Category: Purchasing

Steering and Commerce

I popped on Marketplace Wednesday morning to find that a fellow up in Frederick, who I’ve talked to before, has a Travelall steering column for sale. Crucially, it’s from a straight-axle manual steering truck, which means it should be a direct replacement for the one in the red bus. Which means I would have a direct replacement/test case for an electric steering setup. He’s got the manual box and some other odds and ends, so I’m going to make plans to go up and get it.

While I was on that site, I got a notification and found that my old college buddy Mike bought one of my shirts and was modeling it! I think it looks great. I should have several of my own arriving shortly—a longsleeve and a shortsleeve that I can use on the videos to model. I also ordered a sticker while I was there and was….less than impressed. The material is flimsy and the sticker is small. I’m going to pull these from the storefront and stick with my other vendors, I think.

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Of Locks and Boxes

It’s been quiet for the past two weeks. Last weekend we were celebrating a birthday and dealing with a yard sale so all truck things were on hold. This weekend I was down in Southern Maryland busting a trio of brake drums free on the FiL’s 1966 Chrysler to make it mobile again.

Two weeks ago I jacked it up onto a set of Harbor Freight dollies and used my tow strap to pull it out of the garage and on to the driveway, the first time it’s seen daylight since 1980. The dollies were pretty useless on his ancient pitted asphalt so it was a necessity to get it rolling on its own wheels again. In the middle of that operation, my old floor jack decided 4,300 lbs of luxury convertible was just too much to lift, as we ran out to the local Harbor Freight for a replacement. I’ve been eyeballing a new floor jack for months but was holding off on buying one. As it turned out they were having a 40% off sale on the more expensive 3 ton model so I walked out with a beautiful new jack. And after chopping the front drum apart with a $15 angle grinder, we got the drum moving and the car rolling.

I wound up with something in my left eye from the brake drum and got terrible sleep Saturday evening (if I can’t get it out with an eye flush this evening I’m going to visit an ophthalmologist tomorrow) but woke up at 7 to meet a guy in Columbia who wanted to buy my two worst Scout fenders. I was happy to get $100 for them, which was half what I was asking, but I’m happy to have them out of the office and out of my way. And the four remaining fenders will work just fine if I need them to.

In the meantime it’s been raining pretty much nonstop this week, and I was in New York on Wednesday and Thursday. That being said, I had a little time after work on Thursday evening to mess with a new set of lock cylinders for the Travelall; they lock into the barrels just fine, but release when the key is turned to the 8 o’clock position. I don’t have them in the door so I can’t tell if the mechanical linkage to the door mechanism will keep them in place or not, but something tells me this isn’t correct. Which is strange, because they are an almost exact match to the original cylinders.

The Travelall heater box is ready to install.. Sunday I put the motor, heating element and wiring back in the box, drilled new holes for the back plate, and fastened that in place with new stainless screws. Then I used some of the adhesive-backed foam padding from the Scout heater box to fashion a new lip around the top edge to seal up that section. It may need some more work, or thicker foam depending on how the whole thing ages, but we’ll see.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Of Locks and Boxes  |  Posted in Purchasing, Travelall

Going-To-Town Rig

Well look at this luxurious new truck. Here’s a shot of the floor mats I ordered in the Scout from CocoMats; they are beautiful heavy-duty pieces that were cut perfectly. I couldn’t be happier with the fit and finish.  They make the inside of the truck look 47% less redneck, which is to say they are magical. Hazel approves as well. I cannot recommend this company highly enough; the whole buying experience was what you hope every purchase might be like in this day and age of Amazon.

