Progress

This page will be a running account of progress on the Scout.

Last updated: 04/05/2010

March 27-28, 2010

Attended the  AZIHR again this year. Got another first place and ran the Hassyampa River.

Since I'm only doing maintenance on the SR-2 now, I won't post up anything more unless I do some significant upgrades or changes.

March 28, 2009

Attended the AZIHR in Wickenburg, AZ. Got a first place for Mild Scout 800s and went on a trail run up the Hassyampa River.

November 16, 2008

After the trip to RMIHR, where I took a second place for Mild Modified Scout 800s, I went on a trail run to the San Francisco River in eastern Arizona with the Sonora Desert Scouts club.

July 12, 2008

Got everything reassembled and finished applying the rocker and beltline vinyl stripes. All ready for RMIHR!

July 6, 2008

Shot the finish coat on the body. There's less than 2 weeks before we leave for RMIHR. Gotta get everything back together and apply the stripes.

July 5, 2008

I laid out the hood graphic and masked it off. I used rattle can white Rustoleum enamel. The graphic is not strictly to the dimensions of the original SR-2 appliqué but it looks good enough for a 10-footer!

                                                   The body is prepped and primered and ready for the finish coat.

June 29, 2008

I removed the hood and nosepiece from the Scout and set the hood up for painting so I would be shooting a vertical surface. After 3 coats of primer, I cleaned the HVLP gun and mixed up a batch of IH Flame Red. Somehow, I managed to loose the spring that puts tension on the flow control rod which rendered the HPVL gun useless. Not wanting to waste a batch of paint, I brought my 10 year old Craftsman siphon paint gun out of retirement and shot the hood and nosepiece. Much more overspray than with the HPLV! I now have a nice re-orange garage floor.

June 21, 2008

Shot the color on the top today. It came out very nice except for a few sags here and there. This was just the right sized project to help me get familiar with the gun and polish my spraying technique a little before I tackle the body. I'll let it dry overnight and sand out the sags and some of the rougher orange peel tomorrow. It was surprising that the color of the Alpine White was not as white as I expected. I guess 37 years in the sun bleached the old paint out a little.

June 14, 2008

Now that the transmission is back in and seemingly working well, I've finally turned my attention to the repaint. I removed the top and sanded the scratches and filled some small dents. I applied three coats of primer with a HVLP spray gun from Harbor Freight and am now ready to shoot the color coat of I.H. Alpine White.

April 16, 2008

For the last 2 weeks, I've been working on replacing the transmission. I acquired a Borg Warner 12 automatic from another Scout that had swapped in a T19. I had the transmission rebuilt by a commercial shop using all new parts and a rebuilt torque converter. During the time the transmission was out, I took the opportunity to replace the rear engine block freeze plugs and reseal the oil pan and replace the rear main bearing cap side seals. Hopefully, this will reduce the amount of oil that has previously leaked from my Scout.
Once the transmission was back from the shop, a friend and I installed it in a couple of hours. It took another few hours to hook the front drive shaft up with new U-joints and get the transmission cross member back in place.
I still need to hook up the water hoses to the transmission heat exchanger, hook up the rear drive shaft and reinstall the shifter.

 

March, 2008 Well, it's been a whole year since I've updated the progress page. I've been having too much fun driving and wheeling the Scout to take any time to work on it! I finally decided to go ahead and repaint this year. I started by filling dents and sanding out scratches on the sides. Once I get the front and rear done I can remove the top and shoot a new coat of paint on.

March, 2007 The SR-2 has been running great for the few times I've driven it this year. I went on a trail run with the Sonora Desert Scouts on Feb 24 and it performed beautifully! So much so that I hesitate to run it off road too much more for fear of turning it into a beater trail rig. Just so happens I have a candidate for that job. A 1971 800B that I picked up cheap to use as a parts truck turns out to be a worthy candidate for a trail rig. It's got a 196 I4 with a T-18 and Dana 20 and a PTO winch! The body is already beat up so I won't have to worry about taking it on any type of trail. So now, I'm splitting time between working on my Comanche restoration and getting some things checked out on the trail Scout. I'm still planning to do a paint job on the SR-2 before attending the RMIHR in July.

August 1, 2006  Wow! It's hard to believe it's been a year since I posted an update. The Scout's been running pretty good. I take it out once a month to the Sonora Desert Scouts meeting and drive it to work every other week. I've been busy working on my new garage which is almost finished and ready to start working in. I've also acquired a couple of parts Scouts.

There was no AZIHR this year and I didn't get to go to the Rocky Mountain Rendezvous either.

