1971 Satellite "resto mod" like Pappy Joe wants it.. :)

[PappyJoe]

I wanted to go ahead and start the thread. Might help me keep track of where I'm at.

History : Bought the car around 5 years ago. It was born a 318 Satellite but had been painted up to look like a Roadrunner. The 318 ran ok. I really didn't have much of a plan at first. Then a friend pointed out that Year One had a sale on a crate 440. So I bought it. This made me decide to take the car the GTX route. So I started sanding to get the markings and the really poorly done paint job off of it. The more I sanded, the more ugly was uncovered. The top side was surprisingly good. The bottom, not so much. The quarter panels had rotted out at some point and someone riveted metal on and used a few gallons of bondo to cover. Both outer wheel wells had rot. So I knew it really needed new quarter panels on both sides. But after much looking and to my dismay I found that aftermarket quarters were not available for this car. At this point I had bought an 06 GTO and managed to spin a bearing so the 440 was sold to fund the rebuild of the LS2. The Satellite went straight to the back burner and pretty much became a horizontal storage unit in my garage. In 2013 a friend of mine talked me into going to the Car Craft Summer Street Nationals in Dequoin Ill. Muscle car overload. The fire was lit again. After I got back I was pleasantly surprised the quarter panels were now available for this car. I ordered both along with the outer wheel wells. I found a body shop to put them on and dropped the car off. It was supposed to take about a week. 10 months later (I know, lots of reasons why it took him so long, and just as many reasons why I didn't care) I went and picked it up and took it to another shop. A couple of weeks later and she was back in my garage. Now it was time for the summer nationals again, and we went again. This time we both decided that next year, 2015, we would return with cars of our own. He is doing a 56 chevy that is coming along nicely, so it was time for me to get moving. I decided that since I wanted to be able to travel that distance to a show, and maybe do the hot rod power tour again as I did in the GTO, I needed to reconsider my choice of engine. I decided that since it was not a historically sought after car with numbers matching everything, it made since to blend the looks I like with the drive train I know is available today. We have an 04 Dodge Ram Hemi that now has over 200,000 miles and has never has a problem. With a different rear end I felt this could get me the reliability, gas mileage, and muscle I wanted. So I bought a 5.7 out of a Ram pick-up, the complete wiring harness, and the pcm. I will be doing the Hemi swap. And I'm glad to see that there seems to be a lot of parts and information available to support it now. I've described the car I want as something that would look really cool driving by, but wouldn't necessarily be perfect. I want to be able to drive the car and not worry too much about it. It will be moded in the drive train, the brakes, the suspension, and the interior. Not huge mods all, but my own little touches.

So feel free to follow along. My goal is to have it ready for next years summer nationals. I'm on the clock. I have something around 345 days? ish?

I've made myself a goal to do something to it everyday no matter how small it may seem. If I only have time to take out one bolt or move some parts around, something has to get done every day. So far I've held to it, but it hasn't been that long. The body work has started, I've been putting on and sanding off bondo like it's going out of style. I've also been researching the rear differential. The on that's in it is a 741 which will not do well. I'm looking at about 400 rear wheel when it's done initially so it needs something better back there. I'll be ordering a 489 in the next couple of weeks to take care of this issue.

I'll post the pictures I have as I get time. They will cover from when I first brought it home till now.

Thanks for taking a look, have a great day!


"Anything worth doing, must be worth getting done.."

 

[snakeyes]

Hi again good story I will be waiting and watching you thread :headbang:

 

[aldal]

Welcome again and more good luck.

 

[PappyJoe]

These are pics from when I first bought it. Actually pics the last owner took. I'm sure everyone can relate on these older cars, at least in Texas, the first nightmare to overcome is the title. The state didn't like the title he provided, and really didn't like that he hadn't titled it. Ended up having to title it in both of our names first, then get it titled over to me. Took several months to get this process done. But she's got a good clear title now. Another story from this, when I was at his house to pick it up, I was in his garage and I see this big pile of boxes and junk. But when I look closer, peaking out from underneath this heap I see part of the car. 66 Stingray horizontal storage unit. Complete car with no rust, never been driven. The car was originally bought by a race team for the engine. They took the engine and never got around to doing anything with the chassis. So there it sits in his garage holding up a bunch of old boxes.. Unbelievable. Anyway, on to the pics..