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Preparations

We’re headed west into the heart of America next week in a truck only slightly younger than me, which means I have to pack just as many tools and medications for it as I do myself. I did a quick inventory today and made a list of stuff I’ll need:

  • A gallon of 50/50 coolant, and a gallon of distilled water
  • A gallon jug of 15/40 Rotella diesel oil, which is uniquely formulated to be nice to older flat-tappet engines like mine
  • Two spare fan belts (ordered via NAPA)
  • Power steering fluid
  • Brake fluid
  • Air filter
  • An Element fire extinguisher to supplement the bottle unit I have bolted to the seat base

In the ammo can, I’ve already got a bunch of other spare parts and tools—a fuel pump, coil, points and condenser, plug wire, bulbs, fuses, and electrical gear, plugs, assorted fasteners and zip ties. She’s running well right now, so the goal will be to get her cleaned up inside and top off the fluids to be ready to hit the road on Thursday.

I saw some trick floor mats on a build thread a few weeks ago and decided to pull the trigger on a set, figuring they would come in handy for heat abatement on this trip. They’re called CocoMats and they’re handmade and heavy-duty for cars like Porsches, but what I saw in the thread really impressed me. I ordered a set and they sent me a set of paper templates to lay in the truck and form to my specifications, which I did the night I got the package.

Looking for maximum coverage, I added material to the sides and brought them up to the edge of the vertical part of the firewall, and made a notch for the ramp under the gas pedal. The sample they sent is thick and beefy and the rubber on the bottom is covered in 1/8″ nubs that should keep it up off the metal where moisture collects. I sent the patterns back with a note and a sticker, and they’ve been super communicative with me the whole time. (The day after I placed the order I noticed they’d put an ad in my Hagerty magazine with a discount code, so I emailed them to ask if it was too late to apply that. They cheerfully sent an affirmative reply in less than an hour and refunded me the 10%. That’s some great customer service).

Unfortunately, they won’t be here in time for the trip, so we’ll just have to sweat it out like we normally do.

The other thing I did was take one of the spare horns from the green ’67 and swap it into the Scout in place of the Mercedes horn I put in a couple of years ago. I just didn’t like the half American/European sound of the two horns together and wanted to get the truck back to a true ‘Murican sound. Much better now. (fun fact: many cars use two horns tuned slightly differently, because the dissonance of two frequencies is easier to hear in high ambient noise situations).

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Preparations  |  Posted in Purchasing, To-Do List

July 15 Update

Here’s a compilation of work I’ve done on the trucks before and after our vacation, starting from the heater box, moving through electrical, and finishing with some welding on the heater box.

I’ve gotten the wiring to the point where the dashboard is in the truck but I can’t hook everything up permanently for want of two rubber grommets for the smaller bulkhead connectors and several Packard 56 connectors I don’t already have, so I ordered a handful more this afternoon in the hopes that they’ll be here by the weekend.

The heater box came out more easily than I thought it would, and is in better shape than I was expecting, but still required repair. I cut two sections of metal out and welded new metal in, and bathed the interior in Rust Converter until I ran out (I’ll be picking more of that up this weekend). Once that’s completely treated it needs a skim coat of mud to cover the divots and bumps, and then I’ll paint it up and get it ready to re-assemble. I think I’ve found a local paint shop who can scan my existing paint color and mix me a pint to match. I’ve also got to figure out why the blower motor won’t work when I test it on 12v bench power and source some more coolant hose.

The other thing I ordered were a set of floor mats for the Scout, knowing that we’ll be driving through the August heat to Indiana. I figure having something else between us and the engine heat will be well appreciated. And, having something to cover the heat matting will also be welcome. I’m hopeful they’ll be here in time, but they’re handmade and the maker estimates 3-4 weeks before they ship, so it may be a futile exercise. We’ll see.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on July 15 Update  |  Posted in Inspiration, Purchasing, Travelall, Video

Slow Weekend

I did a little work on the fender this weekend to get it shaped up for body filler. I had to stop welding midway through  the third patch last weekend, so I plugged everything back in and finished that off today. It’s going to take a fair bit of filler to smooth everything out because I can’t get to the backside to hammer out any of the waves, but I’m not too worried about that. The whole thing is going to take some time and attention to finish off right, but I’m happy with the way things are going so far.

