Another example of a huge conglomerate stepping over dollars to pick up dimes. With so many disgruntled buyers swearing they will never buy another GM product i wonder why they still to this day make the same mistakes over and over again. QUALITY, Jackasses! Doesn't cost...it pays
Executives that want to cut costs ASAP to increase profits and get their bonuses before they move on to a different company. It's all about short term profits, rather than long term quality and reputation. That behavior is rampant in American companies.
We raced a Vega at our local oval track for 4 years. With an aluminum engine! BUT, the first thing we did with every engine was sleeve it! We also put a flow restricter in the oil passage to the head. We also JB welded the gap between the #4 cylinder and the corner of the block where the gasket was skinniest and prone to blowout. We also used 250 six cylinder truck connecting rods as they are beefier on the big end but the same length, wrist pin diameter, and crank journal size. A few other tricks as well to get 225 hp out of an engine that originally only made 85.
@@MisterMikeTexas I’m sure it was a class for four cylinder engines. They were quit popular back in the eighties and nineties. Most people went with the Pinto engine, which could be pumped up to the level he was talking about.
@@williamking6306 Yeah the Pinto 4-cyl was a significantly better engine than the Vega engine in pretty much every way. It had a long and popular life while the Vega never got off the ground and was quickly discarded.
@@rwaitt14153 and there was a good supply of low mileage engines, with only slight fire damage. The gas tank was about as far away as it could be considering the short wheelbase.
My parents bought a new Vega wagon in 1976. It was a 4SPD with A/C. It was driven from the dealership to the Ziebart dealer to get rust-proofing and paint protection. My father was a big believer in preventive maintenance and it was meticulously maintained and even got a yearly inspection at Ziebart. It lasted 12 years and over 100k miles in northern Wisconsin on salted winter roads and was still relatively rust-free when they sold it. I remember taking trips to Colorado California Arizona Maine and New York in it. I asked my father about his ownership experience with it and he said it never failed to start or left anyone stranded and he couldn't remember any major mechanical maladies.
By '76, a lot of the deadly issues that plagued the early Vegas had been sorted out. It was a solid car in its later years but the damage had already been done. Much like the Citation years later, once the issues were ironed out, its reputation was in the trash, and it was canceled.
Wasn't the "truck" really the "Panel Express", which was just a wagon with the windows blanked-out? I never actually saw one, but I do remember an ice-cream "truck" that was really a Datsun wagon with the windows papered-over with a price list and the rear hatch replaced with a custom-made freezer. It seemed lame compared to the trucks with a window on the side, but in a safe neighborhood it was probably adequate.
In its last days, my 71 Vega Notchback carried a case of motor oil in the trunk. We replaced the head gasket but it never solved the oil burning. The little cloud of blue smoke out the tailpipe was priceless. Oh, and the inner wheel wells rusted away in 4 years, kicking all the road water, snow, road salt, up into the engine bay. That was lovely.
The Vega, Pinto and Gremlin were low cost, entry level APPLIANCES. They were meant to be used for 3-5 years and maybe 50-60,000 miles and thrown away. My first car was a 1975 Vega Kammback. By then the radiator was HUGE, avoiding any overheating issues. The radiator went across the entire front of the engine bay. I drove it 66,000 care free miles and sold it to a Chevy Dealership mechanic. I bought a 1979 Chevrolet Malibu with a 267 cu in V-8. Both were fine cars for the price.
The Gremlin was by far the best of the three. More galvanized steel was used so AMC could offer a better corrosion warranty and the six's offered were rock solid and well regarded.
@@BlutoBlutarsky Truth! My best friend’s father worked at the US Steel Gary Works and the only commuter car he’d own was a Gremlin…everything else rusted out within a year when parked in the corrosive, acidic environment of a steel mill parking lot.
The 258 AMC was more workable and BULLET PROOF than a slant 6 Mopar. I had several slant 6es and NEVER had one that wouldn't overheat if you worked it hard. Never had that issue with the ol' 258 AMCs I had.
I guess I was lucky. I had a new 72 Vega and never had any of these issues. I lived in Ft Worth Tx. Drove it to school and back. After work at night a would cruse the streets at night. Avg temps in the 80 to 90 at night in summer. Burned about tank of gas every night? Put 95k miles before sold after I got married. Had AC. Never had overheating issues. Drove it to Shreveport and back several times.
My family had a late 70's wagon. My grandfather bought it, and in the early 80's my dad got it. My dad's mechanic told him to get rid of it as soon as possible. By 1983 it was replaced by a Malibu wagon, from a co-worker.
The air cleaner comment is correct, however it was advertised as a 50,000 mile air cleaner. So in theory, you would only need to purchase one filter in 100,000 miles.
