Category: To-Do List

Holding Pattern

I’m in the middle of a couple of projects and I can’t currently make headway on most of them. First up, I’m waiting on some parts for gas tank—Summit is supposed to send me a fuel hose with a 90˚ bend, which isn’t supposed to ship until November 21. There are other fuel hoses available, but none of them are long enough to work. So when that shows up, the tank will be ready to hang back up under the truck.

I’m stalled on sheet metal repairs because my welder is down and I’m waiting for Eastwood to get back to me about warranty parts. Their help desk is backed up this week. I’ve got a couple of things I need this for:

  • The clip for the filler hose needs to be welded to the face of the firewall.
  • Three captive nuts that need to be welded to the inside of the firewall for the inner fender skirts.
  • A captive nut that needs to be replaced for the forward gas tank strap.

The mirror repair is the other thing waiting for a welder; I need to cut a couple of metal strips to weld to the threaded rod that goes inside the housing. When that’s ready I can re-assemble the bad mirror and mount it on the truck. I guess I can cut and thread a second rod to refurbish the second mirror while I’m waiting.

So this weekend I think I’ll work on the electrical system and continue troubleshooting stuff like the blinkers, high-beams and get the  license plate light working, and try to install the cabin light. There is no provision for a door-actuated dome light anywhere, so I’m going to do some research into how that might work.

Depending on weather, I might be able to touch up and clearcoat the seat box this weekend. At the very least I’d like to drill for bolts and get the mounting location dialed in.

But if it does indeed get down to 60˚, I can start scraping the insulation off the ceiling. For that I have to suit up in Tyvek and use a fan to blow the particles out as I go; fiberglas insulation is hateful in any form. I’ve got 70% of a roll of Cool It heat matting that I can start with but I’m going to have to buy a bunch more to cover the whole thing.

One other thing I might do is venture out to my local pick-and-pull and snag an electrical setting setup from a Corolla. I’ve got some instructions and details from a couple of locations as to what I need to get and from which models, and the weather is supposed to be pretty nice (and dry; there’s nothing more hateful than wandering through a swampy junkyard), so it might be a good day for an early junkyard trip.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   1 Comment on Holding Pattern  |  Posted in To-Do List, Travelall

Fall To-Do List

Now that the roof project has pretty much wrapped up, I’m turning my attention to the next tasks to tackle. Keeping a list handy will keep me focused on the right stuff. I do have a tendency to wander so I want to make sure I’m working on things in the right order and staying on task. Given that it’s September and the weather is starting to get colder, I’ve got to hustle to get some final things done before I’m unable to. So here’s a list in rough order of importance:

  • Continuing work on the wiring: I’ve got to chase down the problem with the turn signals, add a dome light, add a license plate light and see if I can rig up some reverse lights. Oh, and maybe I can scab a radio in place.
    • 10.12: the turn signals are back! One of the connections on the temp gauge came loose.
    • 11.10: License plate light is mounted and working.
  • Continuing to troubleshoot the clutch issues: I’m sure there’s more adjustment I can make to the clutch to get it to engage; I have to figure out what that might be and re-bleed the brakes again.
  • Cleaning off and painting the headliner bows: The ones I’ve got are good but covered in surface rust. I have to get them cleaned up and prepped for gray paint.
  • Steering wheel repair: My brother-in-law scored me a very old and very tired wheel from a yard up in New York State. I’ve seen other folks online effect repairs with two-part epoxy and fancy OEM-grade paint; I’m going to take a whirl at this when the snow is flying and see how well I can make it work.
  • Adjusting the front doors: Both of them have some sag. I tend to believe this is from the hinges needing work; further investigation is required. Luckily, I’ve got spare hinges from the Green truck that I can disassemble and refurbish without taking the Red truck apart.
  • Building out an aluminum roof rack: I’ve got some basic plans for how I’d like to construct a rack for the back 3/4 of the truck, but I’ve got to do some calculations for how I’d construct it to bear the weight of things like a rooftop tent, spare tire, and/or solar panels. I’m thinking that I’d rent a TIG welder and get some basic aluminum and do a bunch of practice welding before I go nuts with this, but it’s definitely on the list.
  • Send out the spare hood, 4 doors, and inner fenders for sandblasting: The hood on the red bus is covered in three thick coats of paint, but I’ve got a green hood sitting behind the garage that would swap in very easily. The passenger doors are in very rough shape outside; now that I’m more comfortable with shooting paint, I would love to get the rear passenger door broken down, stripped of paint and ready for IH Red.

