Custom Mike

OK, we've got some progress people! The engine compartment is complete, Shaggy set me up with some great pics, and I got my breathers hooked up. I didn't make a breather cap for the driver's side valve cover, I just ran the line, it's too crowded in there already, and I felt lazy anyhow. Then I made up some new side windows and vent windows, getting all of the scratch-made stuff done except for my tailpipes. I also glued the grille in place. so all I've got left is the tailpipes and assembly! Here's the pics, enjoy!

Ken, I know it's the wrong transmission, heck, it's a 340, not a 318. But I didn't worry about it, to me it's a very minor issue, not even worth worrying about. Jay did put duals on his, heck, i put 'em on every car I had back then!

Thanks guys, I just got a reply from my buddy about the location of the lines from the PCV valve and breather, so I should be able to get those parts nailed down tomorrow night (When I'm not on call!). I'm also going to make some new side widows and vent windows, the kit windows are just way too thick for my tastes, so stay tuned!

I'm in the same boat Rodney, I went with an open-element Mr Gasket air cleaner on my old Charger, so I don't recall where they connected either. And pics online of 318's seem to be either very fuzzy, grainy, or still have the air cleaner installed, so they're useless for me. I've got a buddy who's a total Mopar fanatic, but he's been working himself to death, so he hasn't returned my calls yet, as soon as the Shaggy one calls, I can move ahead!

OK, mini-update, this is all I can do for now, gotta let the windows dry for a day or so. I finished off the exhaust system, then got my battery and cables installed. Then I detailed the front bumper and grille, so they're all ready to go. Now if we could ever get someone to tell me where the breather lines connect on a 318, I can finish this baby off!

Congratulations Rob, don't let the cold shoulders faze you, just do your job better than they do, and smile the entire time! It'll eat 'em alive!

Thanks Rodney, I found the set on Detail Master's site, but it's listed as a Model Car Garage item. While I was at it, I had to grab a '68 Dart PE set, got one of those waiting for it's turn on the bench!!

Rodney, I'm not 100% positive that Jay had A/C on his Satellite, but the '71 Duster 340 came with it, and I was just too lazy to modify the fan belt assembly to remove it. So not only does he now have a Sport Satellite according to the tail light panel, he gets A/C to boot! Now if I could only find an under-dash 8-Track player! BTW, has anyone ever seen a Photo-Etched fret from any manufacturer with Satellite scripts on it?

What's stopping you Sean, get to it!

OK, here's the big update...I made a driveshaft and installed the engine! What, you really expected a BIG update? Do you know who's typing this? And you still believed me? Man, I really hooked you with that, didn't I? Sorry, just gotta have my fun once in a while! Now for the pics, I made the driveshaft from aluminum tubing and the kit driveshaft, then installed the engine. The heater hoses from the '71 Duster kit were a breeze, the fit perfectly. The AC line, on the other hand, was a real pain. I had to heat it a few times and bend it in a few places, but I finally got it to sit like I wanted. Then I made some radiator hoses from an old negative battery lead from an Alarm Panel. The last piece will be getting the battery and cables in place, then I can glue the radiator and core support in place.

Thanks guys, I feel the end is near on this one. This update is just trying up some loose ends, then a bigger update will follow! The modified motor mounts painted, and my firewall has been drilled out for the heater hoses AND air conditioner line...I forgot the heater hose holes earlier... My front exhaust pipes, and exhaust manifolds. I added some 24 gauge wire to pin the manifolds to the engine, and some 22 Gauge wire to pin the pipes to the manifolds... The exhaust manifolds painted with some Metalizer Burnt Metal... And installed on the engine! At this point the engine is completed, since the transmission has received it's Metalizer Steel paint, time to drop it in it's permanent home!

Thanks for the information Cliff, I thought it looked like a P.E. part, but wasn't sure. The textured paint really makes it look really good, I've gotta try that!

Now onto the engine. After test fitting the 340/318, I found that it was way too low. Since the Road Runner kit comes with a 440, the engine mounts were going to have to be modified to get the small-block to sit up higher. I grabbed some sprue, shaped it into a rectangle, then cut it into two pieces. I played with the height for a while, finally settling on what you see in the picture. I drilled a hole through the center of each piece, and into the existing motor mounts, stuck a piece of 28 gauge wire into the new mounts and down into the existing mounts to keep it nice and straight, then glued them down. A quick test-fit of the engine shows that it sits where it should now!

Since I needed an air cleaner for this one (And the '71 Duster has the wrong style), I grabbed one from the '71 Charger kit. Here's where I got lucky, the Charger's air cleaner is a dual-snorkel, the one that comes with the Duster has no snorkel, and I needed a single-snorkel (Actually, I need two, one for this build, and one for my upcoming '72 Charger replica). I carefully removed one of the snorkels from the Charger air cleaner, smoothed it back out, and threw the new single-snorkel Charger air cleaner into my '72 Charger box. Then I glued the removed snorkel to the Duster air cleaner, making it a single-snorkel air cleaner. It went on so well, that no sanding was required, so I painted it Semi-Gloss Black, and called it good!

