71 Vega GT Wagon (The Drag-Wag)
Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2018 10:03 pm
EDIT: Updated thread name with the nickname that finally came to me for the car: The Drag-Wag
Hello everyone,
I have finally got my first project car. I've grown up around many mechanics and bodymen, I'm no strangers to shops or tools, nor am I afraid to get dirty under a hood, but I just didnt feel I had the prowess or the true skills (and lack of serious tools) to get a project car to where I would want it to be. I am a programmer by trade, and I just like to tinker with cars.
Well, my girlfriends dad has had this vega sitting outside his shop for the longest time, and I finally bugged him enough to take me for a ride in it. I was hooked and I had to have it. I got it for 1500 running and driving with the promise that I will make this wagon an "old-school" racer (with his help). And I will definitely be needing his help! Thankfully he is a seasoned mechanic, welder, and fabricator with a full shop at my disposal. The stars seemed to align for me, so I dove in head first.
The car was saved from the previous owner who was going to make it a "rally car", and he bought it from someone who already did the v8 swap with a rebuilt 350. Bored 40 over, hydraulic lifters, new pistons, and a holly 4 barrel sitting on top with a 4 speed. Car was running and driving with everything else "stock".
Now I hope to have this as a fun car to go rip around the city and make some noise, and to take it to the strip. We plan to restore and repaint the exterior to its original color and hopefully if we can source some NOS stripes for it, I think I'm going to have a very fun and unique car with a good platform to start from.
Notice the excellent rattle can paintjob that had been weathered away over the years:
Here is the todo list:
-Narrowed chevy 12 bolt, with an adjustable custom 4 link suspension (already have the housing!)
-Custom fiberglass nose, and a custom hood with the "grump lump". (We have secured a place that can do the job, but thats down the road).
-Roll cage and body re-enforcement engine to rear
-New fuel cell
-Some sort of "street legal" slicks
-Monza front brake conversion
-5 Lug conversion, having the rotors machined to a 5 lug
-Go over the front suspension, new rubber and bushings take care of any problems there.
-New radiator
-Go over the car as best we can with the engine still in it, we want to avoid having to take it out but if we have to we have to.
I'm doing all of this in my spare time on saturday mornings, plan to make steady and constant progress.
Here she is getting set up in the shop:
free image hosting sites
And the following week I was surprised with some "old school" goodies. Got a full set of racing gauges taken off a previous customer from the shop who had a 70s race mustang "restored", so he kept all the gauges and something really special THE COOL CAN!:
We also got a dual battery harness and a fuel pump ready for the new tank!
Here she is with the seats and interior out:
I also got the stock rear end and fuel tank out. Next week we begin cutting out the floor and start taking measurements for the new frame rails and suspension we will be picking up from summit racing.
Thank you all for reading, I will post pics as progress is made!
Hello everyone,
I have finally got my first project car. I've grown up around many mechanics and bodymen, I'm no strangers to shops or tools, nor am I afraid to get dirty under a hood, but I just didnt feel I had the prowess or the true skills (and lack of serious tools) to get a project car to where I would want it to be. I am a programmer by trade, and I just like to tinker with cars.
Well, my girlfriends dad has had this vega sitting outside his shop for the longest time, and I finally bugged him enough to take me for a ride in it. I was hooked and I had to have it. I got it for 1500 running and driving with the promise that I will make this wagon an "old-school" racer (with his help). And I will definitely be needing his help! Thankfully he is a seasoned mechanic, welder, and fabricator with a full shop at my disposal. The stars seemed to align for me, so I dove in head first.
The car was saved from the previous owner who was going to make it a "rally car", and he bought it from someone who already did the v8 swap with a rebuilt 350. Bored 40 over, hydraulic lifters, new pistons, and a holly 4 barrel sitting on top with a 4 speed. Car was running and driving with everything else "stock".
Now I hope to have this as a fun car to go rip around the city and make some noise, and to take it to the strip. We plan to restore and repaint the exterior to its original color and hopefully if we can source some NOS stripes for it, I think I'm going to have a very fun and unique car with a good platform to start from.
Notice the excellent rattle can paintjob that had been weathered away over the years:
Here is the todo list:
-Narrowed chevy 12 bolt, with an adjustable custom 4 link suspension (already have the housing!)
-Custom fiberglass nose, and a custom hood with the "grump lump". (We have secured a place that can do the job, but thats down the road).
-Roll cage and body re-enforcement engine to rear
-New fuel cell
-Some sort of "street legal" slicks
-Monza front brake conversion
-5 Lug conversion, having the rotors machined to a 5 lug
-Go over the front suspension, new rubber and bushings take care of any problems there.
-New radiator
-Go over the car as best we can with the engine still in it, we want to avoid having to take it out but if we have to we have to.
I'm doing all of this in my spare time on saturday mornings, plan to make steady and constant progress.
Here she is getting set up in the shop:
free image hosting sites
And the following week I was surprised with some "old school" goodies. Got a full set of racing gauges taken off a previous customer from the shop who had a 70s race mustang "restored", so he kept all the gauges and something really special THE COOL CAN!:
We also got a dual battery harness and a fuel pump ready for the new tank!
Here she is with the seats and interior out:
I also got the stock rear end and fuel tank out. Next week we begin cutting out the floor and start taking measurements for the new frame rails and suspension we will be picking up from summit racing.
Thank you all for reading, I will post pics as progress is made!