1969 Sport Satellite with 440 big block

[PurpleBeeper]

That is a great looking car & congratulations! That 8-1/4 rear end is super-duper weak and I would be suprised if it would take even one full throttle blast of a 440. An 8-3/4" rear end is definitely the most reasonably priced way to go. If you can get $200-$300 together you can find a non-posi 8-3/4" rear end that will bolt right in & last as long as you need it. After you get some more money together, switching to a posi-traction setup with gears of your choice can be done for another $300-$400 depending on what you want to do with the car, and with the "drop out pumpkin" (only Chrsyler 8-3/4" and Ford 9" rear ends as far as I know) the change is super simple..... like a 3hr job doing it yourself with no special tools and a couple gaskets.... so if you find one the right width cheap, jump on it. Welcome to For B-Bodies Only & GREAT CAR!

 

[CoronetRTguy]

Welcome to the board. Also great looking Sat.

I saw that on CL a few months back and kept looking at it. Great lookiing car.

 

[440SportSatellite]

Update: new suspension and rear

Well, here it is over a year later and I've made quite a few upgrades to the car, so I figured maybe I should update this thread. Maybe I should have made a new thread under another topic, but oh well. So I decided to replace the 8 1/4 with a new Strange S-60 3.54/powertrac. While I had the rear end out I figured I might as well do the leaf springs and shocks, so....why not just do the hotchkis TVS with hotchkis torsion bars. After all that, I figured I might as well put a SSBC rear disc brake kit on instead of the old drums. Of course at this point I'm broke and working all the overtime I can get to pay off my credit card, but I think it's worth it. Now for pictures.

Those are all out of order...the picture on the gravel is before any work was done, the picture on the concrete pad is after all of the suspension work. It does sit just a little bit lower, I think the stock suspension was sagging a little after 45 years. I've also replaced the crager wheels with wheel vintiques magnum 500's 15x10 in the back and 15x8 in the front. They look great, not that the crager's were bad, I just like the magnum 500's better. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures with the new wheels on the computer yet. I do get a little bit of rub with the 295/50s on just the passenger side in hard corners now. Haven't decided if I'm going to go with a smaller tire or just have the inside lip of the wheel wells rolled up yet.
Oh, I also had the dash cluster refurbished by AutoInstruments, they did a great job, it just took 3 months. This is the only good picture I have, of course, it's all back together now.

If I keep getting overtime like I have maybe I'll get it all paid off sometime this year.
:hello2:

 

[snakeyes]

wow looking very nice thanks for the updates :headbang:

 

[BumperMan]

Nice ride 440, your car looks awesome. What part of VA are you from?

 

[tallhair]

Thanks for the updates and don't stay away to long. You should consider starting a thread in the 'members projects and restorations' forum.

 

[red 69 runner]

Welcome,nice looking Satty

 

[kellycom]

Great new stance, looks great.

 

[440SportSatellite]

Nice ride 440, your car looks awesome. What part of VA are you from?

Thanks for the compliments! I think the car looks a lot better in the pictures than it does in person. It sure does handle good now though. I'm in the Hampton Roads area, Chesapeake to be exact. I'm in the Tidewater Mopar Club, but I haven't been very active with them. I don't think there are too many people from my area on this forum, at least not that post very often.

 

[696969]

Impressive rear end overhaul. How do you evaluate the ride compared to the former rear?
I've been interested in doing the same, eventually.

 

[440SportSatellite]

Impressive rear end overhaul. How do you evaluate the ride compared to the former rear?
I've been interested in doing the same, eventually.

Thanks! Just to clarify, the old dirty rear in one of the pictures is the original open 8.25 rear with 2.76 gears that came on the car. I still have it sitting under my carport, if anyone has a use for it...I'd sell it dirt cheap. The new rear is a Strange S60 with the power-trac unit and 3.54 gears. I got all the suspension work done at the same time, so it's hard to evaluate how much of a difference just the rear change would have made. It drives and rides like a completely different car now though. I haven't really pushed the hotchkis setup much yet as I need to take care of my tire rub issue before taking any real hard corners. The change from open 2.76 to power-trac 3.51 made a pretty substantial difference in acceleration, of course my gas mileage has gone down but who cares? It's so much more fun to drive now, I had it out today in the nice sunny 70 degree weather and just couldn't stop smiling.

 

[snakeyes]

we can`t stop smiling either ,looking real good there sounds like you had a nice day to take her out and have some fun with her :3gears: