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Head Porting - Finished

Less than a week.. woo-hoo. I drained a lot of water out of the air compressors though.. when die grinding they didn't cycle on/off at all, until I would pause.



This head porting job went much faster than my previous, where I spent a full month of evenings/weekends on the first head, and 2 weeks on the second. I think adding the 5hp compressor to the 1hp made a huge difference, plus just knowing what to do and what I wanted to do.

Powder Coating some 392 tin

After our Fun Days weekend, I had a little time to get started on the powdercoating. I've been bead-blasting stuff for a week or two whenever I have the chance, and it was finally time to fire up the powder gun and the shop oven.



Sunday night, I did the valve covers and the oil filter adapter.



Truck motor progress..

Found out the second set of heads weren' t junk - that's a good sign.



The machine shop is waiting for the guides to show up so they can finish with the partial valve job and I can then get to work porting.



I did the test assembly last week and measured about .035" piston to deck clearance on the front of the block, and .032" on the rear.



I wrote the numbers on the block itself after disassembling everything again and preparing to haul the block to the machine shop again.







After getting the block torn back down (which was after I worked on the Laser's valve cover, which is another story..) I even managed to get the tappet cover, oil filter adapter, timing cover, and part of the thermostat housing bead-blasted.



Still have a few more things to blast, like the rest of the thermostat housing (and another piece of it), two valve covers, the oil pan.. and if I can, I'd like to get the waterpump housing and such cleaned up and then powdercoat all of that stuff.



We'll see.



I also picked up a Taurus electric fan from the junkyard for the truck -



I think it'll fit between the radiator and the mechanical clutch fan, thanks to the 74/75 engine set-back.

Gryphin Racing Steering Linkage

It seems I've been spending more time on Oscar than anything else lately.. :D



The Gryphin Racing steering linkage arrived on Thursday night. Saturday I installed it.



Out with the 1968 35yr old originals...











IN with the new GRT hardware..







We also swaped on some 31x10.50 RADIALS on some stock Scout chrome wheels that need cleaned up.



Then we pulled the hardtop off and went to the summer bikini..







Naturally, it rained that night.. :D



More Pictures

800 Filler Neck R&R

Michelle's 800 "Oscar" came to us with one working filler neck, and one SHOT neck.



The fuel valve was also leaking, allowing the fuel pump to suck air.



This weekend I finally put the new filler neck from SSS in.







The job went pretty painless and easy.



More Photos



I also finished installing and mounting the electric fuel valve, though the gas tank gauge switch needs to be swapped out so I can run both the fuel gauges AND the fuel tank valve off the same switch.



New Gryphin Racing tie-rod, draglink, and pitman arm should be here this week and that'll cure the Death Wobble.. picked up some nicer 31x10.50 *radial* MTs to throw on.. it'll be a new Scout!

Crack(ed) Head(s)

While reviewing the contents of my shop for anything I might need to send to Denver, John Comer and I spoke a little about my 392 heads I was working on for my 392 project.



He advised that I get the guides installed before I finish my head porting, so I dutifully hauled my heads in for cleaning and guiding.. then got word that both were cracked. :(









Good thing I hadn't gotten very far on the head porting!



Fortunately, I had a "running" IC392 lying around.. which is now not-so-running.



More 392 head and disassembly pics



Those heads have been dropped off and hopefully they'll come back OK after the magnafluxing.



Comer delivered my new industrial chrome plated Stan's headers for a 74/75 truck. The SunPro triple-gauge set (electrical) I bought on Ebay has arrived, and the SunPro air/fuel gauge is on it's way.



Summit should be sending out my O2 sensor and weld-in bungs before long, too..



Hopefully I'll get the short-block test-assembled this week, and drop the block off for decking about the same time I pick up the heads.



Then while the block is decked and cam bearings installed, I'll port the heads.. then trade back, and begin final assembly of the shortblock while the machine shop finishes the valve job.