I worked in a gas station during the 70's, and when we would see a Vega coming up the driveway we would joke that the driver would say "Check the gas, and fill up the oil." I remember that they had a rubber oil cap that was so hard to put back in that many owners cut slits in them to make it easier to push into the filler opening.
I owned a 1972 GT 4spd in 1974, it had around 40,000 when purchased. It was very clean. It did not burn oil or go through coolant. Four months after purchase a man who was blind in his left eye put me and the Vega into a ditch. No more Vega. Based on what I've read over the ensuing 50 years? Probably just as well. Without good competition, great big established "too big to fail" companies will put out inferior products. We owned restaurants and when Hobart, the top dish machine manufacturer of the era got bought by Dart Industries? We couldn't use them anymore, just plain junk, as bad as a Chevy Vega if that is possible.
Had a 75’ with A/C and automatic transmission. It was a great car and never had any problems with it. Got rid of it when it was totaled in an accident.
I have a buddy bought a new 1976 Vega drove it for 100,000 miles no problems. The trick was you had to change the oil every 2,000 miles. Great little cars would get 37 mpg on a trip.
We had a Brand new 73 GT. My neighbor bought a new pinto in 1974. Our Kammback GT car didn't make it past 1982 (after years of smoking). Neighbor still driving his Pinto to this day. Nuff said.
RE: coolant level light - my Mazda RX-7 had a warning light and buzzer for that. The Wankel engine needed to be full of coolant because they ran so hot, so if your radiator was even a little bit low there was a very loud buzzer to warn you.
I had a new 72 Vega GT ... yes the Air filter component was irksome / annoying / and expensive ... another annoying item was the Opel? 4spd manual transmission with throws that could be measured in feet (not inches) ... and yes around 50K miles it started burning oil ... since it really was my Dad's vehicle he traded it in on a 76 Olds Vista Cruiser station wagon (which actually may have been one of GM's best vehicles at the time since it was essentially a Cutlass) ...oh wait one last annoying item ... under certain conditions when you let off the throttle in gear fuel?/fumes? would collect in the exhaust system and exit with a bang/explosion ... oh wait another ...the fuel filler cap which was low and behind the license plate and was often not put on correctly and fuel would literally slosh out under acceleration (this may have been a recall item but have forgotten)... but compared to the Pinto / Gremlin at the time it was the best looker and more importantly the best handler of the bunch ... Thank You Keith Chicago IL
Interestingly, Chevy VEGA appeared the same year as first Soviet LADA & the starting point for both projects was FIAT-124. In 60's, Soviet technologies were on the upswing & GM was reaping benefits of management reforms (kind of PERESTROYKA). The result,-very successful & longlife family of LADAs and forgotten story of VEGA (all the more annoying, as VEGA project had many interesting & progressive tech ideas).
GM already had a very reliable inline 4 cylinder engine, the 153 cu. in. OHV "iron duke", which was available through the 1960's in the Chevy 2 and Nova, and even in 1/2 ton pickups. That motor was a cut down version of the larger GM OHV inline 6 cylinder motor. GM should have offered the iron duke right from the beginning, in the Vega. The aluminum block OHC engine was a colossal design failure.
The Vega could have been such a good car. It was an entry level young persons car and Chevrolet should have made it better if they wanted long term customers. My friend had a used 71 Vega Wagon. It rusted out in the firewall. You could poke a screw driver through it. He wasn't a car person and was on a 300 mile trip when the head gasket blew because it was low on coolant. They replaced the head gasket but the cylinder walls were badly scored. It burned a quart of oil every 75 miles at which point you had to replace the oil fouled plugs and it would run again. The oil problem got worse over time. We drove 26 miles one way to college and before we left we replaced plugs and before we drove home replaced them again. We would clean them and reuse them. He carried a case of oil in the back. It soon got to the point where it had very low compression. It would barely make it up a hill and leave a smoke trail everywhere. His girlfriend told him if he didn't get a better car they were through. If you road in the car when you got out you stunk like burning oil. He finally sold it for $75 and got a nice used 75 Ford LTD 4 door sedan. Talk about a 180 degree switch. His girlfriend hated that car too. That car also rusted to the point the front bumper fell off! He knew I was a car guy and never told me he was buying a Vega. If he had I would have told him just don't buy a Vega! Later in my career I worked with an auto engineer that had worked on the Vega project. He told me they new the engine was a mistake but it was too late to stop production but they had already begun research on a better engine. In 1975 my uncle bought a Monza. I think it had the Vega engine. He never had a problem and he took good care of it. My dad had a 79 Pontiac Sunbird and it had the Iron Duke engine. He never had a problem with it. The Vega had another issue and that was the gas mileage wasn't as good as it should have been for a sub compact car. Good video on the Vega. Now people put V8s in them and drag race them. I know a guy that did that but that's amother story.
