zerickk Posted August 28, 2013 Report Share Posted August 28, 2013 Hey Everyone, After spending a while working on a 620 I bought a year ago (http://community.ratsun.net/topic/39481-sr20det-1976-datsun-620/), I found a much more complete truck for sale on Kijiji located in Penticton, BC (700km away) for $1300. 1972 L20B 5-speed I finished work that day, and at 6:30 the next morning my fiance and I were on the road to pick it up. After 23 hours of driving, we had this in our driveway: Since we don't have a truck and trailer, I drove it back the entire 700km and it did great! Here are some more pics (you may recognize it from Keno's thread http://community.ratsun.net/topic/56446-so-i-bought-myself-a-620/) : More to come... Quote Link to comment
zerickk Posted August 28, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2013 In order to get this thing to pass safety there are a few issues I need to attack: No driver's side wiper (at all - arm or mechanism) No low beams (had to run high beams only the whole drive home - sorry long haul truckers!) Only has weak brakes on the 2nd- 3rd pump No Parking Break Front end components are shot I started with the wipers. Swapped over the mechanism and arm from my '76: DONE Replace both steering links and connecting rod/ends: DONE Cleaned the interior and swapped in a spare wheel I had sitting around: Old wooden box inserts removed: Going to steal the parking brake cables from the rear in this pic: (also keeping the rear as a spare) Master cylinder bench bled and swapped: Brakes are still the same after line bleed, so a drum adjustment is in order. I'll do the shoes while i'm at it: That's it on progress so far. I will post brakes progress as I go. Does anyone know what this is? 1 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted August 28, 2013 Report Share Posted August 28, 2013 Ballast resistor. It drops the voltage across the points to 7-8 volts when running to prevent burning them out. When cranking the full 12 volts is applied around the ballast to give higher voltage spark for starting. Without the ballast the points would last only 50 - 150 miles. It also prevents the coil from over heating. Quote Link to comment
RadioRedline Posted August 29, 2013 Report Share Posted August 29, 2013 Wait are the 620s both the same blue? Radio Quote Link to comment
]2eDeYe Posted August 29, 2013 Report Share Posted August 29, 2013 Good looking truck. Looks like someone put some time into it in the past. :) Quote Link to comment
zerickk Posted August 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2013 Wait are the 620s both the same blue? Radio Pretty much. The new '72 looks a bit lighter blue with less metal flake Quote Link to comment
zerickk Posted August 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2013 Good looking truck. Looks like someone put some time into it in the past. :) Thanks! Quote Link to comment
zerickk Posted January 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2014 Well i got around to working on the truck a bit the last few weeks. I pulled the speedometer cable out of the transmission and the piece in the transmission spins freely even when the truck is in gear. Anyone know if this is normal? I'm not sure i'll end up fixing this anyway, because i picked up this Garmin GPS for cheap and I think it might be cool to custom install it as a speedo/NAV combo. I used it for the drive from Penticton to Calgary and it did well with GPS reception through the mountains. Alberta law states the speedo just has to measure forward moving speed. Says nothing of how it must be done so i would assume it's legal. I decided to get a better look at the condition of the floor, so I ripped out the seats, carpet and rubber mat. Before i bought it I noticed someone in the past had welded in some floor patches so I figured it would be in decent shape. Looks like the only rust holes are near the gas pedal. The footwells for the driver and passenger do have some pretty heavy surface rust though, so I am thinking I might use an old tailgate and cut the inside corrugated part of it out and use it to replace the floor pans. I went at the floor with a 3M strip disk and started to remove most of the paint. I also used some rust converter on the surface rust under the seats and am impressed by how well its working. 2 Quote Link to comment
zerickk Posted January 3, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2014 My fiance bought me 5 more 620's! I'm going to paint one to match the real one 1 Quote Link to comment
zerickk Posted February 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2014 I went to the pick n' pull today looking for a center console. I found a 2004 Chrysler Neon R/T that had just went on the lot and ended up taking the seats, console and seatbelts. Here is how it all looks in the truck. Im really happy with the fit. 2 Quote Link to comment
zerickk Posted February 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 Still busy working on floor rust and seat/console mounts. It was nice out today, so I was able to drive around and clean the garage. Smaller than the impreza 1 Quote Link to comment
zerickk Posted March 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2014 Does anyone know where I can get a bushing for the top left joint in this picture? Edit: Found some on rockauto Quote Link to comment
zerickk Posted July 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2015 The prong on my fuel sending unit has rusted off. Has anyone tried to put a new prong on? Quote Link to comment
hobospyder Posted July 20, 2015 Report Share Posted July 20, 2015 You mean the one that extends into the valve cover? Quote Link to comment
zerickk Posted July 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2015 This one: Quote Link to comment
SPIDERSHACKOV Posted July 25, 2015 Report Share Posted July 25, 2015 you are probably better off just replacing the whole sending unit. nice build. I like what you did with the neon seats.Please keep us posted on the progress. Quote Link to comment
orangie Posted July 25, 2015 Report Share Posted July 25, 2015 If I'm not mistaken that tab is connected to the whole top lid, so it's the ground side. I would check it with a meter first, but if you were just going to jury rig it, epoxy a terminal down on the top and reconnect the wire. Obviously if you going to use epoxy, the terminal has to be clean and making contact first before you lay down the epoxy. Soldering would be better, but then you would need to take the whole thing off anyway and sending units don't cost that much. Quote Link to comment
zerickk Posted July 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 I went ahead and pulled the trigger on a new sending unit. I agree if i'm taking it out, I might as well replace it. Thanks or the comment on the seats.They turned out better than I had expected. I have newer pics with the floor fully bed-lined. I originally planned to leave it that way, but the seats look so good I think I will carpet it. I am working on the handbrake cables right now as well (the Neon handbrake will be functional). Quote Link to comment
ownTer Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 Ahhhh bucket seats in a regular cab. A luxury my legs wont afford me. And the thought of a cup holder just makes me giddy. Quote Link to comment
red13 Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 Nice roll pan, plan on doing the same to my truck. Quote Link to comment
5t341tH Posted July 27, 2015 Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 nice truck there. i notice an F4i in the garage as well?? Quote Link to comment
zerickk Posted July 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 Ahhhh bucket seats in a regular cab. A luxury my legs wont afford me. And the thought of a cup holder just makes me giddy. Haha thanks. I guess there are advantages to being <6ft tall Quote Link to comment
zerickk Posted July 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 Nice roll pan, plan on doing the same to my truck. Thanks. It was nice that it had already been done to this truck. The last one i had still had the big nasty bumper. 1 Quote Link to comment
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