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CatBus posted:loved it. He kept calling it his “motorcycle.” He is still too little to pedal, but he still tried. I would put my foot on the back platform and scoot him around, though, and he loved that. And in a few years he has the perfect accessory to a SAW costume.
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Jul 8, 2012 17:20
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CatBus posted:I am planning to attend Nationals this year. Hopefully I'll drive the 1966 Scout up there. Hopefully. Are you going? I don't know yet, if I do I probably won't drive the Scout, costs too much in fuel and I've been hit hard this year with unexpected medical expenses.
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Jul 13, 2012 15:22
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Things have been pretty busy since my last update. I wish I could say that means I’ve been busy in the garage, but that is obviously not the case. I have knocked out a few small tasks, and have several crisis moments. Jumping back to July 8 (two weeks ago), there was an autocross that I was originally going to miss. Plans changed late Saturday (July 7) night, and I was ON for Sunday. My morning started spectacularly, when I couldn’t find the keys to the car, which had the key to the locked gate on my driveway. It took about five seconds to find a spare Datsun key, and about 30 minutes to find the spare gate key. “Behind schedule” is a bad way to start the day. Of course, when I was on my way out of town, the Datsun stalled on a busy road, and wouldn’t restart. There was no shoulder, so I had to coast backwards down into a subdivision. Luckily it was a Sunday morning, so traffic was light. I had the new bumper temporarily mounted, but I had not trimmed it for hood clearance, so I had to take the bumper off to get the hood open. I swapped out the ignition control module with the new one I had in my toolbox, and put the bumper back on, and it was a race to make it to the autocross before registration closed. The car was running, but it was very low on power (probably about ½). I made it to the registration window at 9:25am, just before it closed at 9:30am. There was a long-time Nissan mechanic at the event who advised me to swap over to the old ignition control module. This is the second new module, from two different manufacturers, that hasn’t worked, and I have no idea why. Pulling the bumper again, and swapping over the old ICM, ate up most of the walk-around time, so I only got to walk the course twice. At least the car was running, with the original power. There were two heats, and I was running in the first. The Datsun died when I got to my spot on the grid, but started and kept running OK. Then, during my first two runs I noticed it stalling. On the first run I thought it was the ICM cutting out, but on the second run I realized it was only stalling on long left-hand turns. I had 1/8 of a tank of gas, but apparently that wasn’t enough. I made the executive decision to try to run to the gas station between my second and third runs. That worked out OK, and I had no issues for the rest of the day. When I got home, I noticed the fuel pump was SCREAMING. It had done the same thing after the last event, as well. The next day I needed to pull both Scouts out of the garage to get the Datsun in to work on it, but my brand new battery in the Scout II was flat dead. Apparently I had left the ignition in the “on” position for five days. The charger wouldn’t even get it past zero volts. The good news was that I still had the receipt from Wal-Mart. The bad news was, my wife had the keys to my Scion, and she took her CRV. I didn’t want to take the Datsun, but there was no other option. Of course, it stalled in the middle of three lanes, in heavy traffic, and I couldn’t get it started. Eventually a police officer pulled up behind me, and I got out and popped the hood (as high as it would go, since the bumper still wasn’t trimmed) and jiggled some wires. By divine intervention, it started back up, and I was off. It only stalled two more times in traffic, and I got my battery for the Scout. I was frustrated. When I got home, I quadrupled-checked the part numbers on the distributor and ignition control modules (new and old) and they all matched what they should be. I decided to start looking for problems in the fuel system. I knew the car had been sitting, but the previous owner told me he had dropped the tank, had it flushed, and put in a new fuel pump and lines. I pulled the fittings on either side of the pump, and everything looked OK. I pulled the top line on the filter (in the engine compartment), which resulted in a fountain of crystal clear gasoline since there was still pressure in the line. I pulled the bottom line, and horror poured out. I drained the filter into a couple spray can caps, and cut the filter open to get a look at it (it is a sealed metal filter). Here’s what it looked like:  If that wasn’t my problem, it was still a problem, and it needed to be resolved. This definitely explains the screaming fuel pump after getting off the freeway. It could possibly explain some of my stalling problems. It doesn’t explain why I have swapped in two different new ignition control modules, and neither has worked correctly. The next evening I flushed the lines and put in a new filter. I’ll change that filter out in a couple weeks. The previous owner obviously did not flush the lines from the pump to the filter (though the filter looked new, so that may have been changed). I haven’t had a chance to do any test-runs, but I left it running in the garage for a while and it didn’t stall (not that it means anything). That is where I left off on the Datsun last week.