My friend from Indiana bought a Pontiac Astre , the look-alike Pontiac with the Iron Duke (which you presented in another video), this was my sole experience with these GM compacts other than the chassis variants in the late 1970s such as the Monza Town Coupe.
What could go wrong? Ha ha! Aluminum block and head, and no iron cylinder sleeves? Oh, sounds like a big adventure! Gosh, sometimes these things are so ridiculous and so predictable from the outset that you simply can't figure out how *anyone* would have approved any of it for production!
Radiators: The small radiator only was in place 1971 and 1972. They went to full width radiators in 1973, dual core. That was especially needed with AC vehicles. The smaller radiator was also designed for use with the Vertapac cars with the Southern Pacific. You have a lot of interesting but incomplete information. Valve stem oil seals were prone to failure up to 1974. The seals were hard and not very pliable. From 1974 onwards, the engine issues really dropped and they were decent. Hydraulic lifters in 1975 along with HEI.
It is a great engine once it it sleeved. The newer vegas had rust proofing galvanized panels, but they waited too long to do it. The cosworth vega also had the cylinder issues but otherwise a great engine. The car handles like a go cart.
Cast iron cylinder liners with decent pistons to match, a half fill of concrete mix in between the open decked cylinders, and a three times bigger radiator all might have made a difference. Maybe.
I thought the Vega was a great looking car but I had two friends who owned them but they had a lot of problems with blown head gaskets and other mechanical issues. So I ended up buying another vehicle.
I don't see why Chevy did not use the 153 ci 4 cylinder it was rugged and been in production sense 1962 if it was to heavy they could recast it in aluminum with cast iron sleeves
The 2 Toyotas I owned were worse. Manually adjustable valves with feather edges warped from blow by when they neared the 6000 mile recommended valve adjustment (probably should have been 4000 mi). Exhaust manifolds broke in half, Just dogs too. GM was just keeping up with the Joneses. Those were dark days in the auto biz.
My first car was a brand new 1973 Millionth Vega GT. The engine was replaced at GM's expense three times in the 18 months I owned it. Great car, but a real pile of 💩 for an engine.
doing it right the first time is always the best way, economic amd reputation considerations. I quitted the american car market 45 years ago and believe me, I'll never return
Vegas were a great concept, HORRIBLE execution! These cars cost GM millions in bad reputation and lost future sales. They also spawned the sale of imports.
It's amazing what happens when a car company not only drops the ball but fails to recognize that it dropped it, and probably didn't know there was even a ball to drop. GM failed to realize all this so many times in so many seemingly minor ways that its reputation was damaged. Take care of the "little" things, and the big things just fall into place. The "little" things included but are not limited to: 1. The Vega, with its poorly engineered engine and its ability to start rusting as it went down the assembly line 2. The Fiero, with its propensity to go up in flames and taking 5 model years to FINALLY get it all right then immediately canceling it due to poor sales for some reason(s). 3. The Cadillac Northstar engine. That one was a real head scratcher. How can any engineer worth the paper his/her diploma was written on do what they did? There wasn't any money to be saved on the manufacturing end by doing what they did so stupidly. 4. The Pontiac Aztek. While the vehicle itself was ok, ugh, just look at it. It proves how little the board cared or knew about what it manufactured. 5. And, finally, we get to the dumbest of the dumb. Truly and spectacularly stupid, the Oldsmobile diesel. What more can be said that hasn't already been said? I've focused solely on GM. I've owned 2 GM products over the course of the last 25 years, one of which has been spectacularly good, my 06 GTO, and my 82 Pontiac Trans Am with the CrossFire Injection system. Believe it or not, that car was decent.
Nissan had bad issues with rust in the B210 and thru the sentra. Motors also had bad cabs, and blew up internal ly as bad as the Vega. My 210 original engine blew up at 70 k, and that permently turned me off Nissan for life.
I got an 84 Nissan sentra. My wife had pintos. I had some pintos, Four speed pinto with an engine from geremedy probably out of a capri. Great car 1971 beat the Dickens out of any Vega. Quick fast, good on gas. Never really broke down. The seats could have been nicer. But the price was right $50 for an exhaust system. $50 for a radio and speakers AM FM and a cassette. I can't interior vinyl spray and a good wax. Commuted back-and-forth from Philadelphia, Washington DC every weekend and that car. My roommates Vega lived in a shop for repairs. My car, even if the battery was dead, you could push it. Get a running start. And it would still go started right up. I broke down and bought a battery. I got tired of pushing it. The Vegas.. Just. Problems.
@timothykeith1367 My mother had a '71 Toyota Corolla for 15 years. Always parked outside in rainy Vancouver, BC. Not much snow so road salt not a big problem. It was still in excellent condition with no rust issues when she had to stop driving for health reasons in 1985.
