David,
My first new car was a '72 Kamback GT. You are absolutely right about
engine wear. Even though I took really good car of that car, by the time it
had 40,000 miles on it, the engine needed rebuilding, which I ended up
doing. I sold the car by around 1978 and went back to driving a British car
(MGB) which I paid about $100 more than I sold the Vega. I was pretty
disgusted that that is didn't last very long. I also bought a '55 Chevy in
1977 which was a great car and had until 1985 or '86. That 30 year old car
was in better shape whenI sold it than the Vega was after those few short
years and I never did anything mechanical to it except have it tuned and
the steering adjusted when I bought it!
There is a pretty enthusiast (diehard) Cosworth Vega Owners Club out there
too. The wheels I have are Silver and apparently, you need different lug
nuts for a '75 than a '76 (mine are '76) I think I found a solution, but
won't know for sure until Monday when places are open for business again.
Gerard
At 11:12 AM -0700 5/18/02, David Riker wrote:
>During the design phase of the Chevrolet Vega, several power sources were
>considered, including Wankel Rotary, V8, and High output 4 cylinder. Late
>in the design, the first oil crisis occurred, and a hurried decision to put
>in an ingenious, but untested light weight aluminum 4 cylinder engine to
>meet the demand for fuel efficiency. Cost cutting on materials led to poor
>rust resistance, and brisk engine cylinder wear. As the first energy crisis
>came to an end, Chevrolet contracted with engine builder Cosworth to use a
>fuel injected dual overhead cam engine in a limited production halo model.
>First only available in black with gold wheels, interior trim, and stripes,
>later model year Cosworth Vegas were available in other colors.
>
>Vega models included Base Hatchback, Notchback, and Kamback, GT Hatchback
>and Kamback, and Cosworth Hatchback. Later Vega engines utilized steel
>cylinder liners to improve engine longevity. Spin offs of the Vega platform
>include the Chevy Monza, Pontiac Astre, and Buick Skylark. Monza and
>Skylarks were also available with V6 engines from the factory. Due to the
>flexibility of the original design, a small block chevy v8 up to 400ci will
>bolt in with off the shelf parts. At the time, you could build quite a hot
>4 cylinder from the stock sleeved engine with hot cams, dual DCOE Webers,
>headers, etc.
>
>All this is from memory, may contain some mistakes...
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <DLancer7676@cs.com>
>To: <pixelsmith@gerardsgarage.com>; <spridgets-mod@autox.team.net>;
><spridgets@autox.team.net>; <midgetsprite@yahoogroups.com>
>Sent: Saturday, May 18, 2002 4:37 AM
>Subject: Re: Lug nuts*
>
>
>> In a message dated 5/17/02 10:30:53 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
>> pixelsmith@gerardsgarage.com writes:
>>
>>
>> > I am in search of a set of Cosworth Vega lug nuts
>>
>> Question! I have seen many references to the fact that the Vega wheels
>and
>> nuts would fit our Spridgets. Are we talking about the Chevrolet Vega
>here?
>> Gerald refers to the Cosworth Vega--is this a style of Chevy Vega, kind of
>> like the Shelby Ford Mustang?
>>
>> --David C.
/// unsubscribe/change address requests to majordomo@autox.team.net or try
/// http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive/spridgets
|