Rob & Stu's 69 Sport Satellite

[uk-maxie]

Hi again! Back for a bit more of the history lesson....

The Satellite's remained pretty much this way since '91.
We've swapped around between the centerlines & the Magnums, depending how the mood takes us.
Sometime in the early '00s, we gave up on the cheap Blackjack headers we bought back in 87, which were the cause of many a burnt spark plug boot, shifter cable & starter cable :eusa_wall: and fitted some stock exh manifolds.

Continued to use the car regularly thru the years for cruises, shows & race meets, but havent done much racing since prob the late 80's when we got a best of 13.69 @ 105, thru the mufflers & on BFGs. We did try some slicks that we bought from Summit, but as they sent the wrong size (too tall), didnt manage to improve on the previous best. All we did achieve was to tear the driver's side engine mount & bash the pass side header on the inner fender :icon_rolleyes:

Just one more pic from the old days, then I'll get a bit mote up to date!

This was the 1st Mopar EuroNats at Santa Pod Raceway in England, '94. Pic taken 4 days before my son (now 16 :icon_surprised was born. That's him hiding inside the missus' tum, front & centre :binkybaby:

 

[roadrunnerman]

nice transformation with the car.was your son's first word" Dad, can i borrow the car?". LOL

 

[Bens69PlymouthSatellite]

Love it! I am restoring a 69 myself! Love the sport satellites!

 

[uk-maxie]

Thanks r-r man, dunno about that but he's already said he expects the cars to be left to him in my will


Fast forward a few years....

The car sat for a couple of years while we got the Polara sorted http://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/showthread.php?t=11557
then after using it for a trip into London for the 'Chelsea Cruise' on a particularly busy night, when it played up more than usual in the heavy traffic, decided to give it some long overdue attention. That was Nov 06 :icon_surprised:

The idea was to go thru the 750 vac sec and rebuild as necessary, same with the trans, and fit an FBO ignition kit we won in a raffle at the Mopar EuroNats, then back on the road for early '07 :icon_thumleft:


Then Stu (my brother, who has the car(s) in his garage, remember?) noticed some flaky paint in the trunk under the mat. Then noticed the steering box had a bit of a leak. And some of the steering & suspension parts were showing their age..... etc etc

So gradually the list of jobs grew to a point where we're still taking bit off the car today


Long story short, so far we've:

- repainted the trunk, leaf springs, axle, tank, exhaust
- rebuild steering box
- fit new rear shocks
- replace wiper seals (& cure the drip we've had for 24 years :roll: )
- repaint interior floor
- tidy wiring under dash
- remove engine for rebuild
- prep engine bay ready for repaint
- order up sh*t loads of parts from the usual suspects.... seat covers, carpet, door panels, various other odds'n'ends like rad hoses, ignition barrel, dash trim, wiper arms, belt pulleys, front suspension rebuild kit, original style air filter kit etc etc

Other jobs in hand:
- cobble together a console using new & used parts, and replace the never-worked-very-well B&M shifter with a stock item
- fit new rear seat belts (never had any) and replace the front aftermarket with original style (from B,E&A)
- brake master cyl needs a rebuld too as it also has a leak
- fit front-end rebuild kit (bushes, idler, pitman arms etc)
- fit Mopar mini-starter (when engine's back in!)
- clean/repaint steering column while disconnected & out of the car

Engine's currently being rebuilt by the same guy that did a great job on our 426 in the Polara, tho this one should be a lot easier (& cheaper!)



Anyway, enough waffle for now, here's some pics to bring us up to date.

Trunk floor - no holes, just surface rust & flaky paint. We had some paint left over after the last repaint in 95, so got it made up into aerosols for use on areas like this...

 

[uk-maxie]

Underside tidied too. Ok so it's no rotisserie job, but good enough for us with the funds available.

Tailpipes pianted high temp silver - not white as they appear in the pics!

 

[uk-maxie]

Moving forward...... towards the front, at least

Having decided to remove the engine & trans for a rebuild, and also to fit a centre console, we needed to establish a position for the shifter & console mounting brackets while the trans was in place. Dunno if the car ever had a console but we'd fancied having one for quite some time, so gathered up some new & some used parts to make one up.
We did think of using an aftermarket shifter, and bought a Hurst thingumy (sorry, cant remember which model!) that we thought would fit with the stock console. Then got a chance to buy an unused stock shifter from a friend, so decided to go with that initially. If we find it's too hit'n'miss (compared to 'slap-stick' or ratchet type shifters), we'll modify it or try the Hurst.

Steering box needed a rebuild too (leaking) so got the column disconnected from the box so it could be removed.

Although we left the engine & trans in place while we mocked up the shifter bracket positions, we got all the engine ancillaries removed so it was ready for yanking once we were happy with those bracket positions.

Bit of a mess...

Choices, choices....

 

[uk-maxie]

Floor shows signs of water damage from years of leaky wiper pivot seals. Bought the seals a while ago from Laysons :icon_blackeye: so bit the bullet and set about fitting them. Much easier without the seats in!

Wiper pivot before removal

New seal fitted to pivot

Floor stripped.... well, loose bits removed!

Refitted the seats temporarily to get a position for the console & shifter brackets. We realised we were a bracket short too; the one that bolts to the tailshaft and supports the linkages, so fabricated one at work as we couldnt find the right one new or used. Hope it works :icon_eek:

Quick word about the console. We got a new console body from BE&A Parts and a bunch of scruffy used parts for nothing from a friend who bought them off ebay but was happy to let us have them for nothing as he later found a better set :icon_thumleft:
The shiny bits polished up quite well and the painted areas responded well to a new lick of paint. Dunno if you have 'Fablon' over there (it may well be a US product for all I know?) - woodgrain on a vinyl roll? A few £ for a couple of yards of the stuff, and that's the console restored for next to nothing.

