74 Scout II -

[TKneese42]

Well it's time to start a thread for the 1974 Scout II rebuild. Bought it at a swap meet in my hometown. It has an amc 258 l6, which is perectly adequate, since this Scout belongs to my 16-year-old daughter who is a natural-born adrenaline junkie. Michael mayben rebuilt the carburetor (I'm so glad I met him!!). After we drove it once, I started taking it apart & that's the direction it's gone since. Until I started this project, most of my mechanical experience has been limited to lawn mowers & tractors, so please be patient with me here. Also most of my best photos went on a one-way trip to mexico with my pick-up & my lap-top in February '2012, so I'm a little limited in the show-and-tell department.

Here's the interior on day 1:

Here's my daughter's idea of what her Scout should look like when it's finished:

 

[TKneese42]

Re: 74 Scout II - Body-off Rebuild

I went looking in the local salvage yard for a replacement bed & figured out that the raised ribs of a 1980's-looking Ford bed had the same o.c. Dimensions as a Scout II bed. It cost $35. Here it is, up-side down gettin the gas tank bracket welded on:

This is a new back corner that I fabricated:

Tacking the Ford bed in place:

Bondo for the open ends in the front:

Before bed liner:

 

[chico]

Slow and steady wins the race. Nice find tho. Any rust?

 

[TKneese42]

Replacing the front floor & bad spots on the rocker panels:

Rebuilding the front corner braces:

 

[TKneese42]

Chico, I've had a lot of opportunity to hone my welding skills. There was the usual rust on the floors, bed, rocker panels, etc. You can't see it in these pics, but the rear-right quarter panel & end-cap were wrecked & had to be replaced. I'm still posting pics from the last year or so of work. I'm actually getting the frame & axles ready to start re-assembling this project. I'm hoping to be finished in a few weeks.
Here's a peek at the body in the paint booth last week:

Can't use black bed liner in texas -too hot!

I'll keep adding pics as it progresses.

 

[TKneese42]

Re: 74 Scout II - Windshield

This Scout had an almost perfect windshield except For the chunk missing from the inside where the rear view mirror adhesive must have been stronger than the glass. I use a bunch of different kinds of adhesives & fillers in the my regular job, so I found what I thought would be the clearest I could get & repaired it myself (safelite people told me they don't do this kind of repair job).
Here's the windshield out of the frame:

Closeup:

This is the adhesive/filler I used. I think it's a polyester product, similar to bondo (smells a lot like it) that uses a very clear, liquid hardener. It's made for joining seams in granite countertops:

You have to really work it in to push out any voids. Then this stuff takes at least 20-25 minutes to set-up. At that point you can take a razor blade (hold it perpendicular to the glass) & scrape it flush with the glass.

The last step is to take steel wool & polish the surface -
it won't hurt the glass. This filler/adhesive cured with a lot of tiny air bubbles in it. Not too concerned in this case because this spot will be covered with the mirror. But, if I had do-overs here, I would have tried a 5-minute 2-part epoxy that dries clear. The 3m brand that I buy at a local lumber yard says it dries clear on the label. Maybe a better & cheaper fix?

 

[chico]

Any updates?? Still following your post.