A fellow by the name of Robert Herndon sent me an email outlining how to keep a V8 Vega cool. Most V8 Monzas did not have a fan shroud and only those with Heavy-Duty Cooling were so equipped. Call 800.979.0122, 7am-10pm, everyday. Next video. However, I have seen an aftermarket oil dipstick assembly made by Lokar that uses a flexible stainless steel tube with stainless braided cover and aluminum billet dipstick (see a Summit Racing catalog). I stripped the car and sold all the parts. We are largest vintage car website with the. The test car we drove had a 2.53 axle ratio and a four-speed manual transmission. Estimated Ship Date: Feb 13, 2023 if ordered today. The factory oilpan has a notched place just in front of the rear sump for clearance of the steering drag-link. Check out their Phase III Vega in the April '99 issue of Super Chevy magazine, or go to the Motion Performance homepage at The '71 and '72 annual kits had a body with a separate, opening rear hatch. Msg & data rates may apply. MIMI was also the name of Blandings 1969 427 Camaro Pro Stocker.". The factory V8 Monza radiator is a 3 core unit that is 16.5" tall (3 inches higher than a 4 cylinder Vega single core unit) and it has an irregular tank that makes it 25.25" wide at the bottom and 26.25" wide at the top. Find CHEVROLET VEGA Motor Mounts and Inserts V8 Engine Type and get Free Shipping on Orders Over $99 at Summit Racing! WARNING: Some dust created by power sanding, sawing, grinding, drilling, and other construction activities contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. 1932-34 Ford 4-Bar Tube Axle Kit for Chevy Spindles, Chrome. The tire tread surpassed the fender lips and, to my mind, denigrated the enterprise. For sale! The performance is not like a super-muscle car, but by today's standards it is decidedly hot. Nevertheless, the Vega and its H-platform stablemates have long since fallen out of favor with hot rodders due to their scarcity. "Basically, the engine shoehorns right into the Vega boiler room with a minimum of sweat. The V8 Monza with A/C used a 2 row radiator with a very loose fin count to promote airflow. "Introduced in 1971, the Vega was hustled as a sub-compact promising less weight and better gas mileage. '72 Chevy Vega Kammback with nice V8 rumble | Newest addition to my stable of longroofs | Vega EP1 BurnoutsAndRotorblades 59K views 2 years ago How to Build a Dumpster LS (aka boost ready) No. The factory early Vega rear end is a four-link. Moroso's oilpan P/N 20230 will only fit up to a 3.48 stroke with steel rods, it will not fit the Chevy 400/383 engines. Once upon a time, Hot Rod scored an exclusive tech story straight from the Chevy product planners teaser book. Still, the formula of small, RWD car with a V8 is tough to beat. LSx, Vega, Monza oil pan modification kit. Note the dipstick location when you pick your oilpan being sure to select one that will meet your specific needs. The total weight of the car increased to only 2395 pounds, and its performance with the 215-cubic-inch V-8 engine is spectacular. The engine build started off with a Chevy small-block punched out to 355 ci10.5:1 pistons. Original Left Hand Drive Manufactured The Aston Martin V8 Vantage was hailed as "Britain's First Supercar" for its 170 mph (270 km/h) top speed when introduced. The weld-in design substantially reduces chassis flex and does not change the location of the rear suspension parts. Contact the company by e-mailing Showcars@idirect.com (click link) or telephone (905) 857-6345. I removed the upper control arms, and I bolted 1/4 steel plates in the floors, onto which I welded brackets for ladder bars. We got the front valance, lower front grille area, rear valance, and the wing all off the Internet." I didnt like it as much as I liked the Pintos. There are a number of aftermarket oilpan manufacturers, but you can easily make your own if you check the clearances and can weld. If there is any arguments about whether or not GM should have built the Vega with the aluminum V-8 engine they are settled when you drive the car. 30+ days ago. Later, Rosen admitted that the best transmission for the car would have been a Turbo 400. I think it may be time to freshen it up. The .030-over 350 makes about 480 horsepower, and features GM camel-hump heads, a World Products Motown intake, a Holley Double-Pumper Carburetor, and even more go-fast goodies. On the other hand, the