BigBearFoley Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 So This is my 1st project car/1st Datsun/1st money pit!! :thumbup: I picked up the 620 on December 28th 2013 for 1k. After searching for about a year before I could decide on what I wanted to get. I ended up falling in love with the 620's. The body lines are beautiful and the idea of having something that no one else around me has is a huge plus. I go to tons of car meets and there are not mini trucks at all. My other car is a 2010 Subaru STi hatch. So im used to a good sized community to help out with problems and anything else that might pop up. I had no idea there was a good size community around Datsun before I looked at getting the 620 but, I am pleasantly surprised on how active it actually is. Any ways enough of the blah, blah, blah right. What I picked up is a 1978 Datsun 620 King Cab with 84,000 original miles, minimal rusting, and some big ugly mirrors on the side lol(thought it was a big truck.). The motor did not run and the brakes hardly worked but the chassis is straight and the body looked great for a 78. It is orange color code 052 I believe is what I saw on here. Hints the name the orange peanut. The only other big downfall with this truck is that the wiring was fried after the PO decided it was a good idea to cross the terminals(im redoing the harness from scratch). All of that I was a okay with because I am going to be doing most everything from the ground up. Here is a picture of the Peanut as it was about to be put on the trailer on Dec 28th. Here are my plans as of now. 1/ Ka swap but, carbed with Mikuni dual side drafts. Since I truly don't want to to deal with all the wiring from a 240. Lord only knows what the drifter before hand had done to it. :rofl: Also never owned a carbed car so i thought it was a good way to learn. 2/ Get the motor in and have everything running as it should. 3/ Upgrade brakes all the way around. Since the 78 had discs in the front im going to upgrade those(not sure with what though) and get the brackets for the back end and do the full swap. 4/ Take the motor and tranny back out and then start to tear down the body and paint with primer. 5/ Everything on the truck will be redone(remove rust and repaint with some special non rust paint forgot the name though) 6/ bag the truck. 7/ Raise the bed to fit the compressor and the new fuel cell under it. 8/ make the hardwood bed like the old 50's fords had that raises( hinge style not hydraulics like a new car hood.) so that I can access the compressor and tank and fuel cell. 9/ finish the cosmetic touches and paint. 10/ Done! enjoy! Those seem like 10 easy steps right.... I am going to be doing most everything my self so I learn how to do it. with the guidance of others. from the brakes to paint to bag install and custom fabrication. I will post updates as I go to keep anyone who wants to know in the loop. I will also probably end up doing a couple of write ups through out so that other people might have an easier time doing these things. Anyways my name is Johnny and this is my 1978 620 King Cab. 1 Quote Link to comment
Eagle_Adam Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 big dreams, plans in place, a pic, and a good intro! well done, and welcome to ratsun! now we need a lot more pics ;) Quote Link to comment
]2eDeYe Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Welcome, sounds like a bit of work ahead of you. Take lots of pics, cause we like them. :D Quote Link to comment
datrod Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Nice score. Keep the pic's coming and good luck with your top 10 list. Welcome to Ratsun. Quote Link to comment
BigBearFoley Posted January 6, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Thank you guys I actually picked up the KA this weekend out of a 95 240sx Drove 5 hours down from Jacksonville Florida to get there and hauled it back in my Subaru. I love that thing its so versatile. I promise there will be plenty of pictures of the truck i love sharing my progress. hopefully it will not be to slow. Motor in the trunk. Pulling the transmission from another 240 in a local junkyard on the 1st of the year. I think I may go to the junkyard on the first every year great was to start of the year. I was 50% off everything which might I say was awesome! To bad the motor from that was shot. Also built a work bench in the house since I have a room that is unused and no garage just a car port. I will move it out to my shed once the motor is rebuilt. Until then this is my set up which I am quite happy with. Built the work bench yesterday for less than $45 its 6' long and 24" deep and 3 1/4' tall. Needs a shelf though so i can put more parts on it. If anybody has any need for parts from my l20b let me know im going to be pulling it soon. Starting the rebuild on the Ka this weekend. Going to clean it up tonight and tear it down the rest of the way. Again thanks for the welcome! Oh and Adam I am reading through your thread round 2 fight. Finding out some good information. Might pm you about some questions if you are willing to help out a tad. 3 Quote Link to comment
Farmer Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Welcome to ratsun Quote Link to comment
Eagle_Adam Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Oh and Adam I am reading through your thread round 2 fight. Finding out some good information. Might pm you about some questions if you are willing to help out a tad. id be happy to help! but only cus that pic made me lolz in the middle of a meeting at work ;) 3 Quote Link to comment
'70dime Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 Glad someone on here pick this up, I tried to get my pops to ride over and get it but he didn't have the time. Quote Link to comment
