'79 620 daily

[Gary]

progress;

didnt get heaps done over the weekend, had other things to do. i cut back a few of the nasty bits of the front quarters to see what was underneath... rusted out quite good in a few places. has had previous repair but it was under mountains of bog. i got the front end panels back on for a peek at how it'll look, and if the bumper is alright too

 

 

got some work into the sills too, got them in and trimmed except for drivers side, needs some more patching and the doors need to go back on so i can see if the gaps are alright. i was going to try the foldy trick you mentioned slow620, but i cant fold 1mm sheet into a tight enough corner for it to work with the tools i have :( otherwise it would have worked good i reckon

 

more work tomoz, hopefully have sills done so i can get interior back together again soon

[CA51NO]

Easily the best 620 build up I've read, I just read it from start to finish. Super impressed with your work mate.

 

I live in Sydney and have a 620 longbed bulletside aswell. It's running a bagged 720 frame with ventilated discs and L18 with twin side draft dellorto's and 5 speed. I just bought another 620 (registered and all, just has a cracked head) for parts, so once I get it, I'll be stripping it and letting anyone with 620's know what parts I have available as all I want it for is the bench, drivers guard and door and some rubbers/lenses and what not.

 

Epic build anyway mate, best of luck with it.

[Gary]

thanks man :) there's quite a few better ones about ratsun though :D heaps good for inspiration and tricky little ideas. yours sounds nice, should get a thread going on here or ozdat!

 

if that other 620 has a lwb tub, copydat here and on ratsun might well be interested in purchasing ;) if youve got the passenger side door switch (the one that turns the interior light on) and maybe the lever bit that controls the passenger side air vent ;) lemme know!

 

progress;

had a handful of things to deal with this week so progress has been a bit slow. ive just been messing about with the sills, getting them in and the edges cleaned up, and trying to match the door lines to keep the gap reasonable. pretty rough but does the trick. nearly there, then its floor time finally. the pics are a touch old, ive got more progress in em since, nearly there

 

 

i went round and visited dan and got some H190 action, ill wait till i get the center before pulling it and my current one apart to see what i can do about getting discs on the rear

 

tonight ive been messing about with the sewing machine, seems to walk through 4 layers of the vinyl ive got pretty easy :\ sometime this week ill be visiting fabric man i think. might get some more urethane while i'm out and about come to think of it

 

tomoz getting more into the sills, gunna try finish them so i can finish the floor

[copydat]

Thanks for looking out for us Gary! :cool:

 

Got my tray off and gone now - so totally in the mood for a tub!

 

Ca5ino Pm sent :D

[slow620]

Looking good Mate, bet you can't wait to get it back on the road.

 

Cheers, Al.

[Gary]

definitely! its getting close :D

 

progress;

this week was interesting. i rolled around to a fabric place and got some vinyl and some backing foam, and thread since i wanted tuff stuff that spotlight doesnt have

 

i got some of both on my machine before i remembered the spool i got is nearly as tall as my whole machine, so it'll need an adaptor of sorts to suit. kinda knew it was a stupid idea before i started, but only one way to see if it works :D i turned one up real quick, got it on and went for a quick test see if it works. well err.. no. it didnt :(

had to make that little rod thing suit the err, slightly bigger spool

 

:lol:

 

thread jams up pretty good, which i think have more to do with the thickness of the thread rather than anything else but any which way it goes, my machine couldnt do it. ive got a family friend who lives 100km or so away who makes hotrods and has a suitable industrial machine, but since it'd be tricky to get down there when we're both free (and cos im impatient and love an excuse to buy more tools...) i went on the hunt for a machine for myself. i spent a day or so reading and looking into a couple different ones i found on ebay for cheap, and found a pfaff 463 that ended tonight. i bidded on it on my phone at work while breaking down a pallet (technology = win) and won it :D 305 clams. i know i could have had the bench trimmed already for what ive paid so far, but ive got other cars that could do with retrimming, and tools are awesome. i know how things go with ebay though, not everyone is an honest chap so i wont be celebrating until ive got it working good in my garage... fingers crossed it all turns out ok

 

while messing about with ebays and sewing machines, i set about painting the floor of the cab. i treated it yesterday, and painted it today. looks great :D shiinnyy black makes the floor look fressh. if its nice and dry tomoz ill work on fitting the carpet i think, or if this ebay chap wants me to pick the machine up tomoz ill probs end out doing that instead

