Project Karma

[Tahoedonner]

Finally some more progress. Got some bad news from my landlord a couple weeks ago letting me know that his son will be moving in to the house we live in. Finding a rental house in the peninsula is hard enough let alone one with a garage big enough to house the Scout and all its pieces. After weeks of searching we found one though. Needless to say it was time to start sanding and painting as many heavy and large parts as possible and getting them back on the truck. Was able to get the roll bar in, hitch (not even sure if I will keep it or not), hood hinges, and front sway bar taken care of. I also decided that the rear flare I did just wasn't sitting well with me and decided to rip out the entire rear brake line and just bend a new one. Here are a couple progress pics.

Roll bar from different angles:

it is a very tight fit on the speakers and if I were to do it over again I would have pushed the speaker back so they are not covered by the roll bar. There was already a hole there from before so this was where they were going. Being covered by the bar does make them impossible to steal though.

Hitch: will I keep it? Not sure. We'll see if I like it after a rear fabbed bumper is installed.

Hood hinges: boring but progress nonetheless

Front swaybar:

 

[Scooter]

If you need help with redoing the flares for the brake lines, let me know. I'll be in my man cave all weekend.

Too bad about the need of moving. Sucks when you're in the middle of the build like this. I hope I don't get into that situation any time soon. I currently have 5 non running projects pluss, all me tools and equipment to move. Not fun.

Let me know if ya need help

 

[DocG]

Bummer about the move. I can't believe I beat you on the road! I have been driving the 80 for a week without the bumpers, but they are done today. Wish I was out there to help you. Good luck with everything!

 

[Tahoedonner]

Thanks for the offers to help guys. I've got a co-worker of mine coming up this weekend to help move all the heavy stuff. Should be moved by Monday.

 

[Tahoedonner]

At my new place and a rat has decided to ruin all my hard work. He has chewed through all my amp wires, a spark plug wire, and a couple dash gauge wires. Needless to say I'm extremely distraught and angry. Money cost is a couple hundred. Time to fix these issues is about 10 hours. Grrrrrrrrr.

 

[Scooter]

Rat bastards. That really sucks man. My Dad had some rodent actually living in the engine compartment in his pt cruiser while he was driving it. They didn't even know about it until they were finally doing maintenance and found a nest under the hood and a/c lines all chewed up, along with some wiring being destroyed.

If you haven't got around to re-doing the flared brake lines, let me know if you need help. I be glad to help you out. My flaring tool creates outstanding flares each and every time, in a 1/4 of the time of those chain store auto store bought ones.

 

[Tahoedonner]

rat bastards. That really sucks man. My Dad had some rodent actually living in the engine compartment in his pt cruiser while he was driving it. They didn't even know about it until they were finally doing maintenance and found a nest under the hood and a/c lines all chewed up, along with some wiring being destroyed.

If you haven't got around to re-doing the flared brake lines, let me know if you need help. I be glad to help you out. My flaring tool creates outstanding flares each and every time, in a 1/4 of the time of those chain store auto store bought ones.

Thanks for the offer scooter but I just decided to replace the rear line with brand new lines. Didn't realize how inexpensive it was going to be. Should've just done that from the beginning.

On a brighter note I have killed the gigantic rat that started ripping my rig apart. The trap didn't kill him so I found him the next morning struggling to get his head free. I preceded to crush him with the legs of my ladder with a huge smile on my face. No other rats have showed up since. I have traps set just in case though.

Here's a picture of the pest.

 

[chico]

Wow! Thats a healty rat! Holy cow!

 

[Tahoedonner]

It's been at least 3 months now since I've been able to work on the truck. Finding a new house, moving, and finishing the honey do list have been daunting.

Was able to get about 2 hours in this week though on the interior. Cleaned and dyed the front arm rests, dash pad, and dyed the front panels black. I don't have the money right now to do a full refurb on this stuff and I am pleased with the outcome. I used duplicolor vinyl flat black for these pieces and am very pleased with how they turned out. I thought I was going to have to buy new armrests when I first started out on this build and they are now perfect. The dash has the usual cracks that I will recover at some point. The panels will also get redone at some point but I really like how the plaid came out with the dye. Will be able to get them installed this weekend and will be able to start on the trans cover.

