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My First Car 73 Vega Project

PostPosted: Sat Feb 02, 2013 1:18 am
by cpettersen73
Just Bought myself A 73 vega GT. Still working on getting it to my house, ill post pictures once i get it here. Some of my major goals with this project are to build it with a bit of unique power plant i dont really want to build one with a V8 because i just want to try something a little bit different than what you would expect to be under the hood, some of the options ive been considering have been a turbocharged quad 4 or a turbocharged ecotec, the only issue ive had with these is that they are both FWD configurations (apart from the pontiac solstice which came with a RWD ecotec). I dont need something too powerful because its going to be my first car (im 15 so i have about a year to try to get a running vehicle)
Now about the car, it doesn't have a huge amount of rust just a couple of spots around the windshield. Its mostly complete except for the following parts: headlights, tailights, lower front fascia, rear fascia, seats (not a problem, ive located a back seat and i was going to run racing seats in the front anyways), motor and transmission (another thing i wasn't going to use anyways). If anyone has any information on where i could find any of these (perferably used because im kind of on a budget). anyways i think this is a good start to the thread so comment away im thankful for any suggestions.

Re: My First Car 73 Vega Project

PostPosted: Sat Feb 02, 2013 2:53 am
by Monza Harry
Welcome aboard cpettersen73 the choices for an out of the ordinary engine abound right now! If I was to start over my choice would be built out of aluminum, I like the Quad4 and Ecotec ideas but for me(and I look all the time) Supercharged just looks and sound better, unlike you I'm old (and incredably jealous, O2B 15 again) and Blower was the look! Don't forget it doesn't have to be perfect or the most Awesome right away just form a plan and keep at it and in thirty years your story be "I did" not "when I finish it" Good Luck and remeber this is supposed to be FUN! When I finish it, Harry P.S. the Soltice is still a FWD just bolted in the right spot (the rear)

Re: My First Car 73 Vega Project

PostPosted: Sat Feb 02, 2013 12:52 pm
by cpettersen73
thanks Monza Harry i appreciate the words of wisdom, i like the supercharged idea but i would have to look at how much a supercharger kit costs for either a quad 4 or an ecotec, i know that GMPP makes a blower kit for a 2.4L twin cam but there's an adapter out there somewhere that adapts the 2.3 head to the 2.4 supercharger, as far as ecotecs go the cobalt SS came with a supercharger and made about 260 hp. right now i think my best option would be to find a wrecked solstice gxp and pull its powertrain (already RWD and turbocharged) but finding a wrecked solstice on a budget is probably going to be a bit difficult. some of the sites that i've found claiming to have a couple solstices have no contact information :bang: .I'll work it out i'm sure, my dad has a speed shop in Chico, CA so hes got an ear to the ground if any show up.

Re: My First Car 73 Vega Project

PostPosted: Sun Feb 03, 2013 10:12 am
by ryguy442
Sounds like a cool project, I'm interested to see what you pick for a motor. Iv always wanted to see one with a grand national motor in it! A 4 cylinder would give you alot of room tho! Could always get a 2.2 out of a s10, the make a turbo kit for those. Post some pictures, and keep up updated.

Ryan

Re: My First Car 73 Vega Project

PostPosted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 2:09 am
by cpettersen73
hadn't really looked into the s10 motor thanks for the idea
the site wont let me load pictures says the files are too big any suggestions?

Re: My First Car 73 Vega Project

PostPosted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 5:25 pm
by bugdewde
Pics must be less than 256 KB in size. Simply resize them in windows "Paint" .... it's on practically all windows operating systems.
When openend in "Paint", click on the tab "Image" then "Resize/Skew"..... reduce by 50% to see if it goes below 256.... adjust as necessary.

Or just use a photo hosting site like Photobucket or others. I use Cardomain to host all my car pics, it's free and you can create a neat site for all your automotive photos(it automatically resizes your pics for you, too).

