Silence is, well, silence

So, it's been a while since I've posted. My how time flies. You might have thought I was getting something done and just not posting it... wrong. I haven't done squat. I haven't even finished raking the leaves off my lawn. I have some open weekend days coming up. So long as they don't get consumed remodeling bathrooms, I might get something done on the Scout. Are you holding your breath? I'll tell you when to exhale.

Practice Makes Perfect

Thanks to Dennis Petterson who came over two weekends ago to give some instruction on welding with gas. Woohoo, with some practice, I'm starting to be able to lay down a decent bead on a fairly regular basis. The plan was to do some actual work this weekend, but life got in the way. Soon, Hanky, soon.

No Comment

Well, there goes another weekend all shot to he**! And not a lick of work on the Scout. How does that happen? Gonna have to dedicate some weekday nights here pretty soon...

The Death of Mr. Clean

Alas, it is with much sadness that I must pass along the news of the passing of the original Mr. Clean, House Peters Jr. He did for tough bald guys what Martha Stewart did for convicted felon homemakers everywhere and at 92 years, lived a good long life.

House, Yule Brenner had nothing on you!

RIP

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/02/obit.petersjr.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Spitter Spatter

Ok, I finally broke out the welder this weekend. Got the front rocker extension all lined up and tack welded in place. Of course, while being a little aggressive with some 'realignment' I broke it off again. That just confirmed that I suck at welding. I definitely need practice. I welded it back on again, but couldn't get a nice bead going to save my life. Before I try to put in that inner rocker, I'll definitely need to practice on some scrap.

As it happens, I might need to grind that extension back off again and try one more time. I got it nicely lined up in two dimensions, but the third is a bit off. I might be able to work with it. We'll see.

Your door is a jar.

Last weekend I got about an hour in on the Scout and pulled the body to line it up better (hooked a come along to the pillar in the garage) and it worked. Last night I finished buttoning down the mounts, with the exception of the two passenger mounts amid ship. The front one, of course, doesn't exist at the moment and the rear needs to have some more metal welded in. Once I did that, I *tried* to line up the door, so I could start welding in the rockers. As it sits (with suppor under the firewall to the point of lifting the frame), the door is sagging about 1" and isn't even close to closing. This tells me that the bottom of the A pillar is pushing forward towards the front (probably from the weight of the door). Not surprising, since there isn't any metal there to hold it in place.

If I jack the door itself, I can get it to shut cleanly, but the gaps are not square (more gap at the top of the door and less at the bottom, less at the top of the wing window, less at the bottom. In fact, when the door skin is lined up square with the quarter, the top of the wing window is nearly touching the windshield frame. I may have to hang the fender to see how the front of the door is lining up with the fender (whoa is me, that means taking the door off again). The hinge-to-body bolts only adjust the in-out of the door, so I don't think that any adjustment there will help me. The hinge-to-door bolts might be where I need to play some. Of course, this not the door that I ultimately will be using, so perhaps all this fine tuning isn't necessary, so long as I can get the A pillar squared up enough for the door to close easily. I hate adjusting doors.

...or not

Well, this will make two years in a row at Nats without a truck. I found that one of the sidewalls on Big Red has a nasty gash in it, so rather than risk a blow out, I'm driving the Crossfire again. There is always next year.

Mr. Hanky? No, Big Red

Since Hanky isn't going to Nats, I figured I better get to work on cleaning up Big Red. So, today I reinstalled the transfer case shifter and got the shifter boot mostly screwed back on. What a pain trying to locate the screw holes through a new floor mat.

I also located two more wasp nests while I was at it. One in the A pillar right under the upper door hinge. Found that one when a wasp flew out past my head. Another was under the passenger rear fender well. I'll bet there is at least one more in there somewhere. Ray must live in primo wasp country. I don't think I've ever seen this many nests in one truck (including the nearly 10 that we found when we picked up the truck.

The under side of the truck could use a good cleaning. While under there, I also noticed that the driver's side fuel line is a little closer to the tail pipe than I would like. I'll see if I can't get it mounted a little higher and wrap it with some dynamat or something.

Radiant

Oh by the way, I didn't read much about having to relocate the radiator or modifying the hoses for a 2" body lift on the BB, but I couldn't lift it far enough with the radiator in the stock location, with stock hoses intact. I decided to unbolt it and let it sit supported only by the hoses for now. When I put the new front inners on, I will tap them with new bolt holes rather than noodling with the hoses. Six of one, half dozen of the other, I figure, and the radiator in the stock position relative to the frame seems equally as protected as before. The only bugger may be the overflow outlet on the filler neck. Mine is busted anyway, but I might need to notch the inner for it. I'm thinking just cut and flip a small section and run the hose through the inner. I'm running an electric fan, so fan/shroud issues were never a concern.

