72 Scamp 440 Build

[Jesse Martin]

Well now that the build is close to being done, I decided to finally get around to making a build forum for what I have done so far and how I got the car. I bought the car in may 2017 just for doing a 440 swap. It was by far the cleanest car I had seen for only 6k and would make a perfect car for the swap. The only problem, it was located near Portland Oregon but I live in sunny San Diego, so I took the risk and called the guy up and booked a flight and was in the air 2 days after seeing the car on Craigslist, my father and I landed and got picked up in the car, bing bang boom 15 minutes and we now own the car, setting straight off heading for home and arriving two days later.


Going on a Test Drive

Finally Home

 

[Woody'sScamp]

Great looking Scamp! I say keep it as it is, looks like a nice upgraded, powerful /6, but it is your ride. Nice find!

 

[Jesse Martin]

Now that I have the car there was the need for a 440, there was a 79 motorhome 440 in a local junkyard it seemed to be a good block, I was loaded up and taken home for tear down and rebuild.

At the junkyard

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Heads are off and the #4 cylinder is corroded and stuck(Why it was in the junkyard)

Off to Machine Shop for cleaning and boring(block was sonar tested and turned out to be a thin wall block and #3,4,5,6 needed to be sleeved)

Using "Math" to figure out the piston rock to find the current deck on the four corners(Decked to .005)

Painting the block Por 15 Hemi Orange

Crank, and Pistons installed

440 Source stock stroke replacement crank with ARP main cap studs, H beam rods and their Platinum .030 over pistons

440 Source Stealth Heads with 1.5 ratio roller rockers, ARP Head Studs, custom pushrods, and Mancini ABody oil pan kit installed.

Valve covers and Edelbrock Victor JR powder black intake installed

Holly 850 CFM Ultra double pumper, MSD distributor, Schumacher ABody swap headers and 440 Source water pump and front end kit in place

 

[Jesse Martin]

Today I got the spark plug wires cut and mounted, took a few days to decide how I wanted to rout them, because of the header design I couldn't make both sides symmetrical.

 

[Matt Gentile]

Keep up the progress report...

 

[Jesse Martin]

The fun part was when it came to pulling the Slant 6 out, the best option I figured was out from the bottom so the use of USCar tools K-Member carriage and bumper lift were the way to go.

 

[Jesse Martin]

While the Paint was ok it was far from good, being that it was repainted most likely 15 years ago the paint on the fender tops, hood and trunk lid are all faded and more of a dull grey than the blue A4 light gunmetal grey so while taking night classes at my local community college I took the auto body classes to get experience with sanding and painting, while I no longer have access to the paint booths I'm going to attempt to paint the car myself at home and make a makeshift paint booth. Because I want the panels to be as straight as possible it has taken some time to get the front clip just right. The Engine bay's paint still looks new I'm going to get it color matched but leave it alone. So until the motor is in the car I'm going to keep doing the rest of the car on hold.
Filled in the badge holes to be replaced with Scamp decals

Passenger fender while wet with primer turns out it was a replacement fender from a Valiant

Love the look of the dual scoops so added it before doing bodywork, the forums were a huge help in finding the location for the holes

Hood after priming it

Passenger door after sanding down guide coat

Filler applied and block sanded

 

[Jesse Martin]

While draining the brake master cylinder, found a pair of spare keys...Good or bad hiding location?

 

[DARTGAME]

Crazy spot for spare keys. Great build going on.

 

[famous bob]

While draining the brake master cylinder, found a pair of spare keys...Good or bad hiding location?
View attachment 1715191637

LIKE UR BUILD ! Crazy spot for key hiding !

 

[rapidtransitric]

Keep going.


Morphed

 

[famous bob]

The fun part was when it came to pulling the Slant 6 out, the best option I figured was out from the bottom so the use of USCar tools K-Member carriage and bumper lift were the way to go.
View attachment 1715191363
View attachment 1715191364
View attachment 1715191365
View attachment 1715191366
View attachment 1715191367

I was going to ask what ur going to do w/ the slant 6, but I see ur way to far away.

 

[03JeepJeep]

Awesome build!

 

[diymirage]

While draining the brake master cylinder, found a pair of spare keys...Good or bad hiding location?
View attachment 1715191637

Those aren't spare keys, that's a pissed off girlfriend hiding the originals

 

[Jesse Martin]

Those aren't spare keys, that's a pissed off girlfriend hiding the originals

That could be true, It doesn't fit anywhere on the car so locks have been changed

 

[Jesse Martin]

Got the custom air filter finished today, made from the original from the motorhome one but was cut in our waterjet down to 14 in to fit a normal filter and base. The only thing I could not get on was the center checkered flags, how are those supposed to be put on? They dont want to fit inside the divot.

 

[Jesse Martin]

Finally got the K-frame completed and mated the engine and trans. Tonight I got the engine into the car now for the radiator and wiring and it will be time for fist start. Decided not to paint the engine bay as that the paint is original and in very good condition.

Installing new bushings into upper and lower control arms

Suspension and rotors attached to the K-Frame

Mating Engine and trans took awhile because we thought the torque converter wasn't going all the way in

Engine and trans mounted the K-Frame

Right before installation

The Eagle has landed! Took about an hour to put it in a very easy install

 

[Jesse Martin]

Got a bunch of stuff done in the last few weekends, radiator installed and wired, radio installed, steering column rebuilt and installed, and driver seat put in.

Had a custom radiator made by Griffon, because I was worried about clearance, this one dropped right in and was wired up in a day

While rebuilding the steering column the shaft collapsed so I melted the old plastic out, drilled the hole all the way through and stuck two bits of tig wire and melted the ends so they don't fall out.

Because I'm going from column to floor shift I used the column swap from Mancini, as well as a grant tuff wheel(very disappointed by, it's very cheap looking)

Procar seat adapters worked perfectly, I drilled factory dimples and it bolted right up no modifications. I used an old soldering iron to make holes in the carpet.

Column and driver seat installed, next to do is mounting the console and Lokar shifter

 

[Jesse Martin]

When I got the car the dash had already been cut up to allow an early 90's Ford radio to fit. Since it looked so out of place I found a factory AM radio and cut the dash a bit more to fit, and it came out great, but because there is hardly any AM stations near me I found online how to easily make it so I can plug my phone directly into it. This is the instructable that I followed to make it work, Adding Auxiliary Input (for an Mp3 Player) to an Old AM Truck Radio

New radio fitted, looks much better than the nasty old Ford one

Very simple install to get it to work took all of 15min and $4 to make it.

Aux jack is wired directly into the volume knob

It's wired to the ground and where the signal wire used to go when unplugged the AM signal takes back over.

Because I didn't want to put a modern gauge in when everything else looks retro I found this original in box oil pressure gauge from 1966, I used a metal A/N line to be safe, and it works and looks great at the same time.

 

[itchy666]

Nice work so far but the pics arent comin up on my PC, maybe its my junk PC, keep up the good work, nice clean car!

 

[Johnny Dart]

Looking good.

 

[73Scamp440BB]

I have and 73 scamp with and 440 swap. i was wondering which torsion bars you have went with. All the ones i have tried have either have been to stiff or dragging the ground. thanks

 

[Jesse Martin]

I have and 73 scamp with and 440 swap. i was wondering which torsion bars you have went with. All the ones i have tried have either have been to stiff or dragging the ground. thanks

I am using the .920 bars from Mancini, from what I read they are good for a stock ride hight with the 440.

 

[73Scamp440BB]

I am using the .920 bars from Mancini, from what I read they are good for a stock ride hight with the 440.

I am using the .920 bars from Mancini, from what I read they are good for a stock ride hight with the 440.

I believe the last ones i have tried were the .920, but i got them from jegs. i have kind of put the car on the back burner trying to figure out the front suspension.

 

[Jesse Martin]

Got a lot done in the last few weeks, Moser 60 ordered and should be here in a week or so.

Got console installed, tried using the AMD brackets but they were very poor quality, the bends were way off and would not fit the console nor fit the trans tunnel. Ended up buying used brackets off of eBay and they fit perfectly.
Because the trans I got was a late model it did not have the mount for the stock shifter so to keep with the classic look but have a quality shifter I went for Lokar because of its great build quality and the fact that it does not use a cable like most other aftermarket shifters, giving it a much more solid feel. It fits great and looks the part.

A slot was cut into the floor to allow for the shifter linkage to move freely.

Schumacher finally got the tourqe strap back in stock so that was finally installed

Exterior Trans cooler installed, brackets were made so it could be placed where it would look good and get good air flow.

I don't want any trouble down the line so custom hard line going to the cooler with only a few inches of rubber at the cooler.

Used connectors so the lines could be in two pieces for ease of disassembly