You know what's funny? VW did that to mine with their 1980 Rabbit, our first new VW. We'd had nothing but assorted Bugs and a camper and a Ghia and all were good cars. When the man we sold it to rebuilt the motor, he said two studs were missing from the head that bolted it to the block and that is why it was using water but not leaking it - but the VW dealer couldn't replicate the problem before. Not to mention having to hit the dash in just the right place to make the radio come back on and a bunch of other stuff. I still won't consider a VW.
"I wish a Ford and a Chevy would still last ten years Like they should Is the best of the free life behind us now? And are the good times really over for good?" Merle Haggard "Are the Good Times Really Over"
Unfortunately, I owned a 1974 Vega GT. I live in southwest Louisiana where rust is not normally a problem. My car rusted so badly around the windshield, I kept a towel in the car so I could catch water which dripped in around inside the windshield during rain. I also kept extra quarts of oil on hand so I could add as needed - oftentimes before I needed to fill up with gasoline. I had the rust around the windshield repaired at a body shop a couple of times. Of course, after a short time, the rust would return. I also rebuilt the engine myself. I was surprised how light the engine block was. I spoke to a technician at a Chevrolet dealership who advised me to simply install new piston rings and put everything back together. Re ringing the engine helped - for a while. The second time I did a major engine repair, I removed the cylinder head and took it to a machine shop. The valve stems seals were shot. I had very little funds available and I did the best I could. Somehow, I nursed the car along and it got me through college. Finally, I bought a 1982 Toyota pickup truck. What a difference! Understandably, I now drive a Lexus with over 200,000 miles which still runs great and uses no oil between changes. Still to this day I have a low regard for GM products.
I recall walking home from high school when it started raining. A buddy from school saw me and told me to hop into his Vega. The water was pouring in from around the windshield. I got just as wet from riding as I did walking.
@@tellucas To be fair, GM is not the only automaker to do this. It seems like most brands make attempts to lower costs, only to have it back fire on them. Hyundai and Kia are suffering thru this now with their engines. Not really sure what the root cause of the problem is, but in the past several years they have replaced a lot of engines under warranty due to rod bearing failure. I remember back around 2008 Nissan having problems with the 2.5 in the Altima. Piston ring failure, I think they eliminated one of the oil control rings to save a few pennies. Cost them dearly.
@@StumpyVanLife If I recall correctly the kia issues are with junk in the engine from casting. They didn't properly clean the block and all the passages.
@@v12alpine I worked at a Hyundai dealer from 2017 to 2022 and that is what the theory was a few years ago. Not cleaning the block out properly, but even after they corrected that problem they were still having issues. Heck we had replacement engines spinning rod bearing 15K miles after installation. Last I heard they had not found the true root cause of the problem. If I recall the issues began around 2014 or 15 when they brought all of the engine production in house to .... wait for it ... save money.
I can't get enough of your Vega videos. From Vertapak to no cylinder liners, it's a story that people love to tell but without the details you provide.
@@stevejarred6484 As I recall, there were aftermarket direct replacement air cleaners that allowed you to open it up and replace the air filter element.
Great video! I thought you may have mentioned that Vegas uses a ridiculous rubber grommet for an oil cap. I was a young gas pump attendant in years 1972 through 1974. Back then we had to wash ALL windows and check under the hoods of EVERY car. When any Vega with more than about 35,000 to 40,000 miles came in to refuel, it ALWAYS needed oil. Due to the difficulty in removing, handling and replacing the extremely hot rubber plug grommet that GM used as the engine oil fill cap on the Vega engine, adding oil was a lot harder than it needed to be. I recall the grommet oil cap was on a sloping surface and I had to either pry out the grommet with a screwdriver or use my finger nails. It was hot and oily and as such would usually be dropped and roll somewhere under the car. Usually, after adding the oil, it was a challenge to replace the grommet oil cap into the hot engine. Once or twice my oily fingers dropped the silly rubber grommet again! Such a design on an e engine that didn't burn oil would be fine. But using a rubber grommet for an oil cap on a Vega was a curse!
An early effort in the general motors campaign to increase sales of Japanese cars. This scenario played out repeatedly. Designed something new and interesting; a lot of customers like it and purchase it. Those customers experience big problems because of general motors cost cutting. The financing geniuses always seem to prefer saving one dollar so that they can spend $100 later. Anyway, customers get aggravated, sales drop off a cliff. Eventually General Motors gets around to fixing the problems, which they should've done before, but by then nobody cares. Honda and Toyota dealerships are happy. You said in the video that engineers thought they had solved some of the earlier problems. While I don't know the specifics; I would bet money that the engineers knew they hadn't. But the finance bosses decided to go ahead anyway. Because finance people never believe engineers.
