Project Not Enough Slots

[ohiostate454]

So the wife was jealous of the fact she drives her 12 liberty year round and I have the lifted JK in the summer and the lifted XJ in the winter lol. So we had been shopping around for something she wanted. Tried to find a comanche but sadly to much money currently. I remember when I first joined this site a running driving one in the area would be less then 1k. Anyway we looked at square bodies, broncos, yes, tjs, etc. Finally one day she sends me a link to an international scout. So after some haggling and finally getting a free weekend. What should have been a 4 hour trip turned into 10 after my friends truck blew a wheelbearing on the highway and we had to wait for his dad to bring us parts to change it. After all of that this is what we came home with. It is for sure more of a project then I have ever tackled alone and I am very new to body work so it should be a good learning experience. Plus part of the deal is since its her car she has to help work on it which I was surprised how cool and excited she was about it. 

 

The scout is a 77 Scout 2 SuperScout. A 196 4 banger with a T19 4 speed, dana 20 Transfer case, and 44s front and rear. Sadly part of the SS package was thr soft top and doors which were completely ruined and the guy I bought it from didn't bother to grab. Even if the material is bad the frames would have been useable or at least a good template to start from. Originally I was thinking a 5.3 ls from a 99+ silverado but I have a free dodge 360 from my dad that he also offered to build that may be the new heart down the road.

 

 

Pretty excited to see how this build goes over the winter. Should have it gutted by the end of the week and I have a new MIG and metal on the way. Will be posting pictures here to document the build as it goes. Plus hopefully give me something to look at when I loose motivation when it hits zero degrees here in MI.

[89 MJ]

Sweet! My buddy, his dad, me, and my dad put new floors and quarter on their Scout II this spring!

[A-man930]

Jealous.  Scout IIs are the quintessential "SUV" in my book.  

[89 MJ]

We got most of the parts from Super Scout, and I have to say, they were some of the best patch panels I've ever worked with. The parts are made using the old IH dies.

[ohiostate454]

I have looked into SuperScout and Anything scout but Superscout seems cheaper for the same parts? The floors I am going to try my hand at making from scratch. 

[amsuco]

I wish you luck.  I love IH's.  In fact, the lady I live with and I owned a total of 11 before we finally decided that it was just too expensive a hobby for us.  If I ever win the lottery, I'll have another one though!  That one looks pretty rough.  I hope you can bring it back, and I hope that you don't end up kicking yourself for thinking this was going to be less expensive than the Comanche's that you were running across.  One thing IH's share with Comanches is the addictive quality.  Don't say you weren't warned!

[Pete M]

holey restoration batman!  she needs some serious weld-time! 

[ohiostate454]

Little more tear down work. Progress has slowed due to needing to cut, weld, grind bolts off. But the passenger fender is absolutely spotless which is surprising. Wife has been working late so no help from her currently which does help speed things up. Nice to give her small tasks to tackle that free up time for me to work on the more difficult items.

[ohiostate454]

Took advantage of the nice Michigan November weather of 40 degrees yesterday. Stripped the inners and heater box out. Took some measurements for records of putting it back together and cut out what was left of the drivers floor. With covid we won't be traveling for Thanksgiving this year so I am hoping to take advantage of the long weekend to start working on cleaning up the drivers side floor and rocker. The plan is to get it repaired and the floor sitting on the frame again. So I can weld some supports and try to have thr body as square as possible when I pull it out. I also picked up a an Woodward bead roller to help with some of the patch panels. 

 

Plan for today is clean the shop, set the wife up on dashboard removal and finish cleaning out the "bed" area. I am hoping to be able to roll it out this week and pressure wash everything as well to make it a little easier to work on. 

[Pete M]

I assume the more common body panels are made for these things, yes?

[89 MJ]

3 hours ago, Pete M said:

I assume the more common body panels are made for these things, yes?

You can buy floors and quarters, but not front fenders, hoods, doors, or windshield frames that commonly rust out. 

[ohiostate454]

Pretty much what 89 mj said. Most common parts, floors, supports, rear quarters, can all be purchased new. Thankfully the front fenders are in good shape one has a dent and the other needs a small amount of rust repair. I am actually looking at buying a complete parts truck for the engine, hood, and header panel.

[89 MJ]

15 hours ago, ohiostate454 said:

Thankfully the front fenders are in good shape one has a dent and the other needs a small amount of rust repair.

That's lucky. How is your windshield frame?

[ohiostate454]

2 hours ago, 89 MJ said:

That's lucky. How is your windshield frame?

Not bad one spot on the cowl cover for the wiper motor is soft. I haven't pulled the windshield yet to look under it. Looks like the inside corners at the dash are a little rough but once I remove the dash I should be able to patch it from the looks of it.

[ohiostate454]

Spent quite a bit of time out in the barn over the holidays. Dash is pulled and most items stripped off the firewall. I braces the tub with some angle iron and supported it with some screw jacks. My passenger door shorts great. However thr drivers is a different story. Even with the bracing it sags about a half inch due to the lack of support on the frame side. I can watch the footwell flex when I lift up the door to close it. I was planning to take the doors off however due to this I think I might do some acrobatic welding with the doors on to try and keep it close. I will be doing the rest of the body mounts before getting to far, to see if that helps. I would get the wedge mount installed so I can hopefully get everything to line up for the  first time in many years.

 

The passenger rear quarter is quite the item to look at. At some point in time duct work was riveted to both sides where a very large section of both inner and outer where cut out. Not exactly sure if it was some "rust" repair or what but it did not do this thing any favors while sitting outside over the years.

[89 MJ]

I am going to give you a quick warning now, International should have just stuck with building tractors. The design for these vehicles was quite poor. Lots of the design is boxes on boxes. You will see that once you cut out the floors. Plan on doubling the time that it will take to build this, the rust gets a lot worse as you open the vehicle up more.

[ohiostate454]

4 hours ago, 89 MJ said:

I am going to give you a quick warning now, International should have just stuck with building tractors. The design for these vehicles was quite poor. Lots of the design is boxes on boxes. You will see that once you cut out the floors. Plan on doubling the time that it will take to build this, the rust gets a lot worse as you open the vehicle up more.

 

I am beginning to notice that. But also the way this thing rotted out is bizarre. The passenger side floors are in somewhat on shape. Not saveable by any means but they are there compared to the drivers. The rear is the complete opposite. We will see how it goes I plan on cutting more into it tonight and hopefully getting the body mount tacked on this week. And see if that helps my.door problem. I will feel much better to pull the doors off then. I am also at a somewhat standstill waiting in a bead roller die, and waiting for another week for my dad to be cleared of covid so I can go steal his cherry picker and hopefully bring back a more seasoned eye to look things over.

[jdog]

any update on this?