August 7, 2005  Not too much to report since the last update. I dropped the Borg Warner transmission pan and cleaned the filter screen. I replaced the filter and filled the trans with new Dexron III per the shop manual instructions. I used a gasket in the Fram FT1024  kit from Rock Auto. Now the trans leaks like a seive! I've tightened the bolts down a couple of times but it's still leaking. I guess I'll have to drop it again and use some Right Stuff on it.

We went to the Rocky Mountain IH Rendezvous in July. I had some problems with the Holley 2300 flooding out so I couldn't go on the Monday trail run. I replaced the float bowl valve and it seemed to fix the problem. We did some back road cruising at my son's place in Orderville, UT after the Rendezvous. During the trip, one of the wires from the ignition switch broke off the starter solenoid. We did a trail fix to get it going again. I guess some wiring repairs will be next on my list.

May 14, 2005  I finally got around to installing the new turn signal harness I had purchased form Shee-Mar, Inc. back in  October. I had continued to have problems with my stop lights since I messed with replacing the switch shortly after I got the Scout. Only on brake light would come on unless the turn signals were activated. I set aside most of the day to R&R the harness. Removing the old one went pretty fast. Once I got the steering wheel off and removed the screws holding in the T/S switch and hazard switch, I noted the location of the 6 conductor harness connector and verified that the new harness matched up, I was ready to remove it. I took a while to get the connector pried apart without breaking anything. Since I wasn't going to re-use the old harness, I cut the wires off at the switches and pulled the harness out of the column. Then, I removed the terminals from the connector shell. I fished the wires from the new harness back through the column. It was easier to fish them with multiple fish wires attached to 2 or 3 wires rather than try to pull them all through at once. I got the new wire terminals plugged into the old connector shell and re-attached the switches. Of course despite having made myself a diagram before I disassembled the connector, I still managed to switch the brown and green wires. So when I tested the turn signals, the left turn postion flashed the right tail light and vise-versa. After swapping the wires back to where they belonged, everything worked fine. Now I have turn signals with BOTH lights!

April 9-10, 2005  My annual trip to Prescott Valley for the Arizona IH Rendezvous.

March 12, 2005  Installed the rear liftgate and tailgate seal I got on Ebay today. This was original IH weatherstrip PN 374441C1 so it fit perfectly. I paid $50 for it which I thought was resonable since the comparable aftermarket molding from Metro Molded Products (PN LP 103-G) sells for about $2.50/ft and it takes 11 feet.  I still need a piece to go on the bottom edge of the liftgate so I may order it from them.

February 12, 2005  After I got the top back on, I decided I should finally install the door weatherstrip I got from ScoutParts.com about a year ago. I removed the old, dried and cracked original seals and wire brushed the loose particles off. Then, I used some Xylene to soften and remove the remaining adhesive. I installed the new seals with GM Weatherstrip Adhesive. Because the windows don't end up in the correct place when rolled up and the doors still have a bit of sag, the windows don't seal tight against the new gaskets. I'll have to do some playing with the adjustments on the doors and windows to get a better seal.

December 28-31, 2004  I took advantage of a week off from work during the Holidays to finish up the floor project. Got two coats of orange Durabak 18 bed liner layed down. The color is pretty close to the original Omaha Orange on the Scout but I expect it to fade as it ages. If it gets too "pinkish", I'll have to top coat it with some orange enamel. Anyhow, once the bed liner cured for a couple of days, I put the roll bar in and then put the gas tanks in. After re-attaching the front seats, I fired her up and took a short trip to the gas station to top off one of the tanks. Sure felt good to have her back on the road!. Now it's time to put the travel top back on for a couple of our winter months.

December 19, 2004  Finally got an entire weekend to work on the Scout so I took advantage of the sunshine and low 70's weather to complete the floor pan installation. After some more minor grinding and adjustments, the pan fit into place. I placed 3/16" pop rivets in several locations to hold it in place and then put spot MIG welds around the perimeter. I put a few underneath also wherever I could reach and there wasn't an exhaust pipe or frame rail in the way. After a while, some of the welds actually looked pretty good! Then I ran  bead of seam sealer around the edges of all the seams to keep out water.  I welded in the seat base I had gotten a couple months ago which was the start of this whole project. After Christmas, I'll lay down a double coat of bed liner and then I can start putting things back together.

December 12, 2004  The new floor panel arrived so I set about doing the prep work to get it ready to go in the Scout. Although it was cut to the correct shape, I had to do some minor grinding to get it to fit properly. Then I cut out the holes for the drain plug, gas tank selector valve, body mount bolt and gas pedal studs. Next, I welded the braces to the underside of the panel. I also repaired the gas line I cut when removing the old floor. Everything is pretty much ready to go back in now. If the weather is nice next weekend, I should be able to get this part finished. The Scout looks pretty sad sitting there with no top, seats or roll bar and the rear wheels off.

