Author: bill

2026 Master To-Do List

This year, I’m going to consolidate the annual To-Do lists into one page for simplicity. As usual there are several carry-overs from last year, mainly with the Scout II and involving smelly gas.

Travelall:

  • Pull the front springs and have them rebuilt. The rears are coming back in the second week of January, and I’m excited to see how much of a difference this makes. the guys at the shop figure I’ll get 3″ of lift out of them, which would help the stance out a lot.
  • Fix the brake system once and for all. It’s locking up intermittently, and I believe that has something to do with gunk in the last original section of brake line going along the frame rail.
  • Wire in some dome lights. I’ve got the door switches and a hot wire from the dashboard; I just need to drill and install the switches, run the wire, and get it set up.
  • Bolt the rear floor into the truck. It turns out I didn’t need to take it out to reach the rear springs, so I’m going to pull it out one last time to hit any last bare spots with chassis protector and then install it for good.
  • Find or fabricate four mounts for the last two headliner bows and install them. It would be great to order and install a new headliner itself—I know where I can find the raw material. More on this later.
  • Buy and install a C-series windshield wiper motor. They’re about $200 and apparently bolt right in.
  • Figure out why the fuel sender isn’t working. It functioned fine when I first put the tank in, and now it’s dead.
  • Figure out a better fuel tank venting solution. It’s currently backing up when I fill it.
  • Electric steering conversion. For this I need Brian’s help, but I think it should be straightforward.
  • Cut out and replace the driver’s side floor. This is getting on my nerves and I’d like to get it cleaned up.

Scout II:

  • Fix the gas tank. This is just a perennial entry on the Scout list. I have to get over my fear of burning up the dash and sort out the sender issue. And work out the overfilling issue, which has to do with proper venting from the tank.
  • Fix the turn signal indicator. It’s not locking in or canceling on the right-side indicator. I think it just needs to be re-centered, which involves pulling the steering wheel again.
  • Re-adjust the snaps around the doorframes on the soft top. They should go all the way around the metal doorframes and back into the canvas, instead of snapping into the frames.
  • Add snaps to the vertical flaps. I’ve just never done this, and they need it.
  • Install a rubber grommet for the emergency brake. I can see down through to the ground.

Scout 800:

  • Everything.
Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on 2026 Master To-Do List  |  Posted in To-Do List

Cold-Weather Updates

Taking full advantage of another day off, I returned to the garage and plugged in the space heater, for as much as that’s going to heat an uninsulated shack put up in the 1920s. Regardless, three layers of winter clothes helped cut the chill back and I found that when I kept moving, I stayed plenty warm. The first order of business was to move a bunch of large body panels and other spare parts into the greenhouse. I desperately need more room in the garage, especially in the winter months, and so moving a bunch of big bulky body panels out there really freed up a bunch of space. And, having the other panels that were stacked behind the garage now under cover helps me sleep a little better. All of the shelves and bins got reorganized, and I finally unboxed my new TIG welder, which is smaller than I thought it would be. I can’t wait to get a bottle of argon and start noodling with that.

With that done I warmed up Peer Pressure in the driveway and pulled the battery out of the Travelall to do some more electrical testing in the 800. I wanted to trace the wiring back into the dash to find the fuse panel, so I started at the bulkhead connector in the engine bay, isolating the two 14ga. blue wires that carry the main power to and from the ammeter on the dash. The connector was covered in grime and dirt, but a shot of electrical cleaner got rid of most of it. I unscrewed the two leads, wirebrushed everything, and connected it back up.

Inside the cab I pulled the glove box out after cutting the rusted screws off to allow better access to the wiring, and hosed more of the bolts down with penetrant. After I got a constant 12V there with the key on, I pulled the dash panel back off and looked for power there. I got nothing at the ammeter, the next link in the chain, so I pulled a replacement from my spares and put that in. The original unit in this truck was an aftermarket Stewart-Warner so something had happened with the original one at some point.

It took a while to get the new one on (25˚ with no gloves on cold metal makes for fumbly fingers) but after I cleaned all the other connectors, I connected the battery back up, waited for any visible smoke, and turned the key to ACC. I still got nothing on the panel, but I turned it off and back on and accidentally went past ACC and felt the starter bump! Elated, I tried it one more time, heard the starter catch, and saw the ammeter move, which means the broken link is now fixed. I’m still not getting any other electrics—the light switch isn’t working, for example—but if the starter is working, that’s a huge win.

Under the truck, I could only move the crank bolt a little bit, so I got under the transmission and pulled the flywheel cover off. It’s much easier to access than on Peer Pressure which is a good thing—I can get a flywheel wrench on it with no problem.

