by mahoy78spyder » Mon Jul 07, 2014 7:45 am
Cool article... hadn't seen that one yet.
As for the "V8 Vega" name, Chevrolet engineers had already constructed a V8 Vega prototype that adorned the cover in Hot Rod in July of '72. It used a Zora Arkus-Duntov designed aluminum 302c.i. V8 (orig 283 block, bored to 4", then destroked to a 3" stroke crank to net 302ci. (had 11:1 compression too!). The car ran 13.9 in the 1/4 with the stock TH350 tranny and Vega rear end. In the article they also mention, "...Chevrolet engineers have recently been creating a number of Vega prototypes with powerplants that range from the Cosworth twin-cam four-cylinder Vega head conversion to the Wankel rotary engine..." And this was in early 1972 before the July '72 publication went to print. So I don't know if "V8 Vega" was the generally accepted name, but back in '72 (2 years before that article above) this was the name they were throwing around.
Ken Mahoy
'78 C06 Monza Spyder