Daily Driver.jpg
side 300.jpg
As you can see.... this car was pretty stripped down. No carpet, back seat, interior plastic, door panels, dash, instruments, heater box or fan, no counterweight behind the T-50 trans, and for a while.... no bumpers.
Fully loaded, these early cars were around 2300 lbs... I'd say mine was somewhere close to 2100.... maybe 2000 lbs.
Anyway, it was close to 10 lbs per horsepower.... and near 8 lbs per lb-ft torque.
Respectable numbers for only a meager 215 cubes.
but once you add:
--Great front/back weight distribution
--The lower center of gravity offsets the 30 lb weight gain
--Added driveability at lower rpms with good power/weight ratio and 4 more pistons powering along each revolution.
--28 mpg with the 2.54 rear ratio and 0.80 overdrive
It's a great combo.
I am a big fan of the Vega 140 but I really like the 215 for all the above mentioned reasons. Imagine a fun rear ratio like 3.36, 3.42 or 3.73 and a limited slip diff?
Or adding
And let's not forget the stroking out to
265 cubes with the '64-'67 Buick 300 crank.... 3.4" stroke. That should increase torque values a bit.... as well as HP.
And then there's Nic's larger bore Rover variant 3.7" bore and 3.4" stroke nearing
300 cubes..... and more HP/Torque for just a couple more pounds.
215s were put in just about everything you can imagine.
D&D Fab does MG conversions, now that Vegas are all in the scrape pile... they did over 2200 Vega conversions and still do them today.
There are/were adapters for VWs, 'Vairs, Porsche, boat outdrives, airboats, numerous kit cars, airplanes... yes, airplanes.
They'll never match the power of a stoutly built 350 but that's not the idea.....it's no drag racer.... it's all about handling with a 215.
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