1977 Luv. Ls is the plan

[yahoos]

So Im going to copy and paste my build thread from luvtruck to here. I love looking at builds on here and figured I would share. I notice theres not many luvs on here. Well enjoy

New to the site, not new to oldschool minis. lol First vehicle i ever bought was a 1977 toyota hilux, ended up selling it. right out of highschool got me a 1977 datsun 620 and built which some of you may recognize from minitruckin mag. and now after keeping an eye out i found me a 1977 luv. picked her up today. pics coming soon. shes a carbed 4.3 out of a s10 with a 5 speed and s10 rearend, disk brakes all the way around. wheels are horrible and have to go. i wanna get some steelies on it, squat it, and make a nice daily driver out of it. :ebiggrin

[yahoos]

Well heres the only pic of the toyota i can find, drove it when i was 16.



then this is my datsun when i got it. and how it ended up. built it when i was 18-19







and heres the luv i picked up yesterday. more pics of it soon.

[yahoos]

underneath the hood is ugly.





the inside needs a dash cap headliner and glove box. the carpets decent, the door panels and seat are nice. they have black ostrich inserts and i actually like them.

[yahoos]

so ive been cleaning up the inside some and im going to start eliminating as much wires as i can under the hood. i hate having extra unused stuff under the hood. i will take pics of the progress. found a guy in dallas who is gonna build me a fresh 4.3 for it. heres a pic of the dailey for any c10 fans too


:ewink

[yahoos]

S]tarted get rid of the wires i dont need under the hood. and re running the wiring harness. hopefully get some more done tomorrow before work, time for work now.

[yahoos]

got a little more done on the harness today. ive now got passenger side wiring for the headlights,sidemarker,bumper light going down the driver side fender well and then crossing over under the core support. the wiring for the tail lights and what not run straight down from the main gromet of the firewall instead of running along the firewall to the passenger side and then down. i have a few wires left which run to the alt, starter, dizzy that i havent routed yet to im un sure where i wanna mount my battery.

[yahoos]

new to me gm boat intake to replace the highrise from the van that was on it



More to come in the next weeks. Dont mind those awesome motors mounts the previous owner fabbed plan on ordering some pba tomorrow.

[yahoos]

took it out to my buddys house yesterday to cut the old mounts out. turns out a hammer and a spoon for doing tires is all i needed to get them out. lol my 4.3 is built in dallas and should be here on hump day this week. I sent my order out to powerbyace for the new mounts. Will be doing some little things today. painting parts etc. hoping to have her going in a month.



the topper for my carb i build from a dodge durango.



shop lol



old vs new intake



degreasing

[

[yahoos]

Cleaning some parts.



test fitting my 14" steelies from my datsun. they dont like clearing the disk in the front or back. lol i need longer studs and spacers front and back and i did grind on the caliper a little on the rear. good news is theyre gonna end up working which is great since i love the look of them.



and being dumb putting my 22" steelies on it haha



done a few little things on her. this next weekend should be putting the 4.3 together then its a waiting game for my mounts and few other things. Im ready to get her running, slam her down and cruise her. 8)

[yahoos]

Well I got the call today to get my motor!








I used dallas city motor supply and so far im happy with the service i recieved and the price! As long as she runs good I highly recommend them to anyone near them. They deal in quite a bit of motors to.And they brought it to me over 3 hrs away for $40.

[yahoos]

Cash Talks, Bull**** Walks! The ol flying 69 is sold, mixed feelings about it, but on the other hand more $$$$ for the luv. Speaking of which I need to name her still.

[yahoos]

Well worked alot this weekend. Motor assembled and in. Should have her going next weekend hopefuly.

[yahoos]

Well Ive been driving it and have a few small things that i want to change but that will come in time. I need to have exhaust put on it and hook up my heater for sure! Other plans are to get longer studs so i can run a spacer so I can put my datsun steelies on it. Once those are on then its time to lower her down some more!

[yahoos]

AFTER





one of the brackets for the shield for the k&n


I ended up just cutting the factory cable to the length I needed then build a short flat bracket and clamped it, works great.


