Hot Rods Dare to be different - 63 Scout

The Scout has a new clubhouse.
Gone is the 24x8 cargo trailer that has served me well for 2 seasons. Replacing it is this new-to-me 24x8.5 Newman all aluminum unit my wife found for us while we were in Terrace Bay. At first when she said "come see this trailer" I thought we were going to join the RV ranks... This thing tows awesome and even with the all alloy construction it still has 5200 lb axles (9950 gvw). That's my little puppy beast "Cowboy" checking out the new ride... Yes the trany fluid stained carper will be replaced


We also acquired a new pit bike when my neighbor gave me this little abomination to protect himself from doing stupid things while under the influence. The "Death Machine" is being modeled by my friend Larry. The current bet is I'll be on my face in about 10 minutes.

 

Good looking "clubhouse", is it doggie approved ?

 

Look what great deal walked in front of me...
The blower case is empty but the Birdcatcher and the rest of it is the real deal.

I wasn't planning to go this direction due to the Canadian dollar sucking huge these days and the overall cost of the conversion. I was considering investing in some alcohol carbs and making the switch to the cheaper fuel.

But a friend of mine was unloading parts at a deal I couldn't resist. Almost 1/2 what the carbs would cost me. I don't need / want the blower drive components or the 8mm pulleys so they'll be sold off to make the cost of the conversion even less. If I sell the blower carbs then I might break even on the whole thing. There is even a thought of selling my current GMC bus blower and carb setup and invest in a Stage 2 blower with teflon strips... So... now the decision isn't if to do it but when... before or after Meltdown ? The conversion will include alcohol as well.

I'm currently working a deal with Mike at Alkydigger for the rest of the parts I need and a swap for a more period correct Bugcatcher - maybe even a 4 Port... if i can't swing it then I'll run the Bird as is.

 

Once you get used to tuning the injector you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

 

What be said.

 

Way Cool my first truck was a 63 2x4 scout that i ran in stock class at marten mi in 68/69. I'm building a 64 gasser street rod.

 

Latest update:

The Birdcatcher is on it's way down to Mike at Alkydigger (Alkydigger.com) as a partial trade for a Hilborn 4 Port injector set up (Tall) and a 80A-1 pump. The original deal for the Bird included the shut off, shut off cable, shut off centering bracket as well as a throttle cable and blower mounted bracket. A week or so ago I scored a Kinsler remote pump drive for stupid cheap. With that I should have everything I need to convert the Elephant Hunter to blown injected on alcohol.

I decided to not include the Hilborn scoop and i will adapt my current mailbox scoop or make another one. I think the mailbox has become a bit of a signature for the scout - and - it means i don't have to spend another $420 Cdn

Now I need to sort out a surge tank solution and then decide if I'm going to do anything with my current cooling system which for the new set-up will be overkill.

If anyone has a surge tank they are willing to sell - I'm interested.
Same goes for a Kinsler style vapor seperator

 

I like the taller upright also. its going to look great.

 

I agree! That Hilborn is KILLER!

 

if you are not street driving it I would remove all of the cooling system. you don't need it. run the block dry. I ran my 64 ply that way for years. whats up with the surge tank?

 

Racer-X
School me on this no water, no rad concept. We run a very small rad system in the prefect and rarely use it - we have more trouble getting heat into it rather than out... so I am aware of the cooling capacity of alcohol.

I want to get rid of the rad or at least downsize the system but I'm a little spooked about not running water in the block and the impact of the heat on my aluminum heads. I also don't want to be spending my day in the pits cooling between rounds - and - just to complicate the issue - I want to be able to drive the Scout back to the pits. (not a big fan of golf carts and quads) I am considering running an expansion tank or a small cooler and circulate a small amount of water with an RV pump.

Bottom line is - if I get rid of the rad then I'll move the fuel tank up front and rule out the surge tank option. Right now I don't really have room for a rad and a tank nor do I want to keep adding weight to the front.

Thoughts are welcome

 

i wouldn't run the surge tank personally. that was 1965 technology. the cars were on gas and unblown. big difference compared to what you are going to run. there is now way a single holley needle and seat is going to allow enough fuel to flow through it to refill the tank. I would be worried about running the tank dry. they used the surge tank because the fuel was pumped from the rear with elect. pumps. the way to go would be a belt or cam driven pump up front and gravity feed it. it sounds like you knew this already. I would think a 3.5-4.5 gallon tank would do. what I do to generate fast heat when warming up the car is to close the fuel shutoff until the rpms come up over 2500. it wont hurt anything. by leaning out the engine the temp will rise a lot faster and you save a lot of fuel. another benefit is the oil is not polluted with a cold engine as all that alch is going past the rings. as you know it sucks to run alch. on a cool day. for the water I would drive my car back to the pits all the time. the other option is to fill the block before a run then drain it after the run. its more work but it may make you feel better. alum heads are not hurt by taking a little heat. every blown alch and nitro funny car or dragster at a nhra event is running a dry block. if they aren't hurting them from heat I don't see why you would. with the prices of parts these days I can see why you are concerned. its good that you are thinking this through. if you can scrape up the cash a billet waterman pump is far superior to a cast pump. it wont swell if you have to pedal the car. the internal pressure can spike causing it to be junk. in the long run the billet pump will be cheaper because it requires less service. the cast pumps always shit the bed right before a meet. with no spare and a unknown turn around time you might be a spectator some day. just my opinions from personal experience.

