vega nose swap

[robsta11111]

will the 73ish nose fenders and hood fit on a 76...I just bought a v8 vega.......even though i dislike the front end. But I really like the 71-73 nose

[ColinOpseth]

I looked into it and ended up buying a '72. You can do it but you have to change the fenders and the front core support. It's a big job.

Welcome to the site. What V8 combo are you running?

[robsta11111]

1978 Vega wagon
283 bored .40 over
Turbo 350 with shift mods 824 miles on it.
alum. radiator
100 amp alt.
Fiberglass fenders and 4in. fiberglass hood
5 bolt conversion for the wheels (Not on yet)
Headmen long headers
64cc RHS heads
550 lift crane cams dual springs
Crane Cam #100052 and lifters
roller rockers
fabacated alum. valve covers
B&M shifter
Boss Hog 1600-2200 stall converter
Dual exhaust with flows
Weiand Stealth dual plane intake
90/10 LakeWood front springs

I bought it off ebay. I have some work to do to it so I can make it streetable. The oil pan is sitting on the streering arm but i have the spacers to lift it. Need to replace the front springs air shock the back and do the conversion. Working on it sunday. So when you swapped the front ends, was it a nightmare or very managable?

[ColinOpseth]

wow.. nice combo Sounds like you have a very fun car.

I didn't swap front ends. I liked the fact that later years used the torque arm and was going to buy a mid-70s car but decided not to when I found out how much trouble it is to make the swap.

I bought a running '72 VegaGT with a 327/turbo350/12-bolt 3.37s. The car was at a shop where I was trading time/harness fabrication for a website I was building for the owner. He stole my 327/turbo350 combo including my V8 Vega oilpan. Dickhead.

I bought a '93 LT1 and 6-speed transmission and am transplanting that into the Vega. The stuff is in the car right now but I haven't wired it up yet or run the fuel system. You should see the big hole in the floor so that the t-56 would fit

Later,
Colin

[ColinOpseth]

btw: here's my car..

[robsta11111]

I am not sure what the rear gears are but they suck...I just got this car, it has like 0 take off. seems kinda guttless actually so it must have like 2.56-2.73. I have an s-10 rear end with 3.73's.

[dwragon]

i changed the frount clip on my 76 to 70. changing the radiator core support is not required. u can use the 74 2 78 fenders by adding some sheet metal to the fenders, but it is easier to just trade finders. i used 76 hood. only one bolt does not match, right in the center of the cs above grill. to change headlight buckets, break spotwelds on 70-73 by drilling or chisal, then weld or screw to 74-78., it is not advisable to use a split bumper without adding support /bracing because the bumpers on these cars are intagral part of the frount end design. imagine your wheels taking left and right turns at the same time while the body flips over your engine and trans., not pretty.

[peterpan]

the bumper is not a big part of the front end the brackets are flimsy at best
split bumpers are ok your front end will be fine

i have cut into my 2 vegas more than most people look at my project threads if you don't belive me i know where the strenth in the vega is at

vega started in 71

[HotfootGT]

vega started in 71

And ended in 77.

Are you sure its a 78? Might be a Monza wagon as they used left over Vega wagon body shells in 78.

[dwragon]

new model vegas (71) were sold in oct 70, and some were sold in 78, and licensed in certain states as such. but yes the parts would tecnically be off of 71 and 77 respectively. The point here was to let anyone who wanted to know know. i didnt do mine because it was ugly, i had a reason, i hit a dog, and the doner car was free, and I had read somewhere that it couldnt be done so i did it.

[dwragon]

peterpan speaks the truth, from his postings he has cut into a lot of vegas, but he did not cut into the frount suspension, in fact he avoided a repair that would have been simpler, by leveling the car and replacing the wheel wells If the suspension was not rusted out. To paraphrase another members post, these cars are sheet tin spot welded together and where never designed to have done what we do to them. I am here, like all of us, to trade what i know. I would no more remove my frount bumper than i would my k member without adding bracing. The frount end design is a series of 4 interconnected I's when you truely look at how it bolts up. If you break the first step of a ladder on the way down, the rest breaks real easily. its not the weight, its the sudden impact. Loosing the bumper without compensation means you loose 25% of the structural integrity. And others need to be able to consider these issues. Other than this, I admire his displays of talent, and the completed projects that I have seen.

