Project Completion | robinsonengineering

Name: Colton Robinson

Phone: (435)-654-8316

Major Mechanical Engineering

Number of Credits Completed 136

Anticipated Year and Semester of Graduation: Spring 2018

Title of Project: The LUV Machine

Abstract of Project

For this project, I will be building and partially restoring a 1980 Chevy LUV for my little sister as her first car. The project will include Carburetor replacement, rebuilding, and tuning, transmission adjustment, smog system removal. Timing Adjustments, bumper repair, crude bodywork, and the replacement of broken lights.

Larger Purpose

Many engineers have excellent theoretical skills and book smarts. Many however lack real hands on experience with the end products of their engineering endeavors. This project will help me understand the intricacies of the maintenance and repair of an engineering end product. This will be done in hopes that the things I learn during this project will aid in my design processes in the future.

Project Goal

My goal by the end of this project was o have assembled a running, driving, aesthetically pleasing, 1980 Chevy LUV mini truck that my little sister could use as her daily driver.

Outcomes

A working truck, a happy sister, and a good experience.

Deliverable(s)

As planned, I delivered a fully functional mini truck to my little sister. The build log of this process can be found below.

The Summer of LUV

It was the spring before my little sisters 16th birthday, pretty soon she would have a license and my mom wouldn’t have to chauffeur her all over creation anymore. There was a catch however, she was going to need something to drive. I had always been a bit of a mechanic, and always had cool cars growing up, so we decided to find something that would be vintage, unique, and match Sophies fun personality. We looked and looked, until finally we found it: a robin-egg blue 1980 Chevy Luv mini truck.

The truck was a little rough around the edges. The rear bumper had been smashed in in an accident, and the taillight and body work behind it had been smashed as well.

The interior was in pretty rough shape, and the broken carburetor can be seen below, riding shotgun.

In addition to the broken carburetor, the engine bay was a rat’s nest of defunct old smog equipment.

We knew the truck would be a project, but with an asking price of $500, we figured I could make it work in time.

The first step was to get rid of the busted old taillight and remove the rear bumper

Unfortunately, the bumper was just as stuck as I was afraid it would be.

It was time to resort to the “Heat Wrench”

The heat wrench is an old mechanics trick where you use an oxy-acetylene torch to heat cycle the fastener and burn away corrosion. Done properly, the process is nondestructive, and parts that don’t need heat treatment can often be reused.

With a little persuasion, the bumper finally came off.

It was now time for bodywork.

With the aid of a large hammer, I managed to get the corner mostly straightened out.

I also used some smaller hammers and a pair of channel locks to true up the tail light socket.

We decided to replace both tail lights, because having one new and one old would just look weird. You can also see the corner repair in this picture.

The bumper was also straightened out with the aid of a large hammer and some channel locks.

Really not a bad look once I got it all back together.

With the bodywork done it was time to move on to the engine bay. I removed all the gnarly old smog equipment, and installed a shiny new carburetor.

The next part I didn’t photograph, it was just a bunch of fiddling around with little screws and linkages, checking vacuum signals, and driving laps around the block. My hands were full most of the time, and there really wasn’t much to see anyway.

The last step was to cover up the junky old seat with a cute Mexican blanket.