1974 Datsun 620 With A Twist

[Canadian510]

So if you've been following my 510 build you'll know that I picked up a 620 almost 2 years ago now and never got a chance to do anything with it.

Well I've finally got moved into the new place and have some free time so this project is kicking off!

When I first found it, inside a guys small shed at the end of his driveway, was surprisingly solid and he wanted $1500 for it.





Picked it up with a flat bed and brought it home, only thing I did in the next 2 years was take those ugly mirrors off



Truck was mainly a seat for the dog



And yesterday finally got it loaded and brought to the new place



Now the short term goals are to pull the old l18 that burns as much oil as a 2 stroke, replace it with the build l16 I had originally in the 510, throw a clutch in, and lower the truck substantially with new wheels/tires/shocks just to get it going. Once that happens ill be going with a rather unique engine/trans combo that I won't let out of the bag yet, check back for more updates!

[Byron510]

....and just leave us hanging like that! Damn, not fair

Saw a pile of 620's at Canby last weekend. These trucks have a serious following.

Byron

[Canadian510]

Not much of an update since I've been unexpectedly out of province the past week but did get some parts ordered for when I get back.

Disc brake brackets because running the stock 4 wheel drums would be way too sketchy, discs, shocks, a clutch and headgasket for the l16, and getting the mystery engine dropped off at a shop to be checked over.

Once I get the engine bay prepped and the mounts in I'll let that cat out of the bag.

Also sourced a transmission locally I just need to pick up, hopefully will have that back in roughly a week.

[Canadian510]

Got some work done in the past few days. Firstly got the truck lowered close to where i want it, need to pull/roll the rears though, little bit of poke there and i'm not a fan





And then went about pulling the tired old l18, did i do this in the opposite order i should have? Probably... Do i care? No.



Was pretty uneventful, broke the 2 trans mount bolts but the rubber was shot anyway so no big deal. Driveshaft bolts were also seized had to cut them off and pound them out. Going to swap over the front cover and a few other small things to my l16 and separate the engine and trans tomorrow.

Part of me wants to pick up some cheap shoes for the brakes so i can take it for a little spin after getting the L16 in but it would kind of be a waste since i ordered Beebani's full balljoint/coilover front end that uses D21 discs. We'll see what happens there.

[Canadian510]

Got the engine separated from the trans today and tore the old l18 down to a short block. Probably only keeping the open chamber a87 off of it, just not enough room around for all of it and have no use for another L series block laying around. The poor old clutch was quite a site, no materiel left and most of the fasteners wore down to almost nothing, no wonder it was slipping haha.

Also transferred all my pictures in this thread from PhotoJunk to a new spot, thankfully only a few pics in this thread, my 510 one not so much :/

[andrew.lori]

Truck looks great...

[datzenmike]

Spare open chamber head is good. No good for an L16 but will work on an L20B in a pinch. Hang onto that 4 speed as a spare if your new trans ever needs work. The L18 pistons (if in good shape) will fit an L20B an give 9.27 compression. L18 crank and rods can be fitted to an L16 making it an L17. Never throw stuff away... save, sell or give it away if at all possible.

Rims are like having a super model girlfriend. Look great but YOU have to make all the changes for it to work. Know what will fit before falling in love.

[Canadian510]

Got some more work done to the truck today, l18 is fully disassembled and figuring out what i'm going to do with it. It's in rough shape, crank is very scored and the cylinders aren't the best so probably going to end up junking it unfortunately. With my limited space and 2 engines already sitting around just don't have the room for another that i'll probably never do anything with.

Engine bay waiting on the new motor, it's going to be cleaned up and slightly modified to fit the new engine.



Threw some stickers on because that's important



New engine might be dropped off this weekend then i can really start some progress on this thing

[Canadian510]

Some more work today, removed fenders, grill, bumper, and valence to check the condition of everything underneath and found some rot unfortunately. Going to grab some sheetmetal and replace the area thats bad soon





Also cleaned the engine bay up some, going to remove the battery tray next.



Things are probably on hold until the weekend now when i might be getting the engine here and can go about test fitting. Then the firewall will most likely be getting some "adjustments".

[Canadian510]

Well this has kind of gone on the back burner since I'm doing the SR20ve swap in the 510 but had a huge part of the build arrive. Beebani's full front end conversion that changes out the kingpins and torsen bars for balljoints and coilovers. This will give me the room I need to run the exhaust on the engine (which I'm still not sharing till it's in the engine bay)

[510rob]

3 rotor?

[Byron510]

What spindles/up rights and brakes does this conversion kit utilize.

Byron

[Canadian510]

What spindles/up rights and brakes does this conversion kit utilize.

Byron

Uses Hardbody spindles, hubs, brakes and QA1 coilovers. With the spindles can make use of beltech's drop version too.

3 rotor?

Wish I had that kind of money haha, but sticking with a conventional piston engine