My first car was a 1977 hatchback. It was 10 years old by the time I bought it, so oil consumption was built in. It used a quart of oil daily, just driving to school and home. I rebuilt a 327 V-8 in shop class and swapped that in. No more oil consumption problem, but on those skinny 13 inch stock tires it would get sideways scary fast. I didn't keep it too long after that, needless to say. In my older years, I've often thought I'd love to build another one with a 2.8 or 3.4 V-6 and S-10 brake/axle swap to allow larger 5 lug wheels. Finding an untouched stock one in one piece here in Ontario, Canada, became impossible by the end of the 1980's, sadly. Great video, I very much enjoyed it. Thanks!🙂
A Vega with a Honda K series would be good. The K-20 start at 160 hp and can be built to much greater, but stock power is plenty for all-around handling and braking.
@d.e.b.b5788 while it certainly didn't handle well (didn't have the optional swaybar LOL), the main problem was keeping it pointing straight down the road! WOT would have the car sideways in a fraction of a second.
My first car was a 1976 Vega Hatchback. It was a used one and I loved it. However about 2 weeks after I bought the car, it developed problems with the engine. Mine had a head gasket leak. The dealership told me: "Oh Well, not our problem!!" My father got wind of this and went to the dealership and told the salesman: "You have 2 choices, you either fix the engine or it's going to be driven through your dealership window!" My father was a big man and very quiet but you didn't make him mad!! I'll never forget the look on the salesman’s face when my father told him that. The dealership agreed to fix the car. They knew they sold me a car with an engine problem and took advantage of a young dumb kid!!
My dad did the exact same thing, giving these ultimatums. He was also a quiet man you didn't make mad, he did a similar thing when I was being bullied and the teachers/principal did nothing!
I worked for a Chevy dealership from 73-76. We would get Vegas into the body shop and we would replace both front fenders under warranty that were completely rusted through on the top and when we got done with them the car would go over to service to have a new engine short block installed for smoke and oil consumption .
@@BingBangBye Those Fiats were great fun to drive but they mostly rusted away in a few years as well. By the time I could afford a used 124 they were mostly rusted out as well.
I heard it was because they used a cheap or single stage paint. Since you were around back then, do you think a better cheap route would've been a plastic like epoxy paint, if it existed back then?
I had a new 1974 Vega with A/C and a 4 speed in 1974. It was my first car and I was a soph in college at the time. I had it 18 months and at that time it was like an outboard motor: 1 quart of oil to each tank of gas. Traded it in for a 1976 Nova SS that I special ordered to my specifications. No problems with the 350 4bbl in the Nova. I wish I had both of those cars today.
Fast forward about 40 years, and GM made the Chevrolet Equinox with the 2.4 liter Ecotec engine. The doors were rusting before it was 3 years old, and we got the TSB for burning oil because the piston rings were known to be faulty. Indeed, ours burned through a quart in about 2000 miles, but the dealer insisted we weren't eligible for the fix. You would think they could improve in 40 years, but no.... I jokingly called it the "Veganox".
I had 2 Vegas, "72 and '74 and did not learn my lesson. Had Equinox issues with doors rusting and engine PCV orifice blockage causing rear main seal to leak at about 36,000 miles. Sold it. That was my last Legacy auto maker purchase.
The 2.4 liter engine was also put into a lot of other GM cars too. I had one in a 1999 Malibu. I did not like it, and traded it for a 2003 Impala with the 3.8 V-6 at the time. The Impala had other problems. The steering rack was garbage, and would leak every three years. The Impala transmissions were only good for 70,000 miles. I heard the 2.4 GM engine was a bored out 2.3 Oldsmobile Quad 4 engine. These had intake gaskets that were a constant pain that needed to be replaced. Just like the GM 3.4 V-6 intake gasket leaks.
I was in high school in 1971 and the parents of a friend of mine bought him a Vega. By the time we were graduated in 1973, it was spewing smoke and worse here on the Texas Gulf Coast, it was rusting significantly. Broke his heart 'cause he was so proud of that little coupe when he got it. It was hard then, and is still hard now, to understand how GM could've missed so badly on this design. My parents bought a Beetle for me and I loved it.
