[WIP] 1964 Scout LS600H conversion

[robertwa]

This is what I'm working with. There are 12 holes but only 6 are threaded, and those that are have more material in the back. The outer lip is ~95mm diameter. It's not removeable from the front, would need to disassemble the transfer case to get it out.

[robertwa]

You could make an aluminum / steel adapter puck to work between the different pieces with stepped or flush bolts to the inner flange. That could handle the centering rings if equipped.

Yeah an adapter may be the way to go. There is no room for a 6 bolt to 4 bolt adapter without holes clashing, but perhaps 6 bolt spacer with a male pilot to fit into the center hole on existing flange, and a bored out section on the other face to mate with the male pilot of the conversion yoke linked earlier.

[robertwa]

Is there enough material there that you could drill and tap yours to take 10mm bolts?

Doesn't look like it, but if I go with an adapter with centering feature it may not be an issue. There are also 10mm-8mm shim tubes as well.

Boy, I didn't expect this to be so complicated. Next time I'll go leaf stack and not have to change EVERYTHING to make it work . Oh well, it's the journey......

[jrbe]

There are stepped studs to go 8-10mm and stripper / collar bolts that will accomplish the 8-10mm mismatch for you.

And if the bolt holes line up existing flange to yoke but the centering lips are off you could do a 5/10mm thick adapter for the concentric lips. There's also the option to do 10mm od 8mm id split collars going this route.

[Uppertown]

Would something like this work?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274834275816 ... 1c0364d088

[P.S.Mangelsdorf]

Boy, I didn't expect this to be so complicated. Next time I'll go leaf stack and not have to change EVERYTHING to make it work . Oh well, it's the journey......

It's more fun to be the first one to do something!

[robertwa]

Would something like this work?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274834275816 ... 1c0364d088

Yes, thanks, looks like a great option. It's similar to what jrbe is suggesting. As long as the shoulder doesn't bottom out before the head gets a chance to clamp. Will still need some kind of spacer to keep the concentricity right.

Thanks for all the ideas guys, I appreciate it.

[robertwa]

Still messing around with driveshaft shops. Looks like I'm running short on options.

In the meantime, moved on to mounting seats. Discovered that leg room is severely limited in this rig, so decided to go Hightower on this one and move into back seat/truck bed area

Bubba_Smith_Hightower_in_Police_Academy.gif (8 MiB) Viewed 8987 times

[robertwa]

In order to get a few more inches of leg room, I have to either move the seats up or back. I'll do a little of both. This is a mod that other Scout owners have done, so it's a path well trodden. The Scout used to have dual fuel tanks inside this bulkhead, so the space is no longer needed

Got a little medieval with the plasma cutter and angry grinder

I bought this little 18" press brake for $30, works really well

Plug welded some folded sections before welding in the end caps

Also built a seat base riser so the seat can sit flush to the truck bed

Needs some filler and general tidying, but happy with the result. Planning on bed-lining the whole floor and rear bed at some stage. In all, it took longer than I expected, but glad I went through the effort now its done

[robertwa]

I finished my cooling circuit and tested it out. Using a small aluminium aftermarket radiator from a Prius. Unfortunately, I do not have room for a fan behind this due to the battery pack, hoping the cooling will be adequate. In prior tests with a manual setup, the Outlander charger was getting pretty hot without a fan, but I'm not sure if I had all the air out of the system at that time. If I need additional cooling, I may need a larger rad, or make some ducting to somehow direct air from a fan mounted to the side.

Flow goes from pump to inverter (with a header tank in front of pump), then transmission, then charger, radiator and back to pump. I have the battery pack built ready for cooling also, but don't plan to implement at this stage if ever. Header tank is sitting high and I need to check hood clearance before mounting.

[P.S.Mangelsdorf]

I finished my cooling circuit and tested it out. Using a small aluminium aftermarket radiator from a Prius. Unfortunately, I do not have room for a fan behind this due to the battery pack, hoping the cooling will be adequate. In prior tests with a manual setup, the Outlander charger was getting pretty hot without a fan,

As I learned from experience, leave as much room as you can to change radiators, and make as much of the mounting bolt in (vs welded in) as you can. I tried several different options before finding the right solution for my car.

[jrbe]

The radiator looks to have the hoses entering the radiator below the top of the radiator. That could accumulate air over time and lose cooling capacity. I think it's meant to be mounted opposite how it looks in your last picture to avoid trapping air.
The mounting pins up while the hose entry points are in useful places is odd looking (opposite most radiator designs) but it's acting as the top of the radiator in a Prius if I'm not mistaken - so flipped from how it's mounted unless I'm seeing it incorrectly.

You might be able to run it flat instead of upright. Could maybe make use of convection / chimney effect better this way while charging or at least lessen the fan needing to run while charging.
There are lots of auxiliary radiator options available that might work out better too.

[robertwa]

Thanks for pointing that out, like an idiot I totally missed it. Luckily not too hard to flip around with some rework of brackets. I'll try and run with what I have and see if I need a bigger setup. I can always delegate this rad to battery cooling duties later.

[robertwa]

Time for some bodywork. This is the rear quarter end cap.

