727 Auto Trans

As purchased the Satellite came with the original steel wheels and hubcaps. This was a little bland so I trip to the Big Three Parts Swap at Jack Murphy Staduim was made. There I purchased one pair of Magnum 500 wheels for $20 and another pair at the other end of the parking lot for $30. A set of trim rings for $10 made a complete set for $60. The wheels needed a little TLC, but considering that complete sets needing just as much work were going for an asking price of $250 on up, I felt I was getting a good deal. The wheels were sanded, polished, and painted using elbow grease, whatever I could find laying around the garage and a can of matte finish spray paint. UPDATE: Found a pair of 15 x 7 "cop wheels" at the junkyard for $15. I'll be sandblasting them and painting them refrigerator white to match the body for the nostalgia Super Stock look. I'll use them to mount a pair of slicks on for when the 440's dropped in. (UPDATE: 1/25/2000) Due to a worn-out front suspension, the front tires got a little chewed up and started showing cord. Scary. So I decided to press the cop wheels into service by mounting a pair of BF Goodrich Radial T/As in the 255/60-15 size on them and mounting them on the rear and switching the rear 14" wheels and tires to the front until I have the time and money to have the front-end rebuilt at which time I will find of pair of 15 x 7 cop wheels and decent radials for that end as well.

MECHANICAL

Mechanical repairs have been minimal in spite of an almost criminal amount of neglect and abuse on my part. This included a daily commute of 70 miles round trip at 80 mph for awhile and my being too busy due to grad school to do much maintenance. The first things I did to the beast were to install new plugs and wires. That was about the extent of the mechanical work it needed for about the first year of ownership. Recently the Satellite developed a nasty habit of flooding after it warmed up at which time it would die and then refuse to start, killing the battery. Things are sailing smooth again after a carb rebuild and new battery. Gotta love those 318s. The tranny was slipping so I finally got around to adding a couple of pints of Dextron III to the Torqueflite and now things are back to normal in that camp as well. It has recently developed a horrendous vibration between 40 and 70 mph. I had the front suspension looked at and it checked out fine (which really surprised me). The tires were balanced and the front wheel bearings adjusted. Still weird vibrations. Next, the U-joints were replaced and the transmission crossmember (which was found to be cracked) were replaced as well. It's now much smoother but I'll probably have to have the driveshaft rebalanced as well. (6/21/99) I just finished a brake job consisting of a new master cyliner, new wheel cylinders, and new shoes for all four corners. The manual drums actually stop the car pretty decent. I also recently removed the non-working AC compressor. I don't plan on reinstalling it. The rear driver's side wheel studs are left-hand thread, so I'll want to replace those. My radiator has a slow leak. I would also like to upgrade to 440 power as soon as time and money allow - .484 MP cam, 750 Holley, headers, etc... (I've got a 1971 440 block, steel crank, and rods and a set of 452 heads for the build up). I'll have to beef up the running gear and drivetrain - Sure-Grip with 3.55 or 3.91 gears, Super-Stock springs with pinion snubber, frame connectors, new upper ball-joints and control arm bushings, new shocks, and skinny American Racing Torque Thrusts in the front with 15 x 7 cop wheels painted body color in the back for the ultimate in retro cool. I'll attempt to build a street car capable of 12 to 13 second quarter-mile times and daily drivability (a tall order, I know, but that's the goal) but for now the 318 makes for an indestructible daily driver.CLICK HERE FOR SPECS AND STATS.

INTERIOR

The headliner was replaced to the tune of $175. Forget about finding original colors to match your old headliner from Year One or Legendary, no matter what their ads say. Because the original copper color was no longer available, I went with basic black and it looks pretty decent, contrasting with the copper interior nicely. At a local junkyard I was able to score new (old) kick panels, and armrests for less than 20 bucks. I took the plunge and ordered up a new set of front and rear seat covers from Lengendary and seat foam from the Paddock(3/2/98). Even though I ordered the foam from the Paddock, it ended up coming from Legendary. So I guess I should have just ordered it from Legendary and cut out the middleman. At first I was just going to order the front seat covers but decided anything worth doing is worth doing right. They will be ready in eight weeks (any color other than black needs to be made to order). My wallet has been lightened considerably. Next will be a new carpet kit, dashpad, and door panels. Ouch! Thank you, sir, may I have another? It's still cheaper than making new car payments every month.

EXTERIOR - RUST REPAIR - THE RESTORATION BEGINS

Living in mild climes all of its life, this Mopar has escaped the ravages of severe rot which have felled many a great one. The Satellite's floor pan and subframes are as solid as the day it rolled of of the assembly line, and the body is rust-free from the doors forward. At the purchase time the Satellite's worst rust was in the area of the driver's side rear wheel lip. The rust here had eaten its way through and about two inches up the quarter panel from the chrome trim around the wheel opening. Another problem area was the trunk. This revealed itself fully only after I had cleaned up all of the rug scraps, old brake drums, valve covers, and jacks that were living there. The rust here was luckily only of the surface variety, so again my old friends sandpaper, grinding wheel, rust inhibotor, primer and spray paint were enough to get things back under control. (UPDATE: Some of the rust came back so I was forced to get serious and buy some POR-15. Amazing stuff. This should be the last time I have to get out the wire wheel.) The wheel well was a little trickier. For this I enlisted a neighbor's dremel tool to grind away every last vestige of rust before filling with my old friend Bondo. More sanding, primering, sanding some more, and priming some more and then spray painting with some touch up paint had things are looking pretty decent from 10 feet away if you squint. Of course, the rust came back and started to crack the bondo. I am also in the process of stripping a previous owner's hack black spray paint job from the engine bay. The exterior needs to have the front and rear bumpers straightened and rechromed, a couple of dings taken out, and paint (refrigerator white to keep things simple). Most of the car's weatherstripping needs replacing. I'm still searching for some reasonably priced tail light lenses. The driver's door won't shut nice and flush so I'll need some new hinges. (6/21/99) I enrolled in a free bodyworking class through my local school district. The teacher doesn't favor the use of much filler and emphasizes metalworking by teaching us mig-welding and hammer and dolly techniques. Looks like I'll be cutting out the rust around the wheelwells and lower quarters and welding in patch panels. I'm also going to try to get the Satellite on the class frame straightener to make sure everything is OK. (9/9/99) Last night in class I started grinding on some of the small rust bubbles on the lower corners of the rear window area. Someone walked by and suggested I remove the rear window trim. OK, so now it's 4 hours later and I've taken the back window out so that I am able to see the extent of the rust damage. The window is now held in place temporarily by some duct tape. I'll have to remember not to drive too fast with the windows down! (1/25/2000) I've now been working on the rust in the rear window area for about 4 months straight and am almost finished. I've had to cut out sections of rusted-out metal and replace them with pieces that I have fabricated from scratch and welded in. I have also learned how to use lead as a filler in this area. I need to do some final finishing work and then I'll repaint the inside of the rear window area and the rear deck in body color before installing a new seal and reinstalling the window. Oh, yeah - I've been POR-15ing everything in sight in this area as well so that I don't have to worry about the rust ever returning. This has taken me about 100 hours of labor so far ( a lot of the time has been taken up by learning how to weld and lead). My instructor estimated that a bodyshop (if I could even find one that would agree to do the work to the level I have been doing it) would charge me $1200-$1500 for the same repair. (8/24/2000) I have welded on new patch panels on the driver's side quarter panel. Repairing the rusted out lower quarter and wheel well opening required two seperate patch panels from Year One. As a result it looks a little like Frankenstein's monster and will need some lead filler work. I've just started cutting the rust out of the passenger side quarter panel.

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