marines2060 Posted February 27, 2019 Report Share Posted February 27, 2019 Hi all, new to the forum here and new to datsun. I picked up a 1974 datsun 620 not too long ago, its pretty rough but it has some character. Most of the things dont work, the wiring is all hacked up, so i am starting with rewiring the car. The first thing i bought though were seat beats since the driver side was only hanging on by half the treads. Next thing i had to do is change out the shocks, because the ride was TERRIBLE, turns out 2 of the 4 shocks were totally blown out, no rebound and too easy to compress. most important...pics New shocks all around. Ride is so much better, the front needs to be raised a bit still. Im researching re-indexing? bent/blow rear shock. some rust on the floor boards on both sides. Driver side they just screwed in some metal over the hole. passenger side they did tack down a metal plate but didnt cut out the rust underneath it. you can also see the "custom" headlight switch on the floor... 5th cylinder?? does anyone know why this would be plugged? more plugs 1 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted February 27, 2019 Report Share Posted February 27, 2019 Next oil change get rid of the fram filter and get a WIX or NAPA Gold. Use an engine oil high in ZDDP content, same as was used 40+ years ago when this engine was new. Todays's oils don't have enough and it's lower every year and is below half what you should have. Any oil marked 'racing' should do or what I use... Shell Rotella T 15w40 (only drive in the summer) though you can get 10W30 T4. Chevron Delo 400 is also good. Just make sure it's for a 'flat tappet cam' and they will give you the correct stuff. I would avoid any synthetic as its over priced way way more protection than you will ever need and it tends to leak past old gaskets and seals. Most of all.... get rid of that fram. While on this picture below, get gear or hose clamps on that fuel line t the carburetor. A leak, or it falls off, and that's the end of it all.... and maybe you too. This... Is a PCV valve and it shouldn't be there. If not connected it should be removed and plugged to prevent any possibility of a vacuum leak. It should go here... This hose goes to the air filter container. Hopefully it came with it. Show where this hose goes... ...and what's that aluminum thing doing there? The vacuum advance hose looks cracked... 1 Quote Link to comment
Stoffregen Motorsports Posted February 27, 2019 Report Share Posted February 27, 2019 What a roach!!! The first thing I do when I get a car/truck like this is to defunkify it. Take out, I mean physically remove everything that's weird, hacked, unsafe or otherwise screwed up. Then give it a nice spray down with Purple Power followed by a hard pressure washing. Now you have a clean blank canvas. It sounds like you're already heading the right direction. Keep it up, and you'll have something fun in no time. Once you do get the wiring sorted, and the engine fired off, get some heat into it and allow it to come back to life gently. Depending on how long it has been sitting, seals dry out and get brittle or even shrink and allow moisture into places like the brakes where it can do damage. If you allow it a few heat cycles before you hit the road, it may help. Then again, the damae may alreay be done. I am resurrecting a car that I just bought that has been sitting many years. I actually built the car when I was young (over 20 years ago) and it found it's way back to me. Anyway, I was able to get it put back together and I have been letting it run by itself in the shop while I'm working on customer vehicles. Letting it soak up some heat and loosen things up. If it were a Datsun, I'd post it here on Ratsun... 1 Quote Link to comment
marines2060 Posted February 27, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2019 2 hours ago, datzenmike said: Next oil change get rid of the fram filter and get a WIX or NAPA Gold. Use an engine oil high in ZDDP content, same as was used 40+ years ago when this engine was new. Todays's oils don't have enough and it's lower every year and is below half what you should have. Any oil marked 'racing' should do or what I use... Shell Rotella T 15w40 (only drive in the summer) though you can get 10W30 T4. Chevron Delo 400 is also good. Just make sure it's for a 'flat tappet cam' and they will give you the correct stuff. I would avoid any synthetic as its over priced way way more protection than you will ever need and it tends to leak past old gaskets and seals. Most of all.... get rid of that fram. While on this picture below, get gear or hose clamps on that fuel line t the carburetor. A leak, or it falls off, and that's the end of it all.... and maybe you too. This... Next thing i do will be this. Is a PCV valve and it shouldn't be there. If not connected it should be removed and plugged to prevent any possibility of a vacuum leak. It should go here... This hose goes to the air filter container. Hopefully it came with it. No sure if it came with it, i will have to look harder next time im in the engine bay. Show where this hose goes... ...and what's that aluminum thing doing there? This is suppose to be an overflow from the radiator, its an aftermarket aluminum radiator. The vacuum advance hose looks cracked... good catch! i will be adding some things to my list that you pointed out, thanks for the help. 1 Quote Link to comment