 

ive got a new phone and the camera isnt close to the quality of my old nokias one :( photos in the dark = fail

 

i thought of a way of getting it on the road sooner too, cos the tub still needs considerable work, i was thinking of trying to get it registered without it. id knock up quick mudguards and mounts for taillights and filler caps and numberplates and the light for it, and i think it'll be right. yet to check this with vicroads or RWC place though so will look into it more, but should get it on the road sooner if it works

[CA51NO]

No worries mate, I'll have a look this week if I have the door switch or vent lever. I picked it up yesterday and am almost done stripping the exterior, so interior is next.

 

I'll throw a buildup up eventually.... once I tear into it thoroughly for the rebuild.

 

Keep us posted on your trim, I'm a year into doing vehicle trimming at Tafe at the moment so keen to see how it comes out.

 

 

 

 

[Gary]

cool man, no rush or anything just if you find said bits in alright condition i pey cesh :D

 

tafe course sounds good, great idea for stuff like trimming, welding and painting. gives you a heaps better head start than finding your own way through it :D i should get into a couple someday

 

progress;

friday was spent doing the carpet, finished the front section pretty much, the rear bit needs more work (easy, just takes time). the carpets were moulded vaguely into the shape of the floor and will fit as is with trimming around the edges, but some of the corners dont quite reach the floor (might be cos this is made for a 720 though) so ive had to cut through the sides down to where it meets the floor, and hand stitch it back together with some wool and the biggest needle i could find in the house (darning needle i think it is). also sorted out picking up the sewing machine for saturday arvo

 

on saturday drove to bendigo to get new tools :cool: was the first time ive towed with this car (pretty sure its the first time its ever towed) did it easy. i got a good look at the motor driving the sewing machine too, its fuckin huge! bigger than the one on my compressor. was kinda nasty when i got it home though, covered in oil and the table was water damaged (made of lots of layers of ply so didnt cope), the legs were fair rusty too so i spent the rest of the day cleaning the table up so it wouldnt ruin anything i make on it. its now flat black, and ill make a new bench for it today depending what i can get in the way of wood. if it wont work out, ill make it from steel (ive never been good with timber :(). the machine itself looks alright, seems they built em proper tuff back then

 

also as a bit of a surprise, some friends of the family rocked around to watch the grand final (was a draw! hahaha) and brought one of these over;

 

its a medical patient transport crane, usually comes with a sling that attaches to one of the little arms it has. was surplus to needs cos i think he mentioned the hospital its from have upgraded to aluminium cranes or something, so he thought i might be able to use it :D its battery powered and moves about with a little hand controller, it says swl is 150kg, but the guy i got it off said they get em quite often and they've pushed them to 320kg without incident! should be safe for moving 4cyl engines and transmissions and things about the garage, its lots more compact than my other crane which is handy too :D

[Gary]

progress;

spent this week fixing cleaning and making the machine work, and rebuilding the bench for it cos the old one was busted

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/27-10before1.jpg

 

ill just link the images, doesnt have a lot to do with 620's after all;

 

this is the frame de-rusted and cleaned, then painted and reassembled

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/27-10pfaff1.jpg

 

starting the benchtop, couldnt get the same thickness so just doubled up some cheap chipboard. whipped out the jigsaw and had a go at cutting a bevel or 5

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/27-10pfaff2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/27-10pfaff3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/27-10pfaff4.jpg

 

then got some steel sheet and covered the top and the inner edges of the cutout for the machine head (or whatever its called i dunno), tacked it all in, welded up the gaps then rough finished them, then removed any surface rust with a flap wheel which gave a kinda cool lookin finish, so i left it like that and clearcoated it. the idea was it'd rust underneath over time to give a nice patina but not be able to spoil any fabric ive got running over the bench, but the clear is already chipping so ill sort it out better later. POR15 glisten should work good

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/28-10pfaff1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/28-10pfaff2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/28-10pfaff3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/28-10pfaff4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/28-10pfaff5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/28-10pfaff6.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/28-10pfaff7.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/28-10pfaff8.jpg

