My 77 KC 620

[Farmer Joe]

 

[Farmer Joe]

wooo...

 

drivin it to boise and back again. 

 

it does pretty well on gas. but i have been driving the 2500 recently. that fucker is only getting like 11mpg... 

 

noticing that the heat is never coming up. temp gage stays in the cold. the first time i drove it before the cold snap, i did get it past the cold section, but just a tiny bit.  

 

the radiator is hot to the touch when its ran for a while. i get heat from the defrost too. 

 

its the same temp sender from the last engine too, so i trust its working. 

 

id have to guess the thermostat is stuck open. at least id think it would be. i never pulled the t-stat housing, so for all i know it might not have one at all. 

 

more to come... 

[Farmer Joe]

so the truck is not good for snow driving.. 

 

tried to go to work in it with the 2 inches of snow.. got like a mile away from my house and spun out at least 3 times. 

 

soooo, i turned that shit around and parked it. didnt realize the rears were bald... found that out when i got back home. the welded rearend really tolls on the tires.

 

have to drive the big truck for now. the 4wd is acting up, so thats not cool. 

[]2eDeYe]

Need some snow tires on the back and some weight in the bed.  :lol: 

[Charlie69]

Welded rear ends are great for the drag strip.  They do not work well for street driving.  Nice build again.  Just wondering do you own a 620 hood?  LOL

[Farmer Joe]

yeah... its on the truck right now since it snowed.. 

 

edit... 

 

found the last picture i took with the hood on.. 

 

[Charlie69]

Sweet!  You can tell you love that truck.  Tucked it in for the snow.  LOL

[Farmer Joe]

yeah.. i kinda like this pile... lol

 

so the snow has finally melted for the most part..

 

started it about a week back when it was pretty cold..

 

 

this is how it sat for the better part of a week.. 

 

 

 

still a bunch of stuff that needs worked out. 

 

ill get to it when it warms up a little.. just gonna drive it for now..

 

more to come...

[Charlie69]

I am surviving 65 to 70 degree days!  But the our nights are really cold in the low 40s.  LOL  I feel for you guys that live in the cold man.  I have lived about ten years in cold country so I have worked in 80 below 0.  If I can I am going to keep my ass in the sun for the rest of my life. LOL

[wayno]

80 below zero  :wacko:, piss freezes before it hits the ground at 70 below zero, at 80 below it must freeze while it's coming out. 

[Charlie69]

I would not know.  I would hold it at that temp, you needed all the warmth you could get!  LOL

[720inOlyWa]

That orange looks a lot better (to me) than the stock pumpkin orange color. I had a pumpkin 620 and I never got used to the color. Loved the truck, hated the pumpkin color. I think yours is much nicer with the rattle can orange. Nice work, all around!

[Farmer Joe]

okie dokie.. 

 

so ive had the twin cam in it for lets call it a month now. 

 

noticed that it was a little smokey, but didnt anticipate it suckin down so much oil. 

 

i find now ive gotta check the oil level about every 100-150 mile i put on it. gonna have to re-ring the bottom end and rebuild the head later on. 

 

just gotta keep an eye on it now. 

[Farmer Joe]

back again.. 

 

so i think i finally have most of the issues ironed out finally... its been running pretty good in this warmer weather weve been having. it snapped down to 28* tonight and it fired right up and run like a champ. it looses intake velocity if you get on it right off idle.. runs like a top on the freeway. most of the weird vibrations are gone. 

 

 

i guess the only thing thats kinda weird still is the cooling. it still never warms up until its at least 60 outside. you can drive it for hours and itll never get past the 2nd temp marker. 

 

now a few day ago when it was about 60, it had been idling for a few minutes, and i noticed it had gotten warm. had to turn the fan on. so im gonna put a new thermostat in it here when it warms up a little again. 

 

 

aaaannnd now i wanna do more stuff.. lol

 

it really needs a cam swap.. i decided to do a 240 248 swap.. the single cam s13 was the same, so why not. i have the 248 exhaust cam already. gonna find a 240 duration intake cam here soon and do the swap. these tiny cams are okay for low end, but its slower than the single cam by a good deal. 

 

i need a new transmission and clutch... the L-series box is just not suited for the torque curve the KA has. it is not matched up by any means. preferably would like to get a good C-type from a hardbody. if i had to i would use the s13 trans too. honestly, if i could get my hands on a z24 720 trans, that would be ideal. well see what comes up. 

 

the front suspension needs more work.. the swap is holding up just fine. A-arms are working just like they should. the time of the torsion bar is coming to an end here soon too. i need to get some steel and get the coils setup in it. should be adjustable in the front, but with a lot more spring options. gonna have to get some limiter straps for the front to prevent the droop it has from being lowered so much. 

 

so much i wanna do again.. 

 

more to come. 

[Charlie69]

happy to here it is running fine.  After you swap thermostats if it still does not warm up you will need to block of a section of the radiator so no air flows through it.  I had to do this to a z20 I put in a 521 years back.  Card board worked good as you could cut it down to fine tune the running temp.

[Farmer Joe]

yeah.. im gonna try and swap that Tstat out on my weekend. 

 

got a few parts for the big truck, so im prolly gonna work on that first though.. wheel bearing is toast.

[Charlie69]

Do it as you can.  I imagine the weather has turned cold up there.  I am glad I am in Phoenix.  It was low 30s in Battle Mountain NV.

[Farmer Joe]

[Farmer Joe]

[Farmer Joe]

[wayno]

How long you think that lip is going to last?

If it were on my 520, it would make it to the first speed bump, when mine dives off the back side of the bump it would take it out, if I go to fast over it now, it scrapes the cross member under the oil pan, I cut the tension rod mounts off because it was always hitting them coming off the speed bump, I put my tension rods towards the back, I had to, they were hitting/resting on the pitman arm/idler arm.

[Farmer Joe]

wayne, its not so bad. 

 

the bottom edge of that lip is just barely below the tow hooks. so when it does hit, its hitting the hook right behind it..

[wayno]

I had to cut that all off, it was constantly hitting everything all the time.

That stuff was 3 inches off the ground.

It drives me crazy if stuff hits the ground, I actually raised the front end an inch so I could get in my driveway without hitting, that inch helped a lot, I hardly ever hit anything now unless I go over one of them big/wide speed bumps on my road, if I go to fast over it, the frontend dives off the back of it and cross member under the oil pan hits.

wayne, its not so bad. 

 

the bottom edge of that lip is just barely below the tow hooks. so when it does hit, its hitting the hook right behind it..

[Farmer Joe]

thanks for joining.. 

 

well, back at it with the oil consumption issue. 

 

topped it off, drove it to work and back and checked it the next morning. from full, it looses probably more than a quart in 50 miles of driving. now most of my driving it on the freeway. its mostly the high RPMs that i notice the most consumption. 

 

soooo, 1 of 2 things is gonna happen. either i re-ring this twin cam, or i put a new timing chain in the single cam and toss it back in. anything more, and im not gonna make it to canBy with the truck. 

 

rings and a gasket kit is $120, new timing chain is like $40.. i dont wanna swap engine again, but i need something thats gonna keep running. 

 

and the theres the 411.. ive gotta get it on the front burner for a little. the parts i need for it are scheduled to get crushed in a little more than a month. so i gotta bust ass to make some cash to buy those parts before theyre gone. 

 

will report back later with more... 

[datson4life]

Very nice, i gotta read thru this story when i get home to better internet