PLANS
EXTREME BUILDUP 2000 Project 2
Damian's 1970 800a
My 1970 Scout 800a has a colored and long history. I won’t try to give the FULL details of it but I will cover some.
About 5 years ago it was in the hands of Bill, manager of Anything Scout. New Californian policy’s mandated that all
vehicles must be insured to be registered. Bill owned many Scouts and couldn’t afford to insure all of them so he
fixed it up and sold it to a guy named Chris. The Scout got a new-ish 304 V8, Torque Flight 727, and Dana
20 from a 1976 Donor Pickup. Chris didn’t like the ride of the Scout. He said, “It doesn’t drive like my olds”, and sold
the 800 to me in 1998 for $1300 (he owned it for about 3-4 months).
Once in my possession the “Lil Mule” started to get a bunch of misc. fixes. Over the last two years I've repaired the
Cooling system, front spring packs, heater, wipers, blinkers, radio, new floors (only place there is rust!), carb, alternator, etc.
But I never really felt it was *MY* Scout. The lift and tires were done before and I wanted to start new, with something truly
stock so everything done to it would really be, what I did to it.
Last November it went up for sale for $3750, but I never sold it. There was a miss in the engine and
some gauges didn’t work - I have this thing about selling non-perfect autos. So I decided to keep it
and fix the probs. Now the 800 has a BRAND NEW head-to-toe wiring harness and custom Holley 2300 rebuilt
carburetor. She runs great!
Now the only thing on the “Lil Mule” I didn’t *do* is the suspension….that’s about to change.
I’ve never been off-road with the “Lil Mule” because of the problem suspension. The lift (2.5” rancho
with 2” shackles) was enough for light trails with an occasional dip, but after playing on some moderate
obstacles the inadequate lift began to show its true colors. The rear wheels would JAM (not rub) in the
fender lips (which explained some body damage from before). I wanted to go with an SOA lift but never had
the money to put it together.
As D and C Extreme started and got more popular, I was able to get involved with a larger more experienced
shop for doing custom suspensions…and then came the EXTREME Scout Buildup 2000 projects. This gave me the
much needed opportunity for suspension work on my wanting 800.
Now as part of the second of four Scout Buildups, this seemingly incapable 800 will be become a great wheeler.
The 2.5” lift springs are being retained for a front SOA conversion, but that’s about the extent of the old
suspension we are going to keep.
This 800 will be the only Scout known to exist with a true 1/4 elliptic suspension. Combine that with a total
8”+ of suspension lift and new 35 inch tires and I may be able to call it “my” own 800.
Conversion includes:
- Custom front SOA
- Reverse Shackle Conversion
- Custom 4 link rear suspension
- Correction of pinion angles
- Correction of Caster
- Custom High-clearance cross-over steering
- Extreme-duty custom built draglink
- New long travel shocks (dual fronts / single rear)
- Custom built shock hoop (front)
- Rebuilding you existing drive shafts (includes lengthening and balancing)
- Multiple RTI ramp tests and test drives to ensure maximum articulation and drivability
PLANS
| Day 1
| Day 2
| Day 3
| Day 4
| Day 5
| Day 6
| Day 7
| Day 8
| Day 9
| Day 10
| Day 11
| Day 12
| Day 13
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