1975 620 Longbed "Shelley"

[Jskinny]

Hello Ratsun!

 

After many hours perusing different topics and following some of your builds I have finally obtained a truck of my own! She's a white 1975 Longbed that is surprisingly complete. PO said he just kept it running while he had it.

 

The only changes are:

Weber 32/36 Carb with a janky manifold adapter

Lowered about 2" front & back

A 3rd seatbelt

A fuel tank that measures approximately 12x12x36", so about 22ish gallons.

Emissions/EGR delete

 

The previous owner said it used to belong to a refinery (hence the Shell logos), which is when the bigger fuel tank was added. Then it sat in a field for a while, during which the hood was left up and subsequently bent back over the windshield during a windstorm. That hood was replaced with the red one currently installed. I got the original hood and it seems to have only minor damage.

 

I figured I'd start my own build thread to keep track of stuff, I'm not expecting to create a saga like some of the guys on here, but we'll see how it goes. I'll be taking my time with this project and just having fun. 

 

Current plans:

Front disc conversion - I installed new shoes, cylinders hoses in the front, both cylinders were leaking, but long term I don't want to worry about only having drums and constantly adjusting them. They'll be fine until i can figure out the conversion. I've seen some great things about Mike's Bluehands conversion kit, but also that he is no longer making them. Open to any suggestions there. 

Get it running smoothly - its running a bit rich at the moment, and i can hear a vacuum leak coming from behind and towards the passenger side of the carb. This may be due to the carb adapter but when i checked everything seemed to be tight enough and i didn't hear much change when i removed and reinstalled it. I have a set of NGK spark plugs to go in but need to address vaccum leaks before messing with the carb.

Add some kind of bedliner to stop the bed rusting through

Swap to a 5 speed - someday it would be nice to have an extra gear for highway driving/roadtrips.

Interior refresh

 

Here are some photos, lets see if I got this right:

 

 

 

 

 

Started on the front brakes & repolaced both front hoses:

 

Before:

 

After:

 

The shifter was also pretty sloppy so after looking closer the bushings had disintegrated, so I 3d printed a few to tide me over until i get some brass ones. They were ~50$ on ebay so i'm curious to see how long the printed ones will last.

 

Looking forward to learning more about these trucks and keeping one on the road!

Edited February 27 by Jskinny

[Jskinny]

Forgot to add, here are my spark plugs, for reference. 2 & 4 seem the darkest but not sure exactly how bad they are.

[Skib]

6 hours ago, Jskinny said:

The shifter was also pretty sloppy so after looking closer the bushings had disintegrated, so I 3d printed a few to tide me over until i get some brass ones. They were ~50$ on ebay so i'm curious to see how long the printed ones will last.

 

 

Lot of em are nylon, so something like PETG or a Poly would prob last quite a while.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Cool truck!

[iceman510]

Doesn't say here that the kit is no longer made.

 

http://www.bluehandsinc.com/320520521620-disc-brake-kit.html

 

I need to get one of these too.

[]2eDeYe]

Nice truck. 🙂

[Jskinny]

51 minutes ago, iceman510 said:

Doesn't say here that the kit is no longer made.

 

http://www.bluehandsinc.com/320520521620-disc-brake-kit.html

 

I need to get one of these too.

Yeah good news, I contacted him and he's getting one ready to go for me (thanks Mike!). I must have been looking at a different set. 

 

 

Engine bay photo: 

What's the elbow port on the top of the valve cover? It has a pin or something inside, not sure if it's a breather or something else. I've seen other L20Bs have a small air filter on it. Is this something I should get?

 

Went for a drive the last two evenings, and am trying to figure out a few things with the gas pedal/throttle.

 

The gas pedal isn't very smooth, it gets harder to press about 1/3 of the way to the floor, then gives way and goes smoothly the rest of the way:

 

Also has a bit of play side to side as well as front/back - shown here: 

 

 

 

I sprayed a bit of WD40 in both ends of the throttle cable housing and it seemed to get a bit better, but is there a better grease I should be using or should I be looking elsewhere for the solution? 

 

Is this too much slack on the throttle cable? It's about 1/8" when I pull it out a bit.

