Thats how much I got my red 1/2 ton for. :hehe:
I look forward to watching your progress on this. It can only end in fun.
1978 Chevy LUV Machine
- Thread starter Novak
- Start date
Thats how much I got my red 1/2 ton for. :hehe:
I look forward to watching your progress on this. It can only end in fun.
I have seen people use R1 carburetors on these and somehow squeeze 7000 RPMs out of that little Motor
Not sure how much power you can squeeze out of these I think they were like 60 horse straight out of the box 40 years ago LOL
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I ordered a new HEI distributor and cap
Denso coil and new spark plug wires from champion with their plugs. Then a carburetor rebuild kit I’m going to try and squeeze some wife out of the original hitachi carb hopefully that will help with my idle
The slight misfire isn’t necessarily concerning because it doesn’t burn or oil and the Truck only has 76,000 miles
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Denso coil and new spark plug wires from champion with their plugs. Then a carburetor rebuild kit I’m going to try and squeeze some wife out of the original hitachi carb hopefully that will help with my idle
The slight misfire isn’t necessarily concerning because it doesn’t burn or oil and the Truck only has 76,000 miles
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My first truck was a ‘80 LUV 4x4. I loved that thing! I look every once in a while for one to buy cheap and fix up. Just don’t have a place to do it. Hopefully one of these days.
I’m hoping that I can commute in it and learn how to do sheet metal work. I’m like $200 into it and I’m pretty confident that will make it daily driver capable! But we are on a forum and we know the fun is far from over then
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So I got all the parts in this week! However they sent me a points style cap for some reason so I’m just gonna find one locally. The distributor I got in is an HEI reman so it should do the trick!
Haven’t assembled it yet. Been working like a slave to get my shop finished.
Current progress on that doesn’t seem like much to the naked eye but I had to pull the old floor stud ends and pop in some fresh 2x8’s. Redo the romex that was never drilled through the studs for some reason. Laid down some R30 to close he heat off in my hydrodip tank room. Pulled my stove chimney so I can cut around it the cleanest looking way. Now I’m dropping in some 3/4” tongue and groove sheets on the overhead loft!
I should of taken pics of the end studs, other than running the romex the end studs were a pain getting a 12’ piece of lumber around a chimney stack with a maybe 6.5’ vault.
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Haven’t assembled it yet. Been working like a slave to get my shop finished.
Current progress on that doesn’t seem like much to the naked eye but I had to pull the old floor stud ends and pop in some fresh 2x8’s. Redo the romex that was never drilled through the studs for some reason. Laid down some R30 to close he heat off in my hydrodip tank room. Pulled my stove chimney so I can cut around it the cleanest looking way. Now I’m dropping in some 3/4” tongue and groove sheets on the overhead loft!
I should of taken pics of the end studs, other than running the romex the end studs were a pain getting a 12’ piece of lumber around a chimney stack with a maybe 6.5’ vault.
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Shop is done and clean. I’ll be pulling the Luv Machine in tonight!
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Looks like a lot to meSo I got all the parts in this week! However they sent me a points style cap for some reason so I’m just gonna find one locally. The distributor I got in is an HEI reman so it should do the trick!
Haven’t assembled it yet. Been working like a slave to get my shop finished.
Current progress on that doesn’t seem like much to the naked eye but I had to pull the old floor stud ends and pop in some fresh 2x8’s. Redo the romex that was never drilled through the studs for some reason. Laid down some R30 to close he heat off in my hydrodip tank room. Pulled my stove chimney so I can cut around it the cleanest looking way. Now I’m dropping in some 3/4” tongue and groove sheets on the overhead loft!
I should of taken pics of the end studs, other than running the romex the end studs were a pain getting a 12’ piece of lumber around a chimney stack with a maybe 6.5’ vault.
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The guys that had this before me must of had a bad habit for assuming and not diagnosing because there is a lot of shade tree wiring.
