International Harvester Four Wheel Camper

[Ironduff]

Super neat, Silverscout! I suspect that was a rare bird back then, let alone now.

I've owned 3 Scouts in the far distant past... '66 800, small 4 cyl 3 spd. that I bought from my dad after I got out of the Navy in '71; a '71 800A, 304, 4 speed; and eventually I inherited Dad's 'Buick wagon'... a '72 Scout II with 304 and auto (super plush!). All were 4WD. Those span about 7 years and 100K of my life. But the only rig like yours I ever saw was in a magazine, pro'ly 'Pickup, Van, and 4WD'. PV4's how us right coasters kept up with the cool left coast scene back in the pre-'net days...


My suggestions for mods for yours? The factory 4WD setup, of course. IIRC, there were two 4 cylinders offered... the 152 and 196, which were single-bank slants derived from the bigger V-8's... the 304 & 392. And there was an I-6, but I don't know anything about it. I'm thinking that any one of the 5 will fit, but I'm not sure about mounts and linkages... the mounts for the 4's and 8's are probably all the same. My dad's Scout II was an early 4x4 SUV before that was even a term, with a really smooth ride and a lot of creature comforts. The 304 moved it just fine, and would probably be my pick for your ideal choice. With the original auto (Mopar Torqueflite) & posi, it'd still bark the tires going into 2nd at WOT when it had over 100K on it.

Nice rig!

Jim H.

 

[JKDetonator]

Love your binder...

There is a show on Spike TV that is called Extreme 4x4. They are currently modifying an old binder just like you envisioned. Keeping everything International (345 cu. in. V8). and upgrading axles, disc brakes, power steering, etc. You might look this up for additional inspiration. They aren't making an extreme rock crawler, but trying to utilize all original parts available from International at the time with modern updates. Good luck on your new toy!

 

[silverscout]

Thanks guys, its been a lot of fun. It is strange to stand on one side of the engine bay, staring down at a huge V8. Only to visit the drivers side of the engine bay where a large, gaping hole exists! The 196 is a great mill though. I manage 18-20 mpg on the freeway and pull 75 mph when I need to pass. I have a lead on an MSD 6a box, which I think may clean up the spark. Also a new carb is in the works as the current one is tired. The rest of the truck is in top shape though.

I unfortunately missed the episode of Extreme 4x4 where they build that 800. It seems they have their eye on making it dual purpose. Dive it to the trail, wheel it, then drive it home. But that’s seems to be the current trend. I’m sure Ill catch the episode on a re-run.

As for the Camper, I have a 4 inch lift that’s getting painted this weekend and a set of 31 inch tires in the works. The lift will raise the center of gravity a bit but will improve the ride immensely. Right now its very soft and vague as old trucks go. The lift is responsive with out being too stiff. I only know this as I pulled if off the Silver Scout.

I did take it camping last weekend, in Hollister of all places. No off roading though but I made up with comfort.

 

[ntsqd]

For MISF's '73 I took a spare distributor and modified it to have a Ford Dura-Spark Reluctor and Magnetic Pick-up Coil. That got him away from worn out breaker point cams. Due to wear his dwell variance was rather large, even with using the best breaker cam that he had.
I've now modified several of his dizzy's this way. For his 3/4t IH we used a complete Ford D-S II ignition system, but the Scout has an MSD 6 Off Road triggered by the Ford parts. I did not see much difference in performance and the all Ford parts means easy availability of spares. Other than the one time that the pick-up coil wires somehow managed to short on the spinning reluctor (he's made a shield since) both systems have been fault-free. The Scout has had the conversion the longest, about 12 years. The truck was done a couple years later, but we've lost touch with it as an ex bought it and took it to Alaska several years ago.

There is a write up on this conversion on one of the Binder forums. I had written up what I did and had it posted on ORC's IH section. The other author & I appear to have been on parallel tracks almost simultaneously. Somewhere at home I should still have my article in Word form, but I suspect that it is too large to post here.

Assuming that the 4 cyl's use the same Prestolite dizzy as the 8 cyls, just lacking every other breaker point lobe, I do not think that it would be much different to make such a mod to a 4 cylinder dizzy. I believe that the Ford 4 cyl reluctors are quite a bit different and smaller than the 6 & 8 cyl reluctors. The simplest solution would be use an 8 cyl reluctor and mill off every other reluctor lobe.

 

[Scoutman]

Just had to pop in to say nice setup.

 

[TireTracks]

Cool rig.

all it needs is a 392, you would have the fastest iH camper in all of the usa, and heck, you allready have half of one!LOL

I've got a 73 3/4ton with the 345, good truck, just has issues( no oil gets to the heads.)

 

[ntsqd]

A 392 wouldn't go a lot faster and would get ~8 mpg doing it. A good friend deals with this every day....

 

[Dave Bennett]

Very cool setup, and a rare old 'Binder. She's a keeper! :smiley_drive:

 

[frankrwille]

76 international Scout with pop up camper

Oh my! I just did a google search for scouts and found a picture of my scout with the Four Wheel Camper I built when I worked there. I'm a teacher now but that was a fun job for the most part. I still have the blue scout but sold the camper to some guy in Texas or out that way anyway. It wasn't big enough for our growing family you can see in the picture. I'm just about done building a new camper for my GMC. This is at Huntington Beach for a trial run. I'm sure someone is enjoying my pop up camper. It's the only new scout model camper built in a very long time.

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

Good to see you have finally joined the forums Frank!



The next time we are in So Cal I will text to see if you wanna go get that beer.

Your wife must give you a hall pass every once in a while to go out with the boys, doesn't she ?



Happy Camping !



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