My friend from Michigan stopped by yesterday to pick up parts and talk trucks, and we spent about two hours in the driveway looking things over as he picked my brain. It was real nice meeting him in person, and I answered as many of his questions as I could. He’s working on a ’68 4WD with his kids, and he’s almost got it on the road, which is great news. I was able to send him off with the Travelall tailgate, the Ford bumper I bought before I came into the green truck, a steering wheel, a good grille emblem, and two door handles. I also sent him home with the arctic heater core from the green truck, which I have no use for. He then headed back to Frederick to pick up the white Travelall before heading home.
As for me, I’m happy to make new friends, move parts along to friends who can use them, to have some cash in hand, and especially to get rid of some stuff for room to work.
Saturday morning I had some time to get out to the driveway. The first thing to do was diagnose the wobble on the front wheel, so I jacked it off the ground and spun it. I immediately found the cause of the vibration above 50mph: the new wheel is out of true. There’s a wide variation in both diameter and depth as it spins, which explains the problem. So I swapped that wheel with the one on the back, and we’ll see if that makes any difference. If the back starts wobbling badly, I’ll swap the tire back on to the odd 16″ wheel until I can get a good set of 15″ wheels to replace these.
With the front wheel off, I started working on the tie rods. After cleaning the accumulated grease and dirt off the fittings, I heated and cooled each side until I was able to get it to spin. Counting the threads carefully, I pulled it off and threaded the new one on at exactly the same length. With the driver’s side fastened, I pulled the passenger wheel off and repeated the process. The steering tie rod ends were just as bad, but I couldn’t get both here at the same time, so I did some cross-site parts research and found a left-hand thread Moog unit on the jungle site that could be delivered Sunday.
Then I went out and swapped the Honda out for Peer Pressure at Brian’s place to bring it home. Stopping off at ACE for fresh grade 8 hardware, I installed the female sides of the lap belts on the rear bench in Darth—so now I’ve got one full lap belt back there until I can source another male belt with a quick-release. With that done, I routed and mounted the fourth tiedown on the driver’s side rear, so there’s one on each side to secure any cargo back there.
Meanwhile, I’ve been noticing the cord on the IH fridge has been getting more and more frayed, and some of the original plastic sheathing was ripped about halfway along its length. Fearing a fire hazard, I took a little time last night to splice in a replacement appliance cord with solder and four layers of shrink wrap to keep it as secure as possible.
Sunday I was multi-tasking on house and truck stuff, but the part did arrive, and after some initial confusion about whether or not it was correct, I threaded it on. The rear half of the steering link is an odd size: the rod section is about 8″ long, which I haven’t seen anywhere. I think my solution to this will be to find a replacement sleeve that’s longer to accept a normal off-the-shelf tie rod.
With three of the four tie rods replaced and the wobbly wheel on the back, I took her out for a test drive. Getting her up to speed on 195, I felt the rear wheel doing its dance, but the other three felt good—and most importantly, as I drove over the traffic calming speed bumps on the way to the highway, I felt and heard none of the loose clanking through the steering wheel that was there before the tie rods went in. And the steering is still straight and true, which means I did it right.
Something positive to note: I got her up to 65mph with little difficulty, and I believe, once the wheels are sorted out, she’d do 70 with no problem.
Monday afternoon I’ve got an internet acquaintance stopping by to buy a bunch of parts: the Travelall liftgate, the Ford bumper, some doorhandles, and a badge off one of the ’68 grilles. It’ll be good to clear that stuff out and free up a litle cash for some other stuff. He’s picking up a Travelall from Tyler out in Frederick, and I was hoping to horse trade him for the original jack and windshield washer pump out of that truck; we’ll see if we can swing it.
The weather was kind of garbage this weekend, which put a literal damper on a lot of the things I wanted to accomplish. I was able to install a set of 6,000 lb. cargo hooks in the back of the Travelall to accept a set of seatbelts for the back seat, which I’ve been meaning to do for a while.
These hooks replace the original round IH cups that came with the Green truck (my truck never had these, falling outside the federal seatbelt mandate) which were very deep, and which I couldn’t come up with a method of attaching to anything solid.
The new hooks come with a stout metal plate that bolts underneath, so I don’t think they’re going to go anywhere. Now I have to add the female belts to the wheel wells, which will require a custom fabricated backing plate.
Meanwhile, a nice fellow in Michigan reached out to me several weeks ago after seeing the Travelall liftgate in one of my videos; we traded emails and a couple of calls, and made some plans for him to buy some parts. Then my local Travelall friend Tyler showed me a picture of a truck he picked up locally and asked me if anyone I knew was interested. I passed the word along to Bill, and he sounded very interested. So I wrapped two trips up into one on Sunday: I drove out Tyler’s way to buy a new (used) Mirra desk chair and then stopped at his place to look over the truck. After sharing the video and my opinion, Bill is going to buy it, which is a great deal for both people (and I don’t feel tempted to buy it myself and risk my marriage). My intention was to drive Darth, but after I got her out onto the Beltway and up to 60mph, the front of the truck started vibrating badly. So I think the plan will be to replace the tie rods and then find someone who can do an alignment for me.
I dragged the 800 back out of the garage, put some oil in the cylinders, and tried to fire it off again, but didn’t have any luck. I cleaned all the plugs and verified that I’ve got spark, but the #1 cylinder is still only making 75psi of pressure. I’m going to pull the carb off this week and clean it out, and I’ll give it another try maybe this coming weekend, but I’m beginning to think this truck will be a winter project—and I’m considering swapping it out with the Scout II at Brian’s place. I want to drive Peer Pressure this summer, and I’m still focused on making Darth Haul a runner, so the 800 is a distraction. Plus, nobody knows more about cranky engines that won’t start than my friend Brian, so there’s that added benefit. I’ve just got to get it over there.
