Project Karma

[Scooter]

Indeed, it's coming along very nicely and looks great. I have used por-15, too, for the floor in my past build ups. And I plan on doing the same thing with the floor with my current 73 beast. But after I repair the cancer in the normal spot on the driver side floor body mount area.

I agree with Scout-it-out about the bolts for the steering box. I use no less than grade 8 bolts for that. I might even suggest adding a reinforcement plate to at least one side of the frame, if not both sides. Ihon sells a 1/8" thick steering box reinforcement plate just for this application. rpt Scout II steering box reinforcement plate. I actually made my own out of 1/4" plate. The frame on my my 74 Scout II was getting a little tweeked right at one of the steering box bolts. And I have actually watched the steering box flex a little bit while rotating the steering wheel. I have seen and heard of people fabbing up a crosse member piece that attaches to the inner frame rail where the steering box mounts going to the opposite frame rail, kinda like the trans mount bracket. Food for thought

other than that, loven the progress.

[Tahoedonner]

Originally Posted by scooter

indeed, it's coming along very nicely and looks great. I have used por-15, too, for the floor in my past build ups. And I plan on doing the same thing with the floor with my current 73 beast. But after I repair the cancer in the normal spot on the driver side floor body mount area.

I agree with Scout-it-out about the bolts for the steering box. I use no less than grade 8 bolts for that. I might even suggest adding a reinforcement plate to at least one side of the frame, if not both sides. Ihon sells a 1/8" thick steering box reinforcement plate just for this application. rpt Scout II steering box reinforcement plate. I actually made my own out of 1/4" plate. The frame on my my 74 Scout II was getting a little tweeked right at one of the steering box bolts. And I have actually watched the steering box flex a little bit while rotating the steering wheel. I have seen and heard of people fabbing up a crosse member piece that attaches to the inner frame rail where the steering box mounts going to the opposite frame rail, kinda like the trans mount bracket. Food for thought

other than that, loven the progress.

I will be doing either the reinforcement plate or straight steer. I have yet to find out the advantage of one over the other. Got any opinions? I would love to hear them.

[Tahoedonner]

Scout started puking some wires today. The wiring looked daunting in the beginning but since reading a bunch and looking at all that is involved it doesn't seem that it will end up being as difficult as originally thought. Also was able to get the cd ignition box, coil, and starter solenoid mounted to the firewall today. It's a mallory hy-fire 6 cd box, mallory e-coil, and regular old Ford starter solenoid. I am going to order a 6th cylinder live wire to use as my coil wire. It is about 28 inches long. I am following Maybens ignition upgrades because they seem to be the best choice for ultimate ignition reliability and performance.

Never start wiring without a beer and a koozie.



Here are some pics of the mallory cd box, coil, and starter solenoid.

[Scooter]

Originally Posted by tahoedonner

I will be doing either the reinforcement plate or straight steer. I have yet to find out the advantage of one over the other. Got any opinions? I would love to hear them.

I know on my 74 Scout, all three bolt holes, for the steering gear box, in the frame are sleeved, to prevent the frame itself from being deformed when the bolts are tightend. The straight stear that you speak of will help destribute the force between both frame rails. It also adds a cross brace where none was mounted from the factory. My theory is to add both - a reinforcement plate and the straight steer. The plate being on the outside of the frame, sandwhiched between the steering gear box and the frame. That was where my frame was getting tweeked. Not so much on the inside(engine bay) of frame.

In my build thread of my 74, I believe I added photos of the 1/4" plate that I fabed up. I then welded it to the out side of the frame, then bolted the steering box on top of that. Then fine tuning the alignment to compensate the 1/4" plate. I also added a reinforcement plate - similar to what IH Parts America sells - to the inside(engine bay) of the frame.

Hope that helps some what
scooter

btw - good luck and enjoy the re-wiring. Been there done that. And I'm about to do it again. Glutten for punishment oh boy

[Tahoedonner]

Originally Posted by scooter

I know on my 74 Scout, all three bolt holes, for the steering gear box, in the frame are sleeved, to prevent the frame itself from being deformed when the bolts are tightend. The straight stear that you speak of will help destribute the force between both frame rails. It also adds a cross brace where none was mounted from the factory. My theory is to add both - a reinforcement plate and the straight steer. The plate being on the outside of the frame, sandwhiched between the steering gear box and the frame. That was where my frame was getting tweeked. Not so much on the inside(engine bay) of frame.