New replacements not available, and used parts seem ridiculous:

We will have to roll our own on this repair.
Knocked this piece together using all sorts of contraptions

This is how I ended tonight. Luckily I can weld both sides, so I can leave weld buildup on the other side. Have a couple of blow throughs I'm not happy with. Need to find a piece of copper to clamp against the joint while welding them solid. I'm also MIG'ing with straight CO2 because I have a large bottle here from homebrewing, argon mix would be better on this. Will take another pass tomorrow and clean things up

This whole panel is from another Scout, it runs from back of door and wraps around to tailgate. My original had severe damage. It had to be removed from the body tub by drilling out spot welds, so next steps will be to plug weld this guy back in. I'm going to need every clamp I have, and then some. I have a Cleco set I haven't used in years, may bust that out to help keep things straight

[robertwa]

The new panel has holes for side markers and the other side of the Scout does not, so this hole has to go too

Rear quarter finished, ready to be spot welded back on

Got my Speedhut gauges (thanks Jimmy for organizing the group buy!) One is speed and SOC and the other is Amps and temperature. Got the Scout logo (International Harvester) added as well as turn signal lights

[robertwa]

Back to driveshafts - after multiple no-bids I finally got a quote from a shop in NY for front and rear drive shafts, for the princely sum of $2,400

Need to look at other options. Found a flange yoke (80mm PCD with 8mm bolts) that should work for the front, either with modification or with a spacer:

The diameter is 100mm which is too big for the 94mm CV flange cup. Need to either turn down the flange or make a spacer. Turning the flange leaves only 5mm clearance from hole to outside. Designed up a spacer which also centers the male pilot of the flange yoke. Not sure which way to go yet

front_adapter.PNG (28.27 KiB) Viewed 6907 times

[Romale]

the most reasonable and least expensive thing would be to use native iron from this automatic transmission, and weld part of the Lexus driveshaft with part of the driveshaft of your car!
it would be very cheap and very fast and the right thing to do.

[robertwa]

the most reasonable and least expensive thing would be to use native iron from this automatic transmission, and weld part of the Lexus driveshaft with part of the driveshaft of your car!
it would be very cheap and very fast and the right thing to do.

I thought I would do something like that, but it seems the Lexus front CV joint binds when pushed or pulled, so doesn't look like it will work in a live axle application, even with another slider on the other end of the shaft. I also don't have the original driveshafts from the Scout, as I got a pair of Jeep axles which are much stronger than the old Scout ones (Dana 27 with drum brakes)

[robertwa]

Working on the rear adapter. Need to convert from the 99.5mm center to center Lexus 3 prong flange to a 4 bolt pattern. I already have an adapter but the hole pattern does not work with any available double cardan flange yokes, and I need this type to accommodate the driveshaft angle (15 degrees). The Scout is a short wheel base and the LS600H is pretty long, I also tucked the transmission well rearwards because my battery pack up front is very long.
Found a suitable flange yoke for a Samurai and also one for a Toyota T3, both with 4 x 60mm hole pattern. Need to research what the pilot diameter is on each before getting one

I'm just learning SolidWorks after ~20 years, it's been fun and has changed a lot. I used to use ME30/SolidDesigner back in the day. Will probably have the adapter threaded 3xM12 and 4xM10 to avoid nuts clashing

If the adapters work out I'll share the files on the wiki. Note the GS450H has a smaller 3 bolt pattern (3x90.5mm), I'll include that as well. I can 3D print them at work first before I have one machined.

I didn't realize send-cut-send only does sheet metal parts, but found Parts-Badger that does online CNC work. They quoted me ~USD75 for the front flange adapter I posted earlier in 5052 ali which seems reasonable.

[robertwa]

Got my rear adapter 3D printed, and received the flange yoke, all fits well. I've now ordered my driveshafts from my local driveline shop. Much cheaper at $900 total for front and back driveshafts. They also machined down my front flange to 94mm and advised me not to worry about needing an adapter, so that saves me some. Need to get the rear adapter quoted and CNC'd.

[robertwa]

There is still plenty of bodywork to do on this rig. I forgot how many bolts sheared when I removed all the body panels. Been spending some time drilling out and tapping, or welding new captive nuts in place.

A friend showed me how to use an air hammer to loosen the hinge bolts. I had to drill most of them out on the drives side, with this tool, they loosened right up

[jrbe]

Get yourself some kroil if you don't have any. It's pricey but worth it.
You can also buy impact drivers that turn as you hit it with a hammer. They work pretty well. Just don't forget your hand is there..
Check out JLC CNC, (part of JLCPCB) if you need CNC stuff..
Solidworks will do a balance analysis. I think it's under evaluate, weight and volume calc. You can add a balance hole to get it zeroed out.
Really nice work!

[robertwa]

Check out JLC CNC, (part of JLCPCB) if you need CNC stuff..

Thanks so much for the great tips. I tried JLC CNC and not only were they the best price and shortest leadtime, but they had $20 off first order!

My driveshafts are also now finished and ready for collection tomorrow.

[robertwa]

Had a window at lunch so went and picked these guys up:

Now have to cross my fingers and see that they will fit......

[robertwa]

Waiting on delivery of the rear adapter flange, but got the driveshafts test fitted for now with the printed adapter on rear
Rear

Front