marines2060 Posted February 27, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2019 1 hour ago, Stoffregen Motorsports said: What a roach!!! The first thing I do when I get a car/truck like this is to defunkify it. Take out, I mean physically remove everything that's weird, hacked, unsafe or otherwise screwed up. Then give it a nice spray down with Purple Power followed by a hard pressure washing. Now you have a clean blank canvas. It sounds like you're already heading the right direction. Keep it up, and you'll have something fun in no time. Once you do get the wiring sorted, and the engine fired off, get some heat into it and allow it to come back to life gently. Depending on how long it has been sitting, seals dry out and get brittle or even shrink and allow moisture into places like the brakes where it can do damage. If you allow it a few heat cycles before you hit the road, it may help. Then again, the damae may alreay be done. I am resurrecting a car that I just bought that has been sitting many years. I actually built the car when I was young (over 20 years ago) and it found it's way back to me. Anyway, I was able to get it put back together and I have been letting it run by itself in the shop while I'm working on customer vehicles. Letting it soak up some heat and loosen things up. If it were a Datsun, I'd post it here on Ratsun... I have started the cleaning out process a little bit and getting out all the crazy shit that previous owners have done to this thing. its getting fun already, Im not sure when it was last running consistently, but every time i get in it hot or cold, it fires right up. I haven't driven it longer than 10 mins no over 45mph just because the brakes need some attention some point soon. I hear you on the seals drying out ect. It seems like the rear main seal? is leaking when i was under it looking it over. but it could be coming from a different place, the trans is completely covered in grime. thanks for the info! 2 Quote Link to comment
FrankRizzo Posted February 28, 2019 Report Share Posted February 28, 2019 FYI - I swapped my previous "heavy duty" Gabriel shocks to exact KYB's Excel's and the ride was 1000x better. I really like them! Good luck with the ride! . 1 Quote Link to comment
marines2060 Posted February 28, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2019 11 hours ago, FrankRizzo said: FYI - I swapped my previous "heavy duty" Gabriel shocks to exact KYB's Excel's and the ride was 1000x better. I really like them! Good luck with the ride! . thanks man! ive been over your build thread a few times and got a lot of ideas and info from it, thanks for doing all of that. when im doing the re-wiring am also going to do the speedhut gauges too! im excited for that. 2 Quote Link to comment
marines2060 Posted March 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2019 On 2/27/2019 at 9:51 AM, datzenmike said: This hose goes to the air filter container. Hopefully it came with it. . doesn't look like there is anything for the hose to go to on this side unless im missing something. I looked at pictures of stock air filters and i can see the hose going to somewhere on the driver side area. 1 Quote Link to comment
marines2060 Posted March 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2019 did some work on the doors the other day, Turns out the driver side door didn't open from the inside but locked from the outside, and the passenger side was the opposite. I saw that the nylon for the door rod was broken for the driver side, got that fixed and just an e clip was missing from the back of the lock on the passenger side. is there a picture or part someone can link to of what holds the door rod in the middle of the door? both of mine are broken. 2 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted March 1, 2019 Report Share Posted March 1, 2019 No you aren't missing anything yo don't have the stock air filter cover on it. The valve cover hose is only a bend about 8" long going into the housing on the passenger side. Unless you find a proper L series air filter I would run that hose down beside the block so the fumes can't enter the cab. Would you look on the side of the block behind the dipstick for me. Does it say L18? 1 Quote Link to comment
marines2060 Posted March 2, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2019 It does say L18 on it. 1 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted March 2, 2019 Report Share Posted March 2, 2019 Good because the carb is from something newer, which is fine. Thought it might be an L20B 1 Quote Link to comment
NVFireFighter Posted March 4, 2019 Report Share Posted March 4, 2019 Love that glove box hold down! ? Good luck with your find....it's got good patina. 2 Quote Link to comment
Charlie69 Posted March 6, 2019 Report Share Posted March 6, 2019 Sweet truck! scroll down on the page this link takes you to and you may down load the Factory service manual for your truck in pdf form. David Murphy 620 1 Quote Link to comment
