Orangeastre's not so orange Astre build

[orangeastre]

I figured it was about time to finally post some pics of one of my current project vehicles.It is a car that a few forum members who are local to me may recognize.The car is a 1974 Pontiac Astre hatchback ex drag car.I purchased the car almost 5 years ago and was forced to put it on the backburner before the car even made it home.Suffice to say that building a new home and starting a family and changing jobs what felt like a dozen times forced the car to be nothing more than a inconvenience for at least 2 of those 5 years.It spent one summer in a friends building almost forgotten about,two years in my home garage being used as a storage locker.It even spent one winter hibernating with a Pro Street Thunderbolt clone.Finally this fall I had a fire lit under me and decided that the car was getting built,end of story.

The history on the car is very sketchy,several people have claimed to have had this car in there possession at one time or another.It is claimed to be and appears to have been built in the 1970's but I am really unsure.The stories on the history of the car are just as varied,I was told by one person who claimed his uncle ACTUALLY raced the car that it had a BIG caddy motor in it.What I do know about the car so far is that it has a stockish front suspension,square tube from the firewall back,with a very hillbilly 4 link and the worlds shortest panhard bar hanging a narrowed 9" Ford.The car has stretched quarters,a Camaro taillight swap and some very large wheel tubs.





The car currently code named "Dangerous & Unsightly" is residing at a friends shop awaiting a fresh backhalf job and a new cage bring the quality of workmanship up and the weight of the car down.I don't have any progress pics because no work has actually taken place other than me carrying a whole bunch of shiny new parts home while waiting for my cars turn in the fabrication shop.

Thanks for reading my long winded post and if you have any questions be sure to fire away,if you have any information about this car I really would like to hear from you as well.

[monza75tc]

Is that a starfire grill section?

Dick

[HI WINDING MONZA]

On the Cadillac Forums boards there is a story of a guy that had/raced a 500 Cadillac in a Vega. The guy claimed he couldnt control it and it was all over the track so he put it to rest. Never seen a pic or anything, and it is the 1st known to be ever done.

Todd ( 454spyder) here attempted to build the 2nd Caddy Powered Hbody , but scrapped the idea for a BBC instead.

I currently have the only front engine/ rear drive Caddy powered Hbody know to exist today ( 2nd ever built ? )

There is a Vega wagon with a rear engine / rear drive out there somewhere that was for sale last year. It uses a Eldorado 500 and trans running gear.

Whatever you can dig up on the previous owner, please let us know and good luck with your project.

Doug in AZ

[my79monza]

I would love to use a 32V northstar engine in my monza but too much work and too much money, mainly the latter.
Still think it would make a good combo.
Merle

[72 SS PNL]

i think they put the rear wheels on backwards

[orangeastre]

Is that a starfire grill section?

Dick

No it is a 1974 Astre grille,it was one year only and Canadian only I believe.

On the Cadillac Forums boards there is a story of a guy that had/raced a 500 Cadillac in a Vega. The guy claimed he couldnt control it and it was all over the track so he put it to rest. Never seen a pic or anything, and it is the 1st known to be ever done.

That story is very similar to what I was told about this car.Do you have any info on the poster from the Cadillac board,espescially what part of the world he may have been from?

[HI WINDING MONZA]

I'll ask around and hopefuly someone remembers.

Doug in Az

[HI WINDING MONZA]

Found this old post:

Re: Anyone ever try and put a 472 in a vega? Is it possible?
by GRN00 » Mon Jan 30, 2006 4:39 am

A couple of years ago, I put the 500 in a vega, non wagon. No real issues, had to fab a rad mounting brackets, put a much larger rad in the front so had to drop the brackets down, and make them wider. this insured that the fill cap did not vibrate a hole in the hood as well. Re did the steering. added a couple of knuckles , and had shorty headers. i ended up putting in the "cnc" brand, brake pedal with built in master cylinders. this was easier for me. Ran a powerglide, and a 9 inch and it was back halfed. Fun car, very out of control most of the time though. Short wheelbase ? too much torque? the wagon should be a blast. GRN00


Doug in Az

[HI WINDING MONZA]

More:

by GRN00 » Thu Dec 01, 2005 7:40 pm

I never had a z car, but I put a very sick 650-700hp cadillac 500 into a vega....back halfed it caged it etc....and I in no way could control the car. It was way crazy. At a stop light I could mash the throttle and the front end would come up with no effort, it would hit second gear, and completely break the tires loose. This was all at around 5300-6000 rpm (admit more than the average street motor). If I wanted to idle around and ease the throttle it would be fine. But then why build the sick motor. I ended up having to use the car for drag racing....but still could not control it...had to put the motor into a dragser to handle the power.

Maybe at the 500 hp range it would be fine.....just giving my experience with it.

[HI WINDING MONZA]

by GRN00 » Sun Dec 04, 2005 11:04 pm



Here are the details on the motor you were asking about. I had block bored .060, 13.5 compression , 120 octane fuel, forged rods and pistons, high volume water and oil pumps, belt driven fuel pump, 2 king demons RS drag race, sheet metal intake, worked heads ported polished bigger valves, msd probilliet dist, 6al box, three step, electronic shifter, after market balancer, .650 lift on the cam 295 duration (as I can remember right now), roller shaft rockers, Ran this package in the vega and the dragster with a powerglide. The vega ran a 9" rear 3.50 gear...never got a clean pass due to the power...best run 1/4 mile 10.13...in and out of the throttle the whole pass. In the dragster with the 3.50 gear, best time 8.67......8.90's on a consistant basis. As posted earlier, the vega started out a street package, but there was no way to make it work. Too much motor for me to drive on the street.

[HI WINDING MONZA]

by GRN00 » Mon Oct 17, 2005 4:09 pm

My first Cadillac 500 project was last year and I put a 500 into a vega. It was back halfed, and had a powerglide. The torque was more than what I feel was safe, without spending a whole lot more money. When the car would shift into second, the front end would lift, and or completely smoke the tires off, either way it was out of control. A lot of fun, but could get ugly real quick. That is why I opted to put the 500 into the rear engine dragster, and its right at home there......a whole lot of fun.

One mistake that I made was I moved the firewall back 12" to get the huge radiator up front. Didnt help with the wheel stands. Even with the 3.50 gears. 32" 15 tires.

[HI WINDING MONZA]

Motor was built by this guy from what I found out :

http://www.cadillacperformanceparts.com ... e&Itemid=1

Soddy Daisy , TN

Thats all I can find, no pics or location of the owner ( old Posts- no longer registered user- no profile) .

Potters may know more of the owner. I can ask Matt who works there at Potter's if you want some more info from Jerry (owner) ........ Doug in Az

[orangeastre]

Wow Doug,thanks for the research.I saw it mentioned in one of the posts about the firewall being moved back.My car has a very large transmission tunnel but no firewall setback.I don't think this car has travelled from TN all the way up to Atlantic Canada,but anything is possible.Thanks again for your help but without photographic confirmation it may be just another dead end in the history of this car .

[HI WINDING MONZA]

I asked Matt at Potter's to dig up anything he can from Jerry..........................Maybe he has pics or something.................worth a shot!

With a big trans tunnel, more than likely was for a Turbo 400, not a Glide.

But then again they might of used the space to get the motor back some. ( as I know I had to move the radiator in front of the core support with the trans mounted in the stock position with only a 1" core radiator)

Doug in Az

[orangeastre]

dbl post.