 

with that all good and the mounting points for the machine head done, i got it back on top, and cleaned then bolted the motor back underneath the table. fluked it but the pulleys lined up good :D i got a fresh belt for it then got it all together for a test run see if it works. worked good first go, gdamn this machine is fasssstttt. i tried again and all the motor would do was hum, get hot, and smell like burning :( i figured out it was that the way id put the linkages back on was wrong cos id changed the position of the pedals, the clutch wasnt disengaging and startup torque wasnt enough to overpower its clutch so itd just hum. fixed and still works the same despite my stuff up (old school german motors = win). also fixed an electrical fitting that had wires snapped off at where it enters the fitting, and as it was cast into the plastic i had to melt some away to resolder :\ some more stuffing about with the linkages to get it all to work good and its now winrar

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/29-10pfaff1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/30-10pfaff1.jpg

 

then just needed to make the spool holder and it was done;

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/01-10pfaff1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/01-10pfaff2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/01-10pfaff3.jpg

 

ready to go and stitch some shit, so ill get cracking asap :D

[Gary]

progress;

well, was a steep learning curve but am now over it

 

long story short, started out with the wrong everything. wrong shank needle so fixed that with the right needle system, needle is actually mounted sideways to 90% of other machines so fixed that, then found it was both the wrong size and point (needed 110, wedge point) - a trip to some handsomes in melbourne (pfaff showroom etc) helped solve my needle problems. tensions were all up and down the shop, threading through the machine was wrong, bobbin tension was wrong, aaand something else i cant remember now

 

all fixed, all good - got around to some test patches with various layers of vinyl, and with some fiddling with tensions ive got some good seams going. good enough anywho. pics below show testing the tension, if its not bang on it either bunches up lots underneath and causes a jam, or the seam is loose with the loops visible, or the loops break cos tension is too tight,

 

one layer (test for when i do the foam backing)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/06-10onelayer.jpg

 

two layers (obvious)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/06-10twolayers1.jpg

 

three layers (out of interest)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/06-10threelayers1.jpg

 

four layers (the most id do for now, for if i still want to do piping)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/06-10fourlayers2.jpg

 

and using the vinyl/foam im using for the final

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/v3ctourist/datto/06-10final3.jpg

[Pacific coast Datsun]

The fabric work is looking great !

[works510]

Indeed!

 

Still owe ya a diff centre btw :)

[Gary]

thanks :D

 

when your bro is good to go lemme know ill make sure im home :D

[Gary]

progress;

ive been a-sewin! machine working perfectly, just its operator that needs a little work :huh: i went and got some more foam before i started, the stuff i had looked about as thick as the stuff on the old seat, but i couldnt get ridges looking as good. when i cut some of the foam out of the old one, could see it was a solid 2 times thicker. spaz

 

i realised then it'd be tricky to manage sewing foam as thick as ive got it to something that doesnt really like travelling through a sewing machine, so i thought maybe the trick was id make a big enough section up with the right number of ridges to suit, then run a border around it to suit the right size i need, trim it, and it'll be done :D so thats what i did

 

the tissue paper was an idea i saw to help the vinyl travel better so itd be easier to keep even stitch lengths, it worked but ripped up pretty good and was more trouble than useful so i tore it out and didnt use it for the rest

 

win. sorta. its pretty rough as far as things go (irregular stitch lengths through most of it) and its quite loose between the ridges, but the seams are tight so i spose thats all im really worried about. i think im happier that its loose, looks more... suitable :D would probs make an upholsterer cringe though :fu:

 

ill keep hackin at it

[CA51NO]

Mate, for a first times, you've killed it on that fluting!!! My first shot at it turned out probably worse than yours haha. When I do big sections of fluting (those parallel runs you did) I sometimes give the foam and the vinyl a really light dusting with some contact adhesive. let it tack off and sit it where you want it, it's less likely to bunch up and go off track that way. I'm doing some diamond stitching this week and the glue is seeming to work wonders.

 

Very impressed with your efforts mate, you could almost post up a damn buildup for your sewing machine in the construction zone haha.

 

Anyhoo, about the things you were after off my parts car. It simply doesn't have a door switch on it, no idea why, must be a lower spec model or something? However, I have the air vent and the pull/push lever, here's a pic of it, hope it's what you meant mate. If it's what you're after, PM me and we'll arrange getting it to you mate.

