IH '66 800 Build (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Feb 7, 2015
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Location
Eastern Washington
Hey all you Scout guys! In addition to my 80 series Land Cruiser I have had a Scout project that I am working on for longer than I care to admit. It seems I am drawn to oddball off road vehicles. Over the years I've replaced a lot of the rusted sheet metal and gone through several different iterations on the drive train. Originally I wanted to put an Isuzu diesel in it but found that adapter parts were hard to come by and gave up on that idea. I've since settled on a 5.3 chevy with a 4L60E trans and Atlas 4-speed. Decided tried and true was better in this case. Have gone from 3/4-ton to 1-ton axles and finally settled on some Super Duty Axles from a 2005 F350.

Work on the project will still be slow but I am finding more motivation to get after it again. My job is crazy busy right now which is bad for free time, but great for money, so I am buying and stock piling parts for the build. Going to post a bunch of pictures of the work I have done so far and then keep this thread going. Look forward to seeing what others are doing on their Scouts and any feedback you all have for me.

Here is a picture of the two scouts I picked up to mold into one:
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Replacing rear inner fender:
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Rebuilt inner rear end cap (did both sides):
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Fabbed up new kick panels (again did both sides):
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Fabbed up new inner rockers to match the kick panels. I believe I still have a pattern for these. I found the SuperScout Specialist panels did not fit my 800. Too short and not tall enough.
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Rebuilt all of the locations for the body mounts. Factory mounts are flimsy and I needed a one inch body lift to clear the engine and transmission (at the time this was for the Isuzu) so I decided to build that extra height into the mount. On the center mounts I ended up going with a wider foot print so I offset the hole to keep it lined up with the body.

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Here I made new front bulkhead. I positioned it as far forward as I could to give me the maximum amount of room in the engine bay. This was designed around the radiator and intercooler for the Isuzu engine so it's going to need some modification to fit the LS radiator. At least without the intercooler in front there should be plenty of room for an AC condenser :cold:

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Full rebuild on the 4L60E. Upgraded a lot of parts, installed a shift kit and put 4L65 internals. This thing should be really stout now, easily handling up to 500hp. This was my first auto trans rebuild. Uses a step by step video from Transmission Bench. The work was not overly difficult, just a lot of steps. Did this during COVID shutdowns so finding and getting parts was a pain. Had to fabricate a few special tools and kept running into worn items that the rebuild kit did not come with so that added time to the work. It's done now, sitting in the shop. Hope it actually works :)

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Wow, lots of sheetmetal work. What engine did this Scout have in it originally?
 
Were you aware that International moved the core support forward on the V8 Scouts? They went from engine all the way back, to engine all the way forward.
 
Were you aware that International moved the core support forward on the V8 Scouts? They went from engine all the way back, to engine all the way forward.
I was not aware of that when I bought the first scout (the blue one) but that was about 20 years ago. It ran and drove when I got it and I drove it around town for a couple years before I started working on it. Like I said this project has been going on for longer than I care to admit. I get going on it, get a bunch done and then life gets in the way and it sits for a year or two before I pick it back up again.

Could I have gone and found one with the core support moved forward during that time, sure. Honestly though it wasn't all that hard to make a new one and I would have lost money selling what I have and buying another. It would have probably had the same rust issues to fix too, they all seem to rust in the same places.
 
Your sheet metal skills are seriously impressive!
 
Your sheet metal skills are seriously impressive!
Thanks! Some of these are my second try at repairs. The first time I tried to just cut out the rusty area and weld in new metal. I wasn't happy with how that came out so I did it over and tried remaking the whole panel when it made sense to do that. Much happier with the results.

I see you're located in Menifee. I went to school at Mt. San Jacinto College there.
 
I see you're located in Menifee.

Yours and mine are the only posts in this thread, and I’m in Fresno. I do remember a Scout owner in Menifee, can’t think of his name right now.
 
My son’s both have Scouts. One has an 80, the other is an 800. I think there are threads here, haven’t been updated in a long time though.
 

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