- Thread starter Royse
- Start date
CenTex Farmall
Well-known Member
I had a '71 GT at one time but never did anything with it. My brother had a stock '75 that he wanted to put a V8 in. I talked him
out of it and instead we put in a 2.8 V6. That turned out to be a good swap and he got into enough trouble without having the V8.
Still has it but the rust has finally taken its toll and the car is no longer road worthy.
Rare now to see any car from the '70's in the parking lot. Even 80's cars.
out of it and instead we put in a 2.8 V6. That turned out to be a good swap and he got into enough trouble without having the V8.
Still has it but the rust has finally taken its toll and the car is no longer road worthy.
Rare now to see any car from the '70's in the parking lot. Even 80's cars.
I was going to say, what kept it from twisting the rear axle and frame, probably had a ford 9" rear, shortened axles etc. I have seen small blocks in a chevy monza before, same with the mercury comet which did come with a 302 if I recall, those were a bit light but but certainly had some punch if you could get them to hook up. Friend had a beefed up comet, that thing sure was something.
Tom in TN
Well-known Member
- Location
- Southern Middle Tennessee
Back in the day, my son had a 1978 Ford Fiesta. It had that square, sharp-corner shape like the Vegas and Yugos. Really sharp little car that he ran the wheels off.
It would be fun to restore something like that, but the truth is, I can't even begin to get the regular work done that I need to do, let alone try to build a project car.
Tom in TN
It would be fun to restore something like that, but the truth is, I can't even begin to get the regular work done that I need to do, let alone try to build a project car.
Tom in TN
rd 2N in mo
Member
The great thing about restoring a Yugo was you had to REMOVE nuts and bolts to get to showroom status.
Mark - IN.
Well-known Member
I drove up to a red light yesterday and there was one of these setting in the opposite direction, about the same year and not as nice though. I was going to give the driver a thumbs up when I passed him, but he and his passenger looked like a couple of Dead Heads and appeared to be in their own world. I went about my business and guess that they rode off into a fog.
Mark
Mark
notjustair
Well-known Member
We ended up with a Yugo some how or another. It was a fun little car but I think "no frills" is putting it mildly. You had to hope it wasn't hot when you had a flat since the spare was bolted to the top of the engine like an air cleaner. It was uglier than a mud fence, but I think most little cars back then were.
Steve in IL
Member
Rouse - This in every way is THE same car my dad bought in about 1977. Last Vega on the lot. $3,000 brand new.
Ended up giving it to my sisters for their car for college. Good cheap transportation. Thanks for the memories.
Ended up giving it to my sisters for their car for college. Good cheap transportation. Thanks for the memories.
Gambles
Well-known Member
It used to be that there was about 100 companies that made V8 swap kits to put in the small block Chevy. Seriously, the frame, or lack thereof, couldn't take it.
There also used to be a bunch of companies that would advertise in the back of the car magazines that offered blocks that had the good sleeves put in.
Back in the day, my cousin bought a brand new Vega that started using oil really bad. GM has a policy where they would replace the engine after so many miles. Up to 35K or 50K miles, I'm no longer sure, but my uncle took the car in few just a couple of miles to spare and got a replacement engine. It didn't matter though, because the rust overtook that car about the same time that it started to seriously use oil again.
My uncle is a diehard Chevy man, but that car about changed everything.
If you wanted some serious performance with a sleeper GM of that era, you bought the 1975 Chevy Monza with the factory 350 and just modified it from there.
There also used to be a bunch of companies that would advertise in the back of the car magazines that offered blocks that had the good sleeves put in.
Back in the day, my cousin bought a brand new Vega that started using oil really bad. GM has a policy where they would replace the engine after so many miles. Up to 35K or 50K miles, I'm no longer sure, but my uncle took the car in few just a couple of miles to spare and got a replacement engine. It didn't matter though, because the rust overtook that car about the same time that it started to seriously use oil again.
My uncle is a diehard Chevy man, but that car about changed everything.
If you wanted some serious performance with a sleeper GM of that era, you bought the 1975 Chevy Monza with the factory 350 and just modified it from there.
Gambles
Well-known Member
The era was the early 90s. I was dating a girl in Plano, Texas and her dad was a big-wig at J.C. Penny, down the road a couple of miles. For some reason, he drove a Yugo to work. Despite the reputation of the car company, this one was fairly reliable. Matter-of-fact, he drove it for a few years. However, the one thing that early Yugos did not have was air conditioning. So I remember him coming home from work, during rush hour in a three-piece suit, drenched with sweat. To this day, I have no idea why a J.C. Penny executive, living in Texas, would buy a Yugo.
The very late Yugos did have A.C., but the A.C. units in a Yugo didn't have a good reputation and they didn't last very long....kinda like most Yugos, just not like the Yugo that my at-the-time girlfriend's dad's Yugo, which was fairly reliable.
The very late Yugos did have A.C., but the A.C. units in a Yugo didn't have a good reputation and they didn't last very long....kinda like most Yugos, just not like the Yugo that my at-the-time girlfriend's dad's Yugo, which was fairly reliable.
Wow!
You didn't see many of those back in the day, and you certainly don't see many now.