Lots to write about, but not much time this morning:
The Travelall brakes are still broke. I believe it’s the master cylinder at this point, so I’ve ordered a new one from Rock Auto, which should be here Wednesday. I replaced the entire hardline setup last week as well as the softline on the passenger side (which I’d overlooked two years ago).
The 800 is not starting. I tested it from the key forward, and the coil is getting power but is hot to the touch, which tells me it’s toast. So I’ve got a new coil coming this week as well.
Peer Pressure, as usual, is running like a top. There’s a whine from the power steering pump, which is leaking slowly, and the exhaust on the passenger side needs to be tightened again, but she made it over and back from Chestertown with zero issues. She is my rock.
Project Slowflake is making progress! I spent two days with Brian mounting the power unit to the transmission (the custom aluminum adapter plates are SEXXXXXXY), welding supports up to the front battery tray, and re-configuring the PMU location for the thirteenth time—but we got it sorted. Stay tuned for updates there as well.
This video is two weeks behind, but should begin to catch up on the progress:
Here’s the latest video on truck projects, which includes the spring work on the Travelall, engine unlocking on the 800, and a sojourn to Brian’s garage to help move an engine and tear down a Hudson door.
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!
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.
Bennett sent the Old Line Mafia a bunch of pictures last night that he got from Brendan, showing the the trucks at Dan’s being pulled out of the woods. It looks like Brendan went in there with a bushhog and a dozer and cleared out a ton of the brush and trees. He’s now got all the trucks staged to where he can haul them out one at a time.
He also pulled the blue Scout 800 up to the front where Brian and I can haul it out. If Dan’s family can find the title, we are hoping to grab that and the tan 800 for scientific research and R&D on the EV project.
I bribed Bennett with a T-shirt. Well, a T-shirt and an R-series doorhandle. Actually, a T-shirt, doorhandle, and donuts.
Realizing I’m way over my head trying to sort out the timing issue on Darth Haul, I figured it was time to bring in the big guns. Bennett has years of experience with all manner of different vehicles, and I figured that knowledge was what I needed to figure out what the hell is happening. I got all of my tools prepared, pulled the Scout forward and was finishing up installing a replacement hydraulic line to the clutch when Bennett walked down the driveway. I already had the engine monitor and my timing light hooked up, and over our first donut I explained all of the symptoms and what I’d done to date. We puzzled over things for a bit, and he wisely suggested starting with the basics: verifying the #8 cylinder was at TDC, then making sure the rotor was pointed in the right direction. We used my compression tester to bump the engine, and then went to the old-school method where I laid underneath and turned the crank bolt by hand until we hit the compression stroke.
When we found that, we looked at the timing mark on the flywheel and found that where it should have been pointing at 0, it was actually somewhere past 25˚ advanced, which was….very wrong. We verified we were at TDC again, made sure to mark where the rotor was pointing, verified the plug wires were all in the right order, and scratched our heads a bit. Then we tried cranking the truck over to see where the timing was. It was, of course, very bad, and running choppier than it had been before, blowing clouds of white smoke.
Shutting it down, we considered pulling the distributor and moving it back a tooth, figuring maybe the balancer had slipped or the distributor had been stabbed erroneously, but Bennett scratched his head a little more and started looking at the carburetor. We verified all the connections were correct, put a hose on the EGR valve (which was plugged off, as was the port on the back of the carburetor) and started the truck again. This made it happier, and while it was still choppy, it ran a little better. Bennett messed with the distributor while I read out the RPM, but we couldn’t get it to smooth out or calm down.
We then started fooling with the metering jets on the carb, and Bennett was puzzled at the fact that they were only open a half a turn while the engine was obviously running very rich. He then asked me if I knew how much pressure the electric pump was putting out, which I didn’t. He thought about that for a minute and suggested that maybe the electric pump was overfilling the bowl, which was why the engine was running rough. He’d had this very problem in a Mustang years ago, and knew that the Holley 2300 doesn’t like anything above 4 lbs. of pressure. So we rigged up a vacuum feed to the carb with a squeeze bottle full of gas and used that to fill the bowl. That seemed to make a difference, and then we carefully started dialing in the proper metering and the idle circuit. In a couple of minutes, we had the RPM down to about 800 and the engine running smoothly. He put the timing light on it and found that it was only 15° advanced, which was a huge improvement over where it had been before. Letting it idle off the gravity feed, I was amazed at how much better it sounded and smoother it ran.
Grinning, we both stood back and let it run for a bit until it ran out of gas. He had work to do at home, so he took off at about 2 o’clock, and I got Finn to help me bleed the brake system one more time. Then I went to the basement, set up my tools on the workbench, and started rebuilding the Carter fuel pump. This is the original pump off the truck, and should allow for the proper fuel pressure going to the carb. I followed the directions in a YouTube video posted by the company who made the kit, and found it very easy—almost meditative. With the football game on over my workbench and a cold beer next to the toolbox, it was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. The whole pump is now ready to go, minus a fuel filter, which is at the local Napa to pick up. Hopefully tomorrow afternoon it’ll dry out and I can stick it in place during my lunch break.
Here’s the fifth video in the Project Slowflake series, where I went over to Brian’s for two days to hook up the battery to the power pack with the aftermarket wiring harness, and test it out to see if it would run. When we sorted that out, we cracked the battery pack open and pulled the wiring harness apart from there. With that done, we made a bunch of measurements and started planning out how to organize the batteries in the truck.
