Category: Progress

Shiny Red

Jeff gave me a ring early in the week and asked me to send him the existing overs off the seats I have because he’s worried what he has might not fit correctly. So I went out at lunchtime on Tuesday and quickly pulled the covers off the rear bench and front vertical section, wrote where they came from, and boxed them up to be UPS’d up to him. I would like to have spent more time taking pictures of how they were assembled, but I was up against the clock and weather, and wanted to keep the process moving.

Jeff said I’m welcome to come up to his place and he’d show me how they go together when he’s got them completed, and it’s looking more and more like I might take him up on that offer. I’m sure I could figure out a lot of things on my own but I’d rather have an expert show me the right way first before I ruin anything.

The other thing I did on Saturday was to cut and fit two sections of steel to the corners before welding them into place. I have no idea why they would have kept these parts separate, and I figured sturdier is better in any case. A spray can of Rust-Stop helped me reach all the sections the brush missed, and with that the front bench is ready for upholstery. Next I’ve got to clean off the rear.

On the fender I got all of the low spots mudded out and sanded down, then used fill & sanding primer to identify any last trouble spots. When I was satisfied with the way things looked I used some 1000 grit to polish it up and then sprayed on two coats of rattle-can IH Implement Red to cover things. Overall it looks very good, and there’s only a drip around the fuel inlet port I have to smooth out. The next step will be to scrape all the old undercoating off the back, wire wheel any remaining rust, cover it with Encapsulator, and then spray on some undercoating.

I took the driver’s side off and started knocking off all the Bondo I’d applied in the summer as well as the stuff it came to me with; I’m going to take it back down to bare metal and start over again. This time I’m going to cut out the bad metal and riveted patch and try to get it as close to the original as I can while I keep looking for replacements. This one is going to take a lot more time to fix.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   1 Comment on Shiny Red  |  Posted in Seats, Travelall

Compression

Saturday morning broke with the first good sunshine we’ve had in a long time, so I decided that I would take advantage of as much of it as I could. After a mile-long walk with the dog and a cup of coffee with Jen, I put on my coveralls and headed out to the garage. The first thing I wanted to tackle was pulling and inspecting each spark plug I’d installed last year to ensure they were gapped correctly and to do a compression test. I pulled the coil wire, started with the #1 cylinder and worked my way backwards on the driver’s side, then finished on the passenger side.

All of the gaps looked right at spec, and the tips were all covered in gassy-smelling oil—which I expected, considering that I haven’t been able to get her running consistently for a long period of time. The most important information was good information: all of the cylinders had excellent compression, with the lowest of any of them at 125psi. This means the rings are in great shape and have hopefully reseated themselves after their long slumber.

When that was done I pulled the passenger fender out into the sun and hit it with sanding blocks for the second time, working the high spots down and smoothing out the second skim coat. It’s really shaping up on the outside, and I’m having great luck with the new filler.

One drawback was that the inner metal collar I’d welded on to the backside of the fuel port came off as I was sanding it down; when I welded the inside edges and then sanded off the excess metal apparently I was a little too zealous and weakened those welds. So this time I predrilled a bunch of pilot holes along the outer circumference and used those to tack the collar back in place from the back side—something I should have done in the first place. I’ll fill the inside edge with seam sealer to hide the welds, which are mostly hidden anyway. Then I skimmed filler on the low spots, which are (thankfully) decreasing in number.

Sunday morning I ran up the Scout for the first time in two weeks and let it warm up in the driveway. After attaching my ghetto exhaust extender (a 5′ length of HVAC pipe attached to the tailpipe, with 20′ of PVC reaching past the side of the garage) I turned both idle mixture screws all the way back into the carb and then backed them out 1/4 turn. Adding a little starting fluid to the carb, she fired right up and idled much smoother than she had two weeks ago, but then I saw the giant clouds of white smoke coming from the end of the exhaust and figured I’d better shut her down. So the rough idle issue is mostly sorted out, but I need a good windy day to run it up and clean the Berrymans out of the fuel system.

