The "Re-Roll" Build

So I thought I'd start a thread for the 63 "re-roll" that I'm going to turn into a pure trail rig....and trust me it wont be pretty.

back round; 1963 s80, 196 4cyl, t-90 3spd, d18 t-case, tapered d44 in the rear, and a d27 in the front. Over all it has very little rust, this is a good thing. The po had 1/2 a clue, but did some pretty crappy work and a lot of it needs to be re-done.

the good; It runs great, has a weber 32/36 carb, new wiring, new brakes with a dual m/c, proportioning valve, new soft lines, and hard lines, fuel cell with working gauge, oil/voltage/water temp gauges, new aluminum radiator.

the bad; The motor mounts are home built solids, the trans pops out of second, it needs a new t/o bearing, the wiring needs to be done right, it wanders all over the place and has horrible bump steer, no top or heater, no door windows, the fuel cell isn't really mounted and is in the bed behind the driver

that's all I can report on for now and will update as work progresses. I will start with the suspension, it has 8" shackles on it and I'm pretty sure that the bushings are trashed. I just ordered a 55-75 cj-7 complete daystar bushing kit off ebay for $5.96......score!! My plan it to change all the spring bushings with the poly ones and put stock length shackles on it and see how it drives after that. I'm sure that I will have to drill out the old bushings (that should be fun) and that it will fight me the whole way.

Some pics of the beast;

Got the suspension all back together and it drives much better. Still has some steering issues that I'm working on. The hoods off along with the windshield, the piano hinge on the windshield is all fubar and will require some welding to get it right.

So I tore into the 63 yesterday, pulled the steering column and figured out what parts were needed to fix it and ordered them. Pulled the hood and windshield, I know why it has a late model windshield frame now. At one time in its life it had the original bent back pretty far (rolled, overhang, who knows) so there is a pretty good twist to the passenger side of the mounting surface of the windshield and hood. I already fixed the driver side and need to turn it around to fix the other side. I will wait till the steering column parts are installed before I move it.

I also pulled the dash off and started to clean up the wiring and add fuses where needed. I will also move the gauges to the empty gauge hole building a panel to mount them. The speedo wasn't the original and through some research I found it to be an early 50's truck unit.

Did some rewiring over the past few days, it will need a complete rewire, but at least it wont burn down now. Got the steering back together and the bell was an issue but it looks like the box has a problem too. Got a source on a good one and am starting to source parts for a cherokee ps box install. Got the piano hinge semi straightened out on the windshield. I need to do some tack welds on one side so it quits see-sawing on the factory spot welds to finish the straightening.

Started to build the wire harness today. The engine compartment and front lights are run and the engine is wired. Worked till it was dark, so no pics today.

It's coming along....slowly

So its been a while since I updated......

I mostly straightened out the windshield mount and am waiting on a passenger vent window so that I can get the angle right on the frame before I weld it back together. I ended up tearing all the wiring and fuse box out and rewiring it rather than band-aiding what was there. I replaced the ignition switch and got a light switch with the ability to dim the dash lights. I'm also fixing all the holes that weren't needed in the dash plate and will repaint it when done.

new fuse box, not mounted yet, but functioning


first dash test fit.....everything is good

I took my windshield to the shop so I had bigger tools to play with and straighten it out. Fixed the hinge and bent the tabs that hold it in the up position through the dash back to where there supposed to be. Did a total gauge and wiring test on the new harness that I built...passed with honors, and did a run function test....everything works electrically and mechanical. I also beat on the hood a bit to get it closer to the original shape. My vent window is on its way and by the end of next week I should have working vent windows and rollup windows. I still need to re work and re weld the drivers regulator but should do that this weekend. Found a heater and am working on a deal for it.

Its shaping up.....wont be long till I can drive it and be comfortable with its reliability, next stop will be bringing it to a meeting....lol

So I finished the dash install, need a different column, not worth repairing....always upgrade, and I mounted the bikini top! Also finished the repair and re-welding of the driver door regulator and re-drilled the door for the regulators. I guess there was a difference somewhere along the way of the placement in the door, no big deal, it was pretty easy. So at lease 1 door is basically done, except for felt strips.......baby steps.

The local pick-a-part was having 1/2 price days this weekend, saw an 800 in there when we went to get oem bumpers for some projects at the shop last week. Went down yesterday and got an 800 short steering column for $19.00, then went back today with a buddy and his van to get some stuff for that too.

Got the top, doesn't have the liftgate, but I can fab something up for that.

1/2 price day...$50.00 and it even has sliders!

So I spent the day re-fitting the 800 top that I got from the jy. I can tell you that there is a slight difference between the tops, only 4 out of 7 windshield bolts line up which is no big deal since I have to add nutserts to the windshield frame cause there all stripped out except 2 and I like the strength. While doing this today I've now have a clear direction for the "weather proofing" part. I will shorten the travel top to a p/u top that I think IH should have done imo.



