1979 International Scout II

[jrfeatherman]

Hello my name is Donnie, and I am a new Scout owner as of 2016. I bought my Scout as a project and going to use as a daily/weekend trail rig. I will be posting in phases of my project. I have completely disassembled my Scout and found more and more rust. Its going to be a about a 90 percent rebuild. I will probably be asking a lot of questions as I go along and any help would be greatly appreciated. I am currently starting the rebuild and have parts coming in weekly. My first step is going to rebuild the axles. I am going to stay with the Dana 44 for now until until I can decide/afford to upgrade them later with a little more research and highly dependent on budget. I like many other have lots of plans with what they want to do to their Scout, but money is a big factor in doing so. So at this point I am going to try and make due with some of the parts I already have, and upgrade at a later time. I will also be replacing the rear body parts from the firewall back minus the doors. This is going to be my lifer vehicle or as long as parts are still available to purchase. I am planning on building my Scout around my desired tire size and will make adjustment on the way. I am sure I will be making a lot as I am new too this. I will have pictures on my profile to view with little descriptions until I can figure out how to upload them to the thread. I had error message trying to upload pictures. Thank you for reading this far and hope to hear good feed back as I continue my project.

[jrfeatherman]

If I did this right there should be some photos

[Scout-It-Out]

Wow, you've done a lot in 2 posts! Looks good! Can't wait to see what happens next! Where are you located?

What size tires are those?

Are you putting fuel injection on it?

[jrfeatherman]

Originally Posted by Scout-It-Out

wow, you've done a lot in 2 posts! Looks good! Can't wait to see what happens next! Where are you located?

What size tires are those?

Are you putting fuel injection on it?

I bought the Scout last year and had to put it on the back burner for a while, had our second daughter and did not have the extra money to work on it. One thing I noticed that I did on my post is it say 1970 when its a 79'. Not sure how to change it yet. I used that time to disassemble the entire Scout.

-Im in Henderson Colorado.
-They are 35x12.5x15 Kumho Venture MT with 15x8.5 Bully pro 5Ls

I wanted to keep it a carb. A little hesitant on adding more electrical. All I have owned were Audis so I wanted to stray away from it, but doesnt mean I havent considered it.

One thing I wanted to do differently is instead of going with a 350 or LS which it looks like those are the most common swaps. I wanted to do a BBC 454. I have only seen one that was in a magazine with a 454 and thought it be a nice to have something somewhat unique. So the engine you see is from a 77 GMC pick up. I have more parts that came in and need to post the pictures. Ill probably start putting back together the axles this weekend. One thing that I havent decided on yet was doing a SOA, I wanted to keep it SUA. So with the Rough Country 4 inch lift, reverse shackle kit, and 6 inch shackles I May have enough clearance for the 35s. I was also going to get the Rough Country add a leaf kit to possible get another inch, plus new body bushings should give me about another inch of lift. Fenders will be cut and a older Chevy or Ford fender flare installed to help with wheel clearance. I have to do a little more searching, but for now thats the plan. I will be upgrading the axles later but not right away. Ill try to take as many pictures as possible to record the build.

[ihpartsjeff]

Originally Posted by jrfeatherman

I bought the Scout last year and had to put it on the back burner for a while, had our second daughter and did not have the extra money to work on it. One thing I noticed that I did on my post is it say 1970 when its a 79'. Not sure how to change it yet. I used that time to disassemble the entire Scout.

-Im in Henderson Colorado.
-They are 35x12.5x15 Kumho Venture MT with 15x8.5 Bully pro 5Ls

I wanted to keep it a carb. A little hesitant on adding more electrical. All I have owned were Audis so I wanted to stray away from it, but doesnt mean I havent considered it.

One thing I wanted to do differently is instead of going with a 350 or LS which it looks like those are the most common swaps. I wanted to do a BBC 454. I have only seen one that was in a magazine with a 454 and thought it be a nice to have something somewhat unique. So the engine you see is from a 77 GMC pick up. I have more parts that came in and need to post the pictures. Ill probably start putting back together the axles this weekend. One thing that I havent decided on yet was doing a SOA, I wanted to keep it SUA. So with the Rough Country 4 inch lift, reverse shackle kit, and 6 inch shackles I May have enough clearance for the 35s. I was also going to get the Rough Country add a leaf kit to possible get another inch, plus new body bushings should give me about another inch of lift. Fenders will be cut and a older Chevy or Ford fender flare installed to help with wheel clearance. I have to do a little more searching, but for now thats the plan. I will be upgrading the axles later but not right away. Ill try to take as many pictures as possible to record the build.

FYI what you have planned for your suspension will probably still not be enough lift to clear 35" tires. I would plan on at least a 2" body lift if not 3" when you put in the new body bushings. I do not suggest adding add-a-leafs to the Rough Country 4" springs as they already are a stiff spring and adding another stiff leaf to it is going to make for a horrible ride that doesn't flex very well. Cutting the fenders will help with clearance but I try to avoid that at all costs as it's hard to put metal back on in case you don't like the look or find its not as easy as you thought due to the construction of the wheel wells.

