Hot Rods Dare to be different - 63 Scout

Looks like your having a great time. This is one of my favorite threads to keep up with.

 

Those are some bad ass pictures! Musta been a blast driving that thing!

 

I apologize if some (most / all) of you getting sick of my little project but I simply can't help myself. I really can't believe this is the same pile of parts we hauled into the shop 3 years ago. Besides, I warned you there was a lot of pics / vids coming. I'm still waiting on some video from the previous nights testing.


I love this vid. It shows some crowd reaction and a lot more dramatics. It really shows how close we came to the gaurd rail. (less than a foot)



Thanks to Liz and Don Yewish for this 4 pass compilation
These passes are clearly showing the Scout tripping the 60 ft timers with the back wheels. Yet we were still running 1.44 - 1.46 60 ft times.



There's still more left in the little beast. These passes are all trans brake launches from 4400 rpm. The converter is a 5200 so we can wind it up even tighter if we dare to try.

 

Great wheels up shots. After all of your hard work, how could anyone tire of seeing "The Little Truck" do his thing. Where are the videos hosted? I don't get to see them here right now, but I will when I get home. Thanks for including us all in your adventure. There are several of you on this site that have done that for us.

 

Man that looks like fun !

 

Cool...You seem to be having a lot of fun with the Scout! Makes all of that work worth the effort.

 

Getting sick of it? Not a chance! I think this little truck is cool as hell and I really dig these videos. If I was sick of it I wouldn't be subscribed. Keep 'em coming!

 

That is the wildest Scout I've ever seen! Great build thread!

You should really think about adding a passenger seat and charge for rides in the little beast! You'll cover the build cost in not time and pad the bank for the future crazy lil ideas and projects you think up.

Hope you back is hanging in there! Good luck on the 10 sec club,

NF

 

only times i left the pits was to watch this thing run, very cool truck.

 

Somehow I missed this comment when first posted. I would do it a serious disservice if I didn't acknowledge it and say thank you, Comments like this mean a lot to me.

Thanks
Davey

 

We're prepping for the August long weekend event next week and I wanted to address a few issues.

I'm starting to adjust the valves a bit more often than planned and found the clip-on starter button tool to be a definte improvement over a long socket wrench on the dampener or bumping the engine from inside the cab. I found it so convenient that I installed a bump buttom on the engine plate. Works like a charm.

I'm still spooked about smashing the steering box on re-entry. The new springs gave me an inch or two additional clearance and the extra leaf has kept the box relatively safe but I think it's still too close for comfort. I spent a couple of hours pivoting the box up higher. The good side is that it has given me at least 6-7 inches of clearance between the box and the springs. The spring actually has to go into a negative arch to make contact. The bad side is this move has messed up the alignment of the box with the tie rod and has given it a distinctive angle to the steering shaft. I talked to Unisteer and they don't think it's a big deal. Just looks goofy.

The 40 year old front shocks are finally showing signs they won't be tolerating too many more hard landings so I swapped them for some 90/10 gas shocks.

We're also experiencing charging issues. Quite simply the 40 amp unit isn't up the task and forcing me to charge between rounds so we swapped it for a 100 amp unit. I'm hoping this will let me hot lap without loss of ignition/charge.

We'll be banging on the little beast next weekend. No monster wheel stands this time around. We'll be keeping the front end a lot lower and we'll be looking for some better ET runs.

Update as it happens

 

My weekend is done early. We hurt the motor...

The truck sounded like crap during warmup but seemed to get better as I went to tech. On the first pass the truck left really lazy and pretty much sucked the whole pass. We set the timing, checked the plugs and gave it a once over but didn't see anything wrong.

2nd pass, it still sounded off and the pass wasn't much better. It was popping at the top end so we decided to run the valves. Once the valve covers were off we pulled a couple of rockers that were far too loose to be good and found 2 push rods with the ends broken off / crushed in. There is probably more damage but we stopped looking at that point.