November 25, 2004  While the Thanksgiving turkey was cooking, I took the opportunity of being home from work to clean up the areas where the new floor will be attached.  I also removed, straightened and cleaned up the braces and spacer from the old floor pan. These will need to be reattached to the new panel before it gets welded in place. The floor panel I ordered from ScoutParts.com hasn't come yet. Apparently, there was a problem with steel supply at the manufacturer. That's just as well as it gives me time to prepare all the little things that need to be done before the floor goes in. Hopefully, I'll be able to get the floor back in next weekend. After that, I can resume my original project: coating the bed and floors with bed liner.

November 20, 2004  I've spent the last two weekends cutting out the old floor panel. It involved a lot of drilling out spot welds and using an air chisel to finish separating the sheet metal from the rest of the Scout. I ended up cutting out sections of floor to make it easier to access some of the spot welds. I salvaged the channel braces from the underside of the floor and will need to practice my MIG welding a little to get those attached to the new floor..

November 6, 2004  As is typical when working on Scouts, I got an unpleasant surprise from the rust monster. I removed the front driver's seat base thinking that the underlying floor sheet metal was fairly solid. Once the seat base was removed, the rust situation was worse than originally thought. There are several rust-through areas that were hidden by the seat base flanges that were spot welded to the floor. In order to insure a solid support for the new seat base, it's going to be necessary to replace the entire driver's side floor. So now I will have to remove the roll bar, one body mount bolt and the gas pedal ball studs, then drill out the spot welds and air chisel the floor panel out. Fortunately, replacement floor sheet metal is available for the 800. I might also take this opportunity to install some mounts for the roll bar that are attached to the frame.

October 24, 2004  I thought it was going to be a simple job to remove the seats, old floor mat and apply rust encapsulator to the front floor. After pulling up the mat and scraping off the rubber sound deadening/insulation, I discovered that the driver's seat base was pretty badly rusted away. The floor panels themselves have some pitting but are basically solid. Before I finish applying the Rust Bullet and then the DuraBak, I've got to remove the old seat base and weld in a new one. I also discovered some weak metal in the floors under the front mount plates for the roll bar. This will have to be dealt with eventually. I will probably make some 3/16 brackets to bolt on underneath and weld on to the frame. 

October 17, 2004  While the travel top was still off the truck, I took the opportunity to do some work on the rear bed. I had pulled up the rubber mat a couple of months ago and scraped off the rubber membrane underneath. There were some pretty severe rust  spots, especially along the edges where the bed meets the side panels. There was lots of pitting and a couple of pin holes all the way through. I wire brushed all the loose rust scales off, filled the pin holes with body filler, cleaned with some High Efficiency Reducer (which is mostly xylene) and applied two coats of Rust Bullet rust prevention/control product. It's a thinner consistency than Eastwood's Rust Preventer put as it cures, it becomes thicker. Before the top goes back on for the winter, I'll coat the floor with some DuraBak textured bed liner to further water proof it and cover the rust pits. It comes in colors so I'll do it with orange to match the rest of the Scout.

August 22, 2004  Decided to put in the passenger side window regulator I got to replace my old one which binds up pretty bad. I thought it was because the arms might be bent but for sure the two missing mounting screw posts didn't help. While I was at it I installed new window "felts" (anti-rattle strips) from Anything Scout. The strips are not exact replacements for the Scout 80/800. They are rubber "wipers" on both sides and have no chrome bead like the originals. No big deal but the bigger issue was that the holes for the mounting clips are not in the same locations as the original. This was not going to be a quick, snap out-snap in replacement. I decided to mark the new locations and drill holes for some #8 self tapping sheet metal screws. On the inside, I used some window belt weatherstrip from Restoration Specialties (P/N M113) which is a close replacement for the original. Those pieces are attached with wire staples and require some drilling and tedious replacement of the new staples to get them installed. A quicker way would be to use 1/8" pop rivets which would be buried deep enough in the fuzzy pile and not scrape against the window.  The rear edge window guides were replaced with felt window channel from Restoration Specialties (P/N 10-E-60). I got everything in but the window still doesn't work perfectly. I still have to pull it by hand to get it to roll all the way up. And going down, it seems to hit something that keeps it from lowering smoothly. I have to let it fall hard against the resistance to make it go down past whatever the restriction is. Oh well. At least I got the felts put in so the window doesn't rattle anymore. It makes a big difference when driving on rough roads, even around town.