Saturday morning I drove the rear leaf springs from the Travelall down to a very sketchy industrial section of Baltimore to be worked on. The guys there told me the best thing to do is add two helper leaves instead of trying to re-arch them, so they’ll go from 7 leaves to 9 if I’m understanding them right. They’re going to replace all of the bushings and provide me with four new U-bolts to mount the springs back up to the axles. I have to go and source four bushing bolts for the body, even though the ones I pulled off look to be in good shape.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Cold-Weather Updates  |  Posted in Electrical, Scout 800

Unsprung

It’s cold here in Maryland—the thermometer is in the twenties but when the wind kicks up it goes into the low teens. This didn’t stop me, however, from bundling up and getting outside to get some stuff done on one of my days off. First, I mixed up a cocktail of ATF and acetone and poured it down each of the cylinders on the 800. There are many different schools of thought on the best penetrant for this kind of thing; some folks swear by Kroil or PBblaster, others use WD40, and still others swear by the ATF/acetone mixture. This is my first try with this homebrew mixture personally, so we’ll see how it goes. I also pulled the battery out of the Travelall and dropped it into the 800 to see if any of the wiring survived. Hooking the leads up produced no smoke or flames, so I turned the key to ACC and flipped the lights on with no results. I’m sure the mice got in and chewed up the harness somewhere, so I’ll have to hotwire the engine to start it, and eventually pull the dashboard apart to see what the full electrical story is.

Then I shifted focus to the Travelall. Jacking up the driver’s side rear, I pulled the tire and got the U-bolts off with little trouble. With that, the U-bolt plate and shock came off, so I moved to the rear spring perches and unbolted those from the body. Up front, after I adjusted my jack points to relieve weight on the leaf spring, I got the front unbolted and pulled the entire spring pack out from under the truck.

Having learned on the driver’s side, I had the passenger side off in about half the time, and left the truck high and dry with the axle only connected to the truck by the transmission and brake lines. Now I’ve got to get the spring packs into the shop for a rebuild, which will hopefully improve the ride. I expect the front springs to be much more of a challenge, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Unsprung  |  Posted in Scout 800, Travelall

800 First Impressions

I’ve had some time to sneak out and fool with the new truck over the break and have learned a few new things about it. The first and biggest thing is that right now the engine is locked up. Having taken it out of gear and with a breaker bar on the crank bolt, the engine will not move. I pulled the spark plugs back out and dropped the bar scope down the cylinders and found they are pretty well full of gunk. So I dumped more Marvel mystery oil down each cylinder to hopefully so pass the rings. The only cylinder that was still holding liquid was number one, which may be the culprit, although I pulled the valve cover cover and found surface rust on the valve train above cylinders three and four.

It’s still too early to tell what’s going on, but a helping of patience and a whole lot of penetrating oil should get this thing moving again. I’m going to spring for a $25 bottle of Kroil because I’ve heard great things about it. Getting the valve cover off meant I had to move the heater hoses, so I took the heater core out of the loop completely. While I was in there, I scraped and vacuumed the dirt off the engine further to avoid getting crud in the valvetrain.

Meanwhile, I used the penetrating oil I did have to break the door mounting bolts free and hang both of the doors back on the truck for the first time in 20 years. When Dan took them off, he helpfully put the bolts back in either the A pillar or the doors, but sitting out in the elements fused those bolts in place. I used a handheld impact driver and a set of channel locks and got them all free enough to where I could hang the passenger door easily. The location of the truck made hanging the driver’s door a lot more difficult, because it was too close to the greenhouse to open wide enough. I put my snatch strap around the tree behind the truck and used a couple of ratchet straps to help me move it backwards. Then I got the door open wide enough to get two of the bolts on it.

Next I had to get both of the door access panels open to access the inner scissor mechanisms to help me get the windows up. The passenger door wasn’t that hard, but I had to break out the death wheel and a drill to remove the screws on that door. Once I was inside, I was able to get the windows up and hook them into the scissor mechanisms to keep them up. I also took the time to vacuum out the inside of the doors, which were full of dirt.

Then I pulled the dash panel off so that I could swap out the ignition barrel with one from my spares, and found that the wiring wasn’t in bad shape. And finally I moved the rearview mirror mount out of the way so I could drop the half cab onto the widnshield frame properly.

This truck is going to be a handful. It’s definitely the roughest of the three trucks I’ve bought. But I think it’s going to be the beater of the fleet, which means I’m not going to knock myself out ‘restoring’ it—I’m going to repair it and drive it, and most importantly, have fun with it.

