Desert Valley Dog - 76 Vega GT wagon

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Re: Desert Valley Dog - 76 Vega GT wagon

Postby sportriderok » Mon Nov 05, 2012 9:36 am

I took advantage of the last week of daylight after work to get some work in on the Vega. I took it to a self service wash and blasted all of the dust and grime off it. The engine bay cleaned up pretty nice, but the battery area has a lot more surface corrosion than I thought. I'm ordering some POR-15 today and this area will get a liberal coat. I'm moving the battery to the driver's side, so the battery tray will have to come out. It's pretty weak anyway. I'm really pleased with the interior, the floors are as solid as I thought they were. There is a tiny pin hole in the spare tire well, but besides that, there was no suprises. Well, there was one suprise. A surface rust spot on the passenger side kick panel under the vent was a lot deeper than I thought. It's a strange spot for rust. I also got the engine and transmission out of the Monza, along with the traditional huge mess from trans fluid and coolant. No matter how much I drain, there is always the leftover just waiting to soil the floor! A couple more good days on the Monza and it will be done, then I can turn my attention to the black parts car. Progress feels good!
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Re: Desert Valley Dog - 76 Vega GT wagon

Postby sportriderok » Mon Nov 05, 2012 1:31 pm

One last photo. The "Vegamino" in the background had brand new, 185/80r13s on it when I got it, and the DOT date is still good, so, on the wagon they go. I put the Monza caps on just to make it look better as I work and until I decide what wheels it will eventually have. Since I plan on driving the stink out of this car, I will do the 5-lug conversion and go to 15" wheels for ease of finding replacement tires.
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Re: Desert Valley Dog - 76 Vega GT wagon

Postby sportriderok » Mon Nov 12, 2012 1:17 pm

My goal this weekend was to get the rest of the parts off the Monza so it could go away, and I finally did it. Next I have to haul the Black GT 40 miles to the shop with the lift so I can get the T50 and associated parts out of it. I got my POR15 and I'm ready to start coating the engine compartment and floors. I got a tip off the El Camino forum on an alternate idea for the sound deading for the interior, and I hope to try it out this week and post the results. But the family is coming for the Holiday, and the weather is becoming a factor, so I may have to start some indoor projects like dyeing the interior parts, just to keep progress rolling.
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Re: Desert Valley Dog - 76 Vega GT wagon

Postby sportriderok » Mon Nov 19, 2012 11:07 am

I didn't make any measurable progress on the Vega this weekend, but instead I spent the time at my friend's machine shop, learning to weld. I have to replace two floorpans in my El Camino, and I want to do it myself. I still have a lot to learn, but I'm very satisfied with how I did. I haven't tried welding sheet metal yet, only stock steel, so I'll need to practice. My cowl has two pretty good cracks at the hood latch, so after I get the hang of welding the thinner stuff, that will be the first attempt on the Vega.
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Re: Desert Valley Dog - 76 Vega GT wagon

Postby sportriderok » Tue Dec 04, 2012 11:08 am

I've put a ton of time in on the black Vega since my last update, and I seriously hate that car. It's taking all of my restraint not to beat it to death with a sledge hammer. It took $12.00 worth of quarters at the car wash to get rid of the rat turds and nests in this thing. If there are two bolts holding something on, one of them is stripped, rusted, or breaks when you try to remove it. There is watery trans fluid pouring out of the T50, so that idea is out for now. I may still pull it and have it rebuilt later, but I think a nice T5 5-speed will work better. On the plus side, the front valance panel is perfect, not even a cracked mounting hole. Same with the grille, a lot of the mounting points on my grille are broken. The GT dash is out in one piece, sort of. At least I have all the broken pieces to glue back... So I've got everything off of it that I need for my wagon, and now its just pulling what I think might be sellable. Even with the floor rust, the body of the car is pretty clean with no rust through. I may throw it on the Marketplace here and see if I can get anything for the carcass. If I don't burn it first, that is...
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Re: Desert Valley Dog - 76 Vega GT wagon

Postby jb3426 » Thu Dec 06, 2012 9:07 am

Lol, oh the joys of working on old cars. Look forward to meeting up with you this weekend to haul one out of your way.
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Re: Desert Valley Dog - 76 Vega GT wagon

Postby sportriderok » Mon Feb 25, 2013 1:57 pm

Since the weather has been cold, I have turned my focus on getting my wagon interior panels cleaned and dyed to match the Dark Blue Monza interior I am using in the car. They have turned out real well, and I hope to remember how to add photos and show everyone! I got all of the AC stuff out of the black parts car, and it is all in good condition, except the underhood wiring, which, like all the underhood wiring, has been eaten by rats. Even the outside AC case has chew marks on it. I cleaned everything thouroughly, lubed the cable and operating mechanism, and its all ready to go in the wagon. The heater core and evaporoator look new. Next is the power steering box, power brake booster, then the engine and trans can go back in. After todays blizzard, that is!
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Re: Desert Valley Dog - 76 Vega GT wagon

Postby sportriderok » Tue Mar 05, 2013 12:29 pm

I've put in a little time on the wagon this week, and I've started the reassembly. I cut my non-AC firewall to accomodate the
AC out of the black car. I installed the power brake booster and the power steering box out of the 80 Monza, and I test-fit the tilt column. I started installing the wiring in the interior after some minor repairs. So far the reassembly is going well and everything is fitting the way I hoped it would. I've set an arbitrary deadline of April 30 to test fire for the first time. Wish me luck!
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Re: Desert Valley Dog - 76 Vega GT wagon

