1970 FM3 Satellite Conv - The car that should have been crushed

[Chris Many]

Wow looks great Chris many ....glad to be a small part of this project

much appreciated

 

[Thrashingcows]

I'm always excited when I see an update on your car....and I'm never disappointed either!

 

[hunt2elk]

Looking good. This is a color that there can't be any debate needing the blackout behind the grill treatment, can it?

 

[t.flatt]

Your car is looking great, Chris!

 

[blue69runner]

Grate work all look's well. Know the feeling of it should have gone to the crusher. I wondered what I had gotten my self into when working on my rust bucket. LOL. But now am having a grate time with it.

 

[Chris Many]

UPDATE 6/13/22: I finally for the engine in paint and will be installing it in the next couple of weeks. Here's a few points of interest.
1) No big surprise, when I took it a part the nylon coating was missing on a lot of the timing gear teeth, so it probably didn't run very well and that may have contributed to the car being parked forever.
2) One big surprise was that the block had been repaired by the factory (middle picture). I was told by the machine shop that they see these kind of repairs on perhaps 1 out of 10 old Mopar blocks. Not sure how true that is, but mine obviously was factory repaired as the heads had never been removed. The repair looks decent, but the area was ground down a little too low. Had to add a little sealer around the head gasket in that corner. I'm sure there was an oil leak in that corner before.
3) If it wasn't for the fact that I had restored another 1970 318 (on my FM3 Challenger), I would not have noticed that the top right (left in this picture) bolt on the cam thrust plate was not correct from the factory. That bolt is supposed to have a hole in it so that oil would drip down onto the timing chain. Did this lead to the timing gear damage ? maybe. anyways I didn't have the correct bolt so I drilled a hole down the middle of it.

 

[Chris Many]

Here's what the correct bolt looks like.

 

[Chris Many]

I replaced the exhaust heat rise setup using an NOS kit I got from ebay. The dowel pins (stop pins) that are pressed into the manifold didn't come in the kit and the original ones were pretty shot. I ended up replacing them with new ones that I bought from Mcmaster Carr.

So, I decided to go with the original factory look, knowing that the paint will burn off the exhaust manifolds. In an attempt to ensure they will never look rusty, I baked on some Seymours Cast Blast 1200F manifold paint before painting the engine. I have never seen this done before, so I hope it works.

I sealed the engine with DP90LF and then painted it using blue paint that I bought from Frank Badalson. Frank does not claim this is the correct paint for a 70 318 as he is only familiar with the performance cars. On my 70 Challanger I learned that the color he is selling for 71-74 engines is the correct color for 70 318s.

That's it for now, next update will be with the engine installed and with the windshield installed. I waited 6 months for my glass to come in......

 

[Chris Many]

one more engine pic

 

[Nxcoupe]

UPDATE 6/13/22: I finally for the engine in paint and will be installing it in the next couple of weeks. Here's a few points of interest.
1) No big surprise, when I took it a part the nylon coating was missing on a lot of the timing gear teeth, so it probably didn't run very well and that may have contributed to the car being parked forever.
2) One big surprise was that the block had been repaired by the factory (middle picture). I was told by the machine shop that they see these kind of repairs on perhaps 1 out of 10 old Mopar blocks. Not sure how true that is, but mine obviously was factory repaired as the heads had never been removed. The repair looks decent, but the area was ground down a little too low. Had to add a little sealer around the head gasket in that corner. I'm sure there was an oil leak in that corner before.
3) If it wasn't for the fact that I had restored another 1970 318 (on my FM3 Challenger), I would not have noticed that the top right (left in this picture) bolt on the cam thrust plate was not correct from the factory. That bolt is supposed to have a hole in it so that oil would drip down onto the timing chain. Did this lead to the timing gear damage ? maybe. anyways I didn't have the correct bolt so I drilled a hole down the middle of it.

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I have had countless mopars and have never seen a block 'repaired' by the factory like that. It was probably done by someone over the years. It looks like epoxy?