Completed:

  • Building out the bench seats: This is a primary project for the winter. It’s going to take some time and effort to get both seats covered in foam and built, and I have to do some quick work to the frames to clean them up before going to fabric.
    • 11.1: Foam ordered!
    • 11.17: I’ve got all of the materials, and I’m ready to start on the upholstery process.
    • 12.1: The rear bench seat is complete.
    • 12.11: Seats are complete and mounted.
  • Removing the insulation on the roof & adding sound deadener: Now that the roof is covered, the nasty, thin fiberglas that was glued to the inside roof needs to come down. This is going to be a dirty, messy job and I’m not looking forward to it, but I’d rather do it in the fall when I can wear a Tyvek suit and stay warm as opposed to sweating out a hot July afternoon. The goal is to get things as smooth as possible so I can replace it all with sound deadener/insulator.
    • 11.17: Insulation is gone. The roof is wire-wheeled and ready for paint.
    • 11.24: Sound deadener is installed.
  • Weatherstripping: I’ve got to replace it on the front two doors now that the rears are done. And the barn doors need some love pretty quickly, too.
      • 11.1: Front doors are complete.
  • Mounting the mirrors: I’m going to weld threaded studs to the tops of the doors that I can use to mount the mirrors without drilling through them; this way none of the hardware will interfere with the weatherstripping on the other side. The bottom bolt holes still exist from the original mirror set.
    • 9.8: The mirrors are mostly mounted and just need some finishing work.
    • 9.15: Mirror brackets are mounted, but I need to fix the mounting post on one of them.
    • 11.10: Both mirrors are mounted and complete.
  • Matching paint and painting the door cards/heater: I need to get the heater re-installed pretty quickly, so this one is high on the list. There’s a place locally that can match and mix automotive enamel, so I think this will be the priority in the next couple of weeks—before the weather really gets cold.
    • 9.8: The paint is matched and shot. I still need to spray clear coat over this.
    • 9.15: Clear coat is sprayed.
  • Re-installing the heater box: this will be one of the priorities in the next couple of weeks; I want to get the whole thing put back together before it gets real cold, test it out, and make sure all the moving parts work.
    • 10.12: the heater box is finished and installed; all cables are connected and the box is wired back into the panel.
  • Rekeying the door locks: I’m going to pull the locks out of the green spare doors and see if I can get spare barrels to put inside so that I can actually lock the truck.
    • 9.15: Door locks are pulled from all four doors, and new tumblers are on their way. I do need new retainer clips though, which are very pricy. Maybe I can steal one from a spare Scout II door…
    • 10.12: Door locks are installed and working. That took some doing, but it’s done!
  • Testing out the radio: Speaking of, I’ve got a stock 1967 radio from the Green Truck that may or may not work. I’d like to put it in the Red Bus but not if it doesn’t work.
    • 9.8: this is actually a Ford product from the mid-60’s, so it’s not original. Still, it would be cool to use a period-correct radio. We’ll see.
  • Adjusting the barn doors to close properly: the passenger side door doesn’t like to latch, so I’ve got to sort this out. And it’s the one with the lock.
    • 9.15: I took a look at this and have it closing better now. It’s not perfect but it closes.
Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Fall To-Do List  |  Posted in Future Plans, To-Do List, Travelall

Preparations

We’re headed west into the heart of America next week in a truck only slightly younger than me, which means I have to pack just as many tools and medications for it as I do myself. I did a quick inventory today and made a list of stuff I’ll need:

