74 Scout II rebuild/restore

[Rentalman]

Jose our companies painter, whom keeps all of our construction rental equipment looking good has been working hard on the tub, fenders, doors, tailgate and windshield frame for the last two weeks. The driver side of the Scout starting at the lower corner of the front windshield and continuing through to the lower rear corner of the front fender had rusted through from a combination of packed dirt and rain over the years. On the fender he cut out the rusted portion and welded in a patch piece. On the windshield frame he cut out the rust hole in the lower drivers side corner, sand blasted and welded in some new metal. This past Friday I finally got the tub back on the chassis. I bolted in my reconditioned brake pedal and parking brake assembly along with the hood latch. I'm waiting patiently for my IHPA order to arrive with my firewall pad, hydro boost brake kit, master cylinder and proportioning valve so I can get those items installed so I can see where I will be mounting my 14 circuit wiring kit.

 

[FDChappie]

You're doing some real nice work there. Thanks for the pics.

 

[Rentalman]

You're doing some real nice work there. Thanks for the pics.

Your welcome. Thanks for following the project.

 

[Rentalman]

This past Friday I installed the firewall mat, hydro boost brake kit, master cylinder and brake proportioning valve that I recently purchased from IHPA during their Red & Black Friday Sale. It was a pretty simple install and the directions were easy to understand. I did have a little trouble with the power steering adjusting bracket because I could not remember how it was installed when I removed the engine almost 2 years ago. I emailed my issues with pics to Darren. Right away he called me and explained what I was doing wrong. As usual I over think things... IHPA offers great customer service!

 

[Rentalman]

I'm a little behind on posting my updates to the project. I disassembled the heater box complete and motor. Removed all the dirt and grime out of the motor, cleaned the contacts, bench tested and repainted. It works, so no need to replace. I had the painter at work paint the heater box grey. I think this adds a little color to the engine bay rather than all black...my preference.

 

[Rentalman]

I disassembled the steering column and inspected all parts. I had the steering column tube and column upper support bracket powder coated satin black and I painted the turn signal switch housing and the shroud to match. I cleaned and removed the dried up grease and repacked the upper and lower bearings with fresh grease. I reassembled the steering column with new turn signal, ignition switch and sector.

 

[Rentalman]

Earlier I sent the fuel tank out to get the Renu-Restoration. The fuel tank was tested for leaks, then sandblasted inside and out. The Renu product gets applied and cured. It was expensive but came with a lifetime guarantee. A new sender was installed. The sender came with the wrong gasket. It was a thick gasket like what we use for suction and discharge hoses at the equipment rental yard I work at. Our mechanic helped me and got me a O-ring that fits correctly in the groove of the tank. I decided to install a IHPA fuel filler pipe after some of the reviews I read on the original plastic pipe not venting well and cracking (my plastic fuel pipe was not cracked yet). What a chore installing the fuel tank with the new fuel tank straps I purchased. The straps seemed to be bent in the opposite direction. Its a good thing I saved the original fuel tank straps. I used them as a guide on how to bend the new ones. I had to get some help as I needed a third hand. I muscled the tank into position with all the vent hoses attached making sure they don't get pinched while the third hand got the nut on one of the J-Hooks. After the fuel tank was in position I installed the skid plate. I'm glad that projects done.

 

[Rentalman]

Parking brake cable is installed and adjusted. Not much to mention here.

 

[FDChappie]

Great progress. You reminded me, the plastic filler neck on my Scout is cracked.

 

[Rentalman]

Most of the body work has been completed. We've learned the hard way that you need to install the windshield frame before the fenders. A couple weeks earlier Jose whose been doing the body work on the Scout wanted to get the fenders on the Scout. First mistake, if you've been following this post from the beginning the driver fender was rusted through on the lower corner. We cut out the bad and welded in the new off of the Scout. When we installed the driver fender and tightened down the bolts the bondo cracked at the replacement panel patch. When we repaired the fender we should have left the fender in place, cut out the bad, test fit the patch panel in place to align and drill the five mounting holes then tack weld in place slowly. That being said, I had to find a good used driver fender which I did. Had to go through a pile of them as these almost 50 year old fenders all come with some type of flaw. Anyway had to pull the fenders partially off to get the windshield frame installed. The passenger door went on perfectly and lined up with the body seems. The driver door is another story. The driver door had a slight crease from being hit toward the front of the door. Jose pulled the dent out and repaired. The top hinge frame had a slight bend that we straightened. Well that did not work. To get the door to fit we had to put two washers behind the upper and lower door hinges to push the door toward the rear as it was binding against the front fender. The gap is still to wide at the rear of the door and when you shut the door it has that same spring back pressure it had when I bought the Scout. Now I'm on the hunt for some rebuilt hinges for the driver door. The hood is installed but I need to adjust and find the happy spot for the hood and support hinges. The hood sits to high right now. This Scout has been a challenge, but will be worth it in the end.

 

[Rentalman]

The things you learn during re-assembly. I should have mounted the radiator, inner fender/splash guards and the hood support together. It was a chore to get the radiator installed. I had to loosen the front body mount bolts and some of the fender bolts to gain some movement while a mechanic used a pry bar. Radiator and fan shroud are installed. For those of you who may be following this project and are attempting a build pay very close attention to sequence. Part of my problem is I've been rushing this project along on Fridays, the only day I have to work on it to get it home while taking care of customers needs at the same time. My previous owners just sold the business and the new corporate owner for a short time will allow me to get it to a point where I can trailer it out of there.