I worked in an automotive machine shop from 77 to 79. As soon as we got a Vega head on the bench it was checked for cracks. They seemed like crappy castings and pretty much cracked in all areas including around the valve springs and combustion chambers. The first place we looked was on the back side of the head around the spark plugs. It was an odd place but I always blamed that huge "fin" of cast iron. That was a lot of material that heated up slower than the lower and thicker bottom. I really felt sorry for the people when you told them their head was junk at 30k. We also sleeved those blocks with great success. We also made a pattern to mill out the water jackets around the block and place an aluminum plate to fill the large open deck. It supported the cylinders and improved cooling. Most of this was more expensive than most owners would ever put into an economy car, especially one that was rusting through around the windows. One of the cool things about that motor though was the adjustable cam followers. It sure was easier than shims. Our shop did a lot of cool things for oddball stuff like cutting a groove for an "O" ring between the halves of a Corvair block. Our shop foreman was an outstanding guy that had a firm grasp on engineering much better than Detroit did. I had forgotten about the Air cleaners though. It seems I remember cutting them open to replace the element. We're the elements glued to the halves? That was a long time ago. I know we put a certain type of oil filter canister in out oven while heat treating our cranks. It melted the glue so a separate filter could be installed instead of the whole assembly. Those had nothing to do with Vegas though as two hands were required to pick them up. I don't recall what they were to or if I ever knew. I loved working in that shop as there was no limit on satisfying the customer. Cheers Terry
I vaguely remember seeing these heads come in with the number 4 cylinder exhaust valve burned. That seemed to make sense with the water passages at the rear of the head having a collection of material that looked like sand from the casting process.
Another great vid ! Had several in my early years. They were so easy to fix, could do a whole engine replacement in like 4 hrs:). What I remember the most was there was an engine builder somewhere in the LA area, that would sleeve and rebuild them for only $350. (Exchange). As long as you had a good head, you were golden again for 100k miles for very little $. We always added a $10 coolant recovery tank also. Aw the golden years of inexpensive car repairs :). lol
@@Jody-kt9ev In 1968/69 I worked at a Union 76 station. reg gas was .329 and premium was .359. I was paid $430 a month for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week and 6 hours every other Saturday. Kept a car on the road, paid the rent and supprted my wife and son. Didn't have a whole lot for extras but we got by.
I had a 1966 Triumph spitfire total curb weight 1650 lbs ! With a Chevy 350 400 hp 9" Ford rear 4 speed! I was in high 9s in quarter! I guarantee I could get it done!
What pisses me off with the Vega's engines is that GM had a plethora of small displacement cast iron block 4 cylinder engines to choose from their Opel and Vauxhall brands.
Yep, they even had a US built 153 cid four used in the Nova. A friend was a contract machinist for Reynolds in the Vega era. He said Chevy had designed their own 2.0 liter engine with a cross flow head, but GM nixed it because of a deal they wanted with Reynolds. Reynolds originally had an aluminum cross flow head for the Vega, but they had an EPA issue of some sort. They car's debut was rapidly approaching, and GM had the cast iron SOHC head designed in house. If you haven't read it, "On a Clear Day You can See GM" by John Delorean, there is a chapter devoted to the Vega.
That car was intended to have a Wankel rotary engine, which was scrapped for reasons I've forgotten. The hype that arrived with Wankel engines has not lived up to promises, but back in 70 we thought it was going to be the next generation break through.
@@nativetexan1863 I thought it was the Monza that was destined to have the rotary engine. The two cars overlapped a good bit, so I could be wrong. There was once a "Rotary Powered" Chevy emblem, (allegedly for the front of a Monza), for sale from a GM insider, on ebay. IIRC the rotary engine was copped due to gas consumption.
Please consider that everything written, or on television, is guaranteed to be true . I only know what I read, but I did read that somewhere. This world is full of revisionist history, right down to our kids school books, and I look at any thing I read with a grain of Wiki in the back of my head. Even the factory service manuals, printed by the mother lode, are full of errors that don't match the car it came with, but particularly the wiring. In closing you could be very right, as the Monza and the Vega were very close siblings, but it did shock me when I first read GM intended to use the Wankel at all. I believe it has fuel consumption problems, low torque, and is notorious for seal failures everywhere, but I've never owned one.
Read The Decline and Fall of the American Automobile Industry by Brock Yates, the auto writer, to more correctly understand how GM (and Ford and MOPAR) was slow to react over and over.
Because admitting your new child is a failure is very painful. It also means the end of the careers of highly entrenched executives like Ed Cole, etc who were focused on the successes (Monte Carlo) and trying to sweep the Vega problems under the rug. If a large scale action to fix the Vega had been undertaken, while it would have been better in the long run it would have ended careers and had short term damage to Chevrolet and GM's stock value. Just playing for time while issues quietly get fixed with model changes was the way GM decided to do things and always had. Example: Look at the changes between the 1960 Corvair and the 1961. You will find that there is almost no parts commonality between the two models because they found redesign so necessary. You bring out a new car and do a major redesign after one year you don't brag about it, you hope it is ignored. So Corvair, Vega, Fiero, Alante, Northstar all took years to become the product they should have been when they went to market.
