Vehicle Owner

Member ID: bugdewde

Location: East Tennessee, TN

Vehicle Info

1973 Chevrolet Vega

Bragging Rights

  • 1/4 Mile0 sec @ -1 mph
  • 0-600sec
  • Top Speed-1mph
  • HP-1
  • Weight-1lbs

Major Upgrades

  • turbo
  • nitrous
  • bore increase
  • port and polish
  • supercharger
  • extrude honed
  • stroke increase
  • engine swap

Ratings

    • Currently 3.4/5 Stars.

Login to rate

 

Last updated: 3 days ago

Hits: 1,492

Dwight’s Chevrolet Vega

  • Currently 3.4 /5 Stars.
5 guestbook comments

1973 Vega GT as purchased on 12/15/07.
Pictures the seller emailed to me. I'll get some of my own posted later.

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega Front Grille. Lower valance cracked at driver's blinker and in the middle. Some paint runs.....

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega Very nice interior. Recovered seats and loop carpeting. Interior plastic has some dried places but overall nice for a daily driver.

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega Original dash/gauges. A/C-inoperable at this point. 8-track player(probably not original..???)

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega Automatic.... also a cassette player added by the previous owner.... Gotta keep up with the times, right? 8-tracks are hard to come by.

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega Rear seats. Very good condition. Some drying of the plastic panels but overall very good for a daily driver.

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega Hatchback area. Typical sun drying of the plastic panels but no holes.... Even has the ever elusive cardboard tail light cover!!! Very rare to see one still surviving.

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega Spare tire well..... always rust here. This one is solid and only has surface rust.

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega Aluminum block/iron head OHC straight four. 2.3 Liter 140 cubic inches. 2-barrel carb. Not run in 3 years. Has run with fuel poured down the carb. Awaiting further updates and progress on troubleshooting engine.

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega

Some dents and scratches to match the broken plastic valance around the driver's blinker. Cause unknown. Appears to have had a little bodywork on driver's fender.
Overall, a nice daily driver paint job.... not show quality but complete. Some door dings and a few scratches here and there. Appears to have at least one repaint of the original color. Seller said car was his father's. He worked for GM and owned the car since '78. Supposedly had a sleeved block installed and a higher geared rear end(lower numerically) for fuel mileage. Heavily undercoated ... even the inner engine compartment. The only rust found was under the battery tray underneath the car (normal rust area for Vegas). Car has been stored indoors and looks very solid.

 

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega Notice the busted valance around the driver's blinker.
bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega
bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega

__________________________________________________________________________________

12/26/07 Update
The fuel gauge reads high. 1/4 tank is EMPTY! I added fuel and got the car running last weekend.
Today, I swapped out the spark plugs, the distributor cap and rotor button.... still waiting on a set of spark plug wires to be found. Car runs much better but dies at idle when the automatic transmission is engaged. Got it idled up a bit to compensate.

Here's a couple pics of the car being transported home.......

bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega
bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega

___________________________________________________________________________________

200+ mile trip through the Great Smokey Mountain Nation Park, several national parks and the infamous "The Dragon's Tail" at the NC/TN border on Highway US 129.  Sort of a first road trip in it.


bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega "The Dragon" Overlook.... gal pal and the dogs.
bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega
bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega Foothills Parkway -- love this stretch of road.  Beautiful scenery here.
bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega
bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega
bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega
bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega
bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega
bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Swapped in a Borg-Warner T-50 five speed transmission.  Hated the PowerGlide auto.  Now, I can stay in the power range of the engine by choosing 1 of 5 gears.... much better than only 2.    Additional pics to follow.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Entered the car into an autocross school at the start of the summer '08.  Soon afterwards, I lost compression on the #1 cylinder.  After shooting compressed air down the spark plug hole with both intake and exhaust valves closed, I notice air coming out the tailpipe.  Busted exhuast valve!bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vegabugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega

 

Had a head rebuilt........bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vegabugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega Yep, it's sitting on a new, sleeved block...... for later.

Cleaned up the piston tops a little....... bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega

Painted the head with P.O.R 20.... high heat paint. bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vegabugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega

 

All buttoned up and run across the Cherohala Skyway......  Beautiful road.  Elevation to over 5400 feet above sea level.  Got into a little cloud cover that turned into a thunderstorm just as we were leaving.  Beautiful weather once we started down the other side of the mountain.bugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vegabugdewde's 1973 Chevrolet Vega

 

 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

==================================================================================================

Removed the 2-speed PowerGlide automatic transmission and swapped in a Borg Warner T-50 5-speed from a 2nd generation H-body.     The automatic was not much fun when your engine is a stock 110 hp 4-cylinder.   Having the option of shifting to numerous gear ratios helps keep the engine in the power range.  Much more fun.

Here's a comparison shot of the 5-speed(rear) next to the 4-speed(foreground) from my parts car.

bugdewdes 1973 Chevrolet Vega

I already had a modified cross member and driveshaft from a previous Vega with the 5-speed installed. The clutch/brake pedal came from my parts car.  Pretty simple bolt-in.

The shifter almost fit the stock automatic shifter hole.  I clearanced the shifter shaft just a bit so it would engage the rearmost gears without hitting the body.  I didn't want to modify the body.

Notice the odd shift pattern of the BW T-50.  1st is where 2nd is normally. 

bugdewdes 1973 Chevrolet Vega bugdewdes 1973 Chevrolet Vega bugdewdes 1973 Chevrolet Vega

Guestbook

Displaying entries 1-5 of 5

nanos89  

Posted by: nanos89

11/07/2009 11:13PM

nice ride i like this vega 5***** check out mine.

1974ChevyVega  

Posted by: 1974ChevyVega

04/12/2009 08:31PM

It has the same engine as yours forgot to mention but its not sleeved!

1974ChevyVega  

Posted by: 1974ChevyVega

04/12/2009 08:30PM

Hows that baby run I really want to set mine up for autocross but don't really know of any places around here I live in arkansas and its more dirt tracks or dragstrips and I don't want to go that route any tips on performance? Mine is a 74 hatch with a 2 barrel carb and its auto! was it hard to swap the trans to a manual?

VEGAVAIRBOB  

Posted by: VEGAVAIRBOB

02/09/2009 09:29PM

NICE 73 GT!!! 5 STARS check out and rate my vegas. thanks

vegamadness  

Posted by: vegamadness

06/20/2008 07:56AM

Nice factory vega.Hard to find a vega that is not rusted out or been made into drag car.Check out my 77 Kammback wagon it has been modified a little.It was my first tubbed car that I built.Couple of things I wished I'd done different,but overall it's going to be nice when its 100% done.Take care and have fun with your vega.

Show Older Comments

Post a comment

Bookmark this Ride

Vehicle Owner

Member ID: bugdewde

Location: East Tennessee, TN