I think I may bite the bullet and order one of these mirrors from SSS to replace the lousy plastic junk that’s hung on my door. I like the look of these, and I’d rather have metal screwed to something sturdy than the wobbly crap I have now.
Category: Purchasing
Close, But No Cigar.
Mr. Scout and I took some time last Friday to pull the radiator out of Peer Pressure and flush it, then reinstalled it and tightened up all the fittings. It ran very well for 20 minutes without leaking, although the battery was dead, so I swapped the battery in from the Jeep and took it for a spin around the block. Everything looked great for the next twenty minutes, at idle and under load, and so I brought it back and put it in the garage, thinking the problem was finally solved.
This evening, I found a damp puddle under the water pump, where there’s a visible leak coming from the bottom under the flywheel. So we’re back to square one with the stupid coolant system again. I’m going to have to buy a new water pump and gasket and swap the old one out and see if that solves the problem.
In happier news, I drilled three holes for the Tuffy console Friday afternoon, but each of the three hex bolts they shipped with it are the wrong size. The replacements I bought at the Lowe’s last weekend are all too long to work correctly, so I have to go back out and find shorter sizes in stainless steel.
Road Tires.
Peer Pressure came with a set of 32×11.5R15 BF Goodrich Mud Terrains, and they are very, very nice tires. However, they’re also noisy as hell and I’d like to have something better suited for everyday driving mounted in their place, so I thought I’d do some preliminary pricing. The first step was to convert the US size to metric, and I found this calculator which translates to 292/74R15, something I haven’t been able to find in mixed-use tires—rounding up to 295/75R15.
| Yokohama Geolander A/TS | 32×11.5R15 | $126 ea. | This is probably the friendliest tread pattern of the three, and the cheapest. | Dunlop Mud Rover | 32×11.5R15 | $153 ea. | This is still a pretty aggressive looking tread pattern. |
| BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/A KO | 32×11.5R15 | $155 ea. | This looks to be a less aggressive, more road-friendly tread pattern. |
FYI, the Mud Terrains I’ve got on now list for about $179 each.
Electronic Ignition.
Add this to the list of future plans: adding electronic ignition. I like the idea that it’s a simple install and that you can go back to points if the module fails.
Heat Reflective Matting.
I stumbled upon some good advice while perusing the Binder Planet this afternoon: an inexpensive alternative to Dynamat, called Peel & Seal. The commenter claims it’s only about $20 at the Home Depot. I’ll have to pick some of this up next time I’m there.
Update 2.20.10: Struck out at Lowe’s. Doing some reading on the product, I don’t know if I’d want to use this stuff after all. I’m also not sure if the idea is to put this stuff on the inside of the cab or out.
Plans for Wrenching.
I got a couple of small packages in the mail this week, one of which contains an OEM Robertshaw 180° thermostat and gasket. Along with some other small chores, my aim is to get it installed on Saturday and try to get the fan shroud mounted in order to run up the engine and test out the cooling system. The thermostat should be a quick job, but the fan shroud is still problematic for a guy who doesn’t have access to a metal shop. I’m going to have to buy some materials at the Home Depot and hope I can make them work.
My local friend Karl is selling his Scout in preparation for a move north into Pennsylvania, so I’m also stopping over to pick through his stash and see if there’s anything I’m interested in besides two clean seat bases—which will replace the ones I currently have installed. The plan is to clean these up, mount the old seats from Chewbacca, and replace the strange aftermarket seats it came with.
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Incoming Parts.
I ordered a new 180° thermostat and 7 lb. radiator cap from Super Scout Specialists this afternoon, in the hopes that I can get a day over 40° to install it. Then the fan shroud, and then we cross our fingers to see if she stays cool.
Holley 2300 Installation
This is only peripherally related to my engine (I have a different carb setup) but the writeup is good so far: This gentleman is swapping a Holley 2100 for a new 2300 350CFM unit, which is the one I’d like to eventually have on my Scout.
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Random Links.
I haven’t done much in the way of working or playing with the Scout, but I’ve been keeping my eyes open for future plans. Here are some links I’ve collected for possible future purchasing:
Heat Shield Mat – this will come in handy for next summer when there’s a ton of heat coming off the engine.
Door jamb switch – a possible replacement for the ones I’ve got.
Weekend Report, 7-11
Not a whole lot of time to play with the Scout this weekend, but I did a few things worth noting:
I picked up eight Autolite 303 plugs at the local NAPA. I wasn’t positive my distributor took female ended wires, so I held off on them (it does) as well as buying oil and a filter. I think I’ll wait until next week for that purchase. (I spent about $100 on wires and plugs for the other two cars, so I’m trying to stay on budget here). I have to preorder the wires, but that’s no big deal. I’ll preorder the oil filter while I’m at it. In the bad news department, the cap to the distributor is loose and comes off easily with a tug. That can’t be good.
Update: My friend Alan tells me Autolite 303s are no good and that I need 85’s, which is what the good BinderPlanet told me in the first place. Lesson learned: never believe the NAPA computer.
I then tore the dashboard down to swap out the fuel gauge out with another unit in order to see if it’s the gauge or the sender. It’s the sender. While I was in there, I looked at swapping out the nasty dash cover with a cleaner one—I have four spares in various conditions. It turns out I’ll have to cut one of the spares in order to fit a standard-size radio, or simply pull the radio out altogether and wait for a Tuffy console at a later date. There are no speakers in the rig right now, so I’m leaning towards pulling the radio, which would be one less thing to worry about when parking in public.
I also tried swapping the glovebox door with a spare I’ve got which has a better latch, but again, I was foiled. I couldn’t get the better latch to come apart, and subsequently off the door. So I pulled the original door and put the spare on: no dice. The catchplate on the inside of the glovebox doesn’t like the latch, and the sheetmetal is too small for the larger catchplate. Rats!
Finally, I returned to Wheaton to pick up the rest of the parts I’d left behind on my first trip, and in the interim, the seller had chopped the rest of the cancerous body from the frame and hauled it off for scrap.
However, he was kind enough to do a lot of saving for me, and thoughtful enough to set aside a bunch of items he thought I might like:
- The radiator (which I had to leave behind last time)
- The dash pad (which I forgot last time) – it’s in excellent shape save two small tears on the passenger side.
- Both door window regulators
- Complete sets of door glass-butterfly and main, with tracks
- Both door latch mechanisms
- Both door lock mechanisms
- Two doorhandles in very good shape (no pitting on the chrome)
- Passenger knee vent
- The entire dashboard, with intact loom, heater plastic, and switches (!)
- The bottom section of the cowl vent, with the wiper motor and arms attached
Plastic auto transmission shift cover - One taillight lens bucket
The regulators are in far worse shape than I’d hoped; I was going to refurb them and swap them in, but the bottoms are rusted pretty good. The dash is in good shape, as are the windows and mechanicals. The radiator is the worst part of the lot, though—the bottom panel has come loose from the main assembly, so I’ll have to see if that can be repaired at all.
Overall, for the amount of money I spent, I did exceptionally well. I’ve got a handful of hard-to-replace specialized parts stored away now, and spares of other things which may wear out or be damaged over time.