'79 620 daily

[Wide14u]

I love the pics they look so cool :wub:

[goes2fast]

+1, Great pics!

[Zfighter76]

this is pure sex right here.

[copydat]

Love it!

[Gary]

thanks chaps :) i was messing around with my favourite shot from that night, came out pretty cool :D

 

progress;

to try guard against rogue speedhumps ive made a quick bashplate for the fuel tank

 

i hit a car show today and was glad i had it, the speedbumps were nasty. i near beached on a couple of em, and every other one was a decent scrape. the exhaust copped all of it i think. the show was sweet though, mostly american/australian cars but there was still a couple cool as datsuns. on the way there i got crashed into :( i was on hoddle st and an old man in a cressida (same car as ive got funnily enough) bumped into me. it felt decent but turns out there wasnt any damage to either car. mostly thanks to the plastic cressida im guessing. its annoying when shit happens on the road with old people, what can you say... i told him to be more careful next time and left it at that, i didnt want him having a heartattack or anything :\ they really need to bring in more driving tests for people over 60, i see more old people doing dangerous shit than young people

 

since tonight and all the scraping the exhaust is rattling around a lot now, i think ill redo it from the engine to halfway down the car, ive looked into oval exhausts cos they help with clearance, i think ill need some of that. also reasonably certain ill have to raise it a little. i dont want to though :lol:

[Gary]

progress;

i had a peek underneath to see how the exhaust was going (not well :D)

 

and noticed a leak from one of the brake lines. explains why it pulls to the left a little, so i went and got some flare nuts and bent up a line to replace it, all fixed

 

also spent some time on the new front section of the exhaust, i made the flat bit (by bashing some tube to suit, nice and technical) then making the ends and welding them on, so ive got something as low profile as is practical. i also started work on the new flange for the header. i need the exhaust apart to match the flanges and finish it since the gaskets are off

 

tomoz i think ill pull it all apart

[Pedro]

I think you can actually buy oval shaped exhaust pipe for that purpose.

[nateosaurasrex]

this kid... you need to stop playing around with your bmx and get back to the rat!!!

[Gary]

nate! you're famous check it out:

 

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/36703-the-bmx-bikes-of-ratsun/page__st__80

 

damnnn havent updated this in a while, ill get onto it :D

[Gary]

progress;

been a while! finished the exhaust, worked out alright but after a few hits its still a touch leaky so its louder, im gunna leave it for a while till i can be bothered fixing it again. still dont want to raise it

 

driving out one night my clutch went weird, was getting harder and harder to shift all of a sudden. as it turns out, clutch master was gone so i replaced that and the main hardline for good measure since i had some flare nuts around

 

then needed to check valve tolerances which worked out fine, while i had the rocker cover off i fitted a datsun ohc one i got from a chap on ozdat. needed a bit of a clean and i rubbed it down with 5.56, i like the effect :D

 

also forgot about working out an air filter, so i got some gutter mesh and bent it up to suit the stock carb diameter, then laced it together with light guage fencing wire. after that i needed some filter foam, so went to a shop who happened to have a k&n prefilter (i think it was) in stock cos someone ordered it then changed their mind. i cut it up to suit my needs and cabletied it to the little cage. still needs oiling, ill get around to it eventually, i just didnt want anything too big getting inside

 

i hit out to hanging rock last weekend too, the trip up there was cool as. pretty sweet coming onto a freeway exit to be flanked by a couple combi vans and an early falcon, then catching up to all sorts of awesome pre 70's and older cars :D was a good day. a couple pics other chaps took of mine (much better photographers than i am!):

 

still needs a couple things here and there, should really paint the tub sometime this century, and the stock carb is getting more and more annoying (probably cos i didnt have a filter on it :P). really gotta get those 40's on

[djlotus]

Just read the entire thread, that was a lotta reading, and it was worth it. Truck looks great :)

[Gary]

thanks :D

 

i hit an ozdat meet this weekend and took a couple pics of mine along the black spur:

 

i drove 500 or so k's this weekend, utes been going good. i think starter is on its way out though :( carb is getting more and more annoying, kinda used to it now

[Zeusimo]

Once Your Starter Goes Out.. It Will Be The Best Time To Upgrade To A Gear-Reduction Starter :P

[copydat]

Shared the last 4 pics with a mate: Subject: Phat 620! His response: stretched fats, flares, vic plates...... Phat as butter!