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Jul 19, 2012 20:39
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Back in April, I did a dual sport ride in Indiana on the KTM. It made me want to ride some of my local terrain again, so a friend and I did some pre-running of some of the stuff I had mapped out in 2005. In the summer of 2005, I went out almost every day on my KTM, with spare gas strapped to the back, and rode around all day exploring on and off road. I had a primitive Garmin GPS 12, and some USGS maps that I printed off of the internet and taped together. I would ride all day, then extract the track log (just a line, no maps). Then I would overlay the track on the maps in Photoshop to figure out where I had been. It was tedious, but it’s the only way I could identify many of the unnamed and unmapped county roads. Here is most of what I mapped out: http://matson.home.insightbb.com/route_full.png The last time I had been out there was 2008, and several things had been gated off or re-routed, but I had a pretty good idea of what we could do. I declared that I would organize a dual sport ride some time in July, and eventually I had to make good on that promise. I posted a thread on Advrider with the ride scheduled for Sunday, July 15, opening it up to interested riders: http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=803526 I decided to pre-ride a modified route on Saturday (July 14, my birthday). I told my wife I would be out about four or five hours, but the best laid plans… 27 miles into the ride I was feeling pretty good:  30 miles into the ride my chain snapped:  I walked up and down the gravel road for about 30 minutes looking for pieces, and actually found a master link, the clip (but not the piece under the clip), and several tiny x-rings. I actually had two extra master links in my toolkit. BUT, as you may notice in the picture, one of the male links snapped somehow, and I didn’t have a chain breaker on me. I ended up hiking about a mile uphill, and found a kid who directed me to a house where I was able to use a grinder to remove the pin for that link. Then I hiked back and reinstalled everything. I forgot to tighten the bolts on the front sprocket cover, so those disappeared, but I had the cover at least. With 90 minutes lost to the chain fiasco, and 80 miles to go, I hopped to it. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, until I hit about mile 85. I was coming around a sharp bend, and there used to be a big red covered bridge on the side of the road before the turn. I did a double-take to confirm there was no bridge, and when I turned around, there was a huge pothole in my line. I went wide of the pothole, but then there was a huge chunk of the road missing along the outside line. I couldn’t cut back in, so I decided to just shoot offroad, but my back tire caught the edge of the hole, throwing me offroad into a tank slapper. I was doing an easy 45 mph or so, and slid forever. Luckily, it was deep grass and wet ground, and I had been thrown mostly off the pavement. The view of where the bike stopped from the missing pavement:  Please replace your divots:  I think the bike eventually went high-side, and I fell on top of it, but it just happened too fast to recall clearly. I got very lucky. One of my handguards sheared off at the bar mount, my front fender broke in half, and my rear right turn signal ripped off. I had a decent gouge in my chest-protector, and a chip in the chin portion of my helmet (probably from hitting the bars, mirror, or GPS). That’s it. I rode the bike the rest of the way home. My 4-5 hour trip turned into 6.5 hours. I had problems with high engine temps all day, too. When I got home, I decided to do some maintenance. I put in the new battery (tired of kick-starting it for the past few years), fixed the computer fan I had on the right radiator, and added one on the left radiator. I also noticed the coolant was way low, so I topped that off, changed the air filter, and put on an old chain I had sitting around. Then I rigged up the handguard and stitched the fender together with zip ties. Bang: Like a new bike  My dual sport route can vary greatly in difficulty based on the amount of rain we’ve had. KY has been in a drought for several months, but of course it started raining here on the Wednesday before my Sunday ride. It was even raining Sunday morning, so I was pretty worried. Luckily, things went really well. Eight guys showed up, and everyone made it through the day. We had a few mechanical issues (I broke a shift lever, a DRZ cut a coolant hose, some bikes ran out of gas and needed some from the big-tankers, etc.). Mainly due to those issues, and a non-starting two-stroke, the ride took around eight hours, but everyone had a good time. Here we are crossing the KY river on the Valley View Ferry: 
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Jul 19, 2012 21:06
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I forgot to mention it before, but I did find one other weird thing on the Datsun. There is a burned fusible link for the accessory circuit. It seems to carry voltage OK, and the terminals have welded themselves in place, so I don’t know if it is worth “fixing.” I guess a fix would be putting in a new piece of wire with the same gauge as the old piece (though I have no way to find out what that was). My radio doesn’t work, but I doubt that is because of this fusible link (though it may have caused the fusible link burnout!?). Anyway, I can’t get the old piece out, even if I wanted to fix it. It just connects two spade terminals. Yesterday, I got it in my head that I should paint the new bumper for the Datsun. Many I hate fiberglass panels. Horrible fitment, wavey as hell, and tons of pinholes in the gel coat. I got a deal on this bumper because it had two broken corners:   The original fit (picture from earlier):  With a little grinding the fit still wasn’t great(picture from earlier) :  When I fiberglassed the corners, I decided to fix the fit along the fender as well. This is what I ended up with:   Then I wet-sanded the whole thing, spot-repaired a bunch of bad gel-coat, and sprayed on a few coats of urethane 2k. Then I wet-sanded that and shot the white. It turned out OK. I think the color is off, but I’m not too worried. The white gel-coat was a different white, and the car looked OK. Hopefully a “matched” color will be a closer fit. I didn’t have a chance to test-fit it today, but maybe tomorrow I will have a few minutes.  In unrelated news, I finally caved in and bought some wheel dollies. I was just about to buy the cheapo 2/$50 set where you have to jack up the car, but I got an email coupon for these for $65 each:  They are pretty awesome. Today I got an email with a coupon for 20% off an entire purchase, and I am thinking about picking up a couple retractable hose reels so I don’t have to step/roll/trip over my air hoses all the time.
