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Intro: Cherry Bomb


Savetherock

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Hey guys,

 

My name is Jason. I am a vintage Harley guy and I needed a truck to cart my bike around with. I have owned a '73 BMW 2002 converted to dual DCOE's and a '84 VW Rabbit 8v with a single DCOE on a Lynx. So when it came time to get a truck, I knew I wanted a 8v truck running a DCOE. I chose a 73 Datsun 620.

 

I call her the Cherry Bomb because that is what the original owner threw on her:

CherryBomb.jpg

 

 

I drove 3 hours to see her and fell in love. Engine was in rough shape, but the body was in great shape, just a few dents, no rust, and original paint. So I picked her up.

 

2011-07-18202801.jpg

 

 

2011-07-18202729.jpg

 

 

I start driving her home and the carb either is wailing or barely getting by, and it is over heating like mad. Long story short. It takes me 6 hours to drive her home. Drive, stop and cool down, drive, stop and cool down. I opened her up the next day and looked over the L18 engine and noticed the head is torqued on crooked by like 3/16 an inch! I can see it noticeably. The radiator has brown shxt floating in it, and the carb is so gunked up the butterfly stays open on its own.

 

My goal is to have a good running work truck. Peppy, but nothing too crazy.

 

So here are the plans.

1. I pulled apart the cooling system. I am going to install all new lines and a new universal aluminum radiator.

2. Bought a full gasket set. Gonna reseat the head and replace some gaskets

3. Ditching the carb and gonna install a Weber 40 DCOE on a Lynx (Hopefully) manifold

4. Gonna weld up a full new exhaust, headers back

 

Then a usual suspects tune up and we'll see where she goes from there.

I will post pics next week as I start rippen into her.

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I wonder how the head got put on "crooked".. I've never heard of such a thing, and I didn't know physics would allow for such an accident.

 

Welcome :)

 

I'll take a pic next week before I take it off. The best way to describe it is imagine if I put the head on and didn't torque it down, then I twisted it counter clockwise on its mating surface, then I torqued it down. Its crazy, I know.

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You got this off craigslist this week....i was eyeballing it too, nice truck, sorry to hear about all the issues your having with it....previous owner said he replaced the head gasket so maybe thats why the head is all jacked up....im REALLY looking forward to seeing what you do to this thing, its beautiful!

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Luckily L motors are easy to work on and keep running.

 

 

your on the right path, with all the stuff you listed it should be up and running no prob.

 

 

you can also replace the stocker carb with a down draft weber 32/36 ect and they make an adapter plate for the stock intake

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Lumberjackj, yeah I eye balled it all weekand fell in love when I saw her in person. Engines are easy to fix, I've built numerous harley engines, but a rust free body with superficial dents in original color are hard to find.

 

I plan on keeping it mild but extremely minimal for now. Met up with a local 510 guy who is gonna help me reset the head. Then I will build up a monster 8v in the garage with duel sidedraftsand a five speed and drop it in. my harley is my daily, so I'm not looking for mpg or anything.

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