LUVTruck.com

Just bought a 75 step side truck, stock except of weber carb and headers.... I forgot what it was like to drive a stock one. I am not going to change anything for a while, but I could start looking for stuff. 4 cyl turbo engine would be good. A v6 would be ok. I do not want to go with a high HP 4.3. A later 3.4 (camaro) v6 and 5 speed would be ok. A Saturn Sky 4 cyl turbo engine!! I already have a v8 luv, but that is not what I am looking for with this truck. A better cruser, better mileage,and ???? I do want some more kick than the Luv engine. I had one of those too in a 79 4x4.

Any Ideas. No real exotic $$$ swaps.

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75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.

Camaro 3400 with the regal turbocharger set up would be sweet.

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If you think no one cares, try missing a couple of payments...



FIAA!

SFPP!

Tell me about the Regal Turbo? You mean from a T Type or something else? I am going to look for it on the net and see what I find.

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75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.

They made a 3800 turbo front drive regal/grand prix/Bonneville platform. Never saw it in person but urban legend has the top end of those going on the 3400 camaro blocks pretty easy...

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If you think no one cares, try missing a couple of payments...



FIAA!

SFPP!

W-body GM platform.... I will have to look toomoday. Nite nite....

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75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.

turbo 3400 would be pretty sweet, a Isuzu 2.6 4 banger and 5 speed wouldn't be a bad way to go either, would be a bit more straight forward than the 3400 but wouldn't pack as much punch

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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

It is 3800 series II engine , the 3400 is a different monster more kin to the 4.3 . The 3800 bonniville blower will got on a 3800 like 98' up camaro motor . Pretty good motors .

Thanks for clearing that up...

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If you think no one cares, try missing a couple of payments...



FIAA!

SFPP!

Why not turbo the g180?

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I'm workin' on it
78 chassis with 75 cab
SBC

Why not a 4.3? They're reliable and cheap and there are parts everywhere.

Just thowing this out there. In my opinion a stock small block with a 2bbl carb and HEI is about as cheap and easy as it gets. There are 305's and 350's all over town from people upgrading to 383 strokers or LS1's around me anyway. You don't have to build an 11 second drag truck to have fun. (not that there is anything wrong with that ) Since I put the 9 inch with the 3.0 gear in mine it is a dream to drive around town and will still spin the tires anytime you want. You already have a V8 luv and it is as common a swap as there is, so you know how it will go together. I am a bit partial to a small block since I have been driving them my entire adult life. They are reliable and the parts are everywhere. Stock replacement parts are as cheap as it gets. I raised 3 girls on one paycheck so I have had to work with next to nothing for a budget for 30 years.

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Three Amigos

I already have a V8 Luv. Another LL2 ("R-code") Chevy 3.4l with throttle body fuel injection was produced from 1986 to 1993. Output of the TBI version was 125 hp. Isuzu did use it in 1989–1991 Isuzu Trooper. Makes me go Humm. Looking for gas mileage with more ummph than stock.

V8 is no where the mile per gallon /plus premium gas is higher. $3.95 vs $3.45. My big 3/4 ton gets 10mpg. My Jeep Cherokee is better but not great. Never put a pen to the luv. But with the gearing and engine is is not good. My old 65 GTO took 3000 RPM's to run 65-70 mph.

When I drove the V8 to Bryan, Tx to fool around and sucker people to a red light run, it is still 30 miles one way. 60 mile round trip plus what ever driving I do there.

I want to be able to drive there to pick up my wife from work. Drive to Katy 1 1/2 hours away... So the V8 is not great for that. I could drive the stock setup, and will for a while. just looking for options for later.

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75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.

Good tech sources out there for the tbi. I retro fitted a tbi set up onto a vortec 350 and put it in my Nissan truck, using a stock GM harness I made work. PITA, but if I can do it...

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If you think no one cares, try missing a couple of payments...



FIAA!

SFPP!

I am a MegaSquirt guy. Put their first gen, build it myself on a couple of VW's. Not that hard to do. probably easier than what you did.

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75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.

Built 1 megasquirt for turbo applications but never did the turbo. MS is a bank EFI setup. TBI or a a group of injectors at a time. Been done lots of time.

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75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.

Now if I could get the Cadillac version. 400 + HP on a 60 deg V6 Whoop.
I don't remember the HP on the stock LUV anymore.

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75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.

I do have a very good 1.8l VW engine in my 85' scrocco auto cross car that I do not use anymore. Acme Adapters makes a setup for all 4 cyls, diesel vw for Samurai but I can use it with toyota 5 sp or automatic 22R style. I could beat the VR6 cars on the open track. A little work on the engine but suspension is what killed them. Lift the rear wheel in the corners. Means I was hauling ass.

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75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.

Swap in a 22re, 5 speed and regear the axle. Good mpg, good power increase and would be easy to turbocharge it later on if you wanted. If its mpg your after, that's what I'd do. or upgrade the stock drivetrain

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I'm workin' on it
78 chassis with 75 cab
SBC

Not just mpg, but more user friendly too. I don't just kicking some ideas around... Any more?
I had a 20R I think in a 76 Celica Liftback (one that looked like a Mustang Fastback) I liked the car. My son liked it more and found out about his drag racing in it. But he did that in most stuff, so I could not get too mad at him, as long as he did not tear shit up.

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75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.

Well the dog woke me up last and I could not go back to sleep. Looking around the web I found a 2.2 ecotec swap into a first gen s10. 145 HP stock. And guess what I have? a 03 Saturn Vue with this exact engine. It has the rubber band tranny 2 replaced (under warranty) they were going to do a 3rd BUT Saturn closed the doors. I have the whole car, bad tranny replacing it would cost more than it is worth.

Found a tranny bell housing adapter so I can use a T5. found a MG swap too. One bad ass s10 ecotec with a turbo or something. I will have to post some links latter as I found all this on my small Android Tablet(love it but the 7" screen is not great on these old eyes.)

So I have everything but the bell housing and a tranny.I could use any t5 or a t56 if I have the big bucks.....

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75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.