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1972 Chevy Vega Panel Wagon

PostPosted: Mon Oct 31, 2016 11:53 pm
by craigw125
So this is about My dad's old 1972 chevy vega wagon gt. he bought it around 1978 and has had it ever since and is being passed down to me when we finish it. We started working on it around the beginning of last year when I was sixteen after it had been sitting for twelve years because of a stuck fuel needle that flooded the engine. After we got it back in the garage we proceeded to strip the interior completely, remove the body parts, and take the engine out. But sadly we haven't been able to work on it for a while because of conflicting schedules with my dad and I and he also wanted to finish another car that we started after the wagon and wanted to finish before the wagon. future plans include a cosworth engine and s10 spindles and rear end.
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vega interior.jpg
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Re: 1972 Chevy Vega Panel Wagon

PostPosted: Tue Nov 01, 2016 12:06 pm
by sportriderok
Nice start on a family project! I'm following along...

Re: 1972 Chevy Vega Panel Wagon

PostPosted: Tue Nov 01, 2016 12:16 pm
by craigw125
Hopefully it should be done by june

Re: 1972 Chevy Vega Panel Wagon

PostPosted: Tue Nov 01, 2016 4:37 pm
by craigw125
Here's a pic of the engine we are using its a Chevrolet Cosworth twin cam that we are going to run dual webers with instead of electronic fuel injection

Re: 1972 Chevy Vega Panel Wagon

PostPosted: Tue Nov 01, 2016 9:40 pm
by chevyart
real nice project. just thinking. has anyone ever hooked up a small turbo to a cosworth engine?. would be a real rocketship. art

Re: 1972 Chevy Vega Panel Wagon

PostPosted: Wed Nov 02, 2016 1:31 am
by craigw125
chevyart wrote:real nice project. just thinking. has anyone ever hooked up a small turbo to a cosworth engine?. would be a real rocketship. art

No I haven't art but I know someone supercharged one and it makes 180hp to the rear wheels and my dad and I wish we could put the new LTG crate motor from chevy in mine but it's way too expensive and here's the link for the supercharged story http://www.cosworthvega.com/supercharged_story.html

Re: 1972 Chevy Vega Panel Wagon

PostPosted: Wed Nov 02, 2016 9:13 am
by bugdewde
Turbo charged Cosworth? Yep, I've seen 'em. One sold on ebay a few years ago. I'm sure the Cosworth guy's website would have more info on it.

Not sure if any tuning or larger injectors would be needed. Might get by with some low boost, say 4-5 psi, without too much issue.

Love the panel..... cool story.

There are a few knowledgeable Cosworth guys (Eaglefish comes to mind) on here that could be of assistance in regards to any Cosworth engine specifics. The Cosworth guys have their own website you might know about. Lots of info there.

Re: 1972 Chevy Vega Panel Wagon

PostPosted: Wed Nov 02, 2016 10:27 pm
by Monza Harry
Don't forget "Hammerdown7" he has been a "CW" guy for as long as there have been "CW's" I believe the only issue with the hairdryer on that engine is their stock compression is somewhat limiting for boost [high especially for the '70's] without some kind of "heroic measure" like a "Snow Performance" Water alky injector or the pretty much "undiscovered territory" for the "all alloy Vega" E85. Dick and others will be along to help fill in the blanks any moment now. :D And Vega Wagons are weak point for me too Dwight, keep us posted Craig, I and others will be watching. Harry P.S Please pardon our manners Welcome aboard Craig and for a more "H-Body welcome" next time no pretty wagons to cause us to lose all social skills while drooling about/on your baby!

Re: 1972 Chevy Vega Panel Wagon

PostPosted: Thu Nov 03, 2016 6:59 pm
by hammerdown7
There are a couple of turbo Cosworths out there today, both are running EFI, one stock EFI and one custom EFI. The stock EFI car, actually the whole car, is stock except for the turbo, and is a drag car, having run a best of 12.96 in the quarter with the stock 4-speed. The other is a street car running a Corvette 6-speed. Both run stock cylinder blocks that are sleeved. That can be precarious because some stock blocks have a tendency to split along the bottom of the water jacket when the horsepower gets higher than 275, most likely from varying casting densities. The drag car has run up to 20 pounds of boost, although it hasn't been dyno'd at that level, without block problems. The street car has run as much as 26 pounds and has been chassis dyno'd in the 340HP range and has been driven for over 6000 exciting miles without problems. Both of these cars run stock compression of 8.5:1. The drag car is in Ohio and the street car is in California.

A safe boost level is in the 10 pound area, where the engine was putting out 215HP. This engine was put together and dyno'd by an outside source working for Chevrolet in the middle 70's when Chevy was thinking about the possibility of offering an over-the-counter kit for the CV, unfortunately it was never offered.

I know there have been other CV's that started down the turbo path but I have only seen the two cars I mentioned above.

Dick

Re: 1972 Chevy Vega Panel Wagon

PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2017 6:53 pm
by craigw125
Moved the vega from my dad's garage to the shop at my house on Saturday. Should start sanding it soon for primer

Re: 1972 Chevy Vega Panel Wagon

PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2017 7:41 pm
by hammerdown7
I guess I never looked at the picture of the CV engine in the crate before, do you know a fellow named Crash?

Dick

Re: 1972 Chevy Vega Panel Wagon

PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2017 7:46 pm
by craigw125
hammerdown7 wrote:I guess I never looked at the picture of the CV engine in the crate before, do you know a fellow named Crash?

Dick

Actually I do know Crash because he's my dad

Re: 1972 Chevy Vega Panel Wagon

PostPosted: Mon Jan 09, 2017 10:57 pm
by hammerdown7
I thought so, you got the engine from me. Tell your dad hi for me.

Dick

Re: 1972 Chevy Vega Panel Wagon

PostPosted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 9:38 pm
by craigw125
Made a list to use as a checklist on the basic things to get the car running.

Re: 1972 Chevy Vega Panel Wagon

PostPosted: Thu Jan 12, 2017 10:26 pm
by hammerdown7
What are you going to use the S10 for?

Dick