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Jul 19, 2012 21:21
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CatBus posted:fuel woes I hope yours ends up treating you better than ours did; at least half of the problems that car ever had were fueling related. If I'd kept it I probably would've ripped everything out other than the tank itself and plumbing in a brand new system and Megasquirting it.
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Jul 19, 2012 21:22
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Well, progress has been made. To most people, this will probably seem like the biggest update in the history of the project, but it was only like four hours of work. I went to the only "backwoods" local junkyard, with the knowledge that they had a Scout II sitting out in the grass. I was trying to assemble the doors for my Scout II, but there were three small pieces missing. The junkyard was the fastest way to solve that problem. I ended up pulling both doors, the hood, rear liftgate, turn signals, brake lights, etc., and took them home for the surprisingly reasonable sum of $200. It got HOT, fast. The sun was blazing down, and the heat index was over 100F by around 11:30am. I had brought a bottle of water, but that didn't last long. I was soaked from head to toe in sweat, then I wasted like 45 minutes digging around in the tall grass after dropping both of the phillips bits in my toolbox. The last 90 or so minutes was spent working for around one minute, then laying down for like five minutes. I was almost blacking out every time I stood up(but too dumb to stop). Anyway, I made it home OK.  The Scout Truck has some crazy rattling noise that I think is the throwout bearing flopping around. When I lightly depress the clutch pedal, the noise stops. Otherwise, there is an erratic rattling that is pretty loud. I really don’t want to have to pull that transfer case and transmission again. Yesterday, my friend came over to help work on the Scout II. We got both doors assembled (except glass and handles), and the hood, fenders, windshield frame (that I had pre-assembled), hard top, and doors on the truck. It is starting to look like a vehicle again. Sorry for the bad pictures, things have been BUSY. (that is my friend in the picture)  In other news, today was another autocross, and another day with a broken-down Datsun. I swapped over to the new ignition control module on the side of the road, and ran the day with it. The power was down at least 50hp, and the car was not running well, but it was running (unlike the random stalling with the other ignition control module). I have no idea what to do about this problem. Two new units, from two different manufacturers, both didn’t work. Swapping them out immediately allows the car to start, but it is not running correctly. The part numbers seem correct for this distributor. Argh. At $100/each for the modules, this is getting old. I need to find a known-working old one to swap over.
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Jul 30, 2012 04:47
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Now you are learning one of the reasons I wanted to do a MSnS on the 280ZX. Obnoxiously the modules are painfully specific (i.e. I think almost all of them are one or two year only parts) and I never found one that wasn't poo poo. My dad and brother ended up getting a whole new distributor for it at one point. The Scouts look good, though!
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Jul 30, 2012 08:12
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IOwnCalculus posted:whole new distributor for it at one point. This, Does it read a PIP or tach signal from the distributor? An intermittent failure on a pip sensor will cause pretty much the problems you are describing. Edit: PIP sensor on Fords, think its called the crank angle sensor on Nissans.
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Jul 30, 2012 21:34
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Poisonlizard posted:This, Does it read a PIP or tach signal from the distributor? An intermittent failure on a pip sensor will cause pretty much the problems you are describing. That was a good lead, but I think that only the turbo models had a CAS. I did some continued digging, and I think the ignition control module I have is for a four cylinder Datsun of the same time period. Everything online says it is for 1982-1984 Datsun, and Rock Auto said it was for 280zx, BUT it doesn't work. Looking around, the four cylinder ICM looks exactly the same, but has different part numbers. This unit is not available anymore on the Rock Auto site, and does not seem to be a version of the LX554 ignition module that all of the other aftermarket vendors appear to use. That could explain why my current ignition control module causes slight misfiring, and drops my power by about 30% (it is trying to run my 6cyl engine as a 4cyl). I found an LX554 on ebay for $40. Hopefully it arrives before the next autocross, and hopefully it fixes my problem! I am guessing the first ignition control module I ordered was another variation of the one I currently have (this one is branded Borg Warner, and I don't remember what the other one was). Neither was a cross-referenced with the LX554. We'll see. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
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Jul 31, 2012 04:48
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Bookmarked. I really enjoyed reading through the thread. Keep up the good work!
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Jul 31, 2012 08:03
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CatBus posted:That was a good lead, but I think that only the turbo models had a CAS. Your 280ZX 2+2 - what exact model and year is it? Have you tried looking at Black Dragon or any of the other specific Z part stores? http://www.jcwhitney.com/1979-1983-nissan-280zx/ignition-control-module/p2019009d1662y1979-1983j1.jcwx?year=1983&filterid=g2 JC Whitney seems to think your part is worth nearly $200-400. Holy crap this thing isn't cheap... http://www.partsgeek.com/mmparts/ignition_control_unit/nissan/280zx.html http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/CTGY/SEIC01A You probably already know this information: http://www.zdriver.com/forums/240z-280zxt-s30-s130-tech-tips-275/zx-specifications-15404/
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Jul 31, 2012 21:33
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extreme_accordion posted:Your 280ZX 2+2 - what exact model and year is it? It is a 1982 280zx 2+2 non-turbo. I purchased this through partsgeek back in April: http://www.amazon.com/Forecast-W013...e&vehicleType=5 Then ordered this through Rock Auto after the partsgeek module did not work (the picture is wrong, but the part number is correct): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/co...C1982&carId=002 Both of those are listed as working with my car, but both did not. The first would not allow the car to run above about 3k RPM, the second allows the car to run, but it is WAY down on power and seems to misfire. Now I just ordered a Standard Motor Products LX554 (which seems to be the unit that other manufacturers rebrand): http://www.ebay.com/itm/200771151096 Who knows if the ebay module is actually a Standard Motor Products unit, but it definitely says in the description that it IS. I sure hope so, and I hope this solves my problem. I have checked the part number on my distributor and old ignition control module, and they are correct for a 1982 Datsun 280zx, so it isn't a case where someone swapped in a 1981 distributor at some point (I think 1981 and earlier had a different setup).