 

[uk-maxie]

Next came the big day, once we'd scrounged a hoist from a friend, we were all set to get the engine out!

Couldn't find the right kind of lifting hook/eye, so made do with a strong nylon rope wound around the hoist's hook. Happy that it was strong enough, just a bit touch & go with the length as we were a bit tight on headroom under the garage door :eusa_eh:

 

[uk-maxie]

There has been some progress on the interior - floor's now painted - but I havent got any pics to hand, so i'll come back to that!

Getting bang up to date, we've now rubbed down & primered the engine bay, almost ready for a fresh coat or three of blue.

Not having access to any proper spraying equipment (or technique! :icon_sad we found someone who's set up for mobile spraying and is willing to come to the garage and spray the engine bay without moving the car (front suspension is still disconnected). All we need to do is all the prep....

No real nasty areas in there, the main reason for the rub-down & repaint was to remove the hammer-finish paint ('Hammerite') that had been on the car for the last 30 years or so!

Bumper off to reduce amount of masking needed prior to spraying...

After 1 coat of (aerosol) primer

Feels like we're getting somewhere now!! :grin:

 

[moparstuart]

wow awesome

 

[Joe Mopar]

Sweet!

 

[uk-maxie]

Thanks guys!

Awesome might be over-stating what we've done compared to some of the projects on here, but I'll take it!
Better wait & see how it turns out first tho....

 

[Redpolara]

Nice progress pics guys, keep em comming.

 

[roadrunnerman]

you guys have done alot of work. i like how that console turned out,it almost looks like you cut out a piece of wood ,polished it and then installed.

 

[uk-maxie]

Thanks guys!

Yes, we're pretty pleased how the console has worked out ok so far, we've still a few odds'n'ends to get for it to make it complete (wiring for the lights, & carpet trim mainly) so we'll have to wait & see how it looks when the interior's back together.
We figured the vinyl woodgrain may be a little different to the original pattern but as we're getting new door panels, and theyre unlikely to match the original woodgrain on the dash, it wont matter too much if we introduce another slightly different shade/pattern on the console!

 

[morbidgoat]

you've got some guts pulling an engine with rope

 

[uk-maxie]

Not ideal, I know! We borrowed the hoist and only realised it didnt have a chain or any kind of lifting eye to attach to the manifold on the day we'd planned to remove the engine, so had to make do with what we could get hold of :head_smack:

Tho I'll bet the strength of that nylon rope folded that many times is more than a match for a piece of old chain....

We'll get the right kit for the install tho :cool:

 

[uk-maxie]

Sorry chaps, bit overdue for an update....


Engine bay's all painted now and have started putting a few bits back on!! ccasion18:

We ordered a few new brake parts from Inlinetubes but thought we'd take the plunge and make up the long part that goes across the bulkhead, rather than paying silly money on shipping for a part that weighs next to nothing but would have to be packed in a 5ft x 2ft (ish) box

This was our (well, my brother's :icon_winkle 1st ever attempt at making brake lines so I think it's come out pretty good all things considered! Used a few pics off the 'net to get what we thought was the correct route, but modified it slightly so it's routed around, and not across the access holes in the inner wings (sorry, fenders)

I'm sure there are areas that arent correct for a proper resto (paint & plating finishes etc) but were happy to get it as near as we can with what's easily available and we can use (.... so as long at it comes in a paint tin or can be plated by contacts thru our work places) we'll go with that option!
Plus, we havent dismantled all the front suspension parts so have chosen to paint the LCA's, for example, rather than having the plated.

We still have some new front suspension parts to replace, so that's why there are still a couple of rusty/unfinished parts showing.

We also received some new parts just before christmas, from 440source, Bouchillon, Legendary & Mancini, and a carpet from Motor Parts South.

New alternator from Bouchillon - not as original looking as we were led to believe from their website, but as the car's never going to be 100% original or original looking, we'll manage with this one for now, thanks!

Plus these mats - the only ones we could find with the correct 69 Sport Satellite logo, as opposed to the trendier 68 logo :icon_cool:

Also just received this carb feed kit from a company that advertises in MCG - their name escapes me at the mo :sad1: but it fits our Holley with metering plates and looks pretty stock.

We've spent the last couple of Sundays, when I've been there, trying to get the console & shifter mounting bracket positions finalised, as once the trans is back in, it will be tricky to get to all the fasteners on the underside of he trans tunnel if they need any adjustment. And we need to get the trans back in position (roughly) as there no room in the garage to have it kicking about the floor when we get the engine back!

Although we've already had the trans, shifter & console in position before we took the trans out, so we could drill the floor & brackets, now we've come to put it back together, sods law dictates that the console's now sitting crooked and the shifter doesnt run up & down the centre of the slot :eusa_eh:

So after much slotting of holes, we've just about got it right (again), and should be ok to bolt it down once and for all, next time we're both there (needs 2 people - 1 inside and 1 underneath :icon_rolleyes

rebuilt trans, with TCI sump, as an attempt to curb the leaks once & for all!

Trans in situ, temporarily....

 

[72Satellite440]

Love the great work soo far- nice color!

 

[roadrunnerman]

you've gotten alot done on that car and every bit looks excellent.