'70 800A Green Machine

I have been watching and love this build. I have 2 of those Bulk Head connectors. They seem pretty straight forward. Are the worth the trouble of installing them?

 

Super, thanks for the compliment ha! It is a kwikwire harness, 12 circuit if i remember correctly. It's a really great harness and the customer support from kwikwire is fantastic. I would recommend it if you were looking to get one, the instructions are pretty simple and it helps to have an OEM wiring diagram, specifically when you get to the steering column group.

Punjig, thanks man! And yes, the bulkhead connectors are well worth it, the hardest part was drilling the hole large enough for the connector. I initially had my all my wires passing through a big grommet, but I thought it looked messy. I feel the bulkhead connectors make the wiring much more professional, in my opinion. The connector I bought came with plenty of plugs/barrels/seals etc, even with a lot leftover.
-Jack

 

Just a quick update. I've been slowly been working on fabbing up a new bed for the back. It's taking me a little longer than I initially planned, but I only get a few hours at a time in the garage. Anyways, I used 1/8"x2x2 angle on top of the bedside C-channel. On top of that I'm using 16GA steel with 3/16x3 runners going the length in the middle for support. It should be robust enough. I still need to paint the bottom of the bed before I burn it in. Also need to finish plumbing my breathers for the axles and gearbox to a manifold in the engine bay, and put in the passenger seat, and paint the interior. I want to get all of this done before Thanksgiving so I can take the folks for a ride while they're visiting.

 

Hi Jack. Wow, this is beautiful work. I'm still learning to weld, and my mechanical abilities are limited, but I see some really clean work here. I have a 89 F250 diesel , and a scout - jeep hybrid (84 cj7 paired with 80 scout axles, Diesel engine , trans, etc, fiberglass tub). It would be nice to have the original vehicle, I really like the look of the old scouts. My neighbor has a 800 sitting in his dead car lot , mating my scout stuff to that would be really neat, but alas, I can better afford to lurk here and admire your works.


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Finally got some time to get some work done. My folks came down for Thanksgiving and we were able to spend some time in the garage. Got the breathers relocated and bulk of the interior finished. Still need to put bed liner in at some point, but it can wait for a bit, but I did get some heavy rubber mats down. Also installed some rings for cargo in the back, an of course all the interior was sanded, new metal etched and everything painted a satin black. Also took both parents for a drive around town, everything worked out real good, need to calibrate the speedo, other that, all good!
Thanks for looking, hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

 

Really cool build!
A few of my favorite things so far:

• Recessed tie downs in the bed
• Color choices: Red paint with white top will look stunning!
  
• Clean wiring
• Clean fuel tank install

I'm looking forward to following along for the rest of the ride.

 

Hi Jack, Very Nice Rig and Work. What RED paint did you use for the inside dash? I think the color looks great. My 800a has been painted with Barn Paint color with a brush by the PO. I am glad it protected the metal, but it's pretty homemade looking. I will be doing the same type of frame restoration as I too only have a 2 car garage. Your Scout and work looks amazing. This is our third Scout also, first is 79' then a 65 4 banger, now this baby. I started my build thread on JustIH, but may move it to BP, where I have the last Scout 80 thread.

 

Thanks JG, the red, believe it or not, is rustoleum "Regal Red". I painted, wet sanded, then clear coated with a spray can 2K. It turned out pretty good and wasn't too difficult. See pic of the clear coat I used, you can buy it on amazon if you're interested. Doing this kind of work in a garage is tough, but I'm sure as you know it can be done. Scouts are addicting aren't they??!! I only with I could have kept my other ones...
Jack

 

Addicting is right. My son "got me hooked", after we found the first one, a 79' in Pennsylvania with 94,000 miles - and after our driver quality restoration together, he has it at college in SC, and drives it back and forth each year to CT. No real issues, and now he knows how things work and that he can work on an engine, and also restore a carb teardown. Great feeling to do it together. Last year I sold the Scout 80 4 cyl before the snow started, to a father/son team to finish the restore. I could not get the bug outta my system, so I searched and found this 800A (profile shot) also in Pennsylvania, and brought it home on Labor Day weekend. It has the 304V8 just as does the '79. Now I have my project.... its nourishing to the soul to bring these back to life, and have fun driving them. Yours looks awesome, and so quickly... I love this original shape, better than the S2 - just my personal opinion.....

