resurrecting a 304

75scout2

New member
Hello im new in here and to the Scout lifestyle...I recently purchased a 75 Scout 2 from a friends Dad. The Scout has been sitting in a field for I would guess years. I have 2 questions that I need help with. 1. The Scout had front end damage from a wreck some years back, the frame visually seems fine except the front cross member has a good size dent. All the body lines seem to be lining up for the most part. Question- is there any other issues that I need to look out for? Second issue is it has a 304/auto Dana 44 front and back...whoever left this Scout in the field left it without the spark plugs in. So im sure condesation has gone into the cylinders. Today I blew them out with the air hose, and poured some atf down each hole. Went to see if I could turn it over and no such luck. Question, is there anything else I should try, or am I stuck with a seazed motor?? Thsnks for the help.
 
Welcome to the forum! Pull the heads and see how much rust there is,pull eht bottom of use penetrating oil in each cylnder after a few days u of oiling them u should be anle to move them,drop the pistins out have it ckeaned up new pistons and u should be good.

There is lotd of info here on resueection of these engines, there is a sticky here on bringing a 4 banger from the faead hoewever it will work for a v8 too
 
Thanks for the reply....do I have to pull the heads or can I just pour penetrating oil down the spark plug hole?
 
Id pull the heads, ur doing 2 rthings this way checking the condtion of the walls on the pistons and you get more oil in each cylnder
 
I'd pull that 304 out, look for a good running 345

it's wiped inside anyway. It's been setting for several years "in a field!, plug holes open!" :mad2: , which means all 8 bores are rusted. Valves are rusted, rings are rusted too. It's fairly common for one cylinder to be rusted if it's left stored without an air cleaner because moisture gets in through an open valve. Open spark plug holes is a whole world different. And, you don't really know what happened in that front end collision that made it undrivable.

Yep..... Drop in a good 345 runner then, tear into the 304 at your liesure. You'll probably find a complete rebuild in order. You've already got to pull the whole top of the motor off anyay, the bottom is only a little further down.
 
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