[jrfeatherman]

Originally Posted by ihpartsjeff

FYI what you have planned for your suspension will probably still not be enough lift to clear 35" tires. I would plan on at least a 2" body lift if not 3" when you put in the new body bushings. I do not suggest adding add-a-leafs to the Rough Country 4" springs as they already are a stiff spring and adding another stiff leaf to it is going to make for a horrible ride that doesn't flex very well. Cutting the fenders will help with clearance but I try to avoid that at all costs as it's hard to put metal back on in case you don't like the look or find its not as easy as you thought due to the construction of the wheel wells.

Thanks for the tips, I did have a question about the Rough Country 4 inch lift. I live chatted with a rep from RC and the springs they gave me are shorter from eye to eye than the stock springs I currently had on them by 4 inches. He gave me the specs of the RC spring and they only had 4 leaves but the pictures they had showed 6 or 7 for the front spring. A little confusing, maybe the older versions had more springs and the reason why some reviews complained about the stiffer ride? Do you know if the older version of the RC springs had more springs or where I can find that information? I looked in the suspension thread but could not find anything on the subject. The picture I am attaching is what I am shooting for.

[jrfeatherman]

I did a little editing of what I am shooting for and my over all goal is the picture I am attaching

I couldnt think of a name for my project but I think I narrowed it down.

Project RAHDAWG

RAH is short for OORAH (I served 4 years in the Marine Corps)
DAWG...well just completes the name and overall look. Since I couldnt think of a color to do, next best thing is keep it bare with a clear coat and black stripe. Hence RAHDAWG

[jrfeatherman]

Received the Rough Country 4" lift kit earlier this week

[jrfeatherman]

Also got the new 4.56 ring and pinions.

[jrfeatherman]

5/13/17 I removed the carrier bearings and pinon bearings, Installed the new ring with new ring bolts

[jrfeatherman]

5/13/17 Removed the bearings from the axle shafts. New axle bearing kits for front and rear should be in 5/15/17 and hopefully with the rear disk brake conversion kit. Will post pics once they arrive.

[ihpartsjeff]

Originally Posted by jrfeatherman

Thanks for the tips, I did have a question about the Rough Country 4 inch lift. I live chatted with a rep from RC and the springs they gave me are shorter from eye to eye than the stock springs I currently had on them by 4 inches. He gave me the specs of the RC spring and they only had 4 leaves but the pictures they had showed 6 or 7 for the front spring. A little confusing, maybe the older versions had more springs and the reason why some reviews complained about the stiffer ride? Do you know if the older version of the RC springs had more springs or where I can find that information? I looked in the suspension thread but could not find anything on the subject. The picture I am attaching is what I am shooting for.

The 4" springs have fewer but thicker leafs in it. The 2.5" lift has thinner but more leafs in each pack hence why they ride better than there 4" counterpart.

[Scoutboy74]

Originally Posted by jrfeatherman

5/13/17 Removed the bearings from the axle shafts. New axle bearing kits for front and rear should be in 5/15/17 and hopefully with the rear disk brake conversion kit. Will post pics once they arrive.

Welcome to the forum and thank you for your service! If it isn't too late or going to hold up your process too much, you really ought to strongly consider adding these......

http://www.IHPartsAmerica.com/store/SL394685C2HD.html

.....to your freshened up rear axle assembly. And I'm not just being a shill for IHPA. I've personally experienced the dreaded Scout II rear D44 axle shaft poop out of the housing while in motion. In my case, I knew I had a wheel bearing about to go out and I was just trying to gingerly limp the Scout the last 10 miles home so I could address it. Should have parked it right where I was and fetched a trailer. I didn't make it. I was only going about 20-25 mph when the driver side shaft walked out on me, so I didn't have any catastrophic loss of control or major damage, but it was still a sucky situation. With the new bearings, you shouldn't have any worries for years, but the time to put those heavy duty retention plates on is when you have everything broken down already.

[jrfeatherman]

Originally Posted by ihpartsjeff

The 4" springs have fewer but thicker leafs in it. The 2.5" lift has thinner but more leafs in each pack hence why they ride better than there 4" counterpart.

Got it, thank you again

[jrfeatherman]

Originally Posted by Scoutboy74

Welcome to the forum and thank you for your service! If it isn't too late or going to hold up your process too much, you really ought to strongly consider adding these......

http://www.IHPartsAmerica.com/store/SL394685C2HD.html

.....to your freshened up rear axle assembly. And I'm not just being a shill for IHPA. I've personally experienced the dreaded Scout II rear D44 axle shaft poop out of the housing while in motion. In my case, I knew I had a wheel bearing about to go out and I was just trying to gingerly limp the Scout the last 10 miles home so I could address it. Should have parked it right where I was and fetched a trailer. I didn't make it. I was only going about 20-25 mph when the driver side shaft walked out on me, so I didn't have any catastrophic loss of control or major damage, but it was still a sucky situation. With the new bearings, you shouldn't have any worries for years, but the time to put those heavy duty retention plates on is when you have everything broken down already.

If funny that you mention replacing the retaining plates, my Dad and I were talking about them yesterday and he mentioned he had his break off on a vehicle he had when he was younger. So with that and your advise I am ordering a pair. Shouldnt hold me back anymore than Ive been waiting on the rear disk brake conversion kit from XXXXXXX. Its already been 3 weeks and have not received them yet. At this rate Ill probably get these plates before they ship my kit. Try to save a couple dollars and its back firing.