Read this guys ad and the answer to question

[hammerdown7]

Did you know the the Cosworth Vega "where originally built for racing which included beefed up suspension from Lotus as well as the engine modifications. Additional gussets where added to the vehicle when it was built."

Says it has a Chevelle rear end yet the one picture shows torque arm. Guess I would question the whole ad.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chevrolet-Coswo ... 1997021631

[cjbiagi]

Might be a nice car but needs a whole lot of investigation as to what it really is.

[RedFiveKBS]

My guess is it is an owner imagined car and built to look the part. He doesn't seem to say in the ad that it is a factory COPO car. It is a very nicely done car from the pictures.

[beakerztoyz]

Hammerdown aren't you a cosworth guy? I know there's a bunch of cosworth guys around here and one of them can answer my questions....1. Is a Copo Cosworth vega even a thing... I've heard of cosworth vega's but never a copo cosworth, did I just miss something on all the other cars. the only car I associate with the copo label is a camaro. 2. does it even matter that this is a cosworth car anymore unless it comes with the original motor? all vega's came with 4 cylinders right? and the cosworth was a twin cam aluminum fuel injected like 300 hp little nightmare wasn't it ? 3. (this isn't about this car) who built the original cosworth vega's was it gm? or were they built by a dealer like the Baldwin Motion vega's?

and yeah, labeling the rearend as a 7.5 out of a chevelle is wonky, I'm fairly certain chevelle's never came with a 7.5 inch rearend

[hammerdown7]

Yes, I'm stuck on Cosworths! To answer your question, there was never a Copo Cosworth. The question of 'is a Cosworth a Cosworth w/o the engine' is something that Club members discuss frequently. In reality it's a Cosworth Vega because of the engine but the VIN of the car is unique to the engine so it can be argued both ways, just depends on which side of the fence your on. There have been a few CV's that have been converted to V8's because they typically haven't had a lot of miles put on them for a variety of reasons and most folks would like to keep away from rust repair. All Vega's came with 4 cylinders. GM went to COE (Cosworth of England) offering their new aluminum block as a foundation for a new racing engine. COE decided to go ahead with the project, built a number of engines for enduro racing but found the block wouldn't last under the 2-3 hour all-out racing format. The block would split at the base of the coolant cavity and Cosworth decided to stop their program. COE engines put out 260HP out of the 122CID engine, this was 1970-71. I'll finish this story later today but let me answer your last question, GM built the CV engine in their Tonawanda plant and the car was built at their Lordstown plant.

More later on development,
Dick

[dindin]

I never read anything about lotus building the suspension anywhere,
but the cosworth vega head does look similar to lotus head, cosworth founders were employees of lotus according to wiki..

..and to my way of thinking you can modify it all you want, but keep the twin cam head if you call it a cosworth.

what is a gusset?

Al

[rpoz-29]

A gusset is a piece of metal welded between parts to add strength. Think of a triangular piece welded at the junction of two tubes in a roll cage. makes it less prone to breaking. The only car, (other than a Lotus), I remember with a "Lotus" suspension was an Isuzu,(I don't remember which model), a few years back that had a "Lotus Tuned Suspension".

[cjbiagi]

What did a stock Cosworth Vega engine put out? I am pretty sure it was not near 300hp

[dindin]

What did a stock Cosworth Vega engine put out? I am pretty sure it was not near 300hp

About 100 or so..I think mopar johnny is trying to pull a fast one

Al

[sugaryuk]

At the very top of his ad, he wrote: 1975 Chevrolet Cosworth Vega "COPO" The Vega Cosworth should have built....so it looks pretty sure that it's a one off build.

[hammerdown7]

What did a stock Cosworth Vega engine put out? I am pretty sure it was not near 300hp

As GM attempted to make a street version of the COE race engine the first goal was 180HP, that dropped to about 140 in 1974 but one of the two engines that ran the EPA test burnt a couple of valves at 46K miles of the 50K test. That delayed it until 1975 as changes were necessary to meet the stricter rules requiring unleaded gas and cat converter. Intake was changed along with timing and lowering of compression to the point the delivered car in '75 was rated at only 110HP. GM expected the CV to be the first of their cars with EFI but the EPA failure set it back to where the Cadillac Eldorado had GM's first EFI. It was 500 CID rated at 215HP, the little CV was 122 CID rated at 110HP.

Dick

[Monza Harry]

COPO was for all sorts of cars in the "Generals" line up such as Police cars, Taxis and the Performance Monsters of the sixties/real early seventies. The Central Order Processing Office dealt with anything weird that could be fitted in the cars[/trucks?] I believe the parts had to normally be available in that plant for this to happen, but it has been many years since I read that article with all the details so I could be off in a few places. Harry

[rpoz-29]

Back in 1975, I remember an Impala in the local Chevrolet dealer's showroom. It was silver with a very plain black interior, a calibrated speedometer, and a rubber, rather than carpeted, floor. Under the hood, it had a twin snorkel air cleaner, and the finned aluminum, crossed flag valve covers, underneath it had huge sway bars, and true dual exhaust. A salesman told me it had been order for a local taxi company, but they backed out of the deal. It was equipped with the "Police Package" which is, (or was), how taxi companies ordered their vehicles. It was odd since after '74 they all had catalytic converters and single exhaust outlets, and I hadn't seen a set of those valve covers on any Impala, nor the twin snorkel air cleaner. Years later when I first heard of "COPO" vehicles, I wondered if that Impala was one. May have been.

[dindin]

Poor guy who buys this car thinking its something its not.

Al

[beakerztoyz]

What did a stock Cosworth Vega engine put out? I am pretty sure it was not near 300hp

My reference to 300 or so hp would have been due to the fact that the little I have seen on those engines would have been info closer to the 260 hp Hammerdown refered to in his first post about them, later factory numbers really don't interest me at all because basically everything I've seen regarding factory specs from the 60's and early 70's is just made up numbers anyways and has little relation to reality.