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  • #16
    I'm hoping for a little better quality out of this one Shelty...If the worst happens I'll just pull a pair of out of date 5 point harnesses out of the pile.
    " You can sleep in your car, But you cant drive your house"

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    • #17
      Started taking the Orange 77 apart today.. This why Vertipak sucked. Vegas were shipped in special rail cars called Vertipak.. They were driven onto ramps that had special tabs that fit into slots in the frame. and then were stacked up vertically nose down.. even with special batteries the acid slopped all over and many cars were rusted in this area right on the showroom floor.
      Last edited by Hoffbug; August 30, 2014, 07:50 PM.
      " You can sleep in your car, But you cant drive your house"

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      • #18
        Got the engine and transmission pulled today.... Vega Transmissions are a trip.. Big holes on the bell-housing since they are air cooled.
        Last edited by Hoffbug; August 31, 2014, 04:10 PM.
        " You can sleep in your car, But you cant drive your house"

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        • #19
          I actually ran the air-cooled Vega trans behind the 215 in mine (wasn't that a TH200?). Never had an issue thought in fairness I'd have to admit that I didn't have a trans temp gage on it. Still, it kept the wheels revolving just fine.

          Dan

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          • #20
            Originally posted by DanStokes View Post
            I actually ran the air-cooled Vega trans behind the 215 in mine (wasn't that a TH200?). Never had an issue thought in fairness I'd have to admit that I didn't have a trans temp gage on it. Still, it kept the wheels revolving just fine.

            Dan
            Im sure it would be fine.. Im just after the benefits of the Overdrive 4th gear in the 200R4.
            " You can sleep in your car, But you cant drive your house"

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            • #21
              Cool project. I forgot about those kits. Back in the late 70's when I was into VW's my brother's neighbor had a 72 Vega that had a sweet running 283 and 'glide for sale at $650. I was tempted but didn't need a second car nor had the room to keep it. He sold the Vega and a week later the float hung up in the VW's carb and burned to the ground. The TH200 and the 200R4 are two completely different trans. The TH200 came out around '78. It was a 3 speed metric trans with a one piece case. I worked in a Chevy dealer back then. It was meant to be a transmission for fuel economy. It looked very similar to the TH350 just a little smaller wit "Metric" embossed on the pan. It was a real steaming pile! They came typically on small engines. In the newly redesigned Impalas the TH200 came behind 305 and 350 engines. On trailer optioned or heavy duty use the TH350 was the base trans. What I thought funny back then was the fact the TH350 was the only automatic used in Camaros or Malibus even in 6 cyl models. The TH200 would only last about 40,000 miles. We had so many warenty problems after a while that the TH350 was used. I remember reading in magazines back then trying to beef them up that even a shift kit was too much for the TH200 to handle.
              Tom
              Overdrive is overrated


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              • #22
                When I built my Vega we didn't have no stinkin' overdrive! We just cut the floor out of the car and went all Flintstones - and we were glad to have it! It was TOUGH back then, BLAH, BLah, Blah.......


                Dan

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                • #23
                  Originally posted by DanStokes View Post
                  When I built my Vega we didn't have no stinkin' overdrive! We just cut the floor out of the car and went all Flintstones - and we were glad to have it! It was TOUGH back then, BLAH, BLah, Blah.......


                  Dan

                  there there Dan, have a glass of milk and turn back up the tv
                  Doing it all wrong since 1966

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                  • #24
                    Actually, I kinda fibbed. With a Vega in MI you didn't have to cut out the floor - it was already gone.

                    Dan

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                    • #25
                      Originally posted by DanStokes View Post
                      Actually, I kinda fibbed. With a Vega in MI you didn't have to cut out the floor - it was already gone.

                      Dan
                      I didn't think floors came standard in Michigan....
                      Doing it all wrong since 1966

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                      • #26
                        Another 215 Olds Vega guy here, had three as drivers in the early eighties...same engine moved along as the bodies got wrecked one way or another. Used the Buick V6 bell housing/flywheel and stock Saginaw 4-speed, moved back an inch or so. Stock Vega floor-mount shifter linkage (not a good idea to cut up the trans tunnel for a Hurst) got shortened and the stock clutch cable got threaded through a SBC rocker ball welded onto the clutch fork to a stationary bracket off the side of the trans, at that point the housing moved back-and-forth and the cable stayed put. The pan was cut and sectioned, mounts were arc-welded angle iron, the radiator was from the Olds and there was never an overheat problem blasting w.o.t. up the canyons on the hottest days of the summer (last two cars were lowered, flared, big tires). 465 Holley was the setup then, only negatives of the whole experience were finding out why to use hardened-steel washers on aluminum heads and trying to make an Offenhauser intake work, possibly one of the worst designed-and-built parts ever produced by the aftermarket. A factory 4bbl intake found in a recycling pile fixed it. The car was reliable, fast enough, got great milage...Marlan Davis offered to put it in Hot Rod although we didn't go through with it...all for about two thousand dollars. Of course those were the days when the coolest set of wheels/tires was $800 and a gallon of black laquer was $50. An old buddy with whom I also built a couple more of those ended up with it as I was assembling a hotter motor, much of it was stolen from his garage and that was the end of that.
                        ...

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                        • #27
                          Bummer, Loren! I had OK luck with the Offy intake but I wasn't expecting much. I used the 390 Holley which seemed OK but again I was happy if I could blow off a '79 Trans Am, which I did regularly. Probably a pretty low expectation (the vast majority of TAs back then were stock with, I think, the Olds engine). Also had thee Offy valve covers and they were GROOVY! Fun car.

                          Dan

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                          • #28
                            My particular intake was called a 360 and had the dog-leg ports...after having a machine shop re-cut the factory surfacing so that it was closer to correct and I could at-least fasten it down, each cylinder got a different color on the spark plugs. The best I ever got it to run was with a different jet at each corner, still it would sputter at different rpms on different days. Twenty minutes w/ a stock intake installed cured all. Had the Offy covers also, then fabbed-up specials for the Buick heads I was using on the next motor w/ a 300 crank. BTW I also used '78 A brakes on the Vega...I see S-10 (same thing) brakes are the hot setup these days and mine sure worked great. It was really the best all-around car I've ever had.

                            Cool thread, will definitely be following how to keep one of those neat old motors going in this age.
                            ...

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                            • #29
                              Shes come undone...
                              " You can sleep in your car, But you cant drive your house"

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                              • #30
                                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.
                                " You can sleep in your car, But you cant drive your house"

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