1971 Vega LS1 Project

Tell everyone about the progress of your project! Please respect people's threads.

Moderator: Moderators

Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby grandam75 » Thu Feb 19, 2009 3:51 pm

For the K-member I used the center piece from a monza and the stock vega side pieces. It was all welded in the center section to make it stiffer.
resized_081208 008.jpg

resized_090218 048.jpg

resized_090218 049.jpg

resized_090218 065.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
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 Feb 19, 2009 4:10 pm

The front end is coming together!
I dont have the rest of the brake kit and the shocks yet. They will arrive along with the engine in april. At least I can get it back on wheels now and get the roll cage installed.

resized_090218 038.jpg

resized_090218 097.jpg

resized_090218 102.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
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 NixVegaGT » Fri Feb 20, 2009 8:52 am

Dude, some of these pix look so familiar, it brought me right back. LOL!. Good thoughts on the spindle height. I love the willwood set up. I've got to seriously think about that. Hardcore motorheads in Sweden. Will you be using this car for track days? Very cool project so far.
- Nic '73 Vega GT "DogBoxx" Batwing LS1
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2357894
User avatar
NixVegaGT
 
Posts: 2196
Joined: Sat Nov 11, 2006 2:24 am
Location: Minnesota

1973 Chevrolet Vega GT

Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby grandam75 » Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:24 pm

NixVegaGT wrote:Dude, some of these pix look so familiar, it brought me right back. LOL!. Good thoughts on the spindle height. I love the willwood set up. I've got to seriously think about that. Hardcore motorheads in Sweden. Will you be using this car for track days? Very cool project so far.


Thanks! I can see that it brings you back, I used your project tread for inspiration several times when motivation was low!
The wilwood setup is nice, probably a lot lighter than stock parts. It should help keep rotating mass down along with the convo pro wheels I am going to use (11 lbs).
It will be track driven.
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 bill1978v8 » Mon Feb 23, 2009 7:29 pm

Looks good. keep the pictures coming!
1975 Monza 2+2, 4.3L V8, Auto
User avatar
bill1978v8
 
Posts: 1657
Joined: Sun Jun 25, 2006 2:44 pm
Location: Ambridge PA

1978 Chevrolet Monza 2+2

Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby waybad » Tue Feb 24, 2009 12:35 pm

Hey Martin,
How much clearence do you have between the lower spindle mount(ball joint) and the coil spring?
the reason I ask is, I want to try to bring the lower ball joint in as close as possible along with the upper
one, so I can narrow the track width of the front wheels,,, trying to tuck the front wheels in as much as I can.
I have 15x5 welds with 3 1/2 back spacing but I still don't want the front wheels out further than the back ones.
Thanks and keep up the great work!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :dance: :dance:
Tinker
User avatar
waybad
 
Posts: 1794
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 12:03 am

Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby vegagtfan » Tue Mar 03, 2009 11:58 pm

Looks like you just got done what I'm going to be starting very soon takeing out the rust on the inner fenders on the inside of the engine compartment you did a very nice job in takeing it all out keep up the great work you are doing it's looking great. :)

Travis
76 Vega Gt Hatchback V6
72 Vega Gt Hatchback V8 In Progress
User avatar
vegagtfan
 
Posts: 938
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 2:21 am
Location: Lead, SD

1972 Chevrolet Vega GT

Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby grandam75 » Fri Mar 06, 2009 4:11 pm

waybad wrote:Hey Martin,
How much clearence do you have between the lower spindle mount(ball joint) and the coil spring?
the reason I ask is, I want to try to bring the lower ball joint in as close as possible along with the upper
one, so I can narrow the track width of the front wheels,,, trying to tuck the front wheels in as much as I can.
I have 15x5 welds with 3 1/2 back spacing but I still don't want the front wheels out further than the back ones.
Thanks and keep up the great work!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :dance: :dance:


Thanks guys for the compliments!
There is plenty of clearence between the spring and lower ball joint, the problem would be clearence between the spindle and upper spring mount (about 1/2"-3/4" right now).
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 Kenova » Fri Mar 06, 2009 11:11 pm

I just went through this thread again and noticed a couple of things I missed before.
In the pictures showing the measurements of the spindles, I noticed that the spindle centre of the S10 drop spindles is only about 3cm. (approx. 1.15") higher than the Vega spindle centre. I guess that gives us some idea of just how low our cars sat when they came from the factory.
In the picture of the lower control arm, there are washers on the bushings. Are these the same type of washer that came with the car, or are they just a flat washer that you used for a substitute?

