CopyDat's CA18 520 '68

[copydat]

Building - Datsun 620 LWB 78 model

Engine - CA18DET

 

Why? I like the lines of the 620, I would prefer a SWB model but beggers can't be choosers! Datsun 620's are rare in Australia - cheap old farm cars that a lot of us learn how to drive, crash and destroy in from about the age of 8 to 10 years. This is how a lot of them end up in paddocks rusting away! :angry:

 

(This is my intro thread as well)

 

 

 

 

I found this cherry in a car yard in Sydney's south, looks like a previous trades persons utility. Was prettied up for the yard with some white spray paint and some new leads. This thing was on its last legs. Of course it had the timber tray which for me is a huge no no. Big heavy and kind of useless unless you want to carry things that are bigger than the ute itself! Sold the tray for a sweet $50.

 

The truck was on offer at $2,500, I got it for $1,800 with 12 months rego. It ran very rough and the carbs had mud and silt in them from top to bottom. The under body was covered in this silty greasy clay stuff. My theory of this being owned previously by a inner city italian painter quickly went out the window when I took a closer look at all the running gear, steering controls etc - all covered in this muck!

I drove it around for a bit, had the carby cleaned and enjoyed the J15 with column 4 speed. Everytime I went over a bridge or up or down a hill it died, like fuel starvation, but it was the opposite - it was flooding and for the life of me I couldn't get it to run right and stop konking out! Replaced fuel pump, still no good! So I ripped out the engine and got a slab of beer for it.

 

 

 

I have a few reasons why my build takes so long. I work full time and study at University the rest of the time, which totally sucks arse! Thinking of chucking it in as I love working on my car and have a keen interest in getting back out on the race track on my next motorcycle track bike. But these things all have to wait. Another issue I have to overcome is the space - I have a single garage which is approximately 7 metres in length and about 3 metres width. It does however have a very high ceiling! Hence the timber level I put in for storage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Installed a shadow board to get the tools up off the bench. You can see when we start working on cars or bikes everything starts to get very cramped and its like playing TETRIS just to get some stuff done.

 

Anyway - back to some real simple stuff - I know you guys love the pics so I'll try and take more as I progress later on with the project. I painted the late model (crap) grill black and order the Datsun badge which it didn't have, the grill and badge are not compatible so it is held on rock solid by a zip tie!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After it ran out of rego I decided to strip down completely and rebuild from scratch, big dreams I think. Every old car I have owned has suffered from rust - I hate the shit! So I was initially stripping this down to get it submerged in a chemical bath to float off the paint and rust from every surface. This isn't cheap! The 620 also raises some issues around the box sections it has, pillars, sills and front bumper, not to mention the windscreen mechanisum arms under the windscreen section. This would all be stripped back to bare metal and could not be painted. I know it doesn't have paint on it anyway but the thought of having bare metal inside the box sections made me re think the chemical bath. I don't like the idea of having to fish oil all the seals and spray inside the box sections and then wait for months while the fish oil seeps out.... So I decided to just get it sandblastered, well glass bead blastered.

 

 

 

Tracking down a LWB tub was more difficult than I'd first thought! We have a mob here in Australia that have the Thailand Repro LWB tubs that have been pressed. For some weird reason the tubs are 2.75m in length. Which in my opinion is crazy long and would never get a park in Sydney, let alone fit in my garage!!! The standard length for the LWB was something like 2.4m in length which is a massive tub/bed anyway! So I found 3 available to me - one in Tasmania the little island off the south of Victoria which would have cost me a bomb to freight to Sydney! another complete LWB 620 in Adelaide which I almost convinced the guy to seperate his tub for me, but no deal and again the freight would have killed it. Then a now mate of mine that I met over the Net found a LWB 620 with tub out at some farm somewhere and that the truck had been sitting in a paddock for years! I had to purchase the entire vehicle or trash as someone else put it, to get the tub!

Check it! The cab is my original cab as the green cab was disposed of.

 

 

 

After heavy degreasing for 2.5hrs

 

 

The panels in my Mum's Subaru for the long hawl out to Bargo to pick up the tub and then take to the blasters in Blacktown!

