That's great that your Vega already has a 231 Buick v6 in it. The Vega would be at least around a couple hundred pounds lighter than a Chevy Monza, Buick Skyhawk, or Pontiac Sunbird even with the Buick v6 in it. A Monza, Skyhawk, and Sunbird with the slightly lighter hatchback body style could get into the 16's with an absolutely stock engine if they had a standard transmission and especially if they also had the slightly better factory rear gearing. With an 231 v6/auto in a car like a Monza, Skyhawk, or Sunbird I would say around 17 seconds in a quarter-mile would be close to what it would do. Some car magazine tests got even slower times than that but had a full gas tank, extra-heavy testing equipment, and sometimes less-aggressive test driving all working against a better time. So having said that, I believe with the stock Buick v6 in the Vega you got, it would run at least high 16's with an auto now with the lighter weight of that car, but it could run much quicker with some really simple tuning and parts swapping. For instance, changing out the torque converter in the transmission to a step or two higher in stall speed and also changing the rear gear to at least a 3.23(with the stock engine) would shave off another 3/4 of a second or more again. Also installing a good four-barrel intake and larger carb with a good flowing exhaust system would be worth another half a second too. Add some sort of cold air induction or ram air set up and get a little more yet. Weight reduction such as lighter wheels and parts also helps. As do better tires for traction too. Then, with some good tuning such as with the ignition timing and etc. you would get close to mid-15's or so. Of course, if the motor wasn't mostly stock and had some more major modifications such as with the cam, compression. and heads, it could run at least around very low 14's or less. And remember, right now with just the stock engine in there, lower rpm torque and horsepower is mostly what you would want to enhance as it won't make much of either at a higher rpm unless you make the changes like a bigger induction(intake and carb), cam, and head and exhaust flow. So, exceeding the engine's useful rpm range would be useless anyway and would actually hurt it's potential. A 231 v6 in a Vega would be fun so enjoy that project. Good luck and let us know how it all goes!............ Dean.
Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 11:54 pm
Oh well, it still is a peppy car. We are also going to remove the rear seat and put aluminum wheels on it. It feels like it would run a high 16 in the 1/4. My assometer is probably off because im used to running in the 11 and 12 second range.