View attachment 200588 View attachment 200591

As you can see, the interior is really not bad. The seats and doors are new. The outside Was an attempt at making it a roadrunner clone with what I think is a B2 Blue paint job. Didn't really look horrible from the get go, had potential. The first problem I had was color. My daughter wanted me to paint the car green like the new challengers. Blue interior wouldn't work. So I figured I would take it to black. Then I decided against the green, I would paint it white. Still looking at black interior. But I've made the final decision of painting it B5 Blue. First because I think it may have been the original color of the car, no fender plate so I don't know but looking at the inside of the trunk makes me think it was. Second because it saves me from having to change as much on the interior. And third because I really like that color and think it will make this car pop when I'm done. And yea, that 8 track player, it works. LOL. It has the rally gauge cluster. It also came with two A/C systems, one from an original car and one from vintage air. They are on the shelf and I haven't really gone through the boxes to see what I have. Planning on putting one of them in while I've got it torn down. Summers get hot in Texas..

 

[PappyJoe]

Then I get the idea to buy this crate 440 from year one and make this car into a GTX clone. Easy enough, how hard can it be? So I order the engine, and it was purty..





Now I had to get the old 318 out of the way. First I took off the six pack. Yep, it had an original AAR Cuda Six Pack on it. They had disabled two sections, it was running off the middle two jets only. So it was a really big expensive two barrel carb setup. Between gas mileage issues and from what I read it was designed for a 340 and wouldn't go on the 440 anyway, I sold it.






And I pulled the 318 out. Now, I have to say here that hind sight being 20/20, this was a mistake. If I had it to do over again, I would have forgotten the 440, pulled the 318 and bored it to a 340, built it up, dropped it back in and driven the car as it was for a while. But that's not the way it happened.





Now the engine and trans are out, and sold. And I decide since I'm putting in the 440 and it's going to be a GTX, need to get started on the paint. Might as well do it up as good as I can, right? Now I tear into it. How hard can it be? Chip Foose does it in a week!





Man! I'm moving right along! This tearing down stuff is a piece of cake! I'll have this thing done by next Thursday! Yea.... After the initial tear down, I decide to pull the new vinyl top. I don't want it, and I want to see if there's rust under there especially around the rear window. To my surprise it looks really good. No problems! Then I decide to look at what's behind the bubbling paint I see on the lower quarters. That's when things got ugly. So much for Thursday...






I start to consider my options. Cover it up and act like I never saw it. No. Cut that piece out and scavenge over it but do it better than they did maybe.. Not so much. Replace the quarters was what I needed to do. I looked. They were listed but not available yet. Any day now, but not yet. While this is going on I decide I want to get out of my anemic gas saver and get something more fun to daily drive. I bought a GTO. I liked it a lot. But I quickly found that there were many things I wanted to do to it, you know, just to make it even more fun. Instead of going to all the trouble, I just found one that had most of it already done and bought it too. No, I didn't keep them both. Wife wouldn't go for that one, and believe me I tried.. This is the one I kept for several years. "The Beast" and I had a great time running a local road track, doing the hot rod power tour with my daughter and her Challenger, and doing laps on Talledega. But due to my heavy right foot, and my apparent lack of talent for shifting gears correctly, I spun a bearing. Actually it happened several times, but the first time cost me the Crate 440. Sold it to a guy that was from around Waco building a Super Bee. Fast forward to now and I sold the GTO a couple of weeks ago. Only fair that some of that money goes to fund what had been put off for so long. Here's a pic of the beast, may she live long and give as much pleasure to her new owner as I had.





