LUVTruck.com

So I just baught my first LUV! Its a 76 and in decent condition (that means I drove it home and very little to no rust flew off). WOW, are they geared low, or what (i'm used to cars). ANyway, I have some quick questions that span just about every catagory in the forum....
First, the as is questions.....

My steering is tight as hell. Sitting still it is very hard to turn; even slow while parking. Normal? If not, what commonly causes that?

The rear wheels lock when braking, and I don't think the rotors in front are functioning. Where should I start?


Surface rust, and a few bad spots: sand (blast?) and bondo, or cut and weld?

Seats (I can figure out, mostly). I have a bench. Can I use it's hardware rigged to buckets, or do I need new hardware/modify the donar seat hardware?

Instroments; any choices, or am I stuck? Can I gut instroments from a donar vehicle at a salvage yard easily, or am I better going with autostore aftermarket? How hard is it to hook up a tach (hook up, not mount(I can do the mounting part))

NOW onto the real mods......


What engines will drop in as is or with only welding new mounts in?
At what point is the chasis not strong enough (HP/Tourque)? (daily driver, quick, but not a dragster)

What tranny will drop in with little/no mod?

I see that S10 rear ends are quite popular. What HP is too much for them?

That's about it.... What i would like, since we're all visiting my fantasy world, is.....

choptop
sunroof
buckets
v6/8 w/ about 250+ HP
lower, not too much
ground kit???
decent rims (not 26" spinners)
a stereo with subs
suicide lambo doors (no, that isn't sarcasm; i have never seen them, and like the idea mostly for that reason)
and just nice little things to finish off the body.


Thanks Ya'll (in advance)[/u][/b]

WHEW*** boy,

lets see if i can help a bit here.....if im wrong in any part of this i can always count on my compadres here to smack me upside the head and tell me to shut up and go sit in the corner:

so lets begin



im thinking that you may not be used to the no power steering yet....if you have real wide tires on the front that makes it worst



start by checking the brake lines.....some one may have crimped the front ones off for some stupid reason.



surface rust you MAY be able to get by with sanding and cleaning then using a "rust killing" primer. if its rusted thru....cut it out and weld in a patch....this is real fun b/c there isnt many (if any other than rocker panels) replacement panels for our trucks. so you pretty much gotta make or rape from another truck what you need.



do what ya gotta do brother. im useing a set of buckets outta a merc capri and im gonna have to make a couple brackets for the inside rails



this is something limited to you imaganation, skills, and of course cash. ive seen some custom clusters that are real sweet lookin then ive seen stock clusters w/ a 3 guage kit under the dash and a big ass monster tach on top. as for something that just drops right in....i doubt it.



again imaganation, skill and cash. i myself am going w/ a slightly built buick 3.8 v6....in retrospec i should have done the 350 for the simple fact that preformance parts are cheaper/eaiser to find. do a search on this one.....it has been dicussed many many many many times.



the stock frame should be plenty strong enough for about anything you can throw at it for a daily driver.....assuming of course the frame aint rusted to shit like my 81 LUV was



i know a th350 will fit w/ a little "massaging" of the firewall and hump w/ a 2lb sledgehammer



gonna have to let someone else take this one....(larp goes to his corner )



looks kickass on a LUV IMO



i really like this.....and i dont think i have ever seen that either


well the last thing is:

welcome to the site

pull up a bucket and grab a beer
(drink one for me too.........damn no drinking allowed in Iraq...WTF??...*larp grumbles to himself and drinks his damn water)

_________________
I like my steak like I like my women, young, tender and bloody.

All I need is my weed, women, and wine. -Edge City Outlaws

Wow........ that was....wow...... larp...you just saved me a lot of typing

first: welcome! you're gonna learn alot about this little truck you scored. the search function is a good source of info. i've answered most questions that it have had with that.

second: along with inspecting the brake lines try to bleed the master cylinder. you can get a kit at most parts stores for $3 if the rear resevore has some crud or is real low that can be an issue. if the bleeding doesn't work you'll need a new master cylinder.check and see that no parts have been robbed off of em. if you plan on making this rig fast you'll need em ....trust me

_________________

ya... what they said.. hehe....

Since Larphead covered everything really well, I will try to keep this under a page.




The hp curve on these little Isuzu 4cyl motors is up in the RPMs fairly high. They are geared to be driven up through the gears up a little higher RPM than you might expect, especially if you are coming from V8/V6 driving.

Tight steering could be helped by getting the front end greased up, a good idea on a newly purchased rig anyhow. The idler arm tends to get overlooked a lot on greasing because it is so hard to get lube into it and without it that can cause some hard steering. (not to mention the bushing will wear out and cause some slop) If we're talking a stock 2wd, it should be pretty easy to turn the wheel when you are moving. If it is still tough, get things greased and then maybe look at adjusting the lash on the steering box. Someone may have over adjusted that and created your problems.

Rear wheel lockup could be a lot of stuff. Bleed the brakes for starters, but I bet you have worn or out of round drums. I had this problem on my 79 on one side only, but both drums were in bad shape and there wasn't much shoe left. New drums and shoes wouldn't be too much $$s, but if you are going to upgrade to a better rear axle might as well wait.

Rust: http://www.rockauto.com has started to carry some body panels, or you can hit up some junk yards if you need to cut and weld. Rockauto is also a good source for parts in general like brakes, gaskets, and such.

Instruments: Most aftermarket tachs are pretty easy to wire right up to the coil. I had a Sun tach in mine for a while and it was really easy to wire in. The rest of the guages you are limited to two types of stockers basically, the 2 oval cluster found in 77 and older or the 3 round cluster found in 78-80 trucks. You might be able to find some other type of guages from a junker car of some type you could custom fit, but I wouldn't know exactly what you'd be looking for. At least the guage cluster is mounted in flat so you could just cut out a piece to fit and mount aftermarket guages in there with some ease.

Motor upgrades: Most of the Isuzu 4cyl motors should fit in with only minor tweaking. I have been thinking for a while about going with a 2.6L with the intake from a 2.3L so I could run a Weber carb. You can also drop in the 5spd from behind the bigger Isuzu and end up with better highway mileage plus more HP. As for upper limits, Big block will fit and the frame is plenty strong enough for it.

Trans, s10 rear: You can get a newer Isuzu 5Spd to bolt to the stock motor, but there isn't much else for options that will hook to the stock motor. Anything beyond that I'm sure there will be some replies from the V6/V8 crowd around here.

Choptop: I'm too tall, would hate it
Sunroof: top is pretty flat so a lot of generic kits would probably fit just fine
Bucket seats: There are a bunch of options here. Do a search for "bucket seats" and you should find more info than would fit in one of these posts.

i am not a expert but i know enought to get me around the block.

buckets:
well what i did was got some seats (honda) i am sad to say but they almost fit right in with almost no drilling and i just bent the brakets flatand they worked. when you do this use a grade 8 bolt or higher (can be fount at local hardware store.

as for the motor i have been on a quest to make a turbo luv. there is a guy in aussie that makes turob kits for some kind of izuzu car i dont know. but it will fit on the G180 (luvs stock motor).

tranny: i am gona put a pup 5sp into my truck.

rear end: i did alittle reserch and i think i am gona go with a idea i got form this site. 86 trooper rearend mainliy because i want to stick with the 6 lug pattern and it gots disk brakes.

this is jsut what i am goigng to do there is alot more cooler sh!t to do with you luv and the guys on this site are F*CKIN NUTS.
kevin

Hey RMS, srry but there's just a little thing i need to correct you on: Isuzu's did not come with disc brake rear ends until mid 1987, when they introduced the 2.6 L4, before then they all had drums in the rear, just a little heads up for you guys

_________________
'80 Luv 4x4, 3" BL, 1.5" SL, 32/36, 2.25" exhaust...and fuzzy dice.
'95 Toyota 4Runner Limited 5-Speed.

thanks that is what some one on here told me. but i typed the post kinda late and was sleepy so thanks for the corretion.
kevin

Thats cool i know how it is to be up way late and typing so you can't think too strait, just making sure you knew though so you don't get the wrong axel

_________________
'80 Luv 4x4, 3" BL, 1.5" SL, 32/36, 2.25" exhaust...and fuzzy dice.
'95 Toyota 4Runner Limited 5-Speed.