I really like the look of the durango topper on the carb, idk how i feel so much about the rest of the intake tho. Ended up looking more "ricer" then i intended


I need a new thermostat. I put a 160 in there and thats exactly what it stays at. I guess the radiator does its job lol

[yahoos]

The interior still needs some help but that will come in time.


And i did keep my hand painted and coated shift knob from when i sold my 69. My new $30 kenwood deck too. And the name of the luv since the numerous small issues I kept running into.


My kicker 3.5s behind my vents


The 6x9s i need to make and crapet panels for.


The kicker hide away unit that has a small sub and amp built in. No ridiculous bass and it gives the oldies a good tone that i Like to cruise to, and barely takes up room on the plus side.


The 2 important gauges lol


It had some 3/4 point whatever racing style harness on the bench seat when i got it, I threw these in there because i like lapbelts


They were shorter then i realized so I made some small L brackets to bolt them to that gave me atleast 4 inches.


So thats where im at today. Its been cold and raining all weekend. I went out early and threw on the choke cable and mounted it. So as of now it seems like a good little truck. It needs an alignment which im not going to do until I get the other wheels and tires on it for good. After exhaust and alignment I want to have the rearend regeared to something like a 3:55 maybe 3:42. Appearance wise, a bed with hooks on it. A flat baby blue with some black coming thru sort of like patina. Squatted down on the black steelies and black out the windows. I plan on eventually throwing on tbi and then A/C. Have a good day folks!

[yahoos]

So all of that was from oct of last year up until about jan. Ive been driving it since then and now this is from last week until today.

[yahoos]

Well Ive been driving her. Wasnt sure if I was going to keep her or not. Ive been looking for wheels for about 8 months. I wanted steelies. I needed them to clear the disk brakes all the way around. and I wanted them to sit inside the body. well only thing I could find to meet all those were there 88-98 4x4 steel wheels from gm. I looked forever and no luck. Finally started lloking for any wheel to get rid of the awful ones on it and found exactly what i was looking for.



$60 on cl about 40 mins away. hellya

i wanted to use my datsun center caps on them



The center caps snap over 3 small metal balls on the datsun wheels spaced out in a triangle shape. So I need 3 on my new wheels. I started of with this metal ring I found on the side of the road about 4 months ago. I could sit it on the datsun wheels and the edge of the ring sat on all 3 balls. So i sat it and marked it.



next instead of using balls i decided to just use nuts stood on there side. I ground out a notch on the three points where the nuts would recess in there. then i ran a piece of scrap across the middle and drilled some holes for bolts. sat that on the datsun wheel lined the bolts up centered in 2 of the lugs and welded the heads down.



next i used the jig on the 88-98 wheels and torqued them down. slid a nut in each slot and tacked them down. and it works.





wire wheeled them, sanded and primered.



kumho ecsta 225/50 16s



before



after

[yahoos]

I lowered it a little bit last night about 2/2 Im happy with it now.! Ill get better pics. She actually rides smoother.! First truck Ive ever lowered and got that result

[yahoos]

This was today

First time ive washed it since ive bought it. IM digging the new look. So happy the jigaboo wheels are gone! :twisted:

[yahoos]

I think she looks 100 times better!!!!!! Eventually I want to do the truck with Black windows and paint the truck flat red or white or something.

Something else has been on my mind aswell. Im waiting for my 64 biscayne to sell and as soon as she does im going to buy a small gas getter/driver car. Then I will be selling the 4.3/5speed.

A hint as to why.

[yahoos]

Im going to be gathering the parts and hope to have the swap done about march next year. so it will be a long process. Hope everyone enjoys. i will be doing small things to it as i go. I know theres alot of good ls swap knowledge here!

[MotorHead Lon]

Cool LUV truck!! Looks killer with the new wheels.

[Greenlee]

Nice looking truck!

[Low Elco]

I like it!

[yahoos]

Thanks fellas! I was hoping someone on this website would enjoy it. I had to build a new rod for the clutch. The one that runs between the clutch pedal and the cylinder. The old one had a bend in it and always rubbed making the clutch rough. It bend up bad and the truck wouldnt go in gear. No biggie. Its really low geared which sucks on the highway. Its good for hauling heavy loads tho. Like moving horses