1972 Vega Pro Touring Project

[mahoy78spyder]

Wow, this is just inspiring!... Can't wait for more updates.

[megavega]

Got the cage all sanded and coated in self etching primer, will be painting it satin black along with door tops and glovebox so it all will be the same texture/gloss. Gonna use a small texture roller so its not all smooth, make it differnt, and wont scratch as easily. The cage came out nice, it does not intrude one bit into rear view, rear seating area, clears all interior panels and will be easy to get in and out of the car. There is just enough room for your hand to stay on the window crank knob. Plenty of room between steering wheel and access to turn signal lever. The headliner just fits back in, about a 1/4" of clearance between tube and headliner, its absolutley the tightest fit I could get as I didnt want to lose interior/head space.

The only part of it to finish will be the front frame support tubes, but those cant be fabbed up till the turbo headers are on the motor. I also may incorporate a small dash bar , 3/4"-1" diameter from left to right to help keep the cage from expanding open in case of a frontal impact. It's gonna need to remain small so its not a knee banger, or it could possibly be bent and installed under the dash, like un upside down "U". I used 1 5/8" tubing for the sill bars, this acts as the frame connector for the car, with the rear subframe being welded into the body its ajoined to the same panels and area as the main hoop mount, its not going anywhere....

[greg72]

Looks awesome!

[megavega]

couple more pics

[waybad]

Looks awesome!

X2, I can't wait to see it with all the interior, back seat, head liner!
You are talented!!!!
TC

[spyder_xlch]

You'll never get the original sun visors to work with that roll cage. Probably can't even get all the screws in.
That'll be a sweet car.

[megavega]

All of the stock interior panels fit in the car, the rear seat remains stock and is unaltered, the cage was built around all of the stock interior and to provide the most possible headroom, seating area and not invade interior space.
The cage is painted now and the headliner reinstalled. The only thing that had to be changed was the sunvisors, but they will simply mount to the cage and be held up to headlinder with hook n loop velcro now. All mounting screws fit back into panels.

I used a texture roller on cage and it came out pretty neat, almost the same grainy texture like the interior panels, blends in very well and it doesnt stand out when you look in the car.

[waybad]

All of the stock interior panels fit in the car, the rear seat remains stock and is unaltered, the cage was built around all of the stock interior and to provide the most possible headroom, seating area and not invade interior space.
The cage is painted now and the headliner reinstalled. The only thing that had to be changed was the sunvisors, but they will simply mount to the cage and be held up to headlinder with hook n loop velcro now. All mounting screws fit back into panels.

Thanks for the pm
I think this will be simply bada$$!! please keep the pictures coming because I'm going to steal your ideas if you don't mind! heheh
Thanks TC

[SWT Racing]

On the exhaust, I am not quite sure how loud it is after going thru the turbo, was wondering if I would even need mufflers or just dump it down behind the front wheels and maybe into a pancake muffler or straight pipe??? anyone have any expieriance with them, a twin turbo v8?

My Vega is pretty loud with just the downpipes off the turbos. . .although the downpipes are only about 24" long. I would run mufflers if it were me.

[megavega]

Thanx Andrew, I will fab up some pipes into flowmaster 3 chamber mufflers.

To those of you asking about the car, not alot has been going on with the car as I am right in the middle of a 26'x32' house addition(all 3 levels) along with a 8'x32' front porch. This house remodeling stuff eats up every ounce of time and every penny you have. I did manage to get some parts for the time when I can get back on the project, picked up a couple of items such as the rear control arms made for the swaybar, heim ends, rear shocks, and weld up header kit for the bbc, 2 inch tubes with 3 inch collectors. I will only be using the pipes and the flanges for the engine, the divided flanges for the twin t4 turbos will need to be made yet. I just mocked up the turbos in the engine bay and looks like its plenty feasible to do this .

[waybad]

I understand the house stuff, my bathroom gets all the time that the kids don't eat up???
it's going to be one wicked ride when you can get back on it! the roll cage looks killer! nice touch
please keep us posted!!!

[v8astregt]

WTF?!?!?!


Damn, took a quick glance and saw the wheels before, but never realized it was a twin-turbo'd 427 with a 6 speed! That's insane!

Think the tubular control arms will be enough? I mean do you think the whole setup will work? Just curious since I've yanked the upper rear mount off with a lowly 355 making 300 hp... you'll make at least double that.

[megavega]

One thing to remember is you were running slicks, they tend to show a guy every weak spot in a car, be it frame,motor/trans mounts,etc. common street tires will never hook like that . It should just spin,spin like driving on ice in the summer. The weak link will be the spider gears in the center section, when that breaks, I will most likely install a 8" ford rear axle. The 8" is quite a bit lighter then a 9" ford. I also have welded up the upper control arm mounts and placed a gusset on each side . The upper rear axle mounting points have been raised. By changing the upper rear mounting points I have also changed the instant center of the car, changing the leverage applied to the rear axle via the rear control arms. I intend to drive the car on the street only, a power tour, and am not interested in making in any drag race passes. Been there broken lots of stuff at the drag strip....lol I will leave all that up to you guys. The silver car in my avatar ate up lots of 100 dollar bills making those drag passes. When you get old like me the times the car runs doesnt seem to be so important as the driveability and "wow" factor.....

[Bacchus]

How fast are you planning to run? That cage is awesome, but will it pass tech with no diagnol side bar? My cage was put in a long time ago, but at that time the rule was that the bar had to pass between your shoulder and elbow.

Awesome work.

[Hoonbash]

MegaVega first off nice work!!

I'm forced to do the rear crossmember mod as last week mine top apart drag racing exactly like you said they do,any chance you could provide the measurements of the pieces?

Also wondering if you could provide any pics of the upper control arms you beefed up and if you have the time a quick crash course on I.C.,I'm basically wondering if changing the upper mounting points would lessen the forces acting upon them.

Thanks-Hoonbash