Here we have the thinned and reshaped tail lights glued down, and the decals in place. The GTX logo will have to go, but I've got that covered. When I first received these decals, this piece had black splotches in some of the chrome areas. I dropped Keith a line, and he sent me out a new trunk decal. So now I had the fix for the GTX logo! I just cut a piece of the damaged decal out, and applied it over the GTX logo. I need to cut a tiny piece out and repair the small hole that appeared in the passenger side tail light, so I'll get to that later when I feel like straining my eyes some more!

Here's where I get started on the tail lights and trunk decals. I bought a set of GTX decals from Keith Marks for this build, not 100% accurate for Jay's car, but this was apparently an option on the Satellite, as I found on the reference pics I got for this build. Now onto the issues with the kit tail lights. AMT got the placement of the back-up lights wrong, and the shape of the tail lights is way off. Keith does a ton of research when he makes these decals, so I trust his decals (And the reference pics I got) more than AMT's old kit. So the back-up lights were sanded off, and the tail lights were painted body color, the decal will handle making it look correct. Once they dried, I tried test-fitting them into place on the body, and found they were way too thick, and they didn't fit well at all. I reshaped them slightly, then thinned them down by about 1/3rd, getting them so the fit in place flush with the trunk. Some more paint, and about 6 hours in a dehydrator, and we're good to go! The reference pic showing the trunk trim with the red along the top and bottom... And the picture that matches what Jay had on his car. Removing the red is not going to happen, so Jay just got a new option on his old car! The Keith Marks decal, the original (Incorrect) tail light on the left, and the smoothed-out one on the right... First shot with the smooth tail lights, way too thick right now... And thinned down, these are a much better fit!

Cesar, this is beautiful work, please explain a bit more how you did this. It looks like a cast brass plate, I love it!. And did you polish the widows to remove the distortion? If so, I know what I'm doing on my next build!

Thanks Virgil, she's rolling along nicely now! Yeah Jim, I've looked at literally 50+ different sets of hubcaps, and finally just surrendered and went with these. They do look really sweet on there, don't they? Ron, the tail lights will be coming soon, I had to do some modifications to make them work right. The tail lights and trunk trim will be handled by a decal from Keith Marks (For a GTX, slight modifications will be needed!) So keep your eyes open, it'll be showing up soon! Charlie, I couldn't find anything other than Chrysler Poly Blue to match the pics he gave me. Figuring on the age of the pictures (And fading of the colors in the picture), it was the only match I could find. It was listed as non-metallic, so I ran with the Wally World Royal Blue. Rodney, I'll have the same feeling when I break out my '72 Charger replica build. I might shed a tear over the old girl....

And a couple of shots of the completed body. It came out nicely, but was a pain to do, as is normal when you've got this much chrome trim!

Now onto the wheels and some chrome. I finally gave up on locating the hubcaps that were on this car, and went with the rims in the kit. Here's a shot of two detailed, and the other two waiting their tun. Then I got busy with some Detail Master Krome Foil, starting with the front end of the car...

No problem Wayne, I even went back and looked at the beginning of the thread to see where the picture was of the big block, so you had me confused on my own postings! The car was definitely a 318, bare-bones, plain old Satellite. Jay didn't have any pics of the engine to supply me, but I picked his brain on the engine, and he said the distributor was in the back, he remembers having to change the points on it a few times. So we both agreed it was probably a 318, especially when he said it couldn't spin the tires to save it's life. My 1:1 '72 Charger with a 318 was the same, but I got 273,000 miles out of that old girl!

Once the tape was trimmed to where I felt satisfied with the new top. I masked off the rest of the body and shot the new vinyl top with some Dupli-Color White Primer. Once I got the masking removed, I compared it to the reference pic Jay gave me, and was very happy with the results! It looks like it should, so I'm a very happy camper!

And now it's time to attempt a vinyl top for the first time. I grabbed a roll of 4 inch wide 3M Blue painter's tape, and got to work. I polished the roof with some 2400 grit, then centered the tape on the roof, cut notches in the tape at the front and rear windows, and started carefully burnishing it out from the center to the edges. Once I had it set on the roof like I wanted, I started trimming the tape carefully at the window trim. It came out really well for my first time, but to be honest, I've seen so many guys do it that I just took the method that seemed the easiest and ran with it!

Absolutely right Rodney, even if no one sees it, it's still important to make the little things look good. I'll make you a better builder in the end! Now onto the wheel wells and firewall. I sprayed 'em with the Wally World Royal Blue, then picked out the details with Flat Black, and a bit of Flat White for the ballast resistor on the firewall. A bit of Ambroid Pro-Weld and we're all ready on this end!

Thanks Rodney, the gear selector came out great, but the turn signal stalk is a bit long, and I'm going to try to use a smaller pin next time I do this, it's not supposed to be the same size as the gear selector! And thanks for learning how to edit a quote!