1972 Chevrolet

Vega GT Hatchback

8 - Cyl.

Automatic

Gasoline

1972 Chevy Vega GT Hatchback. Worked 327 Small block, automatic. Street rod. The Motor Started with a 327 HD cast truck 2 bolt main block. (I’m 99% sure 2 bolt, bonus if a 4 bolt. I had to ask my buddy if he remembered also). Professionally machined work done by Aviation Automotive and Colonial Auto, bored .030 over, mains line bored, forged HD truck crank ground and polished .010 under, full groove aluminum race main bearings, rod bearings with hardened bolts and lock nuts, rods made full floating with spiral locks and hi volume oil pump. Pistons are Micky Thompson .030 over junior fueler polished hi dome racing pistons for 94cc heads, side milled at the pins and fire slotted between the domes with chrome molly rings. Compression on this motor is about 13.5:1 and requires high octane fuel to run it’s best. Heads are OEM Chevy double bump upgraded to 202 int -160 exh valves with 3 angle seats, ported and polished and fitted for the high dome pistons. Cam is a Crane mechanical flat tappet with cam lift of 329 intake, 344 exhaust, power curve is 3400 to 6800, floats at 8200 and gives a fair idle. Rhodes solid lifters and Crane 1.5 roller rockers, hardened keepers and poly locks on screw in hardened studs. HP double row roller chain and gears for timing. High performance Z-28 double springs and HP racing push rods, bolted down with HP long hardened head bolts. Manifold is a Edelbrock Torker with a Holly 650 vacuum secondaries carb. Ignition is a stock Chevy HEI distributor with Accel Super Coil. Stock HP Chevy 8" damper, hi flow water pump and truck aluminum flex fan pulling through a custom made 4 core radiator. Engine mount kit and headers are Hooker solid mount for the Vega. Transmission is a Turbo 350 with B&M manual shift kit and uses a stock Vega 10" torque converter giving it a 3000 stall if I remember correctly. Rear is a 9" 59 Ford Station Wagon, open end ( I never got around to putting in a posi unit) and factory 3:55 gears. Even with factory hi way gears it’s wild. The car. All stock Vega GT, only body modification are the fiberglass flairs for the rear. Orig body wasn’t cut to install them. Has the GT factory handling kit with sway bars and front K frame. Front end stock with added half coils in the front springs along with rubber spacers and HD shocks. All bushings and ball joints were replaced. Orig front rotors were drilled for 5 bolt Chevy pattern. They should have been Ford pattern to match the rear but the guy forgot when he did them so I used uni lug wheels. Front radiator support and head light corners were replaced. Some patch work was done with galvanized sheet metal in compartment above wheel wells and needs to be cleaned up. Frame has been tied with 2" x 3" box channel and crossed with same for the transmission mount tying everything together. Rear shock towers were beefed up with 1/4" steel plate full width for support. Battery is trunk mounted with welding cable to starter. Adjustable air shocks with independent fill valves. Factory Monza in tank fuel pump. Heater core was turned to keep in place and drive in cold weather. Proportioning valve in brake lines to adjust braking front to rear. Dual exhaust with glass packs dump in front of rear tires. Wheels are Fenton aluminum mags, front tires are D70-14 and rears G60-14 (that’s how old they are using the old numbers). Frame is not twisted and pic shows door slightly opened and gap is uniform. Interior Orig Vega GT with wood grain accents. Seats were standard Vega, not the GT. Dash was kept orig with only the Sun Super Tac II fitted where the orig tac was. Oil pressure gauge works, vacuum gauge never hooked up. Dash plate where orig radio would be was fitted with a switch plate for future accessories. One switch lights the oil gauge. Stock Vega shifter with added El Toro shift handle. Head liner was covered with vinyl and tufted with chrome buttons. Rear tail light panels were never finished to match. Rear seat was completely removed and boxed in with wood where a Pioneer am/fm/tape player is mounted with 2 front mounted Peizo tweeters and 2 6X9 2 lb magnet speakers on top. (In the day this was pretty top notch LOL) All the inner body panels were cut to retain the orig look of the interior. Rear side windows swing open and were etched at the edges. I do have the Chevy and Vega side emblems for it, the orig side mirror and rear view mirror not pictured. Also most all the receipts and specs for most items during the build. Even the orig paint codes I used for the job. Carpet was a 70's thing, baby blue bathroom carpet, even I’d get rid of it now. The back ground. This car was never hit and all steel exterior parts are orig with no bondo. I got it in 1977 with no motor or trans