LUVTruck.com

Hey, I have a pretty basic question for anyone who might have done this. Because of a shortage of $$$ right now, I have decided to take the budget approach and put an S-10 rear in my LUV for now just to get it going. I am putting the common 350/TH350 in and I have been told that a driveshaft out of a Camaro (mid 70's?) will fit right in without mods. Is this true? Has anyone done this? Eventually, it will get a narrowed 9 inch which I already have, but needs to be cut down. The truck will see the track only on a limited basis, so I think I can live with it for a while.

I just stuck the old driveshaft out of my 67 camaro in my Luv, it fits perfect.

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74 Luv - 383, 224/224cam, 200-4R, Dana 44 w/373s,
smooth idle "work truck" - 11.30 @ 121.8
67 camaro - 502 street/strip (inthe10s)

Should work just fine, I used a stock driveshaft from a 79 Camaro in my 75 when I built it, works perfect, the one I got was out of a straight six application with a 350 trans. Good luck!

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LUV Truck Desserter!
76 Daily driver (SOLD)
73 LUV (rusting away at the moment)
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63 Nova
74 Camaro

Wow! Haven't seen you around for awhile D.

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Resident lurker

He DOES exist!!!

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77 2wd - Back on the road
05 Ford Five Hundred

"Love endures all things, Love never fails." - 1 Cor. 13:7,8.

Thanks for the replies. I've heard that it will work, just never been there. That's the route I will go to start off with.

Dam, I learn something new on here everyday

Heck you need to read the V8 swap article, lots of handy el cheapo tips. Hey does anyone know any new tricks?? We need to maybe throw all the little tips into a doc and put in info section, providing there are any new ones hehe - Like for example, we all know about the s-10 rear swap thing, but what about a ford 8.8" swap?? I have my eye on a 78 that I may get my hands on soon, so I am starting to get ideas - and this is BAD! hehe Correct me if im wrong, the stock LUV rear is 54" drum to drum no? I put a Ford 8.8" rear under my 63 Nova, and using a "el cheapo" narrowing method (used 2 passenger side axles) I got a rear with a 56" width. Now just need to find a way to arive at 54" using simular methods. I plan to do something simular if I can get my hands on another LUV.

Derek

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LUV Truck Desserter!
76 Daily driver (SOLD)
73 LUV (rusting away at the moment)
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63 Nova
74 Camaro

You are correct, stock LUV is 54. I have a 10 bolt out of a 66 Nova, it's 58.
The tires are right at the edge of the fenders.
With 56 and 5.5 backspacing on wheels you would be just under the fender lip with 7" wide wheel.
What 8.8 were you looking at? It must be out of a Ranger? That could be a good possiblity. They make a bunch of Off-Road stuff for that rearend?

I dont know what width the ranger rear is, might be where I start looking. The hot rear to use in the Nova's is the ford explorer rear, 91-94 and 95-01 are about 60" wide, the earlier ones have drum brakes, the later ones (95-01) have disk. The nice thing about these rears is they come with 31 spline axles, 3.250 axle tubes, 3.73 gears and a 4 clutch posi, the one I put in my nova is out of a 98 explorer. The cheap trick is to use 2 passenger side axles, and VIOLA you have a 56" wide rear (after narrowing one side), perfect for the nova, but a tad wide for the LUV. I will see if the ranger came with 31 spline axles, and find out the lengths, I understand the later ones have 31 spline, may be able to figure a way to make one fit a LUV, not sure yet. One thing is for sure with these 8.8 rears, is they are pretty much bulletproof from the factory sporting 31 spline axles and huge axle tubes. I see many of the late mustangs running low in the nines, and a few 8 second rigs running the stock axles, bone stock actually, using a girdle and a ford racing carbon fiber clutch pack set - you can run 8's all day with no trouble, this has been confirmed by many a 5.0 mustang guys, and a few nova guys run the same setup. The mustangs are actually heavier than my nova, and definately the LUV's. Will post more as I find out more.

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LUV Truck Desserter!
76 Daily driver (SOLD)
73 LUV (rusting away at the moment)
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63 Nova
74 Camaro

just add a little back spacing to those rims everything should tuck under nicely with that rear

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don`t have the luv no more but I still like em.72 el camino,
00 & 06 silverado one 4x4, turboed vw sandrail,99 banshee, 06 raptor 700, 02 polaris trailblazer.

I dont know race, im skeptical a 56" rear would fit, where ya going to find wheels with 6" backspace on say a 7" rim? I know Bogart here in ca can custom cut a set of 6" back space wheels, but there goes any cost savings using the budget rear. On the flip side of that, you could have them do a set of skinny six lug fronts as well and have a trick setup, but $1,500+ in wheels woowee! I shot an email to all the big rear end shops like moser, currie, dts etc. to see if they can ID the shortest 31 spline axle shaft ford produced for the 8.8, and see if one could arrive at a 52-54" width. Will let ya know what I find.

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LUV Truck Desserter!
76 Daily driver (SOLD)
73 LUV (rusting away at the moment)
---------------------------------------------
63 Nova
74 Camaro

Well so much for the ford 8.8 idea, the shortest 31 spline axle ford makes is 27 5/8, which comes to 56". I tried.

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LUV Truck Desserter!
76 Daily driver (SOLD)
73 LUV (rusting away at the moment)
---------------------------------------------
63 Nova
74 Camaro

i run the maverick 8" in mine i believe it is 56 i think the rims i have are centerlines. 8" wide with 61/2 backspacing.i run 9.50 15 slick that is 29" tall. it was all I could afford so I made it work. I picked up the wheels at swap meet for 40 bucks

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don`t have the luv no more but I still like em.72 el camino,
00 & 06 silverado one 4x4, turboed vw sandrail,99 banshee, 06 raptor 700, 02 polaris trailblazer.

Like an autodrag wheel? Fits ok under the stock lip? Nice tire, wish I could run a 29" tire on my nova!

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LUV Truck Desserter!
76 Daily driver (SOLD)
73 LUV (rusting away at the moment)
---------------------------------------------
63 Nova
74 Camaro

*cough* toyota 4WD 8" rear *cough*

6 lug, 30 spline, '79-85 is 55" WMS, '86-95 is 58" WMS, cheaper than dirt.

only issue is that it's spring-over from the factory, so you'd either have to go that route or weld new perches on

a 9" out of a mid 50's Ranchero is 56 or 57" i believe

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1978 LUV Truck 2WD
450 "Small Block" Chevy
3.70 Ford 9
28x10 Goodyears

Ya it will at least i read that in the hooker v8 swap