location
Redmond, OR
Excellent

Stan-
It would be great to see the effort documented in pictures- Maybe Jon hanna could set you up with a special gallery?
Sorry to throw you under the bus there J- but you're such an excellent webmaster...
:)
T
 

robert campbell

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 10, 2007
Messages
4,321
Stan,
This is the place!! I would love to see your car as you progress. We learn, and maybe some of us can help with a question or two!

Rob
 
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Stathy

Stathy

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
96
Location
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Thank you to all who've responded!
Maybe a gallery is the best idea? I'm worried about the amount of space i'd take up so I'd next like to contact Admin to make sure they're OK with it.
Once I set that up I'll start uploading pics and stories.
I had set up a website showcasing this restoration but have had difficulties maintaining it due to the amount of time it takes up (2 kids, demanding wife, work and now a new puppy).

I'm off to see my engine builder this morning and i'll snap a few shots, then post them sometime today.
Cheers and thanks to all!

Stan
 
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Stathy

Stathy

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
96
Location
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Robert you hit the nail on the head. With the amount of experts on this forum i'm definately going to be looking for help! I've been on this board for a few years now and enjoy logging in almost every day. I'm still keeping my eye out for my own CS one day :)
Stan
 
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Stathy

Stathy

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
96
Location
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Thanks for your input Corey. I appreciate the support very much!

Nate, wow. Absolutely stunning car! What is that third car in your garage?(back wall)
 
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Stathy

Stathy

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
96
Location
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Some before pics

I picked up the car from just south of the BC border in a town called Burlington, WA back in December 2007. I was able to convince the wife to go on a shopping trip to the factory outlets there but in return I wanted to go look at a Mustang that a fella had sitting in his garage for a number of years.
He wasn't going to be there so he left his garage unlocked so I can spend some time looking it over. HE LEFT IT UNLOCKED! Gotta love the small town trust.
The car seemed in decent shape. The motor was "rebuilt" 10 years ago and fired up nicely. There appeared to be a bit of rot under the carpet from a leaky windshield rubber.
All in all it wasn't bad.
A few Coach purses later and my wife gave me the blessing to pick her up.

Here are a few pics of what she looked like a few months after I got her home.
I started taking off the panels (fender off on the first shot) then I tackled stripping down the interior.
 

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Stathy

Stathy

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
96
Location
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Taking the body to the blasters

First thing I did after I stripped the body down was to remove the entire driveline. Since I was mounting this on a rotisserie I wanted to remove absolutely everything. I took lots of pictures because I learned after my first experience (1969 Datsun Roadster) that tearing down is the easy part...putting it back together isn't :(

Mounting the car didn't prove too difficult as I purchased the Mustang kit from Autotwirler. The only difficult part was that due to severe battery acid leakage the frame rail was rusted to the point that I could not used one of the front bumper mounting nuts. I had to drill it out which was a lot more difficult than I had imagined.

I sent the car a few months back on the rotisserie to a local guy who took his time but did a fantastic job. He used several levels of media to take the entire car down to bare metal. Cost me $1500 but it was well worth it. Within 2 hours after he finished he called up a painter around the corner from him (KMS Tools). They sent a guy in with a trailer and hauled the car around the corner. Within a few hours from then the car had two thick coats of black epoxy primer on it. I was thrilled!

"The Motor" to come next
 

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68 special

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 17, 2004
Messages
524
Now, that's a project. Great photos. I can't wait to see it progress to Hornet status. Keep em coming. Are you putting a 428 in it?

Bret
 
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Stathy

Stathy

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
96
Location
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Bret, long story with the engine but I'll try and keep it short. I originally purchased a site unseen 428 motor from the east coast (Boston) from a guy who didn't know much about motors. The 428's are difficult to tell apart from other FE engines. 428's and 410's are externally balanced, 390's are not (but I do beleive there are some 390's that are externally balanced...please correct me if i'm wrong). But even then the bores of the 410 & 428's are different. A few other indicators (the most obvious without measuring the bore and stroke) is that if you pop the center freeze plug you will see a "428" cast into the block.
To make a long story short I ended up with a 390 motor...year correct.