 

[copydat]

Inspiration:

This thing below is one of the main inspiration I have for my build, I love everything Jap, bikes, cars & engines - I also like the baby blue that ake_kaka has used on the Thailand Bangkok 620! With tan interior that thing looks tight!

Gary510 is a true inspiration to all Datsun owners with his fab techniques that just amaze! Greiggy with his show ute with a big ass SR20 dumped in it! That thing is amazing!

 

 

Below are just some cool cars that I have seen recently on my travels - not inspiration as such but I think you guys will like them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Picking up my CA18 in my old Datsun 12oo

 

 

 

I'll provide some more pics of my engine coming together. Got some issues with it at the moment regarding ring gaps.

 

Updates will be slow!

[copydat]

It used to run - J15 massive! hahahaha

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLK3J4JnBhA

[flatcat19]

This guy is keeper. Came loaded with the Oics!

 

Should turn out great. You've got some drive behind ya, it seems. Good luck on the truck. Can't wait to see this thing come along.

Great start so far.

 

And welcome to Ratsun!

[Rob W.]

Looking good. It seems like you have a pretty good idea of where your going with this. So other than the motor swap whats the plan or are you just going to try to much that sweet looking blue one that inspired you?? Oh nice bike too what is it??

[copydat]

Yeah just trying to get it put back together, nice paint, straight ish and fun to drive. Oh and useful for hauling motos!

Moto? Which one? Hahaha

The cafe style one is my buddies enfield 500 single, the custom pull apart is a Kawasaki Zephyr750 which he is currently building & the track bike on my profile is my old Yamaha R6 2006 model.... Since sold cause I don't have the space with my new project!

[Rob W.]

The Enfield was the one the Kawisaki you had the pipes off of was cool too.

[Zeke- Aus- Li]

nice man :rolleyes: lwb is the way to go!

[Pedro]

Coming along nicely! The J15 will be getting some love in the next few months then going in a 411 wagon :)

[copydat]

thanks mate - yeah I took off the fuel tank and drained it and so much shit came out, blew the lines out with air and heaps of gunk came out - not much seemed to make it to the filter though....This will be getting all new larger lines anyway. The carb on that J has been cleaned and serviced, I've now realised the issue was coming from the tank. If I use this tank again I'm going to strip it using molasses inside and out. I'd like to try mount a R31 65L fuel tank up where the spare normally goes so its behind the diff. But speculation about ride height could be an issue. Stock ride would be fine but I'm going to reset the leafs and have it lower.....

 

That 411 better have venetians!! Good to see the J will get some love and some style!

 

The 620 is in thirds at the blasters at the moment, chassis and tub has been blasted, apparently the tub looks like swiss cheese!!! I'm heading out there this Friday morning to dig out some of the seal goo inside the cab to improve the gritt penetration. I'll take pics.

 

 

 

 

[Gary]

lookin nice! LWB's reprazent :thumbup: CA's are coooooolll

 

i see lots of bike-project-talk about the place, its got me thinking i want one :( that may/may not have something to do with a pretty lady i saw riding one near my house the other day though :rolleyes:

[Greiggy]

wow you have a good starting base there geordie !!! make sure you snap up any other wrecks around the place as they are becoming harder to find as you know and surely if there is people around with spares its always awesome to help people out with said spares.

 

thank you for mentioning/using my build as inspiration... its just a humble car, with similar beginnings to yours!

 

its taken a long time and hard work to get to where it is now with a long time to go - sometimes it seems too much but i know when mine is finished and driving i'll never sell unless necessary (life and death)

 

keep at it - stick to a single idea the whole way through if possible and make sure to do things right the first time - these vehicles are definatley needed around for another 30 years :D

[]2eDeYe]

CA 620 Sweet, excited to watch the progress. :cool:

 

Welcome aboard, well done intro :lol:

[copydat]

Thanks for the comments and welcome! Gotta give props to my mate BK building the Kawasaki daily - he sent me some recent pics yesterday and its coming together nicely!

 

Headed out to the blaster this morning before work, getting up early for once was a bit rough....... Simple stuff today, I just headed out to remove some of the rubber seal stuff left under the dash where it joins to firewall to floor to wheel archs etc etc. Lucky I did cause there was rust behind there and I even added another hole in the firewall under the far right side of the windscreen with my screwdriver:huh: .

