1978 Scout II useable parts

[El Kabong]

...Im still trying to get it going. I would love to hear that 345 come to life. My dad had a couple scouts when i was little and he loved them. He said the guy he carpooled with loved it too because he could chew and spit without even opening the door cause the floor had a big hole.

Very cool. Saved is better than scrapped.

Here are some notes for firing up a long sitting vehicle. Please excuse the cut & paste, but I'm too lazy to type it again. ;D Hopefully something in there will help.

You should expect the compression to be low at first after sitting several years with no oil on the rings. Dry rings alone will drop the compression. You should squirt oil in all 8 before trying to crank it.

My dad is a guy for bringing those back to life. He had a garage when I was a kid, then taught auto shop for years, & was always trying to revive some old engine. His routine was to change the crankcase oil & filter, squirt a little Marvel Mystery Oil thru the plug holes, rotate the engine without starting it just enough to coat the cylinder walls, add a little more thru the plug holes, & let sit for a bit before firing it up. He'd run the engine easy for little awhile (Maybe 15 minutes to 1/2 hour?), then change the oil & filter again. Of course the 1st fire up would smoke a lot as the oil burned out of the cylinders. Sometimes he'd mix in a little ATF (1/2 quart at the most) with the crankcase oil in the 1st oil change to aid in cleaning if he thought the old oil looked especially bad. He'd drive it easy for few days, & make the call after that as to whether or not it needed more work or just another oil change. It would usually work out pretty good.

And of course, check all rubber parts for signs of cracking or stiffness. Tires, hoses, belts, wiring, & especially anything handling fuel.

Look for signs of animal damage. Chewed wiring, nesting material under the hood, along the exhaust, or even in the intake to the air cleaner. I've actually removed nuts stored by squirrels from inside an air cleaner.

Check the brakes. Low fluid is not unusual after sitting for awhile. If the master cylinder is dry, you will probably have to bleed the brakes. Check the brake hoses for cracking, stiffness or swelling. Check the entire system for leaks after topping off the master cylinder & stepping on the brakes several times. Also step lightly on the brakes & hold them to see if the master cylinder creeps down. Even after inspection, be sure that they're working right before driving. Try them in the driveway several times before taking it out. Expect the brake drums & rotors to have some surface rust, but that's usually light enough to come off after a few stops. But the brakes might be prone to grab or pull until it's gone. Depending where & how long it was stored, the rust might be more serious. It's not a bad idea to check the condition of the pads & shoes anyway, you can see how much rust there is at that point. Does the parking brake work & release? Lube its cables while you're at it.

Check all the fluids. A radiator flush with a change of coolant is a good idea too.

There is also the condition of the fuel to be considered. Sometimes it has sat so long that the tank & components have a build up of varnish that requires removal, cleaning, or replacement. If you decide to not remove & replace/clean fuel system components, here's a routine for a carbureted engine when the fuel isn't that bad. If marginally bad fuel is suspected, disconnect the fuel line at the carb & run a fuel hose from a small gas tank sitting on a blanket on the roof. I have used a lawnmower tank for years, & recently got a small boat tank for the job. So you have known good fuel & positive gravity feed to the carb for the first fire up. If there is a fuel issue at that point, you know the carb itself has the problem. Also remove & plug the fuel line before the fuel pump so you don't have to deal with it pumping bad gas just yet. Even so, still direct the output line from the pump safely into a container in case there's a little fuel in the pump. I like to run a hose to a can on the ground. Later the input to the pump can be reconnected, the line from the pump can be used to empty what you couldn't get out of the tank, & flush a little new gas through the system into the gas can while the engine is run from the temp tank. All of this requires attention to fire prevention (Being sure that nothing is going to pump, leak, or drip fuel anywhere & that anything spilled while making connections is wiped up, dried, & the rags removed from the area & allowed to dry before throwing or washing) since the engine will be run while some lines are disconnected.

If you are inexperienced or don't feel confident about taking on this type of work, seek advice from a local experienced person, or take it to a shop to do the work.

 

[Rustytruck]

Bronco's and Scouts share the same color rust pretty much in the same places.

 

[suckerpunched]

If you need a good boat anchor, save the engine.

 

[bmc69]

That being said if you do decide to scap it you might want to try to sell the engine on an AMC hotrod forum they are always looking for salvageable parts and usually pay better than the IH crowd.
.

Errr? Big difference between the AMC 304/360 and the IHC 304/392 V-8s.

Sold my last Scout (last of several) a '79 SII, about 6 years ago. It had a 392 for a while but I sold it with the 304.

Still have an AMC 360 that came out of a '70 AMX sitting here in a rusted out Jeep.

 

[Wyo4x4er]

yes they are different. the IH v8 engines start out weighing like 700lbs. Did you ever get it going? Check and see what kind of carb is on it. if it is a thermoquad it is junk they never ran good even new.

 

[ntsqd]

The IH engines have the best cooling system design that I've ever seen in a light duty engine. Too bad the rest of it is bassackwards. I don't know about the 700 lbs. part, I've seen an IH 345 flex an engine stand that a complete 454 chebby didn't flex. I'm going with more like 850-900 lbs......

My Bronco has the Scout II knuckles with GM front discs on it. As it happens the OE discs are Ford parts. Scout II knuckles & spindles have 8 bolts holding them together. My knuckles appear to have been drilled for the 6 bolt GM spindles. Scout II knuckles have REALLY long steering arms on them. Mine have been shortened, but that is why the Scout II pitman arm is so bloody long!

 

[sykanr0ng]

The first thing to understand about Scouts is that IH started as a heavy truck and equipment company.
They designed them with heavy truck parts, so yes the parts are expensive they are truck parts not car parts.

The only AMC engine that IH used was the 258 inline six.


One thing to remember, if there wasn't a Scout there wouldn't be a Bronco.

 

[Prizefighter]

I have a 4" Rancho lift for a Scout II I have been trying to sell, let me know if you want it and I will make you a deal.

I bought a 78 Scout II 3 years ago for $200. It was all there - PS, PB, A/C, discs, 345, auto, and only a small amount of rust. I came across it while looking for Broncos and couldn't pass up the deal. Sold it on Ebay to fund my Bronco search... I remember seeing them stacked on top of each other in the salvage yards in the 90s.

 

[pa69broncoguy]

I ended up parting out the scout, so it helped a lot of other people with their projects. The engine never did run after I got it.

 

[Prizefighter]

I didn't realize we were commenting on a 2 year old thread... Glad to hear you made some money instead of sinking money into it.