[mut]

A long time ago in a land far far away lived a little boy who just loved Scout IIs... One day he grew up and got himself a Chevy Blazer, granted this was not a Scout II, but close enough for his first ride. Many years past and this little boy grew up and started altering golf carts, one day he had a cart that he was proud enough of to sell... or trade for his Scout II...

...

So I was parusing c-list and offering a trade of my lifted golf cart for any of the Scout IIs that were listed. I received one contact back with a send me pictures and we will talk. I sent him the picts I had of the cart (available upon request - as well as my other golf cart projects) and the deal had started.

He was a couple hours out side of Modesto California, and I knew friends family who resides in Modesto so this looked like a good weekend get-a-way. This is not a blog so I will not get into details of the expensive wheelin/dealin weekend I had to get the Scout II.

The images captured here are 2 from the guy.

 

[mut]

Of course if you want the whole story all you have to do is ask... so I arrived at the truck... of course it was in way worse condition than stated in the deal before I drove over 14 hours to get to it. Below are picts of my first encounter with the beast.

There were no nests or infestations (except maybe spiders) in the truck so I considered it a good start. The Scout had 4 flat tires, no tumbler in the column, spiders loving the Scout, and the paint was a little bubbly. Apparently there was a "fast moving brush fire that went under the Scout"... this little fire incident caused not only paint issues, but wiring issues and anything plastic (wire loom) or melt-able (Shock boots) that was exposed became an interesting mess.

 

[mut]

Got the truck back to my buddy's family's house and put some tires on it that can hold air. Gatta find a new trailer to pull it home on cause I broke my light weight one loading the Scout onto it. Luckly my buddy's dad had a heavy duty one that the Scout would fit; so another deal and some more work and I got the Scout loaded behind my Yukon for the ride back to AZ from Modesto.

 

[mut]

Scout II in its new home... a comfy garage in Maricopa, Az. This thread will mostly be pictures. If you watch the background you will notice the garage change faster than the Scout. I have had the Scout for 3 years already but only recently started making progress. So the Scout was parked in the garage with mixed matched tires, dents (which while in the garage it will get some more of) a bit of rust, and like all long term projects (at least of mine) started out as a storage unit. The box you see on top of the Scout is actually new rear quarter panels that did not line up well with the original ones, I still have them but decided not to worry about the rust until I can actually drive down the street.

 

[mut]

Of course the Scout was in a few fender benders, here is one I focused on; and the first one to actually get fixed. It is the Driver front corner below/behind the bumper. The bumper is not pushed in on this side at all; it actually is pushed in on the passenger side. I probably will not be keeping the front bumper for my build (still have it still undecided); so I am not too worried about the dents in it or the fact that it is not straight. However I am trying to keep most of the body (to start with at least) so I will be trying to fix that up shall it be hammering or cut/weld I am going to try to take the cancer off and make the dents at least less noticeable.

 

[mut]

Even though the Scout had a brush fire under it, and was sitting in the forest for countless years the interior is in a surprising good condition. The dash pad has the normal sun cracks, and the dash/column could be better, but overall it is pretty darn good. The condition probably will only increase a little bit, but I might get a bug up my bum and try to redo the interior a little. Notice the nice door panels with no rips in them… I am actually quite impressed with the condition, ohh and as a red-neck hillbilly I love the peg board head-liner (and the 'key' for the ignition sitting in the passenger seat)…
Please remember that this Scout II project is not going to be entered into a Show-N-Shine competition. Once I get the Scout running and able to drive safely down the street this beast will become a trail boss. I will end up putting it to its limit, and as my bud said "if in a few years after we get [the Scout] going if there is a body panel with no dents on it we have not been using it enough, and eventually you know it will end up paint side down…" yup and I agree this Scout will not be the one that is on Barrett-Jackson but it will not be the one that ends up not looking like a truck but more of a roll-cage with an engine. This truck will be able to be used as a 'round the town and to work if I need it as well as a trail buster during the weekends. It will not be my DD so I will be able to do a little bit more mods than the DD/Weekend warrior but I do not think (at least at this time) that the Scout will become a trailer queen (due to not legal to be on the street anymore) that has become a cage I sit in with wheels and a drive train.

