SSIIBuild, build thread

Now that Jamie (SSIIbuid)has spilled the beans on his new toys it's time for the skinny on the one in Jason and my care. Jamie purchased the scout recently and had Nathan pick it up and deliver it here for a proper going through. Jamie has been acquiring parts for a trail rig build for a long time and has nice stash waiting. First some pictures of the scout.




The body is a little beat but the previous owner put a lot on nice parts on this thing. The installation of most of those parts leaves a lot to be desired but between what it's got and Jamie's stash we have some fun stuff to work with. It has a 392,t-18,dana20 combo and dana 60 and 14 bolt axles with 4.56 gears. Some of the larger bonus parts include a new warn 12,000 winch, new holley truck avenger carb, D and C cage, aluminum radiator, and almost new swampers.

Step one was to get this thing clean, It was nasty all the way through. I sorted through all the trash in the scout keeping any good parts and trashing the rest.

Just to add to the aroma the t-19 that came in the back had spilled it's contents all over.


Once that was done Jason and I yanked the top and doors. It looks a lot better without them.

We then loaded it on the trailer and headed for the spray and wash.

 

$15 and 3.5 gallons of purple power and I was no longer scared to crawl under it. We then began undoing all the add on wiring, it gave me the no feeling.







here is the stack we had after about 45 minutes, It's still getting bigger.



I spent a couple evenings sorting out the damage done to the stock harness. The engine harness was trashed but under the dash didn't need a lot of attention to be safe. I picked up a megafuse and fuse holder as well as some battery cable ends.


I built a new engine harness as well as redoing the charging circuit. The factory charging circuit on a scout runs all of the vehicle electrical power from the alternator through the firewall bulkhead connector then through he ammeter. from there it branches to power the fuse panel then back through the bulkhead connector to the starter where it ties in withe the battery cable to charge the battery. Needless to say this is not the best way of doing things especially if add on accessories are involved. The alternator power wire now goes straight to the megafuse block where it is distributed first to the charging circuit then in the cab to power everything else. This allows us a perfect place to connect an accessory fuse panel to power all the after market goodies.

(I'll be adding rubber body trim to the square bulkhead connector hole to act as a grommet later)
After wasting a lot of time figuring out some hacking under the dash we cleaned it up and re bundled the stock dash harness

 

with the basic wiring out of the way we moved on to battery cables. The previous owner had installed some nice 1 gauge battery cables so we replaced the ends on those to work with marine style battery terminals. I like the marine battery terminals for ease of removing the cable whether in be for service or an emergency. I solder and shrink wrap all of my electrical connections including battery cables. here is how I do those.

I start with clamping the lug in a vise with the wire end facing up.

I then heat the lug with a torch while filling it with solder.

once it is full I insert the cable and continue heating for just a moment to ensure the solder wicks into the cable. Then let it cool.

Once it cools add the heat shrink


Once I had those done I moved on to more interesting things. The drivers inner fender had some rust issues and the battery tray was mia. I also have a couple other things I like to do to the inner fenders for trail rigs. So it had to come off. Check out how much mud the fender was hiding.

 

I started with opening up the lower part of the inner fender. I do this to help remove engine heat and mostly to make service easier. I also cut out the worst of the rust at the same time. (I did a bad job orienting these for pictures)

I used the section I removed to patch the rusted area next. I did a quick job on the patch and it shows.

After that I built a new battery tray and tabs for a hold down.

Ive got a little more to add, actually take away, from the inner tomorrow.

 

Sweet. Nice to see what is happening. Thanks guys

 

Randy, how do you do it?
If I had half your motivation...I'd be tickled.

That looks like a fine trail rig with all the right parts and it'll be even finer when your thru with it.

 

How many sweet tea's do you have to drink to work that fast?

Nice work as always..

 

Sweet Tea???? So thats his secret. I guess I will have to give up my black coffe and try this.

 

Thanks for the comments guys. The beverage of choice is Gatorade, lots of Gatorade.

