Ben_upde Posted July 30, 2018 Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 Hello all. You’ve likely seen a few photos i’ve posted up but here is my official intro thread as I fly home tomorrow and can actually get started on it. Just a quick background, my first car was a ‘75 620 back in ‘96. Drove the ever lovin piss outta that truck and it NEVER failed me. Fast forward 20+ years and I decided I needed another. Being 6’ tall with very long legs a regular cab was out so I started the search for a King Cab. Found this ‘79, struck up a deal and since my parents only lived 2 hours from it they picked it up for me. It was still 8 hours from me so it hitched a rode behind a co-worker for the remainder of the stretch home. While away on vacation a friend arranged procurement of a set of wheels that were absolutely essential to the look I have dreamed up Also got notification that my flares will ship soon and I should have them within a couple weeks I’ll continue updating as parts come in and progress is made. 4 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted July 30, 2018 Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 WTF? the rears are 10" wide? Will thew L20B turn them??? ? I hate that Nissan bolted the front bumper to the front fenders. ANY bump in the front buckles the fender(s). Looks good for rust! 2 Quote Link to comment
Ben_upde Posted July 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 Just now, datzenmike said: WTF? the rears are 10" wide? Will thew L20B turn them??? ? I hate that Nissan bolted the front bumper to the front fenders. ANY bump in the front buckles the fender(s). Looks good for rust! The L20b may have trouble but the Audi 1.8t I have laying around waiting to go in with a mediumish turbo and mild tune will do the job nicely. I purchased it with the assumption the engine in it is bad. Basically it’s an unknown as of yet. It looks like i’ll be able to straighten everything out fairly easily. The hardest part appears to be the leading edge of the front fenders where there is a bit of damage. Appears to be quite solid as far as rust goes. Drivers floorboard had surface rust and some scaling due to the window regulator having been half-ace removed. Luckily a junkyard donated a regulator and it’s weathertight for the time being. 1 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted July 30, 2018 Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 Just kidding. Have had 5 or 6 L20Bs over 40 years. Drove one to work today. 2 Quote Link to comment
Ben_upde Posted July 30, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 I got the sarcasm. Funtana seems to do a fine job of it ? I mostly want to do the swap because I know 1.8t’s like the back of my hand and can handle all aspects of the swap wiring and tuning myself, along with any and all advanced diagnosis. Plus if I decide to get retarted in the future, i’m only a turbo, tune and injectors away from ~500hp. 3 Quote Link to comment
Guest Mojo510 Posted July 30, 2018 Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 Grabbing some popcorn, sitting back and watching this. Never seen an Audi eng in a Datsun yet! The 1.8t is a great platform to start with, easy to mod and tune and if you already have one and know it, why not. S Quote Link to comment
paradime Posted July 30, 2018 Report Share Posted July 30, 2018 My wife had a Turbo Beetle with that engine and I was blown away by how much low end it had and almost perfectly flat power curve. Brilliantly designed engine. 2 Quote Link to comment
Trochu Posted July 31, 2018 Report Share Posted July 31, 2018 What flares did you decide to go with? 2 Quote Link to comment
Ben_upde Posted August 1, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2018 21 hours ago, Trochu said: What flares did you decide to go with? I ended up ordering the set from a gentleman on Facebook named Pairoj Kan out of Thailand. He’s gotten pretty good reviews and the flares were exactly the size and fit I was after. Kinda in between the ebay style and the rocket bunny style. 4 Quote Link to comment
Ben_upde Posted August 1, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2018 Spent a whopping 15 minutes on the ‘bad engine’ in the truck to see if it would even run. Valves are noisy, in dire need of adjustment, smog pump was not connected so noise from that, and most of the vacuum lines were rotted away. Not to mention I never put any gas in the fuel tank at all, it’s running on whatever was in it from when it was parked in 2012. 3 Quote Link to comment
Ben_upde Posted August 3, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2018 Did a little playing with the lip I ordered from jimmy_machine001@yahoo.com on ebay with an extra valance I had from a junkyard truck. 2 Quote Link to comment
Ben_upde Posted August 3, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2018 Popped the fiberglass liner out of the bed to see what was hiding beneath 2 Quote Link to comment
Stoffregen Motorsports Posted August 4, 2018 Report Share Posted August 4, 2018 Bed looks great. That liner must have been in there for a long time. 2 Quote Link to comment
Ben_upde Posted August 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2018 I believe it had been there since new. There are no scratches or anything in the floor at all. Moved the liner to my trailer. Probably gonna turn it into a grill and cooler tow along. 2 Quote Link to comment
Ben_upde Posted August 7, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2018 Pulled the head, cleaned everything up and installed new gaskets up top. Still have a few vacuum and exhaust leakento attend to. Probably still needs some valve adjustment and carb adjustments dialed in but runs massively better 2 Quote Link to comment
Ben_upde Posted August 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2018 Spent about 3 minutes with a scrubby pad and a bucket of soapy water 2 Quote Link to comment
banzai510(hainz) Posted August 8, 2018 Report Share Posted August 8, 2018 cool to see a old truck running again. change the fuel filter more often in the trucks. Es p if you had old gas in there(rust). Rust will block the idle jet 3 Quote Link to comment
]2eDeYe Posted August 8, 2018 Report Share Posted August 8, 2018 Nice score. I had a set of doors exactly like those for a bit. lol 3 Quote Link to comment
Ben_upde Posted August 9, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2018 Aside from a little more bumper fitting adjustments, got the nose of the truck straight and sitting nicely 1 Quote Link to comment
Ben_upde Posted August 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2018 Got an early grill and amber high beams 3 Quote Link to comment
Ben_upde Posted August 17, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2018 Brakes are all done and working proper now. Replaced the master cylinder and front brake lines, bled everything and finally have a solid pedal. Gotta replace the clutch master cylinder. The seal swelled and stuck in the bore and tore. At least they are inexpensive. Picked up another essential ‘early grill’ component as well. Gonna keep the grunge look till I get around to repainting the truck 2 Quote Link to comment
Ben_upde Posted August 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2018 Getting ready to adjust the valves so I thought i’d give my correct ‘Datsun’ valve cover a little loving before replacing the Nissan one 1 Quote Link to comment
Ben_upde Posted August 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2018 All buttoned up and pretty Been doing a bit more scrubbing/cleaning of the outside of the truck. Starting to look quite respectible ? 3 Quote Link to comment
tr8er Posted August 18, 2018 Report Share Posted August 18, 2018 Looks great! I'd rock that. 1 1 Quote Link to comment
tdaaj Posted August 19, 2018 Report Share Posted August 19, 2018 Nice wheels, glad you like them 1 Quote Link to comment
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