74 satellite sundance high school build

[joekickass]

Hi everyone! as the title says, i am going to be restoring a 74 sundance, and being a senior in highschool, it will be fairly slow. As a disclaimer, this will have NO modern ricegrinder styling to it, it will be stayng a classic build.
The other day, i yanked home a 1974 satellite sundance from my cousins. i bought it for 900 dollars RUNNING after sitting for 6 years as well as the body is in near perfect condition with signs of only a minor parkinglot fender bender and one rust spot on the back feder the size of a quarter.
so far i have striped the interior, and removed the wiring (which was screwed)
its got a 318 and the automatic (727????)-remember im new to mopar, im a ford guy, but ive always been drawn to these cars. so this being said, i will be asking lots of questions and opinions of you guys because it seems like you all have a little more experience with these cars.

I will get pictures up later today, i just got a new camera so i dont have a very good pic of whenj i first got it,, THanks!

 

[blackblazer717]

Sounds good. Most likely its. TF904 trans. Its a low output non performance car. Is it a vinyl top car? Cant wait to see your starting point. Good luck with the build.
Im currently tearing into a 74 Runner also on the forum.

 

[Ron 73]

Great to see the younger fellas joining in a hobby that you can enjoy for years to come. Welcome to the forum! I would imagine blackblazer717 is right with your trans being a 904 and these diagrams are somewhere here at the site but i had them saved in case i needed them... You can use these to ID your trans if you want to be sure. Sounds like you have a good solid project to start you off, Good luck on it and hope you will keep us updated...

 

[joekickass]

yeah its a vinyl top... was a vinyl top, long rotted away. it's a arizona car so this thing only has a spec of rust. its been in south dakota for idk how many years but all of wich have been under a tree im figuring because there was a ton of old dryed on sap and bug crap all over it. interior was... infested, so we tore everything out n replaced it with uh... *cough*mustang interior*cough*. it also came with about 2 roadrunners and 3 satilites worth of crome trim, interior pannels, breaklight lenses, dashboardes and a bunch of other crap i havent gone through yet. but yeah ill try to through some pics up here soon thanks for your hospotality!

 

[blackblazer717]

Yes, definant a warm welcome. A have sone extra stuff is you need it. As for the trans if your not familiar with mopars by mean of just looking and you know.... theres as Id number embossed on the bellhousing that will indicate which trans it is, Ie, 904, 727.... About the size of a 14 year olds hand.

 

[joekickass]

j
hey again, sorry for the wait, this is the pic of when we first got it. this is at my cousins house, it will be at my buddys shop for the rest of the project, infact he may come on everyonce in a while to say whats goin on if i havent, alot has changed from this picture. the wiring is screwed but we got it runnin good so far

 

[smyythe68]

Looks like a great start! lots of potential hiding underneath all the baked on crap. I have learned alot as well coming from the FORD side. It's not too bad you'll soon learn all there is to know. Welcome aboard!

 

[blackblazer717]

Again, pritty cool lookin car, good luck finding a grille. Ill pm you a phone number of a guy i know that has one. No time right now.

 

[CtownChris]

Hey JoeKA. Nice start to a life long hobby, or addiction>(same thing)
Check out www.roadrunnernest.com a site for Plymouth B bodies 71=74.

Keep us updated on progress.

 

[Ron 73]

Looks like a good solid start... Those are some cool looking stripes on it, good luck with your project..

 

[joekickass]

hey thanks guys ( this is his buddy here) im the one whose helpin him with it, i am the ford man, but i will go to both chevys and dodge. as for the plymouth, progress is slow of course, as of now we really need a wiring harness ours is completely shot, and as for the grille, i know its nearly impossible but our plan for now is to use some of my 1/4" rod to make a custom grille for it, we have a plan for it, let me see if i can find it and load it up. i also have a full plan that ive gone over with him for alot of mechanical aspectsof it, i will get that up in a little bit after i get pricing information. but like i said, any one know of a place to get a cheap wiring harness?? thanks alot guys!!

 

[Ron 73]

Im never 100 % sure of anything anymore, But I think the 73-74 grills are the same as your car, 74 satellite sundance, If thats the case try this and see if it will help you with the grill... If he doesn't have one maybe he could point you to someone who does... They, even if there broken can be repaired, i had to with mine, it was broke in the center down to bottom and i used old grill peaces with JB weld.. You can paint them grey or black, i hope this helps, link mentioned below..

My 73 Satellite... And i would PM him and ask about wiring to..

http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/showthread.php?p=169177#post169177

 

[joekickass]

alright thanks, ill check him out, as for our grille, its kindof non existent... my cousins step son likes to break things... what 6 year old boy doesnt.... so fixable is outa the equasion cuz we have the turn signals that are still attatched to a chunk of it and thats it lol.....LJ, my buddy, has started a custom grille to put in for now, and it looks really cool so far. its lookin kinda like a cross between a chevelle and a marrauder grille, hes using 1/4 inch rod for itand then some expanded grate in the back.
i think our plan right now for the engine is new ignition, an intake, sheet metal, and a little smaller carb than whats on there, the 850 holley is a little big, but its all hes got right now. the ignition is going to be an HEI and he wants to use a 650 edelbrock on a performer intake

 

[Ron 73]

Sounds like the grill fits the bill, your the one who needs to be happy with what this is going to look like and run.. Hope you'll show us when its done, sounds cool.. Hopefully this guy has the wiring you need when you PM him, im trying to find one elsewhere and will let you know if it can be had.. I believe the 650 Edelbrock on a performer intake will be a great choice. Have fun, sounds like you and your buddy have it covered.

