Not because of how well it works but because of how it looks, the International Harvester Scout 80 is standard. Binder fans have a soft spot in their hearts for the first group of Scouts from 1960 to 1965. Jeff Ismail must have thought about this when he decided to build one with Sniper EFI and a blower from IH Parts America that he bought on Amazon. The changes add an unknown amount of power to the 152-cubic-inch four-cylinder, but it can now go up the hill to his shop at 60 mph. We talked about Ismail’s project on the phone, which he jokes about calling “Hell on Wheels.” Even funnier is that no basic four-cylinder Scout 80 has ever been accused of speeding. Underneath, it has a 1964 chassis that he got from a widow in Northern California. However, he put a 1962 body on it. An old, faded sign on the driver’s wing window says “Hell on Wheels,” Ismail thought it was only right to keep it. The horsepower maker says the 152 four-cylinder has much less than 100 horsepower. Ismail’s Scout has a Borg-Warner T90 three-speed and a 4.27 rear-gear ratio, so it makes sense that his previous top speed going uphill was 40 mph. He paid about $370 for the PanDair compressor, which wasn’t too expensive. In the worst case, this thing will blow up, and the original plan was to put a 196-cubic-inch engine there, so he will have to change the engine. Ismail says he is “not a turbo or supercharger guy,” but he got a boost with the $30 blow-off valve he bought on Amazon after tweaking. Ismail said, “On the first pass [up the hill], it went from 40 to 63 mph.” When testing your project on a dyno doesn’t make sense, you can measure speed gains with any anecdotal information you have. We’ve all done it. Boost pressure is usually around four psi, but the pressure can sometimes hit seven psi with a remanufactured blower. That may be too much, but everything else seems fine. Ismail thinks it works well because it is plumbed with an upper radiator line from a Scout II. “I said, ‘A cooling system will hold at least 16 pounds of pressure, so I’ll see if this radiator hose will work.'” Ismail said, “That’s what I have right now.” Even though it doesn’t quite double in size, watching that monster grow is fun. IH Parts America probably won’t sell a kit with the Amazon blower, but Ismail says his company does research and development with the Scout 80. All of this is just for fun. Also, while talking on the phone, Ismail tried to find the link to buy something and found that it was no longer for sale. “Womp,” he says. The Scout will finally get a stainless steel fuel tank from Crawler Proven Technology, a five-speed AX15 transmission upgrade, and a Hamilton Fuel Injection timing control distributor. Until then, it will continue to run jobs around the shop and bring hay to Ismail’s goats. Even though this is the worst kind of car you can imagine, he can still have fun with it on the road.
