LUVTruck.com

I'm still scoping out all the stuff for my 2.8 and od automatic swap. Now my attention turns to the rear axle and front brakes. I've heard the S-10 rear axle is a near bolt-in. True or not? Are there any factory front disc brake setups that will adapt to the LUV or am I looking at a custom setup? Ideally, I could use the front discs from the Camaro donor car and if I can install an S-10 rear axle, I'll use the Auburn posi and 4.10:1 gears from the Camaro axle.

in my opinion I think you are barking up a problem tree installing a 2.8 in anything.
ask anyone and they will tell you that a 2.8 is not a good choice.
2.8's are sluggish, slow, and unreliable.
of course it is hard to make decisions if that is all you have.
just warning you about the 2.8.
good luck.

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03Cobra

oh yeah about your question.

yes the S-10 is bolt up.

custom is the way to go on the front discs
either send your discs off to get redrilled or buy vegs rotors and redrill then match bearings.

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03Cobra

No problem. One of the reasons I'm posting here is to get opinions; not just information. Besides, my stepson asked me the other day why I was going to so much trouble when I should just forget the LUV and buy an S-10 that already has the same engine, trans and rear axle plus front discs.

2.8=best boat anchor GM ever made
i was thinking about doing the same thing....then my best buddie smacked me upside the head and knocked some sense into me....so im putting a 3.8 buick im mine now...and yeah he smacked me again lol
he aint gonna be happy untill it gets a blown small block

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I like my steak like I like my women, young, tender and bloody.

All I need is my weed, women, and wine. -Edge City Outlaws

if you have to put a v6 than use the 4.3 they can make 250hp easy and lots of aftermarket parts just my 2cents

yeah the buick 3.8 is an excellent engine. it will run forever and ever and ever....... as for performance unless you have a turbo run to it you can spend as much money on it as you would a V8. believe me I built mine like that. roller rockers on a shaft, V8 pistons, etc....etc..... if you want performance go out and get a running V8 to start with, but if you just want a little extra power and reliability too a buick 3.8 is an excellent choice.
Autofab's kit is excellent with instructions to boot.

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03Cobra

Would a Buick 3.8 or a Chevy 4.3 bolt to the 2.8 od transmission?

the trans from the 2.8 is a 700r4 but has parts for the 2.8 and wont hold
the power without puting v8 parts in it the 200r4 has both the chev bellhousing and the pontic, buick,olds bellhousing i do not think700r4 trans for the 2.8 and the 3.8 have the same bellhousing hope this helps

the 4.3 has a chevy style bellhousing different from the 3.8 and I think it is also different from the 2.8.

Go find a 1976 or later LUV (which all came with factory front discs) and snatch the front discs and hardware off of them. There is a great article to help you on this in the Tech section of LUVtrucks.com's website.



Make sure that the S-10 rearend is a later model (1989 or later) 7 5/8" rearend.....they are infinitely stronger than the wimpy axled 7 1/2" rearend which came in S-10's AND Camaros.



NOPE!!! The bolt pattern on the 2.8 family of motors is completely different from any other motor....PLUS>>>>the 2.8 700R4 uses a light-duty drum, planetary gear and valve body that is geared to the 2.8's non-existent torque curve.



Let me tell you my little tale of horror!!!!!

I built a LUV in 1996 when the gas prices shot up to 2 bucks a gallon.......

I decided that I would "Dare To Be Different" as Hot Rod Magazine was promoting at the time and put a 2.8 liter v-6 and 700r4 out of a 1984 S-10 into my LUV. I was completely convinced that this would be the most "sensible" and "responsible" thing to do rather than building up a 350 like I had been wanting to do for so long.....

So.....I went through it and put all new seals and gaskets on the whole thing and cleaned the pile of burnt oil that had turned to charcoal forom excessive heat and infrequent oil changes and put it in and got it running. I had to add a custom-made aftermarket gauge set and a B&M Mega-shifter as well. COST: about 1000 bucks!!! And on it's maiden voyage I took my mother for a ride and spun a rod bearing 12 miles from the house. Out comes the motor and tranny.

I rebuilt it with some good parts and a decent machine shop did the work and I put it back in.......

A week later I went to watch a drag race and on the way there I smoked the 700R4 and had to get towed home 138 miles........So out comes the tranny....again.... so the tranny shop put in an IROC V-8 drum with the "extra" V-8 clutch pack, a truck planetary gearset, and a 4.3 V-6 valve body in anticipation of some performance modifications I planned to slowly do. All that plus a Cheetah shift Kit set on stupidly hard shifts cost about 1200 bucks...and that was pick up and delivery....not installed. So I put in the tranny and off I go.......For about 2 months.

I took trip to another drag strip and once again it breaks on the way. I'm just driving along with the cruise control on at 70 and the crank braeks in half at the rod journal that had been spun earlier.....the machine shop explains that maybe there was a wekening of the crank at that point due to the heat and stree of spinning the bearing but it still wasn't their fault.....Sorrrrrry Charlie.....

So......I decided to "do it right this time" and I stroked it to 3.4 liters with a GMPP stroker kit with a brand new stroker crank, rods and flat-top forged pistons. I ported, polished and gasket matched the heads, cut the heads for bigger stainless valves, heavier, high-lift springs, screw-in studs, guide plates, milled the heads, decked the block, aligned honed the block, bored it .030" over, Zero-end gap rings, edelbrock performer 2-piece intake(gasket-matched) and performer matched cam, 1.6 ratio roller rockers, balanced, blueprinted, welded up the spider gears(makes for nifty chirps while turning.....and if it's wet IT WILL NOT TURN PERIOD......GROAN.........please kiddies learn from the painful mistakes of my mis-spent youth......) and rebuilt the 2-barrel it came with on the 2- barrel top for the intake manifold.....

