Jazman's 1961 Scout 80

[Jazman1966]

In 2014 I was driving back from a party when out of the corner of my eye I spotted a Scout. I have had a couple friends with scouts and always thought they were cool. There was a for sale sign and it at first glance seemed to be in decent shape. I know enough about cars to be dangerous, but I am by no means an expert. That means I can do most of it myself, and the hard stuff I have others do after I screw it up. It's how we learn right? I had just gotten divorced a few years back and anyone who knows, money can be tight, but I decided if it ran decent, it could be fixed slowly over time. I called and the guy wanted $4000 for it and said it ran great. I went out and test drove it around his farm. It ran ok but obviously needed tuned up and maybe some other items looked at but it started and moved and stopped. The big 3 right?? I told him I could only afford $2500. He told me if I let him take off his big expensive tires and rims it was a deal. He put the old tires he had back on and I was on my way. Ran out of gas on the way home. Steering was soo loose drove like a school bus filled with a football team and appeared to be hemorrhaging fluid from every orifice meant to contain it. It did make it home in a cloud of gas fumes and promptly peed gasoline all over the garage floor. Fuel pump leaked. I can fix that! (remember when changing a mechanical fuel pump it is important to get them arm below the cam...) I can fix that! Take 2. And fuel leak solved. Hmmm...now that the fuel pump is fixed gas is squirting everywhere out of the carburetor. After 3 rebuild attemps on my own the new replacement carb was purchased and installed! Uh oh...now the battery is dead. Overnight on the charger and voila...started right up. And runs, and dies. Quick check with voltmeter and...no charging the battery. New alternator! Still no charging...new voltage regulator! Still no charging...hmm...now beyond the scope of my knowledge. Hey! I have a buddy who is a mechanic and will help me for a few beers! He can also help me fix this weird problem with the brake lights where one gets bright and the other gets dim when I hit the brakes! Off to jacks....
Get the Scout to jacks place and he starts checking things and saying hmmm a lot and we pull the dash off because he is questioning some wire and connections...then the phone rings. "hey jaz, move that Scout out of the lift bay, I got an oil change coming in...and be careful those loose wires under the dash don't touch anything..." famous last words as I start the Scout and every wire under the dash seemed to spontaneously combust in a huge cloud of black smoke and flame. Which now gets me to the "rebuild". This is no frame off show quality restoration, but to make it a nice dd. Why not...needs a complete rewire, why not fix a few things along the way right?
Already has new fuel pump, alternator, vr, carb...lets go!

 

[Jazman1966]

Here she is in the driveway just after alternator replacement and before the big fire. My dog loves this truck!

 

[Jazman1966]

So...we get the wiring project going. Everything soldered and wrapped. Pulled every wire. You will see the pile of 55 years worth of "wiring" repairs. Put in a couple modern day fuse boxes and some master inline fuses to prevent the "fire" incident from reoccuring. We also added a circuit for emergency flashers, to our knowledge the Scout didn't have (of course it had a Chevy steering wheel in it when I got it which brings me to the next great story) while doing the wiring we broke a front turn signal lens indicator. In the hunt for a replacement I stumbled on a guy in norther ohio parting out a Scout 80. I called him inquiring about the lens and he had one! Score! I also asked what else he had as parts are hard to find and he said most of it was gone but just bring some cash and I could pick through what he had left. So I drive up and lo and behold the car is basically a skeleton. I noticed that the dash and steering wheel were still in this shell of a car. I asked how much, and he said what will you give me. I made him and offer, he accepted, and not only did I get my lens but an original steering wheel and dash with all knobs and instruments. Woohoo!! (I decline to say what I paid as I don't want my Scout enthusiasts to cry but I will say in was under $100) so the last picture shows Scout with the "original" steering wheel going in.

 

[Jazman1966]

During the rewiring my buddy jack says, "that dash looks like crap, lets clean it up and paint it" we see a lot of squirrels when we are working on projects together...I think the beer adds to our adhd, but you will see here the final dash after the rewire with original wheel. (picture 27 in original thread shows the old Chevy tilt steering wheel)

 

[Jazman1966]

Remember the squirrels? One night after running out of solder bringing us to a grinding halt we stopped wiring (but kept drinking, we were not out of beer!) jack says, " we oughta paint this thing. I used to be a body man so I think we can do it one panel at a time. It's not to complicated." what the heck could go wrong right? At worst I wind up with a Scout with one fender painted right? Right! Hopefully we'll get to the rest...I like it.

 

[Jazman1966]

Hmmm...pulled Scout out the other day and wham...brake pedal to the floor...your heart sinks when you realize you might have to drive into to something to actually stop...then you remember you are in a Scout with a 3 speed transmission where 1st gear will barely get you to 10 mph and voila...slowed to a crawl. We ease it back into the shop and decide time for a brake job. New pads front, all wheel cylinders cleaned and reworked and the root of the problem...bad master cylinder. A few days waiting for the new part and now we can stop. Stopping is good.

 

[71mtnscout]

Those long shackles will make it be all over the road. These things didn't come with any caster to start with and shackles over 3" long will make it handle badly with correction shims.

 

[Jazman1966]

Thanks for the feedback 71mntscout! I guess I will have to look into changing that. Do you have any suggestions on where to start and what to do?

 

[71mtnscout]

The stock ones are 2.5" I think, and people add those to band aid a worn out suspension or for clearance on bigger tires. You can get away with 3" shackles without much driving issues. Anything longer and you need caster correction shims to give it better high speed manners. Also make sure that your spring bushings are good...that makes them wander around too.

 

[Jazman1966]

Sooo. I measured those shackles and holy batmobile handling they are almost 7" long. I'm thinking to myself, why in the world would anyone do that...oh, I see the leaf spring are basically flat and its to keep the tires from rubbing through the tops of the fenders. Oooo, look how expensive new leaf springs are. Better start saving pennies or hanging out beside highway exit ramps with a sign that says "will work for leaf springs"...oh right, the real reason I am here...the current progress.

To steal a line from shakespears macbeth "out, out, damn external voltage regulator" (or something akin to that). After copious amounts of research, scouring the forums, reading article after article, I felt I had educated myself enough to tackle the "convert your external vr to internal vr alternator. Solve all your electrical charging issues...it really was as easy as everyone says.

Disconnect the vr and jumper 1 to 4 and 2 to 3. Run power and field to battery and run the sense to the idiot light on the dash. Boom. 14.2 volts.

Last obstacle before becoming a semi daily driver...timing.

Runs rough and timing jumps all over the place. Plenty of research has narrowed it down to plugs, wires, distributor, timing gears (no chain! Who knew!) cam, valves, vaccum advance, mechanical advance (springs to tight, springs to loose) wind direction, humidity, parked on an incline...no wait those last 3 are just a joke. Guess its time to start to systemic "rule em out" one at time...next post? Who knows....

 

[FDChappie]

There are a couple of options other than new springs. A spring shop can re-arch them or an add-a-leaf will restore or even gain some ride hight with the associated stiffer ride.