But right now, I have to move my focus over to the Travelall, where I have to pull the rear springs to have them re-arched.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on 800 First Impressions  |  Posted in Scout 800  |  Tagged

Mission: 800 Recovery

Screenshot

Mission: Recover Dan’s 800 was successful. More successful than I had anticipated, actually. The Saturday-morning plan was for Brian to bring his fancy new aluminum trailer over from the Eastern Shore for its maiden recovery mission, which meant we needed to meet early so that he could get back home in the afternoon for an appointment. So Bennett and David and I met up before dawn in my driveway and we did a convoy of Hondas stuffed with recovery gear to Dan’s house, with a brief stop at Dunkin’ for fuel. The second-gen Honda CR-V is now the official chase car/recovery vehicle of the Old Line State Binders.

Brian pulled up shortly after we got there, and thankfully the field was dry and cold enough to be solid under the axles of the trailer. After walking the route, we found it clear and dry enough to drive on, so Bennett and I pulled as close as we could to the 800 and started unloading tools.

I gave the family cash and got a bill of sale for the truck, although there’s no VIN number I can find anywhere—on some trucks it was bolted to the firewall and on others it was bolted to the door. This truck has neither, so getting a title is going to be a challenge—but I have two good options there. Later on I’ll scrape the frame rail to find the true VIN and get a lineset ticket.

Brian is a pro at navigating through narrow corridors, and quickly had the trailer backed up to the truck. While he was doing that I started loosening lug nuts—and found out quickly that the driver’s side studs are reverse thread. I’d brought two spares for the front tires, and with an assist from Brian’s corded impact gun (run off the plug on the back of his Ford hybrid, very trick) and my Hi-Lift jack, we had the wheels swapped and the truck ready to roll very quickly. (Note to self: diagnose and repair the lowering linkage on the Hi-Lift). Running the line out from his winch, I hopped up into the Scout, put it in neutral, and we quickly had it up on the trailer. It went so smoothly, in fact, we had it strapped down and ready to move by 9AM. I threw the two bad tires in the back as well as an original skinny 7″ steel wheel and we strapped all of the loose parts down.

Then we went bushwhacking behind the garage and David and I walked the steel half-cab to the bed of Brian’s truck. With that in place, My task was done, but we wanted to stop back in the woods to see if we could get the visor off the junk Travelall for Bennett, as well as scope out the bed extensions on the other pickup. With a bunch of PBblaster, verious screwdrivers and a BFH we got the visor and the mounts off the truck, as well as some other doodads.

With that stuff secured, and a final survey of the remaining vehicles in the bushes, we checked the straps again and got on the road for home. Back at the house, my neighbor moved his second car out of the driveway so Brian could back the trailer up and straight into our yard. We dropped it in between the garage and the greenhouse with few problems, folded up all the straps, and cleared out.

With that done, I treated the guys to a hearty breakfast down the street, and we all marveled over how quickly the job went. Back at the house I handed off some tools and a vise to Brian, and a spare wheel and the manual shift column I’d collected to David, a nd everyone left for home around 1PM. I came inside and promptly fell asleep on the couch with a snoring dog, which was exactly what I needed.

On Sunday I took advantage of a free hour to pull the spark plugs and dump some Marvel Mystery Oil down to the pistons, as well as pull the carburetor to soak in cleaner. The plugs were fouled with carbon as was the carburetor, which means it was running too rich when it was parked. The whole truck is filthy, which is no surprise, so it’ll need a good pressure wash before I can really start tearing things apart. The plan is to move Peer Pressure up to Brian’s place, where he’s got a spare garage bay he can rent me in January with a plug for a trickle charger while the weather is salty. I’ll keep the 800 at the house where I can work on getting it moving, and leave the Travelall napping in the driveway.

I have a crap-ton of video to edit over the holiday break, including some drone footage I shot before I crashed it into a tree and broke one of the legs. So that repair job is also on the calendar. But stay tuned, it’ll be live soon!

Big thanks to Bennett, David, and Brian for all their help and another fun early-morning tetanus adventure!

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Mission: 800 Recovery  |  Posted in Friends, Purchasing, Trip Logs

Snowy Trucks

I had the Travelall out to run downtown to pick up some lunch before the County sprayed the roads down with salt. I have to admit, the electric fuel pump I installed has really spoiled me, because it only takes about 3 seconds to prime the carb and one pump of the pedal, and she fires right up. I do have to bleed the brake system again, and I suspect I’ll need to replace the last legacy line left (the one going down the driver’s side frame rail) to permanently fix some lingering sticky brake issues.