 

I took a very quick look at the panels, chassis and tub. There is so much work to be done, it was a little overwhelming...... But I'll be right. I have a welder helping me out with the repairs. The tub is total swiss cheese, it was actually better than I was expecting but I expected the floor to have fallen out. The blast doesn't get the rubber or sound deadner off and the black shit that someone poured all over the foot wells/floor pans. I ordered some of those floor pans from Thailand from Dett a guy on here, hope to see them soon. I could have just welded in any piece of metal I spose but the fact that I could get some left and right floor pans with the cab mount holes and everything just made it feel a bit more of an original restore..... So won't bother blasting the floor out.

 

All in all the pics tell the update.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[copydat]

Still haven't picked up the 620 yet - made a call into blasters to make sure the nicky is all blown out as he didn't want to touch it cause of fear of warping panels etc. I just told him to do it anyway as I don't want to be treating rust under bog patches. I got a repro tailgate from this mob I dislike in QLD - I won't mention who they are but there is a reason for all the neg feedback on ebay! Tailgate arrived with a dint and a corner creased. The original box which was inside another box had been pressed on and creased the box and the insides. Obviously no one bothered to check and ofcourse they blame transit. I don't really give a toss as this isn't going to be a show car, but why bother being in business if you supply cheap rubbish parts and still can't get that done right??? Give up I say!

 

 

You can just make out the line in the left corner - this is after I bent it back by hand.

 

Thought I would share some picks of my buddies Kawaka! coming along nicely at the moment. Tail end is on and mounted - we are just fitting a tail light which requires some thinking before cutting the fibre glass tail piece. Got some nice straight through cans on it which make it sound like a fire breather! Shame the bark is bigger than its bite! But all in all I'm very impressed with my mates eye and detail. He is utilising my shed at the moment getting it ready for rego, got the space until my truck comes back.

First shot is the before rear end.

 

 

 

 

 

Hopefully next post I have some Datto stuff and maybe a vid of the moto in action. Sounds wild!

[NWOleman]

i like it so far! that will be a cool ride when your done.

[copydat]

it will be ages before I'm done....... The ute is out at a guys place 2hrs south of Sydney. I trailered it down there last week in bare metal, rain clouds looming. I got down there at 5pm just getting dark and got it off wrapped it in blankets and a huge rug as the panels had already started getting cold. (note: nothing is straight on this car now - it looks terrible, every panel, every angle is warped and wobbly. They even rolled the cab around on some tires and tipped it on its side to blast underneath and bent the engine bay top rails!!!) The guy I have fixing the holes ensures he can fix everything. It looks like a car that has been in a war zone at the moment.

Anyway it was wrapped in blankets then drop sheets of plastic over the top, then wrapped in that awesome cargo wrap for pallets ALL OVER. About a hundred times round! Then a huge tarp and a bit more plastic wrap and some rope. Just as I was finished with the rope it started to rain!!! hahaha, how lucky is that!?!? And last weekend we had the most rain Sydney has seen in ages. I'm hoping that the paint grip stuff has done its job and stopped any flash rusting from appearing. We are trying to get primer on it asap but the logistics and space is always an issue.

 

I post some pics with primer on next time I"m down there. Then the body repairs will start.

[Gary]

i wouldnt worry too much about the cab rails :)

 

being a full chassis all that reeally matters is the frame underneath, as long as the the cab looks ok in the end noone will really argue. course cab mounts too

 

if bodywork isnt pristine dont let it get you down, if you're gunna use the ute you'll be glad in not worring about bodywork that much. can still be clean and lookin good, but trying to keep it perfect ruins the fun in using it i reckon

 

hope it all works out anywho :D

[copydat]

cab rails probably wasn't the right term or phrase - its the top part of the engine bay where the front quarter panels bolt on it, you know the bit where the bonet sits over - one side is a nice factory line and the other side, (the side he leant the cab over on) is bent in slightly. Yeah this is going to be a daily and used to carry motobikes and the like, but I don't want gumby front panels as the lines is what I'm all about with 620s

[Gary]

ah i see, easy enough to bend back nice :D

[Greiggy]

goerdie wheres your updates!!

