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4.3 chevy luv

66K views 345 replies 26 participants last post by  Mad Max 
#1 ·
hey guys thought I would post this up here for you s10 guys since so many of my parts are out of an s10 now.
my build is a 1980 chevy luv 4x4, came with an Isuzu 1.8, the previous version of the early s10 1.9 and a 4 speed trans. I drove it that way with a weber for a couple years, trashed my transmission and pulled the engine and tranny.
some pics of the process so far.
stripped down, note the big kink in the core support... damn rangers....

engine coming out, sold it shortly after

trans/case coming out. scrapped it since it wasn't worth selling

stripped the interior, putting in new gauges, seats, dash pad and custom dash face.

pulled the entire harness out of the cab and engine compartment labeled and started cutting out the extra crap and stripping the engine section to wire in the new sensors and such for the new motor


bought a jeep xj "power center" relay and fuse block, goes wired inline with the battery and alternator seemed like my best option for a retrofit and custom interior

bought a 91 4.3 v6 from a s10 blazer, stripped and scrapped the heads, intake manifold, exhaust manifolds cam oil pump... everything but the block crank and rods. had it bored .030 over, hot tanked, checked deck for flatness etc.

had the crank ground .010 and .010

went to the junkyard and pulled a pair of 97 blazer vortec heads

started off really gunked up

used a poly abrasive wheel to clean the head surfaces

and a set of wire wheels and cupped wheels to clean the chambers


ground the casting faults and burred edges off the block, less places I have to bust a hand open the better :haha:


bought a blazer nv3500 4x4 5 speed from a guy who parts them out here in Vancouver


got a set of bolt in mounts and isolators for the 4.3 from Power By Ace

getting the 4.3 ready to put back together, got a full rebuild kit

dropped the new mounts in right after I cut the old exhaust out

bolted the oil pan on the bare block to see if it was going to clear the stock diff

went in like butter looks like it belongs in there

plenty of room in front for a 19x22 aluminum radiator and electric fan


that's all the pics so far. just got my new cam bearing tool today so I will be doing the assembly of the shortblock tomorrow when I grab some assembly lube and rtv.
still need to pick up an edelbrock 2114 intake manifold,
set of pacesetter shorty headers planning to go with dual 2 1/4 pipes Y-ing into a single 3" pipe straight back to a flowmaster super 44 center in and out, no cat.
a holley 450 4 barrel since its equivalent to the tested and proven 600 on a 350
comp cams roller cam, trying to decide between a 260AHR or 266HR
hei distributor
clutch set
and a bunch of wrench time and interior work.
painting it metallic sapphire blue with bed liner and bedliner on the floor of the truck, tinted plexiglass backlit with blue leds for the gauge cluster I think the exposed wiring will look good back there, same for the blue led backlit switch panel on the dash/console face, need to make new door panels and center console after I modify the tunnel for the transmission.
Fitting 85 Isuzu trooper vented, drilled and slotted discs and trooper calipers on the front. working on finding a rear end that matches the front 4.10 with lsd, may do a ford exploder 8.8 or older rx7 rear, either way I want limited slip and disc brakes. need to decide between irs and straight axle
going to be a fun couple months :D let me know what you guys think. and any recommendations on the cam choice!
 
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#4 ·
Sweet this thing shpuld be pretty cool when finished. Pics of actuall truck would be cool. Always luke seeing the before condition
Subbin :cool:
 
#5 ·
thanks guys, cant wait to get it together and back on the road.
I have nothing against a v8 swap but up here in Washington we have things that we call "corners" and "river roads" :haha: trying to save weight up front, moving battery to the corner of the bed behind the passenger seat, relocating gas tank more rearward I want it to be well balanced

and here are some before pics of the truck



old motor, weber 32/36 electronic distributor swap, redone head etc

when I first drug it home
 
#7 ·
swwet. the paint job is interesting to say the least lol
 
#8 ·
I cant say I was a big fan of it either... it was done 2 owners ago, the driver side is half sanded down I got the surface rust spots off the bed. bought a jug of paint stripper so after I fit the new crossmember and mod the floor for it I will strip it do the body work and tow it over to maaco to have them spray it. getting a metallic sapphire blue so I want that sprayed professionally

got a little bit done on the 4th before the fireworks
had my buddy bring over his pressure washer, rolled the truck into the driveway sprayed out the engine compartment, front suspension and the transmission tunnel


as you can see the luvs have a passenger side front diff. im going to need to pick up an adapter so I can mount a psd NP208 transfer case, keeping with the aluminum and light weight plan.


