Monza five lug axles swap into a Vega?

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Monza five lug axles swap into a Vega?

Postby TeamEvil » Sun May 14, 2017 3:34 pm

Hi,

Been a consistant lurker, finally joined up. Terrific forum ! ! !

We planning on doing a V8 swap into the '73 Vega over the Summer. Picked up most of the parts needed and was hoping to swap out the four lug axles for some five lugs. I think that I might have read/heard that the five lug axles from a Monza would swap into the Vega rear end housing, but I'm not at all sure. Several old publications have "said" that the stock Vega ring and pinion would be OK for light use/around town driving. It would be nice if the axles swap would work for now and we could take more time modifying the S10 rear end as we go along as it is going to need a swap to coils as well as some other mods to work in the Vega.

If anyone have any info on whether the Monza axle swap is possible, please post or email or PM. What year Monza axles, if any, would work in the '73 Vega? What additional mods to the housing, retainers, bearings and such would be necessary?

Any help/info/comments/etc. at al would be a great help.

Thanks— !
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Re: Monza five lug axles swap into a Vega?

Postby 283vega » Sun May 14, 2017 4:39 pm

Monza axles or early 2wd s-10 axles will not fit into the stock 6.5 " vega rear that 73's had.Your stuck with the 4 lug unless you make a rear change. Monza rear would be the easiest but would require the upper control arm brackets to be added. Early 2 wd S-10 rear [same width as vega] have to add upper and lower brackets.The drive shaft will need to be shortened on either swap.Im sure theres more to add to this post.
283 vega
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Re: Monza five lug axles swap into a Vega?

Postby TeamEvil » Sun May 14, 2017 5:39 pm

Thanks for the information !

We picked up a two wheel drive Chevy S10 rear end, looks like it's the right width/track but, of course, has leaf spring mounts. Between chopping out the old spring mounts and welding in some coil mounts and making some upper control arm mounts plus the top most torque arm mounts . . . we're looking for an easier route for now. The S10 will be the end game, but possibly the Monza rear (IF we can find one locally) would be the easiest to get the project back up and running once again.

Would you know if the Monza had coil spring stock? If this rear end would only require the upper control arm brackets and a top torque arm mount, it seems like the better bet for now. Maybe even switch to tube-style upper arms and skip the top most torque arm entirely.

Any idea? Again, any help or opinions would be a great help. This is new territory as we've only swapped spring to spring or coil to coil rear ends. Frabricating and dialing in rear suspension specs is gonna be a whole new thing, on top of the engine/trans swap. Not dreading it at all, been dreaming of this for a couple of years now, but like to gather as much info as possible before we get to the back end of the wagon.
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Re: Monza five lug axles swap into a Vega?

Postby cjbiagi » Sun May 14, 2017 6:17 pm

All Monza's had 2 lower control arms, a torque arm that connected to the back of the trans and a panhard bar to keep the rearend centered. They did not use upper arms. You need to decide if you want to go with the stock 4 link setup with upper and lower control arms or upgrade to the torque arm setup. The torque arm setup is generally deemed better but will require all the proper parts as well as the panhard bar and mounts.
Clyde.........75 Monza 2+2
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Re: Monza five lug axles swap into a Vega?

Postby TeamEvil » Sun May 14, 2017 8:43 pm

Thanks all.

Time to search out a Monza rear end . . .
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