August 7, 2004  I got the new seat covers back from the upholstery shop and spent a few hours getting them put on. The old foam padding was still useable although I did have to add some foam to a few places that had been eroded away. Now I need to get some rear seat belts put in.

July 24, 2004  I used the old, rotted wood from the rear seat as patterns to make a new seat back and bottom. After cutting out the wood, I coated the pieces with spar varnish and clear urethane to help protect it from moisture. I cleaned and sanded the seat frame and painted it with satin black. Then I took the remains of the original vinyl seat cover to an upholstery shop to be reproduced. 

July 10, 2004  I had determined that the original AM pushbutton radio in the Scout was still good so I ordered an OEM replacement 4x8 speaker to replace the original which was completely shot. Before I put the radio back in the dash, I decided to run new defroster vent hoses. I used Fresh Air-Defroster Duct Hose from JC Whitney. In order to keep the hoses securely in place I used 3M Super Weatherstrip Adhesive. Getting access to the dash area required the removal of my ABS plastic glove box. There's not much room for the defroster hoses to run behind the glove box so I had to crush them a little to provide space for the glove box. I checked for air flow after attaching the hoses and after reinstalling the glove box. I buttoned everything back up and set one of the radio presets to 1450 AM, our local oldies station.

July 4, 2004  I decided to put in my rear Prothane spring bushings. They went a little easier than the front although I had to cut out the upper rear bushings that are in the frame brackets.

June 26, 2004  Today, I pulled the passenger side gas tank, cleaned out 30 years worth of accumulated dirt in the body cavity and installed the new filler hose I got from SuperScout Specialists at AZIHR. I also bought a Rancho 5000 shock to use as a steering stabilizer. It makes the truck harder to turn when you're not moving. I think it might be too much for my manual steering so I may take it off or go with a regular el-cheapo shock that's not as stiff.

June 5-6, 2004  On the Gardner Canyon trail run on May 23, I noticed the tie rod was bent and the ball ends were badly worn so this weekend I replaced the tie rod and rebuilt the drag link ends. I had a new tie rod and drag link repair kit from SuperScout Specialists. When starting the tie rod removal, it didn't appear that there was enough room to get the ball end shaft out of the spindle without removing the front spring shackle. Then, there still wasn't enough clearance to drop the rod so I removed the rear shackle. There still didn't look like there was enough room to get the shaft out so I loosened the u-bolt nuts so I could move the spring around enough to get the tie rod end off. After having almost removed the spring, I decided to go ahead and put in the new Prothane poly spring bushings I had gotten several months ago. I used Harbor Freights 3 in1 Service Tool Kit which works well on spring bushings. Using its large C clamp, I managed to push out 4 of the 6 spring bushing intact. The other two I had to push out the center sleeve and then saw out the outer sleeve. After the old ones were out, I put in the new poly bushings and reattached the spring shackles with new grade 8 bolts. The new tie rod went on easily and the rebuilt drag link likewise. I used the push-pin-in-the-center-of-the-tire method to check and adjust toe-in to zero. After everything was torqued to spec and lubed, I took a turn around the block and was happy to experience tighter, truer steering.

May  8-9, 2004  With temperatures in the mid to upper nineties already, I decided it was time to get the travel top off and stored away for the summer. In preparation for this, I needed to do some work on my spare tire carrier so I could get the tire out of the back of the Scout. I removed the rack and bent the legs so that they were a little more parallel to the tailgate. This allowed the 31x10.50 All Terrain tire to fit over the studs on the rack far enough so I could get lug nuts on them. It's a little off-center but hardly noticeable.

I also removed the rear seat. It's going to need new wood backing and vinyl covering and I might as well get stared on that project too. The other thing I wanted to do was get the passenger side window to operate smoother. I removed the upholstered door panel and applied some white grease to the window regulator arms. Works a little better, but you still need to pull it up by hand while cranking. Guess I need to find a new regulator.

The travel top was quite easy to get off. After removing, labeling and saving all the attachment bolts, my brother and I lifted off the top and set it on some 8" cinder blocks in the back yard. I might do some touch-up work on a couple of dents and replace the door window upper seals while it's off.

The Scout is like a whole 'nother vehicle with the top off! Lots cooler and less noisy without that metal acoustic chamber amplifying the road rattles and engine noise. I attached the bikini top that I got with the Scout from the PO. It's a little short in the back but it keeps the sun off my head and that's the main thing. Now, I'm anxious to take it out and do some topless cruising in the desert.

Things I need to consider are securing the Hi-Lift jack, as well as a camp shovel, come-a-long and various bungees I had stored under the rear seat. I may need to mount some kind of trail box securely to the floor that I can lock stuff up in.

