Rebuild or replace my Vega's 140

[taguy4]

I'm trying to decide if it would be a smart decision to rebuild the 140 in my '77 Vega that I just started working on given how little support there is in the aftermarket for these engines any more, so I thought I'd make a post about my concerns. About all you can find for the 140 any more is parts that are also used on other makes of cars' engines. I don't want to end up looking high and low on eBay or other online sources of rare parts for parts I will need to get the engine running again and not burning oil. I was going to fix up the car's old brakes but realized most of the major parts aren't available any more (at least without going to great lengths to find them) making the S-10 spindle and axle swap an almost necessity, so this taught me what I'm dealing with trying to fix up a car that doesn't have a lot of support (or respect) any more.

This car hasn't run for over 30 years so I'm not very optimistic the aluminum block is even salvageable: the outside of it sure looks awful. It still turns over easily, but I'm afraid if I want it to not use oil I'm going to have to have the block sleeved which I can imagine isn't cheap. This car used quite a bit of oil when I used to drive it (way back when), and motor oil isn't inexepensive any more like it used to be.

One option I'm considering is swapping in a 2.5 "Iron Duke" since these still have a lot of aftermarket support and have a reputation for being very reliable. A lot of these can found in S-10 Pick-ups in salvage yards: can someone please tell me if S-10 engines have the same motor mount locations as the H-body ones do so it's just a matter of getting the h-body motor mounts (which are still readily available) to swap one in? Also, do the S-10 (or 3rd generation F-body) 2.5's have the old Chevy bellhousing pattern or the so-called "GM metric" pattern so I can use my Vega's Saginaw 4-speed without having to do a bunch of adapting. If I do a swap i want to keep it as simple as possible so I can see my way thru it in a timely manner and with the least amount of frustration.

I would really appreciate any information and thoughts on this subject so I can make an intelligent decision. Basically I'd really like to get this car going again because I had a lot of fun driving it years ago and miss it, but if I go to the trouble of doing this I want to have a car I can really on to keep going without having to constantly put oil in it. I'd like to keep the engine, but not if it isn't practical to do so.

[74_Vega_GT]

~~Old Link..Still Available..Central Fl..
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=46648
PM me if interested. It is on an engine stand wrapped in visqueen.

[taguy4]

Thanks for the response. Looks like you're a ways away from where I live in KS so I'll have to keep that in mind, but I doubt I'd want to go that far to get an engine. i think I'm going to pull the one i have and tear it down when I get that far with my project, then i can see how much wear there really is in the cylinder bores. I might get lucky and have some other issue that was causing all the oil usage when i used to drive the car. If there is quite a bit of wear I need to check into the price of getting the cylinders lined. Looks like there are a lot of folks selling rings for the 140 on eBay so at least those are still available (for a while at least).

[cosvega76]

Check with Egge.com and see if they still have engine parts available.

I'm not sure which bell housing pattern the S-10 2.5s have. For the easiest swap, you would need one from a '75-'77 Astre or '78-80 H-body, along with the same era H-body bellhousing so it has the cable style clutch.


Chuck