Here’s a video update from the past week, with some more detail on the parts haul and a long review of the tan Scout Brian and I are making an offer on.
Weekend Wandering
Without Darth in the driveway, I’ve been tackling some small things on the Scout that have been bugging me. The biggest of these was the exhaust donut leak, which was not remedied a couple of weeks ago. Looking around the interwebs I found a two-piece flange replacement available locally, and set about to installing it. Getting the original flange off was easy enough, but getting the new one on was trickier. Because it’s heavier and thicker, it sits lower on the exhaust pipe and thus requires a longer bolt. And its location next to the frame meant that there was a lot of wiggling and some hammering involved to get it in the right place before I could tighten it up. But after a brief test ride Saturday and a longer 50-mile drive on Sunday, there’s no leak, and I think I can call this fixed.
While I was under the truck I tightened up the emergency brake cable, which has been loose for months, and checked that off the list.
Sunday I met up with Bennett, Brian and a couple of other folks up at Dan’s place to show our friend Brendan the whole stash in the woods; he’d be the guy most interested in clearing a path and hauling out all the trucks. I prepared better this time, bringing a can of 40% DEET, duct-taping my ankles, and generally insuring that the ticks couldn’t get to me.
We started in the garage and looked over all the stuff in there, and then walked back through the field to the trucks in the woods. The underbrush has grown a lot in two months. Brendan looked over things carefully and then we walked back to the garage, discussing what he’d be interested in and what he wasn’t.
While that was happening, I dug out a trio of good hubcaps from the huge stash in the garage and made a good deal on them. Brian made a deal on a rusty Scout 800 tailgate, which he had to go back into the woods for.
While he and Bennett did that, I cleared off one of the better Scout 800s closer to the house, which was covered in vines, and got a better look at it. I’ve been thinking about a test vehicle for Brian’s electrification project, and that truck looks like an excellent candidate. I think I’ve talked him into taking advantage of the sale. If he had the space I’d recommend grabbing it and the blue 80 to be able to account for all of the changes between early and late production models.
Back home in the garage, I was looking a little closer at the gauge set Tyler handed off to me, and rubbed off some of the dirt to reveal the serial numbers. I was surprised to see the initials SW, which almost certainly stands for Stewart Warner, and started looking up the serials. It turns out they are Stewart-Warner, and they look pretty cool. So, I’ll have to consider if I want to swap those in.
Parts and Waits
No word on the Travelall this week. I was hopeful they might call me sometime Friday to pick it up, but I didn’t hear anything.
Meanwhile, I was out in Frederick shooting video for work, and when I was done with that, I texted my Travelall acquaintance Tyler, who’d told me a while back he had a bunch of parts left over from his project. We were only about five miles away so it was a short drive over to his house. He showed me the updates to his truck, which is now running and driving, and it is beautiful. He put a Crown Vic subframe under the front and a SBC in the engine bay, tubbed the rear wheels, and put the whole thing on bags. He fired it up and it sounds loud and mean. We looked over the other stuff he’s done, including installing an inexpensive headliner kit from Jegs, and traded some information on parts.
His headliner is a five-piece set, which might not work with the bows I’ve got, but I liked the look of it. I also looked carefully at the shoulder belts he put in, with nutserts on the B and C-pillars. I’ve been thinking about how I would add shoulder belts to my truck, and I like the way he put his in. So there’s some inspiration for a winter project there.
When I got back home, I went through the bin and catalogued it. There’s some stuff I was happy to find—things I’ve been looking for, and a couple of things I’d forgotten about:
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- An almost full set of original seatbelts in much better shape than the ones out of both of my trucks. The chrome buckles and metal mounting rings are all in excellent shape, as are the rubber protective covers.
- Two round metal dishes with circles in the center, and threaded O rings. It took me a minute to identify these, but when I did I was thrilled: these are the countersunk rear seatbelt mounting points that are set into the wood floor. One of the seatbelts has a carabiner-style latch which is clearly meant to be removed when the rear seat is folded forward. I’ve been kicking myself for having junked the green truck with these still inside; this is a fantastic stroke of luck.
Also in the bin were
- A late-model coolant overflow setup, which is basically a Scout-style container retrofitted to a metal panel.
