1968 Shelby Green Hornet-----Update! 8/4/18

[Ron Hamilton]

Bill,

I am loving this project. I looked at my Model Car Garage '69 Shelby GT500 Photo-etch Set, and it is not too usable for the Green Hornet project, as it does not have the necessary scripts. Last night, I was going through my magazines, and I saw an article in a "Motor Trend Classic" that had several nice photos of the "Green Hornet", and the explanation of how and why the car came to be.

[Rodent]

A couple of things about this project since you are a self proclaimed rivet counter.

1st...The C6 should be plain bare aluminum as Ford delivered them and like the C6 I transplanted into my 1:1 '61 F100. The C6 and 428 Cobra Jet (as used in GT500s) came from a 1970 Cougar Eliminator. Black paint on the outside would be done by a rebuilder trying to make the trans LOOK fresh rebuilt. The oil pan on the trans should be black.

2nd...My 428 CJ never had a smog pump, and it came off a California car where smog regs have been the strictest in all of the US since smog regulations started. There are also no ports in the exhaust ports of the heads like seen on later FE Fords with smog pumps. Smog pumps were installed on later mid-70s vintage regular 428s like used in pickup trucks, station wagons, etc. So I would recommend to not fret about adding a smog pump. It DOES have double row pulleys on the alternator and water pump. In transplanting the 428CJ into the truck, I removed the power steering pump which used the forward belt, and put on a pair of identical belts to the original rear one it came with.

I could post pics of my F100 with 428CJ if not for the Phototoilet debacle.

PS: I did that conversion in the late 1970s. The Cougar had been wrecked in the front, but the only crash damage to the engine was it bent the stainless blades of the fan.

From what I remember,  backed up by looking at Mustang vacuum schematics online:

1968 - 200, 289, 302 had Thermactor with MT, IMCO with AT. 390 and 428 had Thermactor regardless of transmission. 

1969 - Thermactor remained on the 428, everything else was IMCO no matter which transmission. 

1970 - 428 finally loses the Thermactor and gains the IMCO system, which explains your Cougar.

I owned a 68 302 4V 4 speed from 1977 to 2001 and it had a Thermactor.  Interesting noises when backing off of the throttle when cold.

[DustyMojave]

Good info.

My F100 in the attachment. Crappy old pic with some minor early photoshop adjustment of the road sign  The actual sign was a 90° bend and 10mph...More fun this way thanks to a friend on another model site.

[Codi]

Bill, your build threads are always informative and fun to read.  I wanted to learn something about body work and made sure to check out how YOU did it.  Sure enough, learned some methods I hadn't thought about really liked.  Hope to see you back at this soon.  A student of yours, Tim

[PARTSMARTY]

Just can't wait to see more !!!

[MrObsessive]

Bill, your build threads are always informative and fun to read.  I wanted to learn something about body work and made sure to check out how YOU did it.  Sure enough, learned some methods I hadn't thought about really liked.  Hope to see you back at this soon.  A student of yours, Tim

Tim, thanks so much for the nice words! You're certainly an accomplished builder yourself, and likewise your builds have given me some ideas about stuff in the future!

I haven't given up on the Shelby, but given the time of year it is, and my work schedule------sometimes working on it takes a back seat. One thing that does have me bogged down at the moment is getting proper brackets made to hang the thermactor pump (which this Shelby has) and the other ancillary accessories such as the power steering pump, and alternator.

I have the power steering bracket issue about licked, but this particular bracket in the pic below.........I have nothing in the way of PE or anything from a kit that comes even close.

Sooooo......it's scratchbuilding time once again------I'll come up with something!  BTW, this is not the Green Hornet's engine, but another 428 that has the same basic setup.

One more thing for you knowledgeable aftermarket guys out there..........I'll be looking for U-joints as before long I'll be working on the chassis, and rear suspension. Is there someone out there that makes U-joints in either resin or metal for instance?

Thanks for any help fellas!

[MrObsessive]

Sorry about the long pause between updates! I haven't forgot about or gave up on this one-------I want to work as carefully as I can however as I want this to be part of my collection for a long, long time and want it to be as correct as I can build it with no regrets.

As you've seen in a previous post, I scratchbuilt the pulleys I wanted since I had nothing in the way of turned parts that were the right type/size I wanted, and didn't want that to be a hangup in getting this one moving along.

