Pontiac V8 in a vega or monza

[Curious George]

Anyone done this or know what needs to be done? Any help would be appreciated.

[Steve Barcak]

Yes, we have one here at Pontiac Heaven. A late 70s Monza with a Pontiac. I love seeing chebbies with Real Pontiac power! It just makes me smile.
Steve Barcak www.pontiacheaven.org

"Real Pontiacs only..no corporate nonsense!"

[GonicGM]

I believe there were two Astres (Pontiac Vega) with Pontiac power, real grey on my memory here.

Padre's Faith, RAV powered?

Super Chick, Nunzi?

Check the HO racing books or Pete mcCarthy's

[Steve Barcak]

The baddest Astre ever was driven by Burt Straus from Canada. I think Toronto. It was called 'Chief Chilly Willy'. It was a for real NHRA PRO Stocker with Pontiac power! 1972-74 era. High port exhaust, split Holleys, Lenco, all the good stuff. It was actually low qualifier at one of the NHRA meets ( I think Englishtown).

Another 8 second Astre was Rudy Diphus (spelling of last name wrong, sorry, I do not know correct spelling) from the nor Ca bay area. High ported Ram Air V, Lenco, etc. This was in the mid-late 70s.
Both cars have been featured at least once in a national magazine.

Are you going to build one or just curious?

Steve Barcak www.pontiacheaven.org

"Real Pontiacs only...no corporate nonsense!"

[Curious George]

A guy at work wants to build one. I told him I'd check here.

[6704gto]

monza alreay came with a v8 and the vega is goin to be tight i knew a guy who had a small block chevy in it

[BR57]

monza alreay came with a v8 and the vega is goin to be tight i knew a guy who had a small block chevy in it

I suspect this Poncho Monza will be for the strip but I had a mildly modified steet V8 sbc Monza in my youth, it was pretty wild though, btw the Vega shop manual is the Monza shop manual so the cars are pretty much the same. If I had it to do over again I would be pulling the inner fenders out, probably stating the obvious. Hooker made a 3 or 4 piece header back then that looked like a bunch of snakes, that was a s.o.b. to install that required jacking up the motor. Also had to jack up the motor to change the plugs on the driver's side. Ran short pipes from the collectors to two turbo Corvair muffler with dumps just ahead of the rear axle. You should also be thinking about changing brakes since the factory discs up front are not finned and I just burned up pads and rotors and calipers. Left the car in stock stance with 70's and actually pretty nice OEM aluminum wheels. It was a 75 that I had from 79-81 and it easily handled the new Corvettes, Camaros and Mustangs of the day. That car generated a lot of heat inside too.

I once offered to boost a huge Buick Estate wagon that was dead in the water and the owner, a middle aged executive just laughed, until I popped the hood and he said man you could power a small town with that. We hooked up the jumper cables and Needless to say the big 455 fired right up.

[engineer]

friend had a BBC in a vega, but needed major surgery to get it to fit.

[Curious George]

I remember seeing a BBC in a Monza before and if it is that much work to fit, the Pontiac may be just as difficult. It would be mostly a street drive sleeper kind of vehicle. My coworker is looking for an easy drop in and I told him it would likely be more involved than that. Since he is looking for a simple transplant I think I'll advise him to; I can't believe I'm saying this, stick with an SBC.

[BR57]

Also forgot to mention that I had to beef up the front end, HD springs and shocks otherwise he'll be collecting pebbles with the front end. A lot of weight out front with the sbc so a Poncho is probably more. The fun part was the way you could break the rear end out on corners....and smoke, almost embarrassing at times. I highly recommend doing the V8 but just keep in mind the pitfalls. In my parts Pontiacs did come with Chevy engines badged as Pontiacs so if he wants an air cleaner decal that says "Pontiac 350 Astro Flash", I have some. ;)

[GonicGM]

In my parts Pontiacs did come with Chevy engines badged as Pontiacs so if he wants an air cleaner decal that says "Pontiac 350 Astro Flash", I have some. ;)


That's unique!:oogle:

[BR57]

That's unique!:oogle:

Then how about this one then? BBC or should I say BBP?

[Jack Gifford]

Wow- it'd be worth building a 427 c.i. 390 HP Pontiac just to be able to use that decal!

[Thumpin455_GTO]

We put a Buick Stage1 455 and a Buick 430 in a Vega. Slightly wider than the Pontiacs, but they will fit.