Oh, and by the way...

There ain't no way in Hell that this Scout is going to make it to Nats this year. I guess, it'll be the '74 200 instead. Poor me (well, maybe it will be poor me after I finish paying for gas). Next stop Fall Pinelands (October 24-26).

Lift it up

Got the lift in today and had a few issues. First is that four of the bolts are too short. For the four rear mounts, they need to be an inch longer. Anyone else have this problem?

Also, the rearmost and front most on the passenger side are also out of alignment, just like the left center front - out about a 1/4 inch to the driver's side. Looks like I'm going to have to figure out how to shift the whole deal a touch.

I did find that a 2"-1.5" washer reducer for electrical conduit is a perfect fit between the bushing and lift block. You can see the alignment problem (compare the distance between the valance and frame in each side) and the washer in these pics:

Hoist away!

So, after no comment from the Binder Bulletin gang, I decided it would be best to put in the new bushings all around before I weld in the rockers. Today I went at it and figured, heck, since I have the body lifted, I might as well also put in the lift, too. I started on the driver's side (the body repair is on the passenger side). Got the two middle mounts in. Well , almost.

The front body mount (under the driver's feet) doesn't line up. The bolt runs down at least 1/4" too far outboard. Hmmm. If anything, if the body was going to shift, I would have expected it to move downhill, towards the passenger side. I'm not going to sweat it too much just yet, until I get all the others in. I don't think that the angle at which the body is sitting would make that much of a difference, but we'll see when I jack up the other side.

The driver's side mount has been replaced at one time and could have been drilled a little too far out, but there was a good bushing in there when I took it apart, so... we'll see.

Also, in the lift kit, there are two bolts longer than the others (and wider). The mount forward of the rear wheel needs a bolt longer than the others, but this longer bolt is too fat to fit the sleeved hole in the body. I'll see how the rest of them go. Might have to get a new bolt. Don't know how I could drill it out to fit the large bolt, can't get a drill in there.

When it rains, it PORs

Broke out the POR-15 last night. Had an hour to kill before dinner, so I got some of the new sheet metal out, cleaned it with Marine Clean, then etched it with Metal Ready and then gave it a coat of POR-15 semi gloss black. Love the stuff. Well, except for the spots I have on my arm, 'cuz I didn't wear a long sleeved shirt. I got the inside of the outer and inner rockers, the inside of the quarter patch the triangle brace and the front wedge. I think I'll put soem seam sealer on the wedge, too, over the seams in it, just as an extra measure. I don't want to be doing this again in five years. I plan to get everything mocked up and marked, then spot weld the outer to the inner before I weld in the section, so I can put in seam sealer and a layer of bed coating on the inside.

Still have a few more pieces to cut and prep, but we're getting closer. Hopefully, I can break out the welder this weekend. the question now is whether I should go ahead and put the 2" body lift in now, before I weld in the rockers, so I'm lining it up with the final set up. Hmmm.

Meet Miss Alignment

Got a bit done this weekend. Mocked up several pieces for the B pillar and center body mount, to go behind the new rocker. Put the door back on and started mocking up the placement of the rocker and, doh! It doesn't line up right. Hmmmm. Started a thread on this on the BB to see if anyone else has run into this or if I'm on my own:
http://www.binderbulletin.org/forums/showthread.php?t=82793

Progress is slow, doesn't look very promising to get done in time to take Hanky to the Nats. :-( I may have to suck it up and take Big Red and fork over the extra money that 50% lower gas mileage will cost me.

black is good, right?

After doing a little degreasing on the frame, I broke out the Eastwood Rust Encapsulator and brush and got to painting the exposed portion of the frame and the exposed metal around where I've been cutting and hacking. Still have more to do, but it's progress. Then the reconstruction begins...

Carlisle is coming, Carlisle is coming

So we finally score a major door prize, a fuel injection set up from Affordable Fuel Injection and I can't stay the weekend at the show. Doh! On top of that, I'm slaving away making the show program. Not that I'm complaining mind you. Well, yes, I am complaining, but only because I can't be at the show. I'll make a brief appearance on Friday, but will have to jet early in the afternoon.