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Aug 1, 2012 01:38
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We've been on vacation in Hilton Head, SC, all week, so obviously all I can do is think about the things I should be doing in the garage At the beginning of the month I saw this on Craigslist and wanted it (BMW 2002 done up rally style): http://louisville.craigslist.org/cto/3101109441.html It's overpriced by about $2000, but it's cool. I really like the look. I actually texted the guy, and he said the drivetrain/brakes/suspension were all stock, so it is just a cosmetic mod. Having read up on things, I think I would be much better off with the 2002tii. I've been watching this one in MN for $7k, and it even has a spare engine: http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/cto/3116959864.html Sadly, my Datsun isn't worth anything, and there is no way I can convince my wife that I need a BMW. My main issues with the Datsun (other than the ignition issue) are: 1) Heavy. ~3k lbs, and no way to cut significant weight (plus I don't want to tear up a fairly nice interior). 2) Gutless. ~145hp from the factory. I could do a turbo swap, but this engine only has 75k miles, and I don't feel like screwing around (even if a swap could cost as little as $600 - http://louisville.craigslist.org/cto/3173628456.html ). 3) Limited suspension options (coilover conversions for the front are weld-in only. BLAH.) 4) Under-braked from the factory. It has four wheel discs, but they are apparently too small and fade very quickly. This can be resolved, but again, that takes time, effort, and money that I don't want to sink into the car. 5) HUGE. There is a mile of car in front of the front wheels, and behind the back wheels. Why did they do this!? The 2+2 turns that flaw into a school bus situation. 6) Cheap. Any money I put into the car is wasted. I paid $500, and I have put about $3k more into it, and that puts me seriously in the red on this car. It mysteriously has a salvage title (the previous owner said it was a re-issue due to the previous-previous owner's wife having the title after a divorce), which basically cuts the value to zero. Without the salvage title, it is probably a $2500 car. I bought it because it was too cheap to pass up. I started autocrossing it to make use of it, and now I wish I had a better platform. Anyway, we've all been there with the "grass is greener" mindset. I'm sure I would regret selling it down the road, especially since it has a bulletproof drivetrain and is a comfortable, OK looking car. My time is ridiculously stretched thin right now, and I need to just stick with this car as a reliable (seventh) vehicle and focus on getting the Scout II reassembled. Maybe I'll feel better about the Datsun if this ignition issue gets resolved. That rally-style BMW 2002 does look awesome though 
CatBus fucked around with this message at 02:44 on Aug 3, 2012 |
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Aug 3, 2012 02:42
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Just a quick update: I drove ten hours home today, and the ignition module was here. I was skeptical that it would actually be a legit Standard Motor Products module, since it was only $40 shipped (and every other one was $250). It was wrapped in newspaper in an envelope, and a little scratched up, but it was branded Standard Motor Products, and the connection pins did not have any scratches indicating that it had been installed in another car. After unpacking my wife's CRV from the trip, I swapped in the new ignition module into the Datsun and zipped around the neighborhood. The car didn't stall out on me, and the power seemed good, so I will keep my fingers crossed! Hopefully this ignition problem is FINALLY solved after eight months... Also, I texted about that turbo parts car. If I can talk him down a bit, I am going to snag it and at least sit on the turbo setup until I need it. I have a friend with a few Datsuns who said that if I paid for the car, he would pick it up and pull the parts I need, if he could have the rest of the car. That would actually be a very good deal for me at the moment, because I have zero spare time. Keep your fingers crossed!
