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Newbie here to the forum. Im Thomas. Im going to try and finally commit and document one of my builds, and this site has had great information! So I scored this sweet little 74 vega wagon. Already had a sbc in it at one point and has the broken rear end to prove it. Interior and body are super clean! Not a fan of the color, but it works. Needs a headliner and drivetrain. Typical rust in spare tire area.

I have a healthy sbc with dart aluminum heads and intake, forged crank and pistons, h beam rods, and a bunch of other goodies to really make it haul ass. Motor combo pushed a 3800 lb car down to 10.44 with a 300 shot on it. Block is o ringed, but after about 10 years of abuse a piston ring finally gave way, so now its getting rebuilt and stuffed in this vega. So all my engine bearing, lifters, cam, rings, pistons, timing chain, and other associated goodies showed up from summit this week. Got my hooker 2129 headers here as well. It had sanderson 1 1/2" primary coated headers on it that it came with, those are for sale to someone who needs them. Picked up my powerglide with a transbrake last night, still need to track down a 9"rear.


Will be doing a minitub very similar to speedphreaks to fit a 275 drag radial, or a 10.50 slick

excellent,, take lot's of picts,, there is many great people on here to help anyway they can!!

Thanks! And yes, got a lot of ideas from here. I have a ton more pictures to post but have to reduce size. Will post pics as I get things done. Work 5 days a week and take care of a 1.5 year old boy the whole time too, but will be trying to be ready to race by february.

If you want a bolt in 9 inch Autoweld chassis still offers them.

Very nice cant wait to see the car come together! After messing with my dads's so much I want one for myself now. Everything around here is way overpriced...

Smiley wrote:If you want a bolt in 9 inch Autoweld chassis still offers them.

Oh lordy! Had not seen this! I wonder if they would move the mounts in 2 inches on each side for me! Hadnt seen that! Ive been looking at ordering a moser bare housing and making mounts myself.

Just got off the phone with Tom at autoweld chassis, they dont offer an option to narrow mounts, so it looks like Im back to a moser and fabbing mounts. Thanks for the info though. Hopefully selling the motorhome soon, and that will fund the new housing and center section.

6D9 wrote:Very nice cant wait to see the car come together! After messing with my dads's so much I want one for myself now. Everything around here is way overpriced...

I hear you there, but as the saying goes, good work is not cheap and cheap work is not good. Sometimes its worth paying a little more. I only wanted to pay 1k for this vega when I saw the picture on craigslist, but once I got there and saw the work that was already put in to making the interior and body nice, I forked over the $1500 and still walked away happy. Now the race is on to keep funding this money pit and have it ready to race by february.

Monzamouse makes bracket sets for early Vega's
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=44296

Grandmasvega wrote:

6D9 wrote:Very nice cant wait to see the car come together! After messing with my dads's so much I want one for myself now. Everything around here is way overpriced...

I hear you there, but as the saying goes, good work is not cheap and cheap work is not good. Sometimes its worth paying a little more. I only wanted to pay 1k for this vega when I saw the picture on craigslist, but once I got there and saw the work that was already put in to making the interior and body nice, I forked over the $1500 and still walked away happy. Now the race is on to keep funding this money pit and have it ready to race by february.

$1500 is totally fine. Stuff around here is all over $3000 for stock junk.

Smiley wrote:Monzamouse makes bracket sets for early Vega's
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=44296

And this is why Im glad Im starting this topic. Thanks for the info and keep it coming. Lol. Im all ears and open to suggestions. I have my basic ideas of where I want it to be and have the means to fabricate as needed, but if someone else has already perfected it for a fair cost, definitely interested. Saves me time! Lol

Monzamouse brackets are made to fit a 3 inch tube so if using a Ford rear look for an early small web housing or an aftermarket reproduction sometimes called a hotrod housing.
The later ford housings and most aftermarket housings are wider webbed which will require reshaping of the upper control arm brackets to get them in the right place.

You are probably better off doing a full back half vs a mini tub.

Smiley wrote:You might ask Autoweld if they could leave the outer half of the lower brackets and the spring pads unwelded.
then weld the 2 outer lowers on the inside and position the spring pads where you want them.

You are probably better off doing a full back half vs a mini tub.

they make a narrowed gas tank for 69 Camaro's if you want to use a stock type gas tank.

Not sure how well that would work on the wagon. Whats so wrong with the factory tanks?