or seats and started a complete ground up project installing a worked small block. This was at the start of V8 Vegas and Pintos era. So when you look at the details remember this was how we did them back then staying on a budget in some areas. One thing I can say is it was done right with the motor and frame work. There are tons of vintage parts on this and little things most won’t notice like the factory HP water inlet for the thermostat. Nothing special but it was a HP part for Chevy and I used it over other normal inlets. Little details. I worked at an automotive parts supplier and everything was replaced at the time. Every bushing, ball joint, brakes, cables, calipers rebuilt, master cylinder, wheel cylinders, lines. Windows were pulled and gutters repaired and reset. I built the motor myself and our machine shop did all the work while some parts were sent out. I even painted the car in lacquer as my first paint job. Never finished it by sanding and rubbing out to a mirror finish and I could have done a better prep job but got impatient. Car took quite a few years to finish with loss of time here and there. Bottom line is, when finished I’ll bet it hasn’t seen more than 200 miles if that. Gas was being rationed back then and life got in the way. Never been to the track to see what she’ll do either. Never beat on the car, beat a few n the street though. And know the motor hasn’t even been broken in. Matter of fact lots of things were never finished. The carb was new out of the box, never jetted or dialed in, timing was never dialed in properly, cam timing never dialed in properly, distributor has no advance hooked up, only the mechanical built in, posi and gears never installed. So this motor I’m sure has much more potential than it does now and it’s got some big horse power. Our guesses have been in the 450 range and being conservative. This is no toy and lots of power in a small light car. I was talked into the wider front tires in the day to get this thing to stop and I’m glad I did. Back then I was getting advice from one of the areas top guys building and racing Vegas and he helped me build it right. Last time on the road was 1999 and it ran awesome. There are some trim pieces missing, lost over the years, front and rear window moldings and 1 piece of rear wing window molding. Now sitting for the last 30 years and on the street in 99 for a few runs, but being run every year, it’s been under a roof and covered. Paint has started to go but I’ve keep the surface stuff under control and primed but needs a paint job so you can personalize it yourself with what you want. There is one rust spot coming through in the drivers inside door as seen and the rear hatch is rotted in a spot inside as seen also. These are the only spots I’ve seen and wanted to point out. Other minor stuff is there but not bad like these. Underneath shows some surface rust and flakes and lots of cob webs. I don’t think there is any major rot damage from looking. I do know the headers have pin holes and will need to be replaced. I fastened some patches to them as a temp job to run the motor. All in all I know this is still a solid car but needs cosmetic work, some TLC and a good going over but not any major work. It’s a project car to restore as you see fit. Like any new project I would go over the motor and freshen it up with the normal things you would with any project and if you’re a muscle car guy you know what they are. My hope is someone really into hot rods and a classic car like this will get it and get it in show condition and have a blast with it. There’s not many of these floating around in this sound of condition or with a great motor like this one. Motor is tight and has a great thundering rumble, the video doesn’t do it justice. I posted it so you could hear it and know well it runs and also see it’s not blowing oil or anything. I don’t see my time freeing up or having a garage soon to do this myself and don’t want it to rot away. I put too much time into it and love this car so I’m giving someone an opportunity to take it on and finish it. Don't get sniped! Place your high bid now. Please note, this car is sold as is. I don't don't offer returns or warranties. I do my best to look them over and note any flaws or damage and test if I'm able to and make every effort to describe them properly. If you have any questions or doubts please ask first before bidding. If your not willing to accept my terms, please don't bid. I have a good reputation here. I don't lie or mislead and try not to sell junk. Descriptions are my opinions of the items as I see them, yours may differ. Items are as described when they leave my possession. Buyer makes arrangement to pickup or have shipped. 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