Updating the Travelall to-do list last week I realized I don’t have some of the information I need on the health of the engine, so I spent $20 on a compression tester for when the weather warms up. The last time I started her, she ran very rough, so I think there’s more work to do tuning her up. I’m going to pull the plugs, see how they look, and properly gap them all. Then I’ll do a compression test and put them back in.

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Weekly Roundup, 11.6

I had to run out on errands Sunday morning, and the weather was in the upper 60’s, so I grabbed Finn and we rolled out in the Scout for a fall adventure. Our first stop was down in Pasadena at the Eastwood store, where I needed to pick up some chassis black and a tube of seam sealer. As we wandered the store, my old friend Steven G. walked in, as he was shopping for supplies for his Scout. We caught up for a bit, and talked about getting a fall meetup together, and then I exited the store in a hurry before I was tempted to buy anything else. We stopped at the Home Depot for some other supplies and a precut 2×4′ sheet of plywood and headed home.

In the driveway, I pulled the original bumper off the mounts and hung it in place to see exactly how well it’ll fit. I think it needs a little more standoff than the original had, but with another 2″ or so it will work perfectly. I think I can make the original mounts work for the short term, and when I can get my hands on some larger longer box steel I’ll fabricate a permanent mount.

I opened up the rear doors and started brushing on the chassis black over encapsulator, and got a good portion of it done before the sun went down. The chassis paint is a lot thinner than the encapsulator, and tends to make more of a mess. While I was out there, Brian T. stopped by on his way back over the bridge, and we caught up for the first time in a couple of months.

After closing up the truck and garage, I brought the sheet of plywood in to the basement, turned on the football game, and set it up as a mounting rack for my spare wiring loom. The goal here is to rebuild the wiring loom so that I can pull the old one out and replace it with this. I’d originally contacted Super Scouts to price out a brand new loom, but after several weeks of waiting I was told their wiring specialist is two months behind. So I’ll take advantage of the inside time and learn how to disassemble, test, and rebuild the one I’ve got. One thing I am going to reach out to them about are some replacements for the bulkhead connectors I’ve got, to see if I can get any with intact mounting tabs.

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Weekly Roundup, 9.22

Currently, we have Tropical Storm Ophelia blowing through Maryland, bringing rain and high winds all the way up the Chesapeake Bay. I’ve been keenly aware of the weather ever since I took the canopy down over the truck, wondering how the cowl repairs will hold up in the rain. Before the surgery, an hour of rain would soak the floorboards, all the water dumping directly down through the rusty holes. From what I can tell now, after 12 straight hours the repairs have all held up really well. There’s no water penetration from above; all I can see are small rivulets forming from dried-out weatherstripping around the doors.

The question is, which door seals do I need? There are three offered by most Light Line dealers: an interior door edge seal, a door seal set, and a pillar door seal set. I have the pillar door seal set, which looks like it goes along the inside of the door and is glued in with sealant (which I don’t have). They’re getting familiar with me at IHPA, so I’ll have to call over there and get the details.

In back, the new window is sealed tight, but the rear window on the driver’s side is leaking from a 1″ split in the gasket up top. So I’ve added another rear window gasket to the purchase list. I think I’m going to have the installer from last week come back out and give our luck another shot replacing that side.

Someone on the Round-Body Travelalls FB group posted a very interesting picture of a Travelall with a brand-new bumper, and mentioned that the bumper for a 1957-60 Ford F-150 will fit a Travelall and look very similar to boot. My bumper looks like it was dragged behind the truck and then re-attached with bubble gum, so I think maybe this will be an option—I don’t foresee tripping over a C-series bumper in good shape anytime soon.

I called Super Scout Specialists to inquire about what a new dash wiring harness would cost, and the guy who assembles them is supposed to call me back. I’m going to ask him what it would cost to add circuits for A/C, power steering (I may go electric), trailer lights, charging ports, and a couple of spares, as well as swapping the fuse panel to spade fuses. That will be the next big project—pulling the dash apart and sorting out the electrical system (god help me).

