Cosworth Vega update

I've been thrashing on George's Cosworth Vega in my spare (ha!) time for a while now and have made a lot of progress. New brake hydraulics and friction stuff, changed all the vital juices, replaced the timing belt and water pump, new KYB shocks and Sumitomo tires, ran down a ground problem causing the gauges not to work. The FI problems tuned out to be a pooped out coolant temp sensor, George located a used one here in town and that's got it running quite well. Still to go: the tach is not reporting for duty, fuel gauge is stuck on full, the fuel tank fill hose has a split and there's a couple of pieces of trim to locate/reinstall. It also needs a bit more open exhaust and some reindexed cam gears to add a bit more snap.

I took it out for a rip this afternoon (don't tell him!) and this little car is a lot of fun. It feels a lot more solid than you'd expect a 32 year old car to feel. Power wise, it's pretty much on a par with other stuff of the era, not as fast as, say, a TR6 or my Jensen Healey but at least a match for an MGB or 510 Datsun. I haven't been able to push it to the edges of adhesion (too many gendarmes in the area!) but it feels pretty composed. This one has Positraction and I still haven't been able to test that thoroughly. At least there's no chattering in turns etc. The steering is a bit numb, but what would you expect from recirc ball steering? It responds quickly to steering input, though. The brakes have finally seated and it stops pretty well. We will probably take it autocrossing on July 13; that should work out any final bugs!

If y'all have forgotten what it looks like, here's a refresher:

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I hope you know that you have relite the fire under my ass to find a vega. arrgggg

there one in Dayton's CL I'm not good with links. good luck.

Have you been in touch with Dave?

I didn't believe he actually existed, but had a chance to visit his shop in Port Moody a couple years ago back when I had a V8 Astre. Amazing stuff.

Yellow pages says he is now just north of Port Moody in Anmore. Really close to Vancouver BC.

Dave's Vega Village: 46-3295 Sunnyside Road, Anmore BC V3H 4Z4, Telephone : 604-469-9979

I saw a Black Vega Coswarth with gold decals in Rolla, Missouri last Summer. Not a common sight, looks like fun.

Update of the update: the fuel sender had an open circuit inside the tank and the float was somewhat the worse for wear. Repaired the open circuit, rummaged in my stuff and found an old RX7 sender and stole the float, now the fuel gauge works. Plus it now has a little Mazda DNA. I had a chunk of fuel fill hose left from one of my other projects, so I fixed the split fuel fill hose.

Took it out for another snort, it's pretty tossable. The engine is not powerful enough to make it hard to handle but has enough beans to be pretty fun. I did discover that when it's down to around 1/8 tank it does NOT like hard cornering; it will snort and misfire, then pop through the exhaust until the air bubble gets blown through.

This makes me wonder how it would be to drop a performance Ecotec in a Vega. I think it would be plenty potent to be fun, but more manageable than a V8 swap.

Believe it or not I actually went to an autocross here in the Detroit area a few weeks ago sponsored by a Chevy Vega owners group. There were likely 15 or 20 Vegas there mostly Cosworths. Other makes were allowed to run also it was just put on by the Vega group.

Ya know, I never thought of doing an Ecotec swap. I'll plant the seed in George's fertile mind.

Yeah, but the Ecotec would ruin the only point of the Cosworth Vega, that sweet Cosworth motor.

Personally, I'd look at putting that Cosworth motor in something else.

I know of a former Cosworth Vega "factory stock" drag car that has been sitting in a pole barn since 1985.

I will talk to the owner but I have a feeling he knows what it might be worth... It has about 10,000 miles on it (mostly short 1/2 mile round trips )

fiat22turbo wrote: Yeah, but the Ecotec would ruin the only point of the Cosworth Vega, that sweet Cosworth motor. Personally, I'd look at putting that Cosworth motor in something else.

I know of one Cosworth motor going into a Nash Metropolitan.

Nice paint! It still has a great shine on it.

Just saw it run at an autox.

youtube video uploading now.

http://www.youtube.com/v/qe-KNrSA9kY

pics uploading... now..

http://picasaweb.google.com/RussWylie/NorthChuckAutoX

I drove the beast in fun runs; quick impressions:

Definitely a momentum car! If it 'falls off the pipe' for a moment, you are a goner. The motor revs real nice, it just doesn't make huge horsepower.

Body roll is, like, wow. You expect to hear the door handles dragging the ground. BUT: it does not appear to hurt the grip (at least not with street tires). I suggested urethane sway bar bushings all around. A set of DOT race tires would be a huge help. It would be nice to drop it about an inch all around, but now we are headed for Street Prepared territory.

When you pitch it into a corner, it's very neutral. It doesn't try to understeer or oversteer, it just drifts out if you get past the adhesion limits of the tires. Confidence inspiring, actually.

Steering doesn't have any real feedback (road feel) but that's not really a problem. It takes quite a few turns lock to lock, so you find yourself turning the @&^%$ out of it, then letting go of the wheel and grabbing it when you think you are pointed the right way.

Brakes are good; linear and no lockup.

Posi unit is downright aggressive, you give it throttle in a turn and the posi's lockup is definitely noticeable. It might actually do better in some situations with an open diff.

By the way, the Rabbit in ignorant's pics is Geoff Zimmer's 'Super Rabbit'. It was featured in the GRM coverage of the Solo Nationals just recently.

Jensenman wrote: By the way, the Rabbit in ignorant's pics is Geoff Zimmer's 'Super Rabbit'. It was featured in the GRM coverage of the Solo Nationals just recently.

that wabbit was fast as E36 M3. It was no frills, no drama, no fillers; Fast.

Random picture.