"Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

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.

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

A few more pics, you can see how rust free she is.

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

I swapped rear bumpers, because the one it came with had a hitch receiver quote "welded" on and was bent. I also couldn't get the driver's side seat belt to work, so I removed them all and sent them to TKCR for a little resto.

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

Following.
Love the detail you put in these threads.

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

Thanks Keith!

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

"white letter out of course as per square body law" :lol:

She's a beaut! Good grab and great progress so far. Maybe shackles and hangers in the rear to help tame that tail high heavy duty chassis? Regardless, that's a great looking rig and I'm jealous.

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

That's definitely a clean one. Totally understand about too many projects, but hopefully you stick with this one. Looks to be a good truck for the long (ish) haul.

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

Thanks! I am going to remove the overload spring and maybe a couple more small leafs? I'd slam 4/6 it but my 16 year old says he'd like to drive it some and doesn't like 'em low. We'll see on that. The white letter Gods came through today. I debated size forever. It came to 255/70 (too big) or 275/60 (too wide). I settled on 235/70 which should go with the 15x7's. If they were 8" wide I would have gone with the 275's.


Me too haha! Thanks

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

Great find!

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

Thanks!

I put her to work this weekend. My wife was a little frowny that I brought home another stray truck and she had been looking at this old buffet for the basement bar so naturally I had to buy it. Man was it awkward and heavy. Longbed with HD springs on the job!

Funny story...I was going to get around to telling her about the truck but just didn't quite have my "reason" together yet and it had been up at my shop for a week or two. I came home one day and she was waving a state registration at me with "another freaking '76 are you serious I said no more trucks!". I was caught off guard and even though I hadn't registered it yet I panicked and took my lumps but I couldn't figure out how that happened. Later when I looked at the registration it was just a renewal for my k5. So I busted myself for no reason. :lol:

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

From the factory did your truck have a radio? I ask because I see you have the windshield antenna RPO but do not have a radio RPO on the SPID.

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

Yes, it did, the original is gone though. I didn't think about that, wouldn't it normally say "AM/FM Radio" or something? Funny thing today I stripped all of the wiring and dash and found the antenna unplugged which explains the poor reception.

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

Darn it all. I am trying to keep this thing as low-budget as possible so if I get bored with it and sell I won't be upside-down. Little things add up, and no matter how much you spend on the little things, a long bed in okay-ish shape is still worth what it's worth. Anyhow, I went to remove the hideous gauges that were haphazardly stuck in a three-gauge pillar pod right in my face. It had a tach, vac, and trans temp gauge. All handy...but poorly done, and they lost power every time the lights go on. Thinking it would be easy to delete them, I went down a rabbit hole and found the most awful rats nest of wiring I have EVER seen. The starting point was a bolt in the plastic pod that was a distribution point of sorts...with NINE, YES NINE hot wires leaving it and going to and from the dash. And that was just the start. There was more "creative" wiring removed from the dash than the entire dash harness. Not including what I already removed under the truck when I did the fuel system. WHAT THE HECK MAN!? Well now the entire dash is stripped, and I'm on the hunt for a dash harness. It looks like this will lead to a light interior re-fresh of some sort. I'm not replacing the dash pad or bezels, but maybe the door panels, and some cleaning and freshening up here and there.

I ordered a new bluetooth stereo, speakers and brakets for the cab corners. Surprisingly I found the dash cut for a DIN stereo to be clean. There were cube speakers bolted into the dash pad sitting up in the windshield, they sounded terrible. I ordered a dual voice coil 4x10 for the center and two 6x9's for the rear. I didn't want to do kick panels, that opens up some more cans-o-worms and expense. I also removed the old brake controller, it's cool but I'll never use it and it was just contributing to the wiring mess. I'm debating if I should keep the cruise control intact. It looks to be a dealer add-on because it's 1) ancient and 2) very well done, unlike all of the other "extras".

Here's to scope creep!

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

Looks like you have a mess. Are you going to get a new or used harness? The harnesses may be different depending upon what options were ordered.

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

I'm going with used. Got a lead on one here from a member, also lots of parts trucks around me. I think pretty much it's gauges or idiot light dash. A/C controls, courtesy lights, etc are separate. I could be wrong

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

Sweet truck! Hopefully the wife didn't lash you too bad. Haha.

That's always disappointing to find hack work in your new truck. Looks like you're on the right track though!

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

Thanks, love that Suburban you snagged man that's clean! She's getting more mileage out of that buffet I got her than the truck has so I'd say we're good!

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The rally wheels came back from powder coating and they might be too nice for an old forgotten long bed. They are probably original to the truck or at least correct based on date codes so that's not bad. I'm not even sure why I did this other than being lazy, usually I would just scuff and shoot them. I did have something else to powder coat so I guess that was my excuse. It will be a shame to scratch them up with rally rings though.

