New Scout Owner Questions

S

shooter50

New member
I just purchased my first Scout that I have completely fallen in love with. I have been missing out messing around the old dodge and Chevy trucks I have messed around with before. My first issue with the Scout is that it turns over (cranks) really slow. On a cold start with the choke out it fires right up but after you drive it somewhere and have to stop it is very had to start. It still cranks the same speed whether it be cold or warm but it is way to slow in my opinion. I visually checked all of the cables and grounds and everything seemed clean and no visible corrosion. Also it has a brand new battery. I hooked a battery charger up to it set on "engine start" just for the hell of it and it fired right up. I am thinking I have a bad starter...what do you guys think? Next I knew the driver and passenger side floor supports were in bad shape and I hit a huge pot hole the other day and the floor support under my heels let go competly. You can rock the seat up and down a little bit where the support was once welded to the rocker. I looked at the floor boards themselves and they are not perfect but I believe I can squeeze several more years out of them and my budget is kind of tight due to buying the Scout so I bought 2 of the floor support kits from Jeff. I am a marginal welder so I will feel more comfortable having a professional weld them in for me. Now my second question.....I have a delco points distributor on the engine now and was thinking of switching to electronic ignition when I get my funds built back up. What do you guys recomend? I was looking at a hei distributor. I will try to get some pics posted up tonight when I get off of work. I am very proud of my new ride :yesnod:
 
Welcome to the forum and congrats on your purchase. Skipping ahead to your distributor question...I'm a fan of the delco points distributors. You should consider yourself lucky to have one. They can be converted to electronic ignition with the correct pertronix ignitor module...pnx 1181...available right cheer through IHPA. That would be your most affordable and easiest method of eliminating the points. Plus, you could take measures to enable an easy retrofit in the field should the p-tron module ever fail.
For the electrical issue, you will need to go a little beyond visual inspection. If you have a handheld multimeter, use it to take voltage readings across the battery terminals to establish surface charge. Then measure at the large starter solenoid lug and compare. They should be nearly identical. Make sure the fasteners are snug. The next and most likely area of failure is at the bulkhead connector on the firewall. You should pull this connector apart and inspect the connectors inside for corrosion and obvious heat damage.
 
I'd agree with trever, invest in a multi-meter first. Tell us your battery voltage across the terminals with everything off, and then with the engine running. Next would be voltage readings at the battery terminals while cranking and finally voltage from the battery ground terminal to the big terminal on the starter while cranking.

This will tell us if the problem is the battery, changing system, faulty cables or bad starter.
 
Took the Scout down to a friend of mine's shop today and we went over it together. We both come to the conclusion that it was the starter. After several phone calls to several auto parts stores that were completely lost as soon as I said "International Scout" I finally found one that had a brain and got a new starter from them. After the install she fired right up! I don't even have to pull the choke now....pump the gas pedal once......hit the key and she fires fires right up:icon_up: I also found a body/welding shop that priced me one heck of a deal on completely doing all of the floor boards and supports from the firewall to the back of the cab. I just need to find somebody to give me a "patch job" to sure up the driver side floor board until I get the funds together. I also traded a rifle scope today for a 78' Scout II parts truck with a whole bunch of extra Scout goodies.
 
Good to see you found the solution.

Be aware that most starter rebuilders take short cuts and one that will kill cranking speed is the failure to undercut the commutator between pole pieces... As you use the starter the copper pole segments burn/wear away leaving the insulator separators high. The brush can only contact one segment at a time killing the torque. I don't mean to say that all rebuilds are crap but many start working ok but slow as they age because of this short cut.
 
New Scout owner questions
I just purchased my first Scout
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until I get the funds together. I also traded a rifle scope today for a 78' Scout II parts truck with a whole bunch of extra Scout goodies.
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Well you sure didn't waste time acquiring the addiction:yesnod:

welcome to the club!
 
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