 

[Ron 73]

Joe, its been a spell bud, i need to ask you a question, Im not a detective, but i said i was a resto thread junky, just cant shake the habit! Did your friend finish the grill he was workin on you told us about? Id really like to see a picture of it, IF i may ask?.. If everything on hold i sure understand that, it happens, but had to ask man.... Thanks!

 

[joekickass]

hey its me again, been awile lol. well we resently discovered the valhalla of mopar junk yards in my own town. crazy how you happen to finaly befriend your buddys girlfriend and turns out her father owns a junkyard, i need to be more open minded lol. ANYWAY, i found a 73 seabring that basicly has every nessesity and cosmetic thing we need; interior, GRILL, seats, wireing harness, tires, 4brl intake, and a nice crome package i may dicide to use later. AND a hood with a sick powerswell/scoop from a roadrunner of the same year.

but yeah thanks guys for taking an interest in our build, things took a bit of time but it finaly seems its gunna be coming together verry nicely.

 

[joekickass]

hey what up, i see he beat me to posting the good news, i just got done rebuilding and testing the wiring harnesses (ALL of them lol) gunna hook them up and get pics tonight.
now, the interior is black but im going to turn it white, like origional, and prime the floor pans. And as for the yellow plaid, im gunna do something different thought of black but it may be too dramatic.
i love thee hood we are getting, its off of a road runner and they are giving it to us thanks to thae previous owner who put in aftermarket hoodpins so they cant sell it. i want a low profile wing on the back but we are having a hard time finding one, especially an origional from any 70s era car of any make. my neigbor has a wing on his 69 galaxie 500 that would be perfect. i cant remember what he got it from but i know he modified one from a different car. ill get a pic of it and ask him tonight if possible
i finally found out the transmission as well its an a-904 automatic or so they told me, (that was behind the small block while the 727 was behind the big blocks)

OH and about the grill, i havent finished it yet, my refund got me myown bigblock project i threw on the back burner a year ago lol. its a 79 4x4 f250 with a 460 swap. but now that thats running, when the wiring is done tonight, i willl work on it and get a pic

Thanks all!!, im gunna get it runnin to suprise him when he gets home from the GWAR concert this week so im gunna go work on her. and sorry for the long post.

 

[joekickass]

hey guysim back. ive got some pictures in a few minuetes. but while they are loading from my phone to photobucket i will give you a litle background on what ive been doing.

I started the weekend off with an inerior harness from another 73/74 sattelite or road rrunner ( couldnt tell it was torn downn pretty far) the harness had been replaced years ago, like les than ten years old. the only connector i needed to replace on it was the dimmer switch and the tail light bulkhead. those two fed a family of mice about 3 inches up.

I replaced the tail light connector with a door connector set i pulled from my old foxbody wiring. and i just replaced the damaged wire for the dimmer connector. all connections were soldered in instead of spliced, then wrapped in electrical tape. also wound the bare wiring in electrical tape as well.

Then i went and got a headlight harness from another car wich was in alright shape other than the passenger side marker light connector, so i soldered in the old connector wiring and tested that.

the charging harness came out of a points car (i think, there was no electronic ignition harness in it) and i got an ignition harness in goodshape from another car. that ignition harness was in great shape but the charging part of it was hacked up, so out came the soldering gun. i used the ignition wiring and its bulkhead connector and traced all of the charging wires out and soldered in the seperate charging harness. this process continued through most of the rest of the car.

Before installing the harnesses, i gave the old girl a sponge bath, got more sap off and got the smell attracting dust out as well. we stripped the cars interior down a week or so after we got it. so i then went and organised the interior pieces we will use on my shops patio. i may try to find a few better pices that fit it better like the upper door panels dont fith the pice behind it which is the origional sundance.

I want to replace the woodgrain panel inserts with my excess of stainless steel i got from work. i would like to get the origional sundance plaid but i want to see it in person first, but i know the white would be a definite . the back seat looks nearly brand new, other than a 1 inch tear in the stitching which is easy to repair.

The seats we are putting in it are also from the same fox body mustang ( its an 85 GT fast back...Just so ya know lol)
Our parts source says that these cars in this condition are getting hard to find. all floors are 100% solid with a little surface rust. the front fenders have no rust at all and the only rusted spots ar about 2 sqare inches behind eachrear tire. I LOVE the exhaust on the car aswell. is sounds amazing. its a quiet roar but its noticable when you get on it ofcourse this was before this wiring fiasco it was running...on a holley 750 adapted to the twobarrel manifold.

We got a 4 barrel manifold for it from the Black Hills Mopar club prsident who we also befriended this month so that will go on pretty soon and use a 600 or 650 holley/Edelbrock. on top. ummmmmmm i think thats it for now ive got a few more pics to load up and then i will post them.

Thanks Guys!

 

[joekickass]

 

[joekickass]