I too was a happy Vega owner. I had the 71 Panel Express truck, 110hp,
4speed. Ran 18.56 at the drags. Got 33mpg. Drove it for ten years in the
summer only. As long as you didn't overheat the motor and kept the oil
changed they were fine. Most mechanics didn't go with the acid etch of
the silicone impregnated cylinder walls, so they through up their hands
and called it junk. The only thing I did was new valve stem seals to
halt the oil consumption. After storing it for 15 years, I had collected
enough NOS parts to restore it, but decided the Healeys were worth more.
I sold it to a guy that wanted it for parts for a V8 project he was
working on. I'm still ebaying parts.
Dave
Larry B. Macy, Ph.D. wrote:
> Incidently, I happen to have been a very happy owner of a 73 Vega. I
> thought it was a marvelous car. I had no troubles with it, and
> enjoyed it very much.
>
> I believe most folks issues were the fact that it was one of the very
> first high revving engines to come out of Detroit and most folks
> drove it like it was a V8. Low revs in that car made for low power
> and low torque, unlike the V8's of the day. That engine was happiest
> at full song, rev'ed nicely to 7K and ran best in the 3500 - 5000 RPM
> range. At the time all the owners wanted to run their cars at 1200
> -3000 RPM (great for the high torque V8's of the day) and that rev
> range killed the aluminum blocks as they could not get adequate lube.
>
> So I humbly disagree, while not the best ever, certainly not the worst.
>
> Larry
> ex-Vega owner and miss it
|