April 24-25, 2004  Attended the 5th AZ IH Rendezvous in Prescott Valley, AZ. See the Trail Reports page for details.

March 7, 2004  I successfully bid for a stock spare tire carrier on Ebay. I cleaned it up painted it satin black which I think is the original color. I mounted it to my tailgate and step bumper (that already had two of the mounting holes drilled in it). However, when I went to put my 31x10.50 spare on it, there was not enough of the mounting surface extending out from the carrier to allow the wheel to contact it. The tire hits the tailgate and there's still a couple of inches left between the surface of the mount and the wheel. I'll have to figure out a way to either modify the mount for a deeper/larger tire or just continue to store my spare inside the Scout. Update: After looking closely at some other tire carriers, I seems mine is bent enough to prevent the tire from mounting properly. I'll need to remove it and bend it out straight again.

Feb 22, 2004  I've only had time to do some odds and ends on the Scout for the last couple of weeks. I put in the replacement glove box I got from ScoutParts.com. Fits perfect. I ordered some flexible air duct hose from JC Whitney Co to replace the defroster hose and the fresh air intakes. I received the 4 1/2" hose for the engine compartment and put it on. When I receive the 2" hose for the defroster ducts, I'll need to pull out the glove box to get it installed though.

I also put on the Back Country Binders fuel filler flanges and new caps I had. This should keep the gas in the tanks when I go on the Sonora Desert Scouts trail run in March. I finished up by re-attaching the speedometer cable I had disconnected a couple weeks ago when I had the gauge panel off.

I successfully bid on a spare tire carrier on Ebay. I should be getting it in a week or so.

Feb 7, 2004  I finished up installing the heater in the Scout. I lucked out and found a  wire from the ignition switch that had been cut off behind the dash. It was right next to the heater fan switch so it may have been used for that purpose originally. I put a 14amp fuse on the line and hooked it to the fan switch. After reattaching the heater hoses and letting the engine warm up a little, I tried everything out and it works fine.

Feb 1, 2004  Only had a little time to work on the Scout today before the Stupor Bowl started. I decided to put in the new driver's side wiper motor I got from Chris in Colorado. I'll be driving the Scout to work this week and we're expecting the biggest winter storm of the season to hit on Tuesday. I wanted to make sure I can see where I'm going! I'm getting pretty good at R&Ring wiper motors now. The hardest part is getting the pin out of the knurled hub on the end of the wiper shaft. The rest is just a matter of getting the vacuum hoses on and off.

After that, I put on the new driver's side fuel filler neck I got from Scout M.A.D.ness in Lubbock, TX. I finished cleaning the sand and rocks out of the fender cavity next to the tank and put the rock guard/cover back on. I put a gallon of gas in the tank and switched the selector lever to the driver's side. I ran it long enough to tell me it was using gas from the driver's side tank so I filled it the rest of the way.

Thinking about the cold, wet weather we're supposed to get made me think of the heater that I had removed a month or so ago when I pulled out all the A/C stuff. I got some non-A/C ducts from Howie in N.Carolina. I cleaned up the parts and sprayed on a coat of satin black to match my dash. I checked out the heater core and put on the motor I got from Chris in Colorado to replace the bent squirrel cage on my original. I got the heater blower/core bolted back in the engine compartment but I'll need to tap a hot wire from the ignition switch for the heater blower switch and hook up the heat/vent cable before I can use it. 

Jan 24, 2004  On my way home from a Scout club meeting last week, I was informed that my tail lights weren't working. After half a day of tracing wires and checking connections, removing the tail light buckets, etc,  I figured out that the turn signal canceling cam I messed with on Jan 10 was the cause. Apparently, the switch is still not making contact properly with the turn signal harness. The lights work fine when the left turn signal is on but not when the turn signals are off. Looks like I'll have to pull the steering wheel again and make some more adjustments. It's a cold, drizzly weekend here in Tucson (our week of winter) so I went inside to watch the UofA Basketball game.

Jan 18, 2004  I focused on getting the steering wheel back on so the Scout would be driveable again. I guess I'll have to wait to do a steering wheel upgrade with a full install kit to get the canceller to work. I decided to pull the driver's side fuel tank to check it for condition and rust. I have a new filler neck on the way and wanted to make sure the tank was OK before installing it. I was very surprised at the condition of the tank. It almost looked new! Just a couple of surface rust spots on the outside. The inside was clean with no sediment or rust. A P.O. had even taken the time to cover the fill tube opening with duct tape to keep the tank from collecting dirt and water. I dabbed some Eastwood Rust Encapsulator on the rust spots, drilled out a broken off tank mounting bolt and reinstalled the tank. As is typical, the cavity next to the tank was full of dirt. It's a good thing we don't get much rain in Arizona, because that could have really caused some rust through if it had been allowed to get wet very often.  I cleaned it out and will install my new filler neck next week.