- a single rear tailgate pot in good shape
- Four late-model IH hubcaps
- A brake pedal lever assembly
- A dual-chamber brake master cylinder and a clutch master cylinder, which would be an upgrade to my single-pot unit. I’ve got a set from the green truck along with the firewall mounting plate, which will be the firs things I try.
- Two rear seat safety rods and latches; these are the pieces that hold the rear seat in place.
- A rubber body mount that goes between the frame and the front clip, in excellent shape
- Two suspension components from the front steering assembly
- A bag of assorted bolts.
- A full set of gauges in a style I’ve never seen before—I’m pretty positive these are all aftermarket, but they’re pretty cool, and definitely different.
- Another working horn. Out of the four I have, only one works reliably, so I’m hopeful this one is the second of the two tones I need for a proper setup.
I know I can find a good home for a bunch of this stuff; I also sent him photos of my tailgate in the hopes that a guy he knows can use it for another project. So I owe him a trunkful of very good beer, or perhaps some good bourbon if he’s a cocktail sort of guy. We’ll see.
Swiss Grid
I saw this groovy set of pictures in a Marketplace ad and figured I’d share them here. This is a Chilton’s manual from the early 70’s—the range on the cover says 1967-1973, which tracks with the striking colors and judicious usage of Helvetica.
On Hold
Update Monday July 28: the second clutch I ordered is on its way, as per FedEx, and should be here by COB tomorrow evening. The first one is still stuck at the warehouse.
I’m currently waiting on two clutch kits from two different vendors which both happen to be shipping from the same warehouse in Kearny, NJ, where everyone seems to be smoking weed out back.
To recap: the transmission shop called me last Monday while I was in a car driving through Pennsylvania, and I used my phone to jump on RockAuto to find the proper 12″ clutch kit and order it. They promised me I’d have it by that Wednesday, which came and went. The FedEx tracking system said the label had been created but they hadn’t received the package yet—which is how it stands a week later. I got impatient on Saturday and figured I’d nudge the universe by going to a second vendor and ordering the same clutch kit to see who could deliver it first. But the joke was on me: both vendors use the same warehouse (both FedEx tracking updates point to the same location, and when I look at the inventory on RockAuto, it says there’s only one left, down from three last Monday.
It’s been too damn hot to do much of anything outside—we got back on Wednesday and I spent pretty much all weekend hiding out inside, apart from taking the Scout to the local Lowe’s for a sheet of plywood and sanding down a fresh skim of filler on each of the doors to cover the PO’s ham-fisted install of cheap mirrors.
Clutch Update
The transmission shop dropped the clutch this morning and found some very interesting things. At some point in the recent past, a new clutch was put in with new freeze plugs, pilot bearing, and (possibly) a flywheel. But the crank bolts weren’t sealed and apparently backed themselves out, smoking the clutch surface and possibly the flywheel. Jack sent me photos of the inside of the case and all of the parts, and it’s just puzzling. He gave me a disc diameter and a spline count, and I jumped on RockAuto to find the right replacement. Within five minutes I’d ordered it over the phone, to be delivered Wednesday.
I’m so glad I didn’t continue trying to mess with it in the driveway; I never would have sorted this out myself.
Off to the Doctor
I called up a tow company to bring Darth Haul off to my transmission shop this morning. They’ve got an opening and I’ve had enough of this thing sitting in the driveway. Let’s see if they can sort out the drivetrain and get me on the road.
Scout Update
Here’s an update from the last week with some basic repair work to the Scout and a quick trip report from driving over the bridge to Karean’s house last weekend.
Win Some, Lose Some
Saturday morning I farted around a little with Darth; I verified that the clutch slave is working when I press the pedal and that it’s got a full range of motion. So I didn’t bother bleeding it again. I also put a short hose and filter on the end of the gas tank breather line to keep moisture out of the tank, something I should have done months ago. Finally, I ran it up to temperature again and recorded a data log for future tinkering.
With things at a standstill there, I turned to the Scout to-do list. The number one issue there was fixing the re-awakened exhaust leak on the passenger side, which has been plaguing me for several years now. I put the truck up on jacks, pulled the tire off, and poked my head into the wheel well.