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Aug 4, 2012 03:24
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Here are a few quick updates. I haven’t had much time to get anything significant done, but I have been trying to keep plugging away. Scout Truck: There is a rattling from the transmission area at idle and while driving, when the clutch is OUT. If I push the clutch pedal a little, the noise stops. I think the throwout bearing is rattling against the front of the transmission. Hopefully, that is all that is wrong. I finally sold the hard top and transmission from the parts Scout, so that frees up some space in the back yard. Plus, I met two semi-local Scout guys. Datsun: I finally did replaced the rear suspension bushings. It wasn’t as bad as I expected, but it still sucked. Then I had problems re-bleeding the brake system. Everything is OK now. While I was down there, I sanded, primed, and spray painted the suspension members, diff, oil pan, and other items in the front that needed some paint. Rear suspension arm before (I can’t really fathom how little rust this car has, all things considered):  Arm out, bushing closeup:  The sleeves are torture. I ended up using the same technique as I had used on the front: sawzall through and chisel out. It still SUCKED.  I did an autox in Louisville a couple weeks ago, and after the return trip I noticed that the fuel pump was sounding a little loud again. I wonder if the filter is getting clogged again already (there aren't any chunks, just very fine particulate). I have an extra fuel filter, so I will swap it when I get a chance. In super-moron Datsun news, I arranged to buy the parts “turbo” Datsun sight-unseen, and arranged to have it picked up by a friend’s dad. The deal was, I would pay for the car ($425), and he would pick it up, pull the turbo stuff for me, and he could have the rest of the car. Well, he picked it up, paid for it, and took it home. Then a couple days later I got a call from him that the car had an auto transmission, and he had wanted a spare manual transmission (I hadn’t even considered the car could be an auto – which was dumb in hindsight). Then I got a call a week later that the car isn’t even a turbo car. I’m not sure how the guy who picked it up (a retired helicopter pilot) couldn’t spot that it was an automatic, and not a turbo, when he picked it up, but that is still my fault for not getting better pictures, and not driving the three hours each way to look at it. I assumed no seller could be that dumb (I don’t think he was intentionally dishonest), and I never considered that the guy picking it up wouldn’t take a look at the car. Anyway, I’m not blaming anyone except me. I’m currently out the $425, plus $175 I paid locally for a manual transmission (since that’s what the guy who picked the car up wanted), plus about $150 in transportation fees. The car is a piece of crap (I haven’t actually seen it in person, still), and there isn’t much worth saving. The diff is an R180, all the body panels suck. He may pull the engine as a spare core for himself. He said he will buy the manual transmission off me. I will probably try to sell the auto trans and wheels. Then there is some scrap value to the car. I’ll probably be out about $200 when it’s all said and done. Lesson learned. I’m a moron. Scout II: This is a tough one. I started assembling the front grille section, and noticed the paint seemed WAY off. Then I panicked, sanded it, resprayed the color, and recleared (after having to run to buy more clear). That sucked. Anyway, I checked my pictures from 2007, and the front metal pieces were originally shot in the wrong color AND resprayed the correct color at the time. I’m not sure why they were still so off. Before (I had to pull the hood again to get clearance for the front pieces and their bolts):  After:  I cleaned up and sprayed the headlight trim pieces, since they looked horrible. They really need to be replaced. Before:  After  Assembled:  I also dug out all of the hinges, sliders, latches, etc. for the tailgate and liftgate, to sand/prime/paint, along with painting a bunch of bolts. It sucks putting a car back together with ugly rusty bolts. I haven’t taken a picture of the other pieces, but here is how I painted the bolt heads:  MISC: Also, in big news, there was a HUGE price drop for that BMW “rally” clone in Louisville (pictured earlier in the thread) from the original $7k, to $6k, then on Sunday night $4500. I called and scheduled to see it Monday (after finding a working number in an older ad, since he typed it incorrectly in the revised ad). It was no small feat scrambling to get $4500 cash together on a Sunday night/Monday (Labor Day). My wife and I hopped in the car Monday afternoon, with our two year old son, to meet the seller at a McDonalds about five minutes from his house (~2 hours from mine). We were sitting in a booth, waiting for him to pull up, and my wife said, “he just pulled in, and the police are following him.” Apparently he had been doing 70mph in a 35, and wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. Somehow, he didn’t get a ticket. The seller was a high school kid who had “restored” the car with his dad. In the pictures, the car looks awesome. When I walked up to it, I noticed the body work was a bit rough, but maybe OK. I checked some of the usual rust areas, and there was some patching, but things looked mostly OK. They had told me the original car was totally rust free. Then I looked under the car, and it was like a scene out of a horror movie. Thousands of screws holding in patch panels covering everything from the firewall back. EVERY suspension component was horribly rusted, and the front frame sections were gone in places. We took a quick ride around the parking lot, and the transmission rattled so loudly that I felt sorry for it. I think it may have been a bad guibo, since it supposedly shifted and drove fine. It just made tons of noise idling and in every gear. Needless to say, I passed on the car. It’s too bad, because if it was as good as I had been told, it would have been an absolute steal on an awesome car. Sadly, it was a piece of junk. At least it saves me the trouble of trying to sell the Datsun, and being depressed that it isn’t worth anything. I think I just need to start saving up for an LS1 swap in the Datsun. As if I need another project. What I need right now is an extra set of hands to help get the hood back on my Scout II, along with the tailgate, liftgate, and hard top windows. Then it’s just interior assembly and it is “done.” Hm. IH Scout Nationals are this weekend, and I’m going to drive up. It’s about three hours away, and I’m going to have to take my son, since my wife has to work. That means I won’t be driving the Scout Truck, since I can’t risk breaking down (or killing us both in a fiery collision). I feel like finding the guys who sold me a mislabeled door jamb for $75 last year, and punching them in the face. I’ll probably just buy more of their repair panels. Baby #2 is due in January (another boy). That will be a transition from being able to lie to myself and say I can sometimes do the things I want to do, to just plain never having any time to do anything I want to do. Such is life. I know I’m pathetic. CatBus fucked around with this message at 03:37 on Sep 5, 2012 |
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Sep 5, 2012 03:29
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Sounds like some bad luck, but the Scout is at least still coming along. Congratulations on your new son I wish there were an easy way to get that kind of sleeve bushing out, but I've never even had luck with presses. If the Datsun has air conditioning, often the related parts can go for quite a bit (especially the compressor) so it might be worth seeing if you can sell that on.
