toadfarm

All: Recently I acquired a pair of 1978 620's. One is a king Cab (KLH****) and the other is a Flatbed (ELH****). I have the owners manual and service records for the KLH, but no original owners data on the ELH. The information in the owners manual indicates the KLH has a differential ratio of 4.375, and 3.6, 2.5, 1.4, 1.0 transmission ratios. The vehicle has no tachometer. I would like to discover the speed in gears/rpm for this vehicle without computing it. Is there a chart somewhere I have been unable to locate (there is a massive amount of information to search through on this website, which is good unless you seek the needle in the haystack as it is a very big haystack). In nearly loosing my sanity attempting to trouble shoot a failed brake light, Mr. Datzenmike proved a lifesaver. With that problem resolved, I am driving the vehicle and it would be good to know what targets I can responsibly shoot for and where/how the vehicle may be falling short (it seems responsive and reasonably "peppy" but I have no knowledgeable baseline for comparison) The tires are 195 75 R14 and the manual indicates 185's were original. I have compared the speedometer to a Magellan GPS and speed through 65 MPH is spot on. The tires are "new" but have been on a stored vehicle for twenty years so despite no visible checking, I am reluctant to go cruising any faster until I have replaced the tires. Other than appearance, is there any advantage to larger wheel or tire size on this particular small and light vehicle? This vehicle (the KLH) came from California and has all the smog equipment installed. I live in Montana and disabled the air injection to allow working room for removing the carburetor. My inclination is to reinstall everything as stock unless there are known performance degrading aspects to doing that. I will not pretend that this vehicle is high performance in nature. When I replace the exhaust the Catalytic converter will go away and the air injection plumbing is unsightly and troublesome to maneuver around. But it looks like removing the injection nozzle hold down nipples could be an interesting project, the carburetor hold down nuts were fascinating enough! The heated manifold and temperature regulated inlet air seem to be good ideas for a vehicle driving around Montana and not a dragstrip. Are replacement charcoal canisters available If I choose to keep that in service? What have others done with the open ending vapor return line if they chose to remove the canister? I assume the differential ratio on the ELH is the same (it is dual wheel with much heavier springs) but do not know that for sure. I parked it until I am further along with the KLH. It came from Oregon and "had" smog equipment as original but the air injection pump, filter, plumbing, and anti backfire valve have been removed. The air injection nozzles are simply crimped over. Once the KLH is "sorted out" I will have a partly de-smogged version to compare with. The ELH still has the Hitachi and heated manifold with EGR installed. Both vehicles have electronic ignition and front disc brakes. The ELH has a front anti roll bar and the KLH does not. In my two week effort at achieving a nervous breakdown over the brake lights I ended up removing the bed, seats, console and glove box in running down every errant wire from the firewall aft. This vehicle had been a towed vehicle behind a motor home and had a canopy with a powered boat lift on it so there were additional wires from end to end. It also had aftermarket sound equipment with wiring modifications all over the place. So, with absolutely no intention to do so, I learned a lot. As I said earlier, Mr. Datzenmike saved me from a trip to the volcano. The KLH has 80,000 well documented miles and the ELH has an "indicated" but undocumented 70,000. My suspicion as indicated by chassis, cab, interior, and underhood appearance/condition is that it has not traveled 170,000 but that is just a quess. It was stored inside for well over a decade. Any information on the Speed/Gear/Rpm relationship would be appreciated as well as thoughts on wheels/tires, smog/de-smog, and I would especially be interested in areas to investigate that might prove troublesome for vehicles with 100 K on them that have been in storage for approximately two decades. I have done the lubricants, filters, plugs, wires, etc. already and have done a wheel bearing and front brake overhaul on the KLH. There are "new" (20 year old) coil over rear shocks on the KLH. Both vehicles drive with good directional control and brake/stop similarly without wandering. Steering wheel feedback is good without sloppiness. Thanks for any feedback!

Two 1978 620's. One a King Cab and the other a factory dual wheel chassis with a flatbed. If they are polished up a bit, I may be allowed to keep them. This site is so comprehensive it is a bit overwhelming but If I can figure out how to generate a post successfully then I will work on getting photos onto a post. I will need and appreciate advice from those who have been there and done that.