The Engineered 1UZ V8 Datsun 620 Build

[3d_magic_mike]

I certainly didn't expect the drivetrain convention and "keeping it in the family" posts this early, buts it's certainly all in good fun! I don't offend easily on matters like these, and not looking for a fight either, happy to explain my methods in good time. I don't want to ramble into a belated speech about car company loyalty or power-VS-cost-VS-size, but I hope people can appreciate I am not a conventional or traditional person. I love to over-design things and do them my way, and I would love to share it with everyone. Just looking at my "welding cart" will hopefully explain a bit more about my personality:

 

 

 

 

 

-Mike

[TENDRIL]

today mike is the pigeon.....

 

 

 

any way this is awesome! 

[datzenmike]

Come on D-Mike, would you say that to the guys on here dropping SBCs in their 620? 

 

Not the same, and there's damn few doing this. Unless the frame, steering, suspension (front and back), driveshaft, rear axle, wiring, fuel system brakes were all removed and replaced. I don't agree with SBC engine swaps mostly because they don't fit and the body has to be cut. At some point when does it stop being a Datsun 620? 'It' is really cool though.   

[Farmer]

Awesome first post. Glad you decided to post it here, I dont do IG.

[Draker]

I think we should be lucky he chose a 620 for this build.

[Draker]

There are probably a few that have major wood over the 3d models alone. Think of what could be done with those alone.

[Duke]

Mike, I'm really excited to see some more in depth posts and explanations about the build of this truck.  I've been following on instagram for a while and enjoy all of your stuff.

 

Stoked for more!

[Lockleaf]

We dont often see professionals of your caliber round these parts. I'm very interested in learning what I can from your methods, though I will never be an engineer by any means.

 

Is turbo still the plan for the engine?

 

Do you do all the fab/constuction work, yourself, in addition to the 3d designs?

 

You are scratch building the harness in addition to the chassis/suspension, correct?

[paradime]

I certainly didn't expect the drivetrain convention and "keeping it in the family" posts this early, buts it's certainly all in good fun! I don't offend easily on matters like these, and not looking for a fight either, happy to explain my methods in good time. I don't want to ramble into a belated speech about car company loyalty or power-VS-cost-VS-size, but I hope people can appreciate I am not a conventional or traditional person. I love to over-design things and do them my way, and I would love to share it with everyone. Just looking at my "welding cart" will hopefully explain a bit more about my personality:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-Mike

 

Flashbacks of Project Binky's big blue jig, or at least the grinding scare crow.

[Big_E-Dog]

i was soooooooo gonna call bull shit when i saw the renderings........then kept scrolling was like DAMN! lol!!

[kneesamo]

Flashbacks of Project Binky's big blue jig, or at least the grinding scare crow.

 

 

I love Project Binky!

 

It's the "bee's knees", just like this build.

[jrock4224]

wtf is this bullshit ?

[datzenmike]

:mellow:

[Charlie69]

wtf is this bullshit ?

 Project Binky

 

[G-Duax]

I love Project Binky!

[]2eDeYe]

There are probably a few that have major wood over the 3d models alone. Think of what could be done with those alone.

 

 

I for one have been wanting a 1/10 620 body for my rc crawler. :D

 

 

Lot's of other possibilities as well. 

[kneesamo]

wtf is this bullshit ?

 

What, my fondness for a youtube channel?

[jrock4224]

wtf is this bullshit ?

 

 

:mellow:

 

 

 Project Binky

 

 

 

What, my fondness for a youtube channel?

 

 

i follow mike on the gram ... when he mentioned about a build thread on here i told him to watch out for the snarky j cock .. 

[datzenmike]

Ahhh... The rule of Expectations..... Self fulfilling prophecy 

 

 

 

 

 

I only found 13 episodes and no driving on Binky. wtf, is there a finish? maybe a smokey burn out?

[Charlie69]

I think the build is still going on, not sure.

[Lockleaf]

Yeah they are still going. They have a website that announces the expected release date of the next episode

[paradime]

Sorry Mr. O'Brien, I had no intension of turning this into a thread jack with my Project Binky comment. As you can see though, it was meant as a high complement. Your welding cart shows the same art in over-designing things. 

[3d_magic_mike]

Chapter Two: Bringing Home the Two Trucks. 