 

Cheers,

 

Brydo

 

[Gary]

thanks :) glue is a good idea, ive got some contact adhesive lying around too, ill use it for the seat base that ill do next. see how we go with that :D

 

and FLUTING! gdamn ive been looking for what its actually called for ages. ridges, valleys, tufting (i knew it wasnt tufting but closest thing i could use to describe it :D). diamond fluting looks awesome, you see it a bit inside astons, and that new bentley continental GT. cool stuff

 

when ive got less urgent projects im reasonably keen to have a go at making a tufted/buttonback wingback chair. something obnoxiously huge, like a throne hahaha

 

progress;

been busy doing other stuff this weekend, helped move house for a mate and had a cruise today but still got a little more progress into the bench

 

i copied the existing patten and made the edges that wrap around the frame to be tied down at the back, needs a little more work but ill get some suitable wire to use as an anchor for where it attaches to the frame before i finish it

 

thought i made it too small for a little but with some persuasion it fits good, its not pulled back tight in the pic so it'll look a bit tighter when its finished but thats most of the back done. ill probs finish it and get a start on the base tomoz

[goes2fast]

Here is a little history lesson from an older guy in the US. What you are doing is called pleating, and is called rolled and pleated in your style. The diamond style is called diamond pleated. There is 2 ways to do pleating, the cheaper and easier way that you are doing, and the more custom way that most nice show cars and street rods are done, the stitching is hidden on the back side so all you see is the pleat. Instead of stitching through from front to back, you fold the material and glued on foam and stitch it totally on the back side. This method is more time consuming, but gives a nicer, more finished look. I was going to tell you about gluing the foam on too, but the other guy beat me to it. Rolled and pleated was popular in the 50s and 60s with the hot rodders, and custom car guys, and is making a comeback now that nostalgia is in. My cousin has a 40 Ford coupe he built way back when that is red with a black rolled and pleated interior, chrome wheels with Merc hubcaps, that is back in style now. Just goes to show you keep something when it goes out of style, and sooner or later, it will be back in style again. Best part is, he has had it so long, that he only has about $3,000 invested, the only money he has had to put in it since it was finished in the 60s, is oil changes and new tires. Today the car is worth around $35-40 thousand if he wanted to sell it, but I don't think he ever will. Are you close to ready to start selling the urethane cab mounts yet? Be sure and let me know when you are, preferably black in color. Keep up the great work, you are an insperation to others, that you can do anything, if you just do a little research and practice. :D:cool:

[Gary]

thanks man :blush: just havin a bash at things, all it really takes is patience and a bit of thinking. would be great if this thread made others go for it themselves :D

 

thanks for the explanation on pleating, consider me schooled :cool:

 

i started a thread for the bushes, noone was interested after a couple days so i thought it wasnt worth the effort. i still need to make myself a decent set though (ive got hard ones in at the mo) ill get enough urethane for a few sets soon and make em. ill let you know when they're done :)

 

progress;

today i finished the back, ready to get into the base. i folded and made provision for tying the edges back around the seat frame, then used galvanised fencing tie wire in a decent thickness (which worked good) as something to tie from. also helped define the shape of the edges down near the seat hinge

 

with that mostly done i remembered i had an idea for the seat to have one of the deluxe badges i got with the ute centered in the seat back (a bit of a 'pièce de résistance' :rofl: ) so i thought of an alright way to do it and gave it a shot

just with tape to see about where id want it

 

then had to figure out how to keep it in place - i made some places to tie the badge down out of some welding wire and araldite (flawed, and its not aligned properly but i dont really mind) and tied it in a couple places with some thread

 

with that ready, i got the cover onto the seat for good by cable tying it (instead of bullnose clips like it used to be, i couldnt really use them thanks to my inaccurate sewing :fu:) so now it looks like this;

 

as you can see, its a touch too far up. i might fix it one day but for now it looks ok

 

will be interesting to see if i can match the position of the pleats in the seat base :D that'll be tomoz!

[copydat]

Wow! Gary you are crazy man - btw love the badge!

 

I'm going to find that post about the bushes and be down for a full set....... whenever you are ready! I'll be starting my build up soon - just can't seem to get it going due to Uni and other commitments - but that isn't stopping me from getting down in the garage and throwing some spanners either for the Datto or some motorbike projects!

 

Keep up the great work and I'll say this..... One thing your thread has done has made me think that pretty much anything is possible when it comes to projects! True inspiration, and thats what these forums are all about!

 

Good stuff Gary.