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Sep 5, 2012 03:59
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I actually have some progress to report, but here is some random crap first: 1) One of my former students is a mechanic, and a guy he works with has a 400+ whp Scion FR-S (along with a tuning company out of Louisvilly, KY – Dynostay). I was over at the shop, and the car was out back, so I took a picture. I am pretty impressed it has held up so well to 16psi of boost on stock internals and a stock head gasket (2000+ miles so far).  2) I pulled out my welder the other day, and my welding cart made me think of the hellaflush thread. It’s unintentional, but uncanny.  3) I was shuffling cars over the weekend, and my son pushed his “truck” into the garage to take a look at it. He said it was “broken.” 
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Oct 18, 2012 02:15
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From least to most interesting, here I go: I ordered a repop battery tray for the Scout Truck, and of course it was WAY too small for my battery (this is the fourth repop item I have bought from the same outfit in Ohio, and the fourth thing that required modification to fit in any reasonable way). I have no clue why. I finally got around to cutting off the front edge and welding on an extension.  I also cleaned up the area where it goes, because there is quite a bit of surface rust. Of course, once I got everything back in place I found out it was still too narrow in the other direction. That means it will be back out for another round of welding at a later date. It was a hectic day, and I wouldn’t have had time to do it anyway.  I have been making some slow progress on the Scout. The hood is back on, the front clip is assembled, and I wanted to empty off my parts rack. This meant assembling the rear liftgate and tailgate, and installing the windows in the hard top. The windows went surprisingly painlessly using the rope trick. I had my wife hold/push the window into the opening while I pulled out the rope, and they went in with minimal effort:  When I went to assemble the tailgate, I noticed that the retaining clip for the release button was missing. It took a couple tries to make a new one, but the final product turned out OK:  With everything assembled, it wasn’t too bad throwing the parts back into place. I had to recruit my wife to help, because it just wasn’t possible to install the lifgate or tailgate alone. So, here is the current state of things:      So, that doesn’t leave too much for the exterior. All that remains is: 1) Install bumpers 2) Install mirrors 3) Install roof rack 4) Refinish/install license plate rack 5) Install tail lights 6) Buff the crap out of everything. Then it’s on to the interior! That’s progress. It is starting to look like a Scout again.
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Oct 18, 2012 02:26
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CatBus posted:3) I was shuffling cars over the weekend, and my son pushed his “truck” into the garage to take a look at it. He said it was “broken.”  I have no idea why they started adding eyes to those push cars. It turns them from wacky fun cars to weird frightening things with dead eyes.
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Oct 18, 2012 02:52
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CatBus posted:Baby #2 is due in January (another boy). That will be a transition from being able to lie to myself and say I can sometimes do the things I want to do, to just plain never having any time to do anything I want to do. Such is life. I know I’m pathetic. Don't worry, you'll just have to put stuff on hold for a few years until they're ready to help you, then before you know it you'll have their projects in your garage My son is almost 5yrs old and he already helps me work on the cars.
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Oct 18, 2012 03:08
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CatBus posted:
Do yourself a favor, if you are thinking about a carpet kit, don't do it.
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Oct 18, 2012 18:21
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Seat Safety Switch posted:Did you fix it? I actually did have to fix it a few weeks ago, because of a horrible design flaw. The front wheel posts slide into a plastic bushing, and the only thing preventing them from pushing through is two pinches in the steel rod. Of course, any pressure on the front of the truck pushes them right through, and chews up the bushing. I welded some washers on there to keep them from going through again. This thing is really too big. The smaller red and yellow cars are a much better size. This was a gift, though. Live and learn. leica posted:Don't worry, you'll just have to put stuff on hold for a few years until they're ready to help you, then before you know it you'll have their projects in your garage He wants to help now, but rubbing sticks on the car, and filling the exhaust with rocks isn't helping too mugh trouser chili posted:Do yourself a favor, if you are thinking about a carpet kit, don't do it. I have actually been kicking myself a little for building the floor and wheel wells, because I know an aftermarket carpet kit won't fit. If the aftermarket kits suck, maybe I shouldn't feel too bad? What have you seen/heard? Is there a good way to DIY carpet in a vehicle?
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Oct 19, 2012 00:27
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CatBus posted:I have actually been kicking myself a little for building the floor and wheel wells, because I know an aftermarket carpet kit won't fit. If the aftermarket kits suck, maybe I shouldn't feel too bad? What have you seen/heard? Is there a good way to DIY carpet in a vehicle? Here's my experience. The carpet gets wet and just holds moisture against the steel forever. The quality is just fine, if you do the sides of the truck behind the doors and the bed and the tailgate like mine, then it also impedes access to things like the holes for the top insert panels screws. The tailgate one impedes access to the wiring for the license plate. The bed floor itself isn't so bad, but the front carpets make replacing my hi/low switch difficult and has also completely covered my transmission access panel. They're just annoying and potentially harmful. My favorite solution so far is what J. Roedel did in his truck "patches". It's body-colored rhino-lined on the floors and bed and regular body paint on the sides. Looks great, tough, doesn't hold moisture and you can hose it out if need be.
