Here’s a video update from the past week, with some more detail on the parts haul and a long review of the tan Scout Brian and I are making an offer on.
Category: Repairs
On Hold
Update Monday July 28: the second clutch I ordered is on its way, as per FedEx, and should be here by COB tomorrow evening. The first one is still stuck at the warehouse.
I’m currently waiting on two clutch kits from two different vendors which both happen to be shipping from the same warehouse in Kearny, NJ, where everyone seems to be smoking weed out back.
To recap: the transmission shop called me last Monday while I was in a car driving through Pennsylvania, and I used my phone to jump on RockAuto to find the proper 12″ clutch kit and order it. They promised me I’d have it by that Wednesday, which came and went. The FedEx tracking system said the label had been created but they hadn’t received the package yet—which is how it stands a week later. I got impatient on Saturday and figured I’d nudge the universe by going to a second vendor and ordering the same clutch kit to see who could deliver it first. But the joke was on me: both vendors use the same warehouse (both FedEx tracking updates point to the same location, and when I look at the inventory on RockAuto, it says there’s only one left, down from three last Monday.
It’s been too damn hot to do much of anything outside—we got back on Wednesday and I spent pretty much all weekend hiding out inside, apart from taking the Scout to the local Lowe’s for a sheet of plywood and sanding down a fresh skim of filler on each of the doors to cover the PO’s ham-fisted install of cheap mirrors.
Clutch Update
The transmission shop dropped the clutch this morning and found some very interesting things. At some point in the recent past, a new clutch was put in with new freeze plugs, pilot bearing, and (possibly) a flywheel. But the crank bolts weren’t sealed and apparently backed themselves out, smoking the clutch surface and possibly the flywheel. Jack sent me photos of the inside of the case and all of the parts, and it’s just puzzling. He gave me a disc diameter and a spline count, and I jumped on RockAuto to find the right replacement. Within five minutes I’d ordered it over the phone, to be delivered Wednesday.
I’m so glad I didn’t continue trying to mess with it in the driveway; I never would have sorted this out myself.
Off to the Doctor
I called up a tow company to bring Darth Haul off to my transmission shop this morning. They’ve got an opening and I’ve had enough of this thing sitting in the driveway. Let’s see if they can sort out the drivetrain and get me on the road.
Scout Update
Here’s an update from the last week with some basic repair work to the Scout and a quick trip report from driving over the bridge to Karean’s house last weekend.
Win Some, Lose Some
Saturday morning I farted around a little with Darth; I verified that the clutch slave is working when I press the pedal and that it’s got a full range of motion. So I didn’t bother bleeding it again. I also put a short hose and filter on the end of the gas tank breather line to keep moisture out of the tank, something I should have done months ago. Finally, I ran it up to temperature again and recorded a data log for future tinkering.
With things at a standstill there, I turned to the Scout to-do list. The number one issue there was fixing the re-awakened exhaust leak on the passenger side, which has been plaguing me for several years now. I put the truck up on jacks, pulled the tire off, and poked my head into the wheel well.
At first I was having an issue finding the leak itself until I found a suggestion online which involved taping the hose on a shop-vac with the blower reversed to the tailpipe. This quickly showed the donut around the heat riser valve was bad, which is what I suspected. I pulled the assembly apart and went through my box of spares to find the old riser assembly without the flapper (this valve is designed to stay closed to heat up the engine quicker, then open and allow exhaust gases to pass through to the muffler normally) and several spare insulating donuts.
After using pliers to straighten out the mounting flange, I put the old valve on, then tried a combination of different donuts to see which one would close up the leak the best. This was mostly successful, but the leak came back after a test drive. The issue is that the mounting flange on the downpipe has been bent enough times that it’s not providing a strong enough seal to the donut, and no amount of bending it back will fix the issue. So I have to think on that one.