Postby sportriderok » Mon Apr 29, 2013 11:43 am

There has been a lot of progress on the old wagon in the last few weeks. I got my 2.5 ready to go in with a new fuel pump, motor mounts, and vacuum lines. The engine wiring has me a little stumped at the moment. The harnesses I have are all hacked up or eaten by varmits, so I'm thinking of making a new one with the Vega bulkhead connector and new wiring. Got a good gas tank (thanks Chris!), and once I get the sending unit in, its ready to go up. I finished most of the interior dyeing since the spring has been so lousy weather wise. I straightend out my warped door panels and I have one more to dye. The dash has been cleaned and the graphics are all touched up. And at last, the engine and transmission are in the car. I didn't expect it to be so difficult going back in, but it fought me and my friend all day yesterday. I have lots of pics to add, maybe tonight.
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Re: Desert Valley Dog - 76 Vega GT wagon

Postby vegastre » Fri May 03, 2013 1:54 pm

Ya,
Lets see some pics. Interesting build with great script writing and pics. The winter slows everyone down excpet ones lucky enough to have big heated shops.
Phil Kennedy~
72 Chevrolet Vega GT Hatchback
75 Pontiac Astre SJ Safari Wagon
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Re: Desert Valley Dog - 76 Vega GT wagon

Postby sportriderok » Tue Jun 04, 2013 10:41 am

I've been making a lot of progress on the Vega lately. Got the engine buttoned up and all the mounts in and tight. Installed the driveshaft and thrust arm. I was ready to put the tank in when my friend noticed the fuel supply line was completely plugged with garbage, so after a few cans of carb cleaner blown through the lines, all the black goop is gone. I replaced all the rubber fuel lines and mounted the tank, just to find the wiring to the sender has been munched on by a rodent of some kind. So that leaves me with more wiring work. The dash renovation is done, except, you guessed it, wiring repair. Luckily it is just one dash bulb socket, but I'm inspecting all of the wiring while it is out. I got my new windshield a few days ago, so I removed the old broken one and cleaned up the old adhiesive. My channel is perfect. I'm ready to paint the interior metal to match the panels I dyed over the winter, and with the windshield out, it will be really easy. I also struck gold at the local pick and pull, they had a 74 Vega GT someone drug in out of a field, and the dash pad in it was perfect! For $15.00, you can't beat it!

Of course with the progress comes a new challenge. The 2.5 will not clear the Vega AC box. The carb and intake are touching it, and the air cleaner won't fit on it at all. With as rough as the 2.5 runs, I figure this won't work at all. So I'm digging though all my stuff trying to find the Monza AC setup I saved off the Blue car I parted out. I've found the thread here on changing over to the Vega, and it sounds within my scope of skill. But I am disappointed. I put a lot of work into restoring the Vega AC setup off of the Black GT, and I did a good job of reinstalling it in the wagon. I'm hoping to be able to do this without pulling the engine again. I hate undoing progress. Needless to say I missed my first fire goal.

On the bright side, I cleaned the floors of the wagon with metal prep last night, and once I get it undercoated, I can finally move it to my shop at my house. Currently the Vega is in my old shop about 40 miles away, because it has a lift. With the bottom side of the car about done, I can have it at home where I can work on it without losing the drive time. I'm still sorting through the engine wiring harness, repairing bad cuts and replacing anything that looks suspicious. It would have been easier to buy a new harness and redo the whole car at this point.

Still trying to get my pictures off the phone and camera and loaded here. Maybe someday...
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Re: Desert Valley Dog - 76 Vega GT wagon

Postby sportriderok » Fri Dec 19, 2014 4:17 pm

So this is mostly a bump to keep my journal from slipping onto page 3... My AC nightmare caused me to push the Vega into the back corner of the shop for a long time. I was really proud of the work I had done on restoring the Vega AC box, and I got discouraged when I realized there was no way it was going to work with the 2.5 swap. I decided to skip the AC and putting the heater box back in. Of course, I had already cut the firewall for the Vega AC box, so I went back to the "field of H-bodies" to find a good firewall patch. That's when I found another answer. I bought a 1979 Sunbird wagon that was a factory 2.5 with AC. The engine was already pulled, but all the AC stuff was still there. The Sunbird used the Monza underdash AC unit with nothing under the hood. I pulled all of the AC stuff and cut the firewall out, and installed it all in the Vega. I had to piece together the underdash box and install a new heater core, but my clearance issue is solved and I have plenty of room if I ever decide to drop a V8 in it. I painted all of the exposed interior metal the same dark blue as the Monza interior I am using, and began to install my restored dashboard. And found my next problem. Stupid me assumed the Monza wiring under the hood would mate up with the Vega wiring on the dashboard. Nope. They plug in, but the pin layout is totally different. So, once again, after spending a ton of time rebuilding something, I have to start over. I'm building a new engine and light harness using the bulkhead plugs from the Monza wiring. These oversights are my own fault, if I had taken the time to look at the wiring diagrams before I started the harness repair, I would have seen the differences. I definitely have a lot to learn when it comes to mechanics.

And I now have all the parts I need for my car, and many others. I am up to 21 Vegas in different stages of condition to choose parts from. And I am breaking my vow to never build another H-body with a 76 base Vega coupe that was in the collection of cars I bought. The wagon will get finished (at least running) before I dig into it.
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Re: Desert Valley Dog - 76 Vega GT wagon

Postby zeke » Fri Jan 02, 2015 11:58 am

sportriderok wrote:I'd call this a boat anchor but I don't want to insult boat anchors...


:lol: :lol: :lol: :th:

Every h-body owner should have their own scrap yard out back! Nice

Keep at it man! :D
Chris

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zeke's 78 Sport Coupe

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