When I had the truck towed up to the new place I noticed a new steering box leak and have realized that the pitman arm input shaft on the steering box needs a rebuild. I already rebuilt the seal on the steering shaft end and at that time I should have done this as well. It won't be difficult but I do have to take the box off again. Just another one of those live and learn things.

I'm still not sure how the door latch plastic underlays are going to be installed. Originally it had them hidden under the fabric. I'm thinking of peeling the fabric back and having them come through the holes in the door panel to be seen. Any thoughts?
You can see them laying on top of the panel in pic 3.

Here are some pics of the interior pieces freshly dyed:

door panels pre-change:

Door panels post-dye:

Armrests: they are literally flawless now.

Dash pad:

 

[Tahoedonner]

This truck is not dead

finally gotten back to working on the rig. Got a new garage door installed that will allow me to get the truck in the garage. Built a new workbench at the new house.

When I had the truck towed up to the new place I noticed that steering fluid was leaking badly. I had already replaced the seals for the input shaft but didn't replace the output shaft seals at the same time. Lesson learned. Pulled the box today and tore the output shaft out. Need to get a bearing puller tomorrow to pull the seals and washers without ruining the bore. Overall the unit looks great inside. Pin bearings look great so I am going to leave them be and only do seals.

Also while I was neglecting the truck turns out my borgeson joints corroded pretty heavily. I thought they were stainless but I was wrong. Cleaned them up today and will coat them with some sort of metal protect.

Built a workbench over the holidays with some spare 8x2 that I tore down from the garage to get the new garage door on. Added some IH specialty items to make it legit.

Here's the new ad that my wife had framed for me. It came with a certificate of authenticity. I really like them. Second one she's gotten for me.

 

[Scooter]

nice. She have a single sister, that's into scouts too? Haha, just kidding. Love seeing the progress.

 

[DocG]

Glad to see you are getting settled in your new digs. The bench looks great! I plan to redo my arm rest this week and will follow your advice on the dye. If my painter ever paints my doors, I have regulators and window felts to put in. I almost bought a 78 a few weeks ago because of your build. I was strong, but would love to have a rig like yours!

 

[Tahoedonner]

nice. She have a single sister, that's into scouts too? Haha, just kidding. Love seeing the progress.

If she did I'd probably marry her also.

 

[Scooter]

if she did I'd probably marry her also.

Thanks - I needed the laugh. I about fell out of my chair

 

[chico]

Nice! Now lets get to work!

 

[DocG]

I need to post a reply just so we can start a new page. The picture of that rat freaks me out everytime I scroll down to read a new post!

I can't wait to see new pictures. This is still my fav build!

 

[Tahoedonner]

Got the new seals tapped in and the box all sealed back up. It's back in the truck now with no leaks. We'll see what happens when some leverage gets put on the new seals. Hopefully they hold.

Also finally getting around to finishing up wiring the headlights, blinkers, and front side markers. I was missing a side marker so I bought new plastic chrome ones from IHPA. I was looking for a cheap fix and followed some threads where people used off the shelf side markers and I installed one to see if they look okay. In my opinion they don't. They would work just fine but I don't like how far they stick out and they are very square. Originals look much better.

Off the shelf side markers

Originals

Headlights

I switched over to h4 bulbs for convenience.

 

[Tahoedonner]

I need to post a reply just so we can start a new page. The picture of that rat freaks me out everytime I scroll down to read a new post!

I can't wait to see new pictures. This is still my fav build!

Just saw this post and I completely agree. That rat creeps me out.

 

[Tahoedonner]

Got some more stuff done. I had to replace the brand new proportioning valve because it was leaking at the metering valve. Turns out a large portion of the chinese pos valves have this issue. So far no leaks. That should just about finish the brakes. Fingers crossed that there aren't any leaks after I bleed them for what feels like the hundredth time.

Finished wiring all the lights and decided that I would put in a ground block on each side for the stuff up front. This should provide good ground for headlights, markers, turn signals, and fog lights(future). I mounted them behind the turn signals.

I also temporarily put on the front grille to see what the final product will look like. Pretty pleased. I still have the original grille and May go back to that. Time will tell.

 

[chico]

Looking real good! I like the original side markers myself. Seen a post with slim led markers and they looked good but not my taste. The grill is nice to but if I was you I would add some kind of wire like small hole chicken wire for those large gaiping holes exposing that nice aluminum radiator. One rock and toast. I like the ground connects too I might have to steal that.