My first new car was a 1972 Vega GT. The engine went about 40,000 miles before the head gasket failed allowing coolant into the cylinders. It was well out of warranty on elapsed time as well as mileage but GM replaced the short block with a sleeved block. I let my ex have it when we had our failed marriage dissolved a couple of years later. I kept the 1968 Corvair Monza with 1965 140 HP 4 carburetor engine for myself. She thought that she got the better deal because the Vega was 4 years newer and air conditioned. I let her so believe.
Almost bought a new Cosworth Vega in 1976 but bought a Trans Am instead because they were more of a chick magnet. The Cosworth would easily dust the Trans Am in the day.
Dean
You didn't see many of those back in the day, and you certainly don't see many now.
My first new car was a 1972 Vega GT. The engine went about 40,000 miles before the head gasket failed allowing coolant into the cylinders. It was well out of warranty on elapsed time as well as mileage but GM replaced the short block with a sleeved block. I let my ex have it when we had our failed marriage dissolved a couple of years later. I kept the 1968 Corvair Monza with 1965 140 HP 4 carburetor engine for myself. She thought that she got the better deal because the Vega was 4 years newer and air conditioned. I let her so believe.
Almost bought a new Cosworth Vega in 1976 but bought a Trans Am instead because they were more of a chick magnet. The Cosworth would easily dust the Trans Am in the day.
Dean
Chevrolet actually sold the Monza with a 267 (yes 267) CI V8 late in the model run.
There were not many sold but changing one over to a 327/350/400 (small block) was a bolt in.
They were a unibody design so drag racing with serious HP/torque required appropriate chassis mods.
Dean
There were not many sold but changing one over to a 327/350/400 (small block) was a bolt in.
They were a unibody design so drag racing with serious HP/torque required appropriate chassis mods.
Dean
Billy Shafer
Well-known Member
I worked with a die hard GM fan. Nothing better according to him. He just about died when I showed him. That his Cosworth vega had a Ford engine in it
ObsoElitist
Member
Most of the Vegas and Pintos that survived are being destroyed in stock car racing. I saw this on at the Turlock Auto Swapmeet
In about 1975 I bought a new Vega, a hatchback, I think, stick shift on the floor, no frills. A few months later I was driving it down the street, shifted gears and the shift lever came out of the floor. As luck would have it I was two blocks from the dealership when it happened.
john in la
Well-known Member
I had a Monza with the V8.
Talk about a shoehorn fit.
You had to take the motor mounts loose and jack up the motor to get the spark plugs out.
Talk about a shoehorn fit.
You had to take the motor mounts loose and jack up the motor to get the spark plugs out.
Billy Shafer
Well-known Member
In a way they did. Because Cosworth was owned by Ford.Besides the guy was a jerk and never shut up about how great GM products were.
Gambles
Well-known Member
Kinda reminds me of a co-worker I had.
In December of 1987, I bought a brand new 1988 Mercury Cougar with the 3.8 V6 engine. My co-worker never let me hear the end of how my car had an old fashioned "overhead valve" engine. It was "sooooo passe...." blah,blah, blah. A few months later, he purchased a new Pontiac Grand Am with the high-tech (at the time) Quad4 engine. He boasted about how great his car was. From the very first week, he had problems with it. About once a month, almost like clockwork, his coils would fail. The first couple of times he told me about it, but after that I only knew it was happening when the dealer would give him a loaner car for a day and I would see it in the parking lot. His wife wouldn't take it anywhere because she was afraid of a a breakdown. He traded that car off about a month before the warranty expired. I sure hope the next owner looked at the repair record of that car before they purchased it.
His wife liked new cars every couple of years and after that, she was driving a Mercury Cougar. Why? Because my car went to 300K miles without a valve cover or oil pan ever taken off. The heads that were on my car with taken off and refreshed and are still being used on my daughter's car.
While I don't hold a grudge off of a single car, that guy no longer drives a GM product.
In December of 1987, I bought a brand new 1988 Mercury Cougar with the 3.8 V6 engine. My co-worker never let me hear the end of how my car had an old fashioned "overhead valve" engine. It was "sooooo passe...." blah,blah, blah. A few months later, he purchased a new Pontiac Grand Am with the high-tech (at the time) Quad4 engine. He boasted about how great his car was. From the very first week, he had problems with it. About once a month, almost like clockwork, his coils would fail. The first couple of times he told me about it, but after that I only knew it was happening when the dealer would give him a loaner car for a day and I would see it in the parking lot. His wife wouldn't take it anywhere because she was afraid of a a breakdown. He traded that car off about a month before the warranty expired. I sure hope the next owner looked at the repair record of that car before they purchased it.
His wife liked new cars every couple of years and after that, she was driving a Mercury Cougar. Why? Because my car went to 300K miles without a valve cover or oil pan ever taken off. The heads that were on my car with taken off and refreshed and are still being used on my daughter's car.
While I don't hold a grudge off of a single car, that guy no longer drives a GM product.
