1971 Vega LS1 Project

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Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby grandam75 » Sat Apr 03, 2010 3:07 pm

cjbiagi wrote:Looks excellent, I think the semi-gloss look is perfect. I love to see a finely detailed undercarriage. Do you have screw in studs on the axles? If so, how did you secure them, just red loctite or spot weld too?

Yes its screw in studs. They were already on the axle when I bought it, has to be loctite as they are not welded.
Martin from Sweden..
1971 Vega hatchback

1975 Pontiac Grand Am
1971 Pontiac Lemans Convt
1965 Buick Wildcat Convt
1972 Pontiac Firebird
1993 BMW 740i
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Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby Roccosvega » Mon Apr 26, 2010 10:06 pm

You have a nice set up in your garage with that car rack.Ive got mine on car stands and I'm crawling around on the floor
to do anything underneath.Welding while laying on your back can be a challenge.After looking at your 8.5 mods it makes
me want to change my upper mounts on mine too.You do very nice work.

Robert
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Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby grandam75 » Sat May 01, 2010 3:33 pm

Roccosvega wrote:You have a nice set up in your garage with that car rack.Ive got mine on car stands and I'm crawling around on the floor
to do anything underneath.Welding while laying on your back can be a challenge.After looking at your 8.5 mods it makes
me want to change my upper mounts on mine too.You do very nice work.

Robert


Thanks!
I am very happy with my current garage wich is in the same building as my house. I know about fixing cars in tight spaces with no heat and bad lightning.. and having the garage as far as 50km from home. It makes me appreciate the car rack even more!
Martin from Sweden..
1971 Vega hatchback

1975 Pontiac Grand Am
1971 Pontiac Lemans Convt
1965 Buick Wildcat Convt
1972 Pontiac Firebird
1993 BMW 740i
grandam75
 
Posts: 166
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:01 pm
Location: Sweden

Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby grandam75 » Tue Aug 03, 2010 4:37 pm

I am finally back working on the vega! Have been working on some other cars the last few months.
Almost finished the passenger side header today. Not much room..
Pictures below.
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Martin from Sweden..
1971 Vega hatchback

1975 Pontiac Grand Am
1971 Pontiac Lemans Convt
1965 Buick Wildcat Convt
1972 Pontiac Firebird
1993 BMW 740i
grandam75
 
Posts: 166
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:01 pm
Location: Sweden

Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby Roccosvega » Tue Aug 03, 2010 5:26 pm

Martin, You are a fabricating Dude. I can't wait to see what your going to do next. Those headers look good.

Robert
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Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby NixVegaGT » Fri Aug 06, 2010 10:23 am

Bitchin'. Fabricating headers is time consuming but I thought it was pretty fun. I like your solution for the gusset that runs from the LCA to the floor pan. Good idea.
- Nic '73 Vega GT "DogBoxx" Batwing LS1
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2357894
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1973 Chevrolet Vega GT

Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby waybad » Fri Aug 06, 2010 4:04 pm

looks killer :th:
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Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby grandam75 » Sun Aug 15, 2010 4:00 pm

NixVegaGT wrote:Bitchin'. Fabricating headers is time consuming but I thought it was pretty fun. I like your solution for the gusset that runs from the LCA to the floor pan. Good idea.


Yes very time consuming. I was not satisfied with the passenger side header so I spent another 10 hours today redoing and finishing it... Changed placement in the collector between cylinder 2 and 8. Now I have the primarys closer in length plus they are indexed correctly in the collector.

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Martin from Sweden..
1971 Vega hatchback

1975 Pontiac Grand Am
1971 Pontiac Lemans Convt
1965 Buick Wildcat Convt
1972 Pontiac Firebird
1993 BMW 740i
grandam75
 
Posts: 166
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:01 pm
Location: Sweden

Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby grandam75 » Sun Sep 19, 2010 3:25 am

Got the inside painted and started working on the steering.

I figured since I had a tilt steering column from a -76 grand lemans it would be nice with tilt. I used the front half of the housing, the dash mount, and the part that bolts to the firewall from the vega column. Modified te front housing to fit the lemans lower bearing. The rest of the parts are from the lemans.

Well some parts are from a -88 G20 van since the lemans column was incomplete. I once borrowed the missing parts for a -70 cadillac deville and a -70 lemans... =) Gotta love GM for keeping it simple and using the same parts on millions of vehicles.

Had to shorten the seering axle about 75mm but it is easy to do since it is collapsable inside the column.
As a bonus I have the turn signal high/low beem switch wich I like more than the stock foot switch.

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Martin from Sweden..
1971 Vega hatchback

1975 Pontiac Grand Am
1971 Pontiac Lemans Convt
1965 Buick Wildcat Convt
1972 Pontiac Firebird
1993 BMW 740i
grandam75
 
Posts: 166
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:01 pm
Location: Sweden

Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby grandam75 » Thu Sep 30, 2010 4:54 pm

I had to redo the heater cover. No clearence, the engine is really close to the firewall. Made a spacer inside to move the heater box for clearence.
Also mounted the ECU behind the dash.
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Martin from Sweden..
1971 Vega hatchback

1975 Pontiac Grand Am
1971 Pontiac Lemans Convt
1965 Buick Wildcat Convt
1972 Pontiac Firebird
1993 BMW 740i
grandam75
 
Posts: 166
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:01 pm
Location: Sweden

Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby grandam75 » Tue Nov 02, 2010 5:24 pm

I made a new engine crossmember and rack mount today..
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Martin from Sweden..
1971 Vega hatchback

1975 Pontiac Grand Am
1971 Pontiac Lemans Convt
1965 Buick Wildcat Convt
1972 Pontiac Firebird
1993 BMW 740i
grandam75
 
Posts: 166
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:01 pm
Location: Sweden

Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby waybad » Tue Nov 02, 2010 6:03 pm

looking great!! :th:
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Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby Ishiftem » Tue Nov 02, 2010 11:10 pm

Awesome! I hope to get to this point before spring on mine. Very nice. That rack is a tight squeeze. Looks good! :D
Any one can restore a car but, it takes a real man to cut one up.
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Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby NixVegaGT » Thu Nov 11, 2010 9:15 am

That's the same rack that I have. It's best feature is the lightweight... Actually it might be the power piston. Good luck!
- Nic '73 Vega GT "DogBoxx" Batwing LS1
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2357894
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1973 Chevrolet Vega GT

Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby grandam75 » Thu Nov 11, 2010 4:01 pm

NixVegaGT wrote:That's the same rack that I have. It's best feature is the lightweight... Actually it might be the power piston. Good luck!


It has more good features. Several length shafts and grades of power assist are avaliable. However it lacks the ability to easy change steering ratio unlike the woodward unit. If I were to buy a new one I would probably choose woodward but this rack was cheap used.. I will have to rebuild it though, it has alot of play in the axle bushings.
Martin from Sweden..
1971 Vega hatchback

1975 Pontiac Grand Am
1971 Pontiac Lemans Convt
1965 Buick Wildcat Convt
1972 Pontiac Firebird
1993 BMW 740i
grandam75
 
Posts: 166
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:01 pm
Location: Sweden

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