  • A gallon of 50/50 coolant, and a gallon of distilled water
  • A gallon jug of 15/40 Rotella diesel oil, which is uniquely formulated to be nice to older flat-tappet engines like mine
  • Two spare fan belts (ordered via NAPA)
  • Power steering fluid
  • Brake fluid
  • Air filter
  • An Element fire extinguisher to supplement the bottle unit I have bolted to the seat base

In the ammo can, I’ve already got a bunch of other spare parts and tools—a fuel pump, coil, points and condenser, plug wire, bulbs, fuses, and electrical gear, plugs, assorted fasteners and zip ties. She’s running well right now, so the goal will be to get her cleaned up inside and top off the fluids to be ready to hit the road on Thursday.

I saw some trick floor mats on a build thread a few weeks ago and decided to pull the trigger on a set, figuring they would come in handy for heat abatement on this trip. They’re called CocoMats and they’re handmade and heavy-duty for cars like Porsches, but what I saw in the thread really impressed me. I ordered a set and they sent me a set of paper templates to lay in the truck and form to my specifications, which I did the night I got the package.

Looking for maximum coverage, I added material to the sides and brought them up to the edge of the vertical part of the firewall, and made a notch for the ramp under the gas pedal. The sample they sent is thick and beefy and the rubber on the bottom is covered in 1/8″ nubs that should keep it up off the metal where moisture collects. I sent the patterns back with a note and a sticker, and they’ve been super communicative with me the whole time. (The day after I placed the order I noticed they’d put an ad in my Hagerty magazine with a discount code, so I emailed them to ask if it was too late to apply that. They cheerfully sent an affirmative reply in less than an hour and refunded me the 10%. That’s some great customer service).

Unfortunately, they won’t be here in time for the trip, so we’ll just have to sweat it out like we normally do.

The other thing I did was take one of the spare horns from the green ’67 and swap it into the Scout in place of the Mercedes horn I put in a couple of years ago. I just didn’t like the half American/European sound of the two horns together and wanted to get the truck back to a true ‘Murican sound. Much better now. (fun fact: many cars use two horns tuned slightly differently, because the dissonance of two frequencies is easier to hear in high ambient noise situations).

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Preparations  |  Posted in Purchasing, To-Do List

2024 To-Do List

I spent most of my time in 2023 focused on the Travelall, but there were a couple of issues I sorted out with the Scout; the main one being the exhaust leak. That sort of sidelined her for a good chunk of the summer, but I got her fixed in August. There are a couple of small issues that need to be addressed that I’d like to tackle in the spring:

  • Fix the turn signal canceler. Left turns don’t work but right turns do. Why? Probably because I put the plastic return ring in the wrong position when I reassembled the column. At least now I’m not as afraid to tear into it as I was the first time.
  • Get the exhaust manifold fixed. One side leaking again and making lots of noise; I haven’t been able to figure out which is the culprit.
  • Replace the wing window seals and spring hinge. My wing windows are leaky and loose. The gaskets are dry and brittle, and the spring hinges inside the door are both broken. I have new rubber on the bench in the basement, and I’m trying to assemble two working replacements from the six spares I’ve got (this is more of a problem than it sounds; there are two failure points on these windows and most of mine have fallen victim to at least one of them). I’ll probably bite the bullet and pull the working windows from the truck.
  • Swap the gas tanks. I have the original steel tank Peer Pressure came with, and I’ve heard from several places that poly tanks will never seal at the sender properly. I’m inclined to believe this after eight years of suffering through gas fumes and leaks. Having looked at the inside of the tank and cleaned up the outside, there’s a new sender mounted and ready to go. The next step is grounding the tank and checking the wiring before it goes onto the truck, and then actually swapping it out.
  • Get the spare engine on a proper engine stand. I’ve been saying this for a couple of years now, but I’d really like to get it done. The problem isn’t the stand, but how I can lift the engine up onto it. My garage is in no shape to support a chain hoist or any kind of overhead block and tackle, so I’ll have to borrow an engine hoist from somewhere for a 15-minute operation.
Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on 2024 To-Do List  |  Posted in To-Do List

