My mean green hornet

corazon

Well-Known Member
Since buying my V8 in fairly standard form three years ago, i've done various style changes and upgrades.
I love the car in it's standard form but am aiming for "subtle custom", trying to improve certain aspects rather than replace them.
I'm a big muscle car fan :D
The most obvious change is the black centred polished vitesse wheels at first glance.
I have done as many others have and fitted pertronix ignitor and flamethrower coil for reliability and improved performance.
Other updates included the custom black and chrome knob mp3 stereo, bullet mirrors, polished steering wheel spokes, polished engine parts, and most recently numberplate drop to below the rear bumper-complete with camouflaged black led bolts for plate illumination.

Here is the car in it's current state

FrontPlateNoFogLights22jan.jpg

interior22jan.jpg

polishedenginebay22jan.jpg

polishedenginebay122jan.jpg

rearplatebestshot.jpg


So future plans are as follows:
Paint job in darker metallic green, as close to this as possible-basically a darker metallic cameron green tone

RoverResprayGreen.png

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IMG_3996-32.jpg


Dark green carpets to match;
Cream upholstery;
Cream faux leather or suede steering wheel;
Ebony macassar door veneers;
Flush mounted Boston Acoustic speakers in the parcel shelf, with grills painted cream to match upholstery;
Fit remote central locking;
Fit a remote boot release and completely smooth bootlid;
Remove chrome side strips;
Replace unpractical bullet mirrors with round stem american style mirrors;

Some interior inspiration, thanks for the use of a couple of these pics- the mustang belongs to someone on here that i cannot remember, and the rover in the centre is a well known south african car i believe...

ultimateroverinterior.png


Mechanically speaking:
New shocks and springs all round, potentially slightly lowered although i like the current stance on the vitesse wheels.
3.9 camshaft and heavy duty timing chain set;
High flow air filters inside airbox, with carb needles to match;
Full carb rebuild;
Fully polished inlet manifold, chevy red block, and body coloured engine bay side walls etc.
Red magnecor HT leads and perhaps an upgraded electronic mallory dizzy at some stage............

I'm planning on doing all the work listed here, including the painting which i have little experience of- but am relishing the challenge!
Jim
 
Hi Jim, excellent project ! and looking good already.

I'm liking the black and chrome / polished engine bay, very mean !!, You were talking about doing the block red and red leads, but I think it would look great if you stick to black or polished for everything.

I'll try and get that boot release sorted for you.
 
Yeah, that paint would look awesome...but panels would need to be super straight I think.
If you have photosdhop, you could work up those darker photos so we could have a real good look.
That be good...looks great though
 
I'm with you on the dark green 'n' cream theme, it's my favourite colour combo for a car.

I reckon my old Volvo 850 was about the right shade of metallic green for you, it's called dark olive pearl - almost black in some lights but with a slight gold shine when the sun catches it.

How do you close the boot lid without the number plate plinth? I thought the bootlid was too soft to push down on?
 
Thanks everyone, MoT tomorrow. Hasn't been on the road for over a year whilst i was living in Athens, so can't wait to get driving again 8)
I just close the bootlid gently with both hands, it seems fine.
Yes the aim will be to get all the panels poker straight, minimal filler/maximum metal :LOL: before painting
The remainder of the engine bay detailing won't be for a while, so there's time to consider red not being involved..but i'm still into the idea right now.
Plus there's other little touches of red such as the wheel centres and bootlid spare badge......
Picture10.png
 
I am not a fan of green, but that Corvette is absolutley gorgeous outside.
The interior takes it over the top, in my opinion, though.
 
Car is looking very good Jim

The lowered rear number plate completely changes the look of the back end. Very muscle car looking :D

testrider said:
How do you close the boot lid without the number plate plinth? I thought the bootlid was too soft to push down on?

The chrome surround on my rear number plate plinth is covered in petroleum jelly to keep the salt off through winter so I'm pushing down round about where the R O V E R letters on the boot are to close it. As Jim says, seems strong enough.

Dave
 
Really? Both of my bootlids have/had dents there so I thought it wouldn't be stiff enough to press down on. I guess it would be quite easy to bond another sheet of aluminium on the inside to reinforce that bit if it became a problem.
 
When I had mine with no lock or number plate, I just pushed down on the the main "corner" of the boot lid, structurally it should be pretty strong with such a bend in it, and I never had any problems. I also sometimes slammed it down by grabbing the front edge (when it's up in the air), again never had any trouble. And I had a release motor in mine too.

Interestingly with all the stuff removed and just the release motor, the boot would pop open and lift almost right up on it's own. Just had to be sure nobody was stood over it when pressing the button.

I think they look great without the plate on the bootlid.
 
Hi Jim

Love your car and the wish list. Very similar thoughts to mine, but not on LYK.

Just a thought on the boot lid. If you are going for that smashing paint job won't you have mit marks on the lid every time you close it?

Is there, some sort of handle or bar that could be fitted to the boot lid, in keeping, to prevent those paw marks??

Ron.
 
It needs one of those auto closing mechanisms like the Audi's and stuff have, although I always laugh when I see people using them, I mean how hard is it to close a boot lid :LOL:

Trouble with any kind of handle is it will spoil the clean look. Just have to wear white cotton gloves.

Actually I've just noticed Jim has a boot mount spare setup on the bootlid, maybe he can push down on that ?
 
The boot needs such a light touch to close you can do it using the button, ie by pushing on the top of it. Mind you if you do that too often the button will eventually wear as it won't be designed to take force in that plane.

Auto-closer it is then.....then you can start really pimping it with a full lowrider kit and hydraulic lifts :D hmm maybe not 8)

Dave
 
Not a bad idea using the bount mount badge Richard.
It will be entirely smooth so no lock button to push down on..
Hold on a sec while i put my bamboo fibre bootlid gloves on :LOL:
 
Just a couple of pre-mot pictures in it's current transitional state, while i had it out earlier.
Skulking behind a tree
premothiding1.jpg

premothiding.jpg

premotrear.jpg

premotwheelpolished1.jpg

premotwheelpolished.jpg

And yes i did mirror polish the ashtray too 8)
Hopefully she passes tomorrow
Jim
 
All the best with the M.O.T sure it will fly through looking good :wink: where are the reflectors not sure if an M.O.T requirement :?: :?:
 
Hey Jim, fingers crossed for a pass & clean bill of health, loving the mild custom look, man after my own heart and with muscle cars 8) I've heard cragers look good on these cars :wink: look forward to your 'Its passed' update
 
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