Author: bill

Rearview

The rear view mirror in the Travelall is about as useful as a tax audit. It’s a piece of flat mirror bolted to the roof, aimed back down a steel tube at two windows 15 feet away; there’s basically nothing visible in the tiny amount of reflective space. This is why I sought out and installed west coast mirrors, which will do the heavy lifting of showing me what’s behind the truck.

That being said, I saw an ad for a digital dash cam/rearview mirror on Insta yesterday and bookmarked it for future use: a product called Wolfbox, which includes a forward-facing dash cam and hardwired widescreen rear view camera mounted on a touchscreen that fits over your existing mirror. The more expensive models include stuff like collision protection, parking assistance, and other stuff that would require linking to the car’s computer, but I clearly don’t need that. If I could simply get a rearview dash cam that gave me a better idea of what’s behind me, I’d be very happy.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Rearview  |  Posted in Travelall

Musings

I started keeping a weblog in the middle of 2001, and it became a habit. I was never into it to monetize the site, I was never cool enough to be one of the kool blog kids (most of whom have faded back into obscurity) and I never pursued a network through the site like a lot of other folks did. But I did enjoy the dopamine hit of writing, editing, and posting stuff, no matter how boring or niche it wound up being; I enjoyed the exercise.

I started this Scout blog in 2009 after I bought Peer Pressure. Mostly it’s a record of the things I’ve accomplished, and I use it to remember how or when I did something. Since I’ve been working on Darth it’s also become a record of how I did something for anyone else dumb enough to buy a truck made by an obscure, deceased company. But some days I write on this site and feel good about keeping track of what I’ve done, and some days I wonder why I’m doing it.

My hits on this site have dropped pretty dramatically in the last year or so. It used to be that this site actually got more traffic than my personal weblog, probably because this is such a niche subject. But that’s slowed way down for reasons I don’t understand. I’ve gone for weeks without any feedback and only a handful of hits, which is kind of a bummer. It’s made me question, once again, why I’m doing this, and whether I should continue.

On Tuesday, I got a call out of the blue from a very old Scout acquaintance from back in the days of Chewbacca, with whom I’d bought and sold parts. He’s looking to fix up his Scout to sell it—he’s not driving it anymore—and wondered if I had a stock radio in my stash. We caught up for a little bit and I told him I’d hit the grapevine to see what I could dig up.

Yesterday I got a couple of comments on the YouTube channel from someone with a similar truck, who said he liked the videos. My view counts there average around 300 or so per video, which is less than peanuts, but much like the weblog, I think I enjoy the process of recording, editing and posting enough to keep doing it, even if it’s mostly for myself.

On the Binder Planet, about an hour later, I got a nice comment in my build thread from another guy who has a similar truck, and whose build thread I’ve referred to repeatedly for some of the projects I’ve been working on. That felt good.

And 30 minutes after that, I got two sales on my Threadless storefront for a couple of Scout shirts. I haven’t advertised them on social media lately, but there’s a pitch at the end of each of the videos for them.

So maybe this is the universe telling me to keep doing what I’m doing. Even if I’m not the size of Mr. Beast, I’m still finding satisfaction in what I’m doing, and other people seem to be, too.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   4 Comments on Musings  |  Posted in Inspiration

Superbowl Preview

Sunday was a day of tying up some loose ends from the last couple of weeks in between snowstorms. We’re supposed to be getting a major accumulation this coming week so I wanted to get in under the cover, get some stuff buttoned up, and prep it for the weather.

First off, I drilled holes in the cupholder mount and the seat base and installed it with a couple of 5/16″ bolts. I’ve been waiting to do that for a long time, and it really looks good there—even in etching primer. I’m toying with the idea of taking it to be powder coated in black for some added durability.

I grabbed the bracket for the fuel filler hoses, pulled the fender off, and took some time to install it, the new hose, and a refurbed filler cap ring on the temporary fender. It all fit well, with the hose from the tank being maybe 1″ too short on the long side, but it’s good enough to reach the filler neck. So everything is ready for when the good fender gets sprayed and is ready to install permanently.

Then I used some zip ties and a wire holder to tidy up the fuse panel install from last weekend, moving the jumper wire up behind the heater plenum and directing the bundle from the panel upwards and out of the footwell. That made a big difference behind the pedals.

In the garage I fished out a sheet of 18 ga. steel, traced the pattern I built last weekend for the seat mount out, and cut it down with the angle grinder. When it was roughed out, I trimmed the sides down on the bench grinder and prepped it for the brake. I don’t know when I’ll get back out to Brian’s again but that will be another good project to dive into.

Finally, I wire wheeled the last three headliner bows and cleaned them up for etching primer. All five are now ready for a coat of the interior gray I used on the door cards, which will have to wait until springtime.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Superbowl Preview  |  Posted in Electrical, Travelall

Licensed Electrician

I had a windy, chilly Saturday to myself this weekend, and made the most of it in the time I had. There were several things on the punchlist I wanted to take care of, and I got a fair bit of them done.

