Andy's 75 Scout 250

[scouttoo]

Here's a picture that really shows the relationship of the body to the frame. I wonder if the body could be lowered further otherwise I'm not liking it for what I want to do. It might be fine for a crawler except that with more suspension lift you would be sitting pretty high. Then there's the frame and steering box sticking out past the body. Hmmm
http://bb.bc4x4.com/showthread.php?130255-cummins-traveler

 

[Scout-It-Out]

Good grief! What is that a 12" body lift?

 

[scouttoo]

I'd be afeared of falling into the hole trying to work on the engine.
To get the body close to the frame, I think you will run into problems because of the way the frame kicks up too soon interfering with the front floor of the Scout. Then the frame rises again over the rear axle again too high for the rear floor. You can kind of see this in this photo. Seems like the thing to do is to lengthen the frame under the front floor to get that first rise past the step-up in the floor, then eliminate the rise over the rear axle. Of course, mental modifying is easy
then there's the front. The steering box can be moved back to the 2wd position. I think there's even holes in the frame for this and it eliminates the crack prone mounting plate. If you look up something like "steering conversion" on the first gen forum at dieseltruckresource.com you might find this. There's a guy there, I think jungle jim who sells suspension mounting parts.
Now that I have totally hijacked your thread, I hope some of this helps! If not, tell me to go away.

 

[scouttoo]

Any progress?

 

[Scout-It-Out]

Sadly no. Between work, shooting matches and working on my other cars, I haven't had time to work on it.

 

[scouttoo]

I know how that goes!

 

[Scout-It-Out]

Well finally, some progress! I decided the rocker panel was too far gone to save. It didn't take much to get it cut free.

Because of all the rust in the floor, the door opening wasn't square. That's what the padded bar is for. (no it's not the beginning
of a roll cage) the padding is 'cause I hit my head on it already. The new rocker is 2x2" square tube .090 wall.

 

[Scout-It-Out]

Some more progress:d:d I built a new body mount brace. Mine was completely rusted out. It is thicker than factory but I figure it'll take longer to rust out that way





The big news today... I got the front end off!! Hooray!

 

[Rustbucket]

Look great! I always think of this piece of advice when I am working on my Scout;

"do you know how the ant eats the elephant?.....

One bite at a time...."

 

[Scout-It-Out]

And onward to the passenger side! It went a lot faster than the driver side. There was slightly less rust which helped but the main thing, I knew what to do!

There was less rust on the floor so I made some "door" cuts to access the cross braces.

I'm really happy with my rocker design. Not only is it simple but I gain about 2" of ground clearance from the bottom of the rocker to the ground!

 

[scouttoo]

Looking good. I've wondered how using the tubing will work with the bottom of front fender and bottom of rear quarter. Like you say, the heavier gauge steel tubing and mount will last a lot longer than sheet metal and a lot stronger if it gets hit or drug over a rock.

 

[Scout-It-Out]

I'm planning to add rock sliders that mount to the frame. Hopefully this is strong enough to hold the body square and straight.

Big progress today! I pulled the body off the frame! It went pretty smooth. The only thing I forgot was the exhaust hangers someone had welded to the tub. After I cut those off it came right up.

 

[Scout-It-Out]

I'm now test fitting the body on the frame. No this isn't the first time. I spent about 3 hours cutting and fitting to get it like this. The front springs are very flat. The rear has some 3" lift blocks under the leaf pack. I think if I get some better springs in the front and take out the lift block, it should be pretty close. Plus some bigger tires. These are 31" tall.

The front fenders still need a tiny bit of trimming:d

 

[Scout-It-Out]

I had to clearance the frame in a couple spots to get the body to sit down where I wanted. Now I have the body back off to weld up and strengthen the areas I cut.

I borrowed some 37" tires to check some clearances. Obviously it needs some taller springs in the front... And some trimming.:d

 

[Scout-It-Out]

Well, my frame strengthening plates are finally done.


Now I'm mocking up the rear shackle mount.

 

[Scout-It-Out]

All the body mounts are done, except for paint. I also built the gussets for the rear spring shackle mounts. Turned out really nice!

 

[Scout-It-Out]

I found an overdrive transmission on craigslist. I'll probably rebuild it but for now I need it for mock-up. It also came with another 360 v8, wiring harness and computer! :d

Big progress today! I moved the front cross brace back 8" to locate the engine next to the firewall.

 

[scouttoo]

Making good progress

 

[Scout-It-Out]

After what seems like forever, I'm getting back on this project! I set the body back on the frame and after killing some wasps, I started clearancing the rear inner fenders. It feels weird cutting metal that isn't all rusted.

 

[Scout-It-Out]

Making progress on the fenders. Got the passenger side tacked into place. It still has a couple of gaps. Today I started work on the driver side.