"Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale

[LEEVON]

This is not a special build thread, its not going to SEMA and probably not getting nominated for truck of the month. If we're being honest I have too many projects and most of the time I complete the first half of the tasks on my list then lose interest so we'll be lucky if it doesn't get sold within a year. I'm documenting it mainly so I don't forget what I do and maybe for a little motivation. Now that that's out of the way. I picked up this 1976 Scottsdale from FB Marketplace. Squares have gotten so crazy I was the first message and by the time we talked on the phone he had 22 more messages. It's nothing special but very rust free compared to whats out there and the price was fair.

The seller's uncle owned the truck and I think he used it as a car hauler. It has an older repaint and interior re-do. The truck has an '87-91 TBI engine with serpentine drive and a 700r4 transmission. It has the F44 heavy duty suspension option. All of the suspension and steering is original and needs love. The brakes are ancient and will be next on the list. It was optioned with A/C, rally wheels, tilt wheel, two-tone Grecian Bronze paint and a few other things that you don't always see on a Scottsdale.

So far I have sorted out the fuel system. It is a real life mystery. It has dual tanks, but no fill hole on the driver's side. It has a factory 6 port valve, but an OEM tank switch was clearly retrofit into the dash. A third tank had been added to the bed and it was all connected with hardware store hoses, fittings and welded exhaust pipes...driven by two electric fuel pumps, and none of it worked. I deleted the driver's side tank, re-did all the lines, removed the valve from the equation, replaced the passenger sending unit and installed a mechanical fuel pump. The TBI engine is provisioned for a mechanical pump so it was a simple install I just needed the pump, pushrod and correct plate and hardware. Why this hadn't been done is a head-scratcher. There is a new Edelbrock 1406 on the truck, and it needed to be dialed in. I found timing around zero and the idle circuit was pig rich. After getting all the fuel issues squared away she drives pretty decent.

It had ancient tires on it with cheap flipper hubcaps. To my surprise I found the original 15x7 rally wheels underneath. They are currently at the powdercoater and when they're done I'll be mounting some Cooper Cobras, white letter out of course as per square body law. For now I'm running a set of torq thrusts and too small 255's that I've had forever.