The DisAstre project

[DanStokes]

I got lucky in MI and found an Arizona car that had never been driven in the salt. It was PERFECT but needed paint. Of course, I swapped the MI interior into the AZ car - both were black. This must have been 1978 or so so there's probably not a lot of those left. Maybe Squirrel could dig one up for you - believe me, it would be worth the haul to bring it back.

Dan

[Hoffbug]

Just got the word from my body guy that spray welding isnt all its cracked up to be.. said he had a repair on a Bronco fail in just 6 months.. So I guess its old school metal patching.. Unless someone is cutting a mint floor out of a Vega for a tube chassis and wants to take pity on me and send the floor section .. LOL

[Hoffbug]

Got the sub-frame connectors welded in on Sunday Hopefully up on the rotisserie next weekend.

[DanStokes]

That looks stout!

Dan

[Hoffbug]

Had some blasting done today http://youtu.be/Ks_AYZRv7x4


[ATTACH=CONFIG]n978555[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]n978556[/ATTACH]

[langleylad]

Rust never sleeps... " Its better to burn out, than fade away"

The three problem areas on the project.. As 38 year old Vegas in Minnesota go this is a success story.

How is the dash for rust , right up by the windshield ?. I had a 71 Vega that had rust in that area .

[Hoffbug]

How is the dash for rust , right up by the windshield ?. I had a 71 Vega that had rust in that area .

It appears OK with the windshield installed.. But it is cracked and I have a replacement so Ill find out for sure... The blasting revealed just how ugly the bad areas were..

[Hoffbug]

The Little Olds heads got some flow testing last night at Cedarmachine service...

[DanStokes]

Well that certainly sucks! Hopefully. Any numbers yet? I always wondered what those heads would flow - but they only have a few CI to feed.

Dan

[Hoffbug]

Basically they will support about 250 horse...I'm only aiming for 200 so I'll be good. Stock valves and a little pocket porting.

[Hoffbug]

Stitch welding of the spot welded seams.

[Stewzer55]

Cool project! I don't understand why they thought it was necessary to use the vertipak system, it just caused so many problems. GM really didn't spend enough time with R&D on these.

[Deaf Bob]

Basically more little cars to a load on the train...

[DanStokes]

Having grown up in Milford MI (home of the GM Proving Grounds) I can tell you Vega development stories that would make your hair stand on end. Let's just say that the bean counters took over for the engineers and much of what hit the American highways was NOT what the engineering folks wanted to have happen. Pretty sure the on-end shipping was part of that. I understand that if you bought a Vega in SE MI they held up slightly better because they were just trucked to the dealer as it wasn't far enough to save any money by shipping on a train.

Dan

[Hoffbug]

Ive learned that the Vert-A -pack was abandoned after 1974. although 75-77 Vegas still have the slots on the subframe to hold them on a Vert-A-Pack railcar.