Ken
My other car is a Nova.
User avatar
Kenova
 
Posts: 1641
Joined: Sun Jul 02, 2006 9:46 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada

Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby grandam75 » Sat Mar 07, 2009 5:34 am

Kenova wrote:I just went through this thread again and noticed a couple of things I missed before.
In the pictures showing the measurements of the spindles, I noticed that the spindle centre of the S10 drop spindles is only about 3cm. (approx. 1.15") higher than the Vega spindle centre. I guess that gives us some idea of just how low our cars sat when they came from the factory.
In the picture of the lower control arm, there are washers on the bushings. Are these the same type of washer that came with the car, or are they just a flat washer that you used for a substitute?

Ken


It might appear as if the s10 spindle centre only is 3cm higher if you take the measurement from the upper ball joint, but if you measure from the lower mounting point where the ball joint meets the LCA you will find that it is closer to 45-50mm. (The whole S10 spindle and ball join assembly is about 15mm taller than the S10)

The washers on the bushings is the original washers that came with the car (at least most of them..). When you attempt to remove them from the original bushings you have to be careful. If you pry them out with a screwdriver they will most likely break (some of mine did). I found the best way to remove them was to hammer the edge of them from inside the bushing sleeve. I was lucky to have the spare deep pocket lower control arms with some good washers because I could not find new ones.
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 » Mon Mar 09, 2009 3:45 pm

I havent been able to work on the vega much the past few weeks but there is some progress. The interior is stripped. Only need to scrape the sound diffuser off the floor, then its off to a friend to build the cage.
I am really happy about the condition of the floorpans, no rust to repair! The windshield channel has some severe rust though..
Here's the pictures:
resized_090309 006.jpg

resized_090309 005.jpg

resized_090309 016.jpg

resized_090309 023.jpg

resized_090309 018.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
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 » Mon Mar 09, 2009 3:59 pm

Som pics of the windshield channel rust and one of the convo pro wheels! I will not be using the center caps, I think it looks like they belong on a 4x4..
Here is a tip for you:
Dont be in a hurry if you order wheels from centerline.. it took them 4 months(!) to ship these. Well I wont need them for a while anyway :)

resized_090309 019.jpg

resized_090309 021.jpg

PICT0110.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
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 vegagtfan » Tue Mar 10, 2009 11:22 pm

I wish my front seats were in that good of shape as yours are they are the same color though as I did take them out of a 71 Gt Hatchback as when I got my 72 it did not have any front seat in it at all it had the back seat and it was lyinging down and was in great shape when I pick it up but they will all be getting redone sometime later on in my rebuild.

Travis
76 Vega Gt Hatchback V6
72 Vega Gt Hatchback V8 In Progress
User avatar
vegagtfan
 
Posts: 938
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 2:21 am
Location: Lead, SD

1972 Chevrolet Vega GT

Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby grandam75 » Thu Aug 13, 2009 5:12 pm

Time for an update, the cage is finished! The vega is back in my garage, wow it has been five months.. I have had some other cars to work on while it was gone. I still plan on getting it driveable until summer 2010, its about time to start working on it again. Some pictures below, I think it turned out great.
resized_102_0011.jpg

resized_102_0031.jpg

resized_102_0023.jpg

resized_102_0030.jpg

resized_102_0033.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
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 RockDaddy » Thu Aug 13, 2009 6:38 pm

The cage is pretty sweet.
Image;Image

Thx to Billy Briggs and the guys at http://www.motorcityspeedonline.com
RockDaddy
 
Posts: 322
Joined: Thu Feb 07, 2008 9:17 pm
Location: Michigan

1972 Chevrolet Vega

PreviousNext

Return to Project Journals

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 14 guests