Obviously the motor is wounded and likely has been for some time. Kind of explains why it has been getting slower each outing. We'll pull it out next week and have a good look to see what kind of damage there is. Since it's coming out and coming apart then I might as well put in the roller cam I've been wanting. I'm a little tight on funds these days (Home renovations) so all this will have to wait.

In the meantime I'm looking long and hard at the 358 roundy round motor we picked up for the Prefect build. It's an alky based motor but I'm thinking it'll run just fine on gas with my Pro-Systems carb. It's a proven combination and a dyno'd 500 hp.

I hesitate to commit to this plan as I was only planning to attend one more weekend this summer and I'm not sure I want to make the effort. Could just be that I'm really tired and a little bit bummed.

More as it happens

 

Stock car combos work very well as a reliable drag package. They usually have a camshaft grind that is easy on the valve train and they also tend to have a flat torque curve with a lot of bottom end grunt that helps with the long wheel stands.

Personally, I would throw it in there and give it a try. With your gearing and converter you already have in there it is likely it will run better than you think.

 

Thanks for the encouragement.

I was at the track today for the 2nd biggest day of the summer. (Nitro Harleys, Jet Dragsters and Midwest Wild Bunch). There was a big crowd and I felt like I missed and opportunity to entertain and show them how it was done before throttle stops.

I had dozens of spectators and drivers alike asking about the Scout and expressing their disappointment it was wounded. I even had a couple of offers of loaner engines to make it to the Sept long. One guy broke my heart. He brought his 2 kids to the track to watch the Scout turn itself inside out. They had come out for the Gravedigger show a few weeks back but all the kids could talk about was the wheelie truck. During the open pits session I had made their day by letting them sit in the truck while Mom snapped pics. They were pretty bummed it wasn't there today. I had some pictures of the Scout given to me by the track photo guy so I handed them to the boys. That made them smile a bit.

I'm pretty sure I'll dive in head first and swap bullets to get the beast out for the Sept long weekend. I'll swap over my oil pan and pump but other than that it needs little more than my ignition and carb. I had a look at the dyno sheet for the 358 and it's very similar to the injured 377. The 377 made a bit more peak power and torque but both make power in a similar RPM range so, as stated by Bad Banana, my combination should be good to go as is. The 377 went 11.01 healthy with no tuning and a poor suspension set up and then it started to slow down as the push rods began to deteriorate. If my hunch is correct the Scout could be back in the 11.0 - 11.teen range with the healthy 358. I'm also hoping as a proven combination it will stay healthy.

I'll post more as it happens

 

Injured 377 out
Healthy 358 going in

This swap gave me a chance to clean up the wiring and paint the mid plate.
If all goes well we should have the new bullet fired up this week.

The 358 is a nasty little motor with 12.5 comp, Iron Eagle heads and a Victor Jr intake. There is a stout roller cam with full roller valve train and a rev kit. It made 505 hp @ 6200 and 460 tq @ 5600 on methanol. It makes 400+ tq from 3000 - 6200. I don't have an alchy carb, so we`ll be running gas and my 850 Pro Systems carb. The limiting factor obviously are the heads which kind of makes me want to swap my Brodix heads and Intake and make some big power. But we won`t. We`ll throw a .630 roller cam into the 377 for next summer and keep this little bullet for the 49 Prefect project.

 

lookin good dave.

 

It's alive !!

The heart transplant is complete. Or at least we have it beating again. We still need to tune and time it but I'm very confident we will be running next weekend and again during the long weekend.

This thing is nasty. The roller cam lets it wind up to 7000 in a flash. Should be fun.

Sorry for the poor quality

 

Dave
Are you going to be at Gimli on Friday for the night racing. I think it would be nice to see under the lights.

 

Just ran across this thread. I used to work with John at IH during those years and remember that Scout well.

 

Nope... sorry, going out Saturday am.

I have a picture of it the one time I was at thr Friday nite drags. If I can find it and scan it in I'll post it up.

 

So we had the little beast out on Saturday to sort out the new engine. Turned into an all day thrash chasing bugs but in the end we sorted it all out and ran 11.49 and backed it up with a 11.51. Obviously this is a LOT slower than I was hoping for but it appears that we may have over estimated the 355 or we have greatly under estimated how good my 377 was, even wounded.