First up, I pulled the Scout out and idled it in the driveway. While it warmed up, I pulled the old parts out of the back—the flywheel and clutch will go back to IHPA at some point for the core deposit, but I have to figure out how to get it to them. Just mailing the flywheel will cost more than a new car, so I think I’ll plan to meet them at Nats this year to do an exchange.

While that was warming up, I cleaned up the garage a bit to make things easier to walk around. It’s really getting crowded in there. When that was done, and after the space heater had taken the chill out, I sprayed a bunch of parts with etching primer to get them ready for paint, and looked through my bins for a couple of things to work on in the basement.

Then I lowered the tailgate on the Scout and spread the contents of my electrical box out to start work on the fuse panel. I’d already made a pigtail on the end of some 8 ga. wire for the battery side, and measured and cut down more to install an inline fuse next to the battery. I found a good place on the firewall to mount the fuse panel and snaked wire in through one of the grommets, then soldered connections to each of the leads from the relay. Looking over the electrical diagram for the truck I found that the heater box was on the accessory circuit, so I wired a lead to the back of the fuse panel and connected it to the relay. With the whole thing grounded, I temporarily hooked up a new 12-volt charging plug to one of the circuits in the fuse panel, connected the battery, and turned the key: Success! By this time the sun had gone down and the wind was blowing cold, so I cleaned up my mess and closed up the truck. But: Success! Now I’ve got the ability to add some more accessories to the truck.

Back in the warmth of the garage, I wire-wheeled two of the headliner bows to bare metal and sprayed them with etching primer. Then I pulled the driver’s seat base down from the attic and brought that inside with the original fuel pump from the truck and closed things up outside.

Down on the workbench, I set up a Hobo Freight spot weld cutter and started to disassemble the seat base. It’s more complicated than it looks, but came apart relatively easily (practicing on Darth’s cowl and both quarter panels of the Green truck gave me a lot of practice). The section I need is a triangular support that sticks out toward the rocker which looks like it would be a rectangle but is actually a parallelogram to match the slope of the floor both front to back and side to side. I took measurements of the seat base and started cutting up some cardboard, making a rough template with some painter’s tape. Then I cut a better version and set it up to lay flat so I’ll know how big a sheet of steel I’ll need to cut. This one is going to be a bitch to bend—tougher than the lockbox lids, because it’s a giant C-shape that won’t fold cleanly under Brian’s brake. I’m going to have to get creative with how I do this.

Finally, I soaked the fuel pump in oven cleaner and washed it off in the shop sink. It cleaned up well, but needs a rebuild kit. It’s an old-school Carter 3405 with an integrated filter in a second chamber; originally this would have come with a glass sight bowl, but the one I have is silver. If I have some extra time I’ll see about getting a rebuild kit and replacing it on the engine.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Licensed Electrician  |  Posted in Electrical, Seats, Travelall

Drawing with Plastic

Back in April I had some time to kill during a long freelance project where I was spending a ton of time in Illustrator. Inspired by some vintage car dealer badges I’d seen, I designed one of my own as a flat file in Illustrator, and started looking in to how to build it out as a file that could be read by a 3D printer. While I can’t make complex shapes with this software, I was able to get it 95% of the way there.

The original design

Our local library finally reopened this summer but they haven’t re-started their 3D printing service. The only two branches to offer it are a 20 minute drive away north of the city. It’s now set up as a self-serve option, so you have to get certified to use the printer. I set up an appointment to do this on a day Finn was off from school, and the three of us drove up there this morning.

We sat through the quick tutorial, took a test, and were certified within about 20 minutes. While the librarian showed us the system, she asked if we had anything we wanted to print, and I broke out my file. She used that to set things up and we watched it start printing as we finished our course.

Printing in progress

At first, it looked really stringy and weird like somebody was laying out thin strands of bubblegum on a flat plate, but as it started stacking up layers, the letterforms solidified to the point where when it finished, it was almost as clear as the file I built. Overall, it took about 40 minutes to print and while that was happening, I took care of work related stuff while the girls read. I’m really very pleased with the outcome here. This looks very close to what I had in my head when I designed it and I think there are only a few tweaks I would make to this piece before printing two more out: one for the Scout and one for Darth.

Looks pretty good!
Posted on   |   by bill   |   2 Comments on Drawing with Plastic  |  Posted in Design, Inspiration

Chasing Daylight

The forecast for this weekend was for warmer weather on Sunday, which was great news. I got a very late start though, because we had a lot of family and house stuff to take care of first, which meant I only had a couple hours of daylight to work outside.

before and after

First, I scraped off the blobs of silicone and welded up the driver’s side of the transmission tunnel. This side had been drilled out in three places, probably for some kind of radio mount and the associated wiring, so it took a little more time because I had to cut out three round plugs to weld in place. I used 16ga scrap steel to match the body shell and quickly had the patches tacked in. With patience I welded them all the way in and ground things smooth. With some rattle-can IH red it’ll look like new. I figure if I’m going to be featuring my fancy cupholder in pictures to try and sell a couple, I’d like for the truck to not look completely like shit. I don’t know why I didn’t do this over the summer when I welded the passenger side up.