 

In my quest to find a good starting basis for the 620 build, I was scouring over Craigslist and Ebay every day, relentlessly. It has been my tale too many times to find something that just came up on Craigslist a few hours ago, call or text the seller, only to hear that the item had sold within an hour of the listing. I was looking within about a 8 hour drive search radius on Craigs, hoping something would pop up. Trucks would come up from time to time, but I couldn't believe the money some people were asking for trucks that didn't run, had no title, and were comprised of 85.987% rust. I was in an awkward spot for trying the perfect candidate, due to what I was planning to do and the area I was in. Some basic criterion I was looking for in a starting truck were:

 

-It couldn't be too nice. As you can tell from the intro, I was going to be savage with the originality of the truck, and molest everything. Looking for a complete truck with perfect body panels, trim, lights, and clean metal yielded quite a few examples around my area, but for the money you would expect to see them go for. The money wasnt the biggest hurdle, as much as condoning destroying a clean survivor truck to the level I was going with the build. I left the big fishes alone, and kept looking for something a bit more ratsun.

 

-The original chassis needed to be decently straight. As most involved builders know, finding a straight car with no accidents, sags, or structural damage can sometimes be the hardest battle in finding a project car. The Datsun 620 was a cheap truck, and looking for a 40 year old example that was treated like the little price we know they deserve to be over those years is a tall order. Although a new custom chassis was going to be designed and fabricated, having a clean and straight original chassis ensures the body panels had been held in the best stress free way over the years, and is the best starting point to properly measuring for a new chassis. 

 

- The cab and bed sheet metal needed to be just OK. Fixing small rust and imperfections like dents and creases wouldn't be the hardest thing in the grand scope of the build, so I didn't concern myself too much with finding mint tin. When the plan first started in my mind, what I really wanted to find was a truck with perfect patina. It may be a bit over-played now a-days, but doing a project to this level and not having to worry at all about the exterior paint or metal work is a godsend. I also have come to really appreciate the subtle look of a stock faded paint truck, wrapped around a completely reinvented and modern stance and platform. The mix of old and new is a great dynamic when done right, and it feels so good to drive your project  around with the tattered exterior and not concern yourself with rock chips, caked on tire rubber on the rear fenders, or even washing it to present it. 

 

-The cab and bed mounts and general support structures on the truck needed to be in good shape. I'm sure everyone here knows how difficult it can be to find a truck this old with clean body mounts and hat channels, especially in our area. Years of debris and moisture traps around these critical areas can eat away at all the vital metal that connects A to B, and they tend to be complicated pressed forms that are more difficult to accurately remake from scratch.

 

-The glass needed to be in decent shape. This wasnt the biggest concern, but I wanted to start off right with a decent full set of crack and scratch free glass. It's amazing how the final presentation of an expensive car restoration with a fortune in paint, can be visually degraded by the look of old abused glass. Its a simple step alot of people skip, but it can make a huge difference.

 

-I didn't care about anything else. Cracked dashboard? Missing steering wheel? Hasn't ran in 15 years? Your dickhead cousin Trent left his lunchables in the car for 2 months and now you have to sell it because it reeks? You killed your cousin Trent for leaving lunchables in the truck for 2 months, and used the truck in some kind of sick twisted irony to dispose of his body and need to get rid of the evidence? You think the truck might be haunted by the dickhead ghost of your late-cousin Trent and cant be bothered to deal with his shitty sense of ghost humor? I didn't care. As long as I had the solid starting platform I needed, I could deal with Trent. 

 

After missing out on a few opportunities here and there due to scheduling and work, I finally came across a fresh post for a white 620 longbed on craigslist, about 6 hours south of me in Missouri. I was really on the hunt for a king cab short bed, as the extra cabin room would be ideal with a sectioned in motor, and I wanted to keep the wheelbase appropriate for the overall track and purpose of the build. After talking to the owner, I was under the impression that it was a decent solid little truck, with plenty of blemishes but nothing that couldn't be done. Even if it was a longbed, the price was right as a parts truck and was worth investigating. We hooked up the trailer to my brother's truck, got some beef jerky and coffee from the gas station, and were on our way on a Saturday at about 4 a.m.