stock 4-cyl and V6 pumps aren't going to work well with a V8 (then again, see the notes from Robert Herndon.). Mark Harrington is at the wheel. Due to its front engine-rear drive design, light weight and low cost, the Chevrolet Vega is often modified. As work progressed, the artisans at Woody's built temporary scaffolding inside the body to hold the Vega skin to its factory dimensions while the work progressed. I had people calling constantly for the availability of just such a piece. Motion built the initial tubular exhaust headers but if the project rocketed, he said hed already made arrangements with a major source to handle that chore. To the right is a scan of how Hooker suggests you modify the pan. Also the stock oil pan will not clear the Vega front crossmember necessitating the installation of a custom unit." Trans-Dapt 4686 SB Chevy V8 into Chevy Vega/Astra Motor Mount Kit . The main reason for the thinner 2 row core was it allowed room to install a very large 7 blade (17) fixed-pitch cooling fan. "The basic kit ($245) is designed to install the GM ALUMINUM V-8 engine in a late-model, 4-speed Vega. Next, using the measurements provided here, use a rubber or wooden mallet and lightly tap the area of the oilpan to be modified. Don Hardy instructions page 4, Hooker big-block engine mounts P/N 12603. You are now signed up to receive JEGS Deals with text alerts! In short, many enthusiasts overlook these simple, proven techniques successfully employed by GM Engineers in the construction of the V8 Monza. The production engine had cast-iron sleeves but work was progressing on eliminating this type of expensive construction." We think the primary reason is the Camaro-ishness of the front end. When the wheel spins, the axle is unloaded, and drops down. The Vega was not offered with a factory V8 option, although the Vega-based Chevy Monza, Pontiac Sunbird and Oldsmobile Starfire were. It's easier to start from scratch than fix someone else's mess. Moroso's oilpan P/N 20230 will only fit up to a 3.48 stroke with steel rods, it will not fit the Chevy 400/383 engines. Engine: This is an ultra-basic 0.030 over 350 with a 1970-vintage steel crank, 11.1:1 compression, GM pink rods, and Brodix Track 1 heads. Sondles explains: "You can actually find bolt-on fiberglass parts that were made back in the day. However, I have received reports from consumers who have tried this kit that some of the holes are in the wrong location preventing the brackets from bolting onto the engine. $18,000. In their crusade to snuff the proliferation of illegal, unsafe, modified high-performance cars, the Department of Justice revenuers had come across the King Kong opus, and meaning to set a precedent, threw a hammer-lock on Motion, ordering it to cease and desist. 11 and 11A). I've been told that only the Milodon oilpan P/N 31070 will fit the Chevy 400/383 small-block engine and only if the factory connecting rods are used. He stopped for a long moment and said it started at $4,000 and went to $6 or $7,000 US dollars. The TransDapt kit is very similar to the Adaptec and Hooker SBC kit. You will have to double check what years to look for. He later campaigned the car himself in a white/blue paint scheme. Their unsleeved aluminum four-cylinder engines swilled more oil than gas, and their poorly treated steel bodywork turned to rust after precious few years. However, I have seen an aftermarket oil dipstick assembly made by Lokar that uses a flexible stainless steel tube with stainless braided cover and aluminum billet dipstick (see a Summit Racing catalog). Manage all your favorite fandoms in one place! Automatic transmission. So many V8 Vegas I see suffer from overheating problems and in almost every case, a 3 or 4 row radiator is used with a very dense (14-16 fins per inch) fin count. CHEVY 283-350 . With 11:1 compression pistons, a "097 Duntov" mechanical camshaft and cast-iron four-barrel intake manifold with a Quadrajet carburetor, the car recorded a stopwatch quarter-mile standing-start time of 13.97 seconds. I felt compelled to tell you the tendency of these cars to run hot is not inherent to the confines of the engine compartment or any other design flaw.The correct combination will yield temperatures in the 175 to 185 range on a typical 100 day and never more than 190 even while idling in 100 ambient temperatures. After a rough start, the Fusion Bomb is now hitting the show