Vacuum advance and Weber 45

[gt350fme]

Unfortunately the engine was given away as scrap when we moved in 2012, from following anything vega for sale the motors where worthless anchors even though they have potential and mine ran about as good as my 944 that has about 150 pony’s.
I had v8 sbc’s on my mind and we where well into that build.
I kept the DCOE 45 and manifold, Mallory points distributor, 4 cylinder HEI, aftermarket valve cover, the GT dash, some of the interior trim, exterior trim pieces.

[cliffsgt]

. . . AS SCRAP - ah, man. Bummer, would've liked to have had that head.
Ah well, a bit late. I hope your build goes well for ya'! One the quickest cars I've ever been in was a V8 Vega.
You've kept a nice collection of odds and ends for the original car.
Would you consider letting go of that aftermarket valve cover - perhaps a trade could be arranged?
I've got a front grill for a '71-'73 without blemishes.
What do ya' think . . .

[gt350fme]

Ya my 140 was balanced, ported, sleeved, and driven pretty hard what fun.

As for my build now, it’s done, and yup it’s fast, scary, satisfying, fun, you can see it in our “BEST OF” section under Caveman Project, currently on top of the list, I guess it got in best of for the dash build?

PM sent

[cliffsgt]

Nice looking ride! I mean really nice.
I struggled with the decision of which motor to go with in mine. V8 - V6 . . . so many choices over the years.
In the end I decided to keep the original mill 'cause I liked the sound of the solid lift head at idle. In general, most believe that the car is more radical with the lumpy cam in it.
A 140 that was balanced, ported - I bet it did run strong.
You feel it would have kept up with a Porsche 944, Nice!
So, in the end what was the downfall of your Vega motor?
I'm also looking for the front seat belts for my Vega - can you point me in the right direction?

[gt350fme]

Having both a performance built Vega engine and a stock early 944 NA at the same time I feel they where close in hp, though the 944 was a bit more refined, still have the 944 in storage dreaming of a LS swap but that’s another story that I don’t think will happen, the v8 Vega is my favorite.
As for why I went with the sbc v8?, lots of performance parts available, super car performance, and a lightweight car with engine 2800 lbs = OMG fast, at 400hp and 400 torque NA, you get the picture, + we where also thinking some 1/4 mile runs would be fun, drag program suggested mid 11s On NA.
If I hade to guess 1/4 mile times for the performance Vega and my 944, somewhere in the high 15s, and a lot of fun on twisty mountain roads.

As for seat belts, early 70s Camaro can work, I used some retractable lap belts, did need some modifying where they mounted but that’s normal.

[cliffsgt]

Yes, a V8 Vega is one Baaad car!
I wouldn't be surprised if ya'll got into the 10's on a 1/4 mile run - I'd be kinda surprised if you didn't. As long as you can get her to hook-up.
I agree, there are so many Chevy SB V8 parts around. It's easy to build a SBC with lots of HP and torque for a reasonable amount of denaro.
Big block stuff is getting harder to find but can still be had - at junk yards and such. But original Vega parts - all but impossible!

I have not seen a Porsche 944 with an LS motor in it - Crazy man!

Early Camaro's - of course! I believe I can find that.
With modification huh, I think we can do that also.
Thanks again.

[gt350fme]

Any luck ? It’s likely going to take repeated trial and error testing for sure, I kept a log of jet and air bleed combinations to narrow down what worked and what didn’t.
Good luck!

[Monza Harry]

I remember seeing many cars at indoor car shows with early EFI conversions to Hilborn MFI [yeah it's been awhile] they commonly had a small line connected to each runner for the MAP sensor, I believe they had a small orfice to mediate the pulses, I would think your setup would need something quite similar, as Chuck pointed out, trial & error with meticulous record keeping will be your Victory. Harry