We cut the lower radiator support and installed a truck radiator at an angle to provide more room and cooling capacity. Left the front suspension alone, and swapped an 8" ford rear under it after the stocker stopped moving the car.

I have a 75 Buick Skyhawk and a spare Pontiac 400 that I want to mate, just havent had the time. It would be more strip than street, and probably a back half just to fit more than a 215 60 15 under it. Not sure what to do about exhaust, we used factory manifolds on the Buick. Motor plates look to be easier than factory style mounts.

Upgrading the brakes would be a good idea, and the rear will definitely need replaced. That Buick urged Vega was scary though, would have been quick if it could have hooked. 1/2 mile smoke show.

[BR57]

Here is a link dedicated to the V8 Monza and all the rest of those cars, sunbird, Vega, Astre, Skyhawk, Firenza etc...

http://www.v8monza.com

They are saying do not put in a big block for daliy driver use, strip only because the suspension has to be heavily modified for street use with all the additional weight.

[Curious George]

Thanks everybody.

[gto65lvr]

Theres a guy here in oregon that has been racing a astre wagon for many years with poncho power. Usually at the Tiger run and various strips. He is well known in the pontiac crowd over here, except hahaha I don't know who he is I have only seen the car at tiger run

[NHRASuperStock455SD]

It fits ok, the biggest limitation is hood clearance if you must run the stock hood. I have 2-1/4 headers in there.

Lynn

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=403347

[goquick]

Wow !! I've not been online enough lately!!! :D (been kind of busy getting something new ready.:D )

1975 and later Astre, Vega, AND monza bodied type cars had thinner frame stampings up front than 70-74's. As for not running a bigblock with an 8-71 on the street because of weight, you can, (I did for 2 years!). It's not like the front tires get as much time on the pavement as the rears, so they last fairly good. What you do want to do is take the entire front clip off (fenders, bumper, brackets, etc.) and run a 2x3 mild steel thru from the front to where the frame begins it's turndown. Weld it in place. Reattach the front end. Use coil over front adjustible shocks. The crossover is too thin, so cut it out, add either C/M or mild steel tubing from side to side. I attached mine so that when it was welded, it was out of the way of the oil pan, helped support the engine mounts, and was also with an additional tab welded on helped support the lower a-arm. The tab was made from 5/16 steel. The lower a arm bushing was also pushed though this so no front end alinement issues would follow like stock frontend cars have. Another bolt on tab goes on the outside for the a arm bolt to pass though so the nut and washer helps hold it all in place.
My current Vega isn't a good one to try and relate to a stock bodied car, as my engine is set back and my firewall is behind the base of the windshield.

Checkout www.myspace.com/byronsracing

In my pictures section there is a few pictures with the hood off and you can see how this car is done. I think it's a good idea to always put a Pontiac engine in these cars as it drives the chevy crowd crazy.:D :clap3: :clap3: :clap3:

You will most likely need to relocate the steering shaft some, but it can be done. Lynn may have a better handle on that. His Sunbird (which if I ever had the money for wouldn't have stayed his!) was built under tighter rules than any of mine.

[goquick]

btw Curious, a sbc isn't any easier to install than a Pontiac V8! They all take work! Now if he wants easy, wrong car altogether.

[NHRASuperStock455SD]

There is a complete pictorial of my 1980 Sunbird being fabricated in Pete McCarthy's Pontiac book. Pictures are in black and white, but I have some complete pictures (several years later) in color. If you want this book, just contact Pete at www.petemccarthy.com and buy the book. I can send you pictures if you email me.

This winter it is going to get some paint touch up, and a 455SD. This engine went 9.92 in the black firebird at 3300lbs and 2500 feet of air correction with bias ply tires. I ran the computer prediction and this makes for a 9.55. However, I cannot run the Victor intake, so we did a very good Tomahawk. We are hoping the flow values lost do the cross sectional area will be made up with the shorter intake runner length.

The cylinder heads have been improved due to changes in the NHRA SS rules on valve seat angles. By changing to the 55 degree seats we went from 296cfm max flow to 314. The exhaust improved going from 45 to 50. (could have gotten more, but gotta watch that balance).

We also are doing radial tires which should net out at least a tenth. My future plans is to get this car down to 2770lbs. The current class weight in GTCA is 3070.

