My First Car 73 Vega Project

[cpettersen73]

well, havent posted in quite a while so here goes, ive been working on the car every weekend pretty much and ive kind of hit a rut, ive installed a new corvette brake master cylinder since ill be doing four wheel disc brakes, i took off thesteering box, cleaned it adjusted it and put it back on, and i bought a s10 blazer 2wd rear end a couple months ago with disc brakes, sadly the truck was missing the drivers side spindle, and i descided i wanted to run the later blazer style spindle with the seperate hub i just need to get back to the wrecking yard and get the other spindle, rotors and calipers and then find a drivers side spindle, i took all the measurements for the 4 link brackets for the new rear end, and i was wondering if anyone knew any companies that made new brackets so i wouldnt have to worry about damaging the old ones while cutting them off the vega rear. ive basically descided that the SHO motor is just way too big for this car, i took some measurements and the intake is a full 10" longer than a complete SBC, the throttle body faces the wrong way,which isnt a huge deal, but if i turned it around it wouyld be intaerfering with the radiator, and on top of all that the oil pan layout would require me to move the engine sop far back to to clear the K-member that it would have to cut into my firewall a ton and its just too much work for the end result, so im on the hunt for a powertrain again, on the bright side i got another car to drive at least until i finish the vega so ive bought myself some more time so i can take my time and do stuff right instead of rushing. i think i still really want to go with a DOHC turbo 4 cyl but i have to find something that can make power but isnt horendously expensive, all the solstice motors ive seen ion ebay are like 3 grand, so im gonna do some more research... wow yet another really long post. ill post some pics of the rear end and some of my other work soon.

[cpettersen73]

well i sure took my time in taking these pictures but heres some pictures of the rear end i bought, also ordered my spindles off ebay, got them blasted and painted yesterday, dont need them for a whie though so they were swiftly stuffed into a box and put upstairs for a later date, im hoping to do the front suspension at the beginning of this summer, plans include poly bushings new shocks, new ball joints and of course the s10 blazer spindle/brake swap. anyways got the rear end for i think 80 or 100 bucks, out of a 98 s10 blazer 2wd. i thik itll work fine for how much power this cars gonna have, only downside is that it doesnt have a posi, which im gonna need in a car this light, but ill change that once i get it into the car in the future.

[mahoy78spyder]

I believe at one time that Dave's Vega Village offered the rear end 4-link brackets ala carte. You might check with him to see if he still offers them. Also, how much wider is the S10 disc-brake rearend than stock? I bought an F-body disc-brake rearend ('84 Trans Am) just for the disc setup, but obviously the axle itself is too wide. Am just wondering if it wouldn't be easier to go with a complete S10 rearend.

[cpettersen73]

This rear end i got is out of a 02 s10 blazer 2wd, so it is the same width as the regular 2wd s10 rear which is i blieve about half an inch or so narrower than the stock vega rear, though with the discs rather than the drums that were standard on most 2wd s10s, it may be just ever so slightly narrower, but i think its still right around 54" from end to end. Im not sure how common the 2wd s10 blazers r in wrecking yards, but if you were able to find one then it may be an easier route to go than adapting the F-body rear brakes, but if you already have the F-body parts it may make sense to just use that, i dont know what the advantages or disadvantages are as far as the braking systems themselves either.

[cpettersen73]

And thanks for the info on the 4 link brackets, ill remember that, though im thinking about building my own seeing as the stock position of the lower control arm on the axle is way too far out and thus limits the backspacing i could use on my rear wheels. im thinking of building a three link rear suspension since ive read that for a handling car thats a more effective system, and building my own suspension gives me the chance to move in my lower control arms about 3 inches on either side, i dont need huge tires but i was thinking itd be nice to mini tub it and give it a 9 or 9.5 inch wide rear wheel to compliment the 7 or 7.5 wide i want in the front, ive done some rough sketches of what i want to do but the rear suspension is pretty far back on the list right now, and i think ill read up a little bit more on geometry before i get there.

[Smiley]

Universal type lower control arm brackets can be found on ebay for $28 a pair

[cpettersen73]

little sketch i whipped up with paint for my rear suspension idea, cant work on anything right now so just busying myself with research and designing stuff the big x looking thing is an integrated suframe connector and driveshaftloop which i figured i could build to give me a mounting point for the control arms and torque arm while giving the car a little structural rigidity at the same time, i figured itd make it a little less prone to flex or twist when the car is finished. this is all just theoretical at the moment as im not doing the rear suspension until after the front suspension, steering, and engine/trans are finished, but i figured a bit of preemptive planning couldnt hurt