LUVTruck.com

Hi folks,

I have been reading the posts for the last month or so, and it has been some good info for sure. I have a 79 stocker and a 75 V-8. After see'in the disk kit from aerospace on another post, i'm all hyped to get my truck back on the road again.
After 5-6 years of sitting in the garage, it is time to start the upgrades and rework some of the problems of the past. Since i'm kind of new to the site I thought would post a little bio on my truck for other LUVers. I will be updating some of the goodies on the truck and will try share how it goes.

The past: 350 sbc/turbo 350/B&M starshifter-Nothing tricky stock 4-bolt bottom end-mild cam-holley intake and carb, HEI, chrome covers. I have broke the tranny (main driver hub) twice from scratching 2nd.

Hooker headers-motor mounts-trans mount- Probably the way to go for a complete solution with out having to fab. a little pricey but in 85K miles have worked well. I have "peeled" the drivers side rubber mount about every 10-15K. Cheap mounts or hooking up?

VDO gauges/stock harness/alum gauge panels and glove box door/ grant wheel/OMP rally style seats-chromemoly frames/ aftermarket interior carpet.

The battery is monted in a trap door in the bed. Moves the weight back and opposite of the gas tank. I had a moroso battery switch mounted under the inside of the right frame rail for a hidden off switch. Just an extra feature to try to stop someone from taking off with it.

The rear end is a "odd duck". It is a oldsmobile type O narrowed with moser axles. 3.08 ratio.- at 3000rpm its good for about 80mph and i have had it up to about 140+- not for long, a little sketchy for an old little truck. It felt like landing an airplane when i let off the throttle. Drum brakes. This rear end was only made for 3 years, I guess, for 442s Thanks to the Internet I have located a specialty shop that can help change the ratio to 3.4x. It has "growled" a little bit for all this time, but has refused to blow up. Traction bars for keeping the wheels planted.




alum brackets holding up a plastic battery box. 4 little hinges/key lock

Notice the alum fuse cover-protects plastic from extra heat.



Water lines for heater core head in over near the passenger side with valves on interior firewall.

Anyway, I plan to get a new set of headers, update to aerospace disk all the way around, the street kit, not drag. New gears in the back. Update to alum radiator, (anybody got the part # for Howe or the like?). Electric fuel pump/water pump. and look into going to coils in the front. The motor is out and getting a looksy at the machine shop. After having this truck for 16 years, I'm ready to dump some more money into it?.?. I guess only the rest of you can understand. Thanks to luvtruck.com for getting me going again.

P.S. sorry for the long post, but i figured you guys like this sort of stuff!

Tracy

Welcome Tracy. That's a very nice truck you have. It's cool you were able to just put it away for a few years rather than sell it and miss it now.
Anyway, good luck with the new re-do. Hope it all goes well.

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

Sweet!

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



FIAA!

SFPP!

Very nice. Love the dash.

Nice truck! Looks like you have quite a nice little project there.....glad to have you here.

So basically you have the best of both worlds - a nice V8 Luv to terrorize the locals with and a stocker Luv for cruizin'.

nice truck

Thanks guys, talk soon.

hey i like those window crank things, that big silver plate thing, there aftermarket right? id luv to get some

The door crank plates I made out of 1/8 alum plate. Scribe the dia. a liitle bigger/or smaller than the crank dia.. Cut out with jig saw. drill out center hole. I think i true them up a bit with a lathe at the time, outside edge. The outside edge has six countersunk holes for the allen machine screw, equal spacing. When I was done with plate, i set it on the carpeted door skin centered up around crank hole. Then used a razor knike to score the carpet. Its just black interior carpet cemented/spray adhesive to the stock door skin. Anyway, then peeled out the unwanted carpet. Now the plate is directly against the door skin. Mark your though holes for the allen screws and drill. I think they #8-#10. Then put nuts on the back side. The length of the screw should not protrude beyond the nut. Cut down/or size the allens so the don't push the door skin away from the matel frame of the door. They will kind of "suck in" as you tighten down.

Now, after i put the disks on the slop in the old jiggly handle rubbed on the plate near where you hand goes on the window crank. In other words they sctratched the disk. So I lathed a inch or so into the material to hide the occasional touch by the crank. If your splines are nice tight you may not have the problem. But it added a bit of style to the plates by having the accent circle. Now that i look at it again, I lathed into where the base of the crank lands as well to give clearance. so the handle fits back on easily. I was trying to match the dash/glove box appearance.

You could make any shape or pattern as well. I went round. Thanks for asking!

I'm very interested in what you did with the heater hose routing for the V8. I see that the in/out is now up behind the glove box, but I'm curious what you did with the heater core itself? Any additional photos of the engine bay without the engine?

For the radiator, the V8 article in the information section here on the site shows HOW.342B, but I believe that is an outdated PN. Here's a link to the Howe unit, if nothing else to get the dimensions: http://www.streetperformance.com/part/h ... -342b.html

Here's Howe's site: http://www.howeracing.com/Radiators/Ind ... wChevy.htm

Northern racing also makes a very similar unit....

Nice truck!

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"If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves" - Thomas Edison

nuke, the core and the fan are in the stock location, just the valving is over by the glove box. I will take a few shots of it when i get home tonight.

Here is the valve on the inside.


Cable bend around to passenger side


Plugs for stock holes


heater box area


I never move/close the valve, helps cool the engine/I like heat/does not wear and leak...

Great info, thanks for the photos. Did you modify the heater core tubes somehow? Cut them short and add an elbow, or put a 90 in them? Are you using an aftermarket heater control valve?

This is the one thing that has definately had me scratching my head with a V8 install, yours is a really clean setup. Thanks for sharing how you did it

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"If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves" - Thomas Edison

nice truck, welcome to the site

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

Nice truck , welcome .

Nuke, the heater core is trimmed so that the tubes stick straight out a couple of inches. The plastic near the heater core casing is trimmed a little, squared up to give a bit more room. (You'll see that the original plastic has a angled edge and sort of cuts off the access.) The hoses just bend to make the 90. hose clamps hold them on. You could find hoses with 90 or fittings to make a 90. Most any cable actuated valve should work. Mount it to a "mounting bracket" and then to the firewall.