Recap 2023

Well, it’s been a pretty eventful year here at the Dugan IH Barn. I didn’t actually drive the Scout a lot during the summer due to the exhaust leak, and for that reason we didn’t take the truck to Nats. Looking at the main to-do list from the beginning of last year, the two accomplishments were the installation of a new battery tray and the unplanned but welcome return of working windshield wipers. I haven’t moved the mirror up the A pillar and I haven’t gotten the spare engine on a stand yet; what I’m going to have to tackle first is a new exhaust leak coming from somewhere.

Looking through the Scout fuel/mileage notebook and doing the math, I put a total of 1346 miles on her this year.

Total Yearly Miles Miles Minus Nats
2015 580 580
2016 276 276
2017 315 315
2018 1768 631
2019 1972 836
2020 1195 1195
2021 3177 2041
2022 2932 2932
2023 1346 1346

On the Travelall list, there was a lot more success. The next big items are re-upholstering the seats and installing them; in the springtime when it’s warmer I’m going to bite the bullet and have her towed down to the mechanic to sort out the clutch/engine issues that are just a bit beyond my skillset.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Recap 2023  |  Posted in To-Do List

More Future Projects

The Scout is sitting inside a garage down outside of Annapolis as terrible thunderstorms rumble overhead, waiting on a used exhaust heat riser to ship from Ohio. An exhaust heat riser is a valve that stays closed on startup and heats the manifold quickly, which is supposed to lower emissions. My truck, being a 1979 model, came with all of the emissions garbage they could think of that year to try and appease the EPA for an engine designed in the late 1950’s; there are more hoses on that engine than a garden supply store. Anyway, over time, the valve seizes up and stays closed, which is what it sounds like mine has done. This part isn’t regularly made for Scouts anymore, so Super Scout Specialists is sending us a used unit and we’ll throw that in to see if the leak disappears. I’m going to have my mechanic save the old one so I can disassemble it and weld the holes for the shaft closed: I can then use it for a replacement when this valve dies.

Because I am a dipshit and I’ve had Travelall on the brain almost exclusively lately, I completely forgot about two other Scout projects that have been sitting quietly in a box in the basement since the end of winter. I’m in a bit of a holding pattern on the Travelall until I get some stuff organized, so I thought I’d look through the box and get things sorted out.

  • I bought new wing window rubber for the Scout very soon after they started producing it. Both wing windows on Peer Pressure feature crumbling, UV-blasted rubber. Both of the mounts on each window are broken at the pivot spring underneath, which basically means the window opens and flops around in the slipstream. And the passenger wing latch fell off, so it doesn’t stay closed. In my parts stash I have a grand total of seven spare wing windows: three loose units I’ve collected from parts trucks, and four that were installed in the four spare doors I’ve got. Among all of these spares, I have a total of two that aren’t busted to shit. So I pulled a good left and right unit out of the parts doors and gave them a once-over. Both are OK except that the left unit doesn’t have a latch—but I’ve got spares of those.The lower left brace on the right unit was loose: the spot welds were giving way, so I busted out the MIG and tacked it back into place with little trouble. I brought them down to the basement workbench to be refurbished during rainy weekends in front of a football game.