At first I was having an issue finding the leak itself until I found a suggestion online which involved taping the hose on a shop-vac with the blower reversed to the tailpipe. This quickly showed the donut around the heat riser valve was bad, which is what I suspected. I pulled the assembly apart and went through my box of spares to find the old riser assembly without the flapper (this valve is designed to stay closed to heat up the engine quicker, then open and allow exhaust gases to pass through to the muffler normally) and several spare insulating donuts.
After using pliers to straighten out the mounting flange, I put the old valve on, then tried a combination of different donuts to see which one would close up the leak the best. This was mostly successful, but the leak came back after a test drive. The issue is that the mounting flange on the downpipe has been bent enough times that it’s not providing a strong enough seal to the donut, and no amount of bending it back will fix the issue. So I have to think on that one.
I also bought a set of rotors for the front brakes. The ones on the truck have been warped for several years and are rubbing during normal driving, which heats up the hubs and bearings. I was all ready to swap them on Saturday afternoon when I realized this process involves removing the hub assembly completely—something I’m not prepared to do. So I’ve got to find someone who can do a brake job on the Scout for me.
Then I loaded it up with tools and drove 70 miles over the bridge to Easton to do some work at Karean’s house. The truck ran flawlessly; other than the rotors heating up the front hubs, she ran cool and calm even through 45 minutes of stop and go bridge traffic. I was completely heat-soaked; even though the sun was down, the residual heat and humidity plus the mobile oven underneath me made that traffic a miserable experience. Luckily I was able to do 40mph over the bridge and that cooled things down quickly.
Sunday Evening Update
I was really hoping I would be able to break the clutch free on my own, but it just didn’t happen.
With the new battery in place, the truck fired right up and when it settled in the Sniper brought the idle down to a reasonable rumble. I let it warm up for seventeen minutes and then shut it down. After setting up some cameras I followed the steps for breaking the clutch free: Put it in low gear, step on the brake, and bump the starter. I did this repeatedly with no success.
Then I figured I’d add more torque to the formula, and hooked a tow strap up between the Scout and the Travelall. Putting the Scout in low gear, I gave it about ten good tugs, enough to pull Darth forward about ten feet, but the rear wheels were still locked tight. I really don’t want to break anything, so at this point I accepted the fact that it needs to go to the transmission shop.
So I moved on to some other projects. Breaking out the sanding gear, I smoothed out the skim coat on the rear valance, prepped it, and shot it with IH rattle-can red. It now looks worlds better than it did when I got the truck.
Then I ran out to the Home Depot and pulled the trigger on a sheet of 3/4″ oak plywood for the rear bed. I’ve been looking and considering multiple different types of lumber for the rear floor: marine-grade plywood, pressure-treated plywood, and composite board used in boats. The first is difficult to find in this area; the second tends to warp over time and is hard to paint, and the third is exorbitantly expensive.
So, I figured I’d go with dependable hardwood. With a couple coats of heavy duty primer, and a good thick shot of undercoat, I think it’ll stand up to the elements pretty well. I need to figure out what I’m going to do with the inside bed. There are two options: I could cover it with rubber matting, the way the factory did it in 1963—I have a link to rubber flooring available on Amazon that someone else used in their truck. The trick there would be knowing what to use for adhesive. The second option is to polyurethane the wood, and add strips down to protect it. This option would make it a little more difficult to sleep on the floor, but might be cheaper in the long run. I cut the plywood to fit and laid it into the truck and was very happy with the results. I’ve been staring at that crappy uneven floor for two years now, and it really cleans up the interior of the truck.
I installed the cardboard glove box insert I got at Nationals. This took a lot more effort than I assumed it would: I had to remove the defrost vent and hose and figure out how to insert it through the glove box opening to get it in place. It actually doesn’t fit as well as I was hoping it would, but it’s better than having an empty hole in the dashboard.
Sunday evening I dug four sets of window cranks/handles/escutcheons from the green truck out of my bins and cleaned them all up. A trip to ACE hardware yielded three springs for behind the escutcheons, and I set up three of the four doors with proper handles.
So I’m at sort of a crossroads. It’s probably going to take a while to get the truck into the bay at the transmission shop. In the meantime, I can continue fooling with the Sniper, but I’ve got a lot of research and learning to do before I can make any major improvements there. And, it really helps when you can drive the truck around to help program the computer. There are a bunch of small jobs that can be done, but I can’t dig into anything huge.