BigBearFoley Posted January 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 Glad someone on here pick this up, I tried to get my pops to ride over and get it but he didn't have the time. Yeah I spent a lot of time talking about price with him. He was originally asking 3200 for it. I went to look at it with 1k cash in hand and he took it so I cannot complain! so excited to get moving on this project. There was another one I was looking at but it sold before I got back from the holidays. I ordered the rebuild kit for my ka motor. its going to be basically rebuilt from the ground up. nothing special just decided to redo OEM since I don't want a ton of power. Also a big thank you to Eagle_Adam for helping me on my way will be talking to you more my friend. going to be cleaning the motor and parts and finish treaing it down today. I will take many more photos tonight. On a funny side not apparently my king cab was the home to a hornets nest in the recent past. None in there now but, I went to take the dash off and it scared the S*** out of me lol. once im off work today ill snap some pictures! Quote Link to comment
denmarkboy Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 big dreams, plans in place, a pic, and a good intro! well done, and welcome to ratsun! all you had to say was Orange and you had my attention ! now we need a lot more pics ;) Quote Link to comment
Eagle_Adam Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 easy to please since the wifey is gone denmarkboy? :rofl: Quote Link to comment
denmarkboy Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 I am partial to orange ! And that other thing makes me pretty happy to ! 1 Quote Link to comment
Eagle_Adam Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 all good i guess you could say i have a thing for green...... 1 Quote Link to comment
BigBearFoley Posted January 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 Not sure where i am going to go color wise but thats a long way down the road for me at this point. Quote Link to comment
BigBearFoley Posted January 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 So last night I got the last of the KA torn down. Decided that after i inspected the parts that the bearings had alot of wear on them so those are getting replaced. Crank rods and pistons look excellent still besides them being dirty. The rings were all in tact and seemed to be in good shape. Also the cylinder walls look super smooth. Any ways so i know you guys like pictures so here are a few. start didnt look to bad in here Pistons Bare block Also had some trouble with the dash last night and now it is ruined..... :( Quote Link to comment
]2eDeYe Posted January 9, 2014 Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 Gotta remove that cigarette lighter first :) 1 Quote Link to comment
Eagle_Adam Posted January 9, 2014 Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 40 yr old plastic sucks... Quote Link to comment
BigBearFoley Posted January 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2014 Yeah I got the lighter out but I put my hand trough the plastic and cracked it in the process lol. I will plastic weld it and redo it for now until I get money for a new one. My dash is fairly messed up so im going to be getting a new one. seen a couple on ebay so ill pick one up soon. Quote Link to comment
BigBearFoley Posted January 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 So took the Block off to a local shop to have it hot tanked and inspected. place: -Precision Machine Service http://www.power-engines.com/ Whats being done: -Hot tank -inspection(for cracks and bore) on the owners first glance im probably going to have to bore it out. Which is unfortunate but, if I have to so be it. Just not exactly what I wanted to put my money into. Does any one have a good suggestion on what to bore the KA to? I see that the .020 and .040 are fairly common with no problems. any suggestions are welcome at this point. Quote Link to comment
Work280 Posted January 10, 2014 Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 Nice pick looks like a good truck ! The bore depends what the cylinders look like the mechanic will most likely mic it to see for taper of the cylinder and out of round. Then suggest a bore size. The smaller the bore in my option the better a minimal compression drop and I mean small and you will have thick cylinder walls that will disperse heat better which means a better chance of not over heating as easy. That's my two cents. I just put a ka in my truck and it makes it really fun and reliable. Keep it up and you will have a nice truck when your all done Quote Link to comment
Boxcar Posted January 10, 2014 Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 Welcome to the addiction. Love the plan and the pics. And most of all, the fire place in the shop. Almost spit up my breakfast. Quote Link to comment
heretic Posted January 10, 2014 Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 great looking truck & I love how clean & cozy your workspace is :) Quote Link to comment
BigBearFoley Posted January 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 Welcome to the addiction. Love the plan and the pics. And most of all, the fire place in the shop. Almost spit up my breakfast. Gotta love having an extra room in the house! But boy was the old burn oil in that motor smelly. I didnt think about it until it was to late. Nice pick looks like a good truck ! The bore depends what the cylinders look like the mechanic will most likely mic it to see for taper of the cylinder and out of round. Then suggest a bore size. The smaller the bore in my option the better a minimal compression drop and I mean small and you will have thick cylinder walls that will disperse heat better which means a better chance of not over heating as easy. That's my two cents. I just put a ka in my truck and it makes it really fun and reliable. Keep it up and you will have a nice truck when your all done Yeah i figured they would but, I figured I would see if anyone has any better info than I did. I hope I dont have to do anything more than pay them for the cleaning and checking :) Honestly I cant wait to get this thing up and running! It will be a long process and hopefully be completely worth it in the end. Quote Link to comment
Work280 Posted January 10, 2014 Report Share Posted January 10, 2014 It's always worth it if you enjoy the process and the finished product Quote Link to comment
willz Posted January 11, 2014 Report Share Posted January 11, 2014 I noticed you mentions lifting the bed for a fuel cell. Do you mean temporarily removing the bed? Or actually lifting it to fit a feul cell? Quote Link to comment
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