  • I’d completely forgotten that I also bought a new battery pan for the Scout to replace what’s left of the factory pan in there now. It’s a beefy chunk of bare metal and needs a scuff, a coat of etching primer, and several coats of strong black paint (and maybe a layer of undercoating) before I put in in the truck. It’s got three bolts welded underneath to mount to the inner fender—I’ll have to check my spare fender a little more closely to see if this will be just a simple task of cutting the old one out and bolting the new one in (the two holes on the right side of the shelf area below).But once the truck is back I can install that, and set up a proper battery hold down situation; the battery is currently held in place with a tired bungee cord. Because that’s how I roll.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on More Future Projects  |  Posted in Future Plans, To-Do List

Priorities

I’ve been all over the place chasing different projects around based on shifting priorities and cashflow opportunities, and I’m realizing I’m not making a lot of directed progress in any single direction. So here’s a modified list of tasks in order of importance:

Get the truck running. This seems pretty obvious, and I’ve been trying to keep this going. I had Erick over this week, and we’ve diagnosed the issue to the distributor. I have a new one ordered from IHPA on the way, and Erick is going to help me stab it and get things running.
$350 for a new distributor, plus Erick’s time

Paint the roof and other parts. I’ve got 3/4 of the roof sanded and filled with Bondo; I have to get the remainder filled, sanded down, and primed for paint as quickly as possible. I don’t want to leave Bondo or primer out for long, as they both collect moisture, so the second big push will be to get it covered with a fresh coat of IH Red. I’ll probably shoot it twice in the driveway and wet sand it between coats for a good solid finish.
$150 for the paint
$100 for an HLPV gun

Fix the brakes. After getting it started, I need to get it to stop. The master reservoir is bone dry and rusty, so we need to replace the whole thing. I’ve got replacement shoes, two cylinders, and a mounting kit ordered from Amazon for the rear axle, which I’m going to attack myself. When the truck is mobile, that will make repairs much easier.
$100 Fixing the rear brake system
$250 for master cylinder, hoses

Fix the cowl rust before replacing the windshield. I woke up in the middle of night thinking about this list, and for some reason this was the first thought in my mind. This could be a slippery slope: this is the literal definition of “scope creep”. But if I’m pulling the windshield out already, I’m worried about the cowl rusting any more than it already is, and I have a welder on hand looking for some work (Erick), I’m thinking I should tackle this now. There’s a guy on Binder Planet who has a C-series pickup with the same cowl rust my truck does. He used a spot weld bit to remove the whole cowl, cut the rust out of the otherwise unreachable areas where it’s worst, and welded new steel in. With some seam sealer applied and the whole thing painted, he welded the cowl back in place for good. if I did this I wouldn’t worry about leaving her parked outside anymore.
$500 for a welder
$100+ for the steel, plus Erick’s time

Rewire the fuse panel. I’ve found an inexpensive tone generator for sale at Harbor Freight, which will help me chase down what wires go where; it’s a matter of hooking up a lead at the cut wire and following it out with the wand to see where it goes. This should make hunting down unlabeled wires much easier, along with the circuit diagram. The good thing here is that I can do this myself, whenever I’ve got free time.
$20 for a tone generator

New tires on the back. There’s a smaller tire on the driver’s rear that just looks stupid, but both of them are still holding air. I just want four tires of the same size and date on the thing at the same time.
$400 for tires and mounting

Fix the doors and windows. I have inner weatherstripping for the four front doors on order (I got a deal on them with the windshield rubber) but the seals and felt for the windows are just as important. IH did a very good job sealing up the glass and I don’t want any water getting down into the guts of the doors and starting to rust. All of them will get sprayed with some kind of chassis sealer just to be sure but clean felts will help keep things solid and quiet on the road.
$400 for new tracks and felt

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Priorities  |  Posted in To-Do List, Travelall

2023 To-Do List

2022 didn’t go quite as we planned, but I got a remarkable number of things on the list accomplished. The replacement windshield is installed and makes a world of difference. the turn signal is fixed. The spare heater core is finished. And the heater valve is working! With that in mind, here’s the list of goals for 2023, in order of importance and realistic accomplishment:

  • Fix the goddamn wipers. (2019) I still don’t know what the deal is with the wipers or why the motor works but the switch doesn’t, but I’ve now got a third switch to swap in and see if I can get things to work behind the dashboard. If it’s not that, there has to be a melted wire somewhere that I’ll have to chase down in the rat’s nest back there. I can’t spend another year dealing with this dumb situation. Fixed? They work again. I put the wiper arms back on the stubs and I’m leaving it alone.
  • Move the rearview mirror up the A pillar. I keep knocking into it when I open the door. it needs to move up and out of the way. This is just drilling and tapping new holes, and sealing up the old ones.
  • Rotate the tires. (2022) This is pretty self-explanatory, and should be easy once I get a decent floor jack.
  • Fix the battery tray. (2021) Super Scout Specialists has new trays in stock, and I’d like to get rid of the ghetto bungee cord I’ve been using for 11 years. Done 9.15! Happy to have the bungee cords gone.
  • Replace the wing window seals and spring hinge. My wing windows are leaky and loose. The gaskets are dry and brittle, and the spring hinges inside the door are both broken. I need to replace the rubber and re-weld the springs so that the windows will stabilize.
  • Swap the gas tanks. I have the original steel tank Peer Pressure came with, and I’ve heard from several places that poly tanks will never seal at the sender properly. I’m inclined to believe this after eight years of suffering through gas fumes and leaks. Having looked at the inside of the tank and cleaned up the outside, there’s a new sender mounted and ready to go. The next step is grounding the tank and checking the wiring before it goes onto the truck, and then actually swapping it out.
  • Get the spare engine on a proper engine stand. The problem isn’t the stand, but how I can lift the engine up onto it. My garage is in no shape to support a chain hoist or any kind of overhead block and tackle, so I’ll have to borrow an engine hoist from somewhere for a 15-minute operation.
  • Buy a Scout Shed. (2022) I spent a bunch of time this fall emptying out my garage attic and moving big bulky parts up there; a lot of my space issues have since been solved. So this might actually move to the completed list…
Posted on   |   by bill   |   2 Comments on 2023 To-Do List  |  Posted in To-Do List

On Fumes

I took the Scout out for a quick errand yesterday with Hazel to go pick up some dinner, and a small voice in the back of my head reminded me that I needed to get some gas. I’d already been to the other side of town to hit the dump earlier in the day, but our trip wasn’t that far and from what my mileage booklet said, I’d only gone thirty miles or so since my last visit to the pump.

I drove down the big hill from home into Ellicott City and just as I hit the bottom part of the road along the river, the truck died and I coasted to a stop on the shoulder. Hazel looked over at me from the passenger seat with reproach, then curled up on the seat and sighed. This is the second time this has happened at the foot of the hill—the first time it died pulling into the gas station a little further up the road—but it’s a warning I’m going to heed. I’m terrified of losing power going down that hill, and even though I know I could use the clutch to engine brake until a stop, when the steering goes out it’s like piloting an oil tanker. I’m terrified of digging in to the wiring behind the dashboard for fear the truck will never start again but the gauge situation and the wiper issue are now forcing my hand.

In the meantime I’m going to revise my mileage tracker to give me a better estimate of what my MPG actually is; my records show that I went down to empty in October of last year, which means I can use that and the records up until now to give me a better understanding of what my range is. Doing the math between now and then, I put 2887 miles on the truck, which converts to 3280 true miles (the ratio is 88 indicated to 100 true). I’ve put 296 gallons of gas into her between now and then, which works out to 11.08 miles per gallon. Not as good as Chewbacca did—Chewbacca was a 304 with a 2-barrel Holley 2100 carburetor and stock wheels, and she averaged anywhere from 12 to 14 depending on the type of driving and whether the top was down or not. Peer Pressure is a 345 with a 4-barrel Thermoquad on 32’s, and while I don’t spend my time racing from streetlight to streetlight, a 4-barrel is a lot thirstier. Also, all of the stupid emissions bullshit tacked on to my engine surely isn’t helping. To put things into perspective, my Jeep XJ with a 4-liter V6 got about 14mpg on average—keeping in mind the curb weight of the XJ was a full thousand pounds less than either Scout.

