bogof

Sorry for not updating. This truck took a backseat again. The head gasket wasn't hard to do at all. The video posted above really helped a lot. The most time consuming thing was cleaning everything up.

I was a little nervous tearing into the engine since this was the first time I've done a head gasket, but this engine is so simple to work on it's a really good one to start with.

Not running yet. I need to button up a few things first, then tackle the wiring. The carb is a vega carb. I had one on it before, but the secondaries were screwed up. I found one on e-bay cheap.

Shooting to have it running this weekend.

No I took it down to the head gasket, and cleaned/painted the block while it was still in.

I started a thread a while back http://community.ratsun.net/topic/20410-from-lemon-to-daily-driver/ but had it in the wrong section.

Also I took way too long between updates. I contemplated selling the truck a while ago, but finished one project and had room in the garage for another.

So the truck started out as a total pile of ... Slowly I'm chipping away at the problems. First on the list was the engine not running very well, and blowing a lot of smoke.

I decided to tear the engine down to the head gasket and clean/fix as I went up.

How it looked hen I started.

When I took the valves out there was over a 1/4" of crud on them. A trip to the wire wheel, and they looked new.

I don't think the head has been off since new. so some of the bolts, and gaskets were a pretty stubborn.

Anyway as I put it back together I've been trying to clean everything to make the engine bay look halfway decent. So here is how it sits tonight,

Ok. I took a long break, and contemplated selling it, but now I'm back at it.

Some more info on the truck. The 4wd conversion was done by 4 Wheel Drive Engineering. Someone apparently didn't like the carb, and switched it to a holley from a vega(more on this later). The wiring is pretty much toast, but enough works to make it legal.

So the carburetor thing. I pulled the carb off, and had it rebuilt. It came back running awful. I took it apart, and found the guy who rebuilt it had just stacked gaskets. After fixing that it still wouldn't run right. I let it sit for a couple years.

That brings it up to date. Last week I found a NOS vega carburetor on ebay. I put in on, and the truck is still running bad. It seems to be burning WAY to much fuel, and won't idle without me pumping the gas, and keeping the RPMs high.

I'm at a loss on what to do now. I have drained the old gas topped off the coolant, and changed plugs/wires. Now I'm starting to remember why I parked it two years ago.

Ok after a while of it sitting I'm starting on this again. Right now I'm debating on re-wiring the whole thing. I'm sure I'll have some more questions, but for right now is there a vehicle wiring diagram somewhere online.

edit..

Found it.

I shaved the hooks off of the bed rails.

I also painted the engine bay.

And this picture just looks cool(I think).

I still have to install the "new" wiring harness, finish the carpet install, and tune the carb, but it's getting better.

The paint looks pink in the pictures, but it is maroon.

I'll take the wiring harness if you still have it.

Well I got the sound deader mat in today. Now I'm waiting on the carpet kit, and trying to figure out what I'm going to do about the seats.

I also took the carb in to get it rebuilt. Turns out the carb is a Holley off of a vega, and Holley doesn't make rebuild kits for it anymore. I found a rebuild kit on ebey, and hopefully it works out. If it doesn't I guess I'll be looking at a new carb.

While the weather was warm I decided to get some paint done.

I also have some sound deadening mat, and carpet on the way.

I need a dash if it has one in decent shape.

Yup same truck.

I fixed the body mount today, and I'm still chasing those electrical gremlins.

I picked up this 620 a few days ago, and started tearing into it. The PO told me "The only things bad are dashlights and blinkers dont work... But im sure its an easy fix". Well he lied. The electrical system has a major drain, the floor is rusted through in several places, the ONLY electrical components that work are the lights and fan, it has a big exhaust leak, and the carb was leaking gas BAD.

So yesterday I sent the carb out to be rebuilt(it's a Holley).

Today I tore into the interior. The PO has sprayed the sound deadening crap to cover up the rust spots so it was like looking for hidden "treasure" to find the rust. The cab was leaning so I looked at the body mounts, and the pass side front mount has ZERO metal holding the cab to the frame. The wiring harness has several burnt wires that were cut, and sprayed so I can't tell what the colors are, and I'm sure I'll find more crap tomorrow.

I bought this as a daily driver, and now it looks like I'm going to have to dump quite a bit of money, and time into it to make it road worthy.

Anyway here are some pics.

This is the pic the PO sent me. It looks pretty good here.

Here is the hole in the floor around the body mount.

Some more rust holes on the drivers side. These aren't to bad. I can fix them pretty easy.

Tearing apart the dash.

Would you ship the dash insert?

I'm not sure what its called. The plastic piece that goes from the gauges to the stereo.

81144

Thanks I won't be modifying this truck near as much as the Nissan, but I do have some ideas turning in my head.

Nevermind I just looked at the pictures again, and the body lines don't line up.

I'm going to be buying a 79 620 in a few days, and the bed has a few rust holes. I also have this trailer, but I don't know what the bed came off of. Anyone know if the beds could be swapped?

Here is the truck.

Thanks.

Thanks.

I know with the frontier they have a problem with cracked exhaust manifolds, and worn out steering components. As far as bad welds go I can fix that I'm a certified welder. Suspension shouldn't be an issue because I'm probably going to modify that since I want it a bit lower. I already have a rock crawler so this will wind up being a daily driver.

I'm going to look at a 79 620 this week. Its a 4x4 reg cab 4 speed short bed. Owner says it runs good, shifts good, and the body looks pretty clean with original paint. It is in a desert so rust shouldn't be much of an issue. What are some of the things I should be looking for? I'm used to bigger rock crawling trucks(I have a SASed Nissan frontier).

Sorry if this question gets asked all the time.

Since everyone like pics.