Next, I got to work tearing the front bench seat base down to the metal. I set up a GoPro and took a bunch of pictures, then started tearing the old vinyl off the frame. Removing the foam, burlap, and reed padding, I cut the old hog rings off and wire wheeled the outside elements, and then looked it over. There were three sections that needed to be welded back together, so I set up the MIG, dialed it in for thinner metal, and put them back together. Then I brushed encapsulator on the whole thing, which was a tedious job.

There are two sections on the back side that look like they could have been welded originally, but also maybe they weren’t. I texted Jeff to see what he thought and he told me his seat is from a ’68 and doesn’t look like mine. I’m mulling over whether I should weld in a set of supports there just to keep the whole thing sturdy.

While that was drying I pulled the fender out and continued sanding the high points down. It’s getting very close. There are only about five small areas that needed to be skimmed—hopefully for the last time—so I put some filler on to cure while the weather was still warm.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Compression  |  Posted in Seats, Travelall, Welding

Weekly Roundup, 1.28

Knowing it was going to be warm towards the end of the week, I made a beeline out to the local Eastwood store on Wednesday. They had the body filler I was looking for, a specialty brand that came highly recommended online, and  Amazon couldn’t promise to deliver it before then. I was able to throw in a new can of Encapsulator to meet the minimum for a coupon, so it worked out perfectly. This new filler is lighter and sands much easier, making bodywork much more pleasant. I was able to get the high spots knocked down quickly and then spent time finding the problem areas, marking them out with a Sharpie and readying them for the next skim. I actually covered more areas now that I know how easy it is to work with, and I’m looking forward to getting this piece cleaned up.

I got a call from my friend Jeff on Sunday morning, to ask me a question about my seats, which he’s starting today! He figures it should be a week or so to get them done, which means I need to get cracking on ordering foam and materials. That news made my day.

Meanwhile the Travelall/Travelette/C-series designs I’ve been working on have been getting some decent traction for the last two weeks; I’ve sold about 20 shirts and a bunch of mugs and other stuff. And I finished off the first custom design for a guy in Texas today, which has me thinking about how to take commissions when I get the Scout version working. I’m going to get a little merch produced to photograph and then I’ll use that for the next promotion cycle.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Weekly Roundup, 1.28  |  Posted in Repairs, Seats

Welding and Sanding

Here’s a quick breakdown of the repairs to my spare fender. I started with an order to SendCutSend for a set of new laser-cut steel donuts for the outside and inside edges, as well as three 1/2″ strips to bend for a flange to connect both. I welded the outer flange in first because it had a slight curve, then built an inside section and tacked that in place. When I saw that it would collect rain the way I’d built it, I used a second donut and strip to mount flush to the outside edge and tacked it all in place. Next was welding a small patch in at the bottom, where water and mud pool and rust the metal out from the inside.

While that was cooling I sanded the top layer of blue paint off the fender to reveal some past damage and Bondo, which was not unexpected. I skimmed some Bondo over the two welds and sanded everything down, but the fuel mount area is going to need a lot more attention. I’m looking around for alternatives to off-the-shelf Bondo and have found that Evercoat products seem to get good reviews, so I think I’ll buy a gallon of that in the springtime to continue bodywork projects.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Welding and Sanding  |  Posted in Repairs, Travelall, Video, Welding

Shades of Gray

I set up and sent off a care package to Jeff J. this morning, containing a couple of paint chips, two snips of vinyl from the original seat covers I bought from Ray this summer, and a down payment for two new seat covers. We talked a bit on the phone on Saturday and set up a plan; he’s got a bunch of other orders in line but he’s waiting on special-order vinyl so he thinks he can fit me in around those other jobs. The stuff I want is pretty basic and should be easy to lay hands on—it’s just lightly pebbled black and light gray. I went to Lowe’s and looked through their paint samples to find something close to the gray of the door panels and found a swatch one shade lighter and one three shades darker.

I’d like to go with the lighter to set off the black as much as possible, and for these I’m actually going to reverse the pattern so that the light color is on top and the seats are black.