So my quandary began. Do I search for a 428 CJ or do I get this 390 blueprinted? The Green Hornet did originally come with a 390 but was changed at some point to a 428 CJ.
After talking with a few people I decided to cut my loses and get my 390 built up and somewhat "clone" a 428 CJ. It was important that the motor looked as close as possible to the GH's. I have several pictures of the motor and have done my best to ascertain what would be needed to do this.
Along the way of the build though the little boy in me got in the way.

Edelbrock aluminum heads, intake and waterpump have been installed. Along with some other internal goodies. The shop did grind off the Edelbrock casting so i'm hoping that once everything is installed it's going to be difficult for people to tell.
Here are some before and during pics...specs to come.
The motor is 2 weeks away from being dyno'd.

*By the way, the pics of the motor look to be the incorrect color blue. It's painted the correct blue but the flash seemed to have lightened it.
 

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nates68

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
Messages
169
HI STAN, GLAD YOU ENJOYED MY GALLERY. THE CARS ARE A 66 COV. RED ONE IS 67 FASTBACK.SOME OF MY TOYS.YOUR PIC ARE REAL GOOD.KEEP THEM COMMING.

nates68
 
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Stathy

Stathy

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
96
Location
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Dyno results

Well, after months of rebuild and thousands of dollars later my engine is finally complete.
I am at a loss as to the amount of money this thing cost me but am thoroughly convinced that I'm far better off than buying a crate motor. I had hoped it wouldn't have been done till the end of the year as now it will sit like a lawn ornament in my garage. Anyways...
This thing is unbelievably balanced. I could have taken a cup of water and placed it on the running engine and you wouldn't have seen a ripple.
I wanted good horsepower and torque but did not want to compromise street performance. Isn't that every ones dilemma? I'm hoping I got it.
I went with a cam that sounded throaty at idle.
In the end I didn't get my 400HP that I was looking for but close. 388.1.
But my torque to my surprise was 451.5 at 3100 RPM. Nice torque curve also.
I could have easily cracked the 400 mark by changing the cam, and carb but as stated I wanted this thing to be streetable, also, I really wanted to rebuild that old CobraJet carb and use it on this motor.
One place that I will pick up several points of torque will be by installing some long tube headers. During the dyno run all the shop had was shorties so I had to go with those for testing purposes.

Here are a couple of quick pics. I'll try and link up some video footage so you can hear the motor while dyno'd.
Cheers!
 

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Stathy

Stathy

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
96
Location
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Update: fast forward to Aug 2009

Sorry I haven't kept this thread updated. I've posted most of my pics on www.1968stang.com
For those of you interested please take a look at my site, if not then here are some updated pics.
Both floor pans were replaced. The drivers pan included replacing of the front floor to firewall pan as shown in the first pic. The front drivers frame rail, the battery apron as well as the radiator support were removed and replaced. Fabricating of the rail was quite challenging. I spent more time leveling, and squaring this rail than I had expected but it was all worth it in the end.
More pics to come
 

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Stathy

Stathy

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
96
Location
Vancouver, BC, Canada
August/Sept 2009 update

Pics of the battery apron as well as finished and partially painted engine bay.
On the last pic take note of the upgraded shock towers. I went with the wrap around shock tower braces that were used on the Boss cars. As well if you take a look at the passengers tower as viewed on the wheel side you'll see another modification. It's a welded plate that is used to stiffen the tower and combat the flex that is inherent in the torquier setups.
 

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Stathy

Stathy

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
96
Location
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Aug/Sept 2009 continued

Ron Morris coil over suspension + Kelsey 4 piston front disc brake conversion setup.
This is going to be sweet! The conversion kit was picked up on ebay from a reputable supplier. It's an incredibly easy system to install and includes absolutely everything needed to convert to front disc with power brakes. It includes even the brake pedal, booster and MC for a reasonable price.

Thats it for tonight.
Cheers
 

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rvrtrash

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 25, 2003
Messages
3,649
Nice work! I kind of wish I'd have gone with coil over in mine.

Steve
 
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Stathy

Stathy

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
96
Location
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Nice work! I kind of wish I'd have gone with coil over in mine.

Steve
Thanks Steve.
I wasn't sure if this was the right choice, in fact I'm not sure how it's going to perform yet (hopefully there are no clearance issues when I put the tires on and drop the car down).
I had a few extra dollars to play with so I thought long and hard about what mod's I wanted to do that weren't overly noticeable but had a big impact.
The disc brakes I definitely will not regret.

Cheers
 
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