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My father in-law just offered me a '78 LUV that has been sittin in his storage unit for almost 15 years now. He says It ran fine before he stored it(didn't fit the family). I'm takin it no doubt, my question is should I bother with rebuilding the stock engine or replacing it. For now its gonna be a daily driver. Eventually($$$) Im gonna make it a play toy but not right now.

welcome,

dude, if it's in good shape keep it stock. does it have non cracked dash in it.
run it like that for awhile then when you have some money put away drop a 350 in there

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1980 luv sport 4x4 Just a memory now
Frame rusted from the inside. Truck stripped and now looking for a new donor in southern ohio

I agree just run it stock for now then upgrade it later...

Oh and welcome to the site

yeah what those guys said.

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03Cobra

Well I went to look at the truck yesterday. As far as I can tell it is in good condition, well atleast the passenger fender looks good. The Luv is cover with all sorts of boxes and stuff. He says there isn't anything heavy on it so i am not to worried about body damage. The only problem is that it is gonna take a full day to clean all the stuff off and get it towed to the house. Once I get it you can bet you will be hearing alot from me as this will be my first rebuild by myself.

After sitting for 15years what can I expect to find under the hood and in the engine?

some squirrels?
hehe
just kidding

I would do all the minor stuff like change oil/filter, drain the fuel and change the fuel filter, then see if it will start up. you may be able to run it without cleaning the carburetor, but that is 50/50 chance.
You may want to put some marvel mystery oil down in the cylinders to help lubricate them for startup. after 15 years who knows?
there have been people on here that were talking about starting up vehicles after a long period of time and they have had pretty good luck from what I have read. hope you have just as good of luck.

have fun with it!

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03Cobra

So your saying I should change the fluids and lube the cylinders and see what happens?

Thanks

hell yeah!
just make sure dirt dobbers haven't made nests in the air cleaner.

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03Cobra

sounds good when I finaly get it out of storage and in my garage I will see how everything goes

reminds me of when i was looking for a first truck years ago. looked at a '74 ford courier, popped the hood and there was a hornet's nest in the engine bay! guy could barely get the thing started...needless to say i passed that one up

Yeah was helpin Dad restore a '57 GMc pickup and went out to pull the gas tank and laid right on a nest of biting somethings Still don't know what they were.. look like ants but never heard of black ants biting

really any oil will help Id pull plugs and put a few squrites in each let set for a bit and fire it .it smoke a little til that oil is gone but youll be saver like what luv4me has said before..good luck and wecome

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http://bonsaint.com/luvalbum2/index.htm

more pics of my 76 406ci 4 spd posi.

I finally got the LUV out from under the mountain of CRAP in Dad-in-law's Storage unit. Not bad looking considering its been under a ton of crap for 15 years. The Dash is fried, any ideas on how to recover or replace? The Body is ok jsut a few rust spots. I should be able to test start it by this week end. The Milage blew me away 47k originial I should be driving it for the next 60 years.

wow what a find you got . good luck post some pictures also

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http://bonsaint.com/luvalbum2/index.htm

more pics of my 76 406ci 4 spd posi.

Congrats on the find......Yeah careful of mud dobbers when i got mine had been setting for four years...and huge nest in air cleaner......

you may want to look into fiberglass work for the dash.
a luv I saw in pigeon forge at a rod run had fiberglassed his dash and it looked really good.
he followed the original flow of the steel under the dash and covered the top with tweed.
hope this helps.
a dash for the luv is really expensive, but they do exist.

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03Cobra

I was looking at the JCW site and they sell "Accu-Form Molded Dash Caps" Would that work?

Oh yeah anyone got a Front bumper for cheap?

Thanks

the dash caps just sit on top of your original dash.
they aren't the full sides and front.
if the top of the dash is the only thing that is cracked you can get away with putting the dash cap on it.

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03Cobra

My truck already had a dash cap on it when I found it at the DWI sale. It's the back one with the nice rims on it. Tonight is bumper brushing and priming nite, and bench seat cleaning since the buckets that are in there don't have matching bolt holes. but be guaranteed, I am eyeing some in the boneyard that are 60/40 buckets in a Pup.

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