Day 13 - Ignition and Exhaust

03/17/07 - A long time since the last update, but on the other hand this is the most significant update I've had for quite a while. A few weeks ago, the Scout needed inspection in order to stay on the road. I warmed up to the task of getting it to the gas station by opening it up, charging the battery and getting a couple of gallons of gas into it. Starting the vehicle was INCREDIBLY difficult. In fact, the Saturday I tried to do it, it took me so long to get the beast turning over that the station was closed. The following Saturday (Feb 10th), I HAD to get it moved because it was on the street, the inspection expired that day, and it would be ticketed and perhaps towed.

It started okay, but it was amazingly noisy - even worse than usual. The gas station replaced the ignition rotor and adjusted the timing, and pointed out that the exhaust headers were rotted out and that I "might" want to get that fixed. I pointed out that I had asked them for a quote on that exact job several months earlier, and they never got back to me. The guy said "Oh." and we agreed that he would work out a price, find out if he could get any required parts, and I would acquire anything he had trouble finding.

Some time went by, and eventually I called to find out the status... they needed the manifold gasket but hadn't gotten around to calling me. I ordered the gasket from Rockauto (actually, I ordered a spare, just in case). A week or two later, and the truck was ready to be picked up. (Compare the pictures on this page with the pictures on Day 11).

This is without question the best $500 I have spent on the truck to date. It runs like a totally different vehicle. The pops are gone, the engine is quiet and throaty, the tachometer now works properly, and it starts instantly on a key turn without messing around with the choke. Of course, the downside to this is that now I can hear all the noises the transmission is making, and it disturbs me somewhat.

I took a couple of pictures of the undercarriage while I was assessing the exhaust job, and it's kind of worrying. Overall, I've discovered several new things that qualify as urgent repairs. As you can see from the pictures, the brake lines and hoses are pretty darn scary and need replacement ASAP. While it's not a critical thing, the shocks look as if they're tens of years old and could definitely stand to be replaced. I'm a tad worried at the level of corrosion on the differential housing, and would like to clean and paint it. At the other end of the vehicle, there is a small gas leak seeping out from under the carb, a little coolant dripping from a bad gasket on the water pump outlet, and of course the oil leaking out of the transmission... I need to find a spare T90 3-speed trans and rebuild it, then take the whole vehicle to a shop to have the trans swapped out.

Go on to Day 14...