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 Post subject: 76 Luv Hot Rod
PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 12:24 am 
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Location: Raleigh, NC
My LUV is a 1976 model, which was already someone else s project that was partly completed before that owner lost interest. My friend acquired this truck about 5 years ago, it had already a 350 V8 conversion, but everything was just kind of hastily slapped together and the truck was not road-worthy. I worked on it then and got it running, but it still needed a lot more work and my friend never did anything else with it. Now after more years of sitting, everything needs to be gone through.

I received the truck as "payment" for doing a 302 V8 swap in my friends 87 Mazda B pickup, I am almost finished with that project, so hopefully I can get the LUV inside the shop where I can start making some progress. Here are some current pics, you can tell I got my work cut out for me.


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 Post subject: Re: 76 Luv Hot Rod
PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 7:55 am 
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Joined: Sun Apr 14, 2013 6:29 am
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Location: Texas Gulf coast
That would make a nice sleeper.


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 Post subject: Re: 76 Luv Hot Rod
PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 8:54 am 
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Location: Hot Springs AR
Your engine compartment looks a lot like mine did when I got my truck. It's a good place to start though. 8)

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 Post subject: Re: 76 Luv Hot Rod
PostPosted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 2:39 pm 
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LUVTRKR wrote:
Your engine compartment looks a lot like mine did when I got my truck. It's a good place to start though. 8)


Whoever started this project did a slack-ass job, sprayed black rattle can over the engine compartment (without proper prep) and it's all flaking off, sprayed gray primer over the entire exterior (without masking much of anything off or doing any prep), all the wires are just draped all over the place and twisted together, it looks like a Ford radiator with the inlet & outlet reversed for what a Chevy motor would use, and the rear end is way too wide for this truck. I am not sure what it came out of, my guess is a full size Chev pickup. But those are all things I believe I can tackle and fix :ebiggrin

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 Post subject: Re: 76 Luv Hot Rod
PostPosted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 9:19 am 
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Location: Texas Gulf coast
Put a fogger on it and let it eat. ;)


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 Post subject: Re: 76 Luv Hot Rod
PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2016 9:28 pm 
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I haven't posted any updates in a long time, I actually forgot I had started a build thread!

Finally got it out of the yard this past January, pulled it into the shop so I could clean it up and get started.


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 Post subject: Re: 76 Luv Hot Rod
PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2016 9:32 pm 
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Ratty cowl panel, it was junk, but I was able to buy from a member on this board. Same with the tailgate, mine was missing, but a LUVTRUCK member had one for sale.


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 Post subject: Re: 76 Luv Hot Rod
PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2016 9:39 pm 
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Removed the Ford radiator (ridiculous choice for this vehicle, with a Chevy V8 that meant both the upper and lower hoses had to be routed to the opposite side) and then cleaned up the hack job done on the radiator support. Tied the 2 halves back together with a piece of angle iron and welded in some brackets to mount the new radiator, an aluminum one made for a 1964 Chevy II / Nova.


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 Post subject: Re: 76 Luv Hot Rod
PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2016 9:45 pm 
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Hacking up the radiator support had made the front end weak, you could "twist" the opened hood and watch the support sway in on one side and out on the other. The angle iron that I added helped stiffen it up, but to help even more I made myself a couple of braces out of 3/4 diameter aluminum tubing (1/16th wall thickness). Cut them to fit, flatten them in a vise, drill the hole and mount them.


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 Post subject: Re: 76 Luv Hot Rod
PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2016 9:48 pm 
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I pulled off the front fenders, the upper support had some rust holes in it, so I added some slotted angle iron to both sides to help keep it strong.


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 Post subject: Re: 76 Luv Hot Rod
PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2016 9:52 pm 
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These little support things were trashed, so I made new ones out of 3/16th steel and welded them in.


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 Post subject: Re: 76 Luv Hot Rod
PostPosted: Fri May 20, 2016 11:01 pm 
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Location: Los Angeles, CA
Great progress! I wish you the best of luck on getting your Luv back on the road.


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 Post subject: Re: 76 Luv Hot Rod
PostPosted: Sat May 21, 2016 1:22 pm 
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Working on the wiring, it's a mess. Most of the things did not have power (ie lights, gauges, etc). Trying to determine what goes where, a lot was butchered by the previous owner. If anyone has wiring schematic I'd love it you share it with me!


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 Post subject: Re: 76 Luv Hot Rod
PostPosted: Sat May 21, 2016 3:30 pm 
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Location: Camarillo, CA
You can find them in the info section an the main page on this site

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 Post subject: Re: 76 Luv Hot Rod
PostPosted: Mon May 23, 2016 10:59 am 
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Luvrv8 wrote:
You can find them in the info section an the main page on this site


Thanks for this tip, this has helped a lot! I'm making progress anyway :lol:

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 Post subject: Re: 76 Luv Hot Rod
PostPosted: Mon May 23, 2016 8:20 pm 
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It was weird, I kept getting voltage on circuits that I thought I had disconnected. Then I found this; overheated headlight switch connector, you can see it melted together. Two of the red wires were melted together, I pried them apart with a screwdriver, and 2 of the green wires were fused together. Then, harder to see in this pic, closer to where my hand is in the pic, three of the wires were skinned to expose a short section which was then used to jumper other wires off to run an aftermarket tachometer, an add-on horn button, and a radio, but they were all left exposed and able to touch each other.


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 Post subject: Re: 76 Luv Hot Rod
PostPosted: Wed May 25, 2016 9:39 pm 
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Can anybody help with this? The fan for the heater unit runs continuously. The switch goes "LOW FAN HIGH" with the speed being low, medium, and fast. There's no way to turn the fan off?

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 Post subject: Re: 76 Luv Hot Rod
PostPosted: Wed May 25, 2016 10:10 pm 
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Nope, that's how they are.

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 Post subject: Re: 76 Luv Hot Rod
PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2016 2:52 pm 
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Maybe somewhere here can help me figure this one out. I had the gauges working earlier in the week, and now they've stopped. I did verify I had 12v incoming on the yellow wire. I see these posts on the back of the panel, I had assumed they might be where the different connections from the voltage regulator are pinned to for testing purposes, but I'm not finding any 7v signal. I took a pic and marked the posts A thru F so you can see what I'm talking about. Basically, I get 12v signal between the lead I have marked "C" and any of the other posts. Which posts SHOULD have the 7 volts showing on them?


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 Post subject: Re: 76 Luv Hot Rod
PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2016 7:47 pm 
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I don't have my manual with me but there are pics of it showing that exact test. I did post the pics on a thread Hotrod80 had posted for a gas gauge issue

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