The fuel pump was literally a hot wire directly from the battery so I started there because the relay that powers the fuel pump also powers a lot of other accessories like the ignition start switch and coil
I removed the old hot wire from the fuel pump and found the original tucked under the frame and I had no power there so I traced it to a loom and followed that harness to the relay and then tested the relay and it was bad, it had no output power but it was getting input power
Pulled the relay and go figure it’s discontinued so I did a cross reference and found one from VatoZone
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The fuel pump was literally a hot wire directly from the battery so I started there because the relay that powers the fuel pump also powers a lot of other accessories like the ignition start switch and coil
I removed the old hot wire from the fuel pump and found the original tucked under the frame and I had no power there so I traced it to a loom and followed that harness to the relay and then tested the relay and it was bad, it had no output power but it was getting input power
Pulled the relay and go figure it’s discontinued so I did a cross reference and found one from VatoZone
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I also did start it and turned the carb down. It was killing mosquito bad at the tailpipe
Still has misfire though
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Still has misfire though
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Plugged in as needed and finished pulling the old shade tree wiring and hooked up the oem harness and it worked.
I figured the best way to find out what was causing random electrical issues was to search for anything that didn’t look 40 years old so I replaced a couple wire hookups at the fuse box and that got me power to a couple interior accessories and I the bad wiring job prior to me arched and blew the fuse for the tail light.....I don’t have any glass fuses nor have I needed them in a long long time!
These two hookups had splices on them and I’ve never been a fan of those just like wire nuts. Kubota used to use them on their older models and we still find them causing problems for customers, you’ll have a $250 Service call for us to solder and shrink tube a wire after finding a spliced wire.
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I pulled the old plugs last night and this was the worst one but not by much,
I gapped my new Champion plugs and started to run them in finger tight but #2 and #4 have crossed threads, that explained why the old ones came out so easily. I’m gonna use a thread chaser on them today.
I’m considering adding some carbon cleaner on through the spark plug hole but I’ve never done that before. I’ve used ATF before like 8 years ago on my 72’ but I’ve heard the detergents in ATF aren’t good for your bearings. Anyone have any suggestions?
I gapped my new Champion plugs and started to run them in finger tight but #2 and #4 have crossed threads, that explained why the old ones came out so easily. I’m gonna use a thread chaser on them today.
I’m considering adding some carbon cleaner on through the spark plug hole but I’ve never done that before. I’ve used ATF before like 8 years ago on my 72’ but I’ve heard the detergents in ATF aren’t good for your bearings. Anyone have any suggestions?
Thread chaser worked on #2 but #4 will have to be recut. The chaser wouldn’t make a full pass through the threads and the spark plug doesn’t seat down so it will inevitably leak compression
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Cut the threads and clean the holes out. Put the new plugs in and turn the engine over to check for compression leaks and they were good. Plugged the wire in and started it up, it started smoother but still sputters if you jump the throttle. Still running points with a more than likely bad coil and with the HEI equipment sitting on the shelf I’m about to ready to toss it in.
After I did the leak test I here s dribbling sound and find the radiator leaking,.......son of a b*tch..
Pulled the radiator and plugged the ends
Hooked my tester up and she gave up the ghost at 8 PSI
Since he hole is a small pin hole it can be fixed but it is smack dab in the middle of the fins at the base so we’ll see what happens.
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After I did the leak test I here s dribbling sound and find the radiator leaking,.......son of a b*tch..
Pulled the radiator and plugged the ends
Hooked my tester up and she gave up the ghost at 8 PSI
Since he hole is a small pin hole it can be fixed but it is smack dab in the middle of the fins at the base so we’ll see what happens.
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Fixed the radiator last night. I’m gonna throw it on today and test it out. Had to fix it due to hem being discontinued and it was free to do it myself at my shop. Still scratching my head on how it happened.
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Installed the radiator and I’m too cheap to use my dexcool on this so I’m gonna wait til I go to the parts store and get some. Meantime I pulled the air horn off. It works but the air compressor smells dangerous when you hook power to it. Probably why it wasn’t hooked up in the first place. I’ll probably get some horns from our trucks, they are easy enough to install.
Before and after.
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Before and after.
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I do currently have a Petronix Hall Style ignitor so I’m gonna try that out and see if it cleans up my spark. Pulled the old points guys out and screwed this in and hooked it to the coil. Pulled my plugs and ran my gap to .44 and we’ll see how she runs tonight after I put my coolant in.
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