A 78 Traveler build

Shows your truck went to TSPC, the following is straight out of the Scout Encyclopedia. TSPC - Truck Sales Processing Center. There were several around the country, including one at Fort Wayne, where special installations and modifications took place. This was a catchall overflow area where time consuming installations or installations on backordered parts could be carried out. The Fort Wayne TSPC was located about a mile southeast of Scout Assembly on Moeller Road.

 

So mirrors have been a constant battle for me so far. I had been driving a jeep before so i could always see all around me, and traveling for work always had rentals with backup cameras. On the Scout being back in a bigger vehicle I needed good mirrors. Original mirrors were good sized and position, but really worn out and the arm would move on me all the time. The mounts at the door were really worn. I finally replaced these with original style mirrors, which looked good but small. Only issue was my passenger mirror was as useless as a submarine with a screen door. I'd tried all adjustments, they are convex, swapped the driver over there to see if there was a difference and nothing. This really bothered me, so i went back to looking at mirrors but didn't want to drill more holes in the door. Luckily I was able to find the same mirrors I had when I got the scout on ebay, ordered them and robbed them of the mounting hardware. I used the original arm with the new mounting hardware but now they are much more secure and I can see something of use! I now have extra mirror arms and heads, but now the mirrors are re-mounted and hopefully will stay in place when driving. I'll take it for a spin this afternoon.
Mirrors robbed of mounting hardware:


Scout with new old mirrors:

So if anyone in the Atlanta area wants Original style mirrors I have a set.

Borgeson joints show up tomorrow, so hopefully I can tackle that this weekend.

 

Couldn’t get the borgesons in this weekend but did drive it a lot today and it rode great! Installed the delay wiper from super scout and it was super easy, bolt right in. Just wish I could reuse the old knob but I’ll look at that another day.
Also parked next to a new Yukon Denali, thought the size difference was pretty interesting.

 

My fiancée saw this cupholder on instagram and passed it on to me, so I ordered it and it just showed up. Always nice to be encourage to spend on the Scout. Looks to be much better for larger cups than the cup suggestions that were on my center console. Looks like cans are a little loose but they are nice and deep so should hold coffee cups well, so we'll be wearing less coffee than before. Just need to smooth out the ride a little or have all the roads repaved here.

Here's the cupholder installed:


Here's the fit test:


I also added the weathertech universal floor mats finally. I had had weathertech mats in all my previous cars/trucks, they fit as nice as anything universal and will save my carpet from the muddy mess it would have been with all the rain we're getting. Still a slight leak at the back of the top by the hatch that I shop vac out every time it rains, but the front is dry as long as we don't get 3 days straight of rain.

My radiator has seen better days as well, tried to secure it with JB weld but that failed miserably, and now it just has a bunch of JB weld on it. I think a replacement is due soon as it leaks slightly and the shroud is really worn. Looking at all the options seems like I'll just go champion as the other options are double the price.

 

those cup holders are super fancy, and make me thirsty. Brunch anyone??

JJ in TN

 

The cupholders have been great so far! highly recommend. This afternoon I installed a tach, I wanted to actually see how I was running on the highway not that I drive it on it that much. Driving on the connector is already a pain enough in a modern car. I tapped into the cruise fuse for power, wasn't really sure what other source to tap into and I didn't want to do too much digging. Took it for a spin and am happy with it so far! Might adjust the mount. I think cleaning up my wiring took longer than actually installing it.
Here's the fuse tap for tach power and light:

Here it is in all its light up glory:

 

Tackling a few more quality of life upgrades. Just got a new door switch for the lights and a socket and bulb for the shift indicator light from Anything Scout. My old light was tied around the NSS wiring harness underneath, so crawled under and threaded it back up through. The bulb was super crusty and same for the socket:

I tried to use one of those solder fuse links and it did not work out, luckily i had some but splices and used those. Connected everything back up and worked like a charm! Will really appreciate the extra cab light as its so dark inside driving at night, and all my dash lights work.


Tomorrow I'll tackle the door switch and maybe look at the lock for the glove box door I got from binder boneyard, really looking forward to having that, can always use an extra key for the scout. I'm already at 4 Scout keys(Doors, Ignition, rear hatch, gas cap), why not get up to 5? I also think one of my best tool investments was the good wire stripper/cutter. Thing works like a charm and much better than the chinesium ones I have had in the past which can't do anything.

Also might tackle the liftgate license plate light as one works and the other doesn't, for a Traveler which socket would these be to order? Are these the same as the backup light sockets?

 

Hooked up the new switch for the door and it works, but only when its pressed in about 1/4 vs all the way out? Not gonna mess with it much more, maybe it will break in the spring a little having the door close. Also felt something when I was turning last time I drove it so I wanted to check the front end that everything was tight enough and good, did NOT like what I found. Looks like this bolt is about to break through the ubolt plate, time for a replacement ASAP. This is where I hate my gravel driveway, need to figure out the best way/safest place to replace this once the parts come in. Could pull it onto the street but that always makes me nervous with something jacked up even though we're a residential street in the city.

 

I'm not clear what that U bolt is doing. Is the plate cracked or the U bolt?

 

that looks to me like the opening in the plate is broken/worn so the bolt is 1/2 through 1/2 caught on the plate. Either way doesn’t inspire confidence.

 

That's a nice Scout you got there! Have fun with it.

 

Do those mirrors vibrate much?

 

They are okay so far, driver side is good, passenger side is much better than it was on the old hardware but I have a bad shake right now on the passenger side of the truck so it shakes a little bit it is useable. I like the hardware from the rally mirrors and then have different heads I got from amazon which are okay. They used to just fold in on the arms at speed or shake out of place.

 

Thanks Chris! I love it so far, its tough waiting to fix it when I just want to drive to as much as I can.

 

Just so you know,those are not stock style mirrors,all stock ones where the small type held on with 2 screws.The type you have and alot of us use where mostly for truck ones.No mine dont vibrate .

 

I think it has more to do with flex in the door panel on the lower mounts. The upper mounts appear more stable. Have to research to see what others have done to solve it. Since I have a camper on my Scout good mirrors are critical. I do have a rear view camera and that works great. I have been debating about doing something like this for the mirrors:

 

That makes sense. The lower mount appears to be the issue. Not sure how the stock ones will work with the camper on my Scout. Might not stick out far enough.

 

Yes these are the aftermarket ford ones, I had the original/bronco style ones for a while but couldn't see out the passenger well at all so went back to the ford style ones.

 

I used to have a TJ wrangler and had mirrors like that for when the doors were off, they were fine once you got them tight enough, i needed to add an extra washer to it. My vibration will also come from having a miss in 2nd cylinder thats getting taken care of soon.

 

Here is an old mirror thread. I like the options Ted H and Bill-USN-1 went for.

http://www.binderplanet.com/forums/index.php?threads/mirror-options-give-me-some-ideas.53065/page-2