while I was at it I pressure washed the hell out of my cylinder heads in the water jackets, around the rockers and springs. popped them on the block to see how its going to look.. I think its beautiful :) but I still need to take a dremel to the jagged edges in the lifter valley there.. just looks ugly


tapped all the head bolt holes, main bolt holes, and the oil pan and timing cover bolt holes... spaced out and dropped the tap thru a head bolt hole into the water jacket.. thankfully it came out of a freeze plug hole without much of a fight.


popped in a few of the freeze plugs before I took off to enjoy the 4th :haha:


that's all for now. I need to order another set of cam bearings because one of mine got messed up :( along with some new head bolts and a transmission mount so will be waiting on those while I get some of the interior work done. I need to come up with a nice pair of seats for it and cover them to match
 
#9 ·
real quick update, got my new pistons pressed onto my rods, picked them up today



also ordered intake gaskets for the 97 heads, new head bolts, a bosch "heavy duty" water pump with new studs, a thermostat and new cam bearings cuz i screwed one of mine up.
i just need the edelbrock 2114 intake, the compcams camshaft and a holley 450 carb. so around $600 for the rest of the motor.

i need to either sell this transmission and get one with the right bolt pattern for a np208/np242 or buy a new gearbox/tail housing with the right pattern. this 5 bolt doesn't mount to any psd case i have found.
 
#11 ·
few parts showed up, bosch heavy duty water pump and studs, thermostat, cam bearings (I scratched one of the other ones), 97 intake gaskets.

I got the expansion plugs installed and drove the new cam bearings in

popped it up on the stand for assembly

used some carb cleaner and a no fuzz rag to clean the rust proofing coating off the crank

plastigauged the main bearings

broke out the assembly lube and got the main caps installed and torqued down.


just need to pick up a piston ring compressor so I can finish the rotating assembly. ordered my cam from CompCams went with the HR270
http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/cam- ... d=560&sb=2
will have that on Friday and will have it installed over the weekend.
now that I have my intake gaskets im going to break out the dremel and match the ports to the gaskets and smooth them out.
just need to order the ls2 valve springs and the edelbrock 2114 manifold and the motor will be done.
selling the 5 speed and I will be hitting picknpull for the right 5 speed and a np208
 
#12 ·
and i thought i was the only one that chamfered all the sharp edges of things lol, good attention to detail. i luv these luv builds. if you want a professional paint job, dont go to macco.
 
#13 ·
after bashing a knuckle on the jagged edge once I would feel like an idiot for not doing it :rotf:
I will have to see who is recommended locally for the paint, may have to wait on that part until tax returns come around again. im dumping a lot into redoing the interior, motor and the drivetrain as it is, may give it a quick gloss white job for the winter with my detail gun :haha:

anyone know a good donor for some light weight bucket seats with decent side bolsters? I kept the stock rails so I can make them work. my stock seats were shot, springs, foam and cloth were done


so I have been doing a lot of research into megasquirt efi systems. being that they are gm sensor based if I was to get the ms3, a few mostly stock sensors with a ls type throttle body and an o2 sensor in a pacesetter shorty I can run sefi with the edelbrock manifold with some injector bungs welded in.. not doing it right now but I will start gathering up the components as soon as I get it running with the carb. I like being able to mess with the settings to get it dialed in perfect.
 