 

 

 

[thisismatt]

The step/resistance in the throttle is the secondaries opening up. Mine was initially kind of sticky but has broken in to where I don't really notice it anymore.

 

Elbow is the breather....supposed to be hooked up to the intake via pcv valve but hardly anyone does, hence the little filter.

 

Throttle cable shouldn't really need any slack. WD40 isn't really much of a lube. Maybe try some white lithium

 

[Crashtd420]

6 hours ago, thisismatt said:

The step/resistance in the throttle is the secondaries opening up. Mine was initially kind of sticky but has broken in to where I don't really notice it anymore.

 

Elbow is the breather....supposed to be hooked up to the intake via pcv valve but hardly anyone does, hence the little filter.

 

Throttle cable shouldn't really need any slack. WD40 isn't really much of a lube. Maybe try some white lithium

 

Elbow on the top of the valve cover goes to the air box....

The block vent below the manifold goes to the pcv and intake....

[thisismatt]

7 minutes ago, Crashtd420 said:

Elbow on the top of the valve cover goes to the air box....

The block vent below the manifold goes to the pcv and intake....

Yes, sorry, brain fart...you would think that would be obvious considering the PCrankcaseV valve 🤣

[mklotz70]

LOL.....caught be a bit by surprise when you said I was getting a brake kit ready for you.  With all the different names, it gets confusing....but I figure jeepskinn is pretty close to jskinny......so it must be you.  The bolts came in yesterday, so I'll be packing it up this morning when I get home.  

[datzenmike]

 

I believe these shoes are on wrong. You can see that the linings are not evenly spaced but closer to the top and bottom. The front and rear shoes should be swapped. The leading shoe lining should be farther away from the wheel cylinder or in the direction of turning. This takes advantage of the servo action of the lining actually trying to pull itself into the drum producing free increased braking. All wheels must match this or some will brake more than others. Certainly more braking on one side is not desirable. If all the shoes are on this way the truck will stop backing up better than going forward.

 

 

 

This is terribly wrong. The pull direction of the cable must be in a line with it's connection to the throttle. Get one from an old Hitachi used on a truck or later '70s car. You'll find that the part you are pinching fits and locks into place and does not require that nut and bolt. This will also help with the off set problem.

 

 

Maybe this is a little clearer. You can see how the cable end fits the carburetor. The pull is an even tangent to the throttle plate as it pulls around.

 

 

 

 

 

[banzai510(hainz)]

On my 521 I did not have the cable holder with the slot. I used the stock cable holder and drill out a new new to offset the cable then cit a slot for the cable to slip thru for the weber as is move the line up.

[datzenmike]

Under most driving conditions the PCV valve draws crank case air into the intake to be burned and make up air is drawn in through the elbow on the valve cover. Stock, this air is from inside the air filter. Under certain heavy throttle conditions the blow by exceeds what the PCV can handle and the extra reverses direction and flows out the valve cover. Normally it would be sucked into the carburetor. Putting a small filter on the elbow does nothing for keeping the blow by stink out of the cab. On old oil burners the filter will drip oil. Why not do it right?

[Jskinny]

14 hours ago, datzenmike said:

I believe these shoes are on wrong. You can see that the linings are not evenly spaced but closer to the top and bottom. The front and rear shoes should be swapped. The leading shoe lining should be farther away from the wheel cylinder or in the direction of turning. This takes advantage of the servo action of the lining actually trying to pull itself into the drum producing free increased braking. All wheels must match this or some will brake more than others. Certainly more braking on one side is not desirable. If all the shoes are on this way the truck will stop backing up better than going forward.

 

 

That makes sense, I was getting a bit confused since the new shoes are slightly different than the old ones. I'll swap them and see how it improves. I did the same to both sides so at least there wasn't any uneven brake pull. 

 

 

14 hours ago, datzenmike said:

 

This is terribly wrong. The pull direction of the cable must be in a line with it's connection to the throttle. Get one from an old Hitachi used on a truck or later '70s car. You'll find that the part you are pinching fits and locks into place and does not require that nut and bolt. This will also help with the off set problem.

