my first v8 build.

[powerline707]

hello everyone, some background about myself is i am currently a 21 yr old college student residing in the bay area and have been modifying and racing fwd imports since the age of 15. i've been mostly into street racing(the scene is pretty big out here) and have never had a car to actually race at the race track(until now). my father is a veteran in the import racing scene here in the bay area but was forced to retire due to the economy. it's been a few years since he's actually had his own race car and i figured about a year ago he needed to get back into it. for years he's been talking about picking up a chevy malibu so that's exactly what we got him last year. we've been putting whatever money we can into his '76 project over the past year and his should be ready to hit the streets pretty soon. over the past years, the racing scene in the bay area has blown up out of no where, it seems like to even be considered fast you need to run 10's. there's been a lot of really fast v8 cars coming up and i figured i'll change it up and build one myself. i picked up a 98 z28 camaro with tasteful mods to try and keep up with the pace. my camaro went to the track once and ran a 13.3 on street tires, this was about 3 months ago. since then i've decided to sell the camaro and go with something older and actually build it to my satisfaction. what i really wanted was a older nova, but that is just not in my budget. i figured i'll get something 75 and older so i wouldn't have to deal with smog. fortunately i found the perfect project, a '74 chevy vega gt. i don't know much about these cars, but i know of a shop around our area(mizzis automotive) that my dad used to be pretty cool with and i know they had a single digit one. i don't know if what i got the car for is considered a steal, but it was within my budget so i picked it up.

the car was apparently sold in an estate sale and the owner gave it to her brother to sell on craigslist. as soon as i found the car on the sacramento craigslist i called the owner and set up a meeting to take a look at it over the weekend. that weekend my dad and i took a look at the car and decided to buy it. it took me two weeks to figure out transportation and storage stuff, but i finally have the car sitting in front of my house.

what i know of this car is as follows:
bought it for $1250
74 vega gt
has an inline 6 cylinder ford motor that starts and drives
minimal rust, if only surface rust
original interior other than the passenger seat which the previous owner has no idea what happened to it..
i need a new rear window because the original is shattered

what i plan to do with the car:
pull the motor, put a v8 and go fast

i really honestly have no idea what i'm doing, or what direction i'm going to go in. i just know that i want to go fast. my dad is telling me i should just do a carbureted motor rather than fuel injected because it will be cheaper. but my stubborn self wants to do a ls swap since I've already tasted the power in my camaro. whichever way i decide to go, i will keep you guys updated. for now heres a picture of my new bucket and it's beat up old heart.

[HI WINDING MONZA]

Wow ,that brings back memories, we had a member here long ago that had a Ford 4 cylinder in his Hbody he called the "Dorf"................. Good luck on your project(s)

Street racing, havent done that since I left NY............... Stay safe.

Doug in P.R.

[BadBowtie]

Looks like a pretty decent start, looks like the rad has already been moved up font so that might be a plus, a bunch of us have relocate it there. If you want to pull some decent numbers you'll probably want to address the driveline, look into the s10 spindle swap if you want to go 5 lug and bigger brakes (its a common modification here). Also start considering narrowed rear ends, im not sure what the stock one can really put down. You might also consider http://www.overkillracecars.com/Products.html for some other parts to make things easier. A few members on here did a lsx swap and i think one or two did a turbo ls motor, all with pretty good results. Big heads up is that there arent very many parts for vega's that "bolt on" lots of custom work/research (aside from overkill and a few others).

Good luck with the project!

[HI WINDING MONZA]

Someone on here put in a 5.3 LS with a single turbo and ran 10's, so its something to consider.

Someone else here runs 10's on stock suspension also...........................

Doug in P.R.