My 74 Vega... No rat project for me yet...

[riverrat44]

Like the ride. I've owned a few of em in the past also. One had a 350, I can attest to gitt'n sideways a few time also. Keep those pics com'n

 

[butchman_3]

cool vega

around my area, there are alot of guys building tricked out vegas for drag racing, friend of mine has a fully tubbed tube frame vega drag car with a 546 blown in it. fun little cars.

 

[sleeze]

unless you are changing out the front suspension, i hope your shock towers are good shape. i recall replacing many rusted towers years ago. we would simply go to the yard and cut off the top of a good one and weld it on. that might be hard to do now since i haven't seen many vegas around. should be a fun project.

 

[oldskool]

I bought a 74 vega with a 4 speed when I was going back and forth to college. After I graduated (and blew the motor the 2nd time), I figured I had a few extra bucks so I was going to hotrod the Vega. After talking to a few guys and seeing what happens when you put a worked small block in one without tying everything together (body twisted...cracked the windshield and the body was so twisted a new windshield wouldn't fit back in), I decided to go the V-6 route. I found a 231 Buick motor. Put a 4 barrel intake and carb on it then built mounts to bolt it in. AFTER I bought headers for a V-6 Monza, I found out I could have just gotten factory parts to bolt it in...oh well. My mounts worked out good. As I remember, I had to modify the shifter linkage to make the 4 speed work, but otherwise was a pretty straight forward deal

I loved the combination, because it was similar power to weight of a small block Camaro, but out on the highway traveling between NE PA and DC, I was getting just short of 28 MPG.
This was back in the early 80's and I thought it was cool to have such a fun car and still get that kind of mileage.

Good luck with yours, and keep the pics coming on your progress

Yep, done the same thing...pulled my motor from an olds starfire (231 oddfire). found out the rear end wasn't gonna cut the mustard and put the olds rear in it. I ended up blowin that motor too around 125mph, but it was a lot more fun than the factory motor!

 

[coostv]

Well..... I found a direction for it

I have a new direction for the Vega... After mulling it over for several months I decided to kill the Vega project. I have sold off the majority of the parts that Vega guys have a hard time finding in nice shape, and have a few more to go. The crux of the problem lied in where the rocker/front frame meet, or didn't meet... I found someone along the way did a "repair" to it, basically just covered up the fact that the structural part at the base of the a A pillar was gone. Also, as I have poked around this thing over the last several months, I have found a couple other areas that would require major surgery to correct. I agonized over what to do, but in the end I did not see throwing the money or time at the car, and due to space constraints it needs to go, like now. So, I modified it. It would have taken a serious amount of work just to get it back into roller status. Oh well, it was a fun dream.

I will find a solid one down the road, for now I will move on.

 

[Dirtyrat]

Damn, you could have made a roadster out of it!

 

[skull]

0R

or a 1970's style street legal modified

Later

 

[ronnysplymouth]

Thats unfortunate

 

[Paul_J]

Man that's a hard decision to make but I'm glad you found out now rather than a few grand down the road. Punt and do better on the next possession!

 

[coostv]

Man that's a hard decision to make but I'm glad you found out now rather than a few grand down the road. Punt and do better on the next possession!

Exactly, I agonized over it, but in the end I was done and had to clear the shop for my new project. On the plus side I have distributed a lot of good hard to find parts back into the Vega world. These things have a way of working themselves out.

 

[WickedFast1]

Last pic, use the back half to make a truck bed. I would love to have one!

 

[sgtpontiac]

Sure would be different.....

Always a tough decision to make about scrapping a project.....but sometimes you just have to make that choice and move on.....sure something will develope.....

 

[Shea Laking]

Exactly, I agonized over it, but in the end I was done and had to clear the shop for my new project. On the plus side I have distributed a lot of good hard to find parts back into the Vega world. These things have a way of working themselves out.

Good Karma, my good man. Sorry you had to scrap the little bugger, though.

Regards,
Shea

 

[coostv]

Last pic, use the back half to make a truck bed. I would love to have one!

HAHAHA, I have thought about using the quarters as truck bed sides! Hard to visualize how exactly, but the thought popped into my mind a couple weeks ago. Once my other car is on the road I might just play with them a bit to see what it would look like. If, I can stand having it sit here long enough.

 

[Colorodders]

Cool! I have a '72 Vega GT I'm gonna put a charged Ls engine in. Always wanted a street/strip Vega.