The Scout has always taken some more judicious stomping of the pedal and cranking to get fuel up to the bowl, but fires up and smooths out almost immediately. I let her idle for a good 15 minutes and used her toasty defroster to warm my fingers up before finishing the front walk. She’s back in the garage napping peacefully.

Meanwhile, I’m firming up the plans for a Scout recovery mission next weekend. Brian has volunteered his truck and trailer, Bennett is on board, and our friend David asked to come along as well. Provided the field isn’t a muddy swamp, it should be relatively straightforward to back the trailer in, swap some good wheels on for the bad ones, and winch it onto the trailer. With all of that in mind, I’ve got a recovery list started:

  • Ratchet straps
  • Two solid wheels (these are checked and ready to go)
  • Lug wrench
  • Hi-lift
  • Compressor and short hose with tire inflator
  • C-clamps for the top
  • 1/2 bolts for the top?
  • Snatch straps
  • Impact wrench/toolbox
  • PBblaster!
  • Come-along (I know we’ve got one; maybe Bennett has this?)

The only question mark is where the halfcab and rollbar will go. They’re not currently on the truck and the hardware is MIA, so we’ll have to ratchet them down to the truck in the worst case—I can always throw the doors in the back of my CR-V.

The dropoff plan is to back the trailer up the neighbors’ driveway and basically pull or push it down the hill across my backyard to sit between the garage and greenhouse. This way it’s out of eyesight from the street but close enough to the garage that I can throw an air hose or extension cord out the back window.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Snowy Trucks  |  Posted in Friends, Future Plans

Badges, Version 3

When last I left the dealer badge project, I was looking for another option. Melted tin was too imperfect. Resin made very good examples but I couldn’t find a mixture strong enough to stand up to the heat I’d be expecting. So I was considering something drastic, like making a sand cast aluminum version: I’d have to buy the sand, make a buck, build a furnace and crucible, and pour a number of examples before I got something I liked. That was going to be a winter project.

Yesterday, Brian and I were catching up on the EV project and he mentioned he had a local guy 3D print him some parts while we’re waiting around for an adapter to materialize. I asked what his cost was and when he told me I got excited. It turns out the guy is very local and very reasonable, and has access to PVC thread, so I asked Brian to send over my dealer badge file. Within a day he’d printed a test run, which looked great.

I had him print a handful for me, and Brian picked them up last night. I couldn’t be more jazzed.

PVC should be much more resistant to UV and heat; the final pieces have a lot more ridges and imperfections to be sanded off than the versions I printed at the library, but I’ll be happy to sit in front of a football game and clean these up if it means they don’t melt off the back of the truck in August sunshine.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   2 Comments on Badges, Version 3  |  Posted in Design

Saturday Tinkering

The weather was reasonably warm (~40F˚) on Saturday, and I had some stuff to catch up on out in the garage, so I got my cold weather gear on and got to it.

  • The rear axle on the Travelall has been a mystery for a while, so I wanted to do some research on it. I jacked up the back of the truck, put it on stands, and pulled both of the rear wheels off. Measuring from mounting surface to mounting surface, the rear axle is 60.75″ wide, which equals a “narrow track” Dana 44. Then I scrubbed the ID tag on the axle enough to reveal what looks like the numbers 3.73–which is a surprise, because the LST says it should be a 4.10. A 3.73 axle is a little more highway-friendly, but I’d like something even lower. I think I’m going to have to jack it back up and measure out the revolutions to be sure of what I’ve got.
  • I finally got both of the latches for the rear lockbox installed and working. I’d ordered thicker and longer catches from SendCutSend, and after a little filing they fit on the locks perfectly. Now I want to find a simple way to build a tray inside each  for organizing tools and spare parts.
  • I blew the dust out of the gauges in the Travelall so that they’ll show up a little better at night. I did find that the right-side gauge light isn’t working, which might be the reason some of the other lights are acting funky. I have to consult the wiring diagram to see what circuit that lives on, and why it’s not working (everything tested perfectly before it was installed).
  • I moved the trucks around to see what kind of space I’ll have for the Scout 800, and it looks like I can tuck it in behind the Travelall and in front of the garage without blocking the doors.
  • Finally, I reorganized the available floor space in the garage, which was getting crowded.

We’ve had two bouts of winter weather so far: last Monday they pre-salted the roads and delayed school 2 hours for what amounted to a cold rainstorm. On Thursday we actually got about 1″ of snow, and the plows came through to salt everything. So the trucks will be off the roads until we get a good heavy rainstorm and things dry out, which is both a bummer but also means I can get started pulling springs out of the Travelall.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Saturday Tinkering  |  Posted in Progress