I didn't get a lot of time to work on the scout today but the drivers inner fender is complete. Very shortly we will be redoing the suspension. We will be stretching the wheel base as part of that project. I needed to remove some material from the inner to make room for the front tire since it will be farther forward. I didn't get any pictures during that process but you get the idea. You can also see the metal I added to clean up the cut and also gusset it.



I know it's hard to follow this, not seeing the inner mounted so I hope the completed pictures makes everything clear. The other side will go much faster since it has no rust issues and no battery mount.

 

Nice work Randy. Looks like somebody's gonna have one BA trail rig. I might be giving you a call when I start the wiring on my rig. If you got the time I will pay your gas and put you up for a weekend. Free food and beverage of your choice. Wiring scares me.

 

Looking good Randy! Love the fender work. Can't wait to get back down there and pick up my ole' girl and help out on this project as well. As usual on the project threads, keep the pics coming. Later.

 

Dang it. I leave for two minutes and you go and pull out a new trick like that. Very nice inner fender touch. Mine where clearanced by my Swampers on the Shipwreck obstacle at Gulches ORV.

 

If your starting from scratch I'm a huge fan of the american autowire kits. The highway series works well on the scouts and the kits are hugely superior to anything else out there. It'll be a while before I have time I'm pretty committed for the rest of the summer.

Nate, I mean Naathon
Even with all her friends around she's still lonely for you. If I can do half as well with a build thread as yours I'll be happy, I really suck at these.

Jason,
I'm happy with how the gusset turned out, it's a little cleaner than the way we have been doing them. Don't leave me unattended too long. With out the voice of reason I'll surely screw something up.

 

We received a few goodies today.

A dana 60 35 spline lockright for the front should go nicely with the Detroit that's already in the rear.

The current front housing has some issues, Lets just say the cut and turn and center section mods didn't work out so well. We decided it would be time and money well spent to start with an unmolested housing. Tonight I cleaned up the inside of the drivers fender and shot some gloss black on it before setting it back in place. Then I pulled the steering shaft to see what size borgeson shaft needs to be ordered.

 

I always feel good about my scout until I read these threads. I end up taking lots of notes and sending email to try to get more info. the end result is I feel like one of Levi's smoking turds and I have to add more to the list of things I have to buy and sneak in the house so the wife won't see...

Blast you, talented people!!

Just kidding. You guys are freaking phenomenal.

 

I was like a giddy little school girl when the Fedex man showed up with the 60 today. All of my co-workers wondered if I was disappointed to see it arrive in such condition. We all know better. Greasy, muddy sludge cleans off and you know its going to get some shiny, clean paint.

 

By the by. The cut and turn/center section mods were the PO handy work, Not any attempt on our part.

 

I got a very late start tonight so nothing too crazy. We will be dropping from a two inch body lift to a one inch and that's going to cause issues with the radiator. If you look in the pictures you'll notice the fan is about even withe the top of the radiator already.

Aside from that it sits so low at the moment the previous owner had to use a "custom" hose to clear the fan.

In order two raise the radiator the 2 inches I'd like the filler neck needs to be shortened. So tonight I pulled it so I can drop it off at the radiator shop in the morning for that to be done. With that done we can work on mounting it properly. Jamie doesn't feel comfortable with the 3 sheet metal screws that had been holding it in, sissy.



I've gotten a few questions about the way we reworked the charge circuit So here is my redneck pdf file wiring schematic

also mad electrical has a great write up that shows a very similar method.
http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/amp-gauges.shtml

 

You're SUCH a slacker.

 

Time for an update. After pulling the passenger side fender, I found even more mud than the drivers side.

After cleaning that out, I pulled the inner fender so it could receive the same treatment as the drivers side.

Here is a better before picture of the inner before the cutting.

And here is the after shot with some fresh paint


With that out of the way I started on mounting the newly modified radiator. The mounts that it had did not work at all so I added some width to them.

I used 2 inch by 1/8 aluminum flat stock to add the needed width.

Jamie and I also wanted to add bushings to the mounts. Here is what I came up with.

I'm going to be a tease and stop here for the night and finish the rest of the update in the morning.