Here' the How-To from the General Discussion section: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=28612

If you use a photo hosting site like Cardomain, here's how you do it in under 10 clicks.....
I simply right click the picture I put on Cardomain, choose Open in new window, right click pic in new window, click on Properties, then highlight and copy the URL address of that specific pic that comes up.
Go back to your H-body post, and click the "IMG" (Image) tab up top and you'll see [ img.. ] [ /img.. ] in the field where you're typing your post . Click between the two bracketed image codes and right click to paste the pic address between the brackets like this....... [img]pictureaddressyoucopiedfromthehostingsite[/img].
The idea is to get the url address of the pic from the photo hosting site inbetween the H-body forum IMG brackets(code).
Before submitting your post, click on the "preview" tab next to "submit" to see if you did it correctly.


Here's a link to one of my Cardomain folders..... the '73 Vega Hatchback for example: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2964682/1 ... olet-vega/

Re: My First Car 73 Vega Project

PostPosted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 5:53 pm
by bugdewde
IF using the photo-hosting site method:

Here's a screen shot of the copied address between the Image tabs in the post(you'll have to scroll down the attached picture of the post to see the posted info):


Posting Pics from a host.jpg



This is how it will look when submitted. The code reads the address from between the Img tabs and puts the pic on the post.
Image

Re: My First Car 73 Vega Project

PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 8:48 pm
by cpettersen73
thanks bugdewde got the pics resized now

Re: My First Car 73 Vega Project

PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 8:50 pm
by cpettersen73
some more pics

Re: My First Car 73 Vega Project

PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 8:50 pm
by cpettersen73
one more

Re: My First Car 73 Vega Project

PostPosted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 9:44 pm
by Vega45
This a good start make a list up of the parts you are going to need and see what all of the members can do to help you out GOOD LUCK

Re: My First Car 73 Vega Project

PostPosted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 11:01 pm
by cpettersen73
heres some more pics of the work ive been doing over the past couple weeks, got the whole dash unit out, working on taking off the fenders. only get to work on saturdays so its kinda difficult making a dent in the workload. accidentally cracked my windshield last week... felt really stupid :bang: , anyways i was wondering what parts were interchangable between a later model (i.e. a 74 thats in a wrecking yard near me) and my 73 would the hatch and windshield from the 74 work on my car? think ive finally found out what i want to do for powertrain, in the new chevy colorado trucks theres a DOHC 4 cyl. called the vortec 2900 or 2.9Lfrom what i gather they make about 185 hp 190ft/lb stock, and i can find one of these for pretty cheap id imagine. right now im still working on tearing apart everything and desciding what i need, ill stay posted and any info would be appreciated thanks.

Re: My First Car 73 Vega Project

PostPosted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 10:49 am
by Kenova
cpettersen73 wrote:........ think ive finally found out what i want to do for powertrain, in the new chevy colorado trucks theres a DOHC 4 cyl. called the vortec 2900 or 2.9Lfrom what i gather they make about 185 hp 190ft/lb stock, and i can find one of these for pretty cheap id imagine.


I test drove a new 2011 GMC Canyon 2.9 4X4 when I was shopping for a new truck. I felt it had just enough power to make it easy to live with. Considering the truck weighs in the neighborhood of 4500 lbs. that is quite an accomplishment, and it was a damn sight smoother running than the 2.3 in my Vega. The truck as a whole had more balls than my Vega. :lol:
If you wanted more power you could always throw a turbo at it.

Ken

Re: My First Car 73 Vega Project

PostPosted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 1:36 pm
by cpettersen73
well ive been fiddling with the car every saturday... chipping at it bit by bit should have pics posted soon.. got the windshield out.. lots of rust ..not pretty anyways still desciding on powertrain not an imminent issue i have a lot of work i need to do before i need motor or trans, thought occurred to me what if i put a rotary engine in it? i know some people have done the swap and i was wondering how complicated it would be. anyways still looking for a lower front and rear valance and now possibly a hatch im thinking it would be simpler to replace the exhisting hatch than to do the necessary rust repair would a 74 hatch fit on the 73?

Re: My First Car 73 Vega Project

PostPosted: Fri Apr 05, 2013 12:23 am
by NVEGAR8D
Hi,
Sorry, the 74 hatch won't fit the 73 as the rear panel is not the same. the 74 went even across the back edge, losing the dip in the middle. of course you could always add in the center area to the hatch. again it ends up being more work.
nick75vega