#14 ·
you probably want MS3, i dont think ms2 will support more than 4 sequential injectors, unless you run em in batch mode
 
#15 ·
yep ms3 is the only one that will do full sequential on a 6-8 cyl, once I get it running I will get started on gathering the parts I need for the ms3 and the ms3 itself.

pistons and rods are going in tomorrow afternoon if I have time before work, if not they will tomorrow night :haha: when the cam shows up I will do the full assembly water pump, timing set, oil pump, etc.
ordering my intake and carb this next week, pending sale on my trans so i should have the right one and a case in the next week or two, mock everything up and get going on my interior
 
#16 ·
so my nv3500 sold.
im trying to decide. should I get the nv3500 with the right bolt pattern for the case I want or should I go big and get the nv4500? is the nv3500 really that weak?this motor should have no more than 300lbft I would think. im probably going to weld my diff until I get a limited slip rear end over the winter
 
#17 ·
imo the 3500 will be fine. arnt the luvs fairly light?
 
#19 ·
yep the 2wd is around 2400# so im assuming im going to be looking at 2700#. without the emissions junk, a/c, power windows, power seats etc they end up being a ton lighter.. all that extra weight is not welcome in my rig :haha:

I figured the 3500 would be safe since it will break traction long before I break something solid.

I need to work out my suspension. I am going to pull the front torsion bar and put in coilovers in the stock towers with a bit of reinforcement. I am hunting for an independent rear end with disc brakes and a 4.10 gearset. I know an older rx7 has one about the right width with lsd and 4.10 but beyond that I don't know of any. thought about a supra rear with a gear swap since they are so strong
 
#21 ·
looked a bit farther into it the rx7 rear won't hold up to the torque of a 4.3 for long and your right the clutches are expensive!
the supra rear will be the one I go with if I go irs instead of a ford 8.8. the supra rear is really strong, has good brakes and uses the same 8" gear set as the 4runner and such so I can find a 4.10 gear set for it without much trouble.

cam arrived today


its going to be installed sunday.

also ordered my new valve springs
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1997-2013-C...Parts_Accessories&hash=item3f24fb97cf&vxp=mtr
and the retainers
http://www.ebay.com/itm/COMP-1-290-...Parts_Accessories&hash=item460eec28c8&vxp=mtr

the springs will go right into the vortec heads with those retainers, also bought some tungsten carbide dremel bits to work on gasket matching the heads a bit while I wait for the springs and retainers. not going to remove a lot of material, just going to smooth out the ports and make them more equally sized and shaped.. its sad to see them crooked and mis-shapen from the factory.
going to have a fun weekend in the garage :D
 
#22 ·
made a little bit of progress. worked until 4am today so I wasn't feeling the complete assembly
got the rings all installed

one piston installed, ring gap checked perfect recommended .016 and .015

got them all in, torqued down.. used a very generous amount of assembly lube on all the bearings, got a 10oz tube so I have plenty :lol: oiled the cylinders, next step im putting the cam and timing set in, dropping in the lifters and will have the heads ready to go by the time I get the valve springs and retainers Wednesday or Thursday

 
#23 ·
not sure if im going to pick it up or not but I got offered a 87 rx7 rear end with LSD and 4.10 gears, had 89k miles complete with subframe, new bushings and racing beat links for $100.. sounds like a screamin deal to me and if I blow it to pieces in a few months im not going to be too heartbroken about it. the truck weighs nothing in the rear end, probably less than an rx7 does when the beds empty.. so I think it will hold out just fine If I get it... pic of the irs goodness
 
#24 ·
IMO i say go for it. IRS is sweet and those rear ends can take a beating and should handle everything your 4.3 could put out. For a $100 you cant go wrong even if you decide not to use it
 
#25 ·
im picking it up Friday, with only 89k miles I think if I change the diff oil often it should hold up pretty well. and like you said for $100 i cant really go wrong with IRS and LSD + the right gear ratio to match my front diff, the supra rear doesn't have the right ratio optional so I will save a lot of time hunting down parts.
 
