LUVTruck.com

I bought my luv about 6 months ago and have been itching to do something with the rat and wheel under the hood. I decided to go with a 4.3 V6 ( I'm a little off so I like my builds to be a little off. I started with a junk yard 4.3 and had the block bored .030 heads shaved, decked .010, high compression pistons, big valves, full race port job, edelbrock intake and 650 carb, nitrided crank cut .010 under, h-beam rods, 4-bolt 350 splayed caps on 2 and 3, high vol oil pump, dressed in chevy orange, and the cam is a special design by me with lift @ .601 (1.6 rockers) single pattern with duration @ .050 248 I 252 E mechanical roller. Should be in the 400hp range. See the pics below. I also have a video of the motor on my make shift run stand.

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Fortune favors the well prepared!

So is it running yet? It looks like a work in progress but you said you had a video?

Yeah the motor is running. I haven't put it in the luv yet. That will be next weekend. I don't know how to post the video. You tube maybe?

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Fortune favors the well prepared!

youtube would probably be easiest

What kinda compression are you running? The turbo 4.3 in syclones only have 330hp at 14.7lb boost granted they have a low shift point (4250) and crappy heads but 400 is a lot for na o.O thatd be a 533hp 350. I wanna see this thing run!

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Luvless
1980 Mikado-Sold.

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

I finally figured out hoe to post videos on you tube (You'd think i was an old man or something) but here is the link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6weIhf3qO3w
If that doesn't work search for chevy 4.3 race motor.

It's 12/1. I am running full race ported heads off a 98. Based on the build they did in hot rod mag ( blew the specs on that motor apart) I am sure it's pushing at least 350. I was going to take it down to a buddy and have him dyno the engine. If I don't get to excited to get it in the truck.

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Fortune favors the well prepared!

Very nice. I have a 91 4.3 with mildly (garage) ported 97 heads on stock compression with a compcams 270hr and a holley 450 just about finished but i would be surprised to see 250 out of it. Seems like when hotrod did their build there wasnt as much aftermarket available they used the pre vortec heads and all.

That thing sounds mean!

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Luvless
1980 Mikado-Sold.

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

Thanks! I have been working on it for 3 months! I tried to have comp grind my custom design but after almost 8 weeks they sent out a cam that was junk. It was out of spec and the base circles were at different heights. Finally got one from Lunati (those guys rock BTW) and that is what I put in it. You wouldn't believe the machine work I had to do to get it to this point. I would bet you are pushing the same as the hotrod motor. They had those swirl port heads and those were junk after 4500 rpm. That carb on yours sounds a little small. Check for any vacuum at full throttle and if there is any it's too small. they usually need between 500 and 600 depending on the power output. As I get started on it this weekend I will be posting more pics of the swap. I am hoping I can get it done within a couple weeks. I love driving this truck and am not happy it's going to be down for so long. So many people compliment it it's ridiculous. These trucks are truly a piece of american history.

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Fortune favors the well prepared!

It is probably a tad small for max power i used cfm calculators and came up with around 420-430cfm for a race carb, then figured most mild 350s have a 600 so i thought a 450 will be nice and streetable and responsive. Mines off an old mustang 289
My luvs been garaged since last march did a full body off clean up spent way more than i planned. Should be done by this march

I totally agree every one loves to see a luv driving around i have had people try to buy it off me at stop lights and i love the look i get when i tell someone older i drive a luv, that "holy crap there are still luvs on the road" look cracks me up

Is yours a daily driver or going to be more of a nice day cruiser and play thing?
Btw i love that drifter tap handle shift knob. I was gonna get one to use as the hand brake handle when i get around to setting up a floor mount brake

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Luvless
1980 Mikado-Sold.

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

I doesn't have to be a daily but I will probably drive it the most out of the three vehicles I have. I feel you with spending more than planned. I had only planned 3k for the motor swap but I am in it for close 6k. I bet your itching to get yours back on the road? I bought the shifter for 20 bucks on ebay. I thought it was perfect for it. Not sure if I will be able to keep it though. The new 5 speed has a larger shift lever and is a little stiffer than the stock shifter. How did you get around the torsion bars?

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Fortune favors the well prepared!

Nice truck Chad, you are really going to like driving your Luv when it will smoke the tires at will.

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Three Amigos

Re: 74 LUV ultimate sleeper
Post by LUVTRKR » Mon Feb 03, 2014 5:09 pm

"Nice truck Chad, you are really going to like driving your Luv when it will smoke the tires at will. "

Thanks! I think your the guy I bought the 3.43 diff from. Your in Anaheim right?
Did you ever get your new motor back together?

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Fortune favors the well prepared!

That's me, I'm in Fullerton though. I have a few parts left to round up on my 355 but getting close to assembly time.

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Three Amigos

How did i Get around the tbars for what? I converted from 4wd to rwd cuz they were in my way and i like to drift far more than i like to wheel it lol
Which five speed are you using? I got a s10 nv3500 but thats probably not enough for your engine

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Luvless
1980 Mikado-Sold.

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

For the exhaust. So you took them out? I was going to do the coil over swap but man they are expensive. I am going to get the spring pockets ready when I switch the motor out that way it will be easier if I really need it done. I won't have to pull the motor. I have the nv3500 out of a 92' 1/2 ton. It probably won't be enough but if I take it a little easy it should last awhile. What makes it nice is the the 74' has the existing hyd clutch line on that side already so I only have to find a flexible line in-between. How did the shifter line up with the stock hole?

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Fortune favors the well prepared!

Check out the last few pages of my build thread. Rebirth of a 1980 mikado 4x4.
Left the tbars in and took my drivr axle out of the front
I made a corvette style thru xmember for it. Havent made my exhaust yet. But i have shorty headers and as far as mockup went it wont have any issue. I have to modify one header tube on the driver side so the steering shaft will go theu it like the headers were designed for.
The shifter lined up within 1" of center of the hole, but i had a 4x4 to start with so idk if the holes in the same spot as yours

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Luvless
1980 Mikado-Sold.

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

The cross members are quite different. On mine the torsion bar is secured right at the crossmember. I think yours had more clearance for the transfer case. They seem to be about in line with mine though. I'll just have to get it in the truck and see. I pretty much have the motor ready to pull. I don't think I'll have time to do it today so after I am done I'll post some more pictures.

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Fortune favors the well prepared!

I still have to fab the xmember that goes under the engine but that gives me a chance to build it some clearance

Where is it your worried about clearing? Have a pic?

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Luvless
1980 Mikado-Sold.

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

When I measured everything out it looked like I was going to have a hard time getting the 2 1/2" pipe from the shorties to the back. The torsion bars are right in the way. I will have some more pics this weekend as I get the motor stabbed in and mounted.

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Fortune favors the well prepared!

Im doin 2.25 off the header to a y into single 3" so not much different there.
It seems like there is a good amount of room to work with there

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Luvless
1980 Mikado-Sold.

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