 

Cheers,

CopyDat

[Gary]

thanks :) good to hear you're inspired to get tearin with yours :D more 620's = more win! bushes wont be too long

 

progress;

 

got into the base today, started out doing the same as what i did for the back but using spray adhesive between foam and vinyl as suggested by the handsomes above :thumbup: works good as. i pinned it together to be sure but after doing half i removed the rest of them to see if it'll be alright and it turns out i didnt really need to pin them, the adhesive did fine even with as light a coat as i did

 

much better than it was, still a touch loose but easily good enough for me

 

then traced out the pattern for the base, stitched it in then trimmed it

 

then sorted out the bit where the shifter goes for when i go floor shift (if i can), KB deo had it like this and i sorta liked how it looked so i kept it

 

touch rough at the center but when its tied down i think it'll pull down into the little recess in the bolster like it was factory, see how it goes i spose

 

also started doing the edges but will finish them tomoz

[Gary]

progress;

kinda stuffed up the edges :unsure: i got the center thing wrong and it looked weird, then tried making a straight bit conform to the curves of the center thing and that was a touch better but still weird. while i was doing that id basically just sewn bits around the edge and trimmed to suit, but that didnt really work either and looked nasty

 

heres an idea of how it'll look, the pleats match i think, depends how i pull the base down to where it attaches to the frame i think. its looking alright save for the edges

 

just doing the wire for the edges

 

see how the edges arent so nice and that the middle is bunched up good :( its also bunched at the edges

 

so ive just pulled apart the original, ill copy it directly tomoz and see how that goes. i wasnt keen on doing it before cos i thought itd be tricky to match the rest of it thanks to the way ive made it. should be alright though on second thought

[Gary]

progress;

finished the bench today after doing the edges again. still a bit weird lookin (still bunched near the center but not as bad as it was) and the passenger side edge is a bit higher than the drivers side which doesnt look so good, but ive got it in the cab and you dont really notice once its in so not so bad :D either way, rough but i dont really care, lots better than the dirty/rusty/beige (albiet well sewn :D) original

 

the pleats did line up good, till i sat on it now theyre not aligned. they're still even left to right just not lined up with the back :( ah well

 

messed around making the runner lever work using the fencing wire stuff i got

 

tomoz ill finish fitting the carpet, and work on finishing the sills

[Gary]

progress;

been sick :( killed motivation pretty good. gettin betterish now though

 

carpet is done, sorta. i might make a little rail that bolts to the seatbelt mounts to hold the carpet edges in place someday, but for now i think it'll stay like this

 

worked on sills today, almost done on the drivers side, ill get into the passengers side tomoz. need to close it at either end and do the bolt for the panel. also worked a little on the enginebay, cut a few things back, and treated and primed some bare steel

 

also hit parts place and picked up my battery, its an optima yellowtop dry cell that the handsomes behind the counter said would last ages so i got into some of that. 300 clams later :( ill get into making a place for it when the tub comes off

[slow620]

How many apprenticeships have you done on this thing so far Gary? Mechanical, Panelbeating, trimming etc... :)

 

Are you a tradesman for something or just a jack of all trades?

 

Good stuff mate...it's amazing what can be acheived with a bit of common sense, time & experimentation.

 

Might be selling my 73 620 project at this stage...just don't have the time to get into it unfortunately :(

 

Cheers, Al.

[Gary]

its all quite rough though, im more than happy with it personally (given its mine) but professionals would laugh at it i think. so long as noones under the illusion i think its perfect i guess ill just laugh right back :cool:

 

thanks though :) im a labourer is all, real simple work but ive reaped a couple good things from it so im not complaining. i might become a fabricator someday, but who knows!

 

careful with selling datsuns :( most people i know of end out regretting it later down the track... seriously :blink: they tend to complain to me when i tell them i have two and say they really wish they still had the one they sold and if i know any good ones around. datsunitis is no joke! :P gotta do what you gotta do though hey :)

 

progress;

finished (sorta) the other sill enough that i can get the interior back together :hyper:

 

blacked out behind the headlights and painted where i removed the battery tray, looks nicer than it did, the hole i patched looks... obvious :D i might get a little filler onto it later. looks cleaner :D

 

tomoz if i can find all the bolts ill get the steering column back in, then the doors on to check clearances to the sill again make sure its alright, then maybe get the dash and loom back in see how it goes