1st pass off the trailer we went 11.66. Not bad, not great. The motor sounded crisp and it left good but it wouldn't rev past 5800

We bumped the timing up.

2nd pass - The truck slowed down to 11.77 and still wouldn't rev. Also on this pass we saw a bit of death wobble.

We went the other way with the timing.

3rd pass - This pass was all bad and resulted in a 12.15. The engine still wouldn't rev and it fell on it's face at the 1000 ft mark. The death wobble was still there but manageable

Back in the pits we found the alternator belt had flipped. We realized the alternator and the crank pulley are out of line. Not having what we needed to fix it correctly we just straightened the belt, hoped for the best and went back out.

4th pass - Launch is good, the 1-2 shift is crisp and hard but once again it falls on its face at 1000 ft

5th pass - Just prior to the staging lanes closing for lunch we decide launch off the trans brake. You know, pull the wheels and feel good about something. Well the front end came straight up and the Scout went right. Scott bailed a bit and stabbed the gas again once it came down. Surprise, it popped right back up onto the bumper. Fun to watch, if your a spectator, not so fun as the owner. Just to make things worse... the death wobble is a lot worse and we shredded the alternator belt.

We make some a adjustments to the front end and set it at a 1/4inch toe in. We also charge the batter full and set the timing back to where it was when we got there.

6th pass - We tow up and make a good pass for the first time this day. The truck pulls hard in every gear, revs well past 6000 and goes 11.49. Even better, the death wobble is gone.

7th pass - After a quick battery charge, we tow back up and make a carbon copy pass of the last one and go 11.51. Were reasonably happy but can't do much more today as the staging lanes were closed for the day.

We can only assume our rev problem was that the belt was slipping at the top end and not producing enough juice to run the ignition properly. Once the battery was topped up the motor happily reved to almost 7000. We'll have the alternator lined up properly by the weekend. (Racing Sunday)

Just to add to the fun were having we had 2 trailer incidents. The 1st simply falls under the category of shear stupidity. While I was hooking up the trailer, I got distracted and forgot to lock in the ball. When I loaded the Scout the trailer popped up and put a serious gash in my open tailgate. The 2nd was just as stupid. A friend of mine, helping me unload, drove the truck away before unhooking the cable for the trailer lights. Pulled the wires right out of the hook up. Oh well...

Like I said... I'll be racing next weekend. I'll update when that happens

Cheers

 

After another frustrating day at the track my racing season for this year is done. Time to put the little beast back into it's corner and strip it down for cleaning, maintenance and upgrade / repairs.

Right off the trailer the Scout went 11.47 and pulled hard through the gears. Very pleased and hopeful for a good day.

We charged it up and put it back in line. This time we went 11.62 (???) Once again the motor pulled hard for the 1-2 and 2-3 shifts then wouldn't rev past 5500. We tweaked a few things and went back out. This pass was even worse with an 11.67

Back in the pits we found the timing had advanced 5 degrees without us touching it. We set it back to the 11.47 pass and tried again. This pass was even worse with a shut off 12.02

Last pass of the day we decided to put it on the bumper and shut it off early. Just to have a bit of fun and make a few folks happy. The pass was dismal. Barely enough power to pull the wheels 12" and again it wouldn't rev after the 2-3 shift. At the same time Scott got hit with a blast of water in the windshield. He immediately got out of it and the truck stalled. He rolled through the lights and turned off the track. After a tow back to the pits we could not find anything that would have caused the spray. The truck fired and ran fine. No death leaks anywhere. We finally came to the conclusion that the overflow can had spilled over and threw the water on the windshield.

Like I said... frustrating!!

Off season plans are to put the 377 back together with a .630 roller cam and see if we can't crack the 10's next year. We'll freshen the trans and inspect the diff. I'm also going to have a long hard look at my steering arrangement and try to get a setup that will reduce the bump steer and be more stable. Possibly a small steering dampener. We're also going gusset the front axle and add some additional brackets to the shock mounts. I'm eyeing a new 2" od chrome moly axle with disc brakes but finances are tight.