I had a 72 Vega GT and the valve seals were the biggest issue. We changed oil and filter always at 3000 miles and never had issues with cylinder oil consumption. When you went to idle from load, it would blow hugh blue smoke as the vacuum sucked oil around the valve stems. Even with this issue, I still got 130,000 miles out of the engine. It was a spunkly engine with the 2 bbl carb and 4 speed manual tranny. I also bought the Fram aftermarket air cleaner kit that allowed you to just change the element, because the AC unit air filter was $15 in 1973! Other issue was the electric fuel pump and low oil pressure shut off. On full throttle acceleration you would occasionally have the engine shut off due to oil going all the way back in the pan giving you momentary low oil pressure. I always carried a jumper wire where I could reprise the fuel system. This car was a bit rough around the edges, but it was fun to drive. You just had to know it's quirks. Not something a non-gearhead wanted to deal with...
I had a 2 liter Pinto engine that smoked like that. I assumed it was guides, I bought a Ford reman head for it. That solved the problem for about a year. A permanent solution was to change the crappy factory valve guide seals for some nylon ones. When my Pinto smoked, I said it was acting like a Vega.
In my '77 Vega, the top shroud that held the radiator in place gradually "bent" upward, allowing the radiator to fall backward into the fan. This happened on the open road at about 50 mph. I heard a "BANG!" immediately followed by the "LOW COOLANT" light coming on. Shut the car off in time (no engine damage), but had to leave the car then return the next day with a new radiator, coolant, turnbuckles and wire to hold the shroud down, ensuring I didn't have this problem again.
I marveled why Ford North America never brought over the Australian I6 engines. The reason is that 4 and 6 cylinder engines were thought of as the 'economy' option...yanno, for poor losers. Why give poor losers anything good?
@@MrSloika yeah and in retrospect GM had great products from OZ and Germany yet they wasted development money trying to reinvent the wheel. They had already developed the product. The world car concept came much later
I agree. The 3 and 4 speed manual transmissions in Vegas were Opel. You would think if GM was so set on saving every penny on this car they would use an already developed engine rather than going through the expense of developing a completely new one.
Yes, excellent engine. We had one in a 1900 Wagon that we bought new in 1974; loved how that car drove too with German style highway steering stability. We have never owned a car before or since that steered so well, not even any of several VWs.
...what a sadly executed flop, I never realized how much stingy, destructive and short sighted engineering this nice little car..essentially saddled buyers with the plague
the first problem with GM is the mentality and the bean counters, At the moment where that car was on the drafting board, GM had branches in Europe and Asia so they were able to source an engine that would have been much better than the infamous Vega engine. It is the starting point, the rest of that car was developped that way so the car was crappy from the front bumper to the rear bumper. your engine overview is excellent and the clear demo that GM took a good basic idea and made junk with it as usual.
I bought a first year Vega and finally gave up at about 80,000 miles. You covered almost all the problems I found but I have a couple more. There was a reaction between the antifreeze and to aluminum block that plugged up the tiny radiator and pretty much guaranteed overheat. When you removed the radiator, it truly looked like heater core rather than a radiator. GM was also know for not putting enough paint on their cars and the Vega was an extreme example. I stopped washing it after a few years because it looked about the same dirty or clean. The rust was coming from the outside in, unlike most cars that rusted from the inside out. GFM
I lost a lot of trust in various car magazines, specifically, Motor Trend, Road & track, and Car & Driver. All 3 mags gushed about how wonderful the car and engine was upon the car's introduction. A friend bought a new Vega, It was a 110 hp, 4 speed, Kammback. He let us drive it. OMG, what a POS! Squeaks, rattles galore, and an exhaust note that was highly unpleasant. It made my Corvair seem like a Cadillac. I often wonder if those magazines were paid to play up the Vega, or were given test cars that had been "specially prepared". Typical GM, pays more to fix the crappy cars than it would have to build it right the first time.
We had a '73 I think and had problems with it right off the lot. Not only that, it didn't weigh much and we lived in Wyoming. My Mom and I literally got blown off the road from a big gust of wind. Traded it for a big, heavy Plymouth station wagon with a monster iron block motor.
As a mechanic at that time, we regarded the engine problems primarily as lack of maintenance. Keep it from overheating, change the oil and they're not too bad. I think the aftermarket came to the rescue later on the ill conceived air cleaner. The bigger problem we saw was the flimsy unit body structure. You could do a shock "bounce" test with the hood open and watch the shock tower flex. But the biggest deal was the front structure would sag after about 50,000 miles, after that you couldn't get the alignment right anymore. The best you could do was get the caster (sorry, I meant camber here) right and match the caster the best you could.
