LUVTruck.com

I'm new here--what a great site! I am looking at upgrading the stock 1.8L in the 77 Luv my grandmother handed down to me. It belonged to my grandfather, who purchased it new. It's in really great shape; it only has about 80K miles. I commute roughly 100 miles to work each day and am looking for a fuel efficient and inexpensive daily driver. I really like the truck and would be interested in giving it a modern drivetrain.

I have done quite a bit of searching within the archives on this forum and have found many interesting ideas: everything from a Chevy 350 swap to a Buick V6 to an engine out of a Nissan 240SX! I think a lot of these folks are doing these swaps for performance rather than efficiency however. I don't care about taking this to the track; I just want to be able to run at highway speeds and use the least amout of fuel. I had the idea that a small 4 or 6 cylinder modern gas engine with EFI or even a small diesel would be ideal.

I would like to do a bit of a data poll from people who have completed drivetrain swaps. May I request that you respond to this post with what you have, what you installed, and the gas mileage you think you get?

Cost is certainly another main consideration in this--please give me an estimate on what you think it would cost you to do a similar swap today.

I acquired this truck over ten years ago, and have not even moved it from my grandmother's garage. I really have no idea what the stock 1.8L is even capable of w/respect to fuel mileage--any information here would also be appreciated. I fear the existing drivetrain would just not be appropriate for the 70mph highway speeds I would demand of it--is this true? Thanks for your time--I look forward to seeing the responses.

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my frends truck. it got 50mpg. but not very good on freeways it do 65 mph ok but still hi rpms.

my luv iv put a 4.3 v6 in it 5 speed and 373 gears in the stock rend . lots of power . can do 65mph at 2700rpm. gets 20mpg. going to put in a diffrent rend with 255 gears.

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4.3l V6. 5 speed MT 2.55 in the back.

If you want to do a bit more work, I've heard the VW turbo diesels are great on power and MPG. I've heard that some off roaders are starting to use them in trucks and buggies. I think there is a company that makes bell housings / conversion kits to bolt up a Toyota 5 speed trans to the diesel.

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

The Isuzu 1.8 diesel should bolt right up, but you'd be smart to add a 5-speed. If you went with the Isuzu 2.2, it won't bolt right up due to the starter on the driver's side. But that one REALLY needs a 5-speed, because it likes lower RPMs than the 1.8.

And I like Rondog's suggestion, too. But that will get pricey. The transmission adapter plates are available at acmeadapters.com.

Jack

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'83 Isuzu P'up Diesel LS - Original Owner
JoeIsuzu@IsuzuPup.com
IsuzuPup.com

100 miles a day in a 30+ year old luv, your truck isnt going to last very long no matter what the drivetrain. These trucks werent very dependable back when they were new. Hope you are very mechanical.

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Click on C.M. logo to go to my webpage


RIP R.J.B.

Yea ACME sells some adapter plates to bolt it to the 22r toyotas and the suzuki sidekick transmissions. The only problem with the VW swap (that I would LOVE to do myself) is getting everything situated right plus finding one that is fairly cheap. It's hard to find one with less than 100k on them for less than 2 grand and that doesn't usually include the wiring harness or computer. You'd be better off just finding a wrecked Jetta and then parting it out.

But I have seen them get 60mpg also. And if you would like to drop that to 35-40mpg you can get a motor that puts out about 250hp and 400 ft/lbs of torque. But that will cost you another 3-4 grand

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When in doubt floor it. If you can't floor it then you've doubted yourself.

I like the V6 idea, had a couple of the 3,8 Buick powered Luvs, but for the money you can't go wrong with a later Chevy 305,(5.0) with FI and the 700R4 aod transmission. These are easily obtained, cheap and easy to install. Even using a small 4 bbl carburetor you should get over 20 MPG, with FI you should see close to 30. The 305s run cooler, need less radiator than the 350s (5.7) and are quite reliable, at least for highway use. With a few mods you can pull 325-350 reliable horsepower, but they are NOT built for high rpms and racing!

Keep us in touch as to what you decide, always interested in new information. dp