 

your bonnet supports left friday mate and the mounts will be this friday !!!

[copydat]

Hey mate, thanks for that.

Geez you must have had to dig deep to find my thread?!?

As you can see there ain't no updates sadly. Just spent 40k on renos to the apartment & my ute has seen none of that. Plus it is about 200km away from me at the moment, hopefully not rusting away. waiting on a guy who is going to weld up all the holes, straighten it, paint it..... but he is a slow mover with a crook shoulder and doing it cheap, so I'm not rushing him. My garage is in a state, the renos have taken over my life! Got my ca block back, will assemble soon with forges! Can't wait to get my ute back and fit the ca, once that's in I'll focus of drive, diff, suspension and brakes. I'm thinking of removing the torsion bars completely as I've got the coilover mounts from he fabb'd. Will need to measure clearances of A arms from stock and D21 A arms.

More pics to come with pending updates.

[620green]

Hey mate, thanks for that.

Geez you must have had to dig deep to find my thread?!?

As you can see there ain't no updates sadly. Just spent 40k on renos to the apartment & my ute has seen none of that. Plus it is about 200km away from me at the moment, hopefully not rusting away. waiting on a guy who is going to weld up all the holes, straighten it, paint it..... but he is a slow mover with a crook shoulder and doing it cheap, so I'm not rushing him. My garage is in a state, the renos have taken over my life! Got my ca block back, will assemble soon with forges! Can't wait to get my ute back and fit the ca, once that's in I'll focus of drive, diff, suspension and brakes. I'm thinking of removing the torsion bars completely as I've got the coilover mounts from he fabb'd. Will need to measure clearances of A arms from stock and D21 A arms.

More pics to come with pending updates.

 

Good work friend.

[copydat]

Whoa! Not an update!

 

Look..... plain and simple, my 620 project has stalled badly. The guy that I was relying on helping weld and straighten the thing has gone completely cold and tried to flick it to a mate of his that is cheap but he won't commit to the task. Doesn't help that this is 2.5hrs from my place and extremely hard to organise logistically etc etc. I had a panel shop eye ball the work and the sheer cost from them is astronomical! Datsun and astronomical cost doesn't sit right with me.

So I'm going to keep plugging away at this 620 project over time..... over a real long time. Long termer now, this is due to me getting fed up with the stalling and I went and bought another Datsun.

 

In a few days time I will be the 4th owner of a 1968 Datsun 520. This thing is a gem. For me, it is micky mouse - so clean and well maintained. Plus it is about half the price that I sold my 1200 for which was not nearly in as good condition (or as cool!) So.... I now have a 520, running a L20B, 5 speed, has discs up front, adjustable tie rods, new shocks, battery, rear swaybar, 14x8s all round, Austin 36 core radiator and remote english brand booster from something I've never heard of. It is green, resprayed about 12yrs ago - still looks clean from pics so a good job was done. Has a whole bunch of extras like a custom metal canopy, nudge bar, rear bar, roll bar. Comes with OG tonneau cover! No shit! Some weird cargo room cover deal. A lot of this will be coming off straight away.

It has a king pin front end which will make the coilover conversion a bit easier as the top shock are is wider than the 620 std or the D21. I'm hoping that the 520 has the H190 in it. I'm pretty sure it does based on the reads I've done on here. Cause I've got this beautiful paper weight sitting on my desk at the moment.

 

 

Pics of the 520 to come.

[Gary]

:(

 

work on the 620 yourself for fun :) dont worry so much about perfection just have fun with it :D most panel shops dont like tricky jobs from the ones ive talked to, its all about getting work in, finishing it quick and getting it out the door. as much money for as little time as possible, working on restos takes a LOT of time and compared to what theyd have made with a heap of small jobs in that time, the money they make isnt much

 

if you hit it a bit at a time and not try to rush through it i reckon you'll be laughing

 

520 sounds awesome, PICSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!111oneone1!1111

 

what was the locker worth? i know theyre bad and i dont really want one, but i sorta do :lol: