[camerjeff]

Well I just got the PHS packet back on Saterday, and it Confirms that the Astre I just bought is an Original Formula Car. Silver with the Charcoal & Red Accents, Red hood Decal, and Red Interior. Iron Duke 4 cylinder, 200M automatic, 2.73 open rear axle.
The delema I now have is I know that this car isn't worth much, actually worth more as parts than a whole car. I did take it to the track Saterday to see how slow it actually is, and it ran a best of 20.53 in the 1/4.
I just bought a 79 V-8, 4-speed Starfire Firenza, that is rusted beyond saving, but has all the hard to find factory parts to put a SBC & 4-speed into the Astre. I am leaning on that rought just to have fun with it, and try to do a cosmedic restoration to make it look like a Formula again.

Opinions?

The goal is to make it a fun stret/strip car, and while I would love to but a Pontiac engine in it. It will primarilly be street driven, and $$$ is a issue. And I now own all the parts to install the SBC, and keep it cool in the small engine compartment.

[Don 79 TA]

ahhhhhh
they joys of the H bodies...
i was a vega-holic in the days

my last conversion, although lost interest in it years ago was converting a 75 vega to a 231 buick motor, from auto to a 4spd.

i never heard of a formula astre
show some photos

i also didn't know the starfire was a V8, i knew about 4 and 6's

[RandyW]

I put a 455 Pontiac in a '76 Olds Starfire (Monza 2+2 Clone). It was so close to a bolt in it was scary! I moved the rad forward and leaned it back like a Corvette. I used the original 4 speed and shifter that ws behind the 231 with a Pontiac clutch. That was a screamer!

[David Holmberg]

Don, they also made a 79 Formula Sunbird too! I had one of those, in 231- 5-speed. But I broke 2 tranny's under warranty, they were weak.

[camerjeff]

I will try and post some pic's on tuesday when I have some more time.
The Astre Formula Performance Package consisted mostly of Graphic's and the RTS Handling Package. My Car was Originally Silver, with the Charcoal Lower accenents & rear tail light panel.
(very much like a Formula Firebird of the late 70's) red accents stripes & hood decal. It also has the 3 piece rear spoiler that looks like a 2nd gen FB spoiler only smaller. Formula Steering wheel with a silver arrow head center(that required a tilt colume & Pwr Steering), Ralley Guages, and a crome Valve cover on the 2.5 Iron Duke.

Here is a link to a discussion about a White car in Washinton state. My car originally would be very simalure but the graphic's would be red instead of blue.

http://forums.h-body.org/post-71765.html

The Formula Package was offered on the Sunbirds also from 77-79 on Coupes, and 77-80 on Hatchbacks. And could be ordered with some performance as the engine choices were the 2.5, and 231 V-6 for all 4 years, and a 305 2bbl SBC could be ordered in 78 & 79.

As for the V-8 in the Starfire's from what I can tell the 305 chevy was offered in them for the 76, 77, 78 & 79 model years, but not very common.

[se428bandit]

Jeff when you get a chance post a pic,i think the formula astre is a great looking car and is a 1 year only car.

[Don 79 TA]

coming from the factory with a v8, i'm really surprised they didn't sell many
granted they weren't the sweetiest looking rides, but all in all, i thought the H bodies (in the hatch model) had a nice sporty look

i can't believe (being a h-bod fan) that i have never heard of these..... WOW

but then again, the Astre wasn't popular, at least not around here.
i had over 10 vega's, most were GT models, and rust buckets
couple of em, trees commited suicide on them, and no.... dad did not believe the tree jumped out in front of me, i tried that line

although we did jump dirt hills with the last one we dumped
phuck..... i am old

[2manyT/A'S]

I believe I have a set of 13" Snowflakes (stashed away somewhere) that should fit your Astre,if it doesn't have them already.
I'd be happy to trade or sell them.
PM me if interested.

[greyno3]

My neibor had a yellow '77 Fomula Astre when I was a kid in '77-'78. He did a vega v-8 swap or something. I always wanted one of those cars.

[RandyW]

"As for the V-8 in the Starfire's from what I can tell the 305 chevy was offered in them for the 76, 77, 78 & 79 model years, but not very common."

They were not common, none of those, even the Monzas were fairly rare with a V8. My Starfire was originally a 231, but the 4 speed was a Saginaw just like the Camaro had, so it was decent if you didn't flail it to badly.
FYI, in 1975 the Monza 2+2 could be had with a 350/4 bbl in Califorinia because that was the only V8 combo that passed emissions testing. Those are rare.
There were also 262 V8's early and 267 V8's in later years available in those cars as well.

[CDN2PLS2]

Yup,freind of mine had a 267 Monza with stick.Used to do tire melting figure 8 burnouts!

[RandyW]

My wife bought a new 1975 Astre SJ. The SJ obviously stood for "Sorry Junk". What a piece of crap it was, it didn't have the Iron Duke and the old Vego 140 h.p. motor gave up the ghost at 8800 miles.

[Don 79 TA]

Originally Posted by RandyW

My wife bought a new 1975 Astre SJ. The SJ obviously stood for "Sorry Junk". What a piece of crap it was, it didn't have the Iron Duke and the old Vego 140 h.p. motor gave up the ghost at 8800 miles.

wasn't 80k or so the magical number those engines died at?
most spit a rod out the side

[shotgun]

Put a 301 in it

[camerjeff]

I may go the 301 or Pontiac 400 rought in the future, but at the moment $$$ is an issue. Work is talking about 33% lay offs, and that would put me on the bubble again. And I already have the 305 SBC, all themounting hardware to install it, the clutch pedel and linkage to put my Muncie M-22 in it.
So between the aluminum heads & intake, and the muncie trans, I will only add about 50lbs to the car. I will try and post some pic's tomarrow of the car.
On a good note I thought the Formula Steering wheel's horn button emblem was missing. And it was going to be good luck finding a correct Arrowhead emblem. But I found it in the passenger side doors map pocket!!!! And it is in good shape, just needs to be glued back on to the horn button. As a side note they seem to have used 2 different emblems on the H-bodies (or probebly any other non F-body model with a Formula Steering wheel) the 77 & 78 cars use a black button with the arrowhead as a silver outline. The 79 & 80 cars used the same black button, but with a red arrowhead surrounded by Silver. The 70-72 GTO's used a solid silver arrowhead, not a outline.

[shotgun]

Before I stuck the 301 in the T1000,I was looking for an Astre,.
The goal was to do a "factory type" install with a 4 barrel 301,but could not find an Astre.
With a used,7 cylinder 301 (#8 was dead),it went 13.87 in the T @ 2500# race weight.
Using et calculators it was making 185hp.If #8 was alive,maybe 210hp.
With a properly built motor you could get 250 hp out of a 301.
In a 2500# car,maybe high 12z low 13z.