Work on Hanky wil be suspended for the weekend while I attend a family reunion. I did manage to get a little more sand blasting and clean up done last weekend before my back gave out. I've been hobbling ever since and haven't done a blessed thing to the truck.

Meanwhile, Nats inches closer and I don't have a floor...

Inching closer

Yes, I did get to work on the Scout for a few hours on Saturday. Got the rest of the rusty metal cut off of the bottom of the A-pillar and then cut the 'new' rocker/dogleg to match and did a test fit. Not half bad. I'm going to POR-15 all around the area, then tack weld the rocker in place, then weld in the inner panel. Then I'll move to B-pillar where the reconstruction really begins.

Also did a little buffing on the new truck to give it a little bit of a shine. It looks good from 10 feet, but the paint isn't perfect.

Home again...

About 5 and a half hours round trip driving, but the 'new' '74 200 4x4 is home from Ray's. Now I just need to wash and buff it back to a shine. Ran great all the way home, save a slightly rich carb. Just a little tinkering here and there and this baby will be good to go. Thanks to Alan for being a copilot and sacrificing the blood flow to his right butt cheek to drive the Crossfire home.

Here we are on the way home:














And after we got home (just after sun down)

A little bit at a time

Got in a few hours of work today. I removed the last of the old inner and outer rocker under the A pillar and ground down the bits left behind. Now I just need to do some more rust removal and prep and I'm close to being able to put in the new one. Speaking of which, I separated the donor rocker from its A-pillar and it's ready to be trimmed, prepped and lined up for installation. I'm actually getting close to installing something, rather than cutting it away!

Sand hurts

Wow, I actually got down and dirty this weekend, literally. I pulled the Scout out of the garage on Saturday and blasted all the to be welded areas around the B-pillar and the seams in the rear wheel well. Went pretty well, but with only about a quart of dry sand, I had to keep gathering and reloading.

This morning, the sand I put out to dry was, well, dry, so I had at it again, blasting the A-pillar that Alan dropped off last night (along with the other sheet metal and exhaust parts that we scavnged off his parts rig). That A-pillar with inner and outer rockers looks pretty good now. Just need to decide how much of it I am going to use and graft to the new metal.

Starting to look like I'm making some progress. Gives me some energy to continue. Maybe I'll finish by Nats after all! (holding your breath?)

Cut and Paste

So, last Sunday I actually sat down in front of the Scout and did a little work (just a little slow to post this week). Very little. I managed to mock up a few of the pieces I'll need to fab to fill in some gaps of what I had to cut out of the B pillar dog leg. On the top side, I think I can manage with 3-4 pieces of scrap. I really need to get the A-pillar done first so that I can get everything aligned just right. Looks like I'll need to scab in a piece of floor at the front too.









































Alan is going to drop off the pieces that I saved off his last parts rig and I plan to break out the sand blaster to work on a few areas underneath to eliminate the rust. I hope I can find my plastic sheeting, so I can tape everything off so I don't have sand everywhere.

Why am I doing this again?

almost doesn't count

So, I saw the Scout today. walked right past it actually. Took a quick look at it. Yep, it's still there. Still with a big hole in the floor. Gotta do something about that one of these days...

Gone, man

ok, so I'm gonna be outta town for a week. I couldn't just leave you hanging, so here is some reading material to hold you over until I get back. Check out the sick Koenigsegg CCxR that does 0-62 in 2.9 on E-85. Woof.

Look Inside >> July 2008

Macungie and A New Addition

I'm just a little bit closer to bringing home Ray's (er, my) '74 200 4x4. I neglected to take a pic of it when I was there yesterday and can't find one in my collection from shows past, but it looks just like this one, just with white wagon wheels. Oh, and the 6000 rpm Comer 345. It's gonna be one hellofa towing truck.

And the whole reason for being at Ray's was that he, Dan M, Mike M, Neil, Steve and I all got together at the Macungie show. Darn near every model of IH was represented, from highwheelers to red babies, A B, D, K, KB, L, R, S, A, B... If you missed it, you missed some nice trucks, not to mention the barbecue. Mmmmmm.

Spring Pinelands Video

Ok, kids, the video you've been waiting for is here. The Triple Diamond Fourwheelers Spring Pinelands video is posted to YouTube here:
Scout the Pinelands Spring 2008


Check out all the action and enjoy the soundtrack. Inspired? Join us in the fall. The more the merrier!

