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But, while the Scout was away, I bought my second Scout II, a '77, detailed on my other page. I've also been collecting parts to put the '72 back into running condition.. and then some! ;)
As noted below, I have a Dana 44 front end in the garage waiting to go in.. I have a new (disc) master cylinder, proportioning valve, brake booster, etc. sitting there waiting. I stole my T19 for the '77.. but I plan on acquiring another at the RMIHR this summer. I've slowly started stripping the interior as part of my rebuild.. watch the details - My 72s rebuild as I'm working on it. The short plan is to strip it down, clean it up, and put it back together.. with the springs on top of the axles, and lots of other goodies thrown in.
Finally I got my hands on a Scout, shown here pretty much like I bought it. As you can see, it has a dent in the passenger rear tailight, but that's it. The roof (barely noticeable in this pic, but fairly extensive) needs some rust removal.. surface cancer all over. Some minor nicks and dings here and there.. and the paint job isn't the prettiest, but...
Other problems I've found: rust holes at the rear of the front fenders - there's a "ledge" in there that likes to hold mud/rock/salt/water and other cancer causing materials.. so my passengers (and me) get a good mud bath when I bury it up to the hood in mud.. ($675 to fix it!!) There's also a small amount of surface rust on the hood, and the rocker panels and inside of the fenders, but nothing big.
| 304 V8 w/ 57k original miles! | 1979 T13 (syncro 1st!) 3spd manual tranny | Drum breaks (manual - no power) at all four corners | Factory AM Radio option |
| Dana 30 front | Dana 20 xfer case | Chrome bumpers front and rear | Delux interior and exterior trim packages |
| Dana 44 rear | 3.73 gears | ||
Anyhow.. that's what it came with. I paid $1700 for the beast from a friend of mine. Full documentation. I'm the third owner. Since then, I've made a few upgrades / repairs to my new toy..
4/5/97 - Two weeks ago, I bought Scout a spare tire.. full size.. new chrome Modular rim, and a used 31x10.50" Wrangler (to supplement my four 31x10.50" BFG Traiil TAs). I figured ol' Scout would be pretty happy now.. Not so. It went in to Midas the day after (Monday).. they called me back to tell me my right front drum has a 1/4" gouge in it (so that ws the scraping sound when I hit the brakes..). It needs new shoes all around, new springs, new wheel cylinders, the rear drums can be turned, but the front drums are shot. Okay... $1,000!! That's over half what I paid for my Scout!
1/8/97 - I've made a few more mods! Well, okay, more like field repairs.. My lovely heater acted up again.. I finally had it working really well, then the blower motor starting making noises (more than the usual high-pitched whine it has been making for last 5 years).. on Christmas day, it blew very little air, then, later that day, it blew no air, and I got a foul smell of burnt wires.. Well, it seems that the heater motor for a 72 Scout II is NO WHERE to be found in Montana.. 73+ all used CHEVETTE blower motors (I have two junk Chevettes in my collection), but 72 didn't.. so, $52 and a long UPS wait later, Giddem' Up Scout in Colorado Springs, CO shipped me one. I took the opportunity to order the IH Service Manual too.. very cool. Anyhow, after a very scary trip skiing in a blizzard with no heater (or defrosters) and getting impaled in a snow bank after driving off the road for about 30 feet, I finally fixed the heater.. better than new! Only caveat.. the old blower had a mud cover on it.. this one doesn't. :( Gotta figure out a way to fab one.