circuit and racking up points wherever it goes. That was the second best thing to happen to it. The original stock Vega body shell, crudely hacked for slicks, gives way to a newly tooled '72 body with properly stretched rear wheel arches. With over $70,000 into the car, no expense was spared in building this Vega. For one, its notchback greenhouse is taller than the more common hatchback style most people remember..along with an increase in chassis rigidity that comes from having a rear seat bulkhead. Wash hands after handling. Summary: Make - Chevrolet, Model - Vega kammback wagon, Price - $10,950 Seller Description: X drag @eagle field drags street legal wagon rare fast fun quick shift ratchet shifter SBC 700 R411 posi vented disk brakes 16 by 8" torque . Motion Performance Inc. Also check that the center hole has threads for 7/16" - 14 bolts, avoid those that have 3/8" - 16. Bolting the pan to the engine will prevent the oilpan from warping while you shape it. A few details could be improved upon, but overall the car looks well built, and with nearly twice the power as a stock four-cylinder model, it should be quick too. Check out their Phase III Vega in the April '99 issue of Super Chevy magazine, or go to the Motion Performance homepage at In July 1972, Hot Rod tested a Chevrolet-built prototype Vega featuring an all-aluminum V8. Winnie also has Crager Street Super Trick wheels and stainless steel exhaust A Stewart . Overall, the car has a modified look without losing any of the factory Vega styling. Use a quality oil filter to protect your engine from contaminants and while you're installing the kit why not add an oil cooler as well. Although not required to mount a V8, remote mounted oil filter kits are a plus in any car with limited access and the H-Body is no exception. Except for the door seals, they dont make parts for this car anymore. Under the hood is a LSX 454, equipped with F.A.S.T. bvseo-msg: The resource to the URL or file is currently unavailable.. The Vega sports a 12-bolt Posi traction rear end with 4.56 gears, as well as a fully built performance suspension and rare '74 Cragar Mach 8 wheels. Of course the wooden shape would be removed once the reshaping was complete. Talk to the experts. MPC produced stock Vega hatchback kits and promotional models for all years, '71 through '77. It was a popular swap in the 70s and 80s. the Vega used either a 6.5" or a 7.5" rear end. Full-length Header Tube Type, Temporary Paint, Steel. The first time the car ran was at the '72 Winternationals and after tweaking on the suspension a bit he was able to win the event. Installing a larger radiator will also require a larger fan. Gone is the Vega's stock 140ci aluminum inline four-cylinder, and in its place resides a 5.3L LM4 Gen III from a '04 Buick Rainier SUV cribbed from the salvage yard for a mere $800. I personally prefer the dual remote kit, twice the filtering area and cleaner oil. However, I have received reports from consumers who have tried this kit that some of the holes are in the wrong location preventing the brackets from bolting onto the engine. The one of a kind Vega's exterior was electric blue with white GT wheels and side stripes (similar to Yenko Turbo Stinger), white pinstripped hood bulge, spoilers (front and rear), body colored (blue) bumpers, black grill, and side decals similar to the Spirit of America edition from '74. It suffered from a suspension system that was too tightly bound and brakes that flat didnt work well, even when there was no hurry. Actually it didnt get that bad. The split front bumpers were made from two original bumpers, cut and welded together, and the rear wheelwells were stretched To top it off, a custom cowl-induction, fiberglass hood was built by the shop. They still make them new if you can believe it. It had Koni adjustable shock absorbers and an 18-inch diameter Flex-O-Lite fan. Its engine was shared with the Lagonda, but it used high-performance camshafts, increased . "Dan La Grou and Dutch Schepplemann (The D&D) told me that they could convert a a customer's late-model Vega for a total cost of $850." 