Geez it's hot

So, I planned to work on the Scout this weekend. Really. but with 95+ degree heat, I opted out. I figured I'd just end up sleeping under the truck anyway. I'm getting things done on that truck at my usual snail's pace. :-(

So, instead I spent some time working on the Pinelands video. Just need to do w few touch ups and It'll be posted here pretty soon. Stay tuned.

Pinelands pictures posted

Ok, I didn't get any work done on the Scout this weekend, but I did manage to get some pictures posted from Scout the Pinelands. See the link here:
http://www.binderbulletin.org/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=558

Carl and Mary and I will be exchanging disks, so more photos and a compilation video will be forthcoming some time in the next few weeks.

Just a taste...

Here is a little taste of the fun at Spring Pinelands. I'll be posting photos and video in the next week or so, so stay tuned...

Another Pinelands is in the books...

As always, we had a great time. Great food, great friends, great wheeling and of course great trucks. No damage that isn't fixable, no major calamities (aside from the park ranger with an itchy pen). This year we added a new feature - Scout games. I'm sure the games will become a regular features. Pictures and videos to be posted soon!

...and away we go

Tonight is pack night, getting ready for Scout the Pinelands. Alas, I am without a Scout this time. My brother graciously donated his truck to drive (and abuse), but his Scout is a no-go too. He's got a fuel delivery problem. It's either the pump or the lined clogged at the tank. Will need to go a little checking on that issue.

I'll be a rider this year at Pineys, but there should be plenty of seats. As wet as it is, I hope my car can make it back to the lodge. Otherwise, I'll be the first stuck! Stay tuned for pics.

cut a little bit, cut a little more...

It seems all I am doing is cutting out more metal. Well, I guess that's what I am doing. Today out came the rest of the floors. Good, solid metal, but unnecessary. Perhaps I'll use the scraps elsewhere. I did spend a little time wire brushing the newly exposed frame. I'll be painting it with POR-15 while I have easy access.

...oh the pain

So, the plan was to get up and work on the Scout today before doing some yard work, but... getting out of bed proved to be an issue. :-( The back is just a little bit sore today. I knew I shoulda done my stretches before bed last night. Maybe this afternoon I can tackle some work.

another one bites the dust

Today was spent working on a Scout, but this time it was Allan's parts rig. We tore it down to the bones, betting all the good bits out of it. Well, except for the engine, trans and transfer case. Hacked a few bits out to use on Hanky, so the work was relevant to the task at hand. I cut out the passenger A pillar and most of the rocker, along with a full dual exhaust and a few other scraps. With Hanky down, I had to drive the Crossfire. Not the best parts hauler, so everything had to stay at Allan's, save a few small bits. We'll get them here one way or another.

Voila

Oh, and I found the short in the tail light harness (anyone recall the smoke incident on the trail at Pineys?). Yep, just as most of us thought, it was right in the area of the bad floor just aft of the front mount. When moving the wires to make some cuts it sparked. I pulled the battery cable and will fix that later...

More cutting Sunday 4/27/08

Today, I decided to tackle that B-pillar, to see just how bad it is. Yep, it's bad. I'll need to fab up a good bit of the bottom of the pillar and surrounding sheet metal, just so I have something to weld the inner and outer rockers to. I cut out all of the old patch repair and cut out just about all of the rusty metal. There are still some bits up inside the body that I need to get to, but this is a good start. Hopefully, during the week, I can get some time to cut some cardboard mock ups for the metal I'll need to replace. Thankfully, the body mount looks good (inboard at the mount anyway). I also decided that since I have a full floor panel and stringers, I'm going to cut out and replace the entire floor. What's that you say? Why don't I get a new tub and forget all this work? A sane person might go that route, but I've never claimed to be sane. Besides, I need welding practice.

More Cutting Sunday 4/20/08

Spent some more time hacking away today. I had thoughts of just using the lip-maker floor panel that I have, so I cut back a bit more of the floor:

...and I cut out the rest of the body mount:

The bottom of the A-pillar doesn't look so great:

...but the B-pillar looks even worse:

The Start - Saturday 4/19/08

Saturday April 19:

I finally committed to tackling the cancer on Mr. Hanky today. Pulled him into the garage and got to hackin'. First I had to cut out the really bad stuff. What I found was that the PO had 'fixed' the rocker by wrapping and rivetting on sheet aluminum packed with newspaper. That's right, newspaper. No wonder it's so bad:














Then I cut out off the rusty portion of the lower quarter, to find that it had been patched before, but whomever did it, left the original, rusty metal in there. Doh!
I got about half of the failed front body mount out too: