Introduction and New/Old build. Lots of pics.

[TheHoove]

My name is Jonathan. From Norcal about 20 minutes from Fordyce. Figured I would introduce myself and chronicle my build of my 75 scout II over the last 4 years. Current specs are: 1975 Scout II. Dana 60 rear welded, 4.10's. Dana 44 ford HD Low pinion, Aussie Locker, Yukon Alloy Shafts, 4.10's. 1992 700r4 rebuilt by me. 1991 Suburban LH drop NP241, Super short SYE. In process of installing 99 Vortec 4.3 feed by TBI w/ EBL computer. More details in a bit.
When I brought it Home: 304, auto, 35's. Lots of rust. About 5 years ago I think.



A bit of driveway test flex. Bent a front spring doing so from poorly done lift/shackle reversal. Promptly brought it into the shop and started cutting.



Cut the stock rockers out, a good chunk of the floor, and front body mounts. Rebuilt the body mounts with 4" Channel welded to the frame. Made new rockers out of this:



Those are industrial warehouse shelving. They have a nice "L" shape that the door closes into. Not super strong, but way stronger than stock rockers, and trail tested to hold up to some rock abuse. And make a way nice jack point, flat on the bottom. As I play in the rocks more, I may plate them with 1x4 angle.




Suspension Is 63" 3 leaf chevys in the back, overload removed. Front is 57" ford f-150 rear, with one full length ad-a-leaf. Still has front shackels. You can hate, but it works, rides amazing, handled good on road. And can park on top of a 38" swamper with a rear sway bar hooked up. That said, If I could change anything, It would be coils in the front just for the sake of approach angle.
The front shackles in these picks have been replaced and re-located for better angle:







Continued.....

[TheHoove]

Some more. I made this rear Trac bar. Instead of using a shackle like many do, I used an old hydraulic ram. It can extend and compress, and twist, but not move up/down. Has a bit of oil in it, and a hose tying the fittings together for lube.



Welded Up my rear dana 60. But went beyond Just welding the teeth together. Cut 3/8 plate to fit between the gears, and welded that to the face of the gears, as well as the teeth together.



Steering is Basic Crossover, RH knuckle drilled and taped. Hydro asist in the works. Engine was 304. Worn out. Pulled to make room for this buick 1967 buick 340 My dad had collecting dust. Bolted to a 1992 700r4 with an adapter. Behind that a LH drop chevy np241 out of a IFS 1991 truck opps...Up top I said suburban. oh well.




First time out:




Fast forward a couple years. Bought a front cage kit from IHCustoms. Love it.




About the same time, this lost a tranny:


So I pulled the Engine and harness. Was going to use the entire thing. But the Chevy was about an inch to long to clear the radiator. So I pulled the TBI and computer, all the sensors. With the help of my dad, who is a great machinist, we took a stock buick distributor, bored it out untill a machined down TBI chevy distributor pressed into it. Cut the shaft to length. Made a bushing so the buick gear would press onto it. And presto, one computer controlled Buick distributor. Made a harness up. Frame mounted a ford pickup pump. Ran a second fuel line to one of the Evap fittings in my tank. Installed a bung for the O2 sensor. It ran ok. But would throw EGR codes, and the chevy caprice VSS buffer read way off with the truck speed sensor. So for some reason it would stall at about 10mph, I think from trying to lock the converter or enable EGR. Not sure. The computer though It was doing 40. So I changed VSS buffers to a truck one. Worked ok. But not perfect. Got an EBL computer from Dynamic EFI. Made a huge difference. Can tune it myself. At this point, I had a dodge truck radiator in it. The factory one was junk. With the new computer and proper tuning, It started getting Hot. Only running a Taurus fan. Was given a new early cummins radiator. Cut the core support out and made it work. Still got warm. But not as hot. Took it out, cut the core support more, had a 3 row chevy truck cross flow I made work. Came out very clean using the truck upper support bolted to the factory hood support in the scout. At the same time, I found a dual Chrysler Concord Efan that covered the entire chevy radiator core. And cleared my pullys better. Finally ran cool. This was last summer.

[TheHoove]

Same time last summer, I bought some used 37x12.5-16.5 BFG Baja T/A military take off tires. I welded safety beads into my rims with 3/16 rod. Had a to cut alot more out of my fenders to clear the 37's over the 35's. Even had to trim my front bumper some. Then Got a ticket for no mud flaps. So I made these. Tried to make something that followed the body and didnt look just thrown on. Removable with one bolt.


