Trucky-chan KA-T 620 project

[UnderControl]

A long night for what feels like not a lot of progress. Started off slow with pilot bearing replacement and clutch install.

 

 

Followed by a quick dinner break and transmission install. Which is a giant Charley Foxtrot in this truck as seen below.

 

There is now way to get the trans into position with the engine in place, but I knew that already from the test fit. What I didn't quite realize was how much bigger of a pain in the ass it would be with the clutch installed.  About two hours of wrestling with it and making tiny adjustments to the height of the engine on the hoist and trans on the jack and removing the rubber engine mounts to finally get it all lined up so it could go together. I really hope this clutch/trans hold up for a long time because I would much rather not do that again.

 

Anyway, to make myself feel a little more accomplished I also installed the shifter.

 

Position of the shifter to the new seats is about as perfect as you could ask for and didn't need to cut up the shifter cover, just flipped it the other way round.  I will need to get an adapter in order to be able to use my walnut shift knob.

 

Finally, not from today, just an update I didn't post earlier.

 

I still need to run the alternator wiring out, which I plan to just tie into the engine loom in the bay.  I also stripped old body harness removing bits no longer and use and detangling everything else.

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Inching along. Got my headlight buckets and ellispoids modified to fit each other.

 

And got the intake on to finish out my engine harness routing.

 

This whole process would go much quicker if I didn't ADD out all over the place. Today for example, I needed to set down the intake to adjust a heater hose and noticed my fuel rail so I started taking it apart.  I'm planning to tap the inlet side for an AN fitting and run an adapter on the FPR side for the same.

[skyshadow]

Definitely going to follow this project. Looks good. Enjoying the pics and in depth walk through. Whats the perks of this "white bunny" upgrade? 

[UnderControl]

Thanks. Biggest benefit over the stock 240 clutch of that it goes from a 225mm contact patch to a 240mm allowing for more power before having to move to a less steerable style clutch. This particular version is rated to 400, but there are reports of people running it even higher. My goal for the end of 2016 is to be putting out between 350-400whp, so this clutch should be just right.

 

No other updates this week. Had to replace the clutch in the mustang which to entirely too long since some jackass (me) decided it would be a good idea to put an exhaust crossover pipe right under the bell housing.

[skyshadow]

But X pipes make engines sound so good! My IS350 has one and it gargles when I let off the gas and let the gear slow me. So badass

[UnderControl]

X pipe would have been easy, unfortunately this crossover pipe goes back to the front under the engine before going through a whirly-jig and then back out the other side. Pulling it out is a huge pain in the ass.

 

 

Oh yeah, I love the decel cackle.

[skyshadow]

^whoa..

[UnderControl]

Intake is back off so I could finish a few things underneath. Engine harness is now actually loomed and ready to go.

 

 

I have also gone to town on the body harness with a pair of snips. Finished up the internally regulated alternator rewire and now just need to pass the wires through the firewall.  At this point the only wires that will be coming through the firewall with the engine harness are the alt, rear lights and reverse sensor.  All of the front lights wires will be routed out the driver's side with the hood release cable. I'll also be updating the headlights to use bosch style relays.  

[skyshadow]

Wiring, the least fun part of any project

[UnderControl]

Exactly why it has been put off until now. Hoping to have the rest of the wires that are required to run under the intake finished up tonight so it can go back on for good. I will say the payoff for taking the time to route the wires so they are largely unseen is mostly worth the effort.

 

Picked up an extra fuel rail from a buddy so soon I'll be drilling and tapping it for an AN fitting on the feed side. FPR and some more fittings showed up yesterday so fuel system components are pretty much all here.

[UnderControl]

Moving along with wiring. Replaced the old bus style fuse box with a more modern blade box with quite a few more ports, and if you have been following along you may have noticed I have an aversion to visible wires so I relocated the box to further under the dash.

 

 

I was able to reuse the original box bracket by just flipping it and adding a backing plate to it.

 

 

At the moment this box will have constant power and I may as a result swap it for one with fewer slots and use this one for a switched power box since as I add accessories (e.g. gauges, radio, etc.) I don't really want them to have power all of the time. 

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It sure is funny how progress can look like quite the opposite.

 

 

Cluster and panel came out for a couple of reasons, but mostly for easier access to the wires behind it, but also for modification for a radio delete/gauge bezel.

 

Beyond that I've just been chugging away at wiring. I have all the sense wiring for my coolant temp and oil pressure gauges and fan controller relay. Now I'm on to laying out the new headlight wiring.

 

 

I'm pretty sure that is where the headlight relays will live.

[UnderControl]

Wiring continues. Got my second fuse box yesterday and started laying out my switched power wiring.

 

 

Also started routing power wires for the front lights.

 

 

I think I should have invested in more colors for wires, but that's future me's problem, for now they are all labeled.

[UnderControl]

Moving along with wiring. Everything under the dash is pretty well wrapped up just need to make my bezel for gauges and run a wire to my tach. Got it cleaned up a bit in the bay as well.