 

[mut]

First upgarde!!!

Alright so besides the normal fender/wheel well and rocker cancer this Scout has had a bit of bad luck… first the hood has a great dent on it that someone tried to pull out and then bondo over that will probably either be ground down and a plate welded into place or a new(er) hood will replace this one. I also would like to point out the first garage created problem… while unloading the Scout the driver door caught the vehicle next to the trailer and bent the lip of the door out =( no worries though as stated before this will not be a Show-N-Shine so a hammer will fix this for now.
This post also has the FIRST UPGARDE to the Scout II. I purchased 33-12.5R15 tires and rims for the Scout off of Craigslist; now the Scout has 4 matching tires/rims so it will now sit level and hold air in the tires for more than a day.

 

[mut]

Here are some pictures of the underside of the Scout II. Body bushings showing their age, shock boots showing how hot it got under the Scout during the fire, and the fill tube for the gas tank to connected and all the crap on the undercarriage that needs to be cleaned up and redone if necessary. The Scout II will need quite a bit of undercarriage TLC I think, but I am up to the challenge – I hope.
I also include a picture of the original (I think) AMC engine it is a 345 V8 2bbl carb, it does crank over but even with hope, drowning the carb with gas and a new battery it will not crank over and sputter. I was hopeful but honestly I knew it would not start the first try.

 

[mut]

With the Ignition switch on the floor next to the shifters it was easy to see where I needed to start for getting the Scout to start. Not only will installing the ignition switch make it easier to try and start the Scout, but also it would add security to it so I can park it out of the garage if needed. I think the next upgrade will be new key locks and a new tumbler for the ignition.
You can also view the drive train as it was when I got the Scout, paint flacking / bubbling off of the components, and a little rust over pretty much everything. This has got to go, and I have to change the fluids so what better time to spend the time to clean up the covers/pans and repaint them? Pictures of that to come later.

 

[mut]

As with the boot for the shock the brush fire had its way with the split plastic wire loom that was through-out the truck such as seen here covering the electric wire that was supposed to go to the transfer case. The wire was unplugged, the connection was burnt to a crisp and the loom had melted over the wire even thru the insulation in some places. I knew there would be some re-wiring to do; little to my knowledge then I would have quite a bit more to re-wire than the ones under the truck.
The Scout DID come with true dual exhaust with Super Turbo mufflers. There was no ‘H’ pipe so the Scout would sound quite nice in my hillbilly opinion – once I got it started that is.
The Scout was lifted with spring mount drops near the center of the frame and on the outsides there were longer shackle hangers. At least they left the stock Dana 44s front and rear; I plan on keeping them because I like the narrowness of the Scout and the availability of aftermarket parts for D44s. I do not plan on having to change these axles out, but who knows once I get it running nice and I break an axle (or housing) I might just upgrade then; just not sure what I would upgrade to.

 

[mut]

Another look at a melted shock boot, this time I am focusing on the Gas Tank and the Gas line. The gas line when thru the boxed frame and out the front to the mechanical pump. I liked how it was protected from almost everything the majority of the length. I kept this idea when I ran the new line.

 

[mut]

Dropping all pans and covers I did a mechanical inspection of the engine rods and crank, fly wheel, the tranny (visible area) and the differentials. The Engine looked clean and no stress at all, this was very promising. The tranny was nice and red (no indication of any issues), fly wheel looked perfect. The only disappointment was the fact that the carriers were both open, which is fine; this will allow me to install whatever I want to in the future. As for now they will stay open and I will get the truck drivable before I start any upgrades like that.

 

[mut]

Time to reinstall the pans/covers and put new fluids in; first I cleaned off all the dirt, rust, and old paint from the tabs, bolts, and pans/covers. The color scheme I decided on is not a traditional IH color setup, but more of the Chrysler roots behind most of the components. I decided Flat Black would be good for all hardware and diff covers and went with Hemi Orange for the pans. The Hemi Orange was the closest to the Competition Orange that the Scout body is available in rattle can. Flat black is my best friend for frames and hardware.