 

The new phone book .... errr ... fuel injection is here - the new fuel injection is here... (Think Steve Martin in "The Jerk")

Now I sit at the window waiting for the snow to melt so I can get to the trailer - where the race car is sitting.

Winter sucks... not having an insulated garage sucks... not having an insulated garage big enough to fit the race car and the wife's Escalate - yup - sucks !!

 

A bit of "cabin fever" setting in I take it?

 

I drove a 368cid Cadillac with zero water in it for over 50 miles in Fresno summer weather after a freeze plug blew out where I couldn't get to it. It was about 90°F that day.

I fixed it, changed the oil (it smelled a little cooked) and drove it another 6 mos to work every day with no related issues. It had 105,000 miles when I bought it and 208,000 when I sold it, still running OK.

 

The Scout got some more ink with a very good feature in Traditional Rod and Kulture.

Thank you Chadly Johnson for the photo shoot and great write up. The opening and closing comments sum up my attitude and experience with the Scout perfectly. The feature is short and simple but it's a high quality spread in a high quality magazine. The photo shoot is the one that was done a couple of years ago at the Meltdown event. It's very cool and I had fun watching it happen. The starting line shot in the feature (not shown) is my favorite.

Thank you Zombie for agreeing to let my junk be featured in your magazine

 

congrats on the feature

 

With the weather - finally - warming up and not threatening to snow anytime soon ... the mad thrash to be ready for the Meltdown event... has begun - again. The change to alcohol and injection will dramatically change the Scouts personality... in my opinion, so much so that I believe it is essential that I'm ready for at least one local race date for testing in June... just so I know how the Scout will react when I hit the loud pedal and to address any issues

Last night the Scout and trailer were taken out of winter storage. The Scout was pushed into the garage and the big tear down was started. Since I'm converting to mechanical injection, with a mechanical pump a fuel tank up front and a magneto... everything that doesn't need to be there or is being replaced - started to come out.

The front end came off and I pulled the rad and fan assembly - draining the winter anti freeze at the same time. Then the ugly cheap ass alternator that gave me so much grief was pulled and unceremoniously thrown in the corner of the garage. The carb linkage and twin 650 blower carbs came off. The carbs were dismantled and cleaned. I put the original jets and the power valves put back in - ready to sell. I should mention that I have every intention of putting the rad back in as is. The current system is likely overkill and I've had thoughts of reducing or even eliminating the cooling system but that just adds to the changes I need to make in a short time. We'll see how the cooling reacts and I'll make changes after Meltdown if required

Tonight I wanted to mock up the remote fuel pump drive which meant I needed to install the drive mandrel into the lower blower pulley. 1st oh crap - they sent me the wrong bolts... Plan B for this evening is to yard out the fuel system. This went surprising well and with very little drama. Within the hour I had the tank, pump and fuel lines sitting on my work bench beside the carbs and carb spacer.

This has led me to a few observations:
Far less clutter in the engine bay: With the carb based throttle linkage gone I now have access to my driver side valve cover... making valve adjustments much easier. The injector will be fed by one line replacing the current 4 port regulator and individual lines to the 4 float bowls.

I may actually be reducing a little weight. Not going back in is the fan and the alternator. The tank replacement and fuel pump replacement is a wash, but the injector assembly is a few pounds lighter than the carbs, spacer and linkage. Holy Crap !! - There is a big pile of nuts and bolts that were holding in the parts not going back in...

Less electrical. I no longer need a fan circuit nor a fuel pump circuit. I am also removing 8 feet of power cable from the battery to the alternator. I will add a mag kill switch

Interesting weight shift. The 3.5 gallon fuel tank and pump that was in the back - is moving to the front (not the same parts) - adding more weight to the front is usually not a good idea. But this is offset somewhat by the removal of the alternator and fan. The previously mentioned weight reduction the injector brings with it will help as well. With the removal of the fuel tank from the box, I can shift my battery box farther back for better weight transfer and making it easier to access the battery.

On a personal note... I had forgotten how good for my stress levels and general mental health working on the Scout is... BIG incentive to have the garage insulated for next winter.

 

Sounds good so far. Looking forward to hearing how it runs.