#26 ·
another short update
got my ls2/ls3/ls9 beehive valve springs... have a few extra but it was a great for the 16 of them

im sure most of you are familiar with these springs, they are a progressive rate spring so they take less force to start opening meaning less friction and less wear with higher spring pressure once open more to keep the valves from floating at high rpm


did some slight porting on one of my heads.
the port on the right was started at this point, two on the right show the shape the ports should be

the one on the right shown closer, still needs some finishing but im happy with it so far. I need to pick up a less aggressive wheel to smooth the ports out without digging more material out

(upside down) same with these ones, these are the ports from the pic above only slightly worked. I got them closer to the outside edge of the gasket, smoothed the port out a bit. not perfect but they are a lot better, no corners of the ports hanging over, will finish them when I get the finishing bit for the dremel
 
#27 ·
picked up my 87 rx7 rear end
lug pattern is a 5x114.3 = 5x4.5" pretty sure there isn't going to be enough room to redrill the front rotors to match but im going to pull one for the hell of and and see how much room I have. it would make wheel selection a bit easier with the odd offset im going to need. coming inward an inch will probably be too much to have clearance.

the whole assembly. I have everything but the calipers and I will order a set from rockauto with new hardware and calipers in the near future. its basically a triangulated 3 link on each side with a little baby sway bar.

even has aftermarket links worth what I paid for the whole rear :lol:

still nearly impossible to read but this is limited slip and 4.10, requires a special 90w fluid for clutch type lsd's which im going to change frequently and hopefully it will survive a lil while longer

have a few more things that will be here Wednesday mostly for the girlfriends car, but I have the other set of head bolts coming and the valve springs retainers should be here in the next couple days too. need to touch up the exhaust ports on the heads and they will be ready to go.
 
#28 ·
well i figured out the new rear end is 56 1/2" wms-wms and the front is 52 3/4" wms-wms. so im going to grab a pair of front wheel spacer/lug adapters to add 2" of space on each side to make the front 56 3/4 and the rear 56 1/2" so i wont need funky custom wheels and i can get a set of 5x4.5" wheels that match.

i got the valves lapped on my heads, found out i had a bent intake valve in the process. ordered new intake and exhaust valves along with valve cover gaskets.. will be here Friday and i will have the heads together over the weekend and hopefully have my longblock assembled by sunday night, then just gotta give it a better coat of high temp black paint and it will be ready for the intake and headers. :D
working the exhaust ports tomorrow before i go to work, my only concern at this point is making sure the headers i buy are going to clear my steering shaft...
so im thinking i want to run the exhaust dual 2 1/4 into a single 3" as close as i can get it to equal length.. being a 1980 truck i have no emissions to deal with so no cat :p and probably a flowmaster super 44 center in/out.. not sure if twin 2 to 2 1/2 single would work better for the engine but i will look into it... http://www.exhaustvideos.com/faq/how-to-calculate-muffler-size-pipe-diameter/
im thinking this will only have about 200hp or so but again not sure, will have it dyno'ed in Portland when its running. a 4 barrel holley 450cfm carb is = to a 600 on a 350, and im seeing 350hp as common on a similarly built chevy 350 so is 250+ outrageous to hope for?
 
#29 ·
got my new intake/exhaust valves, finished messing with my ports and got the new valves installed, gave them a quick spin with some find lapping compound to make sure they seal well with the ground seats, carefully block sanded the exhaust and intake manifold surfaces and the head gasket surface with some fine grit paper
few pics



finally got my financing worked out, tomorrow im making a big parts order, hopefully by the end of the week I will have
Edelbrock 2114 Intake Manifold
Holley 390cfm carb + rebuild set
HEI distributor
Carb plenum for custom cold air intake
pacesetter shorty headers
19x22 aluminum radiator
Crankshaft keys
plug wires, plugs, oil/clt sensors w/wire pigtails
electric radiator fan
when I have time off to hit the yard I will pick up a transmission and order a clutch+flywheel, track down a pair of seats, will probably get the t-case off craigslist and save a few bucks.
will be updating as I go along the next few weeks, hoping to have it back on the road in a month to month and a half but we will see :D
 
#30 ·
im ready to see this motor together and running already
 
#31 ·
your telling me! I got everything on the list ordered but the radiator and fan, ordered a full cold air intake w/carb plenum, found a holley carb locally, intake will be here today, going to sand it smooth and polish it and spray it with some clearcoat.
by this weekend I should have it together and have the truck on the road in a month to 6 weeks :D
 
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