Jan 10, 2004  I decided to pull the steering wheel and replace the turn signal canceling cam. As usual, a 2 hour job turned into a weekend project. I got the wheel off without trouble. The new canceling cam wires needed to be soldered to the old wires and following Murphy's Law, I hooked them up backwards. After fiddling with the contacts on the cam for an hour or so, I finally realized the wires may be crossed. After I swapped them, the turn signals worked again but there is nothing on the steering shaft or wheel hub to operate the canceling cam to make the signals shut off. So after a day's worth of work, I ended up no further ahead than I was before. Maybe I'll have better luck next weekend.

Jan 3-4, 2004  After some fun 4-wheeling in the snow up in the White Mountains over Christmas (that's my son in the photo, not me!), it was time to get back to work on the Scout. I decided to try to fix the vacuum wipers but couldn't get to the motors from under the dash. I removed all the dash bolts and screws but then realized the dash would only move about 2" because the roll bar is in the way. Well, I wasn't going to tear the whole scout apart, so I removed the hubs on the shafts and then the nut holding the shaft to the cowl. Lo and behold, the motor fell out from the inside. Turns out they are only held in place by the shaft nut. I lubed up the drivers side motor and checked it with a vacuum source and it works ok. The passenger side motor had a frozen shaft and I broke it off trying to loosen it up. I'll have to find another motor on Ebay or the Binder Bulletin. I cleaned up the switches and ran all new vacuum hoses. Buttoned up the dash but I'll be back in there to do some wiring work later.

Sunday, I put on a step bumper I got from a guy in Colorado. It's nice and beefy and looks better than the stock chrome SR-2 bumper. The hardest part was getting the bolts from the original bumper off and bolting on the new brackets. They are inside the frame rail and access is pretty limited. Check out my new personalized license plate. Cool, huh?

Dec 20-21, 2003  I finally had an entire weekend to work on the Scout. I finished up the installation of the shifter and replaced the transmission tunnel. While I was cleaning the front floor pan area, I discovered some rust on the floors next to the rocker panels. Nothing that has rusted through yet though. I scraped off the loose flakes and coated the areas with Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator. Once I pull up all the floor mats in the rear, I'm sure I'll find other similar spots. My intention is to eventually coat the entire inside floor area with POR-15 or RustBullet, but that's a whole 'nother project!

I replaced the 6ga positive battery cable with some new 1ga cable from Summit Racing. I took this opportunity to remove some unfused wiring the PO had running from the  positive battery cable to somewhere under the dash. Everything still worked after that so it must not have been anything important. I drained and refilled the transmission with fresh Dexron ATF. The old fluid was a greyish color so it was definitely in need of a change. I wasn't able to locate a transmission pan gasket so I didn't get to clean the filter. That will be on my list has soon as I can get a gasket.

Dec 14, 2003  I set aside the whole day to install the replacement shifter on the Borg Warner T-39 automatic transmission. As usually happens with these kinds of projects, a lot of unexpected things pop up that take more time than originally anticipated. I spent almost two hours getting the floor mat up and removing the transmission tunnel bolts. I removed the passenger seat and folded the mat over onto the driver's side.  I got all but two cover bolts out and then twisted the head off of one (it had a bolt underneath that held a clamp on the shift cable) and another was rusted in place and required the P B'laster treatment. Once the cover was off I was finally able to see exactly what I was dealing with. The transmission heat exchanger is fully visible and all the hose and trans fluid lines are accessible. The bracket that holds the exchanger to the transfer case is severely overbuilt. It is also in the way of mounting the shifter plate brackets to the transmission. I decided to remove that bracket since there is adequate support from the hoses and lines attached to the exchanger. Besides, I'm planning to replace it entirely with a flat plate exchanger in the future.The instructions for installing the shifter don't take into account that there is a Dana 20 transfer case attached to the rear of the transmission so I had to make some allowances for that too. After finally getting the shifter mounted and the cable hooked up, it was late in the day and I still need to cut a new hole in the cover for the shifter handle. I also need to secure the shift cable farther away from the exhaust pipe and do something with the lock out switch. At least I now have a sturdy, firm shifter with a nice long handle.