That's it for racing this year. I'll keep updating as stuff happens

Cheers

 

On your Turbo 400, I think that trans works as engage & engage, it doesn't release first gear (forward) or second when shifting into high. This gives the 400 a high rotating mass, but it's super strong.
I like reading about your Scout. I'm a Scout guy and my daily driver is a early Scout (67). I put a 460 Ford & ZF 5 speed in mine.

 

Hey Scout fans, just a quick update.

My engine guy (Len at Corner's Quickly) finally got around to tearing down the wounded 377. When I dropped the pan during the engine swap in Auguist I found a wad of metal on the pan magnet the size of my thumb nail. I was very concerned that this metal had circulated throughout. Luckily this was not the case. The crank bearings are perfect and the pistons have very little scratching and wear. So the plan is to go ahead with the cam swap from a .553 solid flat to a .630 billet roller. The rod bearings will be changed along with the rings. Other than that it will get a general freshening and reassembled. I'm hoping for some dyno numbers sometime in January.

The rest of the truck is getting a once over. Once I get the front end stripped and the running gear out I'll tackle some cosmetic and routing issues for the brake lines and wiring. I'm also going to do some front end work to correct the steering geometry as well as add some strength to the shock mounts. I have an offer to get the roof fixed for cheap so I'm hoping to take advantage of that before the World of Wheels car show at the end of March.

I've been looking at my intake and single carb set up. It's very effective and I've got more than a few dollars tied up in it but quite frankly I think it's boring and I've always had my eyes open for something a little more "Gasser" style that won't break the bank. I have an opportunity to pick up up a tunnel ram and carbs for cheap and it would be an easy conversion.

So... Stay with the tried and proven single carb and state of the art intake or give the tunnel ram 2 carb set up a try... Your thoughts ??? Also... do I go scoop or velocity stacks with the twin carbs ??

Let me know what you think.

 

I just picked up this thread and all I can say it "wow". Cudos to you for sticking it out with your body/paint guy. Any resolve there? Your truck has turned out beautifully! My only shrug is that you didn't do all of this with IH parts. . I was kind of hoping for some free R&D from your camp to help me out with my 68. I guess I'll stick with Torque and forget about the speed! Now you just gotta get yourself a Travelette or Travelall to tow the bullet!
Can't wait to read more!
-johnny

 

Dave, i like the old school look. i got the three modified but look stock carbs that i built, that people like to see. or i could have went with 4 barrel and kept it simple and look just like everybody else. And velocity stacks all the way. this might sting a little but you asked. Dan

 

I agree. From my viewpoint performance comes before aesthetics, so if the dual quads make the truck faster its a win/win situation for you.

 

We pulled the T-400 this week and went through it. Internally it was prestine. Clutches look almost new and there was no indication of shock damage from the trans brake. However, one of the converter bolts had loosened off (Fine thread bolts w crimp nuts and lock tight no less !!) which caused the convertor to wobble. This explains my tranny leak from mid season on that I couldn't get rid of. Easy fix. However the wobble started to wear a groove in the pump so we replaced it along with a new seal. Bolted it all back together and it's ready to go for the new season.

When we first had the truck running in 2010 the wiring was decent but not great. I gave it a C+. With the addition of the headlights, 2 step and trans brake as well as some troubleshooting and reconfiguring the wiring went to hell. I had no less than 5 power wires running to my 1 wire alternator (??) So my next project, while the engine is out, is to fabricate up a proper wiring board and clean up the mess of wires at the firewall.

Call these the "Before" pictures
Keep in mind I have them hanging all over the place to map and mark them but you get the idea...

 

That little Scout is cooler than a polar bears toenails.

 

Was the converter new or recently cut open when you put it in? Every new converter or reworked one I have ever run in a trans with a transbrake, the bolts came loose right away (within a couple runs). Once I retighened them one time, they stayed after that. You probably won't have that happen again. I think the converter housings stretch a bit when new then take a set.