Decided about the same time, Its getting due to look pretty. So I stripped it and fixed some dents, and started sanding:





Found some really nice rally type stripes under all the green barn paint.




Fixed all thew lights. Found some nice Marker lights in yellow and red a Napa auto parts that are very close to the stock side markers. Mounted some Chevy Cavalier seats. Painted the factory back seat black. Cut some indoor/outdoor carpet to fit the front floors. still need to paint the Top. Looking something like this now:

[TheHoove]

Which brings us to the current state. The buick motor has never liked the EFI. And was getting something like 4mpg playing offroad. My wifes parents gave me her old car, a 1999 chevy blazer with a blown up tranny, but a good running 4.3. The 4.3 may be a bit weak on the highway, but I'm mostly concerned about trail use and economy. So the 4.3 Got yanked out of the blazer. After going over the harness and such, I decided to toss the vortec injection in favor of a Edlebrock 4bbl intake. Made an adapter to run my TBI. Bought a TBI distributor. That way, my wiring and computer for the most part will stay unchanged. Aside from relocating the distributor and some sensor wires. Install is in process:

Motor as pulledL


Stripped down and new intake:


Ready to install:


In process of installing:


Bolted in:


So thats up to current. Not all details included. 2 weekends ago found a 79 scout II at Pick n pull. Have a late model fuel filler to install. Got a perfect Black padded dash to replace my green cracked up one. Still want to fab up some nice gauges. Its been a long project. Hopefully maybe, but probably not winding down.

[Comanche Scott]

Great build. I especially like the nice new paint job getting covered with mud.
Looks like the rockers are holding up well too.
Will be interesting to see how you like the 4.3. I've *read* a lot of good reviews on it for off road, especially with the 700R4 low first gear.

[TheHoove]

Originally Posted by Comanche Scott

Great build. I especially like the nice new paint job getting covered with mud.
Looks like the rockers are holding up well too.
Will be interesting to see how you like the 4.3. I've *read* a lot of good reviews on it for off road, especially with the 700R4 low first gear.

Thanks. Sometimes i feel like ive worked on it more than drive it. But its getting there. Now with carpet and nice seats its getting much nicer to drive. Im hoping the 4.3 will.be nice on the trail. Im sure ill miss some power on the hills on the freeway. But its not about getting anywhere fast.

Its also set up for OBA. The buick motor had a brand new sanden compressor tapped for a grease fitting. But its vbelt so wont swap eaisy to the vortec belt. I randomly drilled the delphi compressor and put a grease fitting in it. If i test run it with no hose and it doesent spray a bunch of grease out then ill see how.long it lives.

[TheHoove]

Finished under the hood today. Test ran the engine sunday. Needs some tuning, running bigger injectors than stock 4.3 TBI. I highly recommend Dynamic EFI's EBL computer for anyone running a GM TBI based setup. Much better code than stock. Live data and tuning via laptop. Boost, NOS control. Fast idle control via switch.



Managed to use the factory blazer AC lines to hook up the OBA. Have a switch in the dash that will give my whatever fast idle speed I want to program into the computer. Great for OBA and winching.

Efans are wired through a 3 position switch, so computer control, off for water crossings, and on full time, if the tranny is getting warm or whatnot.

A few more items of interest.
Speakers mounted to the roll bar in simple brackets:


For those that go topless in the summer, Several GM cars used mirrors similar to this. This one is out of a 92 caprice wagon. Map lights and compass. My 92 firebird also had one just map lights, no compass. Great way to have a dome light with no top.

[TheHoove]

A little sad to say, this project is being sold. Its been fun and long. But shortly after we got married 3 years ago, my wife was diagnosed with an auto immune disorder. She cant be out in the heat alot. So Im building a cherokee with AC for her, as well as back doors fir future kids.

[Comanche Scott]

Did you get an XJ, ZJ or WJ?
I just picked up a WJ. Pretty nice rig!
Good luck!

[TheHoove]

Originally Posted by Comanche Scott

Did you get an XJ, ZJ or WJ?
I just picked up a WJ. Pretty nice rig!
Good luck!

Still shopping, but will be getting xj.