[bk2life]

There is a story to this one. They all have stories, don't they?
This story starts in Oahu, around 2005 when I was stationed there.


I was known as the car guy, and when people would leave the island they’d give or sell me their island cars for free or very cheap. It’s usually not worth bringing home a vehicle that has been passed around for a few turns. At one point I had I think 5 or 6 cars. I’d sell them or trade them to other incoming personnel that needed a cheap car.

One day I get a call from a guy going to Iraq that wanted to sell his jeep. To this point in my life, I had never owned a jeep. I was curious, and when meeting in person I was presented with a very stock, near perfect 1991 YJ.

I bought it, and immediately removed the ugly worn vinyl roof and doors. Jeeps should be driven with no doors and no roof was what I kept telling myself.

I’m sure at this point, the reader, you, are thinking what does a 1991 jeep have to do with a 64 scout?

Well, eventually I met up with a group of guys in a ‘wheelin club called the Oahu Jeepers. Good group of native Hawaiians and military folk from all the branches. There was a navy guy with an old scout. It was on big 38 inch tires, big lift, and was just a cool looking ride.

Fast forward 6 years or so, and my jeep, which I sent home from Hawaii, was stolen from my driveway. It was lifted, big tires, painted, bed liner floor, all the cool stuff you could do to a jeep that wasn’t afraid of being put on its side a few times in the name of fun.

Well, after the tears and dust settled, my insurance company handed me a nice big check that put a smile on my face. Not as much as I wanted, but, enough to have a good nest egg for another jeep build.


….but 90% of that check went into the new house I had bought.

 

[bk2life]

had some great times and greater memories in the ol'jeepy...

 

[bk2life]

Another 5 or so years go by, and while I was stationed in southern Afghanistan, I was looking through craigslist and came across a scout. It reminded of that awesome rig I saw out in Hawaii. The price looked right, and it was only a few miles from my home. Even though I was on the other side of the world, it would be a cheap tow bill.
I called the owner, and told him I was calling from Afghanistan and I wanted to put down a deposit until I can get a tow truck to his place. The owner told me if I was really in Afghanistan, he’d give me a discount and he will hold the vehicle until I came and got it.

Fast forward 4 months or so, and I was standing in front of the man and ready to take the scout home.
I gave him the money, he gave me the keys, and after I got the scout loaded up on the trailer he gave me exactly half my money back.
He said, he was shocked I called from Afghanistan, and more shocked I showed up to buy the scout.


I still get a bit teary eyed thinking of that day. It was really awesome.

here it is the day I picked it up.

 

[bk2life]

I don’t have too many more pictures, and being over here in Iraq, I tend to think of things I need to do or buy. But, my goal is to finally drive the scout when I get home.
I have stretched the wheel base in both front and rear, removed the old drivetrain, and added 1 ton axles, I had a sbc in it for a while, but a friend was in a hard spot and needed a good engine, so I basically gave the sbc to her.

Then in its place I installed a 454, with a sm465 trans and a np205 transfer case.
Once I am home, I’ll pull the body off the chassis, finish up some welding on the chassis, shock hoops, exhaust hangers, etc.

I built a dual 3” exhaust, will drop it off for high temp powder coating, and probably the frame as well. I was going to paint it, but it’s so much easier to drop it off ugly and pick it up shiny.

 

[bk2life]

Even though I like LS engines, you can’t beat the low RPM torque of a big block. I have two BBCs, and this red engine might get pulled out and my other put in.


The red engine is a mild 454, 268 cam, small dome forged pistons with 781 heads. This should be low to mid 400 hp engine with an honest 450 torque.


My other bbc, is a 489, with a bit bigger roller cam, aluminum brodix heads. It’ll have more power across the board due to better heads, more ci, and roller cam.

Not looking for high RPM power, but good solid low RPM grunt.




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[bk2life]

I've always wanted a Wrangler, specifically a YJ. Never drover one until the other day I jumped in my buddies YJ and drove it for about a half a block. What a let down. lol I've driven numerous Scouts and Scout 2's, they're way better/cooler.