I also bought a set of rotors for the front brakes. The ones on the truck have been warped for several years and are rubbing during normal driving, which heats up the hubs and bearings. I was all ready to swap them on Saturday afternoon when I realized this process involves removing the hub assembly completely—something I’m not prepared to do. So I’ve got to find someone who can do a brake job on the Scout for me.
Then I loaded it up with tools and drove 70 miles over the bridge to Easton to do some work at Karean’s house. The truck ran flawlessly; other than the rotors heating up the front hubs, she ran cool and calm even through 45 minutes of stop and go bridge traffic. I was completely heat-soaked; even though the sun was down, the residual heat and humidity plus the mobile oven underneath me made that traffic a miserable experience. Luckily I was able to do 40mph over the bridge and that cooled things down quickly.
Crossed Wires
The good news is that I installed a brand new starter on the Travelall this weekend. The bad news is that the battery might be screwed. Let me explain:
I’ve known the starter that came with the truck was going to need to be replaced since I bought the truck. It’s made a funny noise at the end of the start cycle the entire time I’ve had it, and lately it’s been showing its damage by heating up the battery cables after just a few uses. So I bought a new one on RockAuto and made plans to swap it out. I put the canopy over the front of the truck, jacked it up onto stands, and started the difficult task of removing the old one. It’s in an impossible location: between the frame rail and the engine, and directly over both the front axle and Y-pipe from the manifold.
Once I’d gotten that out, I bench-tested the new one to verify it was working correctly, then hefted it up into place to bolt it up to the truck. When that was done and I was reasonably sure I had all the connections correct, I moved forward, pulled the mechanical fuel pump off the truck, and replaced it with a steel block-off plate I made last weekend. There’s no reason to have a useless pump leaking oil everywhere.
I had to mess with the electrical connections a couple of times to get the truck to wake up, and I got it to start quickly and easily twice before trying to bump the transmission free, with no success. But then the truck refused to start—the electrical system refused to do anything at all, actually. I went out and found that the battery was hot to the touch, so I pulled it out and set it on the ground. It remained hot for hours afterwards, which leads me to believe I crossed wires on the starter somehow.
Update: verified. I pulled the battery out of the Scout, dropped it in place, hooked up the ground, and touched the hot lead to the battery: the starter immediately tried to engage, which means something is screwed up with the wiring. I did verify that the two extra wires are going to the right poles on the solenoid: the 12-12 wire goes to the R terminal, and the 14-12 wire goes to the S terminal. So I’ll have to get back under the truck, take the wires off, verify they’re all clean and not shorting on each other, and re-install.
Bench-testing the old starter confirmed my suspicions: it still works, but there’s a terrible noise at the end of the cycle when the gear retracts back into place—it sounds like the unit is grinding as it spins down.
In better news, I sprayed the two hubcaps I got at Nats with oven cleaner to remove the red paint; as it turns out there was a layer of red over black over white, but it all came off easily, and with a detailed scrub with some OOO steel wool I got both of them sparkling again. They look so good I’m kicking myself for not having bought four.
Finally, I took advantage of a coupon code and bought an EFI tuner training course so that I can properly tune the Sniper on the Travelall. I asked the IT guys at work if they had any decommissioned laptops I could buy, and they just gave me one they were going to e-cycle. It’s a 2021 Dell that’s got plenty of horsepower to run the Sniper software; it was gratifying to load the config file and see it in full color on the machine. From what I’ve seen in the videos so far, I’m probably going to have to spring for an extra cable to connect the laptop directly to the carb in order to make tweaks in real time.
Posted on | | Leave a Comment on Crossed Wires | Posted in Electrical, Fuel Injection, Repairs, Travelall
She’s Back
Excellent news. Peer Pressure is back from the garage; after waiting around for IHPartsAmerica to get back to us, I took matters into my own hands and asked the heads on the Binder Planet for help. Within two hours I had a solution, and passed that along to the mechanic. They got back to me this morning and told me it was fixed; the solution I offered was exactly the problem. We ran out to pick it up after getting Finn from school, and they sent me on my way free of charge. If I can’t get Darth moving under her own power, I’m definitely getting it towed to this shop.