Now we are almost to the present. Last year I decided to get back on this project and found that the quarter panels were now available. I started cutting. I cut out the quarters so I could evaluate the wheel wells. Might as well order them at the same time if they were needed. And they were, just the outers. Ordered both sides and got them in. Found a local shop to take it to and made a deal that we would hit a dead time so it would only be gone a week or so.







Loaded her up and dropped her off. For one week. Yea.. So about 10 to 11 months later.... I know. He had all kinds of excuses why. And I had my hands full with the GTO giving me fits once again. During this go around medical issues also came up in my family so I decided it was time for the GTO to go. While I was working on getting the GTO up and in shape to sell, I went and got the Satellite. It had been long enough. I found another shop that would take it, and there it went.






To my delight, they actually worked on it and "got er done".. Not exactly the way I had planned, but close and much better then it was. Now it was time to get her home and get started on my part.


View attachment 200610


Home and ready for me to do all the neat stuff I have planned. But first, the bondo... Ordered some Rage from Summit. Anybody doing some work,this is great stuff. Much better than the stuff I tried from the auto parts store. This is the first time I've spread bondo since I was in high school, two or three years ago, give or take a few decades... but after some trial and error and lots of sanding it's coming along.





When I get bored with one area, I work on another for a while. There is no lack of things to do. And it all has to get done.





While it was at the body shop I took the bumpers and had them de-chromed. I'm going with the body color on them.





Like I said, if I get tired of sanding or I'm waiting on some bondo to dry, I start tinkering with something else. It also came with a new dash pad so I took the dash apart. The old one was messed up pretty bad.


View attachment 200615


I'm going to repaint the dash while everything is out. And right now I'm also evaluating what I want to do with the instrument cluster. Since I'm going with the new hemi setup I'm inclined to go with new gauges. So I either have to modify the stock cluster or replace it with an aftermarket I found available. The differences I see are the radio slot and warning lights. The aftermarket doesn't have either. I'm also inclined to change out the steering column since it is a column shift and I'm going to floor shift. Looking at flaming river units with tilt wheel for that.


View attachment 200620View attachment 200621


This is the gauge cluster I'm considering. Only in black instead of carbon fiber. Radio isn't a huge problem, could build that into a console. I'm going to have to build one anyway. But time wise I could put building one off if I use the stock dash and modify it to take a stereo. It's like taking a canvas and deciding what you want the picture to look like. But this picture has to run also..





That's pretty much up do date. I'm just plugging away. I'll be ordering some more parts early next week. Not sure which ones yet, that's the other trick in all this, prioritizing.

 

[snakeyes]

wow thanks for the updates looks like you got your hand s full and she is coming along very good thanks for sharing :headbang:

 

[Ron 73]

Man you have one nice project going there! That's going to be a beauty....

 

[Plymouth71]

I love the color... I have a B5 blue Satellite. The previous owner was turning it into a roadrunner clone but never finished. Are you interested in parting with the grille bird by any chance?

 

[PappyJoe]

That is an awesome looking car! I'm liking that color for sure, thanks for posting the pick! Yes I am interested in getting rid of the it. I'm not going to use any Roadrunner stuff on it. I've also got a set of the graphics and the horn, and the insert for the steering wheel, and the dash plate. Probably more but I'm not sure what..

 

[Plymouth71]

Thank you. The color is really purdy in the evening as the sun is going down. Maybe we can work something out ! I have family living in San Antonio. I'll PM you my email address.

 

[wedge69]

Great work. Keep putting up pics !

 

[PappyJoe]

It's great when new parts come in. First one for this project in a while..
Not sure this worked from my phone. Headers are here.

 

[MT_Mopar]

Nice project, sounds like your plenty busy. The summer nats will be awesome in your own car, that's a great goal to shoot for.

Keep up the good work and keep those pics coming!

 

[PappyJoe]

Not much going on physically the last couple of days. Other things pulling at time and attention. Ordered some parts this morning. Oil pan, motor mounts, and a couple of boxes of dynamat are on their way. Hope to get some time on it tomorrow.

