Re: HI

["Thomas J. Harais" <tjhemh@domain.elided>]

Richie:

Welcome!

I know how you feel about finding this place. I was once "lost in the
wilderness" (full of Chevy's and Ford's and fools at parts counters that
thought my Scout was a Ford!) like you with my own Scout Terra. But, the
Binder Bulletin, SIMTA and mostly this Digest, got me back on the right
track and I didn't abandon my Scout.

Hang around for a while, and you'll learn more about your Scout than you
thought you wanted to know.

One of our own Digest members, Willy Cunnigham (sp?) lives out in your neck
of the woods. Do you know of Willy?

To answer your questions in short:

Fuel injection would be the way to go to solve your off camber flooding
problems along with giving you much better fuel control, economy and
driveability.IMHO but you're looking at $1,500 or so for that if you go with
the Holley Projection electronic. Several members have done just that.

There is also at least one member and a FAQ on the what it takes, to put a
GM TBI system on an IH motor. If you have cheap access to a late model GM
with TBI, that might work for you without having to spend as much.

Your 345 will swap intakes with a 392. There were four barrel manifolds made
for both. The 304 has a different sized intake manifold due to it's lower
deck height. And, there were no four barrel manifolds ever made for the 304.

If you change carbs, the most important thing is not to overcarburate! These
IH engines are long stroke, low RPM torquers. They don't need anything over
500 CFM and will run fine on 300 CFM. If you put a larger, vacuum secondary
four barrel on, you gain nothing and may even "bog" if you can get the
secondaries to fully open.

As to your flooding from off-camber wheeling problem: I'd very carefully
check and adjust the float level on the Holley you have before I rushed out
and got a new carburetor.

The four barrel commonly used on 345s and 392s was the Carter Thermoquad
which is no longer made. It is known to have very good "off camber"
characteristics: It doesn't flood so easily from being tossed around off
road. But, you can't get parts for them to tune and adjust them and they are
all at least 20 years old. Having said that, I can tell you I found an
excellent rebuild shop out of L.A. that puts brand new plastic bodies on
them and re-anodizes all the linkages and throttle plates, etc. for about
$220 including a $45 core charge.

As to your Lockright purchase, i'm sure Tom Mandera or someone more
knowledgable in that application than I can tell you where to purchase at
the best price. But, be sure to go to the "Binder Bulletin" website and
check out all the suppliers there and see what they have and how much.

Richard Welty, who graciously administers this digest (and about ten or
twenty other "specialized enthusiast" digests) for us, does sell some
advertising. And, he prints a list of contributing advertisers at least
weekly, so you'll be getting one soon. When you do, check some of those
suppliers for your Lockright - AND BE SURE to tell them you found out about
them on the "IHC Digest" so they continue to patronize this BB and support
us, as we do them!

We have discussed the 345 head onto a 392 engine many times in this forum.
It depends on the particular head and piston, but generally it will raise
the compression ration from a lowly 8.1 or 8.2 to 1 to about 10 to 1. BUT,
you have to be aware of the existence of two versions of the IH motor - the
"IC" or improved cooling version and the older ones. I beleive you must use
IC heads with IC blocks and visa-versa. There are many members of this
Digest more well versed in this than I and they can give you the details.
Or, you can cruise over to the "Binder Bulliten" website and check out the
FAQ there.

Plus, if I've mistated the IC issue above, I'm sure you'll get to know a few
Digest members like John Landry when they correct me and blast me at the
same time. :-)

Again, welcome!

Tom H.