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

I like the look of rally wheels without the trim ring. You can always throw them on later!

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I agree, going to try that first. There is a long bed 73 or 74 here in my town, same colors, lowered on rallies without rings and white letter tires...hope the guy gets a kick out of it when he sees his twin lol!

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

I’ve been working on your belts, here’s a little teaser.

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

Haha you beat me to it! I kind of thought these might be a lost cause but I guess they weren't too bad. TKCR to the rescue. I can't say thank you enough, outstanding work! :clap:

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

What I posted was just a teaser. I was leaving the entire completed set for you to post. I was happy to help!!

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

Cool truck! Seatbelts look great.

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

I'm all on board with this one. I like what you're doing. It's going to be a nice driver.

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

I don't have a ton of progress to update because unfortunately I hit a snag with the wiring. I obtained two dash harnesses, one from a board member out of a '77 and the other locally that was supposed to be from a '76. The '77 it turns out is quite a bit different and it had some cuts and splices. The '76 harness looked identical and was completely uncut, had all the same connectors, and looked plug and play but after I installed it I had no power. After some investigation I determined that it was actually a '75 harness and the harness is pinned different between '75 and '76. I can make the engine harness match, but it's going to be a chore.

I did get the tires and rally wheels mounted, and did a quickie resto on the gauge cluster. Plus I installed Cerwin Vega 6x9 speakers in new cab corner brackets and a new Retrosound 4x6 dual voice coil speaker in the dash. I found a decent original seat under that cover except a small tear and decent carpet. I also bought some sport mirrors, new sill plates, and door seals. I can't wait to get the electrical sorted and driving again, but this is definitely not my favorite work. It does make me feel good to make everything "work" like it should.

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

Wiring sucks.

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

Truth. The only satisfying part is knowing the truck will be safer and more reliable.

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"New" shoes = original rally wheels powder coated, new tires, new center caps, new rally rings. Doesn't get much fresher!

When I look at her though all I see is a lowered short bed with sport mirrors. I'm thinking after that some woodgrain on the cream paint like YG2 option?

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

Looking good. I vote you leave the mirrors as-is but that's just me.

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

Did you get the wiring figured out?

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They're not terrible I've just always been a small mirror guy.

Figured out yes, executed no. I did have a few mintues today to remove all the wiring from the bulkhead connector and dig that stupid asphalt out of it. It guess there are two different size packard connectors? I've never crimped these before, but I do have the tool. Hopefully I can source some male connectors tomorrow and maybe have this put back together this weekend.

Any advice on the male connectors?

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

Make sure you have the fusible links to protect the harness.

I would be looking for a good used harness rather then trying to build my own.

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

X2. I left these mirrors on my lowered SWB because I towed a lot and needed them. I never had complaints from onlookers.

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My engine harness is fine, it just needs to have the connector locations switched around for the '75 dash harness. That's pretty much my only option right now, it's that or spend $1,000 on new correct '76 harnesses.

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

Well I got the engine harness re-pinned and repaired with some new packard 56 connectors. Then it wouldn't fire, and I chased my tail for way too long. First I found a difference in the neutral safety connector from 75 t0 76, so I swapped them out but it still wouldn't fire. I isolated the problem to the ignition switch and found the ignition rod out of adjustment. :dohh: I also had to buy a new printed circuit because mine couldn't be saved.

I REALLY do not enjoy this kind of work, I'd rather spend time on things that make them look and drive better. Oh well, some tidy-up and interior re-assembly and we'll be driving it again.

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

Leevon, nice job on the re-wire... I am doing a LS swap with trying to use the '13 OG harness & fuse box!! so I UNDERSTAND how wiring is not enjoying... :lol:! I Like the large scale printout of the schematic, curious as how you did it & still made it readable :ito:? I tried to do that, but it always comes out unreadable...:waah:

nice job!

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

Thank you. I have a subscription to Alldata, so I emailed them and requested a 1976 wiring diagram which they sent as a .pdf. I had other files but they weren't as clear. This one was good enough to send to the printer on 24x36 format. The engine side is really not complicated, the harness is three parts and the main wires are power, coil, and starter. I think it could be adapted to power an LS swap harness.

What year is your truck?

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

How is the retrosound 4x6 dual voice coil speaker? If I understand correctly the onld speakers were mono. This speaker provides a stereo output.

Did the speaker use the factory holes?

Also I thought the front speaker in the middle of the dash is 4x10.

Re: "Root Beer Float" 1976 Scottsdale
 

Not sure yet, don't have the stereo in but it is 4x10 just with stereo sound (two tweeters?) I'm sure it's crappy but better than original. It will be even worse because the 6x9's I had in the cab corners don't fit with the unique '76 seat belts.