72 ls1 Vega ( 10lbs of crap in a 5lb box?) Totaled!!

[waybad]

Well I did it.. I cut the firewall but its in there now and it looks good
man I'm getting old, this thing kicked my butt today,, made the motor mounts to fit the f-body ones,
I now have room for all the accessories ,,I think I am going to go with the rack and pinion for even more room?
the pan has 3 1/2 clearance to the ground,, the front end didn't come down at all with the motor/trans weight in there here is what i did today

[waybad]

plenty of room

[waybad]

it's home

[Roccosvega]

Ah See ,It belongs in there.Nice.
Robert.

[waybad]

thanks,, it really fought me,, all the way,, I forgot to say that I have to pie cut the trans tunnel to make more room ... now that I have cut a virgin body,, it looks like a minitub is in order?????

[72 SS PNL]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO dont cut it

send it to me , lol

[grandam75]

Nice progress! Which trans are you going to use?

[waybad]

Nice progress! Which trans are you going to use?

I have a 2004r that was built to handle 500hp, 9.5 vigilante lock up converter
that was built for a 565bbc,, it will only stall to about 2800 if I'm lucky?
Thanks TC

[NixVegaGT]

One of the H-buddies here had a really sweet minitub idea. I'll look for it and post some pix. I think it might have been that dude in Wyoming. Ray? Maybe not. Anyway the tub was like 1" or something and he didn't need to move the perches on the axles I think.

Here it is. I think you've seen it. Really smart fabrication:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=27198&hilit=mini+tub&start=15

[waybad]

Thanks Nix,, I have printed out all of his pictures,, it is really a neat job,, if I do tub it?? it will be just like his.. I want the back seat for sure this time!!!

[NixVegaGT]

I feel that, dude. I LOVE his fab on that. It made me think it over for a moment. I GOT to just finish what I got and see how it works out. OK then. I'm keepin' an eye on your project. Very cool.

[80 MONZTA]

How much lower is your oil pan hanging below where the factory k member went across? Looking at your motor mounts, I have a lot more space between the F-body mounts and the frame then you do, and my oil pan hangs one inch below the k member.

[74ls1vega]

Just found this site and glad I did. I just bought a 74 roller vega that I'm going to try and put a turbo 5.3 in it with a glide trans. when I bought the car it didn't have a cross member in it and seeing yours I think you could save me a lot of trouble if you would. Can you give me some dimension of your cross member. I will be using a pan off of a vett that is pretty flat and looks like if would work with your applications. I'm not like a lot of the great mechanics that do super project this is just fun for my son and son in-law and myself. Any help on up and coming problems that I will be looking at would be appreciated. Thanks John

[waybad]

Just found this site and glad I did. I just bought a 74 roller vega that I'm going to try and put a turbo 5.3 in it with a glide trans. when I bought the car it didn't have a cross member in it and seeing yours I think you could save me a lot of trouble if you would. Can you give me some dimension of your cross member. I will be using a pan off of a vett that is pretty flat and looks like if would work with your applications. I'm not like a lot of the great mechanics that do super project this is just fun for my son and son in-law and myself. Any help on up and coming problems that I will be looking at would be appreciated. Thanks John

Hello John,
Hold on for a few days,, it's cold here,, 10 degrees
I took a 2x3 box tubing and lowered it with tabs,, then I found out It needed to me moved forward a little to clear
the the front part of the pan So I cut it out in the middle, then I will welded a 1x2 tubing to the front of it,
I will try to mount the rack and pinion to it? if you use the corvette pan
you will be running will take up a lot of room under there that needs to be there for exhaust I think?
Hope this helps? Tinker

[74ls1vega]

Thanks for answering. I like the way your cross member looks very strong and not hard to fab. I didn't even think about it not having one when I bought the car. If I can get a turbo in the car I will dump it up front I think it will be ok for a drag car I know there is not much room to work with. If the turbo doesn't work out I will be putting an exhaust on and may have to come up with another plan. I did see a pics somewhere with a vett pan and a nice tight exhaust the wings of the pan were well forward of the headers. The headers are another reason I hope the turbo works. I did a ls swap in a 70 Camaro a didn't have a lot of room to work with and had $850 in those headers. Anyway any time you get a chance would be great. My so called shop is a pole barn and is cold and hard to heat and I think it was a high of 20 here today so I don't see myself getting to carried away to soon. Here is what I'm working with. Thanks again John

Vega side.JPG