The Adventure Begins- My 620 build thread

[dat521]

randy: cool 620 i got your message you should come by my place

[Randalla]

Will plan to visit when I get a little further along and have a list of needs. Thanks!

[AZhitman]

Guy is correct on that U67 manifold. The other (W58) is preferable, but has round ports (so it won't work with that head).

I know you're an SU guy, but a 32/36 is really the no-brainer for an L20b.

Did you check hub bore on those wheels first? I suspect you'll have a machining bill (for the fronts).

[Randalla]

Yeah Greg, I'll probably just look for a used 32/36 for the time being, just to get it on the road (know anyone who has one?). Good call on the hub bores. I'd read this might be an issue but the new alloy center bores are actually 1/2" larger than the old steel wheels. Here's a pic, sans the Toyota center caps. Now I'm trying to decide on tire size. Thinking 215 or 225 - 50 or 55 - 17's. Thoughts? The current tires are 205/70/14 in front and 275/60/15 in the rear. My Monroe shocks arrived today so I now have my weekend work lined up.

[Randalla]

Well, upon further inspection it looks like my L20B is actually an L18, given the casting numbers on the block. Build date on the door says August 1976 (a very late 1976 or very early 1977). Being a King Cab, I'd guess an early 1977. Do you think it's possible Datsun actually put L18s in the earliest 1977 620s till they ran out of them? Head casting reads A87. Looks like I'll need to return the intake/exhaust gasket set I bought, as it has round exhaust ports rather than square.

[Randalla]

Did a Google search yesterday on the original owner of the 620 to see what I could turn up. His obituary of 2/4/2020 was rich with information. Thomas Paul Schmidt was born in 1946 in post WW2 Germany. His family immigrated to the U.S. in 1952 when Thomas was 6 years old, settling in Columbus, OH. After earning an electronic technician degree from the Columbus Technical Institute, he was hired by General Electric in 1966 to service civilian radar bases, spending time in Turkey, the Aleutian Islands and Alaska. His family moved to Arizona in 1972 to build homes in Fountain Hills. In 1973 he was hired to build a chapel for a Benedictine Monastery in Saint David, AZ. Thomas eventually married high school teacher, Anne Winegardner, from Saint David, late in life in 1993. They had one child, Johnny, who became Thomas's business partner (Schmidt Builders) building "rammed earth" adobe homes in South Eastern Arizona. Thomas was active in his church in Benson, AZ, singing and playing guitar for Saturday Mass.

[Randalla]

Arghhh! This weather has really slowed me down. Don't feel much like doing anything. Did get the rear tube bumper listed early this morning on CL and installed a new set of NGK plugs.

[Randalla]

Finished cleaning up the intake manifold including fabricating a new block off plate for the EGR system and ordered up a new Weber 32-36 carb kit from Pierce Manifolds today. Should have the carb by weeks end and have everything bolted back together and the truck running again. Yesterday I bought a twisted wire disc for my angle grinder to make quicker work of the surface rust in the bed. Did a small spot and it works extremely well. Couldn't resist buffing half the hood just to see what the polished patina will look like.

[Duffman]

Nice work, Randy! Can you blast the bed or is wire wheel easier? Intake turned out nice!

[Randalla]

Probably could go either way Stephen, but the wire wheel will be a lot less messy. Worked this morning de-rusting and painting the coil and replacing some mouse eaten wiring at the ballast resistor. I also cleaned the data plate, which revealed the truck did in fact come with an L20B, not the L18 engine that's in it now.