Classic Hifi Care

Had a '72 I-H 1 ton Crew-Cab pickup back in the '80s we used to pull a horse trailer. Talk about heavy-duty, that was it.
10 lug wheels, 345 cu in "school bus" motor, spring rates stiff enough to tell a filter from a non-filter cigarette butt if you rolled over one. The 7 to 8 mpg got old after a while and we eventually sold it to a landscaper and got a Ramcharger 360. Nonetheless we loved that IH beast and lament the demise of the Cornbinder p/u in general. My B-I-L in N. Carolina had one of the previous series around a '67 and he loved his too.

So I've heard that VW's Tratron Group (grrrr) is using the Scout name to bring out a Bronco-like vehicle: a travesty of the name? The old Scouts rusted but were tough so should be interesting to see how that works out, VWs like other German cars have rather poor reliability records, and have for decades. However I recently also became aware that Navistar (also Tratron owned now (grrrr)) has a "light-duty" cv-series truck cab/chassis that I wasn't aware of (developed before the "takeover"?) Navistar has also made some H-D 6500 series Silverados for GM.

https://www.internationaltrucks.com/tru ... es#options

It would be kinda neat-o to stick a pick-up bed on one to create a real honest-to-god truck for the guy who wants a real workhorse instead of some wimped-out cowboy-Cadillac like most pickups are these days with their tin-foil bodies and 4 cyl turbo engines. This is a truck. Overkill for most but for real jobs, awesome. Never saw one before but I like it, even if owned by VW now at least it's designed and made here.

But is sad a company with such a long history is now foreign owned, just as Case-IH i now owned by Fiat (grrrrr!)

The only contemporary of an International 345 V-8 was the equally competent and revered Chevrolet big block 366 V-8. They were both truck engines, were thirsty, but were dependable and tough as nails. It was hard to beat a "cornpicker" 345.....

IH also had 304 (usually found in Scouts) and 392 V8s in the '60s and '70s, maybe found longer in medium trucks.
One marina that I worked at in the summer had a huge forklift used to pick up boats up to about 25ft long, it had a big flathead 6 cyl "Diamond" I-H engine, probably from the '50s. That thing was a beast, you couldn't kill it.

I'd love to be able to buy a true I-H pickup now, but looks like the Scout is going to be revived anyhow, by VW, unfortunately with the VW name on it and as an electric vehicle exclusively.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a3997 ... v-revival/

They made the International V-8 in 266, 304, 345, 392 and 404 cubic inch versions using basically the same block, with different cranks and cylinder liners. Somewhat on the same order as the Chrysler flathead six was built, same block, different internals to give different displacements. International made a big 649 cid V-8, and it was beast as well. Used a lot on cement trucks. Jake Wilson had a fleet of them. They would run off a cliff or back up the same cliff at 45 miles an hour. The gas tank for the truck was nearly as large as the cement mixer. IIRC, they were five cubic yard beds. They had 5X4 transmissions and would cause heat exhaustion for the driver unless you removed the sides of the hood to let the heat escape. The International V-8's had hydraulic valve lifters, full-flow oil filters and forged crankshafts, many equipped with Rotocap exhaust valve rotators. You timed an International V-8 off number 8 cylinder.....

Whenever I was hauling lime out of Bloomington, I would invariably get behind one of Jake Wilson's concrete trucks. They ran between fourth and fifth gears in my Mack transmission, so I would have to split the compound box in order to follow one of those trucks. The road was a two-tracker, so passing was impossible. All I could do was follow for 35 miles until they got to their batch plant.

In the 1940's, when International was building the "K" series, they had a big flathead six, over 700 cubic inches, in their larger trucks, IIRC, the KB-10 and up. It had two HUGE Carter/Ball and Ball two barrel carburetors. Split manifold with dual exhaust, usually straight pipes. Gallons per mile fuel economy, at 40 miles an hour.

I know Olds used rotators some years post-'68, sometimes on both intake and exhaust. Mopar LA 318 and 360 V8s also used rotators, not sure about Ford or other GM brands, I think some GM trucks had them too. Makes sense for heavy duty truck use,

My Buick has Rotocap rotators on the exhaust valves, along with sodium-filled exhaust valve stems, courtesy of Continental industrial engines, particularly the "M" series. Buick didn't use valve rotators from the factory as far as I know. M330 Continental engines used valves the same size as Buick. If you listen really closely when my Buick is idling, you can hear the rotators click as the rocker arm strikes the valve stem.

IIRC, the "binder" V-8's had valve rotators and IIRC, the Ford 361 and 391 HD engines did too.

I think the 345 in my I-H pickup was identical to the truck and bus versions, no dumbing down for their "light duty" trucks. Charlie our HS bus driver ('60 or '61 I-H Bluebird, the vintage with stacked quad lights), told me that bus had a 345. I sure know that engine in my 1 ton p/u was a heavy sucker... and got 8-9 mpg to boot.

Chevy and Ford pickups used car engines. Not International. You got the same engine in a pickup as you did in a dump truck. International used Turbo Hydramatic 400 transmissions and, I think, the Chrysler 727 TorqueFlite, depending on the year and equipment. They had a fairly rare six cylinder engine. I don't remember the displacement, but it was used in International Harverster combines and maybe tractors. 301 cid maybe? They used the 301 in lots of equipment. The RD 450's and RD 501's were earlier. They were tough old engines, but SSSLLLOOOWWW as pond water. Way better for off-road equipment than trucks. I believe they bought rear ends for their pickups and light trucks from Chrysler. The 345 I had was governed to 3500 rpm. The pistons would swap holes at 3501 rpm.....