Dec 7, 2003  I had intended to work on replacing the broken off shifter handle on the Borg Warner automatic transmission today. I had also received an alternator mounting bracket from an online purchase and wanted to get rid of the old combination A/C compressor/alt bracket. What I thought was going to be a simple job turned into a major effort. In order to remove the bolts from the old bracket, I had to remove the fan and water pump pulleys. Once that was done, I tried to test fit the new bracket. It bolted up fine to the head and a stud on the exhaust manifold. The only problem was that there was not enough room between the bracket and the inside fender well to get the alternator in! I had to grind down some webbing on the bracket and part of the alternator case to get enough clearance to even mount the alternator. This only gave me about 1/4 inch of adjustment though. After some precision work with a 5 lb sledge on the fender well sheet metal, I got about 1/2 in. of adjustment room. Then, after several trips to the auto parts store to get exactly the right length belt, I got the alternator mounted and the belt tightened and the fan put back in. By this time, I had spent three hours on what was supposed to take 30 minutes, so I decided to postpone the shifter work for yet another week. I took care of some other things that needed attention like lubing the front steering and reinstalling the dash pot on the carburetor. I discovered that the dash pot brackets on the rebuilt 2300 manual choke and the NOS 2300C are different lengths. I swapped them out so the 2300C will now idle down without snapping the throttle shut and stalling out. I decided to adjust the sagging door hinges so they'll be lined up nice when I replace the weather stripping. My PB'laster was put to use again on the stubborn door hinge bolts. I also put in a 1ga negative battery cable to replace the wimpy 4ga that was too long anyway. I'm going to do the same with the positive cable but I'll probably have to make up my own since 74" 1ga cables are not readily available. I was going to replace the door gaskets but ran out of time (again!). Little by little, things are getting done. Just wish I had more time work on them.

Nov 22, 2003  Finished up installing the new top seals today. They fit perfectly and seal out all the drafts I had been experiencing since I bought the Scout. With all the bolts in place, it also eliminates a lot of the rattles and squeaks. I think I'll do the door gaskets next so I'll have a completely weather tight ride this winter.

Nov 16, 2003  Got some new travel top seals from ScoutParts.com and got started putting them on. We do get some rain in Tucson during the winter and I want to make sure I have the Scout "dried in" before they start. I got the top off with the help of some old cable-type camper jacks I had. Those things are scary for lifting a cabover but they handle the travel top just fine. I went to Ace Hardware and got some 5/16 x 24 flange bolts since the top is currently held on by only 3 bolts on each side. I got the top in the air and removed the remnants of the old seal and some kind of caulking that had been used on the windshield frame. Before I could get the new seals on, I had to go help my brother cut down some trees in his yard and haul a load to the dump. By the time I got home, there was only time to clean up before heading to the Scout Club meeting. I was going to drive the Scout topless but I couldn't get out from under the camper jacks. So I had to lower it back down and bolt it back on for now. Now that I've done it once, I should be able to get the seals on pretty quickly when I get some time. I still need to do something about that transmission shifter!

Nov 8, 2003  I saw a NOS Holley 2300 with automatic choke on Ebay, so I decided to replace the rebuilt 2300 manual choke which I hadn't been able to get running very well. Still had off-idle hesitation and was hard to start. I put on the 2300C and it made a world of difference! No more hesitation and starts right up. The only problem was that the dash pot doesn't allow the throttle to close far enough, even when adjusted all the way down. I removed it until I can figure out how to make it work. Now that I don't have to worry about the engine as much, I can focus on other things on the Scout. Next, I think I'll get the new door and top seals put on so I can stay dry when the winter rains come.
I mounted a pair of tow hooks on the frame horns under the front bumper and changed the fluid in the front diff. I still need to get the new shifter installed. Maybe in a couple of weeks.

Nov 2, 2003  I worked this weekend on getting the Scout to start and run better. I replaced the points and condenser and adjusted the timing. The $8 made-in-Taiwan distributor wrench I got at Checker was well worth the price. The distributor lock bolt is pretty inaccessible, especially with the A/C compressor bracket in the way. The timing was advanced quite a bit and I was getting stalling and backfiring from the carburetor when the throttle was opened fast off idle. Retarding the timing helped quite a bit. I don't know exactly how many degrees retarded it is because I didn't use a timing light. I just rotated the distributor until the idle came up and the stumble/backfire off idle went away. It still started ok so I don't think I retarded it too much.
After I got it to run better, I took it for a spin on a nearby dirt lot and tested the operation of the transfer case in 4H and 4L. Everything seems to work.