And THEN I can start stuffing this monster into the Travelette. :D

Memorial Day Rally

Frontier 4-Wheelers (my club) and Cascade County 4-Wheelers had a Memorial Day 4x4 Rally over.. well.. Memorial Day.



The Comers and Korstens came up from Denver to flog their Scouts next to mine.. and the Binders put on a good show.



Jennifer Comer took 1st place in the Women's Obstacle in the Korstens' "Pits"



John and Pansy took home 1st place trophies for drag racing in Gryphin and Banshee



Michelle won 1st place in her class in Little Devil



I even managed a 2nd place finish in the mud-drags.



Robert "JetFxr" and his wife arrived in his SR2 to provide support. My thanks to them for videotaping most of the weekend.



I'm pretty happy with how Little Devil ran. I had a relay die in the drag races which curtailed my race for a top-3 finish, and I had the ignition sputtering a bunch during the baja, but all in all not bad.



The radiator needs replaced, the oil filter adapter is weeping, and a balljoint needs some attention.. but nothing major broke, we jumped it harder than before with no breakage, and my second obstacle run felt pretty good/fast, and I was within 2 seconds of 1st place.



Some pics and video are up...



Photo Album



Though I'm still MPEG-ing most of the video from the weekend.







Scout II Lift Heights

Lift kits, measured from top of axle tube to bump stop brackets. In the rear, if your truck lacks a bump stop bracket, measure to the frame and subtract 1/2 of an inch.


Remember that variations will always exist. Some trucks weigh more or less (some drivers!) in areas. Some measurements are fairly "fresh" installs while others have been in use for years and have "sagged" somewhat.


Please email Tom Mandera with any additional measurements you can provide - even if your particular lift is listed here, more datapoints are always welcome. Better yet, just add a COMMENT to this News Article.



























OwnerBrandLiftFrontRear
Tom ManderaStock'77 XLC3.5"4.5"
Erik Van RenselaarSkyjacker2"6"6.5"
Tom ManderaSkyjacker4"7.5"6.5"
Tom ManderaSkyjacker4" w/ 2" rear shackles7.5"8"
Bob BlairSkyjacker4"6.5"6.5"
I don't remember!Triangle4"6.5"8"
Nicholas Rayer
Jr		Triangle4"6.57.5
Nicholas Rayer
Jr		Rancho2.57.258.5
Mark
Ashford		Spring
Over		N/AN/A9.25
Mark AshfordStock non-XLCstock3.254 7/8
Mark
Ashford		Spring
Over		3" Front, RS, Dana306.7510
Gary MeekerRanch2.577.5
Rod PhillipsTriangle A21 4"46.75n/a
Doug MitchellOld Ranch2.55.256.25

Tom's FAQs



Copyright 1999, Tom Mandera, TMComputers

Almost ready to rumble..

With Tigger finally running again and out of the shop, I pulled Little Devil in Sunday morning.



Lots of progress on various issues. My thanks to Todd B. for dropping by and lending a hand, unexpectedly.



Put the Terra tires on the rear again.



Put some valve-springs (old stockers from the 392 Travelette project) under the hood pins and really firmed up how the hood latches, cutting down on the rattles.



Add hoodpins to the bottom of the firewall area, to pin the bottoms of the front fenders (on the tilt front clip).



With these two repairs/updates, the front clip rattles were cut down a LOT.. and after I finally bolted the SSII grille into place, the front clip doesn't rattle - AT ALL now.



Similarly, some rubber lawn-edging was wedged into the tailgate and cured the tailgate rattle, too.



Got the bikini top mounted to the rollcage.



Got the wiring working again after a winter outside and packing it full of mud.



Replaced a missing tail-light.



Replaced a broken headlight.



Installed rear bump stops finally (4 years w/o 'em!).



Just about ready to go. I just need to get my camcorder mounted, ziptie a few loose wires, and give the Scout a bit of a bath.



----



While Todd was over, I snapped some pictures of his '73 Scout II, now on 33x12.50 BFG ATs.



Pics of Todd's Rig
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