Thread: 72 Scout ( !@#$ Facebook Marketplace )

Tweet

Thought I'd give you an update on the money pit aka Scout. The first order of business was fixing the brakes , the left front was working better than any others. After bleeding them the others worked better but not great, after further investigating, 3 out of the 4 cylinders had one piston stuck on them so I ordered 4 new cylinders and new shoes all the way around. I sent the drums to get reground, the back ones were grooved, the fronts looked ok but I wanted a fresh start. I got a call back and he told me they were all junk, they have all been cut too far already. I ordered new drums for the back and the old front brakes and drums went back on the front because the new front brakes that came were wrong anyway and the old brakes looked pretty good yet. That's when the master cylinder started leaking so it got one of them too. Time to bleed brakes again, right front brake hose is collapsed so poor flow is going to the left front brake and a rear line is now leaking because it apparently was just about rubbed through and it didn't like the stress of putting on the new cyl. ( lines are ordered now ) Next was the radiator which had a small leak but turned into several bad leaks.
I got a new Champion radiator which went in without incident. I noticed it had 3/4 heater hoses on 5/8 ports so I swapped them out for the right size hose.
I cleaned the carb out which helped tremendously for the stumbling problem it had, and I went on to check the timing. I unplugged the vacuum advance and I heard no engine change, so I blew in the VA pot in it went through like a straw and I also noticed the weights were all gummed up stuck. A new VA pot is $100 wherever you look for these things so I ended up buying a new electronic dist with wires and a coil from Hamilton Fuel injection for $250 shipped. Its pretty much an Excell dist made to fit an IH. It's a great company with unbelievable support. I've called there 4 times for various different questions and the owner Bill answers every time. I have the timing adjusted to 6 initial 16 with the advanced plugged in and 35 all in. I'm wondering if 35 is pushing it so that may have to get put down a bit, we'll see.
Next was the leaf spring bushings, these were unbelievably bad. I got some new ones from Energy Suspension and it all went pretty good except for I had to drill out all the center bushing sleeves to accept a 7/16 bolt. I also noticed the front shock mount holes on the leaf springs were loose and the holes were egged out very bad. I took the bracket off and welded up the hole round again, and then also found out the nice looking shocks were also bad.
When I filled it up with fuel earlier I found that the fuel tank leaks when it is full, and when I looked underneath I seen 3 JB weld patches on the tank which looked like they've been on there a long time so I ordered a new plastic tank for it as well which has not been put in yet. I'll do that and the rear leaf spring bushings at the same time.
So far I'm in at $1000 more than I thought and way more work to get this thing back on the road but it is 51 years old and has not been kept up for the last several years so its getting to be a lot to tackle right away but I think it's getting closer. In a weird way its a good feeling giving this old girl another chance at life. Saturday there is a IH Scout/Truck/Pickup meet I'd like to go to where I bought it so it's going to be a lets start it up and see it it'll make it a 100 miles kind of day