LUVTruck.com

The upgrade has started on my Luv. It's getting a SB 400/TH 350 that will replace the 4.1 Buick/TH 350 setup. The 400 is tore down and it's sitting at the machine shop waiting to get some work done to it. The pistons came out without needing a ridge reamer. The bores and journals are nominal diameter. There wasn't much abnormal wear to speak of which was a great relief to me. The motor did have a TON of carbon buildup on the pistons and in the galley. The timing chain almost came off of the gears by hand! The cam had some wear to it but the killer was the #2 exh lobe was somewhat rounded off. The stock 2 bbl intake will not be going back on the motor. Now comes the hard part, Making the list of stuff i'll need to get things working correctly.

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

Well good to hear that your starting to get your stuff together, I on the other hand had a little bit of a set back. I started to tear down my 283 so I could inspect it, well I have discovered that the right side head has a crack in it so now I have to find a new set of heads, with that I pulled the pistons and discovered that the piston that was in that cylinder has a crack in the skirt..... so now it looks like I need new pistons as well.
All in all though, it doesnt look to be in to bad of shape the block looks good as does the crank and cam. So now I really NEED a set of heads and a set of pistons for my engine. Well just my two pennies.
Later,
Husker

Got my block and heads back from the machine shop today! The bores are .030 over and the crank is .010 / .010 on the journals. There were 2 rocker studs that needed replacing. The engine kit should be here Wednesday. There's something about new parts that gets the excitement going. I still need to get the new pistons pressed on. So all ican do right now is detail the block.

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

I'm getting excited, hope everything goes well...

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Resident lurker

cool!
isn't engine building fun?!!!!!!

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03Cobra

One of the head bolts broke during disassembly. It was frozen to the block. Eventually, it came down to installing a Heli-coil. Now the bolt threads in to the block very tight. In fact, it has a running torque of 35 ft/lbs to thread it into place. The plan now is to install a stud at that position. This way i'll have a more consistant reading of torque. All of the threads on the block have been chased with a tap to clean things up. I still haven't decided on the color to paint the motor yet. After seeing the heads all reworked, im leaning towards a grey block and heads, Black oil pan, water pump, H Balancer and timing chain cover. Aluminum intake and chrome valve covers. It wont look flashy, but it will look serious.

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

Got my shipment of parts from Summit today. Took the pistons to the machinist to get them pressed. Finished cleaning the block and started on installing the crank. I found that one of the bearing halves was too thin(.010). This wasn't part of the plan. I am now stopped dead in my tracks. Called Summit and told them of the problem and they're sending a new set of mains to me overnight! It's not their fault that the part was mis-manufactured but they're gonna make things right in a hurry. I guess when they have a customer spending 1200+ dollars on an order, They dont want that customer irritated more than they already are.

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

What kind of rods are you going with stock, 5.7, 6"? Have you decided on a cam yet? What comp. ratio? Just curios I love SB400s. I run a 406 in my S10. Sould really wake up your luv.

The motor is basicly stock except for the Hyper pistons(9 to 1 comp ratio),Performer street cam and intake, Hooker headers. The rods are stock (5.630) and roller tip rockers. I just dont like the stock, stamped rockers so there not in the plan. It a little stronger than stock but not enough to need a stall converter

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

Stock rod length for a 400 is 5.565, Is this your driver or do you plan on racing it? Good choice on the comp ratio. Being able to fill it up at the pump is always nice! Why not throw a good set of rods while you are there or even 5.7 length? You can always build up from there, heads, cam, manifold, carb.

I've spent years with a Buick V-6 under the hood and i dont regrete ever doing the mod. But i've always dealt with gearing and engine heat issues. I now have a 2.75 axle setup so the Buick never sees above 3500 r.p.m"s. So now with the V-8 going in, building a killer street engine doesn't make a lot of sense. Im going for subtle performance gains without breaking the bank. The pistons were cheaper at 9 to 1 comp than 8 to 1 compression so that was a no-brainer! The motor still had a stock 2 bbl setup so i knew it wasn't going to stay with the build. The intake, cam, timing chain assy was to be replaced so i went with the performer package. The lower end is stock crank and stock rods ( i stand corrected, 5.560). It's my play around truck. It's semi-retired so it lives the good life. My C-1500 is my working truck. Later on i can get creative and drop the axle gearing somewhat and rework the motor a little heavier. But as for now, I like the idea of jumping in it and driving down the Hwy at 80 m.p.h. and the motor is running very cool!

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

Here's a few pics of the motor somewhat put together

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

SAWEET lookin motor

Dude, just from looking at the pictures, your gonna have trouble fitting that engine in your LUV. That one tube is WAY far out . You might have to do some more mods on the LUV in order to run those headers...(like remove the torsion bars!)

BTW, Sweet looking motor!!

The #8 cyl header pipe wraps around the frame because of the tight fit around the starter. The inner fenderwell and battery tray will need to be cut to fit the passenger side header.The drivers side header doesn't have a pipe to wrap around the frame. The oil filter is relocated from the block and there's room to use a more conventional style header. This header assy is specific to the Luv/Small Block Chevy conversion. The collectors are closer together than the dual exhaust setup i now have with the Buick V-6. After getting the mounts and headers, I can now see exactly how everything WILL fit to the truck.
I was thinking that all of this was different than what it is. This is another reason why i posted the pics because there's probably others that assumed the setup was not what it seems. I was more concerned with the steering shaft and it turns out that it's not even an issue. Go figure?

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

Ahhhh ok gotcha

I like the color you painted it, better than the traditional chevy orange. Looks good.

The motor was painted orange when i got it. I didn't figure it would go too well with the Blue color of the truck so i decided to go with Grey. It kinda looks like some sort of industrial equipment motor with an attitude.

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Previous setup: 4.1 Buick V-6/TH 350
Current setup: 400 Small Block Chevy V-8/TH 350
9" ford rear end/short bed/blue
What do Water, Electricity and Humans have in common... They all travel the path of least resistance.

yeah that!

Lookin' good blue!

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03Cobra

i am compressed good work