 

That's a great story!! I agree the 800s look better in my opinion as well. If only they came with all the amenities of the S2 (PS, PB, D44s, etc. But if you can get the best of both worlds you're up in my opinion. The 800 in you pic looks like its in great shape. Does it have the 4 speed tranny? Also, it looks like you have a roof rack, do you know what it's from? And how do you like it? Have any more pics of that 800? It looks fantastic, what are your plans for it?
Jack

 

My build thread with images is on binderbench. Jules 71 scout 800A in the 80/800 section. Last build thread for the 80 was on here. I plan to add PS, it has a Dana 30 front and 44 rear. New drum brakes all redone and restored. Has 2.5" lift and 33x12.5s added now. I might switch the rims to 10 inch as I did on the 80. Right now running rallye rims...

 

Well, I've put on about 100 miles since I "finished" the interior. Everything has been pretty uneventful for the most part, there are a few things that were annoying me. First, when I turn hard left, there's a faint "clunk" noise coming from somewhere, need to investigate that for sure. The clunk is not consistent and doesn't happen all the time, only certain conditions apparently. Next, after driving for a while, i have to crank her over for a bit to get it started, maybe a little vapor lock??? And lastly, there are still a lot of banging and rattles when driving on crappy roads, mostly from the windows rattling around.

So, the next items on the list to do are finding out what the clunking noise while turning is, then possibly get a wix 33040 fuel filter and run a return line back to the tank. Then, I really need to address the tailgate. It needs to be removed (screws holding the mount plates wont budge!), and I need to address the rust issues, clean up the latch mechanism, and hopefully get the lock to work again. And lastly I need to address the doors, ie: window felts, window guide tracks etc.

Other than that, it all went quite nicely. I'm pretty pleased so far, it's just a shame that I have to tear it down again to address the doors and tailgate. I just want to drive it!!
-Jack

 

I think I'm going to finally get some paint squirted on the scout after the new year, but really wanted to address some of the lingering rust that has really been annoying me. So, it's time to address the tailgate. It was a PITA to get the tailgate off, finally I had to weld 3/8 bolts to the screws to get them out. Anyways, with the tailgate off I took everything apart and after a little cleaning, I found the little "track" for the locking mechanism inside the hollow part of the tailgate. Also got the lock cleaned up and working. I also bought some bushings for the release bar that will go in. But, first things first -- RUST.
First, I had to cut roughly 1" off the bottom lip of the tailgate, just above the green tape.

Once, that was cut off, I took an abrasive wheel, sandpaper, wire wheel etc to try and clean off as much loose scale as possible. I also jammed a wire wheel into a piece of 5/16 fuel tubing to run down the round hole across the bottom where the tailgate mounts are.

Then I washed/degreased everything, and welded up all the rust holes and holes from the tire carrier and LIBERALLY coated everything for a few days with ospho to try and kill as much rust as I possible could. I also cut a new strip of metal to replace the section that I cut off and got it all tacked in place, I also painted both surfaces to help prevent further rust. Still need to finish welding it out.

 

I saw one guy put a piece of 3/4 black iron pipe in his tailgate to reinforce it if i pull mine gonna do the same thing he measuredit and marked it less hinges drove it allway in to the mark then cut and used hinge to drive it home

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Glad to hear you're rebuilding an 800 A. I have a 1970 800 A as well. I am fixing it up, but I have no body work experience. Your description of the tailgate work helped. Thanks.

 

Just a quick update. Got the tailgate "finished" or ready for the body shop anyways. Also started stripping the doors, as I have all new rubber/felts and guides that need to go in. I'm also going to attempt to rehab the wing vent windows. In the process of removing the doors, the pins wouldn't budge, and the screws in the body wouldn't either although the screw in the door itself came out fine. So the drivers door is gutted and ready for paint. I'm going to paint the insides of the doors and apply a sound deadener before I send them to paint.

 

Tailgate came out great, and the door cleaned up really well.
I'm interested to see what you do for sound deadening on the doors.

 

Well, with the doors apart I bit the bullet and ordered new door hinges and all hardware to tighten up the doors a bit. Also, i'm killing any remaining rust in in the doors with ospho, then I'll paint and install the sound deadener that I bought. I'm also going out on another limb and completely disassembled my vent wing windows by drilling out the rivets and removing all the rubber. Once I get the other door apart, I'm going to get the window frames powdercoated. I purchased a vent window rivet kit and tool today which includes the rivets for the wing window rubber gasket, as well as the pivot hinge rivet. Thankfully my wing window rubber is in decent shape, so I will be re-installing it after the frames get coated. If anyone has any tips on the wing windows, feel free to share!
-Jack

 

Jack
Get you some silicone in a spray can and put your wing window rubber in a zip lock bag; then, spray the silicone in the zip lock bag with the rubber parts. Seal the bag and let rubber set for a while. The silicone will almost come back to like new condition.

 

That's a great tip! I heard the same thing about covering them in Vaseline and putting them in a bag, have you ever heard of that?
Thanks for the tip!
-Jack