Project "Smurf" Expedition Scout/Traveler

[ExpoScout]

I am a big fan of gray. Much, much easier to see what you're doing than with black when working on things late at night, or even in broad daylight. The desert camo Scout above has it's whole under/behind dash area painted white for this reason.
Also easier to track down where a leak is coming from.

When I worked for Vintage Racing Services we used so much of one particular gray paint that we called it "VRS Gray".....

When I was building porsche race cars we also painted everything gray...i think we typically used "battleship" gray

Actually I have thought about doing the engine bay that color...but i just didnt want TOO many colors going on...but its a good idea and ill throw the idea around some more

 

[silverscout]

Very Smurfy Major. Kudos.

 

[ExpoScout]

thanks silverscout

i actually went back tonight and traded the yellow top for a blue top

i figured for 10 extra bucks might as well have a little more peace of mind

 

[silverscout]

The peace of mind is worth a million, for sure. Now, not that I've heard anything too negative about the yellow or blue tops. But, Optimas have been getting a lot of bad press on a few forums. I've had dual red tops in my Scout for over five years now and they were a hand me downs (so they are old) but I know folks say they are done with Optima. How did you decide on that brand?

 

[Funrover]

Man that is sweet, and a diesel to boot!!! Way to go man!:jump:

 

[ExpoScout]

The peace of mind is worth a million, for sure. Now, not that I've heard anything too negative about the yellow or blue tops. But, Optimas have been getting a lot of bad press on a few forums. I've had dual red tops in my Scout for over five years now and they were a hand me downs (so they are old) but I know folks say they are done with Optima. How did you decide on that brand?

well first of all the OE spec battery for the scout is a group 31, which is HUGE and a fair amount heavier than the blue optima. The CA, CCA, and RC are all at least on par if not better than a group 31. The blue optima has an 18 month warranty which is decent, and they are the only "performance" battery that is regularly available that i know of (you can get them at autozone, advance, etc).

I havent ever experienced anything negative with optimas, except my brother who had a red top and ended up trading it in for a yellow because it died. What I have heard is that if youre going to get an optima at least get a yellow, if not a blue. And especially since its a diesel and all that compression is hard on a battery, i went with the best one i could get. Chances are I will be adding a second battery (i have plans to put a dual battery box under the rear seat) and if two blue optimas cant get me where im going and back, i dont know what will.

Man that is sweet, and a diesel to boot!!! Way to go man!:jump:

thanks...its not done yet, and even after it gets on the road in the next week or so (hopefully) there will still be plenty left to do

:beer:

 

[02TahoeMD]

I am enjoying watching this build. My vote for the engine bay would be to painting the engine gray, firewall whatever color you intend to do the body in, and then flat black for the wheel wells.

I have a red top Optima in my Tahoe, unfortunately I had something trickle drain the thing the first week I had it. I unplugged any of the potential offenders and then recharged it. It has been fine ever since.

Still, I intend to doing a dual battery conversion this summer as I am adding a winch, and don't like the idea of having a dead truck in the middle of East Nowhere when I am all by myself.

 

[ExpoScout]

The gray paint for the engine is growing on me...im gonna see what i can find

It wont get painted for a little while yet, but once driveable i can pull it outside and pressure wash it and degrease it


One thing you guys may be able to help me with is that im trying to decide whether or not to use the space under the rear seat floorboard for a drop down box that houses the dual batteries or use it for my air tank for on board air

Im torn, because with such a relatively small tank, the compressor will be running pretty much nonstop anyway. So do I use the tank and compressor together and keep the batteries in the engine bay....or just run a compressor with no tank and use the space under the floor for the batteries which will free up space in the engine bay?


Also, im looking at AC power inverters to mount to the back of my center console and dont really know where to start looking.....i know of someone that used a powersine inverter with good success, but i found a nice one (seemingly) thats made by Richmond, but havent found any info on them

 

[ntsqd]

If you have the room on the engine I'd go with the York A/C compressor type of OBA. Those will run nearly continous duty w/o a tank. I'm now including a blow nozzle in my air kit for blowing the dust out. Could've really used that on my last trip.
For more volume in a shallow space you might see what you can find in used truck air brake tanks. I've seen some (in use) that were about 8" OD that might work for you. A couple of those would offer a fair amount of volume.

MISF is running into problems with the front clip of his Scout tearing up the fender mounting tabs. I suspect this is due to all of the weight hanging on the inner fenders that didn't come from IH. Dual batteries being one of the major things.

Perahps a battery and an air tank on each side?

Search the Aux. Power section here, I think you'll find more than you ever wanted to know about inverters and related equipment.

 

[ExpoScout]

I have the York compressors out of both of my scouts sitting in my shop, so I have those handy. Here is a pic of my air brake tank that Ive been planning to use for quite some time:



The weight issue up front makes a lot of sense though...and Ive lost some rigidity up there since ive hacked at at it with the sawzall

The batteries are definitely going to be the heaviest, so perhaps they would be best under the rear seats.

So is it your opinion that one of the yorks and the tank would be the best combo?

 

[ntsqd]

It is, if it can be made to work and you have more than the occasional OBA need. Otherwise there are easier solutions.
There is a compressor out there that has the potential to be better than a York, but I've yet to get one operational so it's all conjecture at this point.

 

[ExpoScout]

Ok cool, thanks for all the input, it is really appreciated :elkgrin:

 

[02TahoeMD]

Reading the thread about vintage expedition vehicles got me wondering about this project. Maj Payne, any update?

 

[ExpoScout]

Reading the thread about vintage expedition vehicles got me wondering about this project. Maj Payne, any update?

Hey, sorry I havent gotten back to you guys...things have slowed over the past month or so since Ive been so busy with work and all.

However, the passenger side floor is in, the driver side is ready to go in...most everything has been taped off for priming and painting...and im still trying to figure out a wiring problem with my headlights and turn signals

I should have some good updates with pictures soon :beer:

 

[02TahoeMD]

bump for an update.....reading about that airport limo International reminded me of this build.