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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 8:28 am 
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Hey there all, here's a couple of pix of my '77 LUV 2x4.

As you can see, lots of LUV needed on this old beast :P

I swapped this for some tools quite a while ago, and it's been stored at a blokes farm because I didn't really have the room here. I was told it was safe where it was and that it would be kept in a machinery shed out of the weather and out of sight from thieving mongrels, but instead it was parked under a bunch of Casurina Pine trees, so the cancer has set in the poor old thing in some bazar places, and at a pretty rapid rate?

The dash pad was almost perfect when I first did the deal, but due to it being dumped in a paddoock under acidic trees and having snakes and possums living in it, the dash pad was completely had it. Not happy,,, and even less impressed that someone has stolen the Chevy emblem off the grille and steering wheel recently which I'm far from impressed by, but that's a minor detail compared to the rest needed.

Both sills (rocker panels) are rusted out, one section of left floor gone Freddy Flintstone style, rusted 'A' pillars, under dash pad is on the rusty side aswell, rust hole in the roof LOL,,, yep she's a gem

Motor wise is a 1.8 litre with 'Genie' custom extractors, 2 3/4" pipe and full flow muffler which gets a nice crackle. Currently running a stock carby, a previous owner deliberately jammed up the butterfly on the secondaries with his logic of making it more economical??? But it does run, it changes gears fine and brakes work (bonus) electrics are not too shabby, everything seems to work, just a pretty rusty body. I'm not sure what seats are in it, but there's a pair of bucket seats, pretty sporty and comfortable.

I had a '77 LUV over 10 years ago and was on this site back then, but my profile became inactive after i forgot my login & had changed email accounts. I've got a few other projects on the go, and the LUV needs some pretty extensive rust repairs, and they are quite rare here in Oz so replacement panels are even more rare :( So I will only get a little done here and there until the others are sorted, but yep, I'm back and look forward to resurrecting this old beasty 8O

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2014 7:20 pm 
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:ebiggrin


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PostPosted: Wed Apr 09, 2014 4:14 am 
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it doesnt look too bad in the photos, but then alot can be hiding! sucks to hear how it was stored. Keep an eye out on gumtree/ebay and the local papers these little beasts do pop up from time to time and some at really quite cheap prices.
Are you going to put a tub on the back or a tray?

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 6:28 am 
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mrflibbles wrote:
it doesnt look too bad in the photos, but then alot can be hiding! sucks to hear how it was stored. Keep an eye out on gumtree/ebay and the local papers these little beasts do pop up from time to time and some at really quite cheap prices.
Are you going to put a tub on the back or a tray?


Yep it isn't too bad, but still a lot of work. I'm checking ebay/gumtree all the time for assorted bits n pieces needed.

I'll do tray with a steel box section frame & tube tie down rails, then nice polished timber inset.

I had also contemplated building a little 'ratrod' style faux tow truck :lol:

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 10, 2014 8:10 pm 
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Nice ride. I have the same rims on mine


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PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2014 9:18 am 
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Thanks all,,,,
I'll try and get some photos of the engine bay and interior etc over the weekend.

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PostPosted: Mon Apr 14, 2014 6:32 am 
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Here's some more photos I took of the little up coming project over the weekend. I dropped my daughter over to her friends house on Sunday & her dad showed me around the property where they live and his many projects. While we were there I told him about the little LUV I picked up & he knew what a Chevy LUV was to my surprise?,,, he then offered a pretty tidy Chevy 283 small block for a good price. Hmmm me thinking sounds good :P

Anyway, here's some more photos for Yawl

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PostPosted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 2:58 am 
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still doesnt look too bad! nice to see the rust in the passenger door is the same as mine! too bad the dash is toast, i was thinking of trying to fit an old holden (HD/HR) dash instead cut to fit, even though im still holding my breathe on finding a good dash! the chevy engine sounds good!

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1976 Luv
1980 Isuzu kb 4x4
1976-1980 Isuzu tub for the luv or kb
Nissan GU Patrol
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Never buy a car you cant push.


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PostPosted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 11:31 am 
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at some point there will be brand new dashes available a member on this site bought a nos dash and is in the process of making a new mold to reproduce them so that would help a lot. a 283 would be pretty nice in there, do you guys have the 4.3l gm v6? they fit in pretty easy compared to a v8 and at 262ci its pretty close to as big

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PostPosted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 3:56 pm 
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i would love a new dash and watch out for updates regularly! we didnt get the 4.3, but got the buick 3.8 v6 they stuck in the holden commodore (rear wheel drive). Have seen then 3.8 in a luv before.
Sherro any idea what the seats in your luv are out of?

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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
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Never buy a car you cant push.