 

Rad is back in and fan mounted, still waiting on my weatherpack connectors to show up so I can finish wiring it up.

 

Got my fuel rail modified so I can just run my AN lines straight to it.

Of course it was about this time I realized that the fitting I got sent was incorrectly labeled on the site so instead of a 7/16-20 to -6 it is just a -6 to -6. So, now I get to track one down.

 

Just a quick comparison to the factory setup.

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Gauge bezel, mostly checked off the list.

 

 

Still need to open up the metal bit of the dash drill mounting holes and paint. While I have the dash bezel out I'll go ahead and fill in the one crack it has and add a fresh coat of paint.

[UnderControl]

Gauge bezel is all finished up, other than paint.  Ended up changing how I mounted them from how I had originally planned. I found that mounting them on the dash bezel pointed them down a bit too much for my taste so I opted to mount them to the metal part of the dash.

 

 

Weatherpack connectors showed up so I'll be finishing up fan and front light wiring tonight and then the only wires I'll still need to run are fuel pump and level sender. Otherwise on the fuel front, my fitting for my fuel rail showed up so that is ready to go other than cleaning and possibly painting the rail.

 

[UnderControl]

And then there were hoses.

 

 

 

It clears the valve cover, barely, and there is considerably more clearance around the alt than there was on the stock engine/radiator. I'll have the belt tomorrow.

 

Fuel rail, gauge pod and cluster bezel are prepped for primer, but no pics yet. Headlight wiring is nearly finished, just need to loom it.

[UnderControl]

Very little of substance to update.  Got paint on some parts and light wires are loomed up.  Also found that the weatherpacks I ordered that were supposed to work with 10 gauge wire don't, so I've got that going for me.

 

 

 

Ginally got around to making my final checklist, and well there are lots of little things to do still.

[UnderControl]

Well, I haven't been very good about updating this week.  Wiring is done with the exception of the tach and starter signal. New gauges are mounted up.

 

 

 

Previously on the adventures of trucky-chan I removed the old air tank I was using for gas and made room for a sumped fuel cell.  Since I to intend for this truck to see some use as a utility vehicle I didn't want to just leave a plastic box full of gas just chilling all unprotected. So, I'm building a box.

 

 

 

 

I'm going to be adding a bump-out on the top to clear the vent and sending unit that will have a removable lid for filling.  This box will also double as the mount for the cell.

 

 

Took the day off from working on my shit to go help a buddy get his project rolling. I finally convinced him that it was time to wire tuck his s14, which might have been a bad idea considering he expects me to come and help...

 

 

I think that's enough help.  There is a good reason for the tuck at this point at least.

 

 

Wire tuck and heater hose relocation is better than the other crap that would have to get done to run the whirlyjig on the driver's side. 

[Filthy_]

jesus christ.

[UnderControl]

Since KA 620's aren't all that uncommon around here I'm going to guess that responce relates to the 240. For a bit of background it has an iron block 6.0 currently making 400rwhp and runs 11.6. It's getting a 76mm turbo with initial power goals in the 650-700 range with the more important goal of running 10's. I'll be headed back to his shop Friday to knockout the rest of the wire tuck.

[UnderControl]

Last night's adventures in trucking were exhausting. 

 

 

 

 

I don't really care for how low the exhaust hangs, but until I'm ready to ditch the torsion bars there isn't a whole lot I can do about that. Clearance is pretty tight, but as long as there isn't too much engine movement it shouldn't be a problem.  I knew there was a reason I was hanging on to that cat-back for my Mustang that I never ended up using.  Just need to decide where I want to put a flex pipe and how I want to connect the front and rear half of the pipes. I'm leaning towards doing a slip over with a band clamp, but haven't ruled out using a vband.

[UnderControl]

Well, the exhaust is mocked up to about where the muffler is going to sit. Just need to make some mounts for the muffler and finish it out.

 

Other than that I have been a bad Datsun owner and haven't touched it all week thanks to my new to me replacement daily.

 

 

 

I've been spending my evenings doing some maintenance and getting my short, mid and long term parts lists together. I also had to do away with the altezza tails.

 

Unrelated note, I have a pretty awesome girlfriend.

[UnderControl]

Well as you might imagine it has been a busy couple of weeks so not much of substance to report.  I did manage to spend a little time this evening working on the truck though.

 

 

Made a plate, or rather pulled a sheet out of my scrap bin, to mount the fuel pump and one of the filters to.  This is mounted to the underside of the bed just slightly offset from the sump of the cell. The zipties are only temporary while I am measuring for the hoses, which are being a giant pain in the ass to assemble. Out of town again this weekend so we'll see how far I get before I leave.

[UnderControl]

Well, between holidays, getting the new daily caught up on maintenance and getting the old daily prepped for sale I haven't had a whole lot of time to devote to the truck.  I did manage to finally finish the frame for the fuel cell box. All that is left to do is skin it with some 20ga. and bolt it down.