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Oct 19, 2012 01:13
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What I did on my last Suzuki Samurai (and what lots of Wrangler owners do) is rhino line the floors, and in the back all the way up the sides and over the wheel wells like a truck bed. I always left the drain plugs out and used all weather floor mats to keep the dirt in one place and would shake them out when full, then just hose out the rest like chili said. Once you rhino line a truck/jeep you'll never go back to carpet, I would do both your trucks.
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Oct 19, 2012 04:13
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leica posted:What I did on my last Suzuki Samurai (and what lots of Wrangler owners do) is rhino line the floors, and in the back all the way up the sides and over the wheel wells like a truck bed. I always left the drain plugs out and used all weather floor mats to keep the dirt in one place and would shake them out when full, then just hose out the rest like chili said. Once you rhino line a truck/jeep you'll never go back to carpet, I would do both your trucks. I herculined my Wrangler in 2004 or so, and drove it like that until I sold it last year. While the durability was good, it provided no sound and no heat barrier. My feet would roast on longer trips. That water thing is a likely issue, so carpet may not be a good idea. Wet carpet was the driving force motivating me to herculine the Jeep. I may look into some of the spray on heat/sound deadener products like Lizard Skin. They are pretty expensive, though.
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Oct 19, 2012 12:30
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I've never found my carpet to offer much heat/sound protection. The floor still gets unreasonably hot right above the mufflers, and driving the Scout is such a cacophony of sounds from every direction, especially with the hard top fitted with the interior beauty covers. I've found it's actually quietest with the soft top fitted and the sides and back rolled up. It's really loud with them down though. The only piece of carpet I actually enjoy in the truck is actually on the bed floor, and that's just because I sleep back there often.
trouser chili fucked around with this message at 13:21 on Oct 19, 2012 |
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Oct 19, 2012 13:19
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What about liner + strategically placed rubber floormats where appropriate, at least to help with the heat issue?
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Oct 19, 2012 13:43
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I bet you could throw bedliner on top of Dynamat heatshield mat, or spray barbeque paint in the footwells and trans tunnel first.
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Oct 19, 2012 14:41
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CatBus posted:I herculined my Wrangler in 2004 or so, and drove it like that until I sold it last year. While the durability was good, it provided no sound and no heat barrier. My feet would roast on longer trips. Professionally installed rhino liner or Line X is gonna be quite a bit better/thicker than Herculiner, which is more like paint honestly. Not sure if the heat/sound resistance is any better, but I never had any heat issues with my Samurai (may be because of the rubber floor mats). That Lizard skin looks pretty cool and would be worth the investment for your Scout. Just make sure if you consider any kind of coatings to research your local installer first because some of them don't do the work required properly, there was one dealer here locally years back that got run out of town for lovely spray jobs (overspray, bad prep, resulting in peeling) so be careful if you're paying someone else to do it.
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Oct 19, 2012 16:18
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I was going to let this slip into archives, but there is going to be an important development on Saturday (hopefully). I may have another car arriving, and it is a project! In the mean time, here is a mini-update on the Scout. In late November I continued assembly, and I swapped over the tires/wheels from the Scout Truck. It looks pretty awesome, but runs like crap. I decided that I either need to buy a new carb, or rebuild the existing carb, a pandora's box known as the Carter Thermoquad. From what I've read, the standard operating procedure for the Thermoquad was to remove them from new vehicles and throw them out, because they suck, and parts didn't exist (they have a plastic body). Recently, many people in the Scout community have decided it is the best carb for the job, and rebuild info has become more available. I bought all the rebuild parts and tore it apart, and it's still in pieces because I've been crazy busy. Then child #2 arrive on 12/24/2012, three weeks early. He is luckily doing well, but everyone has been sick with various illness, and total lack of sleep since then. I didn't really want another project, and the now-reliable-if-fat-and-slow Datsun would have been the smart choice for autox this year. However, something came up. That's AI. I will hopefully update this weekend. Until then, here is a picture of the Scout II with my wheels/tires from the Scout Truck.
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Jan 17, 2013 13:06
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I saw one of those Scout Rallye 4WDs the other day on my road. However it seemed to be on a longer wheelbase than yours, but still a three door. It was baby blue, and looked as good as your Scout.
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Jan 17, 2013 23:25
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CatBus posted:I was going to let this slip into archives, but there is going to be an important development on Saturday (hopefully). I may have another car arriving, and it is a project! That looks drat fine. How much work outside of a carb rebuild is left on this?
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Jan 17, 2013 23:37
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You Am I posted:I saw one of those Scout Rallye 4WDs the other day on my road. However it seemed to be on a longer wheelbase than yours, but still a three door. It was baby blue, and looked as good as your Scout. There is an IH Travelall, which shared all of the front sheetmetal, but had a longer wheelbase. They were kind of an IH version of the Suburban. I'm guessing that is what you saw. Boaz MacPhereson posted:That looks drat fine. How much work outside of a carb rebuild is left on this? That is a tricky question. Once the carb is done, I still need to do something with the interior for sound/heat. I am still thinking about spray-in products. So really, make some brackets for the rear bumper, attach the side-view mirrors, and sort out what to do with the interior. It doesn't sound like much, and it probably isn't, but I can't really wrap my mind around the idea of it being back on the road. It's weird. I guess I need to get some decent tires, since the other ones I have (not the ones in the picture) are probably 25 years old.
