what is the propper shifting rpm for a 1979 international harvester scout with a stock 345 V8?

Oh that little box! the engine in the international scout like the larger Traveler truck did not like to rev very high about 4,300 rpms max before the engine maxed out at 5,000 rpms and would not rev any more. So the shift points were low and torque converter stall was 1,800 rpms You need to make sure the TV cable or Vacuum modulator hose are in good shape. I seem to think that scout had a tv rod slotted with spring on the left side of the 2bbl carb/ 4bbl on the traveler that controlled the up and down shift. This linkage falls off and the spring that pulls the linkage forward is probably missing. Causing late and hard shifts or no up shift

A rod knock is a pretty distinctive noise. Without being able to listen to it, there's not much of a chance of diagnosing through Yahoo! Answers but a rod knock: 1) gets worse under load 2) pretty much never goes away 3) sounds like someone hitting the engine block with a hammer The other answer mentions lifters. I agree that's a good thing to check. If a hydraulic lifter is bad, that causes the cylinder it's on to not fire very well also. And sitting for a long period of time is a good way to have a bad (stuck) lifter. You can try chemicals on hydraulic lifters and it might help. One time, my dad had me remove the hood from our family car -- getting ready to tear the engine down because of a terrible noise and the engine running really bad (my fault for driving it like a maniac). I worked at a gas station and decided to try dumping almost every chemical they had in the engine just to see if it worked. Son of a gun, in about 10 minutes, the lifters (more than one) freed up! The car ran great from then on. I got to put the hood back on and we were done. After reading the additional information you provided, my guess would still be lifters. A collapsed hydraulic lifter makes a really bad noise and causes that cylinder to run weak, or misfire. Any bearing issues will eventually get worse. You won't have trouble diagnosing things then :-) If he made any mistakes in reassembling the engine like rod caps swapped, pistons in the wrong cylinder, etc. that could account for the noise. If he's good at rebuilds, my apologies, I'm just listing some possibilities.

I'm gathering you have a manual transmission. Just listen to your engine...when it don't want to wrap out any more then it's time to shift..but that is the max you want to go...you really want to shift when the engine rpm sounds like it's going fast enough to shift. Practice a little and you will figure it out.

Have fun

when the engin sounds like it is going to fast

3,500 rpm