I didn’t get much done on anything over the weekend, but I did get about a half an hour to take care of two things I was looking forward to: installing my new hood strut and re-attaching the rearview mirror to the windshield.
The strut took a little bit of understanding to complete, as the directions were basic text and included only two pictures, but I was able to understand the basic concept and get things aligned pretty quickly. The original spring-loaded pin gets removed. The new bracket goes in over the existing fender bolts. Then there’s a two-bolt bracket that installs in the original pin rail on the hood, and a plastic standoff that attaches to the top of the gas piston. Once I’d sorted that out I adjusted the length of the piston and then tightened everything down. It’s a world of difference and it means I can close the hood from the driver’s side instead of walking around each time.
The rearview mirror went in quickly, and this time I glued the clip on right-side up (last time I did it upside-down). Hopefully the Permatex kit will hold better than the 3M kit did.
Finally, I took a look at the heater valve in the engine bay while I had the hood open. It’s been stuck open forever, which means even when the fan is off it’s blowing hot engine air into the passenger compartment. I was going to soak it with PBBlaster again in the hopes that I could get it to move, but first I tried closing it with my hand—and it moved! Interestingly, the slide control on the dash is impossible to move, so I guess there’s something frozen or stuck closer to the dashboard. Either way, it’s closed for now.
Neal in Boston says:
Saw this on a Facebook group and I thought of you and your rearview mirror. Cut and pasted to share if it is any help. There were good comments there too on the topic. Do you follow any online groups?
“Since this is a forum for parts and advice, I have some advice to pass on. Don’t thank me, I first saw it on a review on Amazon! I don’t know how many others have the issues I had, but I could not get the inside rear view mirror button to stay on the windshield of my Scout II. I’m not a rookie, I’ve done tens of button reattachments over my lifetime, but this damn Scout gave me fits. I bought the ‘professional grade’ stuff, I bought a brand new button and the professional grade stuff, nothing would last more than a day or two and I’d find the mirror on the floor. Reading through reviews of yet another mirror adhesive on Amazon, I stopped at one review that basically said ‘forget this crap. Use Permatex Ultra Gray RTV and your mirror will never fall off’. Since I always have at least one tube of Ultra Gray laying around, I decided to try it….we are on week 3 of the button being stuck to the windshield and it’s still there, bettering any other chemical, method, or advice by far. If you have a contrary rear view mirror button, give it a try. I cleaned both the button and mirror with brake cleaner, and away we went. One dab of Ultra Gray on the button, a piece of masking tape to hold it in place, 24 hours later a rock solid mirror mount.”
Good luck.
bill says:
Hey Neal, thanks for the heads-up!
I’m not on Facebook anymore (my account is there but I stay away from it if at all possible). I’m also a bit wary of the advice offered there—one of the tech talks at Nationals featured a 5-minute warning about following any advice given there, because usually it’s offered by a guy who “knew a guy who had an uncle who had a Scout” or “this trick used to work on my Chevy”.
The best place I’ve seen by far is the Binder Planet, as it’s full of IH-specific enthusiasts who aren’t afraid to call BS on sketchy advice. Usually the chuckleheads get weeded out pretty quick.