I decided to use the rest of my time to remove unwanted parts from the Scout. I started by yanking the York A/C compressor which a PO had already disconnected the hoses from. I discovered that the water pump, alternator and compressor are all driven by the same belt, which is adjusted by moving the compressor. So now I need to figure out a way to adjust the alternator to tighten the belt, which will be a lot smaller without the compressor in the loop. I'll probably have to fabricate some type of adjustable arm for the alternator if I don't replace the bracket altogether.
Next, I removed the heater assembly from the engine compartment. I plan ro reinstall it after I have cleaned it up. I think it needs a new motor anyway. Besides the two bolts in the wheel well, there are 2 bolts holding the assembly to the firewall. One is easily accessed from the engine side. The other is tucked away under the dash behind the duct and blower motor for the dealer installed air conditioner. It was slow going trying to turn the nut 1/8 turn at a time and not being able to reach it with bare fingers. I don't know how it was put on to begin with, but I'll worry about that when the time comes to replace the heater.

Next, I removed the air conditioning condenser, blower and under dash unit from the cab. There's a lot more room under the dash and in the passenger side foot well now. This will make getting to the wiper motors and other stuff behind the dash much easier.

Oct 12, 2003  I was all ready with a list of projects for the Scout so I got up bright and early to get started. The first thing I wanted to do was put on the rebuilt Holley 2300 carburetor I had gotten from Checker Auto. When  I went to start the Scout to move it closer to the garage, the starter stuck and just kept turning over the engine which didn't want to fire. By the time I found a wrench to disconnect the battery, it had run it down to almost dead. I was worried about letting the starter motor run for what seemed like 5 minutes but it was probably only a couple. So after an hour and a half of fiddling with the starter switch and hooking up another battery, I finally got to the carb. Everything went pretty smoothly except I left out the 1/4" spacer that goes between the carb and the intake manifold thinking that all I needed was the gasket that came with the carb. Only trouble with that is that without the spacer, the accelerator pump gets pushed  up when you bolt down the carb. When I started the engine, it must have hit about 8000 rpm which is pretty high for any engine, let alone an IH V-8. Sounded like everything was going to come apart. Fortunately, it stalled pretty quickly but I did try it a couple more times before I figured out what the problem was. Nothing like abusing a 33 year old motor. Good thing it's an IH!  I had to hook up a cable since the new carb is a manual choke. I haven't figured out where to mount it on the dash so the cable just comes through the firewall and lies across the console for now.

I moved on to my next task which was changing the rear diff fluid. This went pretty well too and I verified that the D-44 is indeed a Powr-Lok after I got the cover off. 
Before I forgot it, I mounted my 5 lb fire extinguisher to the roll bar on the driver's side.

My next project was to temporarily attach the spare tire behind the rear seat to keep it from rolling around. First, I had to mount the rear seat to the wheel well covers since it was just sitting loose in the back of the Scout. The 4 bolts were there and tightened down. Of course only 3 of them came out with little effort. The last one needed lots of PB'laster and vise grips to get it out. After the seat was secured, I cut some 2x6 scrap lumber to wedge the tire sideways and bungeed it to the seat back frame. That will suffice until I can fabricate a mounting bracket for the tailgate. By this time the day was pretty well over and I was getting tired anyway. I called it quits until the next time I get to work on it.

Sept 16, 2003  I got my 800A Operator's Manual from Binder Books today. I read the instructions for shifting to 4L and it works fine! It's a two-handed operation that involves moving the transmission selector from D to R while pushing the transfer case lever up towards the 4L position. Not real intuitive. I never would have figured it out without the manual.
 
Sept 14, 2003  I decided to get the passenger side window back in so the neighborhood cats couldn't piss in the truck. I managed to reinstall the window regulator and secure it with 3 out of 4 screws. I still need a crank handle and a regulator clip but at least it keeps out the elements.
I started to do some more in-depth checking of the truck. It turns out the TC145 (Dana 20) transfer case only shifts to 2H and 4H. It might just be that the linkage needs to be lubed. I was a few blocks from home when I tried it and didn't want to force it in case something broke and/or I got it stuck in N and couldn't get back home. I'll check into it more later.
I took the truck to the neighborhood car wash and sprayed the engine and diffs. The grease is pretty well caked on so it didn't do much good. It's going to take some scraping and elbow grease to get it cleaned up good. I parked the truck and put a piece of cardboard underneath overnight. I didn't see any major drips the next day!  That's a good sign. At least there's no major oil leaks.
I found that the wheel bolt pattern is the same as F**d light trucks/Br*nc*s. I have four of them lying around from a previous project, so I threw one in the back for a spare. Need to fabricate some kind of hold-down so it doesn't roll back and forth.
I changed the oil and filter and called it good for the day.
 
Sept 10, 2003  Took the truck to get the title transferred. Had to go through ADEQ emissions testing first since it's a 1970 and the cutoff for exemption is 1966. I was a little worried but it passed OK! Went next door to the Arizona MVD and got my new plates and title.

As purchased September 9, 2003