 

Half a day's journey later, and this is what we reluctantly drug home:

 

 

 

 

She's a beaut Clark. 

 

After the 6 hour journey and some phone-directions from the older seller trying to explain how to get to him, we ended up driving off the beaten path through a huge field into the very deep backwoods of someone's property. The entire situation started getting sketchy quickly, as we hadn't seen another house or person for the last half hour, and kept driving into the abyss. Four possibilities were on my brother and my mind as we trucked on:

 

1. We were going to be mugged

2. We were going to be raped

3. We were going to be killed then raped

4. We were going to buy a truck

 

Probably a combination of two or more. Soon enough we made our way to a tiny pre-fabbed housing unit placed almost comically in the middle of a giant open field. We were driving through 2 foot tall un-mowed prairie grass, which also reluctantly got snagged on everything on the trailer and tore out the wiring from the housing on one of the rear lamps. We met the seller, talked a bit, and then were shown to the truck near by. It was not love at first sight. The truck was noticeably sagging in the mid section, and the paint and body work was far gone more than the pictures on craigslist led on to be. The doors almost fell off when I opened them to inspect the cab floor, where I was reunited with the familiar 2 foot tall prairie grass growing into the cab through the rotting floor structure. The grass was too high to easily look under it to inspect the cab mounts, but I went ahead and assumed the worse. Interestingly enough, the owner said that the truck actually use to be short bed, but the bed rusted out so badly that he found the only bed he could (a longbed) to replace it, and made up for the wheelbase difference by cutting the frame in half down the middle and extending it with scrap metal. It was literally the anti-list of all things I wanted in a starter truck. What it did have was a clean and straight front end (minus some barnacle looking scabs growing on the paint in places), surprisingly clean glass all around, and a few other salvageable spare parts here and there. A bit miffed about the waste of a trip, we eventually politely negotiated a cheap price for the truck and bought it for the extra parts. Even though it may not have been worth it, the price was low and we came all the way for it. 

 

Luckily for me, I had a backup prospect on the back burner. I had been looking at a Craigslist truck only an hour away from our home base, and I called him on the way back from Missouri with "White Lightning" to see if we could take a look. I honestly wasnt that interested in the truck, because all the pictures seemed to show my least favorite flat-black primer paint job, and what looked like severe rust all around the bottom sheetmetal of the cab and bed. I went out with a friend to scope the truck out before bringing a trailer into the equation, and our directions eventually led us to small goat pasture filled with a handful of younger gents, who were all sitting on and around the truck in the middle of the pasture with beers in hand, and goats-a-plenty. 

 

I had a good feeling about this one. 

 

My buddy Teddy and I introduced ourselves, and the slightly intoxicated gang around us started chatting for a bit while I was trying to measure up the truck with my peripheral vision. These guys were pretty cool, and funny to boot. I came up to the truck after a few minutes and was surprised to see that what the pictures led on to be rust and rot, was just discolored mud and caked on debris from obviously driving the truck around in the pasture. As I knocked off the mud, I found very nice clean metal underneath. I kept working my away around the bed and cab, cleaning the crud away and finding more and more unexpected clean sheetmetal. The mud may have been my savior, and why no one was responding to his post. It may have warded off earlier other potential buyer who mistook the crud for rust and rot as I did. 

 

As I was inspecting the truck, I also gained a new friend who was by my side almost the entire time. A friendly goat. Wherever I was inspecting and cleaning the truck, he was there to make sure I wasnt up to any tricks. I wish I got more pictures of my new goat friend, but it was getting dark and I never bring my DSLR out to a crowd of people I don't know in the middle of nowhere. 

 

I kept going around the truck, and was surprised by the condition. Sure, it was beat up with bad window seals, a dented up driver fender, and the hood hinge on the passenger side had frozen up causing the hood to buckle slightly when trying to open it. But the metal was all there and clean. The doors opened and shut with a confident single click. The tailgate aligned well and moved easily to the fridge handles. The chassis had plenty of surface patina but was solid, and from what I could see very straight. There were a couple dozen empty beer cans in the bed from the rebellious youths, but once they were moved away I could see the bed floor metal was in great shape. It started right up, and drove around for a while before it seemed the motor would be fuel starved. But I certainly wasnt concerned with the motor or trans. My first introduction to sitting in a 620 was quite the adventure. I couldn't believe how little leg room there was for a 5'10 guy, and how awkward the stock pedals felt to operate. The seats were not original and a bit bulky, which pushed the driving position forward and didn't help anything. 