COST: about 2 grand...........it ran mid 14's.....

I cried...........

I then bought the 4 barrel top for the intake, 600 cfm edelbrock performer carb and a 100 horse NOS plate system.........COST: another 1000 bucks...........

Daring to be different finally paid off.....kind of........

It ran high 12's (best of 12.77)......AND STILL PULLED DOWN 22 MPG WITH THE OD 4TH GEAR AND HIGH-DOLLAR LOCK-UP CONVERTER.......and it only cost me about 5 grand!!!!! where as a 350/350 combo would have probably cost me about 1000 bucks total.

5 months later I am sitting in traffic at a signal and when the light turned green I went to pull ahead with traffic..... now bear with me here.....there are cars ahead behind and both sides so I definitely didn't stomp on the gas......I put my foot on the gas and eased away in traffic and all of the sudden at about 900 RPM the damned crank breaks in half.....again......

After breaking the 3rd crankshaft in the miserable b***h I sold my baby in disgust...... just the way she sat for 500 bucks and bought an 89 S-10 with fuel injection and a 4.3 V-6.

Hindsight is 20/20 I suppose......it cost me waaaaaaay more to build (and rebuild) the baby v-6 then if I would have soaked up the gasoline costs of the v-8.......if only I had put a 350 in the old girl I would still be enjoying her.......

(SIGH)

I have got to get busy and build one of the 2 I now own.....I'm planning a Weiand Tunnel Rammed or 6-71 Blown 327 this time.......

P.S,.

Now Check This Out!!!!!

The 19 year old kid that bought it from me took the NOS off of it for his camaro and threw an el-cheapo mexican machine shop crank kit in it and gave the truck to his daddy........

Daddy's still driving it to work to this very day.........

EVERY DAY......and has never had a single problem out of it.......

And on top of that the Dupli-Color rattle can silver to dark blue metallic flames over a medium metallic blue base coat paint job that I put on it in my dirt driveway is still on it and doesn't look any worse today than it did in 1995 when I sprayed it........

what a trip..........

man that sucks......

I've got to build another one......AND FAST TOO!!!!!!!

Rich Jerozal

I sold both the LUV and the Camaro after a guy at work told me all the work he did to his 2.8L S-10 just to keep the thing going. Seems that cranks are weak as his first shot of nitrous (75hp) on a fresh rebuild broke the crank in two places. He rebuilt it again with a 3.1L crank and pistons and promptly blew the trans. After putting a bunch of V8 parts in the trans, the crank broke again; this time taking out a section of the block. Out came the motor and in went a built-up 4.3 only to find out that the trans didn't work (I assume the bellhousing mismatch mentioned). Now he has a T-5. He says total cost to date has been in excess of 7 grand. The bad part, he told me, was his son only spent $5600 to build a 383/TH200-4R/4.11:1 12-bolt rear S-10; including buying the truck.

Well bottom line is 2.8's arent' hot rod engines to begin with. Pure daily drivin dogs that will stay together if treated right and taken care of.
Ive known people who drove them for years and did ok by them. Be good to them and they will be good to you.

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Too much to do and not enough time or money!
Courage is the other side of fear!
Pain is the weakness leaving the body!

Um, do you realize this post is 6 years old?????????????????????????????????????

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Click on C.M. logo to go to my webpage


RIP R.J.B.

I know. but my point is there is still a lot of 2.8's out there still being used and still could be put in a luv now that gas prices are unreal. Also they can be picked up for next to nothing in case anyone is re thinking about it.

Nothing wrong with bringing up old topics, guess I like living in the past.
Since it is so old and it shocks you so much feel free to have it deleted. Makes me no difference. Maybe I should have brought it up in a new post, but then again maybe not.

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Too much to do and not enough time or money!
Courage is the other side of fear!
Pain is the weakness leaving the body!

I dont know why you would bother with a 2.8L when a 2.6L or 2.3L Isuzu 4cyl and 5 speed trans is a bolt up prospect.

Leave the std diff and get a set of 15" trooper rims and put a slightly bigger tyre on the rear.

If you cant get the same economy as a 2.8L your just not driving it right.


Bob.

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Current project, 1979 KB Isuzu Ute.

Daily driver, '86 Rodeo Spacecab.
Chasing parts for Isuzu Impulse.

Hey, dont knock em till you try em.

I went with the stock 2.8 S10 H.O. forged crank because of its rolled fillets (after an extensive blueprint and alighn hone) this has solved my once previous crank breakage problem as well. The rods are early chevy small journal rods, and the pistons are diamond custom forged. The heads are also the S10 H.O. fully ported and polished with larger stainless valves and Z28 camaro springs and retainers. rockers are roller tip SBC modified for the metric rocker stud. clevlite bearings are used exclusively through out the assembly. Intake was an edelbrock with a holley 450. Camshaft was a custom mechanical from PAW.

With stock exhaust manifolds the engine ran a best of 288 HP @ 4500RPM
With a set of custom longtube headers and a more agressive timing profile it ran the best of 331 HP @ 5500 RPM.

cost me around 1500 to build, but i did most of the machine work myself.

A.j.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykgDNjeTa0g

I put mine on the dyno last week. 58hp @ the rear wheels. Not bad for a stock 1.8L.


Bob.

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Current project, 1979 KB Isuzu Ute.

Daily driver, '86 Rodeo Spacecab.
Chasing parts for Isuzu Impulse.

My son had a camaro with a 3.4 v6, which I think is a bigger version of the 2.8 . I thought it ran good. You might have to run some 2.8 stuff, but it might be more bang for the buck. If you don't already have your engine. If so some 3.4 stuff might work on it too.

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75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.

Here you go.

http://www.60degreev6.com/

More info than you will ever need.

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75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.