Here's where I'm at so far.............

I added a fuel pump since that was lacking in the kit, as well as ran a fuel line to the fuel rails. While I was at it, I made a coil and bracket and fastened this to the block. I put a metal post in the lower section of the water pump as I'm going to add a hose later on in the build.

Ok, I can just about call this engine DONE! Except for the painting and mounting the exhaust manifolds, and a couple other small details (oil filter being one) I'm ready to set this aside for now and move on to the next phase.

Pardon all the wild looking hoses and whatnot----I like to put these on ahead of time so I'm not fighting tight spaces just before it's time to get 'er all in there. Need to do some touch up painting as well, despite having this thing smothered in Parafilm for most of its building.

Taking the advice from DustyMojave here on the board, I did repaint the trans into more of an aluminum/steel color with the trans pan painted black. I like the contrast better as opposed to just basic black.

I wasn't able to duplicate the bracket I pointed out earlier without some SERIOUS crowding. Since the engine will be buried under other detail once it's put in the compartment, I'm not going to make a big production out of it.

I had to take some artistic license with some details. There's a lot of stuff going on in the front of the engine-------I must have put this in and out the body 50 times as I want to make sure when it comes down to final assembly, there's not much of an interference issue. Although, it never seems to fail that something will come up.

Once the engine is installed I'm going to see if I can get that one hose to lay a little lower...........kinda sticks up a scooch to much for me.

I'm going to steal the air cleaner from my old build of this car....it'll save me some work in having to make a new one, and it'll just need to be reshaped ever so slightly on the bottom so that it sits low enough for the hood to close without hitting it and sticking up in the air.

Alright! Now I get to move on to what might be the most difficult aspect of this build-----------duplicating its IRS.

EVERYTHING will need to be totally scratchbuilt and/or modified, and I can expect this to be a cliff hanger as I want the car to have a certain stance per the 1:1. You'll see what's in store for me as you look at the following pics................

Yeah, LOTS of work to do!

I'm going to stray a bit in painting the floor pan. The pics show the floor to be painted what looks to be a semi gloss black. Well, I'm almost certain in 1968 this car's chassis would have originally been painted in red oxide primer with some slight overspray on the sides. It did start out as a California Special Mustang, and more than likely that's how it left the factory. Frankly, I like the better contrast of the red oxide primer, so that's what I want to go with. Of course, the 1:1 was restored so it's interesting that they didn't keep the floorpan that way.

A couple questions for you Ford Guys......which kit would have a proper nine inch rear end? And would anyone know of an aftermarket maker for U-Joints? I can scratchbuild those however if need be..............

Thanks for tuning in--------- I don't know when the next update will be, but I'll still be plugging away at it little by little!

[mk11]

Bill, it seems the best 9" center sections available are in the new revell bronco and the 29/30 kits.

 

mike

...as an aside, here's a view of most of the ones offered in various kits over the years...

 

Edited September 3, 2017 by mk11

[Monty]

Bill, interesting project you'e got going on here.  I hope your search for nicely molded u-joints goes better than mine.  I like to build the MPC C3 Corvettes ('68-'82) but their half-shafts aren't the best I've ever seen.  I created a post in the Resin section asking if any casters offered nice u-joints, but never got an answer.  

You may want to see if someone has an old Accurate Miniatures Corvette they're parting out, as the half-shafts may have  the kind of detail you're looking for.  

[MrObsessive]

Mike, thanks for the heads up about the 9" rears! I came across a seller on eBay that happened to be parting out the new Revell Bronco, and I'm getting it from him.

Bill, interesting project you'e got going on here.  I hope your search for nicely molded u-joints goes better than mine.  I like to build the MPC C3 Corvettes ('68-'82) but their half-shafts aren't the best I've ever seen.  I created a post in the Resin section asking if any casters offered nice u-joints, but never got an answer.  

You may want to see if someone has an old Accurate Miniatures Corvette they're parting out, as the half-shafts may have  the kind of detail you're looking for.  

Monty, I put that question up also a while back but no one had an answer, so I guess there's no one at the moment that makes them. I do have a couple of the AM Grand Sport kits, but I don't want to part those out as one is an untouched kit that's a someday build, and the other is transkit for one of HRM's Grand Sport roadsters that I won years ago at the NNL East. I have very good blown up pics/diagrams that show what a U-joint should look like, so I may end up making those on my own.