Yes, with the dogs, ice chests, camping gear, the jeep is pretty much filled up. The bigger size of the scout will be welcomed. There is some stuff ‘under the hood’ I need to work on, and mount up the fuel filler tube for the 1st gen blazer fuel tank. I need to take the body to get the interior bed-lined on the inside. I’ve used self-applied bed liner, like Raptor products, which are great. But for this toy, I want the noise reduction and thickness of the real stuff.

I have to figure out what gauges to use. I think I’ll be using the ‘speedhut’ company for their gauges. They’re cheaper than Dakota digital, and look similar to the factory gauges.

I’ve got a leak in the transmission, so I’ll have to break it down, and while I’m in there, replace a few parts.

I shortened a tilt column from a chevy truck to fit, but after using one of speedways brand new ‘fake’ gm tilt columns, I’m most likely going to order a new one for the scout as well. Something about brand new parts, over possibly used worn out parts. Granted I could go through the factory column and replace everything with new, but those days are over for me, much easier to buy a brand new, ready to go parts.


Will update this post in a couple months from now.


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[bk2life]

Looking for an early GM 1 ton Dana 60, complete, if anyone has a lead on one??

 

[bk2life]

Well, I've been home for about 72 hours, and due to jet lag and just can't sit still, so I pulled out my windshield frame, broke it down, and will be taking it and some other parts to the local sand blaster to get stripped.
I'm hoping to get a few friends over here to get my scout on the lift to start removing the body mount bolts. Want to get the body off, so I can finish welding the chassis modifications, add the shock mounts, and then send the chassis out for powder coating.

 

[bk2life]

Got some buddies over this morning to help clean up some things, and get the scout up on the lift. Took about 25 minutes to blast out the old body mount bolts, and lift the body off.
It appears this was the first time the body has ever been off, and surprisingly it is in pretty good condition top to bottom. No body mount bolts were rusted, they all came loose pretty easily.
The actual rubber mount was destroyed, but they are old, so that’s to be expected.
Ive got some things to look at, plan out my fabrication, and then send the frame out for powder coating.
While that is going on, I am going to make a rolling rack to get the body onto so I can get the rest of the body stripped and finish whatever body work I am going to do to it.
This wont ever be a show car, but it will be pretty nice, to where I can enjoy it on or off road.
I still want to find a 14 bolt FF for the rear, and a D60 for the front, but for now, I’m going to work with what I have.
Today Arizona officially hit 110 degrees, and they’re predicting 117 for the week.. fun

 

[bk2life]

Lucky all those bolts came right out……….Welcome back sir.

thank you.. and yes this entire scout is super rust free.

……… put a tarp up and over your lift……

only am, from there it’s in the climate controlled garage, no worries there.


As luck would have it, I found a super duty being parted out not too far from my home. $200 bucks later, I have some very strong 1-ton axles. There is lots of grinding and bracket removal from these axles, but, for the price, I am not concerned one bit.

 

[bk2life]

For an update, the chassis is stripped and waiting for this rain to clear up. Once that happens, I'll drop off the chassis and several other parts to the powder coaters. The chassis is only getting sand blasted at this time, I have a god 20 hours or so of fabrication and welding to do to it before it’s ready for powder coating.

The 17-inch wheels I picked up last week are growing on me, and I’m going to order some 38 or 40 inch tires for them. But the wheels are going to be powder coated a gold color first.

I was toying around with the idea of switching transfer cases and started tracking down the parts I need to make it all work, and in the end, I’m just going to order an Atlas transfer case. It’s nearly 10 inches shorter than all the factory GM stuff, and the scout is pretty short which equals a very short rear drive line.

I’m finishing up the stand for the body in the morning, and then I can get the body off the lift and finish the body work.

I picked up all the materials such as the paint, bed liner, and should be able to knock out all the body work and get the body all in one color pretty quickly.

 

[bk2life]

Dropped off the chassis, and some sheet metal parts to be stripped.
It was 113 out today, so getting the leaf springs and steering gear box unbolted and then loading the chassis into the truck by myself was a warm one. The trick is to stay hydrated..
Anyways, a 15 mile drive down the street and dropped the parts off. I have lots of fabrication to do on the chassis, and 57 years of road grime, oil leaks and u joints slinging grease all around has made a bit of a mess to the frame. So much easier to weld on clean ‘fresh’ metal then dirty metal.
Got the old 454 onto the engine stand, and will be swapping over the accessories to the 489 in preparation for the completed chassis.
One day I will have the chassis powder coated, but not sure what color, and at what time, as I like to put my builds together, and drive them for a few thousand miles to work out the bugs. Then blow them all apart and finish paint and what not.

