Picking up an International Harvester Scout 80 in Australia

Meet Winnie the Scout. I've been searching for a Scout in Australia for a while now and I think I’ve found the one, check it out!
What chassis/engine swap would you do to it?

[@rickyalvarez5903]

Man, what a Beautiful Scout. I had a 1974 Aspen Green Scout II with the AMC 258 Thrifty Inline 6. I had an Offenhauser 4 barrel Manifold with a Holley hooked up.DUI Distributor with a single Chamber Borla. That truck moved. I'm currently restoring a 1979 Jeep Wagoneer with the AMC 360 fully stock. I'm 100% LS Free. If you configure the engine right, it can be a daily driver. What these shows that drop in an LS swap over the weekend don't tell you is that 90% of the right fit is pure fabrication and Frankenstein Parts from various vehicles. I met this guy who had a LS dropped in a 1973 Land Rover 109 and said it ran good for a month before everything started to become loose.

[@shaunmaluga]

Thank you! I had the original 304 in my 800 in the US and loved it (except the 10mpg). Issue is that you can't really get maintenance parts in Australia so most things have to be imported from the states which equals time and money. Engine swap makes sense to me if I want to tour Australia with it!

[@fitchieboy]

Cool man!! Winnie reds as well haha wow! Look forward to watching the journey on this one.

[@shaunmaluga]

Pre cancer warnings too! 😂 Thanks mate, will be along one but hopefully a good one

[@OldIronOffroad]

Love it!!! Maybe I can journey across the pond for a week and turn some wrenches with you on it!!

[@shaunmaluga]

Make the trip a tax write off! Important International business to attend to! 😂 Would seriously love that. Let’s get planning 👍

[@gordonmcmillan5709]

That is a neat grille! The top is unique. Might look better with OEM sport top side window grafted in.

[@shaunmaluga]

I think so too! I do think I’ll try get a proper full top. It’s hard to look at it knowing what it should look like, kind of like an uncanny valley effect 😂

[@mattebatesco]

My understanding is you cannot chassis swap in Australia with ADR rules. As much as I'd like to for my Scout. Unless something has changed in recent years.

[@shaunmaluga]

Ah I was wondering about that. Will have to look into it more. Wondering what the people with Fj40/45 bodies on 80 series chassis are doing to get those engineered?

[@mattebatesco]

@@shaunmaluga QLD has some of the toughest regs. Yeah I wonder what the FJs are registered as?