Began poking the front bumper, decide to drop the one piece stocker and go with a pair of split bumpers from a '71 Camaro RS Z28. So far, so good. One side on, the other to follow later in the week.
Began poking the front bumper, decide to drop the one piece stocker and go with a pair of split bumpers from a '71 Camaro RS Z28. So far, so good. One side on, the other to follow later in the week.
Good call on the bumperettes. That'll be a sweet little touch.
Nice headlights, too.
With the front bumpers mostly sorted out and the rear bumpers just about there, we started in on the "body work." Mostly stripping the five plus layer of old paint off of the hood and roof for starters. Both are now stripped, sanded, and etch primed. Horrible job that just had to done.
Been a while . . . seems like time to get this thread back on track and up-dated. Things have been progressing at a pretty nice pace, engine all sorted and running perfectly, transmission rebuilt, driveshaft done/balanced, S10 suspension, brake, axle conversion couldn't be better. Interior completely done with the various C2/C3 Vette components (looks like a dealer's brochure inside,) Vette bumpers finally fitted/sorted for good with positioning and modified mounting brackets, rear valance re-configured to work with the bumpers and inserts, beginning the paint now.
Door edges and jams in metallic green base and clear, same with rear door/hatch. White on hood for the scoop and on the rear door for the GT accent panel. Going to paint the roof this week once the humidity dies down a bit, don't want to get near ot if the count is above 70 percent.
Here are just a few new photos, MANY more to follow ! !
Oh man, I love that style of steering wheel!
Beautiful!
Cool work with getting the 'vette hood scoop integrated with the Vega hood. Looking good!
Say what you will about the shortcomings of Vegas, but they were a very good looking car and adding a V8 takes care of most of the issues. That shade of green looks great.
I remember when they first came out and the local Chevy dealer got the first one in - my buddy and I rode our bicycles down to the dealer to check it out. The owner finally had to chase us nosy kids away. 
Did you ever share the story about getting the car initially? You teased it was quite an ordeal but I never read about it
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
"Oh man, I love that style of steering wheel!"
It's a late model C2 left over from my Corvette project. Really seem to fit perfectly with the Vega interior. Same failed project yielded up the front and rear bumpers, rear numberplate surround, and stinger hood scoop.
In reply to stuart in mn :
"The owner finally had to chase us nosy kids away. " Same exact thing with the owner of the car. He used to haunt Clark and Taber Chevrolet in Weymouth, MA. the big reason for his obsession with the Vega and his childhood dream car being a 327 V8 Vega wagon. We were luckily enough to find an original (Clark an Taber closed in the mid 70's) perfect condition metal dealer's badge for the car when finished up.
A few more photos of the car underway. Mostly shots of the progress on the body with a few extras. Trying (badly) to get all of the photos organized, posting what I can find as I find them for right now. In order to mount the Vette rear bumpers, we had to flip the side light sheet metal upside down to clear it. Simple move, cut and weld, but makes a big difference.
Got the front sheet metal all sorted out and in final prime. Test fitted the Vette bumpers and GT grill. It's going to work out very well. Some amount of fussing and fabrication, but sort of worth it. Kind of looks "factory."
After all of the fussing and welding in the rear to get the side lights to work with the Vette bumpers, the fronts went easily and nicely and line up nearly perfectly with the bumper ends. We had to spend a considerable time re-contouring the inner curves of the bumpers to follow the fender lines, but worth it for the final "factory" look. End of the bumper droops JUST a smidge in the photo, but aligns just right when everything is tightened up.
Managed to locate a nearly new condition front spoiler that actually conforms to the stock front lower valance. We had to modify the valance to clear the brackets for the Vette bumpers and weren't sure how the spoiler was going to fit it in the end. Turned out really well.
Body in near last stage of filler primer. Just need to glass the hood scoop in place and do the final sanding before primer sealer. SUCH a long haul and a real learning experience for a couple of completely inexperienced chimps . . .
Had some swell luck with the weather over the past few days, temps in the 70's and very low humidity, picked up (yet ANOTHER) used compressor and thought that some color work might be just what we needed to re-enthuse ourselves. Three coats of dark metallic green and three coats of clear. Door jams and door edges are all done and REALLY look kinda nice, We did good, BIG surprise ! ! !
Awesome work! The car looks amazing
Thanks ! Getting there. A long time and a lot of mission spread considering that this was just going to be a quick V8 engine installation into a daily driver/beater. The owner kept upping the anti at every turn and I found myself in for a penny in for a pound . . . you know? Over the course of all of the work needed on this project, I've had four or five of my own projects get sold or abandon as a result, with another two still just sitting in the yard with little hope of completion or even really beginning on them.
Got the Vette hood scoop glassed/adhered and bolted onto the hood finally. Bruce spent a lifetime sanding and shaping it back to perfection, painted the white portion (to mimic the C2 Vette big block stinger livery) last week. Two tries, but came out beautifully, painted the rear hatch/door lower panel white as well to match. Vette bumpers and white up front, Vette bumpers and white in the rear. We'll post some photos in just a bit.
Those jams look really good. That color looks awesome.
In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :
Thank you ! Our very first color (base/clear) paint attempt, trying to mimic the C2 Corvette green with a minor upgrade in chroma/value/metallic content.
The plan was to have all of the body work and paint done at a shop, but couldn't find one willing to take on the task. Next up was trying the body work and welding ourselves and having the paint done by a friend, he got too busy to help. Not really sure if there's any satisfaction left in having done everything ourselves, the learning curve was nearly insurmountable. Mechanical and fabrication insane for a couple of naifs. Welding, paint, and body nearly impossible until we tried. Hell, we went through three compressors, even mistakenly bought a 220 volt as we didn't even know that the garage was wired for 110.
Idiot chimps at best ! ! ! !
BUT . . . we did get the jams painted and managed to find the correct GM safety specification sticker and a vintage Chevy dealership oil change schedule sticker. Both ought to look totally "dealer showroom fresh" on the newly painted jams. We're shooting for faux factory skunk-works/1973 dealer modification (ala Yenko and Balwin Motion) and these ought to help propel that imagery one small bit further.
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