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Jan 18, 2013 01:00
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Well, it arrived today. "It" is a 1976 BMW 2002.  The good: -5 speed conversion already done -Complete tii swap (trailing arms, fuel system, struts, bigger vented brakes, engine, etc.) -Supposedly rebuilt engine with cam upgrade, etc. -Rot free. NO rust holes. -Upgraded sway bars -Cheap ($2500) + $700 shipping -Round tail light panel swap (from 1973 and earlier cars) The bad: -Does not currently run ("ran when parked") -Needs some paint and body work Here are a few more pictures:      It was a deal I couldn't pass up. I wanted a 2002tii, but the funds simply weren't there (an OK example with a bit of rust is $10k+). I decided I would have to find a bad-paint, rust free, non-runner. This came up. I normally ignore the 1974+ cars because I don't like the square tail lights. This solved all of my problems at once. This means that the Datsun has to go. The Datsun stressed me out because any money I put into it was wasted (no resale), and I really don't like the body style that much. Plus, a 3000lb car with 145hp just doesn't cut it for me. The 2002 isn't a powerhouse, but it should have similar power, while weighing in about 800-1000lbs lighter. Plus, I love the body style. The bumpers have to go, obviously. Now I just need to find some time to get this project moving. So that's my update. CatBus fucked around with this message at 23:41 on Jan 19, 2013 |
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Jan 19, 2013 23:38
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Now you just need to find an M42 or S14...
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Jan 19, 2013 23:50
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I'll miss the Datsun but that looks like a pretty great project on its own. I assume you're going to start by emptying out the engine bay, cleaning up all that rust and gunk and giving it a nice new coat of POR?
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Jan 20, 2013 00:02
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The S14 swap is pretty much impossible, even if I wanted to. Questionable engines are going for like $5k, and it is supposedly like $10k to rebuild one. I was shooting for a tii because of the extra hp, so if this runs, I'm planning to stick with it. Earlier in the thread I linked to a M20 swapped car in CO. I think that was a really good deal, but the timing was bad. On the one hand, I will miss the Datsun. On the other hand, this is a more viable platform, and I like the body style much more. I just don't like pointy cars. The Datsun was just too good a deal to pass up (though I ended up dumping a bunch of cash in upgrades that I needed). I am hoping I can get about $3k out of it (I have about $4k in it at this point). I wish I had some updates, but I have been sick since Thursday. I haven't even had the energy to go out and look at the car since it was delivered on Saturday. That is how sick I am. BLAH. In terms of priorities, I guess I will pressure wash the engine bay/engine, then see about getting it started. If/when I can get it running, then I will decide what to do next.
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Jan 21, 2013 15:39
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CatBus posted:There is an IH Travelall, which shared all of the front sheetmetal, but had a longer wheelbase. They were kind of an IH version of the Suburban. I'm guessing that is what you saw. I thinking it was a Traveler, not a Travelall. The Travelall was the big-body IH truck that shared no sheetmetal with the Scout. The Traveler was the 118-inch wheelbase Scout II with a fiberglass top (in either stationwagon or pickup body).
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Jan 24, 2013 16:05
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Well, here's an update: It actually runs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0FZRj8znAI The car has been sitting in my driveway for ten days or so, and due to the new baby and the plague of illness that devoured my house, I haven't even had five seconds to go outside and look at it. Today after work I went out in the rain and hooked up a battery, knowing I only had about an hour to do some investigation. After quite a bit of poking around and cranking, it actually started and ran (even on 6+ year old gas, somehow). I even put it in gear and pulled it forward a little. When the previous owner says, "It should run with some work." He never had it running, but said the guy before him did. Usually that pans out as a rod through the block or something. There was serious engine movement when it first started, so I have a feeling there is a broken engine mount. There is an aftermarket HEI module, but the stock pickup coil is just grounded to the body through a giant resistor (???). There was a panic moment where there was a continual electrical-arc noise, even with the key out. Some animal had chewed the wire from the HEI module to the distributor, and it was arcing to the HEI module continuously (I need to check that, because maybe it is wired always-hot if the key didn't turn it off...). The wiring is a mess overall. The fuel pump sounded pretty sick, but seemed to work. The oil looked and smelled horrible, so I need to change that asap. Overall, I am pretty psyched about getting it running. Anyway, hooray! Once I have more time I would like to try to drive it around the block. Then I will pull the front struts and ship them off to Ground Control for a coilover conversion: http://www.ground-control-store.com/products/description.php/II=690/CA=281 The price is steep, but I just don't have the time to screw around with a DIY conversion and cobbled together setup at this point. I am planning to paint it during the first week in April (Spring Break). Hopefully things progress in a smooth manner! In Datsun news, I am hoping one of the guys who I let co-drive it at autox will buy it.
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Jan 29, 2013 01:32
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