Hahaha gotta love that Gary.

[Siqx20]

lovin this truck. keep up the good work

[Gary]

thanks fellas :D

 

im lookin about for starters, ill see what i can find :)

 

progress;

messed about with the exhaust again after a couple big trips last weekend. fixed a couple little bits then got it back on

 

while the wheels were in the air i had a peek at wheel bearing condition, there was a bit of play so i reset preload for both. i followed what the service manual said, wheels dont have any play now. some tierod ends need attention, theyre not serious but theyre worn :(

[WAGON JON]

Liking the exhaust down pipe. Nothing like making something from scratch!! Just enjoy this thread! One of the best! :D

[Gary]

thanks :D it is fun, 100% custom! hehe

 

progress;

made it out to a japanase classic car show, along with an old skyline i was probably the least well finished car :D lots of cool datsuns there, was a good day

 

went for a spin to a wrecker today to see if that 620 was still there, wasnt :( there was a 720 next to it that i pulled the sump off, ive got some weird leaks around the back of the engine so when i service it ill whip off the sump and seal the shit out of it again (and work on the pickup a bit, ive got a feeling its leaking from behind the sandwich plate though, definitely isnt rear main cos i replaced that. also picked up a freshish starter. was on a 330k km's bluebird so id daresay it was replaced recentlyish, and it looked pretty clean. hope it works!

 

on the way there i hit some shit traffic, i was practically at a standstill for 15-20mins. the temp guage kept slowly creeping up on the way home hit more bad traffic and it eventually got to 110 or so deg which is not good. i had to stop for a while to top up coolant, and let it cool down a bit for the rest of the trip home. was a nice day for a stroll anyway :D nothing like a datsun to make you appreciate the world around you, i guess being outside of the car with not much else place to go gives you plenty of time to do that :lol:

 

seems the slimline fan i have cant keep up with demand. soon as im moving at 30k's plus temp shoots down to where it should be, but when im crawling for 10mins+ it overheats :( pressure in the system is great, but im losing coolant which is weird. maybe a litre per 2 weeks. could be seeping out of the heater core, but system pressure is still solid so i dunno

 

im going to leakdown test the cylinders before i think about getting dellortos on, something doesnt seem right. hoping its nothing, or just the carbs shenanigans

 

only slightly relevant, but ive been messing around with the TIG i bought about a year ago (finally). steel is a lot easier than i thought it was going to be, thin stuff is easy as (sooo quiet lol), just gotta work on getting a decent finish (and some more technique) very cool to be controlling the puddle like you can though :D i had a go at stainless, a bit trickier than steel but not so bad, the stuff i had was pretty thin. and aluminium :D i couldnt get it for the first while, then jacked the power and blasted my way into it, getting better but its all messy until i hit a sweetspot, lay some pretty good looking weld then it overheats and washes out. ive been using the pedal a bit more now and getting a feel for it, my biggest problem is starting i think, once its going well i can generally catch it when it overheats and get back into an ok looking weld. need lots more practise before i can make something though - getting some progress is nice though :D all the stuff i see made of alu looks easssssy, just gotta work on starting and keeping a nice bead going and ill be set to make all sorts of cool shit! making stuff out of sheet is about as far as ill take it i think, which is about as far as 200A will get me so just as well :lol:

[Pedro]

Once you get used to it you'll rarely touch your mig unless you are in a hurry. Half of TIG work is just getting used to your welder, pedal is my weapon of choice to as my hands aren't steady enough to operate the button, tungsten & feed wire.