 

[mut]

Painting - drive train

Before painting I took a hammer to the covers to make sure that the dents that were put in it by the previous owners were mostly pushed back out where they should be. With the paint dry and a little time on my hands I purchased all the fluids I needed to put the blood back into the components of the Scout. While I was getting the fluids, I picked up an oil filter and a new starter. The other one that was on there was a hit/miss with the bendix to get it started. Included is a before shot of the drive train, IMHO looks so much better painted. Now I know looks do not make it work, but I figured that since I had to check the mechanics before I really started to try to breathe life back into the Scout that the covers/pans would not come back off until needed; so I put good gaskets on them all and made sure that they looked good.

 

[mut]

With the cleaning and painting bug I caught I decided it was time to drop the tank. I cleaned and painted the tank straps, and cleaned the outside and inside of the tank.

 

[mut]

Painting - gas tank

Painted tank strap, tank, and installed. For the straps I painted Flat Black and I used rattle can bed liner to cover the gas tank.

 

[mut]

Remember the box on top of the Scout when I mentioned that it became a storage location. Well the box had rear quarter panels in them which I decided would be a good project to do while I was waiting on my buddy to come over a week or so later to help with getting the engine started. I went to check out the goods and I was disappointed in what I found. The rear was cut at a strange curve, possible opposite curve than what was given in specs. The front door jam area was off quite a bit, and the radius for the wheel well was off too. I contacted the company I purchased these from and they refunded half my $ and did not ask for the parts back. They did this because I agreed to it, I agreed to that arrangement because I decided that I might be able to use the panels yet, even if I cut out what I want to use and keep the rest for scrap.

 

[mut]

My bud and I got the engine to run and I started driving it around town. Well trying to drive it around town. The engine still had issues with stalling or just shutting down. The tranny needed to be rebuilt in a bad way. The only thing that seemed to work well was the transfer-case. We decided to keep working on getting the engine running well. In the meantime I called around about rebuilding the tranny. I received a few Noes and a couple Yeses. The problem with the yeses was to cost to rebuild the tranny with a shift kit. We put a stop on working on the Scout for a while until I got back from working abroad for my job. Once back the engine just kept demoralizing us. With the cost of the rebuild for tranny and the engine not playin nice with us we decided that I should look into a drive train swap.
I found a buyer for the drive train I had (his engine was a shrapnel cage) and I included the tranny and transfer for a good price (btw I still have another Torqueflight 727 tranny for sale)
Out with the old; while out I took advantage to cleanup and repaint the engine compartment.

 

[mut]

I searched local for a truck that had what I wanted in it for a drive train and had to make a couple compromises but in the end I believe I will be all right. I found a nice 1986 Chev Sub with a 350 th400 and 203 in it for a price I could not let by. I called my bud and took him with me and some cash to look at the burban. The seller had some receipts for the engine parts and other stuff. We decided that this truck would make a great donor. After getting the truck home my buddy and I were joking around about trading his long bed for the burban because he could use it for camping easier with his dogs. After a few of these jokes and a few beers we shook on the deal. I got a 1978 GMC K10 4x4 with a 350, TH400, and NP203. The engine has a performance cam, new hydraulic lifters, roller rockers, double roller timing chain. The tranny has a shift kit in it and has been rebuilt recently, the case for the tranny is a hard to find reinforced case. The x-fer case (NP203) has the part time kit installed.

Got the trucks ready for the transplant; I live in a neighborhood that has an hoa so we had to make sure that we did the swap all at once or at least find points to stop in that we could clean up and make it look like nothing too major was going on. Since the Scout had no drive train in it; we took one day to disconnect all electrical and other connections in the K10. This also included getting the front clip removed to work and then setting the clip back on the frame overnight.

 

[mut]

In the morning I had a couple guys come over and we had the engine removed and installed between the Scout II rails in 8 hours.