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PostPosted: Wed Apr 16, 2014 7:22 pm 
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The 3.8 will fit fine, I think that is the engine Tilted has in his LUV. The small blocks fit fine too, with the mounts available they are a bolt in deal. I was able to do a small block without cutting the core support and leaving the trans tunnel alone. Here is a link to Tilted's V6

http://www.chevymetalhead.net/trucks/luv/motor.htm

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PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 7:32 am 
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mrflibbles wrote:
i would love a new dash and watch out for updates regularly! we didnt get the 4.3, but got the buick 3.8 v6 they stuck in the holden commodore (rear wheel drive). Have seen then 3.8 in a luv before.
Sherro any idea what the seats in your luv are out of?



No idea what those seats are out of sorry, I had considered ripping them out at first, but they're actually pretty comfy. But another type of seat well worth checking out are Mazda 626 or Ford TX-5 Telstar,,, late 80's very very comfy indeed and I bought a pair of blue/grey velour in mint condition for $50 from wreckers for my 1953 FX Holden project (Can't have too many projects,,, or can we?)

The Early Holden dash sounds interesting. I reckon something like a MkI or MkII Celica or Early Datsun would work too?

I was going to try hunting down a Gemini or Datsun 1100 owner to compare windscreen pillars as they look similar & mine are rooted, and yep, floor on passenger side is shot. I picked up a cab cut on a TF Rodeo to do a graft, but think it'll be easier to re-fab something for the originals?

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Last edited by Sherro57 on Wed Apr 23, 2014 7:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2014 7:37 am 
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love4theluv wrote:
at some point there will be brand new dashes available a member on this site bought a nos dash and is in the process of making a new mold to reproduce them so that would help a lot. a 283 would be pretty nice in there, do you guys have the 4.3l gm v6? they fit in pretty easy compared to a v8 and at 262ci its pretty close to as big



I'd be keen on a new repro dash if & when available,,, but the dash is the least of my worries at this stage LOL

But if they come available then I better get on board so I don't miss out

The 4.3 gm V6 was in some larger vehicles plus through the boating community, not a common item in cars though, but are available through importers and some speed shops. The 4.3 GM V6 is quite a popular conversion for the Toyota Hilux 4x4 fraternity.

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PostPosted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 7:28 am 
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mrflibbles wrote:
still doesnt look too bad! nice to see the rust in the passenger door is the same as mine! too bad the dash is toast, i was thinking of trying to fit an old holden (HD/HR) dash instead cut to fit, even though im still holding my breathe on finding a good dash! the chevy engine sounds good!


Hmmm yes I thought it wasn't too bad, but tht was before the strip down a couple of weeks ago :(

I'm surprised the floor was holding the body to the chassis,,, I reckon most cars twice it's age have less rust in them?

I found a good donor cab and ute body, 4x4 to boot, so I may even go that way,,, but I'd originally planned on having it dropped on the deck with white walls and either black or red stock rims, chrome dress rims and nuts and domes,,, rat rod stye :D

Here's the '76 after stripping it down and we cut the cab up (it was cactus) to make it easier to load in trailer to send it to scrap. Over the next few weeks we'll be stripping the chassis bare and send it off to the blasters and do a full recondition the chassis & driveline before getting the replacement cab ready. Some of the old body we'll keep for patch panels and repair sections.

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PostPosted: Sat Aug 16, 2014 3:02 pm 
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i have the 4.3 in mine, and for the amount of money i put into it i could have done a real decent small block v8 i just wanted the bit of weight savings.
a v8 in a 4x4 is going to be really hard to do, I tried to keep my 4.3 build 4x4 but it was too much to make it work without a lot of modification to the frame on top of the work I already did to it

I think you would enjoy a 3.8 they have a ton of bolt ons from the m62 and m90 superchargers and the grand national turbo setup, plus alloy blocks are still available if you look around

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PostPosted: Sun Aug 17, 2014 6:10 am 
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Cheers Luv4theLuv
I've decided that for now I won't be fitting a 6 or 8 pot,, but keep it a four banger. I've got three 1950's Holden sedans & one of them is currently getting a BOP-215 based Rover 3.5 V8 conversion. My daily drive car is also a V8, so it'll be cool to get behind a hot four banger for something different :lol:
I'm not sure if I keep the G161 or hunt down a G180 or G200? But so far I'm thinking refresh the G161 with new head, performance cam, new pistons & rods etc, better flowing intake manifold & bin the Nikki carby for a Webber as the 5 speed was reco'd not long before it was taken off the road around 6 years ago & it had a new heavy duty clutch & machined flywheel. It's also got a set of 'Wildcat' headers & 2 & 1/4" pipe right through which sounds pretty sweet.
This will be my parts getter and something for a bit of fun,,, not chasing any land speed records with it

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PostPosted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 8:12 pm 
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I am not trying to change your mind but throw a few options out there for you. I have thought the Rover- olds/buick engine would be a great idea. They were used in some Vega v8 engines, popular with the MG and triumph guys. I am looking at using a GM L61 ecotec engine in my truck. There a natural aspirated, super charged and turbo charged engines. But you have the computer systems to deal with. :lol:

Good Luck and happy Luv trucking.

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