 

After some talking and goat petting, I agreed to pay the cheap asking price. My brother and I came back the next night with the truck and trailer, and loaded up the truck which mysteriously now had about 4 dozen empty beer cans in the bed (celebration party?), and brought it back home to the shop. 

 

I now had both trucks side by side at the shop, and could really take it all in. At this point I didn't know if this was the worse or best idea for a project I've ever had, and was just laughing at myself for the two lawn ornaments I just bought. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I accidentally must have brought this foreign traveler from Missouri to Iowa. 

 

 

 

 

 

While the white car was there for parts, the true hero for the beginning of this build was the black truck. Both trucks were listed as 73's, but both seemed to have a hodgepodge of different year parts scattered around them.

 

 

 

 

 

Note the wood 2x4 under the hood, keeping the random tall battery's terminals from welding themselves to the hood if it could shut all the way. 

 

 

Custom windshield wipers also seemed to be installed. 

 

 

Overall, I was happy with the starting base for the build. This truck was just what I wanted. It was clean enough to make something cool out of, but destroyed enough to not feel bad about cutting into every panel. The metal was all there and mostly straight, and I could replace the battered driver fender with the straight piece from the white donor truck. The glass was pretty scratched up on the windshield from the wipers running without the blades attached, but the white truck's glass would take it's place. 

 

 

 

I have always loved the bullet-side sweep line on these trucks, such a simple but handsomely-defining detail. 

 

 

My exposure to 620's before buying these two trucks had been almost zero, so some of the simple details really stood out to me on these trucks. I love the rear tailgate handles/locks, they are such a perfect and nerdy example of cost-saving simple design. I would love to know if these were honestly sourced from an appliance manufacture, or if they were a proprietary design for these trucks. 

 

 

The bed had plenty of patina on the surface, but was rock solid all around. There was your typical corrosion around the seams and spot welded overlaps, but I was happy with the overall shape of the metal. A considerable amount of the floor would be cut out, so it's a great platform to begin with. 

 

 

 

The open tailgate structure is begging for a set of folding jump-seats that are flush to the backing face of the tailgate when folded up, and can unfold with a small backrest when the tailgate is down to sit and enjoy some beers with the gang. 

 

 

Interior components were mostly shot, but none of that would matter. Everything would be removed and thrown out, with only bare metal left. 

 

 

 

Check out the trick-ass custom passenger-oriented speaker system. Kustom with a K for sure. 

 

[3d_magic_mike]

Again, all the dirt and crud on the floor of the interior looks a bit like rust and corrosion, but once its cleaned away there is very nice metal underneath. There wont be any rust-patching needed for the entire cab which is a huge plus. 

 

 

Someone else must be a fabricator/engineer who had this truck before, because this custom armrest is a nice little piece. 

 

 

The engine bay is full of treasures from the many previous years. Farming surplus store battery that is too tall for the hood to close, race car chrome Accel coil, And a Webber carb with fancy aluminum Redline air filter assembly. Lots of custom wiring also, with bare wires exposed everywhere, just twisted together with no insulation. 

 

 

 

 

 

The mechanical fuel pump had been bypassed at some point, and someone installed a cheapo low-pressure electric pump on the side of the frame rail. The truck would run like a top when cold, but would quickly fuel starve after driving for a matter of minutes. The temptation to quickly go over the carb and ditch the electric pump for a mechanical with high, so we could have some more shenanigans driving the truck around the property. 

 

 

 

While the truck only ran for a few minutes at a time, it made a great beer-delivery truck from building to building on the property, and became our unofficial cardboard transportation unit for a few weeks. 

 

 

 

Stay tuned everyone. I will be getting into the disassembly and some beginning fab/design work in Chapter 3. Thanks for looking!

 

 

 

 

-Mike

[3d_magic_mike]

Sorry Mr. O'Brien, I had no intension of turning this into a thread jack with my Project Binky comment. As you can see though, it was meant as a high complement. Your welding cart shows the same art in over-designing things. 

 

No problem, I am very familiar with Project Binky!

 

-Mike