Or, eBay to the rescue once again as there might be a seller that's parting out a GS kit for cheap, and I could get them that way.

[blunc]

That engine certainly has the proper look with all the accessories mounted.

The half shafts on the IRS (from what I can see in the pix) look like you will be creating them from at least four discrete pieces.

The rest is a mix of round and square tube (of rod) and those shocks will be a nightmare along with the rear stabilizer. 

I can't wait to see how you engineer this.

 

[MrObsessive]

Mike, it looks like I may have to solder some brass for the lower control arms, as I don't think plastic will want to "stay" given its memory in wanting to go back to the shape it was formed in. I'm going to try my hand at creating my own U-joints as those are somewhat simple parts, and I don't want to part any kits out if I don't have to. I did make U-joints many years ago when I built my '57 Corvette. It originally was going to have working steering with a scratchbuilt steering gearbox, and I made a U-joint for the steering shaft.

I just have to remember what I used and how!

The hard part is seeing how the rear upper control arms are shaped. I have one pic that I have above that kinda gives an idea, but I'll have to fish around on my hard disc as I have many, many pics of the car and a lot of those are chassis shots. If all else fails, I'll just have to "fudge it" as I don't think anyone at a show can dispute how it's supposed to be. It's not like there were thousands of these things made, and someone can crawl underneath and snap a pic.

As of now, I'm cutting out the gas tank like I did for my '67 as I hate how that's molded. Gas tanks don't sit on "boxes" and I want to reshape it slightly as it'll be easier to paint and then reinstall. Also, this will have fuel, brake, and emergency brake cable lines--------I'm marking off where those will be according to pics, and I'll be making tiny hangers for the lines as well.

One thing I need to do this week is hunt down some green Pearl X paint for the slight overspray on the sides. When I was at the NNL East, Donn Yost gave me some very good advice on what color I should use to paint the green the car represents. So it's off to Michaels or some other Arts and Crafts shop to see if I can locate that.

[blunc]

I "think" I have seen 3D printed U-joints, maybe TDR but don't remember if they were smaller than 1/16 scale.

(I just noticed that the post restoration half shafts are different than original build and the Magnaflow exhaust is made much better than the original)

Interestingly, I almost used the term "fudge it" in my earlier post...

From the one pic I can see the end of the upper control arm, it looks like it could be as simple as a rear suspension link similar that used on Malibu and GTO of late 60's and early 70's.

I agree on using brass although there are benefits and problems due to the amount of brackets and spring pads attached to the lower control arms.

I have seen some interesting acrylic colors at Michael's and HL, you should be able to get close, although seeing it person in sun light and having some "spray out's" on hand would be optimal, it would seem to be an unlikely option.

[MrObsessive]

OK! Mike I just went to Shapeways, and I found a set of U-Joints I think I can use. You can check them out here. I'll have to cut them down a bit, and I'll have more than I can use for a looooong time!

TDR didn't have anything smaller than 1/16, that's OK though as in the future, I see some things they make that certainly got my interest!

Thanks for the heads up..........I almost forgot about the big wide world of 3D printing, and it looks like it's come to the rescue once again!

As far as the rear suspension, looking at those control arms reeeeall close, they look like they are about centered on the rear disc brake rotors-----so there's not much need 'cept for more stability for an "upper arm" per se, at least with the same shape and robustness of the lower one. I'm still plugging away at reshaping the gas tank, so I'm going to look into ordering those U-Joints and while I wait, I'll have some other things done on the chassis.

[MrObsessive]

Time for the latest and greatest!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I wanted to cut the gas tank free. No particular reason detail wise except that it's MUCH easier to paint the gas tank separately, than to try and mask around it, and the hassle that is.

I drilled a couple holes for fuel lines......I've learned that the car had a return line installed during its resto. It was ran off the fuel filler neck and was routed pretty much the same as the main fuel line.

Here are some clips I made for the fuel lines. Just some strips of brass that hace brass rivets (.8mm heads) that I'll use to brace these to the floor.

While I was at it I made a couple fuel lines-----this won't be the final shape, particularly the upper one for the return. I just wanted an idea to where to drill the clip holes and to pre bend everything to minimize any scratches on the chassis floor after it's all painted up.

The upper line is going into the side of the tank-------that was before I found out that the return runs into the fuel neck inside the trunk. I'll change this before long, but I wanted an idea of how this is to be run without going through a lot of changes.

OK! We've got U-Joints! I got these from Shapeways as I mentioned them before, and they look quite good! They don't show up well on camera, and this is just the one "half" as the other yoke part of it comes on a separate tree.

Here you can see (yes, my hand dwarfs this part!) a couple of the yokes on the nine inch rear. BTW, I was able to snag just the suspension parts from Revell's new Bronco kit on eBay. I really like the shape of the pumpkin and is one of the nicer ones I've seen.

Now I'm going into uncharted waters-----since I have no location points to work with since the rear suspension is all but scratchbuilt, I needed the rear axle out of the '67 kit to establish some sort of location of where the pumpkin needs to sit. I want to establish the height first, then as you'll see later on I figured out the distance so that the rear wheels will be pretty much centered in their wheelwells.

Notice that I put some sort of stop or post under the regular axle------this is what's determining for me (for the time being) where things should fall.

Here's the "brace" or "carrier" I scratchbuilt for the pumpkin. This is one of those areas I have to fudge as I don't have any clear pics of what this looks like. Logic tells me the shape is pretty close because of what I have to do later on as you'll see.

These are extensions that will be glued to the carrier to hold the lower control arms. They are "C" channel Evergreen styrene (.080") which I added some .020" plastic to the sides to give them some height.

These are the lower control arms with the one end made from drilling a hole (#76 drill bit) and then sliced and glued on.

I had bought some RB Motion rod ends but later realized that I didn't buy enough of them. No matter as the rear suspension won't be working------there will be too much here that can break, and I've gotten to the point in building where I want the detail, but not necessarily have a working part.

BTW, in order to get the lower arms to "stay" in the shape they were bent, I pre-bent them first, turned on my dehydrator to 165 degrees, and heated them up for about 20 minutes. Once heated, I bent them all to shape quickly and flash cooled them. Now they're permanently shaped and no chance of going back to their "memory" as plastic is wont to do. I initially was going to use brass, but once again since this won't be a working suspension I saw no need to do that.

A structure was added to connect the arms......................

And this is how it looks so far positioned in the chassis. I like to use something called "Fun-Tac" to temporarily position things. You can pick this up (or something similar) at most Arts and Craft stores.

It sorta will remind you of Silly Putty which is a similar substance.

Here's how I'm determining whereabouts the pumpkin should be in relation to the chassis. Once again using the kit's regular axle, I measured about 3" from the near furthermost point of the chassis to roughly the firewall area. I'm using this same measurement for the pumpkin, and of course, I'll tweak things as necessary.

Placing the chassis in the body and centering a tire eyeballing everything, the tire sits where it should in the wheelwell as far as I can see.

Here are the half shafts for the time being with the other half of the U-Joint yoke on. I'll have to once again measure (probably cut) these down a little so that they reach the rear discs without much trouble.

Just test fitting both yokes together..........

Well, that's is for now! I'll be doing much tweaking, changing and test fitting along the way. Still much more to do on the rear suspension.........then after all that, paint the parts, and then I'll feel safe painting the chassis.

Thanks for all of you that keep tuning in!

Edited October 10, 2017 by MrObsessive

[Randy D]

Very impressive as always from your bench Bill !!!!!

Randy

[Davewilly]

Some nice rear end mods!  Engine looks really great also!  Its coming along pretty nice!

[vamach1]

Great work Bill.  Your nickname could not be more perfect. I wonder if you have as many hours in your build as the real car.

[1930fordpickup]

Another nice update Bill. Looks nice. 

 

[afx]

Very nice Bill.

[MrObsessive]

Great work Bill.  Your nickname could not be more perfect. I wonder if you have as many hours in your build as the real car.

 Probably!!

[KENNEDYJR]

Amazing work! 

[br67]

I'm loving all this work Bill

[MrObsessive]

(I just noticed that the post restoration half shafts are different than original build and the Magnaflow exhaust is made much better than the original)

Mike, while working on those half shafts, I think I see the reason that they might have changed them from the original..............

Looks as though the shaft might have had some interference with the lower control arm------particularly under hard acceleration perhaps? I can see where the shaft may have been scraping against the crossover support that ties the control arms together.

By going to this type of setup shown here, the extending section into the rear hub is smaller in diameter, and not as likely to be binding/scraping against that crossover support.

Just a guess on my part, but it's made me change the original way I had the half shafts as I've run into the same problem!

[MrObsessive]

Been awhile folks, but I've made some progress!

I have some much needed time off (till Tuesday) so I figured what better time than to FINALLY get this IRS setup finished! This has literally been a kit unto itself, and it has been uncharted waters for me.

The hardest thing about this is that since I had no positive locating points to work with, I have to constantly check the position of things to make sure the car won't sit too high (or too low) in the end, and that the wheels ultimately won't stick out too far in the wheel wells.

This pic here illustrates how I went about to make compression springs. You'll want to find some kind of screw that has the spacing to your liking, and then taking a wire (bead wire in this instance), wrap the wire around the threads completely till the screw is "full". In the final making of these, I ended up using .020 brass round rod as it was a little more sturdy to work with, as the bead wire was a bit too "weak".

Once you're done, gently turn the screw the opposite way to release the wire, and there you have it----------a nice compression spring!

The Green Hornet uses a sway bar in the rear along with the IRS, so I had to think of something that would replicate that fairly reasonably. I didn't want to use plastic in this case, so I have bunch of wire that's used to wrap flowers with in a couple different sizes.

Using a size that looked in scale to me, I set about bending the corners, and then putting the very ends into a vise, flattened the ends as much as possible so a hole could be drilled.

I placed this on the chassis floor to get an idea of how the clearances would check out once the springs were in place.

Once satisfied with that, I positioned the sway bar on the lower control arms, and these were pinned in place with plastic and metal "rivets".

As you see in this pic here, I'm now beginning to form the half shafts for the pumpkin.

My pics show a type of backing plate for the rear discs as well as a lateral strut that connects on to it, and is placed in the rear subframe.

RB Motion supplied the rod ends, and the rest was scratchbuilt. Another tough thing about this IRS setup is that it is solely unique to this car. There was nothing else save for the pumpkin that I could use, so 90% of what you see had to come from my own mind to get it halfway right.

Half shafts are now fully made and in place using more of those U-Joints that I got from Shapeways. You see the backing plates mounted now with the lower control arms fastened to them.

It's now time for disc brakes. Originally I was going to use the PE ones from perhaps Detail Master or MCG, but since the rear wheels won't be removable once they're set in, the extra expense wasn't worth it, so I set about to making my own.

Using a circle template that I've had for years, I picked out a size that would reasonably fill out the inner wheels without going overboard, and using a sharp steel rod (I filed a nice sharp point on it), I put this in a pin vise and went round and round till the disc broke free.

Some sort of punch might have been easier, but I don't have such a thing at the moment, so I used what seemed to me the next best thing.

I made eight discs so I can double them up to let the resin calipers I have fit nicely on them without a lot of slop.

I'm finally at the point where I can paint the chassis, and do the slight overspray of the Green Hornets color. Rustoleum Red Oxide Primer was used, and while it's not exactly like the 1:1, I used this as more than likely, this is how the original California Special (which this car was originally) would have rolled off the line back in '68.

The color I'll be using will end up being a custom mix of green, black, and some gold pearl powder that I've had for quite some time. In this case, I used Testor enamels airbrushed to do this overspray.

When it comes time to paint the body, I'm going to hunt down a can of Krylon Hunter Green with the gold powder mixed in. For the topcoat, I'll be using a sort of green dye mixed in clear to give the metallic some depth, so you're not seeing gold flakes sitting on top of paint.

A little experimentation will go a long way, so I'll be trying this concoction out on a junk body. I don't want ANY surprises when I get to this point! The plastic you see on the sides in later pics is Parafilm. This will keep me from wearing away the paint too much, as there's still a LOT of handling I'll be doing before it's said and done.

Rear end now put in with the springs and shocks in place...........

I needed to see how this will sit with the body placed on. So far, I Iike what I'm seeing and with the one wheel I had mocked into place to check position, the wheel sits EXACTLY where I want it to.

The suspension will move slightly up, down, and even back and forth for adjustments if needed.

 

 

Stay tuned for more!.............