A 64 Scout named Wilma

[71mtnscout]

So I took over a project from a local friend who needed to sell his baby....wilma, that's what he named her and that's what she'll be called. She will be turned into a solid expedition rig equipped to do almost anything......well that's the plan anyhow. The deal done, I drove her to my house with my wife behind me and there she sat for the night. I figure between the 2 scouts I can make 1 really decent 1.

Today was the start of the "assessment"

she didn't run very well and I narrowed it down to the carb, changed it with a "known good" one and wa-la............she runs like a top now. There is a knock on deceleration only and it sounds like its on #2. I also have pulsing oil pressure by the gauge...I didn't run it for a long time to see if it quiets down cause I am still into the assessment phase to make a game plan and haven't checked the rest of her fluids. The trans is a bit noisy and all the mounts (engine/trans) are trash and need to be changed. It drives like the spring bushings are toast also, and it needs new body mounts. All the cables, choke, throttle, and heater have been cut, the only one that will need to be replaced is the heater. The others will not be used, although I May want the dead-mans throttle. The original wiring all seems to work as do the gauges, factory and aftermarket. I don't know if the gauge pod that is where the radio goes is a home built or some weird accessory that was available back in the day, but I like it and will use it in the build. It has some weird pedestals for the seats that are way to tall and the seats are trashed, but I have some good buckets that I can use and I will just have to figure out the mounting.

The plan.......

Take her to the shop and pull the body off the frame and replace the body mounts while adding a 1" body lift for the needed clearance for tires and the taller 196 engine, so I can work on it and not have to modify the firewall. I May use the 196 that's in the 63 cause I know its in great condition and it is already modified for unleaded fuel. Suspension will be handled by lift springs, possibly cj 4" lift springs or the CPT 2.5" springs, I haven't decided yet, and I will stay SUA. For now I will keep the d27 in the front while looking for a front waggy or sii d44 with disc brakes to replace it with in the future.

That's all for now!

 

[71mtnscout]

I made all the arrangements today at the shop and did a bit of cleaning/moving of stuff so that she will be out of the way but easy to work on. I think that I'm going to put the body up on saw horses and make some plywood wheels so that the frame will be as low as possible to roll out from under the body. I plan on pulling the drivetrain out of the frame along with the axles and springs. Then clean the frame up and paint it while its apart. I have decided to use the 196 from the 63 I know that its unleaded ready and has great compression. Right now I'm setup to move her on Monday up to the shop....hopefully it will only be a few weeks till she is back together and maybe even a driver. I will know more after I start getting her apart.

 

[71mtnscout]

No pics today, ended up being a loooong day...will get some tomorrow. Today she went to the shop via aaa, I was going to change tires with the 63 and drive her, but both the engine mounts are trashed and the engine is leaning passenger and forward. So I decided it was better to tow her the 30 miles...that ended up taking up the better part of the day. I guess a vehicle tow to a shop that's not broke down on the highway isn't a real high priority.

What a waste of a day.

 

[71mtnscout]

I have been going over her with a fine tooth comb for the past few days to get a really good idea of what she needs...and the news is good and bad!

At one time in her life she got hit in the left front pretty hard. It has done some serious damage to the inner fender well, tore a hole in the vent system, bent the front springs, almost tore a bump stop off, and bent the frame.

As for the rest of her she needs to be rewired, floor pans replaced, drivers rocker replaced, and some rust holes in the kick panels fixed. The rest of her body seems to be in pretty good shape for her age. The rear d44 I think is from an sj wagoneer cause the pumpkin is offset to the passenger side. There both geared at 4.27 and the d27 in the front needs some attention on the wheel side, cause there is a lot of movement at the wheels. Could be bearings and/or kingpins.

Now all that is fixable, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to put forth the effort at this time, the frame alone is going to cost $500+ to get fixed. It's not bent bad, but it is bent slightly to the passenger side. It is straight however from the foot well body mounts back to the rear. So all progress has been stopped till I figure out what I'm going to do with her. I May just cut my losses and use whatever parts I can on the 63 and then put her on the back 40 at the shop till later on down the road.

 

[71mtnscout]

Wilma is officially downed and being saved for a later project....at least the body is....there May be some parts available in the near future.

 

[71mtnscout]

So the plans to build an expedition Scout haven't changed...just the base unit has.

After accessing both vehicles we decided to use the 63 p/u for the build. We have done a lot of work to it and it has the best engine and a straight frame. The sj wagoneer rear d44 will be used and changed to a 4.88 gear set to match the d27, that is in great condition and presently in the 63. I will eventually change to a disc brake d44 for the front and power steering. There are a lot of parts that will be used from the 64, the trans and t-case are in better condition than the 63's along with a good steering box and a complete e-brake system. So for now I will be swapping parts from one to another while finishing the wiper and heater systems on the 63. I took the lift gate from the 64 and mounted it to the custom p/u top that I made. It was in much better condition than the one I had and the "patina" matches the top....lol. Starting Monday I will start stripping parts from the 64 for the build.

 

[71mtnscout]

This all started with a leaky tcase in beater, the 63. It turns out that wilma's tcase is in much better condition so I'mm thinking that maybe her whole drive train May be in better condition than beaters, so I decided to get her running and driving to access her condition.

I did alot of work on her last June, fixed the frame, changed the worn out d27 in the front for a decent d30 from an 800, replaced the crispy wiring in the engine compartment, and replaced the body bushings and hardware. Then I lost my working/storage space at the end of June and everything came to a grinding halt and she came home to sit.

Fast forward to today; I got tired of seeing her just sitting there and got to fixing the the exhaust that was now to short with new engine/trans mounts. Once I got the exhaust out I noticed the muffler is trash with a giant crack in the top of the body. I lengthened the down pipe and cut the muffler off and put her back together, dumped some gas in her and she runs again. Have to put in a radiator, do some brake work, change a bent axle, and get some u-joints for the rear drive shaft. Then take her out for a shake down drive.

 

[71mtnscout]

The "parts gathering" phase has ended for now and the "putting it together" phase is next. I've gathered an 800 4cyl T18/D20 combo with bell-housing and D44's from a SII.

I started cleaning her out for working room in preparation of the trans/tcase swap. We have decided to downsize to just 1 Scout and Wilma is my preferred version of the Scout 80 line. The plan is to put the T18/D20 in with the SII axles SUA with 2" lift springs and 5" shackles in the end. First is to get the trans/tcase installed and working with the axles that are under her. I have to replace a bent axle, but I have a replacement. Once she is a driver I will get the SII rear 44 ready to swap in. We believe the SII axles are 3.73's and I will verify that, if they are were doing pretty good, cause the D30 from the 800 that's presently in the front has 3.73's, so I will at least have 4wd.

At this point I need to swap the tapered 44 back into Beater so that ratios match and 4wd works again, then sell Beater to fund Wilma's finishing.

 

[71mtnscout]

Went and picked up the T18 combo today, will start on the install on Monday. In the words of my grandson...hebby!

 

[71mtnscout]

Got my bodylift blocks drilled and ready to install today, I'm still waiting on some other parts to come in before I do it. I think I've got a whole $60.00 into it and thats including the hardware.