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PostPosted: Sat Oct 26, 2013 6:31 am 
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Location: Adelaide hills, South Australia
When is a Chev Luv not a Chev Luv? When its Built by Isuzu and some Aussie wants to turn it into a Florian!
Thanks to a very good frien, i have been able to add this little beast to my collection! Its a 1976 Chevrolet Luv, 4-speed column shift tray top, 2wd. She is a bit ruff around the edges but fairly straight with only minorish rust to be found so far! Engine doesnt run, needs a starter and possible head work! So far im just plodding along with it and slowly getting panels and parts out of the shed to transform the look of the beast.
Major plans for it are to get it together and running and drive it, maybe a bit of paint but lets not get too crazy!
Image
Image
and thats a 69 Isuzu Florian grille and headlight surrounds on the bonnet in this picture!
Image

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1969 Isuzu Florian (blood relative of the LUV)
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1980 Isuzu kb 4x4
1976-1980 Isuzu tub for the luv or kb
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 26, 2013 6:43 am 
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so i took a long look at the parts i had lying around and thought, "I wonder how the Florian bonnet will look on the luv?"
naturally this led to taking the bonnet off, the headlight trim & headlights, Grille came off, and so did the bumper gaurds and valance panel. Seemed the right thing to do at the time!
Image
now the grille and lights are off along with the bumper and valance panel.
Image
gaurds were next!
Image
some of the differences in parts between the 76 Luv and the 69 Florian
gaurd shape around headlights (luv guard at the front)
Image
bonnet hinges (big ones are the Luv hinges)
Image
there is going to be some creative solutions involved here as the florian headlights are not a direct bolt in arrangement, but i will sort this out as i get into it more!
and a picture of the florian gaurds and bonnet in position
Image

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1969 Isuzu Florian (blood relative of the LUV)
1976 Luv
1980 Isuzu kb 4x4
1976-1980 Isuzu tub for the luv or kb
Nissan GU Patrol
Ford Falcon AU ute

Never buy a car you cant push.


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 26, 2013 6:44 am 
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sorry for the bad pictures they are taken with my phone. Our Digital camera managed to get broken recently, so my pictures will suck till we get a new camera!

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1969 Isuzu Florian (blood relative of the LUV)
1976 Luv
1980 Isuzu kb 4x4
1976-1980 Isuzu tub for the luv or kb
Nissan GU Patrol
Ford Falcon AU ute

Never buy a car you cant push.


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 26, 2013 9:19 am 
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Nice to see the differences between the body parts. We here in the states don't get to see that.

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PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 1:44 pm 
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This will be very cool. Keeping an eye on this thread.


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PostPosted: Thu Nov 28, 2013 12:40 am 
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come to a little halt at the moment, the head light buckets on the Luv are alot shallower than the Florian. So I am trying to figure out what to do with them (hoping to get a Florian radiator support panel with the headlight buckets on it!)
If i cant get the florian lights in i might run the luv lights with the florian grille/bonnet etc will see what i end up with!
Also got to get another starter or starter solenoid so i can see how/if it runs.
Unfortunately I have been a bit crook for the last 3 weeks and have not been able to do anything with the luv, with christmas coming up soon im not sure i will get much done for a while! Although i will update as i go.

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1969 Isuzu Florian (blood relative of the LUV)
1976 Luv
1980 Isuzu kb 4x4
1976-1980 Isuzu tub for the luv or kb
Nissan GU Patrol
Ford Falcon AU ute

Never buy a car you cant push.


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PostPosted: Fri Dec 27, 2013 3:54 am 
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got the luv gaurds and headlights back on, but the isuzu grill wont fit!
managed to locate a few florians through good old facebook in Western australia about 2500-3000 kilometres away! or i have been offered the radiator support from a florian about 1000 kilometres away. Just need to organise time for a road trip in between some health issues. (also still trying to chase a more local rumor down!)
so till i get the radiator support i will revert to the luv twin headlight front, and concentrate on getting the main cab prepped to paint, and the engine running!

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1969 Isuzu Florian (blood relative of the LUV)
1976 Luv
1980 Isuzu kb 4x4
1976-1980 Isuzu tub for the luv or kb
Nissan GU Patrol
Ford Falcon AU ute

Never buy a car you cant push.


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 09, 2014 12:33 am 
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another small set back, got the starter motor all working and installed but the engine wont turn over! turns out the engine is locked up nice and tight!
oh well ill pull it out and get another one in there soon, at least that will give me some room to tidy up the engine bay!

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1969 Isuzu Florian (blood relative of the LUV)
1976 Luv
1980 Isuzu kb 4x4
1976-1980 Isuzu tub for the luv or kb
Nissan GU Patrol
Ford Falcon AU ute

Never buy a car you cant push.