 

[Rentalman]

Yesterday with the help of MJ and Zaed of IH Parts America I was able to get my Steering Borgenson Joints installed, I've never done before as most phases of this project. Mainly I was unsure of how far to install the joints on the steering pump and steering column splines. I took pictures and emailed to sales@ihpartsamerica.com. MJ called me with advise and Zaed pointed out to me that I needed to cut the nipple off of the steering pump to with in 1/16th of an inch from the pump, any closer it would leak. Next Friday to finish I just need to apply Red Lock-Tite to the joints set screws and adjust steering column support with upper and lower column supports on the engine bay side and remember to tighten one of the steering pump hoses that I had to remove to gain access to work. The simple task of the day was installing the steering wheel and dash support bar.

 

[ihpartsjeff]

Looking great! Couple things to point out that might help you or others. When installing the steering column and lining it up to the steering box, at the tip of the column(where the nut holds down the wheel) has a line in it. Point that line up, center the steering box(pitman arm pointed forward), and install the borgeson joints. Doing it this way will make sure your turn signal cancel cam will be centered.

Passenger side door hinges are the same as the driver side. So if you have some passenger doors laying around they will work and are usually in much better condition then a set that came off of the driver side.

 

[Rentalman]

Looking great! Couple things to point out that might help you or others. When installing the steering column and lining it up to the steering box, at the tip of the column(where the nut holds down the wheel) has a line in it. Point that line up, center the steering box(pitman arm pointed forward), and install the borgeson joints. Doing it this way will make sure your turn signal cancel cam will be centered.

Passenger side door hinges are the same as the driver side. So if you have some passenger doors laying around they will work and are usually in much better condition then a set that came off of the driver side.

Jeff thanks for the advise. When I did install the steering wheel I did notice the line in the end of the shaft and I did point it up and I had the pitman arm pointed forward. At some point I need to adjust the tie rod as one of the front wheels is kicked out a little while the other is straight.

 

[Rentalman]

I've been quite busy lately with adjusting to the new corporate owners who acquired the family owned business that I've been working at for near 38 years. Luckily I got most of the hard work done on the Scout before the new owners told me I need to get it off of the property. Unfortunately I was unable to get it painted before preceding with the rest of the work.

 

[Rentalman]

This was about the third time I've had to pull the fenders partially off to get other body panels to fit. On this day I installed the grill and powder quoted bumper.

 

[Rentalman]

With the installation of the Hydro-Boost Brake set up the original hard lines to the master cylinder would not fit. I had to do some measuring and have a specialty brake shop make me some stainless steel hard lines. When I went to install I had to loosen the brake proportioning valve on the fender and do a little bending on the new hard lines to make them fit. A little work but they fit quite nicely.

 

[Rentalman]

The driver door has been a nightmare to adjust. It had a small dent toward the front of the door which was pulled out and repaired. The top hinge frame was slightly bent which we straightened. I could never get the door to adjust correctly. It had to much kick back pressure when trying to close. I eventually had to replace the upper and lower door hinges with rebuilt units. After installing the rebuilt hinges the door shut really nice with very little kick back pressure. I had to get creative as I am the only one to wrestle with the door. I used a bottle jack and some 1"x 2" screwed together that I had laying around the house. The 1"x 2" were sitting on a 4"x 4" on top of a milk crate acting as a teeter totter applying upward pressure on the door so that I could wedge a 1" x 2" in the door gap to push the door back as far as I could and make small adjustments with the door hinge bolts. The door gaps are better but not perfect. I bought new door catches. I was able to use the new door catch on the passenger door but not on the driver door. I used new parts off of the new driver side door catch to refresh the original door catch and was able to adjust the door to close shut and lock. Never throw any parts away, you may need them. I also installed the rebuilt windshield wiper motor and air intake top panel.

 

[Rentalman]

This is where I am at as of May 2022. I've recently installed my automatic transmission lines and I am now currently rewiring with the 14 circuit Kwik Wire Kit that I purchased from IHPA. I've finished wiring the ignition switch, steering column turn signal group, neutral safety switch (still need to wire to starter), brake light switch, parking brake switch, courtesy light switches, front headlights, marker lights, turn signals, rear tail lights, marker lights and turn signals (license plate light is partially installed). I'm trying to be as methodical as I can to lay the wiring out to not have any sharp bends in the wire or chaff up against any sharp objects. All wiring around the engine will be put in a DEI Heat Shield Sleeves due to the headers. All groups of wiring will have a band of electrical tape every 8" +/- then ran through black plastic wire conduit sleeves. I used the original factory rectangular holes to run my wiring through. I used 1" firewall grommets that actually fit pretty good. Later I will run a bead of silicone around the corners to fill in. This was an after though as my paint and body guy had already raptor lined my tub and forgot to weld closed the original cable holes so I could install new ones. I ran the tail light group along the passenger side of the tub using clamps and 1/4" push ties to secure rather than through the frame as original. Later I will be posting in the electrical forums as I have a few questions so I can continue on. Thanks for following the build.

 

[FDChappie]

Sorry you lost the sweet deal on the shop. Lots of progress though!