Digital Man.

The Wal-Mart radio that came with Peer Pressure was OK from a sleeper point of view. It worked fine (once I’d added speakers) but it was a lot like a Chevette: You’d never go through the trouble of actually trying to steal it. After using it for several months, I remembered why analog tuning sucked so bad back in the day: stations went in and out of tune with alarming speed and frequency.

Thus began the replacement process. I pulled the old unit out and put it aside. A dremel wheel attached to my corded drill cut most of the hole for a DIN-9 sleeve, and an angle grinder trimmed the hole to fit. Once I’d made an allowance for the radio, I needed to get a constant power source to it in order to supply power for the memory and presets. Fortunately the new positive battery cable I’d added when the starter crapped out had a pigtail right from the terminal, so I soldered a 14 gauge wire to a male lead, fed the wire through the firewall at the heater wire, and soldered a 5-amp inline fuse to the end. Once I got everything connected to the radio, it all went back in with a snap, and I took the extra time to replace a couple of bulbs in the speedo (the ones I could reach, at least) before replacing the dash panel. Voila! Digital tuning, iPod accessibility, a CD player, and a detachable face.

New head unit

It looks like I’m going to need to drop the A/C ducting in order to get anywhere near the underside of the dash, which is a drag, but I won’t miss it since it doesn’t currently work. Plans for another day…

My next short-term goal is to POR-15 the seat mounts and put a rear seat back in; I’d like to use one of the nicer benches I’ve got so that I can get the other two out of the garage, but that’s going to take an afternoon of adjusting that I don’t currently have.

In Progress on 13 June 2011 with no comments

Weekend Cruise.

I haven’t gotten much done with the Scout lately, but I’ve been slowly amassing parts. One thing that has been crawling closer to completion is the radio install, but we’re not quite there yet. The DIN sleeve is in the faceplate but it needs to be trimmed a little more to fit. The head unit itself needs a source of constant power to retain the programmed memory, so I have to find a way to get a 12V wire from the battery to the dashboard. Thankfully there’s a female pigtail off the battery connector that I can tap into, so I’m going to pick up a length of 12 gauge wire and a box of connectors, pull the inline fuse from the old radio, and run it into the dashboard. I also have to rewire the rear speakers with something heavier.

While I had a little time with Finn Sunday afternoon, I replaced a couple more bulbs in the dashboard, but the one I swapped out for the left indicator light isn’t working. It also happens to be the most difficult to get in without disassembling the entire speedo assembly.

In Future Plans, Repairs on 6 June 2011 with no comments

Wiring and Tank.

Last week, I got a small package of J-hooks from SSS, which should complete the list of parts I need to drop the gas tank and install the poly replacement. Well, except for some kind of catchbasin for the gas I’ve already got. I’ll probably either siphon it into the Saturn or just go buy a Rubbermaid container.

I also found a post on the Binder Planet which has some more detailed instructions for running constant power to the head unit; unscrewing the fuse box should reveal two bus bars, one with switched power and one with constant. They each will accept female spade connectors, which means all I should need is a length of wire and the proper spade connector.

In Purchasing, Repairs on 1 June 2011 with no comments

Radio Delete.

Looks like someone boosted my tunes

Last night I finished grinding a dash cover plate down enough to fit a DIN-9 sleeve for my spare Kenwood radio. I stole out into the garage at 10:30 and pulled the Wal-Mart special, marked off the relevant wires, and test-fitted the Kenwood. Unfortunately, there was no juice. I think part of the problem is that the new deck needs constant power and switched power from the key; I’ve got switched power but noplace to draw constant power from the battery. So next I have to figure out how to make that happen.

In other news, I ordered two replacement J-hooks from SSS yesterday in preparation for my gas tank swap. Now that the weather is calming down, I need to set aside a day to make that happen.

In Progress, Repairs on 25 May 2011 with no comments

Small Progress.

Eraser wheel at work

I took a little time out last night to try out a tool I’ve had sitting on the workbench since March. Given the fact that it’s been raining constantly this week, I pulled the instrument panel cover off the truck and put the eraser wheel to it in order to remove adhesive residue from a factory-installed sticker. When I say eraser wheel, I really mean eraser wheel; it left eraser shavings behind that could have come from a drawing class.

Finished product

It did make short work of the adhesive, though, which then prompted me to try the Dremel tool I’d bought around the same time. The goal is to install a DIN-9 sleeve and a Kenwood head unit I’ve had laying around since we sold the Jeep: it has an iPod input, a CD player, a removable face, and most importantly, digital tuning. The Wal-Mart special works fine but stations fade in and out in the space of a quarter-mile, which means it’s useless without an iPod. I got about 2/3 of it cut before I ran out of cutting wheels (I ground them down to nubs) and I’ll have to widen it out some more, but it’s looking much better than the hack job I inherited.

Opening opened

In Progress on 19 May 2011 with no comments

Afternoon at Work.

6-1 crawl gear makes pulling dead bushes a very simple task.

In Uncategorized on 15 May 2011 with 2 comments

Chewbacca’s New Hat.

Mr. Scout sent me this earlier today; it’s the top I got him for his birthday last year. It looks perfect on that truck.

In Friends, Inspiration on 6 May 2011 with 2 comments

Safari style.

In Uncategorized on 27 April 2011 with 1 comment

City Bound.

Top down, 70 degrees. I need to get new windshield wipers. Hell, I need a whole new windshield.

In Inspiration on 20 April 2011 with no comments

Spares.

I read a recent post on the Jalopy Journal about using a 39 Ford as a daily driver, and it got me thinking. The author talked about return on investment vs. the ever-present fear of breakdown when taking a 70-year-old automobile on the road every day; ultimately he found the satisfaction outweighed the worry and determined to press onward. Among the thoughtful and well-considered responses to the post, I found, among other things, an excellent quote from Kerouac’s On the Road, lots of support and admiration, and some good advice for the inevitable breakdown. And a list of helpful items to have in a toolkit:

• Radiator hoses, both upper and lower
• Pipe clamps for same
• A rotor
• A fresh coil
• A starter (heh)
• Fan belt
• Fuel filter
• Fuel pump
• Fuses

This list is something I intend to work on in the next month as the weather gets warmer.

In Future Plans, Purchasing on 13 April 2011 with 6 comments