New to the forum.

Bgscott41

New member
Hey Guys,
When I was fourteen years old I used money I had saved from selling a bull and an old v hull aluminum boat my grandad had left me and bought a 1977 scout, orange w a white top. I kept that thing for years and never had a bit of trouble out of it, except that darn gold box that left me on the side of the road a few times! I am fifty two now and have always regretted getting rid of the scout, so I bought another last week.

The scout I bought has been partially restored, the body looks surprisingly good, no real rust issues, I found a little patch work on the tailgate and of course between the doors and the wheel well but otherwise it looks solid. supposedly the motor has been rebuilt. it has a new paint job but it looks like an econo job to me.. of course it still needs a lot of work. My plan is to do a full restore over time, purely for street driving. but for now get it safe enough to drive the family around in. I had not driven a scout since i sold mine (at seventeen) and I had forgotten what they ride like. I drove it 2 hours home on the interstate and that may have been the scariest ride of my life. It felt like a trailer wag the dog situation minus the trailer!

I have been reading your post for a couple of days and there is a ton of knowledge on this board. I am not a mechanic, I am an old electrical engineer so I like playing with the wires, Saturday I managed to get brake lights and turn signals working. I have ordered a service manual but its not been delivered yet. I took the doors apart and cleaned up the window mechs so I could roll the windows down. I enjoy that type stuff but the under the hood stuff I will pay someone else to do. My first real task is to figure out this suspension, which I know nothing about. Can you guys check out these pictures and give me some advice, these shackles seem huge, and possibly home made? but the scout doesnt seem lifted much. has 31"x10" china bomb tires, what do I have under here? It looks like someone has replaced most of the rubber with the red poly stuff, it has new body bushings. the rag joint is toast so I know I need to replace it. I have six leaf springs in the front and four in the back? front shocks are gabrial ultras and the backs have no name on them but have the number 739030 014 322. Trust me anything you guys comment on the suspension will be knowledge to me! also how do i determine if this motor is a 304 or 345?
 

Attachments

  • frontshackle.jpg
    frontshackle.jpg
    87.9 KB · Views: 239
  • rearshackle.jpg
    rearshackle.jpg
    104.6 KB · Views: 220
  • IMG_0358.jpg
    IMG_0358.jpg
    156.3 KB · Views: 232
  • IMG_0364.jpg
    IMG_0364.jpg
    140.4 KB · Views: 228
  • IMG_0363.jpg
    IMG_0363.jpg
    102 KB · Views: 229
  • IMG_0371.jpg
    IMG_0371.jpg
    97.8 KB · Views: 224
  • IMG_0372.jpg
    IMG_0372.jpg
    89.9 KB · Views: 238
Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your return to the insanity of IH ownership. Good looking SII there. It does appear that a previous owner has installed a home-fab shackle lift in an attempt to lift the suspension. Stock shackle length was approximately 4 inches. Shackle lifts are not really the best way to lift the suspension. Every inch of added shackle length only gains you a half an inch of suspension lift. So those additional 3 inch longer shackles only amount to about 1.5 inches of lift above stock height, plus they usually have a negative impact on vehicle handling. The sloppy rag joint is probably the first issue to address in that regard, but returning to a more customary shackle length all around would also be wise.
 
I talked to Michael this morning about the shocks and he looked at the pictures and had the same opinion as you. I have a set of their shackles on the way, along with a set of bilstiens. Hopefully that and a new rag joint will get me headed in the right direction. thanks for the reply!
 
Shackle reversal kit install on the front does wonders. Just installed my 6th kit into my '72 yellow scout.

One thing to consider, at some point, is a cut-n-turn on the C's of the front axle. Which I plan on doing in my own scout soon. When I pull the front axle for a complete rebuild
 
My understanding, is that from the factory, the C's are set at zero degree caster. By doing the cut n turn, grinding off the welds, then rotating the C's to positive caster, 4-6 degrees, then rewelding the C's back onto the axle tube.

Here's a web site with a decent write up on it. I think another forum member on here did that site

cutandturn.com
 
On the engine ID, take your cell phone camera, turn on the flash and hold it under the passenger exhaust manifold up slightly above and slightly rearward from the fuel pump (or where the mech pump used to be depending) this pic should give you an idea of what to aim for, it was taken with the lower portion of the inner wheel well removed, your pic will probably be alot closer up. The flat face near the pump is stamped with the engine displacement and serial# wich will match one of the #s on your LST if it is the original unit. Trailer wag the dog situation, yup, welcome to the club, I call it drunk simulator :crazy: Gorgeous rig btw, best of luck!
 

Attachments

  • 20181201_140508.jpg
    20181201_140508.jpg
    80.9 KB · Views: 221
I couldn’t find any thing stamped on the machined part mentioned. I did find 345 on the block from underneath on the driver side. See pictures.
 
Oops forgot the pictures.
 

Attachments

  • E1D25F79-83F9-496E-B3E3-5E7A2CBE059E.jpg
    E1D25F79-83F9-496E-B3E3-5E7A2CBE059E.jpg
    80.4 KB · Views: 222
  • DA5682FC-6AEE-4213-A24C-EEAB589BABC3.jpg
    DA5682FC-6AEE-4213-A24C-EEAB589BABC3.jpg
    94.7 KB · Views: 213
Back
Top