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hello all. thanks in advance for all the help you will probely give me in the near future I just bought a 1979 chevy luv 4x4 stock motor, 6 inch of lift, 31x10.50x15 goodyear mt/r, push guard, roll cage, the works, it sat for a while at a junk yard, and I gave them 150 bucks for it and brought it home. Changed the oil, put in a radiator, and added some fuel. she fires right up, but here is the problem. when I step on the gas to move the truck, it stumbles and tries to die. it doesnt even have the power to move the thing. I pulled the wires off one at a time and no change in the rpm, adjusted the idle screw at the bottom of the carb, no help. if I hold the petal down there is alot of backfireing in the carb. do I need to check the timing, or bad gas, and where is the fuel filter on her. My brother has a lifted ford f100 so I bought this to show him you dont need the big CI to go almost anywhere. I had a 80 2wd luv 3-4 years ago that would go anywhere. so at the moment I am eating crow with him so any help you can give me would be greatly apreciated.
thank you

It amazes me to see such finds. Welcome to the site. Hopefully you can straighten out the truck with out going to any drastic measures. The problem could be a number of things. But first, the filters. There should be one up in the engine compartment somewhere. Follow the fuel line (the bigger line) from the carb back. You should find an in line filter before you get to a hard line that will run under the cab of the truck. If it doesn't have one, go ahead and install one. Also there's a filter between the fuel tank and the fuel pump. Go to the gas cap at the bed and look in to the wheel well. Forward of the filler tube you'll find a filter sitting on top of the frame. Now as old as it is, it would be a good idea to replace the fuel lines too. They're old and most likely dried out so if you man-handle the filter off, the lines will most likely leak on you. If you get the idea of blowing air in to the tank to check for clogs, please remove the gas cap. If you dont remove the cap, the tank will pressurize and shoot fuel out. Once you get the fuel filter from the tank removed, try and knock some fuel out of it and examine the color and if there's any water in it. If it really bad you might need to remove the tank and flush it out to get rid of all of the crap and sediment.
Get that done first because it's always good to insure good clean fuel flow.
If you're sure that the plugs, wires, cap and rotor are good, I would think that the accelerator pump in the carb is shot. You'll need to find out if the truck still has the stock, Hitachi carb on it or if it's been replaced with a Webber. It it's a stock carb, you can rebuild it if you feel you can handle the task. If it's a Webber carb, count your blessings because it's a better carb performance wise and is much more simpler in it's design. It's easier to go in to and repair.

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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.

Blue Meanie has some good ideas, filters especially should be at the top of the list on any truck that has been sitting a while.

Two things jumped to my mind though. Water in the fuel would be one. Changing out the filter should give you an idea if there is any water in the gas. When you get the filter off try to pour any fuel in it into something clean so you can check for dirt and water. Water should show as bubbles of something that just won't mix with the gas. Dirt/crud will be obvious and a little bit is to be expected almost, but more than a few bits and you can figure the tank is full of quite a bit more.

The second thought I had is the points. If they are misgapped or just worn out and needing to be replaced they can cause the symptoms you describe. Another good thing for that list of things to fix is a tune up for the ignition system. Cap, rotor, points, and condensor should all be changed, and it wouldn't hurt to change the plugs and plug wires as well. The wires you can probably hold off on if they look to be in good shape, but the rest should be changed out if they aren't obviously very new.

Timing would be a good idea when you get the tune up parts. Changing the point can affect the timing so I always recheck it at the same time. With it popping out the carb, the spark could be very advanced and causing all your problems. One thing that you should pick up right away is a repair manual. The Haynes repair manual for LUVs is very good and can be found at most any auto parts store for less than $20. It will really help just in how to do stuff, but it is invaluable for having all the specs like points gap, plug gaps, carb adjustments, and etc.

I thought that 1979 Luvs had electronic ignitions.???

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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.

Electronic ignition came in 81, 79s still had points. A good way to solve problems with points would be to swap in electronic though, that is for sure.

Thank you all for the help so far, I finally got her to pull herself with you alls help. so far this is what I did. I redrained the tank, and cleaned out (alot of rust in there) changed the stock fuel filter, added the filter at the carb. filed the points (will change when parts store reopens) adjusted the timing by ear to compensate for the points. Emeryed the cap and rotor a bit, added fresh gas and 2 cans of Heat. I checked the Transmition and Transfer case. They were really low.....I added 3 quarts total. bought a Chilton from a buddy of mine. still has a nasty lag when you step on the gas, but not as bad. I noticed a couple of things. first of all the accelerator cable has alot of slack in it, and the barrel on the inside of the truck, does not open when you pull the throttle. but I can open manually. It has the stock carb I think, but somone has removed all the vacume lines and electronics from it. and used a open face filter system on it. I have a set of duel webber carbs for my old triumph...wish they would work. but at least I can move her around a bit now. also I see that there is a small head gasket leak to the outside between the rear 2 cyl. it only leaks to the outside, do I need to change the head gasket or do they need retorqued like some other aluminum heads, or can a guy use silver seal with any luck. thanks again for all the help so far

When you pull the head, check it to make sure it isn't warped becuz the head bolts weren't kept torqued down. Get a Weber carb on it to save yourself grief.

Check all the vacuum lines and make sure none of them R cracked. Then if it is spitting and sputtering and back firing I would check the carb to make sure that the choke is adjusted properly. From there, I would then check the timing, and the distributor, etc.

Work from the most obvious backwards:

Vacuum
Carb
Choke
Bad Gas
Timing
Water
Not getting air, etc.

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More LUV than one man could ever need - Spread the LUV!
- 1976 Chevy Longbed - Daily Driver
- 1981 Chevy Shortbed 4X4 - Needs Help!
- 1981 Chevy Luv 4X4 - Newly put together

Well all I think that I got her. I pulled the complete air cleaner assembly apart and found that the Luv has a weber carb, so I got lucky there from what I hear. But whoever put on the carb, didnt put in one of the bolts on the back side. so I added a bolt, adjusted the carb, and then the timing. now she purrrrs like a kitten, still a bit of a stumble, but I will replace the points and plugs tommorrow, and see if that fixes her. with gas prices the way they are time to park the hurst olds and drive the luv. thanks all

And all of only 150 bucks and some change with a little elbow grease. Some people have all the luck!

_________________
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.

that's the luck eh? GOOD SCORE DUDE!

i've been keeping my eyes open for webers and headers at the junkyards myself.

I've got a set already, but you can't have too many extra parts....that is unless you just finished putting your truck back together.

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