Saturday I drove over to Brian’s house to join a bunch of guys helping him transplant a refreshed 345 into his Wagonmaster. The morning was gray, and I tried every rationalization I could to drive Peer Pressure over with my Hydroboost parts to see if I could have some of the experts help me install it. As I was loading up, rain started to fall and the radar showed a huge front moving in, so I switched to the Honda and begrudgingly drove over.
Almost everybody else had the same strategy I did, because there were only two other Internationals there out of twelve guys.
I stood around and soaked in as much of the knowledge as I could, offering help, a flashlight, or spare hand wherever I could. I’m not experienced enough by years to attempt a transplant myself, but seeing these guys do it so quickly is an inspiration.
By noon the engine was mated to the transmission and in the truck, and as I left at 3:30 the carb, AC, distributor, starter, and alternator were all installed.
Via a Facebook post later in the day, they got it running at about 6:30 that evening. Not bad!
Mike says:
That’s super cool Bill – love the tail light photo too. I think you sell yourself short though, I’m sure you could bolt one together. Getting it running is one thing, running in tune is something entirely different. I bolted mine together, no big deal, but after one spin around the cup de sac, I had it towed to a friend who tuned it. Thats way out of my league. Still, just bolting it together is fun.
I had a friend whose father had a wagon master and he said if they weren’t careful with the weight distribution the front end would end up pointing to the sun. Sounds a little apocryphal – i don’t know. Maybe ask your friend if he’s popped a wheelie?
Bill says:
Mike–
That’s funny! Unfortunately, I don’t think he’s had it on the road long enough to find out yet; the 345 he pulled crapped out on him something like eight times before he did a compression test and found three cylinders were completely dead.
Mike says:
Please tell me that was before the install last week? That looked like a 345 that had been rebuilt/freshened etc.
Is he back to square one?
Bill says:
No, he’s good. The one we put in is a low-mileage Scout engine he got from a reputable dealer in Pennsylvania. Sorry, my last comment was a little vague. The engine that came with the truck was bad, and I don’t think he’s had it on the road long enough to really enjoy it yet.