 

[bk2life]

Finally got time to finish up the scout stand and got the body off the lift. A few of the top bolts for the fuel tanks broke off, and I’ll have to reach up in there with some vice grips to get the nuts off. Then I can pull the fuel tanks out.

By the looks of the zero rust on this truck, literally zero rust, the fuel tanks I’m guessing will be in pretty good condition. I am not using them, so they will be for sale soon.

Since the scout has been a catch all for parts and what not for the last few years, it's time to drag the trash can over and empty the tub. It's currently slightly sad to look at.

The plan is to get the body off to the strippers to be blasted top and bottom. I plan on a ‘real’ name brand bedliner on the top surfaces, and a spray on like raptor on the bottom.

The battery or batteries will mount where the pass fuel tank was, with an access door on the inner fender well. I might do something similar on the driver’s side to have a small space that is able to place things, ie fix a flat, oil, coolant etc.

All the other parts, such as the chassis are still at the blasters, it’s only been 4 days, so I anticipate picking up those parts next week. Then I can start fabrication on the chassis. Still up in the air if I’m going to powder coat it, or just paint it.


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[bk2life]

Just got a call, and some of my parts are blasted and ready to be picked up. woohoo!

Also, i was able to get the front inner sheetmetal, pedal assembly, and hydroboost set up removed. A few more small things, and the body will go get stripped as well.

 

[bk2life]

Took advantage of this rainy weather and finished stripping the scout tub, and got it hauled over to be fully stripped to bare metal.
Planning on ‘raptor brand’ spray in bedliner on the bottom, and actual Inyati or Line-x in the interior areas for sound deadening and to add some thickness to the sheetmetal.

 

[bk2life]

New steering column arrived... sometimes it's just easier to buy a brand new piece. I had shortened a stock GM tilt column for this build, but it still was nearly 40 years old, and for the price of columns these days, $338 dollars later, and a brand new summit 'brand' tilt column showed up, with a GM wheel adapter already installed. billet tilt and turn signal arms, and 100% brand new. You can't really beat that, even if rebuilding a worn out 40 year old GM column..

 

[bk2life]

Got the body parts dropped off today. All looks pretty good, there are a few surprises of thick bondo in a few spots, but that is to be expected.
One small dime sized rust hole on the drivers side where the seat riser was spot welded. When I drilled the spot welds and removed the riser before being stripped, it looked as if it collected mud/leaves over the years, so there wasn't any real surprise the metal was compromised in that area....a small 2"x"2 patch panel will fix the rust hole.
The floor pan is pitted from rust and whatnot over the last 57 years. The metal is compromised, so I'll probably just do a skim coat of filler and sand it all smooth before the tub goes to the Line-X place for a full interior coating of the bed-liner.
Over all, I'm pretty happy with the outcome, and from top to bottom I know what I have and am working with..

 

[bk2life]

Frame is back home now too... wooohoooo

 

[bk2life]

Got some epoxy sprayed on the “top surfaces” this weekend. Going to let it sit for 48 hours and then flip it over to do the bottom. After the bottom cures for a few days I’ll spray the Raptor Liner on it. Then it’ll get flipped back over, and I can start the body work on the quarters, and the tailgate.

 

[bk2life]

So got the body flipped over and was able to lay eyes upon the inner structures. The only rust is on the driver’s floor where the seat riser was once welded. I’ll cut out a panel and weld in some new sheetmetal. Then will be spraying the epoxy and the ‘bedliner’ in the next few days. Then get the body flipped back over.
There is a good sized dent on the passenger quarter, I’ll get that worked out, and I saw one or two other areas that need attention.
I also need to shave the two fuel doors. Once that is done, I’ll get the first coats of primer on the body.
Once the body is in primer, It’ll get moved out of the shop to sit and shrink. Then I can move the chassis in and start the fabrication on it. Need to cut the brackets off the new axles, and make the chassis a roller. From there will fit the engine back in and modify anything that needs it.
If everything goes well, it’ll get pulled apart chassis sent out for powder coating, and spray some color on the body.