In my build thread of my 74, I believe I added photos of the 1/4" plate that I fabed up. I then welded it to the out side of the frame, then bolted the steering box on top of that. Then fine tuning the alignment to compensate the 1/4" plate. I also added a reinforcement plate - similar to what IH Parts America sells - to the inside(engine bay) of the frame.

Hope that helps some what
scooter

btw - good luck and enjoy the re-wiring. Been there done that. And I'm about to do it again. Glutten for punishment oh boy

After reading up on some other threads I think that I will end up doing both the reinforcement plate and straight steer. The outside of my frame hasn't started deforming at the bolt holes yet but some preventative maintenance can't hurt. Thanks for the ideas.

[Tahoedonner]

Got some more work done over the weekend and so far this week. Most of the engine bay wiring is finished. Heat shrunk all connections and will be covering all wire runs in split loom. Picked up a 100 amp alternator because mine needed a rebuild and I knew in the future I was going to need the extra amperage. Right now I'm running with the single pulley on the alternator. I have additional dual pulleys to swap on if I need to. We'll see if I have any slippage. Need to start on the dash and steering column wiring so I needed to get the steering column and dash cleaned up and painted. I coated them in eastwood semi gloss black. They turned out great. I also have an IH only dash panel and auto meter gauges that will be going in.

Here's a few pics of the progress:

alternator



Wiring for now:







Steering column and shaft
before



After



Dash
before












After

[Tahoedonner]

Boring post here but............ash tray, glove box, and dash supports are all sanded and painted up nice.

Glove box



Ash tray



Dash supports

[Tahoedonner]

Got the IH only steering box plate and a straight steer brace put in today. As always the IH only products were top notch and delivered extremely quickly. Also stoked to find a new fastenal store has just popped up in san carlos about 3 blocks from my house. Very convenient.

IH only steering box plate



Straight steer

[Scooter]

Way cool. Looks good. Having that channel piece on the outside of frame on the passenger side helps too. I don't think that those bolt holes, on passenger side, are sleeved inside the frame, like they are on the drivers side frame. With what ya got there mounted you will be fine though. So no worries
carry on

[Tahoedonner]

Originally Posted by scooter

way cool. Looks good. Having that channel piece on the outside of frame on the passenger side helps too. I don't think that those bolt holes, on passenger side, are sleeved inside the frame, like they are on the drivers side frame. With what ya got there mounted you will be fine though. So no worries
carry on

They're definitely not sleeved on the passenger side. Not sure if I was supposed to use the original drivers side inside channel on the outside of the passenger but it sure makes a lot of sense. Currently carrying on.

[chico]

Man! Its looking good for sure. Ive been following this post for a while. I just wish I had the time and space (oh and money) to do mine. My 75' doesnt get much attention. Appearently my wife thinks buying a house is way more important. Psssh. Looks great though. Keep it up. Kcco

[Tahoedonner]

Originally Posted by chico

man! Its looking good for sure. Ive been following this post for a while. I just wish I had the time and space (oh and money) to do mine. My 75' doesnt get much attention. Appearently my wife thinks buying a house is way more important. Psssh. Looks great though. Keep it up. Kcco

Thanks!! My wife knows how much I enjoy toying around with the Scout so I don't get any flack for it. (knock on wood) she also really misses my old one so that helps also. With no kids and a rental house with ample space this was the perfect time to start building my dream.

[Tahoedonner]

Finished sanding and painting the brake assembly, and steering column. Got them installed and am quite happy with the results. It's great to finally be putting together some finishing pieces to this ride. Oh, and I got some tires delivered. I love tires!!

Brake assembly all rusty:



Looking better primed and painted in eastwood satin





Under dash



Firewall look



Steering wheel





Best day of the build so far!!!! The tires show up.

[Scooter]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

donuts

[IHRunner]

I want da micky thompson baja claws I'll steal them and leave you a nice set of 205's