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Vehicle Owner

Member ID: bugdewde

Location: East Tennessee, TN

Updated on Dec 11, 2012

Hits: 7,161

bugdewde’s Chevrolet Vega
“GT Hatchback”

    • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
     

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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

 

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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

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__Battery Acid Leak / Replacement Panel_

Dreaded Battery Acid leak.................  Here's what happens when you neglect to ensure your battery hold down device is working properly.  Found a hole rubbed in the side of the battery.

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

 

Replacement Battery Tray Section:

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 bugdewdes 1973 Chevrolet Vega                                                                                                                                                                                  

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Found a very rare and hard to find GM accessory for the Vega Hatchback..... A Hatchback Hutch (Tent)

Hutch Unit Part # 726902

Installs over the hatch.

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

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Displaying entries 1-6 of 10

FLIP A PLATE  

Posted by: FLIP A PLATE

05/01/2013 03:15AM

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cliff jefferson  

Posted by: cliff jefferson

Great ride - can you tell me where you bought your valves for your Vega engine? Old Vegas never die-they just go faster!

bugdewde  

Posted by: bugdewde

The valves and head came from an old parts car I had that had sit in a junkyard since the 80s. Machinist said the old head was in better shape than the original head since it hadn't had all that cruddy gas from the 80s/90s run through it. It probably had less miles on it, too.

86dodgeomniglh  

Posted by: 86dodgeomniglh

It's great that you resisted the temptation to drop a big block in the engine bay as so many others have done. Really nice Vega GT! I've read, that there was an aftermarket turbo charger kit available back in the early 70s. Check out an old "Small Cars" magazine for details. A very nice resto job!!!

Nightrider008  

Posted by: Nightrider008

five star all day 4 u,check my ride out and rate it plz.nice clean car.keep up da good work

nanos89  

Posted by: nanos89

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

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Vehicle Owner

Member ID: bugdewde

Location: East Tennessee, TN

 
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