Here is a Jump starting tip: attach the neg jumper cable to the dead vehicle to a chasis ground. The Pos to the dead battery. Should give you full cranking power from the good battery.
That was all done before I picked it up. The only thing the owner’s mechanic didn’t replace was the coil. Now that I’ve done the body work I found out that the fuel line was crushed by the cab being so rotted it was pinching it against the frame
Had one for 17 years, towards the end of my ownership the electronic ignition system control module died, replaced it 3 times after each failed in a 6 month period. Returned the ignition system back to points and it ran better than ever. Soon after little things all over were crapping out and it became a money pit and parts were nearly impossible to find and were Way Overpriced.
I LOVE THEM SCOUTS I HAVE A 72 SCOUT II 4 SPEED MANUAL I PICKED UP ABOUT 5YRS AGO FOR 1000BUCKS I WENT THRU EVERYTHING RUNS LIKE NEW NOW THERE UP THERE IN VALUE I HAD TO PARK IT IN MY BACK YARD BECAUSE I HAVE A STACK OF PHONE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE WANTING TO BUY IT BUT ITS NOT GOING ANYWHERE.
That’s the WORST. I wired up a fair farm and in order to get to where we were working every day we had to mat the vans to get in there and you couldn’t stop or it was over
If you have removed the grille in front of the windshield to attach a screen on the bottom side to keep leaves, twigs and other debris from collecting and causing body rot [ a GREAT idea!], there's one more thing you should do while it's off: The windshield wiper motor is tucked away underneath the windshield on the passenger side. It's a royal pain in the neck to access. There's a tiny clip at the end of the wiper motor that keeps the wiper linkage attached to the motor. If the wipers are stressed too much from ice or anything else, that tiny clip will pop off, fall down into the fenderwell, and it will be gone into eternity. So take a strong double-sided magnet and plop that sucker down right at the top of the fenderwell between the top of the fenderwell and the wiper motor. That way if that tiny wonky clip should pop off, hopefully that robust magnet will grab it and hold onto it so it can be reattached. Believe me, it’s worth the effort. WARNING: Before reattaching the wiper linkage to the wiper motor, turn the ignition key to Accessories or On and ALLOW THE WIPER MOTOR TO COMPLETELY CYCLE OUT UNTIL IT STOPS before reattaching the wiper linkage! Otherwise you will be in for a rude surprise: the wiper arms will go flying off the edge of the windshield, possibly damaging the wiper blades. (No joy in that!) I learned about these things the hard way; while plowing snow in a supermarket parking lot during a snowfall one night with a '79 Scout II (304, 4-speed, Meyers Power-Angle plow) in South Plainfield, New Jersey, the wipers became stressed by the snow & ice buildup and that rotten little clip went bye-bye. That was a night to remember, all right! But that truck was a plowing fool; unstoppable. As I was driving down the streets, people were waving money at me to plow out their driveway… BTW: I have heard that the gas filler tube is attached to the fender with one screw [don’t know if it’s true or not; just sayin’] so you might want to make sure there’s no rust at that screw. If it’s true, and that filler tube breaks while you’re putting gas in, you will end up pouring gasoline on a hot exhaust pipe, which is NOT RECOMMENDED!!! :)
Thank you for the tips!! I ended up rebuilding the filler neck area. It’s held in by a couple bolts but it was rusty in there. I’ll add that screen and I’ll put a magnet by the motor. I’ll probably replace the motor too so I don’t have to do it a week after the truck is fully restored haha
They’re starting to go up in value. If it’s not super clean the I wouldn’t pay a penny over $5k and that’s generous. Just the panels to fix this one were like $5k. Realistically I’d say up to $3k on an ok one in New England. If you restore it you could get like $30k for it but it’s a lot of work. But they are picking up in value