marines2060 Posted March 18, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2019 I got to some things this weekend. I changed the shifter bushing (it was completely missing one) and it feels %1000 better. I replaced some vaccum hoses that were cracked thanks to datzenmike's catch on a previous post. Took the truck out of a little drive and it runs a lot smoother, In fact the idle now is a little higher from no more vaccum leaks. I finally got most of my electrical upgrades hoarded so i started to pull the engine and interior harness. I uncovered some more hacks and added things to my list to replace in the future. Pics.. some handy work... custom backing plate this looks real safe euro smiley ellipsoids 3 Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted March 18, 2019 Report Share Posted March 18, 2019 This will work if you remove all the old rubber and get a long thin strip of rubber. I used a strip of 1/4" conveyor belt. Then size it so that upside down U bracket is nice an snug. I intended it to be temporary but ended up leaving it for years. 1 Quote Link to comment
oukippy Posted March 18, 2019 Report Share Posted March 18, 2019 15 hours ago, marines2060 said: euro smiley ellipsoids From which car model are those headlights ? Where did you find the shifter bushings ? 1 Quote Link to comment
marines2060 Posted March 18, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2019 1 hour ago, oukippy said: From which car model are those headlights ? Where did you find the shifter bushings ? the headlights are for a bmw e30. these are depo headlights not original, i use to own an e30 for my first car, messed around with the lights/projectors. I found these on ebay. they sell them in non-smoked too. shifter bushing was a set on ebay too. link 1 Quote Link to comment
oukippy Posted March 18, 2019 Report Share Posted March 18, 2019 (edited) 12 minutes ago, marines2060 said: the headlights are for a bmw e30. these are depo headlights not original, i use to own an e30 for my first car, messed around with the lights/projectors. I found these on ebay. they sell them in non-smoked too. shifter bushing was a set on ebay too. link ok. For the shifter bushing, I had the same source in mind. I contacted the seller because of the price of $540 while I saw it at $40 some weeks ago. He explained that it's because he hasn't in stock at the moment but he will manufacture new ones soon. I saw E30 many times. Could it work with other BMW models? Edited March 18, 2019 by oukippy 1 Quote Link to comment
marines2060 Posted March 18, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2019 Just now, oukippy said: ok. For the shifter bushing, I had the same source in mind. I contacted the seller because of the price of $540 while I saw it at $40 some weeks ago. He explained that it's because he hasn't in stock at the moment but he will manufacture new ones soon. thats weird, i just noticed that. yup these were around 40 bucks and took awhile to get here but it worked well and they fit nice. 1 Quote Link to comment
oukippy Posted March 18, 2019 Report Share Posted March 18, 2019 2 minutes ago, marines2060 said: thats weird, i just noticed that. yup these were around 40 bucks and took awhile to get here but it worked well and they fit nice. He told me that he raised the price in order not to have buyers and to remain listed on ebay. A nice way to do it. 1 1 Quote Link to comment
Rat-a-tat-Dat Posted April 13, 2019 Report Share Posted April 13, 2019 Welcome aboard! I'll be sidelining while you complete your repairs. Enjoy the ride. 2 Quote Link to comment
marines2060 Posted April 15, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2019 I have been working little by little with doing the wiring on the truck. Bought some new taillights and turn signals, trying to figure out some wiring. Swapped the alternator with a subaru loyale alternator, it was nice being a direct swap. Got the e30 lights in on both the headlight buckets. Today cleaned out the hvac, the heater core was was completely filled full of crap. got new hoses for it and grommets for the firewall that fit. Made some connectors for the cab to engine wiring harness. still a ways to go with the harness running and connecting. Got some speed hut gauges in looking good. I took some time to try and put a big band aid over my dash, it has a lot of filler and so many cracks, i looked up some how to's and got a bunch of polyvance stuff to fill in the cracks and some dash filler. Painted it but done have done pictures of it yet. Is it better than was it was? yes, it is perfect? hell no. some pics... <a href="http://s817.photobucket.com/user/chonypros/media/IMG_20190325_142129_zpszipshzqv.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://oi817.photobucket.com/albums/zz91/chonypros/IMG_20190325_142129_zpszipshzqv.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo IMG_20190325_142129_zpszipshzqv.jpg"/></a> 3 Quote Link to comment
FrankRizzo Posted April 15, 2019 Report Share Posted April 15, 2019 Cool gauges! What are those? I'd like to try something like that!! . Quote Link to comment
Rat-a-tat-Dat Posted April 15, 2019 Report Share Posted April 15, 2019 The gauges are sic. I've changed my dash once and the replacement is now showing major stress too. Friggin UV's. Wiring takes patience and time, but well worth the effort. Well done! Does the Subaru alternator have a higher amperage output for your upgraded lighting? Wow, looks like you may have brought home some castaways in that heater box. That's disgusting, who crapped in your rad? A systems flush for sure. Keep'er going... 1 Quote Link to comment
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