The second thing was to sand down a second application of epoxy to the spare steering wheel. This was to smooth out some low spots left after the initial application. The whole thing needs a careful finish sand to get it extra smooth before I shoot it with primer, but I’ve got to replenish my sandpaper supply first.

Finally, on the bench in the basement I’ve got all the parts collected for an auxiliary fuse panel: the fuse box, a relay and pigtail, 25 feet of 8 gauge wire with ring terminals, and an inline fuse block. I soldered a ring terminal to the end of the wire with a propane torch, and today I’ll measure it out to install the inline fuse and the rest of the wire, as well as figure out where the fuse block will live.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Chasing Daylight  |  Posted in Electrical, Welding

Home Again

I drove the Scout today for the first time since before Thanksgiving. I originally brought her in to deal with leaking seals on the transmission and transfer case, and while those were out I had them replace the flywheel, which was cooked, and the clutch itself. Then I had to find a new transmission mount, as mine were garbage. All of this took time, as I had to get the parts from various sources, and then they had to work the truck in around other jobs.

It was bitterly cold even though the sun was out, so I was very glad the guys at the shop ran her up for me before I got there. The final bill wasn’t cheap, as I expected, but it was work long overdue and I’m happy to have it done. The feel of the clutch is completely different now. The pedal throw is much further before it bites, which is going to take some getting used to, and the sweet spot is smaller. But it was good to get the girl out on the road and headed for home, with wind whipping through the soft top and the smell of exhaust wafting behind me.

I was able to avoid most of the wet on the roads—it’s too cold to melt, really—and I tucked her into the garage until things warm back up and I can hose any salt off the underside.

 

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Home Again  |  Posted in Repairs

Wheelman

At the beginning of last year, my brother-in-law volunteered to go check out the yard in New York for me, when the guy still had a Travelette parked by his fence. On his way out, he grabbed me a spare steering wheel, which was apparently just laying on a pile of leaves. I picked it up when I was there in the summer (I believe I still owe him $10 for it) and hung it up in the basement.

Not the wheel in question, but in the same shape

I saw a post on one of the FB groups about a method for fixing the cracks these 60-year-old wheels typically collect, and saved the information for future reference. Sometime in November I bought the epoxy they recommended for the first step, and it’s been sitting on the workbench ever since. It snowed again yesterday and the temperature dropped to 20˚, which makes it hard to work outside on anything I really want to accomplish, so yesterday I decided I’d mix the epoxy up and see what kind of results I could get.

After the epoxy was applied

It was hard to work with at first, especially when it’s 10˚ colder in the basement, but once it warmed up in my hands and I added a little warm water, I was able to get it pliable. When I was satisfied it was mixed, I worked it into all of the major cracks and rebuilt a chipped area around the mount for the horn button. Using water, I smoothed out all the sections I’d added epoxy to and let it sit overnight. I was happy to find it had absolutely no smell at all;  other epoxies I’ve used have had a terrible chemical stink, but this had none. It was marketed as black in color but mixed out to a dark gray, and I found that it dried almost the exact color of the existing steering wheel.

The final result. Not too shabby!

This afternoon I got my box of sanding supplies out and started working on all of the sections. I added more of the material than I needed, and in hindsight I probably could have laid it even thinner. Starting at about 1:30 I finished fine-sanding it at 3:30, going from 120 grit to 600 and then 000 steel wool. I think it needs one more run with fine-grit paper and then it’ll be ready for primer. Apparently the stuff I need is expensive (go figure) because it’s got to be able to hold up to baking summer heat, so I’ll probably wait and repair the other wheel first to spray them both out at the same time.

Pricing out the products above, it’s going to be about $75 for all three cans. But I figure the price will be worth it for a wheel that doesn’t cut my hands when I hold it. The big issue will be finding the right color to match the wheel.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Wheelman  |  Posted in Repairs

More Light

This may sound like a simple thing, but simple things are giving me joy in a dark time right now: I’ve got working brake lights. After spending the time and money to source a new wiring harness, pull out the dashboard, swap in the wiring, and replace everything, I was much closer to a street-legal truck:

  • All four running lights work.
  • The headlights work.
  • The turn signals work, after some grounding issues.
  • The dash lights all work.
  • The heater works.
  • The license plate light works.
  • The truck starts from the key.

But that wasn’t everything, and there was one major roadblock:

  • The brake lights didn’t work.
  • The high-beams cut off the running lights; this isn’t a dealbreaker.
  • There is wiring for a dome light, but it’s constant power right now—there’s no way to turn it off.
Brake test

Doing a little research, I realized I’d swapped the old brake light switch from the original brake master onto the new one, and most likely it was broken or clogged. I found a new one on Amazon (after some dedicated research) and swapped it in this afternoon. In two  minutes, I had working brake lights.

So next up, I’m going to sort out the dome light situation, and wire three in parallel—two over the seats, and one for the rear cargo area. And as I mentioned before, I’ve got a plan for an additional fuse panel with switched power for more accessories.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on More Light  |  Posted in Electrical, Travelall