nuteguy
Well-Known Member
Four days from today last year I got my 1972 Satellite and another four days from that I joined this site. Even though I posted in the Welcome Wagon I don't feel like I ever properly introduced myself or explained all the work I've done in the past year. So here goes. I'll try to include as many pictures as possible and hopefully I'll be able to remember everything I've done!
So, I'm 17, turning 18 this month. At some point in time, probably March 2015 I saw a 71 or 72 Roadrunner and fell in love. I didn't know what it was and had never seen one before. I was never a Mopar guy, my family was never into cars, I just always liked to look at them. A little over a year ago I found my dream car on Craigslist. This is the first picture I saw of it.
Reading the description I found out it had a 440 in it (more on that later). I didn't really know what that meant at the time but I knew I wanted it. So I dove in head first. A few weeks after that I saw the car in person for the first time and got to hear it start up. That was the definitive moment for me. I couldn't stop smiling. I could feel it in my chest. There was nothing like that I had ever experienced before.
First sight (also the before engine bay pic):
Then on May 20th, this happened and she was mine.
The first problem was a dead battery when trying to unload the car. My naive self and a quick switcharoo on the part of the seller led to that happening. The other problem was between first sight and purchasing, the seller ran the car out of gas so the carb sucked up a bunch of crud.
Regardless, I was happier than ever. The car is an original 318, a/c car but someone swapped in what I believe to be a motor home 440 into it. Here is the fender tag decode.
Enter my friend Devin to the story. I used to play hockey with the kid when I was younger and then we separated for a long time. Unbeknownst to me at the time, his dad drag raced a Demon and has been a mopar guy since he was my age. Needless to say, Devin and his dad have been a great resource and help to me throughout the project with parts and knowledge. They have quite a collection of mopars.
He suggested an Eddy carb to replace the clogged Holley on the car so I went for it. That, along with some serious electrical trouble shooting for lights were first.
This is a pic after the preliminary stuff was sorted:
All this time I didn't have my license so when I finally got it, I went out for a day of cruising...
I broke an axle. (I'd prefer not to talk about it haha)
That was taken care of by some shops while I was away for the summer. Enter some cruising time when I got back.
The blue Duster is Devin's car (restored from ground up by him).
Up next was an axle bearing and drum brakes for the first time. Pulled the axle myself after learning online how to do it. Pretty interesting. Differential fluid stinks.....
Keep in mind, before doing any of the stuff I'm talking about here I had no prior experience. This whole thing has been a learning experience for me as guided by a few close friends.
I started doing some cosmetics to bring the car to look how I want it to. No, I'm not planning on doing a Roadrunner clone, but rather, keeping the car a Satellite created to my taste.
Hood pins and the marker light I was missing:
Here's a picture from when it started to get colder. The heater didn't and still doesn't work. However, I have always felt some heat through the vents as it comes off the engine.
I drove to school with the windows down with rare exception. I embraced the cold.
This next pic was a fun day. None of my factory gauges work. This was an attempt to get some stuff working. No real luck.
It seems as though I've reached my limit for pictures in this post. I'll continue with the rest in a reply to this.
So, I'm 17, turning 18 this month. At some point in time, probably March 2015 I saw a 71 or 72 Roadrunner and fell in love. I didn't know what it was and had never seen one before. I was never a Mopar guy, my family was never into cars, I just always liked to look at them. A little over a year ago I found my dream car on Craigslist. This is the first picture I saw of it.
Reading the description I found out it had a 440 in it (more on that later). I didn't really know what that meant at the time but I knew I wanted it. So I dove in head first. A few weeks after that I saw the car in person for the first time and got to hear it start up. That was the definitive moment for me. I couldn't stop smiling. I could feel it in my chest. There was nothing like that I had ever experienced before.
First sight (also the before engine bay pic):
Then on May 20th, this happened and she was mine.
The first problem was a dead battery when trying to unload the car. My naive self and a quick switcharoo on the part of the seller led to that happening. The other problem was between first sight and purchasing, the seller ran the car out of gas so the carb sucked up a bunch of crud.
Regardless, I was happier than ever. The car is an original 318, a/c car but someone swapped in what I believe to be a motor home 440 into it. Here is the fender tag decode.
Enter my friend Devin to the story. I used to play hockey with the kid when I was younger and then we separated for a long time. Unbeknownst to me at the time, his dad drag raced a Demon and has been a mopar guy since he was my age. Needless to say, Devin and his dad have been a great resource and help to me throughout the project with parts and knowledge. They have quite a collection of mopars.
He suggested an Eddy carb to replace the clogged Holley on the car so I went for it. That, along with some serious electrical trouble shooting for lights were first.
This is a pic after the preliminary stuff was sorted:
All this time I didn't have my license so when I finally got it, I went out for a day of cruising...
I broke an axle. (I'd prefer not to talk about it haha)
That was taken care of by some shops while I was away for the summer. Enter some cruising time when I got back.
The blue Duster is Devin's car (restored from ground up by him).
Up next was an axle bearing and drum brakes for the first time. Pulled the axle myself after learning online how to do it. Pretty interesting. Differential fluid stinks.....
Keep in mind, before doing any of the stuff I'm talking about here I had no prior experience. This whole thing has been a learning experience for me as guided by a few close friends.
I started doing some cosmetics to bring the car to look how I want it to. No, I'm not planning on doing a Roadrunner clone, but rather, keeping the car a Satellite created to my taste.
Hood pins and the marker light I was missing:
Here's a picture from when it started to get colder. The heater didn't and still doesn't work. However, I have always felt some heat through the vents as it comes off the engine.
I drove to school with the windows down with rare exception. I embraced the cold.
This next pic was a fun day. None of my factory gauges work. This was an attempt to get some stuff working. No real luck.
It seems as though I've reached my limit for pictures in this post. I'll continue with the rest in a reply to this.
