by 57todd » Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:32 pm
Project Wrap
...for now.
I have 300+ miles on it now. Here are my thoughts so far:
- The car is fun to drive. A good balance of weight / power. The hydraulic clutch is light and the Colorado 5-Speed shifts nice. I used to KYB shocks and stock Cosworth sway bars, springs, etc. It handles well.
- 1/4 mile measured at 14.98, 90.2MPH. Lots of wheel spin at launch and from 1st to 2nd. I'm sure this could be better with practice.
- I took the car to a local truck scale. It weighed 2580 pounds with a 1/2 tank of gas.
- I got 18 MPG on the first tank of gas, but I really did not drive with fuel economy in mind and 90 percent of the driving was city. I hope this goes to the mid or upper 20s with normal driving.
- The engine is a very non-Vega like smooth at all RPMs. The modern balance shafts really make a 4 cylinder smooth.
- The Vega brakes stink. I know I was warned on here about the stock brakes. I didn't listen. I plan to drive it until Winter and do a brake upgrade then (S10?).
- The maximum caster I can get is -1/4 degree. Again, I was warned.... It doesn't seem to be a problem until about 65 MPH, then I get a bit of shaking. Not bad, but noticeable. I am sure it is the caster causing the shaking as before I aligned it, the caster was -2 degrees on one side and -4 on the other and the shaking problem was much, much worse. Some more on-center feel would also be nice. I may consider tubular a arms for more adjustment when I do the brake upgrade this winter.
- The car sounds good. I will try to get a video up soon.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.