Cosworth engineering did a sport/racing head for the English Ford/Pinto engine and it did a good job as designer intended as a street affordable mini racer. GM had the Vega aluminum block and cylinder engine with a marketing problem about that time and heard a couple rumors about some people putting Cosworth heads on Vega blocks for weight advantage so direct talks with Cosworth about 'can you get one of your heads on our block and help with the cylinder wear' resulted in the 'Ford hop up' head casting being slightly changed to fit on the Vega block with steel sleeve/cylinder liner. The outer part of casting was same as the Ford and in some cases the valve train/cam cover with a Ford/Cosworth stamping was used on preproduction testing and after market replacements fr the GM logoed covers since GM had ordered very few replacement covers to stock as spares, the Ford covers in some lots had been given a very nice chromed finish or a polish job and were available from Cosworth and/or Ford. 1980s custom parts catalog -EMPI?- had some available listed. Now the confusion situation is Chrysler products with some parts marked Mitsubishi or Volkswagen or Daimler/Mercedes depending on models and years. 1970s Jeeps when I was working for Jeep dealer just after AMC got the brand from Kaiser had Kaiser, Buick, AMC engines come in for service and a couple customer with postal DJs had Chevy 2 engines and powerglide trannys. Parts that fit could have various brand and car company names or tags on them.
old
Well-known Member
- Location
- Camdenton Missouri
Back in 1971 when they first came out my dad got the very first one the dealer got in in TN. At the time we lives in Athens TN. By the time I traded it in for my Dodge van U got in 1974 it got 30 or so mile per gal of gas and 100 mile per quart of oil. Did not foul out the plugs or any thing like that but never could figure out where the oil was going and did not smoke badly either.
I remember that there was a factory offering, I had a clean red '78 4 cylinder 4 speed model, not a bad car, but I recall having to lift the motor off its mount on one side to put a fuel pump into it or similar, hard to recall now, almost 30 years ago. There was one abandoned in behind one of the lumber yard buildings, in an alleyway, with a nice small block chevy in it, I was tempted to take it for the motor, having the same car LOL ! It was at the base of this giant shale outcrop, next to that alley, which was a place people would dump things, city always had to clean it up
When young, my Father had a 1958 Oldsmobile 98 with 371 J2 Tri-Power engine and AC, the first air conditioned car that I ever saw. It would freeze you out.
There was a removable plate on the right side fender liner to service the back two spark plugs on the right bank. Servicing the front spark plug on the right bank required loosening the AC compressor brackets and moving the compressor slightly to gain clearance to R and R the spark plug but only if one had the right tools.
The 312 HP J2 and 4 speed Hydramatic was a great car for a 15/16 year old kid just getting his drivers license.
Wish I had kept it.
Dean
There was a removable plate on the right side fender liner to service the back two spark plugs on the right bank. Servicing the front spark plug on the right bank required loosening the AC compressor brackets and moving the compressor slightly to gain clearance to R and R the spark plug but only if one had the right tools.
The 312 HP J2 and 4 speed Hydramatic was a great car for a 15/16 year old kid just getting his drivers license.
Wish I had kept it.
Dean
Billy Shafer
Well-known Member
If this comes through ok. My uncle had a 58 MGA he stuffed a 289 Cobra motor in.Two four barrles on it.
<image src="http://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/photos/mvphoto25695.jpg"/>
<image src="http://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/photos/mvphoto25695.jpg"/>
Looks like one we had, right dovn to the color and trim. Grom the get-go it was a race between the engine and the rust, which was going to get you to junk it first. Engines were good for about 80,000 miles, at best. By then there were rust holes in the fenders and doors you could not keep the neighborhood squirrels out. Not one of GM's best offerings.
Pete in MD
Well-known Member
- Location
- Central Maryland
Vegas where prerusted at the GM plant.
I put a slug of short blocks in those junkers. The Monza's that followed were nice cars, I ordered a new 1976 ohc4 cyl, best tires, rims and interior, never had a bit of problems in about 80 thousand miles. Traded that on a new 1980 with the iron duke 4cyc, 4 speed, sun roof, both spoilers, silver with maroon interior. Didn't like the engine as good as the overhead cam one and the sunroof leaked like a screen door in a submarine the day I drove it home.
CaseDC3
Member
My 1975 Cosworth I had back in the 80's. Loved that car and miss it, wish I kept it until now when I have the means to restore it.
herringchoker
Member
I came from a die-hard GM family. My first car was a '64 Canadian Pontiac (Chev mechanicals in a Pontiac body) and it was bullet-proof, so when I went looking for my first brand-new car I couldn't go wrong with GM, right? It came down to a Toyota Corolla or the Vega: how could that Japanese upstart compete? What a mistake! My Vega was absolutely the worst vehicle I have ever owned. The fenders rotted out in 18 months. I had to carry a case of oil in the trunk to top up at every gas stop. In the winter, snow would melt on the heater and drip water onto the coil and the distributor, causing it to either quit or cross-fire ( I blew out several mufflers that way) and sometimes jump the timing belt. Every year during the third week of March (go figure), one of the disc brake calipers would sieze up (left side one year, right side the next). After the second body job in 3 years, I painted a big yellow (lemon) stripe on it and drove it until hit 80,000 miles. I then hauled it to the scrapyard and swore I would never own another GM product.
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