 

Me too

You know you are old and out of shape when you're stiff and sore from working on the race car...

 

Hell Saxxon, I'm stiff and sore when I haven't worked on anything. Just turned 70, getting old is a bitch, but it sure beats the alternative.

 

sound like a good plan.

 

Getting old is mandatory - growing up is optional

 

Peter Pan is a good role model!

 

Just a quick update:

When I decided to pull the trigger on fuel injection I didn't realize how involved it was going to get. But I did, it is and we are moving forward... The Scout will be mechanically inebriated in time for Meltdown

First problem: Fuel pump mount. I decided to go with a mechanical pump. Alkydigger to the rescue with an Enderle 80A and all the required fittings and accessories. I picked up a remote pump drive and fabricated spacers to align with the drive mandrel. Everyhting clears, it looks ok, feels solid, and having the final position established allowed me to order in the correct belts (Alkydigger again)... and only looks a little bit like crap... Good to go

The Mag is mocked up and the coil mounted. I will have the plug wires made, mag and coil wired in a kill switch wired in - this week. Once that is done I can put the blower back to mount and plumb the injector. I may hold off on wiring in the Mag signal converter to run my tach / shift light - it's important but not on the critical path so it can wait until after or even - at - Meltdown

I need to fabricate a fuel tank mount and mount the tank. Should be simple but I'm working from my garage and not my brother's shop. You don't appreciate how well equipped his shop is until you are not there and trying to make stuff without a welder and raw materials. With a little help from the Traditional Rod and Kustom feature, I managed to secure a sponsorship from Praxair. The manager has a subscription and had the magazine on his desk when I sent the request. They were very excited to help us out this year and they gave me a 110 v 140i mig welder set up including cart, wire, bottle and gas. (Thank you Praxair - looking forward to doing a burnout in your parking lot during the sales event). Welding problem resolved.

I may not get the remnants of the old set up out of the Scout - again not critical path - so you will probably still see my 6AL box in the cab when I'm running a Magneto - and it may not be as pretty as I had hoped, but I am still very confident we be ready in time to get to at least 2 local race dates to sort out the new combination before Meltdown.

Pictures coming

 

Go man go....I hope to see the scout run in person some day.

 

So I wander over to my neighbor to introduce myself and low and behold, he's a bit of a hoarder and has a pile of metal in the back. he also handed me a beer... so we're off to a great start. He has these costume / clothing / something racks made from 1" sq tubing that have sections on them that - really really REALLY look like what I want to fabricate for the fuel tank mount. They even look to be the correct width... so he gives them to me - for free - and gives me a second beer for taking them. (This guy might be my new best friend)... I wander back home - walking a slightly longer path than I remember to get there - and damn if they are not seriously close to exactly what I need... Confirmation after work later tonight...

 

Sometimes neighbors can turn into friends and that's a good thing.

 

Another "neighbor" story - sort of...

I live 100' behind a small town Home Hardware that is getting renovated and last night I stopped to ask the contractor if they do residential renos... they do and the owner of the company "Brad" came over to have a look. He saw the race car trailer in the drive so - being guys - the talk turned to cars and race cars. It turns out he's building a 29 Essex with a 6 carb 392 hemi... old school style, and his kid is building a 32 coupe also with a 392 hemi... and ... (wait for it) - they want to bring both cars to some event called - The Meltdown Drags when they are done. My ever patient saint of a wife rolled her eyes, shook her head and mumbled something like - Oh great... now you've done it... then went in to grabs us some beverages.

Less than a minute later (would have been faster but we had to slow down for the beer the wife was bringing) Brad is in my rec room looking at trophies, posters and magazine coverage from the Meltdown event. Brad gazed in wide wonder at the joy he had found. (George Thorogood - Bad to the Bone) 2 minutes later Brad went and got his son from the build site... The 2 of them spent 1/2 an hour looking at the Meltdown stuff and asking about the event. I told him the best part is the "spin and grin" that everyone does Saturday around noon... this is where you stand in the pits and turn circles trying to gather it all in... I even suggested he come down with us this year without a car just so he can see the event from a spectator's point of view (I never have)... It's the only place in the world where a blown big block 41 Willys or a straight axle 55 Chevy - is almost routine... And I say that with the utmost respect.

Of course we ended up in the garage to look at the Scout. Of course - he remembers it from back in the 70's when his uncle took him to the old drag strip (Keystone / Bison)... and - of course ... he also remembers the 73 HotRod Yearbook it was featured in - and - because that's the kind of story this is - he still has the magazine...

When he decided to get back to work I sent them on their way with a Scout shirt and one of my extra Meltdown shirts. My wife watched them go and then casually mentioned that Brad and his son were here for almost an hour and no-one had looked at the house... Oops ...

 

Never ceases to amaze me how our hotrods bring people into our lives.