1973 Chevy Vega GT Hatchback, stock, 4-speed. (262). Popular Hot Rodding on the Hot Rod Network June 19, 2013 "1971 Chevy Vega - The Jega"Woodys Hot Rodz builds a trend-busting 71 Vega for an industry icon"Historically, the Vega's compact dimensions and light weight made it a staple of race cars and street machines through the '70s and '80s. Our experience with the rubber mounts has lead us to avoid mounts made in Korea as the bolt pattern often won't fit the engine without some difficulty. The lack of interest in a classic rear-drive compact that could famously swallow a V-8 sounds odd in light of the fact that GM built nearly 1.9 million of them from 1971 to 1977 (Chevy and Pontiac combined), but these cars lived hard, short lives. The V8 Vega Building a V8 Vega About a year after I had built and sold my V8 Pinto Wagon, I found it again driving around in Salmon Arm, BC. Don Hardy instructions page 3 The engine set back is 12 inches for better weight distribution. SC said, Bill Jenkins' "Grumpy's Toy IV" Vega was the first tube chassis vehicle to run the Pro Stock class. It's mated to the corresponding LTG six speed manual transmission, and is followed by upgrades such as a Mustang GT500 aluminum driveshaft, and a V8 Monza rear end made sweeter by Moser Axles. However, check out Daves Vega Village in Anmore, BC. 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"GM sold the aluminum 215 engine tooling to Rover." The V8 Monza radiator requires modification to tackle engine cooling problems on V8 Vegas by relocating the upper outlet to the Vega location and mounting it 3 inches lower, requiring relocated lower radiator brackets on the Vega. When looking in the factory parts manuals for these, you'll only find them in Group 1.219 of the Chevrolet Parts Catalog Models thru 1975 (Chevrolet Parts Publication, Book No. On All Cylinders February 5 2016 "Superstar: Charley Dennys 1976 Chevy Vega Station Wagon" by James Millar said, "Vegaone of the brightest stars in the nighttime skyis located in the constellation Lyra, trillions of miles from planet Earth. Grumpy Jenkins, Wally Booth, Jeg Coughlin, Bruce Larson, and more campaigned these tiny terrors through the quarter-mile. Motion provided a raft of enablers. First, of course, would be its abundant use in the door-slammer competitive ranks. Remote Mounted Oil Filters The V8 Monza radiator requires modification to tackle engine cooling problems on V8 Vegas by relocating the upper outlet to the Vega location and mounting it 3 inches lower, requiring relocated lower radiator brackets on the Vega. He admitted that the big-block idea wasnt completely his. I modeled the suspension1 out of cardboard, and I was able to clearly see how the suspension was reacting. (in 1965)"We visited a small company near Detroit that has done more than speculate on how well the GM aluminum V-8 engine would work in the Vega. Hooker V8 Vega mount kit and headers. (exc. . While the ready-made kits would get the V8 into any Vega, the Panel Express was the preferred version because of the lack of a rear seat, as well as, ironically, 'increased' rear-biased vehicle weight which would help traction somewhat (something that was really needed when a high-horsepower engine was stuffed into a small, lightweight car . Another lesson to be learned from the V8 Monza is radiator surface area. Don Hardy V8 Vega Kits (Send me your pictures and comments on their mount kit.) Sanderson Street Rod Shorty headers and an ATCO radiator An MSD box handles the spark. One area that saved Sondles a bunch of time in the fabrication area was the availability of fiberglass body parts for the Vega. It sports a power bulge hood lettered with LSX 454, a low, black chin spoiler, and blacked out grille. The big-block Vega felt just as contained as the small-motor version Id driven, but then I was only peddling it steady-state and in a straight line. The interior is a work of art, being custom-made from fabricated sheetmetal. K6112 Upper control arm bushing kit (OEM-style) (need 2) K6155 Upper control arm bushing kit (offset) (need 2) K6113 Lower control arm bushing kit (need 2) . This is to clear the crossmember and the draglink. Of course the wooden shape would be removed once the reshaping was complete. It would have been better served with vents to mitigate heat. Looking for v-8 kits for my "77 vega. All interior tinwork was done by East Coast Muscle Cars in Craley, Pennsylvania. But installing a V8 in a Vega was clearly on GM's designer's minds because a small-block V8 will slide in with a minimum of hassle. The chassis is a Chris Alston's Chassisworks unit with a Fab9 rearend, Wilwood brakes, Eibach springs, Momo seats and steering wheel, and DJ Safety gear. TransDapt small-block engine mounts P/N ?????. 