LUVTruck.com

First things first - this site is terrific!
A wealth of information that is sure to help us along.

I recently bought this truck for my oldest son to learn to work on and understand the basics of cars and trucks. He turns 15 in a few days
and has a year to work, clean, sand, clean, disassemble, clean, paint, rebuild, etc. My youngest son has been doing quite a bit already as well.
While there is heavy temptation to go the SBC route... due to his youth, we will keep it 4 cylinder/automatic and just enjoy the fruits of
hard labor. Purchased for $475.00, it runs (although won't idle), will drive (although the AT is leaking fluid), and the brakes are strong. The original
paint has faded to orange and there is not one speck of bondo on it! There is minor rust in a few spots, and some small crease dents in the bed
to work on, and other than replacing the DF fender (too many buckles from a hit from the front), we have a good start. The truck has the
MIKADO trim and non-working A/C (parts are all there though).

This is the truck loaded up and headed to our house.




Oldest son sawing off the pipe rack. The rack came in handy as a table for the truck bed...




Youngest son wirebrushing the frame.




The finished back end. Shocks were still good, so we just cleaned and painted them. The exhaust will be replaced later.




Looking forward to reading ALL of this site.

Sorry for the BIG PICTURES!

_________________
1978 LUV Mikado - all stock with automatic/AC

Welcome. Pics are just right I think. Nice truck! Good luck with it.

_________________
OK, I'm over it. Where's the beer?

Welcome!!
Looks like you have a good start there.

Suggestion: ALWAYS wear safety glasses/goggles when using power equipment,especially while grinding and wire brushing.

_________________
"You can't please everyone,so you've got to please yourself"

Welcome to the site. You got a nice truck to work with. And not a bad price either!!

_________________
Life is a DRAG RACE!!!
I like my Luv WILD!!!

Sometimes too much to drink isn't enough!!
Kinky is using a feather. Perverted is using the whole chicken.
http://www.wildluvracing.com

Sweet truck. I can't wait to see the finished product.

_________________
In life there is the "Way things should be" and then "There's the way they are".

2005 Silverado 3/4T Crew Cab
1981 Luv 2WD
1979 Luv 4x4 Currently going through Open Heart and Cosmetic surgery
1995 Roughneck JetBoat
1981 Luv parts trk

Welcome to the site! Nice project truck! I can't wait to see some more of your progress.

And BTW...I gotta give you a compliment. It sure is nice to see that you are keeping your boys busy and you're trying real hard to find a constructive way to keep them out of mischief. I've been tinkering on old cars, trucks, and motorcycles for over 30 years and my kids and a bunch of their friends were right there with me. It certainly didn't hurt any of them one bit....and we all have a lot of great pictures and some real fond memories to go with them.

So...what's your plans for your Luv? Are you going to go mild or wild? Completely stock or custom? Whatever you choose - you sure came to right place to get a ton of good reliable info.

Great truck ! Im glad the truck is gettin taken care of . I talked to the PO and he scared me off saying it needed alot of body work and had rust issues . Looks to me like you got a really solid start . Looks like it found a good home .

He had mentioned the rust as well. I figured I would go look at it anyway and it was better than he described due to there being no bondo at all. There is minor rust only in several places... but no cancer. I am holding off on doing body work until the weather turns a little cooler. I am wanting to teach the kids how to do the work themselves with the only thing we would pay to have done is the bench seat recovered (unless I can figure out how to make the patterns myself). Just like working on houses... I hate paying for work.

It will stay mechanically stock for now, mostly because what is there already works. I picked up a carburetor rebuild kit and will teach them to take one apart and put it back together, etc.

Since you are in Baytown, do you know of any trucks in wrecking yards in our vicinity? I need the oil dipstick and tube and a few other nit-picky things. Any help would be appreciated.

_________________
1978 LUV Mikado - all stock with automatic/AC

We have completed the dreaded Hitachi carb rebuild... WHEW!
From all of the look-alike primary and secondary jets and the puzzling linkage configuration, our eyes are tired from viewing the detailed parts drawings in the LUV manual. Got it all back together and re-installed it and, voila, it fired up and immediately stayed idling! Even my son was surprised!

Then we did what every father/son should do... rigged and strapped a 2 gallon gas can to the top of the gas tank brackets, shoved the hose and rag in it, aired up the tire that goes flat every day; and drove it around the block with no bed or taillights...

I think my neighbors have a newfound love for the cul-de-sac rednecks!

_________________
1978 LUV Mikado - all stock with automatic/AC

Awesome...and you are right...that is what every father and son should do. Hell, you did a fairly significant performance repair so you had to test it out.

_________________
In life there is the "Way things should be" and then "There's the way they are".

2005 Silverado 3/4T Crew Cab
1981 Luv 2WD
1979 Luv 4x4 Currently going through Open Heart and Cosmetic surgery
1995 Roughneck JetBoat
1981 Luv parts trk

Welcome!

_________________
LowLUVn'

I dont do this every offten, and I should do this more. So welcome and nice truck.

_________________
LUV is not just an emotion, its what you DRIVE.
-------------------------------------------------------
1975 luv daily driver.
&
Project-soon to be revived

My two sons driving the truck around the cul-de-sac this evening.

_________________
1978 LUV Mikado - all stock with automatic/AC

Two words...Frickin Awesome!

_________________
In life there is the "Way things should be" and then "There's the way they are".

2005 Silverado 3/4T Crew Cab
1981 Luv 2WD
1979 Luv 4x4 Currently going through Open Heart and Cosmetic surgery
1995 Roughneck JetBoat
1981 Luv parts trk

It was bugging me that we weren't able to completely clean and paint the whole frame and suspension.
So this morning I pulled the cab off... with the engine, transmission, and radiator still in place.

I used a $99.00 engine hoist from Harbor Freight Tool and a towstrap wrapped thru the roof.
The only it would work was to extend the boom out beyond the last pin... (don't tell OSHA).
The cab is somewhat heavy, but mostly just bulky. I was able to lift the front up over the motor and
then rest the side on a board while I pulled the hoist away from the truck frame.

I did it completely alone while my kids were at school and my wife at work.

I WILL NOT be using the hoist when the cab is re-installed... I am going to ask my son to get about 10
of his high school water polo buddies to lift it back into place. I plan to paint the truck in pieces and then reassemble
everything.

More cleaning to do!

_________________
1978 LUV Mikado - all stock with automatic/AC

Glad to see father/son projects like this. Have fun buildin' the Luv and keep the pics commin'.

_________________
1962 Chevy C-10 Stepside-Rat Rod
1990 Chevy Suburban

The only way to combat violence is with greater violence!
Trying to please everyone is way to hard, but pissing everyone off is a piece of cake!

Here is my homemade cab dolly... works great!

_________________
1978 LUV Mikado - all stock with automatic/AC

great progress keep the pictures coming

_________________

It's been a while since I last posted, but here is the current progress of my son's truck. All front suspension parts are new. Had to use a monster socket to remove the upper ball joints.

_________________
1978 LUV Mikado - all stock with automatic/AC

Cool deal

_________________
soon to be luv build
88 tube chassis mustang
Thank you to my sponsors
JnJ Motorsports
Dragon Racing fuels
Redneck performance
Silver Valley SIGNWORKS