On the Scout side, everything is running quietly as it should. I noticed that my temperature gauge is now dead, so I threw a temp sender in our biweekly Amazon cart for replacement. If that’s not the issue, I have something like six spare gauges in my parts stash that can easily be swapped in.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Weekly Roundup, 9.22  |  Posted in Future Plans, Purchasing, Travelall

Quick ‘N Easy

I’ve been looking at roof racks for the truck for a long time, looking forward to putting a canoe or other gear up there. I need drip rail mounts for this, and wanted to get something period-correct. I found a brand called Quick ‘n Easy, which used to be inexpensive but are now so retro as to be high-dollar accessories. I set up a watch on eBay sales and while I was in Puerto Rico I got a note that there were six available for a buy-it-now price much lower than usual, with free shipping. So I jumped on that.

They showed up this afternoon, and they look pretty good. Three of them are in perfect working order and three need work—pulling out snapped retaining bolts and cutting through old bolts on the top mounts. But the stickers and plastic are intact which is great; these will make an excellent base for a period roof rack.

For a winter project I’m going to plan out and weld my own metal roof rack for the truck, unless I find a good used  aluminum rack somewhere that will fit.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   Leave a Comment on Quick ‘N Easy  |  Posted in Purchasing, Travelall

Weekly Roundup, 7.28.23

It’s been a quiet week on the project front; the heat outside has made things hard to accomplish after work.

That being said, I had a little free time last Friday and figured I’d try assembling the front bench to see if I could figure out how it worked. With a little trial and error, I was able to understand how the base and the rear go together, and measure for some hardware. The big question mark is how the seat attaches to the base itself. I remember Ray mentioning something about bolts coming up through the base into the seat but I can’t for the life of me understand how or what on the bottom of the seat they mate with. But knowing how the base is aligned makes a huge difference in the angle of the seatback.

The next step for this part will be grinding rust off the larger parts of the bare frame I’ve got and preparing it for foam, and then disassembling the seat. Having it in the truck, I realize the gray matches the steering wheel and dashboard, and I like how the black wraps around the top, down the sides, and scallops around the edges of the base. I’m leaning further towards having Jeff basically just match this pattern if possible. I did take a little time to wire-wheel the surface rust off the floors and shoot it with IH Red Rust-Stop, just to say I did something.

Last Monday I found a local metal supplier close to my town and attempted to navigate their website to figure out how much a sheet of plate steel would cost; eventually I gave up and called them. Surprised at how low the cost was for a 4×8’ sheet of steel, I ordered one and got off the phone. Later that day I realized I had no easy way of getting a 4×8’ sheet of steel home with the truck at the garage and no place big enough to easily store it, so I called back and canceled the order. Looking elsewhere, I found Onlinemetals.com and used their site to order three smaller (and more storage-friendly) sheets of 18 and 20 gauge steel. The sheet of 20 showed up Wednesday and it’s as beefy as I figured it would be; the 18 is still somewhere in transit. I went back and ordered a sheet of 16 gauge just to be safe, which will hopefully be here next week.

I heard back from IHPA on Tuesday, who couldn’t find the Travelall brake part I needed, but they pointed me to the Scout Connection. I called over there and within two minutes Dave had the part in hand and was taking my credit card information. From what he described it sounds like the right element, and I’m hoping it’ll be correct when it gets here later this week—I’d LOVE to get the brakes finally sorted and working, and then move on to the clutch.

Thursday I went to get the Scout from the shop it was sitting at for two weeks; they dicked around and never looked at it until I called and bugged them. In the meantime I struck up a conversation with a fellow Scout owner from Annapolis who recommended his mechanic, and I’ve got an appointment with him in the middle of August to drive it down and have him take a look. For now, it’s good to have my girl sitting under cover in the garage again.

Posted on   |   by bill   |   2 Comments on Weekly Roundup, 7.28.23  |  Posted in Purchasing, Seats, Travelall