The other thing that showed up was a set of new metal from SendCutSend, which will be used to add the filler hose opening on my spare passenger fender. In order to make the minimum order amount I doubled up on everything, so I have some pieces to practice on—especially the 1/2″ strip that needs to be bent into a perfect circle. I’m going to need to find a 4″ diameter pipe to use for forming somewhere. There’s actually a scrap metal dealer up in Pennsylvania who has box tube and other metals I need for the bumper mounts; I think I’ll add that to the list of purchases when I head up there.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Shades of Gray  |  Posted in Seats, Travelall

Rewiring Pregame

I’m slowly mapping out the process for rewiring the Travelall, and every time I look at the wiring diagram I become exhausted and feel like I need to go lie down. A lot of this is basically just understanding the scope of the project and gathering the tools needed to get it done, a lot of which I already have. This video goes into some of the basics and begins with a welcome reminder that this isn’t really that hard, as long as one takes their time and remains organized. He links to a super-handy spreadsheet with some parts links, which are appreciated. He also recommends a labelmaker printing on heat-shrink tubing, but the one he specifies is pricy, so I’ll have to figure something else out there.

So far I’ve got large poster-sized printouts of the early 1960 diagram and the 1968 D-series diagram, and I have to identify the spare harness I’ve got on the bench. If it’s 1963-compatible, I’m in good shape. If it’s not I have to figure out how different it is and rebuild it. From there, the next steps are:

  • Compare and identify the major plug connectors—are the pinouts the same?
  • Trace the main wires back to the fuse panel and label everything
  • Pull the connectors apart and clean all the connections
  • Test each of the wires from beginning to end and replace anything that’s gone bad.
  • Replace any bulb fittings or other special elements

I know Super Scouts has a barrel full of old wiring looms, so I’d bet they have connectors available to buy; I’m going to contact them to see if they’ll sell me the ones I need to complete this.

Update: I looked over the two printouts I’ve got here to identify the spare wiring harness in the basement, and as I suspected it’s a later model assembly, which means it’s not plug-and-play with the one in the truck. From what the D-series diagram shows, the fuse block is completely different and the connectors are all barrel-style while the earlier C-series connectors are square. So, Plan B: I’m going to get a length of wire, solder on a male spade, and set up a continuity test with a multimeter. If I can figure out which wires go where, I’ll use some fancy solder connectors to hook the spare fuse block I’ve got with the wires in the dash. Some of the wires are pretty easy to sleuth out but it’s going to take time to sort out the others.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Rewiring Pregame  |  Posted in Electrical, Travelall

Weekly Roundup, 10.21

I had a chunk of time on Sunday to get outside in the blustery sunshine and keep working on things. The first project was to weld a set of plates to the back of the seat box to use for mount points on the vertical section of the step. I ran out to a local independent welding shop on Friday and got a tank exchanged for much less than Airgas charged me last time; I was happy enough with their service that I opened up an account to save the extra $15. And, they’re open on Saturdays.

Back in the garage, I had a bunch of 18 ga. scrap left over from bending the doors and I used a section of that to add some stiffness. I cut two rectangles out and welded them in place, then sanded the high points down and prepped the whole thing for etching primer. First I covered all of the welds that were impossible to reach with the wire wheel with rust encapsulator and then let it sit outside with primer to cure. The next step will be to prime it, put some guide coat on the flat surfaces sand it lightly to find the high and low spots, then fill those and get things cleaned up for paint.

In the truck, I decided to do a little archaeology and see what was under the weird rubberized coating on the driver’s floor. I used the wire wheel to grind out the edges and revealed a series of 1/2″ spot welds around the perimeter, which should be pretty easy to grind out and replace. The metal is, predictably, lousy the closer to the pedals it gets; moisture stuck under the rubber mat did a number on the “repair.

Elsewhere, I pulled the driver’s rear wheel off, got on the creeper and continued knocking rust off all of the rear frame elements I could see with the needle scaler, and then covering it all with encapsulator. I think I’ve got about 80% of the rear finished; I need to do the same with the passenger’s side and do all of the vertical surfaces over there. Finding true marine-grade plywood in stock locally has been a challenge, but Brian tells me there’s a brand at Home Depot that’s essentially the same thing: 7-ply Douglas fir made with waterproof glue. I’ve got to find it in stock locally and pick up a sheet this coming week.

A reader named Mike wrote me last week and offered a parts list he compiled while building a ’67 1100 with a 304; essentially the same truck I’ve got, but with an auto transmission, power steering and brakes. He was kind enough to share it with me this morning, and I’ll definitely put it to good use. Thanks Mike!

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Weekly Roundup, 10.21  |  Posted in Progress, Travelall, Welding

Locked Box

I spent most of Saturday sitting on the couch while my COVID vaccine made me feel sore and loopy, but it rained all day so I wasn’t that upset. Sunday was partly cloudy but not actively raining, so after getting the dog out for a walk and doing some small errands, I got back out to the garage to keep working. At this point the box project is just finishing up small details; I got a set of locks from Amazon and had plans for how the doors should close.

The plan was to weld in a set of doubler plates underneath to add support, then carefully cut holes in the doors and widen them on two sides to accept the lock barrels, which are notched on either side to prevent them from spinning when the key is inserted. After doing a test run on scrap metal, I got this done pretty easily and used one of Dad’s old files to widen the holes. After burning them in, and test-fitting everything, I carefully cut notches in each of the square tube to accept the latch arms. The passenger side was just short of the arm so I had to add a small plate on the face of the square tube to catch it.

I did some experimenting with thin strips of metal to see what I liked for doorstops, but everything I had seemed way too big or wide to work. Conscious of avoiding anything with sharp edges, I settled on a length of 1/4 rod from a different project. I cut 6″ sections and welded them at the lock ends, then ground down the high spots so that everything is smooth.

Next, I wanted to reinforce the hinges, so I drilled three holes through the plate inside the box and welded the resulting hole shut. This way each hinge is borrowing from the plate but I’m not adding ugly beginner welds to the outside edges.

Finally I put a plate in between the two hinge bars from the bottom to make a shallow tray for tools or other gear. I’ll cut a rectangle of floormat to go in there after things get painted.

I’m almost ready for paint. The last thing to be done is to weld in a set of gussets/mounting points on the backside that will go through the vertical wall on the rear step. Out of curiosity I called a powdercoating shop nearby and was quoted $100 from a disinterested shop foreman, so I think I’ll stick with my budget rattlecan approach. So now I’ll practice my sanding and filling skills to clean up the outside.

Outside in the truck, I pulled the wood floor back up and kept grinding at the rust. The needle scaler did all the work, and I made it all the way forward up the frame to the rear step. I was able to get encapsulator on everything before I had to close up for dinner, and I left the floor out of the truck to air it out. I have to pull each rear wheel in order to reach the outside of the frame rails completely, but I’ve gotten to most everything I can with the floor up.

After calling Super Scout Specialists twice in two weeks to inquire on having a new dash wiring harness built, they told me the guy who builds their harnesses is two months behind and hasn’t been in the shop in two weeks. I thought about it over the weekend and figured I’d better place an order now to get the thing sometime this year, as I haven’t found anyone else building them for a competitive price (scoutparts.com wants to charge an extra $3-400 over what SSS is asking; no thanks.) I’ve actually got a harness from a ’68 pickup on the bench downstairs, so I theoretically could swap it in for what I have; I don’t know whether or not they updated circuits between ’63 and ’68, though. Wiring this thing is going to take a lot of time and learning.

Meanwhile, my friend Ray from the BP has a set of five headliner bows up in Massachusetts he’s going to sell me, which should provide a solution to a future problem: what to do with the insulation glued to the ceiling, and how to cover that up. There’s an aluminum J-channel in later Travelalls that acted as a trim ring but from what he tells me it’s very hard to remove and would be impossible to ship. I think I might experiment with some thin Luan covered with fabric and use these bows to hold things up.

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