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 09, 2014 2:05 am 
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are these engines pretty common down there? they are fairly available here still mostly because people pull them for v8 conversions.

its so weird to me to see the florian next to a luv, I wish we got them in the states, would be funny to haul one around on a trailer behind a luv and watch how many double takes you see people take.
still strange to me that Isuzu turned a car into a truck and made it as successful as it is.. when did the florian first get made? its got that late 60's japanese look to it

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 09, 2014 3:19 am 
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i think the florians were built from around 1967 till the 80's! The isuzu engines are reasonably common down here as they are the same as the gemini engines and were sold here from 70's to 80's. As luck would have it i have been offered another engine for a reasonable price, just gotta save some money to pay for it!
My Florian is what led me to the luv's!

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1969 Isuzu Florian (blood relative of the LUV)
1976 Luv
1980 Isuzu kb 4x4
1976-1980 Isuzu tub for the luv or kb
Nissan GU Patrol
Ford Falcon AU ute

Never buy a car you cant push.


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 09, 2014 3:51 am 
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Thats awesome. I like the styling of the luv and florian it looks sleek and simple without being boring to look at, kimda low key but stylish.
Is the florian interior or dash layout any different?

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1980 Mikado-Sold.

1993 Lexus SC400 my Daily
2004 Yamaha WR250F my new love in life
2016 Toyota Camry my girls ride


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 09, 2014 4:39 am 
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heres a picture of the dash of my Florian, pretty much the same as the luv with the big difference being the clockon the top of the dash in the middle!
Image

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1969 Isuzu Florian (blood relative of the LUV)
1976 Luv
1980 Isuzu kb 4x4
1976-1980 Isuzu tub for the luv or kb
Nissan GU Patrol
Ford Falcon AU ute

Never buy a car you cant push.


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 09, 2014 12:24 pm 
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There dont happen to be original replacement dashes down there?

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1980 Mikado-Sold.

1993 Lexus SC400 my Daily
2004 Yamaha WR250F my new love in life
2016 Toyota Camry my girls ride


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 09, 2014 2:57 pm 
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no replacements down here that i have found yet. Unfortunately most of our dashes get pretty bad as well. I was just lucky my florian has been kept undercover most of its life to preserve the dash. I was going to look at getting a dash cap from America for my luv (unless i find a dash down here!)

_________________
1969 Isuzu Florian (blood relative of the LUV)
1976 Luv
1980 Isuzu kb 4x4
1976-1980 Isuzu tub for the luv or kb
Nissan GU Patrol
Ford Falcon AU ute

Never buy a car you cant push.


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 09, 2014 4:00 pm 
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We are all waiting for a guy to finish making new reproduction dashes. Hopefully it wont be too long

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1980 Mikado-Sold.

1993 Lexus SC400 my Daily
2004 Yamaha WR250F my new love in life
2016 Toyota Camry my girls ride


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 09, 2014 4:24 pm 
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Wonder what it would cost to get the fenders, hood, grill and everything for a florian swap shipped to the us. Ever since I saw that front end a few years ago I've always wanted to have it.

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PostPosted: Mon Feb 10, 2014 1:58 am 
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i know where there is possibly another full front! only problem i see is the radiator support panel, trying to find one is getting hard! i have wanted to do the complete front conversion for a long time now. Just gotta organise a road trip to get my radiator support panel!

_________________
1969 Isuzu Florian (blood relative of the LUV)
1976 Luv
1980 Isuzu kb 4x4
1976-1980 Isuzu tub for the luv or kb
Nissan GU Patrol
Ford Falcon AU ute

Never buy a car you cant push.


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 10, 2014 8:01 am 
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I could modify the core support to work.

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PostPosted: Mon Feb 10, 2014 2:53 pm 
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yeah it wouldnt be too hard to modify it (need to cut a hole and modify the front so the lights sit right), Im trying to get mine too look like it was factory though!

_________________
1969 Isuzu Florian (blood relative of the LUV)
1976 Luv
1980 Isuzu kb 4x4
1976-1980 Isuzu tub for the luv or kb
Nissan GU Patrol
Ford Falcon AU ute

Never buy a car you cant push.


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PostPosted: Sat May 10, 2014 3:55 am 
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Ok i havent stopped trying to sort out the florian conversion, but i have put it on hold for a bit until i see if i can get some other lights and grille for it, not the early florian style but the late florian style!

So while waiting to see about the front panel/grille bits I decided to see why the engine was not turning over. Pulled the head of to find that the 2 centre piston bores were full of water and sitting close to bottom of stroke. this has in turn left a nasty rust ring around the top of the pistons effectively rusting them to the bores!

So now im in the process of yanking out the engine and going to chuck a second hand engine in it. I figure while the engine is out i will tidy the engine bay and try to get rid of some rusty bits. Not sure if i will take the cab off the frame yet but starting to think it might be easier to get to the front end to clean & paint that with the cab off?

if i can ill post some pictures of the bores with the rust!

_________________
1969 Isuzu Florian (blood relative of the LUV)
1976 Luv
1980 Isuzu kb 4x4
1976-1980 Isuzu tub for the luv or kb
Nissan GU Patrol
Ford Falcon AU ute

Never buy a car you cant push.


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