[Gary]

i need more practise with my pedal :( argon prices have jumped again too

 

progress;

welll i found my leak, it was the heater core. still held solid pressure but i think once i turned it off it slowly seeped out. the heater didnt do a lot anyway so ive disconnected it for now, ill pull it apart and see if i can get it repaired one day, not a priority though

 

pulled the old sump off, modified the new one and fitted it, also got a stock pickup back in with a couple little modifications. the rear of the engine isnt leaking much at all now, not sure why but im not complaining

 

pulled the steering arms off so i could drill them out properly, was just the passengers side that was a problem but i did both properly while i was at it. drilling them out was easy, i milled the tops square too to fix what i did previous, then made tapered sleeves to suit the rod ends. ive decided my lathe carriage needs some cooler hardware, the angle gradations are vague as shit, trying to get 7.125* internal taper where a single degree can mess it up, and all i had to go by was marks at 5 and 10 deg wasnt much fun :( got there by chance though, works much better now. steering feels good, cept for drivers side tierod end from steering to hub, the hub end is worn pretty good. gotta see if i can find a replacement soon

 

also got the fresh starter in, 9999 times better than before, there were bits loose on my old one. starts first go every time now

 

i messed around with the idle setting and timing, was pinging on and off for some weird reason but ive managed to get it down to 7-800rpm and pulled a little timing so it doesnt rattle about. its a pretty low idle at the mo, if im not careful when coming to a stop it comes pretty close to stalling. might idle it up a bit if it doesnt get rattly again. its annoying though, previously sometimes idle was about 1500, other times 2k, sometimes lower at about 1100. now it stays under 1000 but comes close to stalling sometimes. least it runs though, makes me want to build another L on the side for the dellortos, this one isnt in great condition so far as i can tell. maybe its just the carb being a bitch

 

i got a gunson colourtune the other day too, tried it out to see what my carb was doing at idle, as far as i can tell im getting the right colour blue, maybe slightly rich but otherwise good

 

otherwise still running alright. looking forward to another of my cars going though, i might have a think about engine options once thats done. see how it goes i spose

[Gary]

progress;

leak down tested the engine today, warm results were 15% 17% 12% and 18%, pretty good i think. which would point most of my problems at the stock carb (more specifically, my rebuild of it and that i didnt get it cleaned properly :D). im a bit tight for funds at the mo and the 40's ive got are a rebuild, clean, fit and tune away from running which will cost me a bit. im very tempted to get a 32/36 if i can find a cheap one somewhere. theres a local one for $150 brand new... thinking about it :(

[Farmer Joe]

for the long term id go with the weber...

 

youll have more money later on prolly? lol

[Gary]

yeah ill be fine in future, im between jobs at the mo. starting an apprenticeship is a bit harder than i imagined, few employers believe you when you say you'll stick with them, and having a certain enthusiasm for the work actually seems to work against you. at a guess id say its because they think the romance wont last when you're doing the same thing every day - im good with that though and will deal with it. something will come up eventually, until then if applications fail it's their loss :D

 

the local weber for cheap ended up going for 200+, and i missed the end of the auction anywho. im probably looking at 300+ for redline ones from US, or 450+ for local ones. im keen on em but theyre outside the budget at present so ive been poking around with the DHLAs to see how much they'll end up costing

 

progress;

thought id strip the dellortos and get em ready for a good clean while ive got even more free time on my hands. maybe ultrasound if my local machine shop has the right stuff but ill see. they look pretty good, aside from being filthy underneath the bowl. no surprise the tuner i went to said the rear carb wasnt working right

 

i need new spindle bearings since the dust seals on mine were gone and there was corrosion inside. theyve got to seal to avoid vac leaks so pretty important theyre good (had to make a little drift to remove the bearings safely). also need new screws to secure the butterflies since they're kinda crimped in (if theyre seized, drill them out from the other side since theres a nice center punch there already, then use an easyout/left-handed stud remover), but i think thats all they really need. ive got rebuild kits for both of them, but ive used two of the main gaskets already so ill look into what im going to do about that

 

previously the idea of rebuilding these was intimidating cos most of the assembly has to be just right for it to work good, but as it turns out theyre a lot simpler than i thought they were. similar story with tuning although that remains to be seen :lol: most of the jets and other specs like aux venturis and chokes and emulsion tubes and all that im pretty sure wont need to be changed. just the main and idle jets need swapping (wrong size, and mine are soldered and redrilled). then working out how to balance them and tune for idle but im hoping this gunson thing i bought recently will help out with that, and ill mess around with vaccuum gauges see if i can make something that'll help

[Gary]

progress;

i got a new sticker the other day :D its yellow and costs $305!

 

i went for a spin to a carb shop for some info, turns out they were closed during opening hours, and upon getting slightly lost on the way home, i was pulled over by some members of our local constabulary then promptly defected

 

was kinda mad at the time since he took it at face value, assumed i was happy to risk lives by driving a death trap, and called the car dangerous rather than actually paying attention and doing his job like he should have been. cant really blame him for his initial reaction though i spose. ive made sure its safe, most other aspects i dont really care for - but then how many other douches in VL's and silvias would he have pulled up that really were driving death traps and denying it like he assumed i was... either way, goddamn highway patrol

 

anywho, it has highlighted i was lazy in getting things proper legal (ie engineered), i had time to get it all sorted properly but i didnt do it. i just wanted to keep it on the road. which means now that its caught up with me, ive got a lot of work to do in a small amount of time (7 days and i cant drive it, 30 days and they cancel the rego). so thats got me thinking about what i should do given my current limitations

[Gary]

so!

 

id initially planned on fixing it enough for an engineers and then for another rwc inspection, thereby clearing the defect and i would carry on my merry way. eventually getting dellortos on and saying fuck you to the establishment whilst doing so

 

so i went about it, i fixed the numberplate problem, i got the original light facia in then made a bit in between for the plate and light. works good. also took the fuel tank guard off for a paint and got it back on. i got the stock wheels on, i reindexed torsion bars up, pulled the blocks and U shackles out and popped the stock ones in, removed flares, then got the exhaust off for another look, (ive lost count how many times ive redone this). i made some stuff to pressure test the sections which worked pretty good, fixed a couple little problems. painted it then got it back on only to find this morning - it didnt make a difference. ive all but given up on that damn thing - flanges leaking maybe cracked manifold, or leaking at the head i dunno. this needs fixing else i cant get defect cleared

 

on top of that, the L is acting weird, its pinging at low rpm and carrying on, my new alloy rad has sprung a leak, and something is still leaking from behind the sandwich plate. all that, and i need a car asap so i can work on starting a new job which i really need, and i dont have cash to throw at the ute to get it sorted within a month (not that it needs a lot, mind)

 

so im planning on getting my old terror back on the road, a furious mazda 121. mainly cos its the most roadworthy of all my cars and it should be a simple and cheap job

 

as for the ute, ive about had it with the L and its dramas. its no fault of L series in general it would have been great if mine worked out better, but since ill need engineering either way, the FJ20 is starting to look very very very good. the plus sides are it uses the same trans which means i keep my tailshaft, its injected and should be running ok, doesnt seem to leak, and it'll be crazy cool cos FJ's are ballin, and it'll be faster (tuned down as safe as possible, still not comfortable with power in this chassis), and the conversion shouldnt pose much in the way of difficulty, and ive already got the engine waiting to go

 

and its red and says turbo on top of it.and everything!

 

plus theres the ironic notion of pulling a slow beat up looking ute off the road cos its 'a danger to society', only to encourage having it return as every inch the jap rat street racer :D

 

ill see how it all goes