I found this s800 on the internet and it has the perfect top for what I'm going for. With the extended area behind the seats using this style of top, I will remove the "step" that IH put into it for the fuel tank area and widen it out to the bed rail and go straight down to the floor of the bed. I will make a bulkhead farther back and this should add a few more inches of room for the seat bottom to go all the way back to the step into the bed and open up a small storage area behind the seat.

Got an original heater unit in the other day and with the updated dual mc it had to be moved forward about 1.5 inches and drilled new holes for mounting. I picked up some high quality dryer vent hose to plumb the air system....$13.00, will see if it will work over the weekend.


Still need to change the steering box before it's safe to drive.


So I mounted the heater and the dryer hose works pretty good for the price, a little different than from factory, but good enough. The fresh air side is plugged with a 4" rubber end cap for sewer pipe, don't really need another possible source for cold air to get in in the winter. I also plumbed the defrosters, who would have knew that my left over vw heater hose was close enough to the size to work...cost $0.00. Everything fits tight but you can get to everything if needed. Still need to add a switch for the fan and redo the wire routing and add all the vent/defroster/heater cables.




The radiator is not the right one for a Scout and is mounted offset to the driver side, blocking the air vent for the heater pickup. I ordered a new Robert shaw tstat and the correct gaskets for the housing. When they come in I will remove the radiator and redo the cooling/heater system plumbing so that everything works and doesn't interfere with anything. Hopefully I can get everything to work with this radiator. Cause a new one is $240.00!

Well.....both the steering boxes do the same thing, my original one to a lesser degree. Whenever a direction change, left/right or right/left, there is a distinct click sound and you can feel it in the steering wheel. Once it does that the steering is normal in feel and motion and once your moving above 5mph it isn't discernible.

Dammit............more down time!

71mtnscout said:

well.....both the steering boxes do the same thing, my original one to a lesser degree. Whenever a direction change, left/right or right/left, there is a distinct click sound and you can feel it in the steering wheel. Once it does that the steering is normal in feel and motion and once your moving above 5mph it isn't discernible.

Dammit............more down time!

Click to expand...

Kinda sounds like it's not the steering box if they both do the same thing.

Its in the box, I can watch the pitman arm bounce, and its there with and without the drag link connected.

71mtnscout said:

its in the box, I can watch the pitman arm bounce, and its there with and without the drag link connected.

Click to expand...

Without the link connected changes my thought. Just weird that they both do the same thing. Is it possible its in the column?

I thought it was in the bell joint when I first got the truck and the bell joint did have some issues, so I ended up rebuilding it. That eliminated 75% of my steering issues, except for the click/jump that the box does. I guess I'm just going to have to convert it to ps now, I don't want to put a lot of money into the stock steering system since I want ps as an "end goal" anyhow. I can get a new worm rider for a decent price, I guess I have to take a box apart and see if I can "patch it" till I gather all the parts needed to do the conversion.

Well it seems to be a common problem. Yesterday I went to a friends place who also has 80's and his boxes do the same thing.

Weird things that you collect over the years and keep......................

I found this in the bed of a 63 s80 that I bought to get back on the road years ago, but ended up selling it.



So I cleaned it up and installed it in "beater"....have to modify it a little for the big gulp, but the can works great! Don't know if it was home made or some strange accessory that was made in the 60's, but I've never seen another.

I like it!!

I also (for the most part) have a working vent/defroster system. I still need to plumb coolant to the heater, but I need to drain the radiator, relocate it to where it should be, its 3-4 inches to far over to the drivers side. Its really the wrong radiator, but its a brand new 3 core aluminum unit, so I will try to make it work. I May have to do some fancy plumbing for it and at that time I will replace the t-stat and plumb the heater with the coolant shut-off valve.

I haven't really done anything to the Scout for a while so today was get the fuel system issues worked out, cause I have the stuff to do that and don't need to buy anything for it.

I removed the fuel cell and drained what fuel was left in it, almost 5 gallons, and the gauge said a needle above empty. So I will have to fine tune the float level while its out. As expected there a few previous horrible decisions made while building it that I will have to fix. Like the fill cap, it was horribly welded and silicone covered, and it still smelled and leaked. I will build a new fill/vent bolt on cover that will go to a filler cab in the fender. Other than building a mount to put it under the rear like a sii tank is, it will be cleaned and used as it is for now. No pics today and now the tank is sitting out and open letting the rest of the fuel dregs evaporate off so I can clean the inside of the tank and redo the fuel pickup. It had a rubber hose just laying in the bottom of the tank. I will built a metal pickup tube for that so its a consistent supply and not a hose moving around in the bottom of the tank sometimes.