 

[PappyJoe]

Well, have a case of the s@#t cloud right now. Had some friends coming to visit. Went to mow the lawn ( about 3 acres) and the mower craps out. Take it to the shop and borrow a neighbors. Got the lawn mowed. That evening the A/C on the house crapped out. It's being replaced today. Oh well, some days be that way.. So while I'm hanging out and it's hot anyway, might as well hang out in the garage and get something done. Did some sanding on my first application of primer to see how the body work is going. Spread some more bondo and sanded. And spread some more, and sanded. Pretty sure more is coming off than is going on. Any way it's coming along pretty good.

This is passenger side sail panel. Coming along nicely. I'm really happy with the trunk to sail panel body line. Not bad for a one eyed fat man... I have some work to do one the trunk to rear window panel but overall it's looking good.




And these are of the drivers side. This it it's first time in primer so it hasn't been through the number of fixes the other side has yet.



And I also worked on the front nose panel. It had a couple of bad spots. But it's coming along too.




Now I think it's time to have some fun with something mechanical or electrical. Getting tired of sanding in the 100+ heat. Have a good one!

 

[daredevil]

Great story. Good luck on the redo.

 

[747mopar]

:headbang:Very nice, that car was pretty darn nice to begin with but I love your changes.:headbang:

 

[PappyJoe]

Had to do some dreaded "rework". The passenger sail panel had some scratches in it that were too deep, got a little too aggressive with it. Had to sand them out, re-apply bondo, and rework it. All good now. It's been really hot in Texas the last few days so trying to get stuff done and work through the heat can be a challenge. I pulled the driver side fender and started working the bottom of it. My por 15 came in so that's the next step for it, some rust issues to take care of before I do any bondo. But I did get it sanded down pretty good. Painted a couple of pieces of trim. I'm planning on taking the trim matte black. Looking good so far. I've received the rattle cans of B5 I ordered so when the opportunity presents I'll use it on the dash. The good news from this week is the car was originally B5. I wasn't sure until I got the sample in and compared it too the underside of the trunk. Saves me some trouble. Last thing I got done was a little work on the engine. I need to get it ready to install for test fitting before the engine bay is ready for painting. I installed the motor mount adapter plates. Went ahead and pulled off the rusty old exhaust manifolds while I was there. I plan to test fit it by itself first, then I'll install the trans and see what cutting needs to be done, then I'll install the headers for fitting and clearance issues. Hope to get that done in the next week or two. Really want to get her painted by the end of Sept. Clock is ticking..

Found out the two A/C systems I got with the car are not going to work out for me. One is a stock unit and is way more than I want to take on to install. The other is a vintage air system that has cable controls. Talked to vintage air and as far as I can tell this system was made to work with a 66-67 chevelle stock controls. Not going to work in my application. Hope that between the two I can get enough to help with purchase of a new vintage air.

Received my 2881489 rear diff this week.

Just putting this puzzle together one piece at a time.. Have to say after seeing some of the other projects on here and the level of workmanship I'm feeling more than intimidated. But I just do what I can do and hope this little lady turns out ok..

- - - Updated - - -

Painted a piece of metal to compare color. I was told the car was B5 blue, but I didn't think it was. Looks like B2 to me. For me the darker blue is going to work better, looks like that was the original color anyway.


Got the rusty old stock exhaust manifolds off the engine, nice shiny Doug's headers are here and ready to go on when it's time. One bolt broke off in removal so I'll be doing some easy out pretty soon.


Installed the motor mount adapters. Look good so far.

 

[PappyJoe]

Between working 15 hour days and going to Wichata Kansas last weekend for the Blacktop Nationals I haven't had much time to work on her. But I have put in some research time and ordered some parts. New fender hardware is in. Did manage to get some Por 15 onto the driver side fender and get it ready for body work. Now I just need some time.. Doing my best to stay motivated!

 

[snakeyes]

here you go and its looking very good