Lynn

[455firebird1969]

It seems the lighter weight of a LS1 could make for a nice little street ride with a H-body. Has anyone seen info on such an install? I have been searching the web with little success regarding LS1 installations? I guess once the 2x3 frame extensions are installed as per Byrons post, anything would be possible?

Whats the best way to mount a 9" rear for street/strip use?

[goquick]

455firebird1969, The ls engines take alot more work to put in one of these cars. Not a good combo. Oil pan issues with front end links, and the transmission issues along with rewiring everything to run the ls. I'm not a big fan of the over hyped ls series engines. There is nothing they did on that engine we can't do on our Pontiacs plus we can still out power them for alot less money. And the ls engine isn't that much lighter once you add the od transmission,(which is where the mpg is at, not the engine design itself, shocking eh? Don't believe me, put a 400th behind the LS and it's a gas hog!!) extra wiring, computer stuff, etc. Sure it's a little lighter, but not worth it in my book.

As for mounting a 9" rear, what are you doing, using the factory rear suspension arrangement? If so, it's like anything else, just reuse the old mounting brackets and I think you need to use the bolt on brackets for the F-bodies if you re building the later swing-arm set up.

[NHRASuperStock455SD]

My Sunbird is pretty easy, you just write me a check. It was peanuts compared to doing the front wheel drive conversion in the Grand Am. ;) However, unless you are a master fabricator with tons of time on your hands, dont attempt it. You can get the Pete McCarthy book and see several pictures during stages of building the Sunbird chassis.

Lynn

[goquick]

Lynn, If I had the money, I would have by now!

[RandyW]

I put a 455 Pontiac in a '76 Olds Starfire, which is a Monza 2+2 clone. It was damn near a bolt in, in place of the 231. I used the BW 4 speed tranny that was there even used the cable clutch set up with a bigger Pontiac clutch and pp set. I had to move the radiator forward and lean it back like a Vette. I also added two rather large heater cores behind the headlight areas for additional cooling. Those poor 13" tires were soon gone! I eventually put a Dana 44 with 3.54 gears and some 28" tires. I had to use one of the very early Pinto flexable steering shafts( the wound cable type not the multi u joint like the later Pintos and Mustang II's used), with the GM ends welded on to clear the exhaust. People would look at that shaft bent around the header and couldn't figure how it worked until I turned the wheel to show them that bend stayed where it was and the whole shaft turned like any cable would.

[goquick]

Nothing wrong with your engine compartment looking like this...

[mrrat1]

My buds V-8 Vega wagon used Corvette radiator and remote fill tank. It was a very nice simple set-up. Dave K.

[pontiac_banshee]

I did allot of research on this many many years ago and this is as far as I got. Every thing of course was related to Vega. Had a contact all those many years ago that gave me a list of parts that he used. Cant find it but here are a few pics of mine before I sold it.
Front and rear frame was going to be tied together as they were both avaible back in the late 70's

[Johnny406]

I did allot of research on this many many years ago and this is as far as I got. Every thing of course was related to Vega. Had a contact all those many years ago that gave me a list of parts that he used. Cant find it but here are a few pics of mine before I sold it.
Front and rear frame was going to be tied together as they were both avaible back in the late 70's

I was in a partnership with a guy that ended very badly about a year ago. We were building a Pontiac powered Vega wagon. I had a set of solid mounts that we fabricated to the chassis. Unfortunately I picked a bad partner for this but... such as life.

The exhaust was the hard part, I had a set of Hedman 3 tube headers that we were going to start with as they "sorta" fit.

[PLAY400]

I've been looking at this for something newer to cut-up and put the last rebuilt 455 I have into. Would have been a no brainer if he had left in or kept the interior from it

http://medicinehat.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-classic-cars-1980-Chevrolet-Monza-Spyder-Hatchback-W0QQAdIdZ244892550

[Ollie]

This is a link to another Monza/Sunbird,site
http://forums.h-body.org/index.php

[Bill Eveland]

I had a factory v-8 Monza 2+2, it was quick for a 305 and 4 speed. The Pontiac would be impressive in a light car. There are several around here I could get cheap, including an Astre wagon. But the subframes are rusted out. I believe the track width is about the same , but I would cut up the body and put it over an s-10 truck frame. Adjust the wheelbase and channel the body over to get how low you want to set the body.