12/17/96 - In the last few months I've added a few more mods to my Scout II... a 94amp Delco alternator, tried a 300watt 12V heater for a bit, then sprung and had the 25yr old heater hoses replaced and the core flushed.. MUCH better heating. It's around 0 degrees here in Montana today.. I also finished my seatbelt swap.. I tore the two piece shoulder harnesses from my parts donor '73 Buick Station Wagon and installed them. These belts have a lap portion, and a seperate (fixed, non-rectracting) shoulder harness that attaches to the ratcheting-male lap belt. The male ratchet piece bolted in place of the stock males, but the passenger car belts angle inward a LOT more than the IH ones did, so the belt is right up against the seat. Not a problem though.. just required me to torque the mechanism in at an angle and then use the bolt to make it flat. Sadly, I had to take a propane torch to the plastic/rubber cover around my stock belts.. it just wouldn't come off with my forcible prying. *sniff*. I then bolted the Shoulder pieces to the roll-bar, above the angular rear support, using two grade-8 bolts, and two metal backing plates (home made U-bolt). The end result is: I can wear my lap belt like before, and optionally hook up the shoulder harness for greater protection. Only problem is, while I really like the fixed position shoulder harness for the safety aspect, I have it set so tight that the parking brake is a bit of a stretch.. :-)
Oh, I bought new tires/wheels, too. I got 4 31"x10.5" BFG Trail Terrains used from a guy in Missoula for $225, mounted on Ford 5-lug rims. Great. Those'll bolt up! Well.. er.. except the front hub part.. so off to the tire man, and I traded the Ford rims for 4 used 15"x8" 5-lug Chrome Modular rims and $100. Total price for some really cool rims, and 4 31" tires - $325. A good deal cheaper than nearly $200 for each rim/wheel! I still need to buy a spare though.. :-( Gotta get that *soon*
| Replaced carb - the original 25yr old Holley was gunked up.. after two failed rebuilds by myself, I finally let the shop do it.. and found the base plate was cracked. Eventually I got tired of watching my new toy sit in my driveway. A total of $400 into the new carb. But, I went from 8mpg city, 9mpg highway to about 12 or 13mpg city, and almost 15mpg highway. | $400 |
| Roll Bar - I installed a reproduction factory roll bar from Giddem' Up Scout | $180 plus some paint |
| Bikini Top - After the roll bar went in, the top came off, and a $50 bikini with $15 window channel were installed for topless summer fun. (Pics of this coming!) | $65 |
| Replaced Junk 6x9's with Alpines.. MUCH better | $100 |
| A longer choke cable - the new Holley carb has the choke on the opposite side of the carb, so the factory cable won't reach: Update: I bought a cheap choke cable from Champion Auto, burnt the black handle off, then drilled a hole in the cable to attach my factory knob to it. | $10 |
| New valve cover gaskets - it leaks! --Finally got 'em fixed, along with the fr and rear diffs, the tranny and xfer case lube, the diff lubes, under-coat my roll-bar mounts, etc. | $100 |
| 94amp Delco Alternator to replace the stock 37amp unit | $90 (kept the ol' 37amp original) |
| 12V 300watt auxilary heater.. tried it, it SUCKS, yanked it. | $100!! |
| Heater core flush and new hoses. This restored my Scout's *awesome* heater.. still needs a new valve though.. | $50 |
| Heater Blower Motor | $52 |
| IH Service Manual for 72/73/74/75 Scout IIs | $60 |
| 8/29/97 Close ratio, 1976 T-19 & Dana 20 | $200, not installed yet - oops, installed in the '77 now! |
| Dana 44 front axle, 3.73 gears, LOCK-O-MATIC hubs | $250, not installed yet |
| Reman. Power Brake Booster | $95, n.i.y. |
| New disc master cylinder | $60, n.i.y. |
| pb mount & shaft | free, n.i.y |
| Proportioning valve | free, n.i.y. |
| 2 rear wheel cylinders | $20 ea., n.i.y. |
| Power Steering system | $50, n.i.y. |
My Plan is starting to take shape as an HTML file.. take a peek and let me know what I've missed. I'll be adding pictures of my progress as I.. umm.. progress. At the moment, the '72 has been put on hold while I do some upgrades on the '77 to "tide me over"... then I'll get back to work on tearing the '72 down.. big job, I hope I can pull it off in a reasonable amount of time!