TEXT BY: Chris Hunter PHOTOS: Scott G. Toepfer
f you want to transform the character of a vehicle, you can’t beat an engine swap. And many automotive heart transplants are within the scope of an accomplished shade tree mechanic with a decent set of tools.
No vehicle is immune. Thousands of vintage off-roaders have been repowered with European diesels or American V8s. And more than one tiny Mazda® Miata® is hiding a small-block LS under the hood.
But today, the ‘repower’ industry is increasingly focused on electric conversions. These are obviously a little trickier than the traditional swap; you usually need to remove not only the engine but also the gearbox, fuel system, and exhaust.
It requires more than a modicum of electrical expertise. But that didn’t put off Scout truck aficionado Joe McIntyre, who drives around in virtual silence in a 1970 Scout 800 A.
Joe is a managing director for one of the world’s biggest staff recruiting companies. He lives in River Forest, a village about eight miles west of Chicago that’s home to not one, but eight Frank Lloyd Wright buildings.
Joe’s always been intrigued by off-roaders, especially those from the late ’60s and early ’70s. “I had my eye on owning one, but could never pinpoint which one,” he tells us. “But a few years ago, I started to see the difference between the Scout II™ and the early Scout vehicles, and I liked the early body styles more.”
“My wife makes fun of me because I do a lot of ‘research’ before buying,” Joe reveals. “I said to her, ‘Give me a budget’, and the rest was fate. I had been watching the Bring a Trailer auction site for a good condition car that I could convert, and the right opportunity came along.”
“The idea of converting to electric came into my mind a few years ago. I thought, how cool would it be to bring a classic vehicle into the modern era?
This 800 A is the first Scout in Joe’s garage, but he didn’t let it sit there for long. “The idea of converting to electric came into my mind a few years ago. I thought, how cool would it be to bring a classic vehicle into the modern era? It would be greener and fun to drive for all.”
Joe is not mechanically minded, and converting a vintage Scout vehicle to electric is beyond the means of the average home mechanic. So Joe did his research again and made a shortlist of over 30 workshops specializing in EVs. The winner was PolyKup, Inc. in New Jersey, run by whizzkid Sam Polyak.
Sam has a long history in the electric field, going back to the time he finished high school. He pinpoints the moment his interest was stirred: “I saw a video from the 90s that showed a guy placing a bunch of lead acid batteries and a forklift motor in an old Datsun.”
When he enrolled in college, Sam was inspired to try something similar in his parents’ garage. “I purchased a junk 1992 Mazda MX-3 and began assembling the components needed to convert the car.”
As with most youthful endeavors, Sam’s involvement escalated quickly. He helped start an EV program for students and even converted an Audi® S5 to electric, which gained viral popularity on YouTube.
It’s hard enough converting a modern combustion vehicle to electric, especially one that hides several miles of wiring loom. But converting a truck built well over 50 years ago presents problems of a different sort, and it took Sam six months to finish Joe’s Scout.
Fortunately, the architecture of the Scout SUV is more forgiving than some vehicles. “The Scout is similar to other trucks that we’ve done—mainly Broncos and Defenders,” Sam explains. “The truck is wider between its frame rails, and affords much more room to fit components than the other trucks.”
Sam considered a full redesign of the vehicle, omitting the conventional transmission. It would mean adding independent suspension—or placing the motor in the center to drive both axles.
A more straightforward option was to retain the original drivetrain, and simply replace the gasoline engine with a HyPer 9 HV brushless AC motor system. “That is the route we went with Joe,” Sam says, “because Joe wanted to keep the original feel of the truck as much as possible.”
The motor produces 175 lb-ft of torque from zero rpm. Joe can shift through the gears just like he’s always done, and since the motor doesn’t idle, he can keep it in gear when coming to a stop.
Paired to the motor is a 35-kWh battery pack with an Elcon 3.3 kW charger. “This was chosen based on Joe’s requirement to drive to and from work, approximately 30 miles,” says Sam. “The battery can be increased or decreased, depending on the needs of the owner, and for charging Joe can use any public destination charger.” A full charge takes about eight hours and is enough for around 80 miles of range.
What was the hardest part of the conversion? “Fitting all the major components into a single unit underneath the hood,” says Sam. “But this is part of the ‘reversibility’ of the vehicle. If someone wanted to make the vehicle a gas car again, they could simply remove the main stack upfront and put the gas engine back in.”
The most noticeable feature of Joe’s Scout is in the cockpit, though: a center-mounted 13-inch PolyKup display. When Joe is driving his vintage truck, he can get instant readouts of his speed, the battery state of charge, the remaining range, and even the temperatures of the motor, inverter, and battery.
So what’s it like to drive? “The drive ‘feel’ is like the original,” Joe reports. “There’s no power steering and you’re shifting through gears—it’s like a classic with the benefit of an upgraded engine.”
“The only difference going from a carburated engine to electric is that has a lot more torque. You can feel that right away. It’s quiet and smooth. I feel like I’m driving a boat around town, with the top off. Very relaxing!”
Although Joe’s a happy man, he plans to keep tweaking his Scout truck: “Eventually I want to paint it Forest Green or a variation. I also want to upgrade the interior, add a bikini top, and make sure the suspension can handle the long term drivability I have planned. I have a dream car in mind—but it will take me time to get to that point.”
Take your time, Joe. And top marks for using electric power to keep a 54-year-old Scout truck purring down the road. That’s what we’d call a quiet achievement.