On the way home I stopped at a gas station to top off the tank and spied a CJ-7 at the far pump, so I drove across the lot and stopped next to him. He was happy to see another Scout, and as it turns out he’s got two of his own—and he’s just on the other side of town. We chatted up our trucks for a little bit, and I wrote my number on a sticker and gave it to him.
Back at the house after dinner, I vacuumed out the truck, cleaned everything up, and started packing for Nats. Before it got dark I got the snap kit out and made some repairs on the soft top, but there are a couple more I need to re-install tomorrow. This year I’m trying to travel lighter, but I’m also bringing some parts along to sell—I’ve got a buyer lined up for the ’61 grille and light rings which should pay for the entire trip out and back. So I’m super psyched about that.
Tick, Tick Tick
The stars finally aligned and I was able to drop the Scout off at the transmission shop on Friday to have the noise diagnosed. For a couple of days I’d thought it was going away but on the way to the shop it was louder than I’d ever heard it. Something definitely needs to be adjusted. I shot a video of the sound when I came to a stoplight and played it for the mechanics; hopefully it’s an easy fix and doesn’t require dropping the trans.
Last week I posted a bunch of parts for sale on the BinderPlanet and in a FB Travelall group—mainly stuff from the green truck I’m not going to need, with some other stuff thrown in. The first hit I got was on the ’61 grille and trim rings, and that sale is pending. I had a guy stop by yesterday to buy the roof rack with his son, and we wound up talking in the driveway for an hour. He’s got a Travelall body on a Durango chassis and his son has a ’61 Travelette. They looked through the other parts and he wound up buying the chrome from the green truck. I enjoyed talking with the two of them, and passed along a bunch of links and contacts for parts, window installation and upholstery. The father is considering the tailgate, and told me he’d get back to me. I’d love to get that thing out of the backyard. Finally, I’ve got a guy in Idaho interested in the steering ram setup, and he’s coordinating with his brother in Towson to come and pick it up. I’d really love to get that thing off the floor and out of the way.
Lazy Sunday
I had every intention of diagnosing the ignition issues on Darth Haul on Sunday, but the universe conspired against me. The weather forecast was for rain, which I could work around with a pop-up canopy, but Amazon decided the spark plug set I needed for my 8-cylinder engine should only require 5 wires. This from a “guaranteed fit”. Nobody around here had the plugs I need in stock, so the day was literally a wash. I’ve got new plugs on order which should be here Monday, and I can keep troubleshooting after work.
For the last two weeks I’ve been experimenting with leaving the cover off the truck to see what kind of water ingress I’m getting around the cowl vents and the door seals. The rain started Saturday night at midnight and continued on and off throughout the next day. Looking through the cab of the truck at noon, there’s a little bit of water dripping on both sides at the floorboards that I’ll have to track down, but nothing at the volume that was coming in before I cut the cowl out. There’s a small 1/4″ plug in the roof that I didn’t weld up when I repaired that, which is dripping on the front seat; that will just require some butyl or silicone caulk to fix. Finally, the driver’s rear window gasket is leaking a little bit at the very back corner.
The alternative is leaving a cover on the truck all the time, but I’ve found that the cover I have doesn’t breathe very well and moisture gets trapped underneath—to the point where the engine bay looks like it’s sweating. That’s not good at all. So I’m going to leave the cover off for the next month and see if I can stop the leaks enough to feel better about leaving it open to the elements.
Meanwhile, there’s a ticking sound coming from the transmission in the Scout in 4th gear under load. When I tap on the clutch pedal it goes away. I’m going to drop it off at the shop who did the work tomorrow so that they can adjust it for me; I’ve got a couple of long-distance trips coming up which are going to require a fully functional transmission that isn’t trying to eat itself, and I want to get it in as soon as possible to diagnose.