LUVTruck.com

I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of or seen a Pontiac 400 and TH375 Trans in a LUV? I've got a guy willing to sell me the engine and trans as one out of his '78 Pontiac Trans-Am... unfortunatly the pontiac has already made a trip to the junkyard other wise my question would be... will a big block fit. Any way has anyone seen a 400 in a luv, and more importantly will standard pontiac exhaust headers fit? The truck was set up with a chevy 350 & 350 trans, but that was yanked out to go into my '84 camaro... so i've already got the v-8 mounts and braces... but what else will i need? does anyone think it'd be easier to just end the exhaust under the driver and passenger doors (emision laws aren't an issue)?

by the way i know i won't get good gas mileage so don't bother to bring it up!!!!!

Ok... in order
Only in pics have I seen the Poncho 400 in a Luv
Yes a big block will fit.
Not sure about the standard headers, Just make sure you clear the mounts and steering and they don't drag the ground. Headers can be alot of work.
It would be easier to end the exhaust there, but you'll probably have alot of noise in the cab.

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Resident lurker

what i was thinking was if the headers are a big problem, i could turn them upside down (pointing up) then turn the exhaust to exit thru the top/side of the fenders you know through louvers like old school muscle car engine vents... the roar of any engine is music to my ears, so cab noise.... ehhh who cares!!! the look on peoples faces when you run wide open headers usually says it all!!!

I have heard of people turning headers upside down as you mentioned, but they cut them off about mid-way & swap sides back to original so that the headers angle back downwards. Makes them a "fenderwell" style header. Kinda hard to explain in words, but maybe that description made sense.

Fabbing a set of custom headers is fairly easy as well, if you or someone you know has the welding skills.

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'46 Studebaker truck "project"
'90 Trooper 4X4, 2.6L 5 spd

True, I was thinking of buying the flanges and pipe and making my own. Right now I just have the stock exhaust manifolds.

I was thinking... is the mounting location the same on the pontiac as on the sbc? So you might need to do some work there.

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Resident lurker

sbc and pontiac headers aren't even close... the pontiac heads have "D" shape ports... so you have to swap sides and turn them over...

what i was thinking when i flip them was running one pipe down to the flowmaster true dual exhaust i've got then putting in a cutout to run to the fender louver

I actually meant to say " are the motor mounts in the same place.

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Resident lurker

the motor mount location on the pontiac block, compaired to the sbc will put the pontiac block about 2 inches further forward. normally this would force you to move the radiator forward to clear the fan... instead, i'm going to run a slimline electric pusher fan on the front of the radiator, then on top of that i plan to run an electric water pump... so long as my crank pulley isn't longer than stock i makeup that 2 inches right here...
the only problem that will arise is the electric pump will only flow 35gpm, if a get a racing water pump it will flow 55gpm... either way it will flow what it's rated for all the time, so if i don't go will an aluminum radiator, it may begin to get hot after long runs on the highway. that would be because the mechanical water pumps will flow right along whatever you need for engine rpm... the problem arises when you got stoplight to stoplight with mechanical, it can't kill the extra heat, whereas the electric pump will just continue to pump 35-55gpm