75 - 80 LSx to Factory SBC V8 engine frame brackets: Headers: V-Band Collector flanges available: 71-80 4cyl LSx engine adapters : Factory V6 Use with pn10501 plate set. See . The conversion starts with a Herbert and Meek kit which includes front motor mounts, rear transmission mount and a set of special exhaust headers." Note that factory V8 Monzas used short style Corvette water pumps. P.O. Add to Wish List. I havent found one yet that wasnt half eaten with cancer. You just had to pay attention, keep your wits about you. I triangulated the bars to I wouldnt need a Panhard rod, and I left the lower arms attached. Although not required to mount a V8, remote mounted oil filter kits are a plus in any car with limited access and the H-Body is no exception. Most have already returned to the earth from whence they came. If you intend to use factory V8 Monza exhaust manifolds then the dipstick location may be a problem. Note:Will not fitangle plug heads,power steering, power brakes, air conditioning or a Powerglide transmission. Also, it has a big-block style oil dipstick mount on the driver's side of the oilpan where the dipstick would enter through the side of the oilpan. The moral of the story: Dont buy a rusty car. Below are links to some printable instructions on our web site. These chemicals are found in vehicles, vehicle parts and accessories, both new and as replacements. Every now and then Don Hardy accidentally ships the kits without instructions. The engines existed in limited quantity in '72, and were never offered on a production car or through a parts program. I did a compression test, leakdown test, and emissions test, and then yanked the 283. Ever since wed started swapping the 350 engines, the Rat motor requests had been outrageous. Although the notch is a must to clear the H-Body steering drag-link, the dipstick option is really for use of the factory exhaust manifolds and is not required for any aftermarket kit that I know of. Nevertheless, it's still a tight fit. Sondles elaborates: "You have to build an internal cage that will be removed in order to keep the car square while you're working on it. 1986 Land Rover Defender 110 3.5 V8 LEFT HAND DRIVE - For Sale. In reality, Motion was working with the integrity of a Dixie cup never meant for the girth or the output of a V-8 engine, never mind an all-iron Mark IV engine. I also wrote some crap about the car being hurried to completion for our magazine deadline. Providing a heartbeat to this compact fastback is a modern American V8. Use a quality oil filter to protect your engine from contaminants and while you're installing the kit why not add an oil cooler as well. In '74 Jenkins built another Vega, "Grumpy's Toy XI," that featured several firsts like the use of a dry sump oiling system and a MacPherson strut front-suspension configuration. Estimated to ship direct from manufacturer on The standard takes too much work to drive, puts too much shock on the body, and requires more concentration for that extra pedal as you slide sideways into the ditch. View car. Dover, Kent County, DE . Last known address The consternation was the exhaust. 4 cylinder Vega & V8 Monza radiator. 11 and 11A). "The stock Vega transmission cannot be used. Note the dipstick location when you pick your oilpan being sure to select one that will meet your specific needs. These swap kits have been engineered by Holley for a easy bolt-in . Fuel economy is where the V-8 Vega really shines. Some "Home Made" Solutions (e-mail me yours) Trans-Dapt 4686 Vega V8 Swap Mounts Only. Notice the notch starts 3 1/2" from the front and is 6" long and 3 3/8" from the top. Logistics were painful. There are several outfits that sell V8 kits and Hedders for the Vega. Let me know if there are any other aftermarket oilpans or if any of these are no longer available. JEGS will validate the price match before the items are shipped. If you do want to build a V8 Vega make sure that the car hasn't been hacked on. Dart 225cc aluminum heads along with a Dart intakeA Lunati cam with 0.552/0.570-inch liftTo further clean up the look of the car, all wiring to the engine is hidden through framerails and under the dash. The factory Monza manifolds are really restrictive. Mike (monzter_327) writes: you just need all the proper V8 Monza parts to do the swap- frame mounts, engine mounts, and oil pan.