Freshening up Dad's Satellite

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dartfever

dartfever

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Location
Belmont, Ontario, Canada
I inherited my Dad's 1967 Satellite in 2006 with his untimely death at age 58. We had bought it for him for his 50th birthday in 1998. Was told it only had 33000 miles on it when purchased. Most everything I have looked at seems to support this. The body was redone in the mid 80's. We believe the engine was suppose to be redone at that time, but was instead hastily thrown back together for sale in 1996. This resulted in a few broken piston rings and an engine that didn't idle very well at all. The engine was rebuilt shortly after we purchased it with a .020 overbore and a regrind cam with 214/214@.050" and .443" lift. Stayed with the BBD, much to my dismay. It is a great cruising car other than always running rich, regardless of what I tried.

It served me very well while I worked at getting my dart finished. It's now time it received some love. Had a few bad valves seal arise in the last few years, so I removed the heads for new valves, seals, and some quick exhaust port work to help it out a bit. Purchased a dual 4bbl intake off of rumblefish to rid myself of the BBD. Also had some custom shorty headers built to help the poor exhaust ports on these heads. The engine will be dynoed in the next month or so to get everything tuned up properly.

To help out acceleration and gain a little lower cruising rpm, I acquired an A999 trans out of a 87 diplomat cop car. The car has a 2.93 rear gear, so seems like the best trade off without some floor surgery for an O/D trans.

Ultimate goal is to make this a great cruiser with a little more punch under the hood.
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I'll get a few interior pics up tonight.
 
Only once. The manifold bolts were a thread too long and created a vacuum leak. Obviously ran really lean, which made it an absolute dog! That has been fixed, but having an issue with the back carb now. So it's getting a rebuild and then off to the dyno to get everything tuned properly.
 
All I can say is that you are a lucky dog!! Not only do you have a very nice car but you have a nice car that belonged to your Dad.:steering:
 
Should you desire, that poly will take most any LA stroker kit! There’s a guy on one of the poly forums - Gary Pavlovich I think that’s his name - that’s THE Poly Guru.
 
I have considered that. I do have a spare poly block if I chose to go that route. I think I will be happy with this for the time being. And Gary definitely knows his poly's!
 
Forgot to add the interior pics. Original interior, although I had new seat foam put in the front seats last year. Sitting on springs is not comfortable! I believe the carpet has been replaced once, and it needs it again. That will happen later this year or next. Could use new window rubber, but otherwise it's in great shape.
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Made some progress. Engine and transmission are out. Engine is off to the dyno this weekend for some tuning and testing. Engine bay is going to take some serious cleaning. Any tips in that regard are welcome! Transmission in the background will be off for a rebuild shortly. Shocks and new sway bar bushings to go in and then hopefully back together once the weather warms up a bit.
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Why the need to change a thing? It was great as it was.
 
dartfever said:
Made some progress. Engine and transmission are out. Engine is off to the dyno this weekend for some tuning and testing. Engine bay is going to take some serious cleaning. Any tips in that regard are welcome! Transmission in the background will be off for a rebuild shortly. Shocks and new sway bar bushings to go in and then hopefully back together once the weather warms up a bit.
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Did you happen to notice the date code on the engine? Only reason I mention is because this is a one of none 67 belvedere. All 67s absolutely had an LA 318. Whomever "hastily" assembled the car must have placed a poly in place of the LA. I have a 67 belvedere as well, and it had an LA. Not a big deal and quite impressive what you have done to it.
Have you ever thought of changing it back to an LA 318?
 
Rainy Day Auto said:
Did you happen to notice the date code on the engine? Only reason I mention is because this is a one of none 67 belvedere. All 67s absolutely had an LA 318. Whomever "hastily" assembled the car must have placed a poly in place of the LA. I have a 67 belvedere as well, and it had an LA. Not a big deal and quite impressive what you have done to it.
Have you ever thought of changing it back to an LA 318?
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I also thought 66 was last year for the poly in the satellite.
 
Rainy Day Auto said:
Did you happen to notice the date code on the engine? Only reason I mention is because this is a one of none 67 belvedere. All 67s absolutely had an LA 318. Whomever "hastily" assembled the car must have placed a poly in place of the LA. I have a 67 belvedere as well, and it had an LA. Not a big deal and quite impressive what you have done to it.
Have you ever thought of changing it back to an LA 318?
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Canadian 67 cars still got the poly 318. We didn't get the LA 318 until 68 up here.

RustyRatRod said:
Why the need to change a thing? It was great as it was.
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I developed a deep hatred for the BBD. If I had known that Holley was going to come out with the BBD FI setup, I might have went that route. As for the trans swap, the tranny needed a refresh anyways and had to come out. I like the lower first of the A999 and have one basically free sitting there. That and I have tinkering in my blood! Can't leave well enough alone!
 
I think the poly 318 gets a bit of a bad rap. I had one in a '64 Dodge I had.. 18 yr. old me beat the living piss out of that engine, never missed a beat.
 
I love the poly. The carb was the only issue I had. Between my father and myself, we have put 10000 miles on it. The valve seal issue was more than likely from sitting so much.
 
Well , some underwhelming #s from the dyno, but somewhat expected. This is a bit of a mismatch between induction and cam in my opinion. Ended up at 256 hp @5300 and 304 tq @4100. Nice flat tq curve though, so should work well for it's intended purpose. Definitely more show than go though!
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So I have put a lot of hours on the engine bay. Still not there, but getting better. Has become a bit of snowball, but all necessary items that needed replacing. Almost the whole braking system is being replaced, shocks, anti sway bar links and fuel line. Have the transmission back in house. Just waiting for the last few parts to show up and it will start to go back together relatively quickly.
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Well, 2020 happened. I had taken the oil pan off to replace the gasket on the poly. When I was cleaning the pan, I noticed some greyish looking material coming up on the rag. Upon closer inspection, a lobe on the cam was on it's way out. Caught it very early, and very happy I didn't find out once the engine was back in the car! So I have a new SFT going in now.
Do have the engine bay cleaned up now. Still need to go over the wiring, and tighten everything up, but otherwise good to go.
Since I have the winter to work on the car now, I decided to replace the carpet and take a look at the shape of the floors. The previous owner had done a interesting repair consisting of rivets, spot welds and bondo. So a new driver side floor pan is on its way. Also needs a small patch over the passenger side torsion bar crossmember, but otherwise in very good shape.
Engine will be going back to the dyno to break in the new cam and some tuning early in the new year. Hopefully have it back on the road in the Spring.
satellite engine bay after 2.jpg
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