I’ve always figured no better than 10MPG as a rule of thumb, using my experience with Chewbacca’s low end and figuring 1-2MPG as a cushion was a good idea, but knowing exactly what my range is will help estimate even better. And there will be some digging around behind the dashboard come springtime: First, to hopefully diagnose and repair the gas gauge, and second to find the issue with the wipers and fix that.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on On Fumes  |  Posted in To-Do List

2022 To-do List

DSCF9028

In 2021, I did a lot of things I wasn’t planning on, but needed to get done, like rebuilding the front bearings, replacing the front brakes, installing a cool bumper and then adding fog lights. Okay, maybe the bumper and fog lights didn’t need to happen, but it sure looks better. Reviewing the T0-Do list from 2021, there are some big things I thought I might be able to accomplish and some that were blue-sky goals; there will be some things that carry over to next year. And I’ve got some new goals for 2022, in order of importance and realistic accomplishment:

  • Refurbish the heater core. I’ve got a used box ready to go; it needs to be sandblasted and painted. Then I’ve got to check the original motor and either rewire it or buy a new motor. Done!
  • Replace the windshield. (2016) I pulled a good clear windshield from a Scout this summer, cleaned it up and made it ready to put in. I’ll need to order a new windshield gasket from Super Scouts, do some practice runs on the spare frames I’ve got, and then take a deep breath before I remove the old glass. Done!
  • Fix the goddamn wipers. (2019) I still don’t know what the deal is with the wipers or why the motor works but the switch doesn’t, but I’ve now got a third switch to swap in and see if I can get things to work behind the dashboard. If it’s not that, there has to be a melted wire somewhere that I’ll have to chase down in the rat’s nest back there.
  • Fix the turn signal cam on the steering wheel. I’m 3/4 of the way into the teardown on my spare wheel, and it all seems to make sense so far. Sure would be nice to have functional cancelling turn signals. Done!
  • Rotate the tires. This is pretty self-explanatory, and should be easy once I get a decent floor jack. One thing I’d like to do while I have the tires off is measure the backspacing on the spare tire to see if it’s anywhere near the aftermarket wheels I’m running on the truck. This way I’ll know if I can use the spare on the front wheels without rubbing.
  • Pull the spacer on the starter. I’ve come to find out the spacer in between my starter and the engine block is meant for automatic transmissions, so it needs to come out. I’m a pro at swapping starters at this point, so this should be a 30-minute fix, tops. Humorously, in going through my parts bins this week, I found a second spacer. Done 10/30! Took all of about ten minutes, but I already had her up on the stands for exhaust repairs.
  • Fix the battery tray. (2021) Super Scout Specialists has new trays in stock, and I’d like to get rid of the ghetto bungee cord I’ve been using for 11 years.
  • Swap the gas tanks. I have the original steel tank Peer Pressure came with, and I’ve heard from several places that poly tanks will never seal at the sender properly. I’m inclined to believe this after eight years of suffering through gas fumes and leaks. The plan is to build a quick cradle/turntable out of wood, mount the tank on that, and dump some gravel inside. A half an hour of turning it like a cement mixer should remove any rust or scale inside, and then I can test it for leaks. When that’s done I’ll spray it with undercoating, test the sender, and put it in. I’m going to dig out the original evaporator linkage I stored away to aid in venting it properly. But the first thing I have to do is get the existing sender off the tank; it’s on there tight and not coming off.
  • Get the spare engine on a proper engine stand. The problem isn’t the stand, but how I can lift the engine up onto it. My garage is in no shape to support a chain hoist or any kind of overhead block and tackle, so I’ll have to borrow an engine hoist from somewhere for a 15-minute operation.
  • Buy a Scout Shed. My garage is pretty full, and I spend a lot of time reorganizing stuff just to move around in there. I’ve been considering a premade shed to store all of the parts I’ve got squirreled away, which would free up a lot of space in there. I’m earning some scratch on the side working on the schoolbus, and if I’m careful I could pay for this with a couple of weekends’ work.
Posted on   |   by bill   |   3 Comments on 2022 To-do List  |  Posted in To-Do List