 

[Chris Many]

I have had countless mopars and have never seen a block 'repaired' by the factory like that. It was probably done by someone over the years. It looks like epoxy?

The repair was done with nickel. here's an underside shot. you can see the spatter from the welding process,

 

[Nxcoupe]

The repair was done with nickel. here's an underside shot. you can see the spatter from the welding process,

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Interesting. It could have been done at the foundry, but again, I've never seen this before. Usually any casting issues like this, the block gets recycled by the foundry but who knows for sure? Very unique at any rate.

 

[Chris Many]

UPDATE 7/25/22: The engine is now installed and I am almost ready to put on the front tires. I installed the engine semi-factory style - from below. I found it is easier to leave the carb off (which is out for resto) and roll the engine under the car rotated 90 degrees, so that I didn't have to jack up the front end as high. Once under the car I spun the engine around, lowered the body down and then used a couple jacks and some blocks of wood to raise the engine/trans up into place. Took me about 2 hours.

In the last picture you can see an original style oil filter (green with sandy texture and raise "M"). I installed it just for the pictures.....

 

[Chris Many]

In other news, after waiting over 6 months I was able to get my properly date coded tinted windshield from ECS. Here it is installed. kind of pain to install. I followed the instructions in the service manual, but can't imagine that is how it was installed at the factory. You shove the glass into the upper part of the seal and the use plastic tools to flip the seal over the edge of the glass along the sides and bottom.

3M 08509 Automotive Glazing and Bedding Compound is definitely the stuff to use when setting windshields in these cars.

I would like to say that Precision makes an excellent fitting windshield weatherseal.

 

[BeepBeepRR]

Wow beautiful.. looking great hats off for the job well done.

 

[Nxcoupe]

UPDATE 7/25/22: The engine is now installed and I am almost ready to put on the front tires. I installed the engine semi-factory style - from below. I found it is easier to leave the carb off (which is out for resto) and roll the engine under the car rotated 90 degrees, so that I didn't have to jack up the front end as high. Once under the car I spun the engine around, lowered the body down and then used a couple jacks and some blocks of wood to raise the engine/trans up into place. Took me about 2 hours.

In the last picture you can see an original style oil filter (green with sandy texture and raise "M"). I installed it just for the pictures.....

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Very cool. Live the color and originality you are doing. Looks like day one. I'm installing engines the same way. I have a cart already that I will modify. I saw that company's stuff and it is excellent. I'm ordering roof rail weather strip for mine.

 

[desotoman]

Very nice way over the top awesome

 

[Chris Many]

UPDATE 11/14/2022: My project is at the point where I can finally put the car on wheels, though I still need a driveshaft. I got a pair of used rotors from PLMHEMI, which I was able to get a good turn out of, so I can still maintain the original 2-piece style rotor setup. I also got a set of NOS rear brake shoes and a used pair of rear backing plates from him, which was a tremendous help.

 

[Chris Many]

As you can see from the first picture, my rear end was pretty rough. not to mention that the pieces of frame rail attached to it would normally be disturbing.....
As you can tell from my earlier pictures, I replaced the frame rails.

I reproduced the assembly date and part number stampings. www.e-bodies.org were a great resource for the stamps. They ID'd the correct fonts and give you the files and the instructions for ordering the rubber stamps.

The exhaust system is from Accurate Exhaust. It fit pretty well.

I had to replace the leaf springs as one of them was broken. I purchased a great replacement set from Eaton Springs and reused the original short leaf that has the original part number stamped into it.

I do have the gas tank installed, but the terminal for the sending unit fell apart inside the tank when I plugged the wire into it. So now I have to wait until a new one comes in.

I have my own website for my projects (warning they are not all Mopars), which is where I go into a lot more detail. Nothing wrong with this website, it's just that who knows how many years this content be available?

1970 FM3 Plymouth Satellite Convertible Project Intro

 

[3white74]

Alot of great detail on this car !!! No stone unturned excellent work!!!