LUVTruck.com

I'm moving this stuff from the Introduction section to here. I bought a 78 Luv early this month with the intention of making it a regular driver and weekend autocross truck. I've run into a mess under the hood with wiring in poor shape and rigged up (i.e., dangerous), a pretty bad leak from the oil pan both front and rear, leaks from the intake manifold, a 25 y/o carb, a stock radiator from a 72 Chevy van with no shroud.... Long story short, the motor is coming out and getting a minor rebuild, electric fans, alum radiator, headers, new carb, smaller distributer and separate coil setup, etc.. I'll probably put in the Aerospace Components master cylinder while everything is apart in preparation for their brake kit, which I should be able to afford in a few months.

I'll post new pics of the finished motor in a few weeks when its done. -Peter

Here's two images from when I bought it a few weeks ago:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/81766432@N03/7491655634/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/81766432@N03/7491655510/

Looking forward to the build up...

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If you think no one cares, try missing a couple of payments...



FIAA!

SFPP!

Was this one on Ebay ? Thinking i saw it there .

Yup, ebay and posted locally. I live 10 miles from the guy.

Well, the issues with the wiring, leaks, and sticking valves lead to more and more problems. The cam was flat in places, a head was cracked, bearings were worn all to hell, serious gaps around all the pistons... If someone tells you that an engine is "rebuilt", it's bull unless they have reciepts and pictures.

Anyway, the motor has been out the past month. The engine bay has been immaculat-ized and the wiring all rerun. Motor is at the machine shop and heads are being ported, polished and flow tested. Alum radiator, electric fans, new hei and coil, pistons, etc. are all on order and should be here in a couple days. All should be installed in the next week or two.

I'll create an album on photobucket with a hundred or so pics of the old and new, and post when its done and running. It should be a pretty fast one wheel drive truck when its done.

The motor rebuild is done. Should be in the truck in a week or so. More pics to come when it's complete.

Nice work, what alternator bracket are you using?

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Three Amigos

I didn't read through this whole thread, so it might be, but that thing looks like a brand new crate motor. Beautiful!

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

Thanks. The alternator and bracket are pretty much the only salvageable accessories on the motor. The bracket just got shot with paint to make it match the other stuff. Not absolutely sure what brand/model it is, but the top arm looks a lot like the Spectre, Mr. Gasket, or Proform parts on Jegs/Summit, not sure on the lower bracket. I'll ask the guy who assembled the motor if he knows and get back to you.

Thanks, but no, it's the original motor, just rebuilt - 1971 casting, 4 bolt main. The block was stripped, decked, bored, and got shot with an iron/dark grey color. The crank was reground and polished. Fresh pistons, cam, 670 carb, ignition. Heads also were machined- ported and polished, new valves, lifters, springs and rockers (same grey paint on outside as block). Valve covers and breather, air cleaner, headers, water pump, and harmonic balancer are new. The intake and other accessories, pullies and brackets, fuel pump, were stripped and got a fresh coat of paint.

The radiator gets mocked up next. The trans cooler is built in, so the lines need to be refitted. Wiring is mostly done (redone) and is looking much cleaner. I might even have functioning windshield washers, oh my!

Sweet truck!

x2. The only solution I found to mount my alternator on that side was the one that bolts onto the header.

Nice looking motor.

71 truck 350 would come with that lower bracket for a short water pump. Top one may be aftermarket, but the stock one for the 71 truck would look pretty much like that one. I find them from time to time on 67-72 farm trucks...

_________________
If you think no one cares, try missing a couple of payments...



FIAA!

SFPP!

I'm gonna have to keep an eye out for that. I like that.

For the short water pump alt bracket look for Alan Grove . Solid lazer cut stuff at reasonable prices . Lift the truck solid .
http://www.alangrovecomponents.com/Smal ... t_Pump.htm

I forgot to post a follow up on this. I asked the mechanic working on the motor rebuild. He said the same as mytmouz- the bottom mount is original to the 1971 motor and the top arm bracket is also likely stock or oem from a later motor. There are also similar top arm brackets for sale on Summit/Jegs for around $10.

I got the truck back last night. A somewhat unorganized album of the motor rebuild and rewiring is here: http://moneypitchevyluv.shutterfly.com/. There are a lot of shots of issues that the mechanic found along the way. Remember, the seller said the engine was "recently rebuilt".

It runs really well, but until I get the Aerospace brakes and new (not cracked) tires that are sitting in the garage on, I'm scared to give it more than half throttle. I think the memory of the idler arm coming apart at 50mph still has me fearful as well. It definitely is a totally different experience than driving my sti.

One other thing- you can find pics of the upper alternator bracket in the album here and there. To make it so standard small block hoses would work, the mechanic ended up using part of upper portion the bracket arm and fabricating the entire lower arm and bolt sleeve. There are a couple shots of how he mocked up the arm. The mods to the crossmember to get the headers to fit also are in the album.

A lot of this has probably been done by other members here before, but hopefully all the images will help someone out in the future.

Did a bit more work on the truck in the past month. Here's some shots of the Aerospace brake conversion, the Addco front swaybar, and my crud filled gas tank that got cleaned and resealed.


Here's the Aerospace kit.


On the truck

Here's the Addco front swaybar. You can see the difference in shape from stock, both in the bar and the ends. The ends that came with the kit hit on the lower control arm. We ended up using a new set of OE ends to get past this. The bar itself still hits on the outside of the frame rails. Not real happy with the kit, but it does keep the front end flatter in the corners.

Here's the tank and the fun that was in it. After the motor rebuild, I was finding small particles in teh upper fuel filter after 200 miles. Cleaned out and resealed, good as new.



This is what came out of the tank


Nice and new inside