 

Maybe this is a little clearer. You can see how the cable end fits the carburetor. The pull is an even tangent to the throttle plate as it pulls around.

 

 

 

I wasn't paying too close attention to what was going on there, but i looked closer and yeah it looks like it was a similar scenario hainz mentioned. 

14 hours ago, banzai510(hainz) said:

On my 521 I did not have the cable holder with the slot. I used the stock cable holder and drill out a new new to offset the cable then cit a slot for the cable to slip thru for the weber as is move the line up.

 

Just a random piece of scrap metal with a slot and 2 holes.

 

I drilled a third one to move the cable out and up farther, and added a spacer to pick up a bit of the slack. Added some lithium grease (thanks matt) and the gas pedal is much smoother now. I am really appreciating how simple old cars are. (he says, having only just started)

 

 

15 hours ago, datzenmike said:

Get one from an old Hitachi used on a truck or later '70s car.

I'll definitely keep an eye out and see what comes up.

[Jskinny]

16 hours ago, mklotz70 said:

LOL.....caught be a bit by surprise when you said I was getting a brake kit ready for you.  With all the different names, it gets confusing....but I figure jeepskinn is pretty close to jskinny......so it must be you.  The bolts came in yesterday, so I'll be packing it up this morning when I get home.  

Yep you got me. Much appreciated!

[banzai510(hainz)]

pAINT THE HOOD FLAT BLACK AND THE TRUCK WILL LOOK COOLER

 

 As for the carb linkage ???????????? that will work its way loose ove time and your ll stuck. have spare bolts I guess and a tool box.

 

someone could have a cable holder or get ahold of a weber dist and just buy one

[datzenmike]

 

Nice try but this is a short term fix. I do applaud the effort but that cable will wear and fray. Find the proper connection.

[Jskinny]

On 9/21/2022 at 6:25 AM, datzenmike said:

Nice try but this is a short term fix. I do applaud the effort but that cable will wear and fray. Find the proper connection.

 Lol don't worry, its definitely not staying like that for much longer. Mainly was so I could get the gas pedal to feel how I like it.

 

I swapped the shoes around and the brakes already feel a bit better. Made the rookie mistake of forgetting the drum was off and hit the brakes, came back around to this:

 

Got Mike's brake conversion kit yesterday. Slowly accumulating the rest of the parts needed before i start the install.

 

 

 

[hobospyder]

oh man i need to hop on the computer more often, can actually see locations

 

SKAGIT???????

 

like, washington skagit???

[Charlie69]

Your throttle cable is fine change the cable bracket on the carb to this type.   I harvest these off of the stock carbs all the way through 320-720 trucks.

 

 

[Jskinny]

On 9/27/2022 at 7:55 AM, hobospyder said:

oh man i need to hop on the computer more often, can actually see locations

 

SKAGIT???????

 

like, washington skagit???

 

Yep, looks like I'm just down the road from you in Mount Vernon.

[Jskinny]

On 9/27/2022 at 9:16 AM, Charlie69 said:

Your throttle cable is fine change the cable bracket on the carb to this type.   I harvest these off of the stock carbs all the way through 320-720 trucks.

 

 

Been doing some research and I came across this which i believe would be perfect due to the extra length, but the closest i could find is the second arm:

 

Waiting to check a junkyard and see if they happen to have anything that fits while I'm there for other parts, otherwise I'll try out the second arm like you said and see how straight I can get the cable. 

 

 

 

[banzai510(hainz)]

how about this since its your DREAM Truck and want to do it right

https://www.ebay.com/itm/304105286831?chn=ps&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1zZhXTl0YS2S1wHJp-q6plw99&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-213727-13078-0&mkcid=2&itemid=304105286831&targetid=4580153136941811&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=&poi=&campaignid=437225722&mkgroupid=1224856224320848&rlsatarget=pla-4580153136941811&abcId=9300906&merchantid=51291&msclkid=ac45d50dcdab13d11ca8b6397fbd876e

[Jskinny]

That is one of the ones i've been looking at since it has the guide as well, but wouldn't that go back to the angle problem as it was before? The bracket with the cable housing dosn't seem very adjustable...