[vegagtfan]

If you don't like the 76-77 style front end you could do what I did to my 76 GT Hatchback and put a 74-75 style grill on it you will still be abe to keep the fenders you have on it but just change the headlight buckets, grill and header panel to 74-75 style it would be alot cheaper to go this way being you would not have to change the rad support and beside I like the look of the 74-75 grill with the 76-77 taillight anyway.

Travis
76 Vega Gt Hatchback V6
72 Vega GT Hatchback V8

[Vega2008]

I am currently doing a swap of my own 1975 Vega hatchback frontend to a 1971-1973 style front clip. I thought some of my findings could be helpful to anyone planning this kind of conversion...
To do this properly, everything forward of the doors really needs to be swapped out...excluding the hood. - unless you want to try to modify a 1975 fender into a 1971-1973 style fender. - I don't weld that well myself. The stock 1971-73 header panel and 71-73 lower valance will bolt onto a 1975 front end without making any modifications except a slight tweeking of the tabs at the front of the radiator support for the front fender by the headlight area...just tweek in enough to clear the fenders. The 71-73 header panel support bracket will bolt onto the 71-73 header panel and still line up on the 1975 subframe location okay. You will need all the brackets for 1971-1973 to mount up the front end parts, but they do bolt onto the stock 1975 bolt hole locations.
The 1971-1973 grill will need the side brace brackets either bolted, or welded to the 1975 Vega radiator support. (Bolt them up to the grill before mounting it to the front valance and header panel, this way you can swing them around to find a good mounting locatation before bolting them on or welding them on. The 1975 fenders dont fit with the 1971-73 header panel.
I purchased 1971-1973 style fiberglass fenders for both sides and these seem to fit fine with OEM parts. Good luck finding good 1971-73 steel front fenders in decent shape! You will need the front bumper and brackets for a 1971-1973, but everything will bolt up except the outer bumper backet to the frame under the headlight area...you will have to fabricate mounting brackets for this. The 71-73 front turn signal wiring differs slighly, as the 1975 front turn signals take a different 3 wire plug. (1971-1973 front turn signals use a two wire setup) The 1971-1973 headlights will not automatically bolt on to the 1975 radiator support panel. You will need to have the 1971-1973 style Headlight Backing Plates, as well as the 1971-73 headlight buckets and headlight rings and mounting hardware. Since the 1975 radiator support was never drilled for the headlight backing plates, you will have to locate and mount these so the adjuster screws will fit through the headlight rings before drilling the holes. Take your time with this, as a mistake may prevent the headlight assembly from looking right. You want the headlights to be centered properly, so take your time.

Question for someone that may have already done this...are there short style Camaro front bumpers (for Rally Sport) that will work on the 1971-1973 Vega front nose? If so, where do I get them, and can you use existing Vega Brackets to mount these?
Hopefully you will know...I'm doing this conversion without any real help.
Thanks!
Mike - Vega2008

[speedphreake]

I just had a customer who had a 71 RS Camaro and I measured the split bumpers on it thinking they might be useable on the Vega. They would stick out in front of the grill about 2 inches unless they were modified. I think they are a little to long to look right otherwise. If I do the split bumper, I am going to stick with modifying the stock Vega bumper.

[Vega2008]

Thank you for the information speedphreak!

I didn't really want to spend a lot of money on new Camaro split bumpers, then have to to hack them up. It kind of defeats the purpose of getting new ones.

I may just get a new fiberglass front bumper, and then cut it to size and paint it to match the car, sounds like it would be a lot easier than hacking up something made of steel. I don't really want to hack up my 1971-1973 sytle front bumper either, it was purchased off eBay about a year ago.

Thanks for getting back to me!

Mike - Vega2008