The heat broke for a bit yesterday and we got a little work done. Installed the just arrived mini-starter. Big deal right ? ! ? But it means that we can crank the engine and see if the lifters pump up rather than just priming it with a modified distributor shaft, just waiting on a new adapted plate for the spin-on filter conversion. Lifters are cheap, but it means opening up the top end and we'd rather not, unless . . .
We also finished up the Dura-Built that came out of the car originally, came our great !
Well . . . another set-back.
We were just doing a final check on the engine before installing it. Usual stuff; pressurize the oil galleys, make sure that the oil was reaching the rockers, etc. Turned out that NONE of the rockers were getting any oil at all. Tried turning the engine over on the starter, still nothing. Rather than risk it, we picked up new lifters, push rods, and rockers, break-in oil, and lifter lube. Got all of the new stuff installed and oiled up fine. On a whim we thought that a compression test might be the final check. ALL of the cylinders were under 30 pounds with air coming from the water jacket ! !
Pulled the heads and found a new set of intake gaskets with odd clamping marks, new pistons, 30 over, with perfect cylinders, but the heads were all swirled and uneven due to a heavy wire brushing with what must have been a right angle grinder. Not sealing at all.
Bringing them in to be surfaced and the valves checked over this coming week, probably new seals as well. They're the (original to the motor) Corvette camel hump heads, so we'd like to use then rather than buy after-market replacements.
Anyway, one step forward, four steps back. What else is new ? ! ? ! ? !
At least you caught this early. Sucks to have to fix someone else's ham fisted botch jobs.
In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :
I KNOW ! It could have been a semi-disaster. Looking at all of the other fine work on the engine (by the previous owner?) and considering his ASSURANCES that the engine was all set to drop into his Vette, it really does seem as odd as can be that he didn't have the heads surfaced, unless he was relying on another guy to finish up the engine and he wasn't aware of the last minute fumble regarding the heads. They REALLY are a mess ! Nothing that a bit of professional machining won't easily take care of, but still . . .
In reply to notsafeforwork :
Those backyard head jobs can be a little rough...
Haven’t gone back and read the whole thread yet, but is that pretty Dura Built going into a different project?
Yeah— I've come across a few of them but most of the "work" was done to the faces of the valves/combustion chambers. Just a clean-up to remove the carbon and such, never seen one where the entire surface of the head was involved, edge to edge.
stuart in mn said:
I would imagine radiator technology has improved since the Vega's time as well...I've read about some of the newer aluminum radiators that are only two row, but still have superior cooling capacity. A light coat of black paint and no one will be the wiser.
Al on the Skid Factory spoke about that when they did their friend's turbo LS drift missile- Mercedes in particular has a method that adds tiny (micron sized) "bumps" to each fin to increase surface area without making them much thicker, as if they were spraying them with aerosolized molten aluminum. The increase in surface area means they cool FAR better.
Besides, not only would I trust OEM over eBay stuff every day of the week, but there's so many choices. I'd don't know why anyone would look to eBay first unless it was getting simple things like air-to-air intercoolers.
In reply to 03Panther :
"Haven’t gone back and read the whole thread yet, but is that pretty Dura Built going into a different project?"
The Dura-Built was originally going to be mine if I found a Vega Notchback body to put it in. I didn't find anything that was decent enough to make into a project so the engine is now up for sale. It's a terrific little 140 Dura-Built. Headers. re-jetted Holley two barrel, compression and oil pressure check out within specs, have a couple of videos of the engine running and driving. Comes complete from cooling fan to trans, or just the engine. Either way—
SOME small progress, the heads are almost done, went for the full rebuild, everything and anything that needs to be done was done. In the mean time, we've started restoring the interior, we started with the smallest, most easily removed piece. Came out great, looks new . . .
While that engine is still out of the car, maybe you should check the bottom end? After what happened with the heads looking at the bottom end might be a good idea..
Checked everything, pistons (30 over with sweet cylinder bores,) all is good . . . LUCKILY ! Looks as though the previous owner had the engine rebuilt as a short block and then had a monkey do the heads and button everything up. The Pertronix distributor came in, waiting on the sending units for the water temp and oil pressure gauges. Soldiered in the tach diode for the 8 cylinder application, things were coming right along. The owner of the Vega just had a hip replacement, I fell down and fractured my finger, cut the end right off, broke my nose, and lost a tooth, so we're both sort of on the back burner for a spell, just wanted to play with something and the sun visor was the easiest. Now that the Mustang is fixed, up and running again. Heads are all done and waiting for pick-up, making some small progress.
Dude.
Maybe life just needs you to slow down for a bit.
Rest up!
Well, made a bit more progress this past month. Got the heads back from the machinist, all rebuilt and beautiful, brand new everything. Got the new gasket set so probably put them on next week or so. STILL trying to figure out why the oil filter/adapter leaks so badly. Bought a new kit, with new gaskets and o-rings and all, but it still leaks like there wasn't a filter in place. No vids on You Tube to help out, just have to ask around and see if we can't pay someone to do the installation for us.
Picked up the needed plate to mount the Saganaw four speed shifter to the trans hump, that's coming in next week, so we MIGHT get the engine and trans in sometime next month. Sold the C3 Vette and some of the front end conversion fiberglass. The rear clip and bumper didn't sell, so we taped the one Vette bumper sides onto the back of the Vega just to see, and it REALLY looks like the bumpers are gonna stay there. Use some of the clip fiberglass in the sides and rear where they mount up, and they should look kind of cool back there, almost "factory." A pleasant and unexpected surprise for sure.
Otherwise we're waiting for stuff to come in to bolt together what we already have. Sort of typical for this build so far . . .
Vette bumpers look awesome.
Oh, forgot to mention, sold the original Dura-Built from the car (photos above.) Got a decent amount and made some much needed room at the rear corner of the garage, moved the Vega to the front center to better work on the body. I was looking for a notch-back shell to put it into without any luck, so . . . off it went !
Later this week we're gonna tape the other bumper half in place and see if we can't use the chromed number plate plinth in some way. We have the entire rear clip to chop up and graft into place, we might be able to use more than just the bumper mount sections and get the plinth to fit in "correctly." Probably post some more photos if we're at all successful. Sell off the tail/back up lights to the Vette/Camaro guys.
The cold and snow has come, so we're gonna close the garage doors, turn on the heat, and begin painting and re-assembling the interior. One last fling with the body though. Taped the Vette bumper (both sides) and the plate surround in place for a final test fit. Looks like it might be a go, ought to look "factory" in the end.
In reply to notsafeforwork :
That looks so legit!
84FSP
UltraDork
1/17/21 12:24 p.m.
Sounds rowdy! Love seeing someone prepped with an extinguisher within reach just in case. Murphy has visited this build so good thinking.
Super cool build. I probably haven't seen ten Vegas on the road in the last ten years. They used to be everywhere! One of my classmates used to get driven to school in a yellow early model with a V8. I was too young to know much about it, but it sure made an impression.
Thanks for the write-up and excellent photos. It's great to see this one being done so carefully and conscientiously. Can't imagine many of the ones we used to see running around were built with nearly this much care.