YES, I had this problem with mine, and it could NOT be fixed. Took it to shop specializing in front ends and they told me that this was a huge flaw. They said even if straightened out it would soon "Sag back" to worse than before. I could cope with the engine issues, and to an extent, the body rust, but this was "Death knell" for a car at 4 years old, and right around the 50k mileage mark. The final blow came when the body under the body rusted away, causing the battery to shift and tip over which caused it to weld itself to the alternator!!!
@@dougdanzeisen9608 I'm sorry yours rusted out, having been in Texas since 1972, the worst rust we ever see is surface rust. A friend of ours had a '73 Vega, I'd driven it and liked it and considered one for my first car. Fortunately, or unfortunately, a new car wasn't in the cards for a college student.
I started selling Auto parts in 1981, one of the more common items we carried was a air filter assembly made by a company called Hastings. After you purchase that you could buy a replacement air filter for it. You got to love the ingenuity of the American automotive aftermarket.
I cut open my Vega air filter (ground off the crimp around the edge) and inside found a normal looking pleated paper air filter element. I matched it up exactly with some off-the-shelf element (can't remember now what it was from) put the new element in and put it back together, putting plastic tape around the edge to seal it up. The mounting bolts held it all together anyway. After that it cost about $4 to replace an air filter.
The Pinto got a bad rap due to so many people believing that EVERY Pinto would burst into flames for no apparent reason. In reality, if your Pinto never got rear-ended, you had a pretty decent little car. But if you had a Vega, you had problems: period. Now, the way Ford reacted to the Pinto's gas-tank problem (and their refusal to add inexpensive tank protection) was inexcusable.
Yup geez I could write a book here on this subject but suffice it to say it isn't even as bad as you're making it out to be, even without the recall being done a Pinto had to be hit **HARD** for it to catch fire, we're talking a 65mph collision and catastrophic damage here not a stoplight rear-ender bump! It could take a pretty good hit with nothing being damaged but your pride, and your other body parts if you weren't wearing the lap and shoulder belt like you should've been, ask me how I know.... :D The Pinto was actually as safe or safer than most the small cars of the time and WAY safer in terms of the statistics than the VW Beetle which despite the love it gets if you really give it a good hard look is a complete joke when it comes to safety. And yes with its engine choices including the optional 2 liter OHC in the early ones, and rack and pinion steering and front disc brakes it really put the Vega to shame.
@@terrybeavan4264 The Toyota Celica had the gas tank at the front of the trunk compartment, being the back of the back seat, i.e. the gas tank was in the passenger area.
Pontiac had a version of the Vega as well The Pontiac Astre is the model name of the Pontiac version of the Vega. The Astre is a subcompact car that was first sold in Canada in 1973-1974, and then in the U.S. in 1975. It was available in all trim levels, including 8,339 notchback coupes, 40,809 hatchback coupes, and 15,332 station wagons. The Astre is a rebadged version of the Chevrolet Vega, and is considered a sibling to the Vega. The Vega and Astra were economy cars with four cylinders, and were sold until 1977. Around 1978, the Astra was dropped, but the Vega wagons continued to be sold under the Sunbird name.
GM did what they could to recover development costs. Every GM division got a version, sometimes several, to help defray those costs. The Chevy Monza was one. Impossible to keep the front aligned, same undercarriage as Vega.
My neighbor purchased a new Vega with an automatic transmission - it was the most gutless car I’ve ever been in, when “floored” it made a bunch of noise but barely anything happened - I think a dashboard indicator lit up when you floored it that said “please wait“
Very few 4 cylinder cars in the era of 3 speed automatics could get out of their own way. In those days you really need the extra gears of a stick shift to get much out of them.
@@Wiencourager We had an early 1980s Mustang with the 2.3 and an automatic transmission. Not good with 4 people in it. My Ranger truck, with a standard transmission and the 2.3, was fine.
Ironically GM had a superb steel cam chain Cam-in Head Overhead cam 1.9 liter four cylinder engine with a cast iron block and a cast iron head not significantly heavier than the Vega 2300 Aluminum Block/Cast Iron head engine. That much smoother, vastly more durable engine was the 1.9 liter Opel four cylinder engine paired with the Opel 4 speed manual transmission which was ultimately used by the Vega, in place of the base model Vega 3 speed Opel sourced standard transmission. Because of the American internal inch based dimensions, not metric, used in the Opel engine, it is highly likely that the Opel 4 cylinder and its companion 6 cylinder CIH engines were designed by GM in Detroit for production by Opel in Germany. I had an 1970 Opel GT with the 1.9 liter four which was extremely smooth, durable, and reliably trouble-free outlasting the GT's body which ultimately rusted out by 1976 with approximately 130,000 miles due to Midwest winter salt. I always couldn't understand by GM didn't produce the Opel 1.9 CIH in the USA for the Vega's introduction. My friends with Vegas were jealous about the reliability of my still loved, and fondly remembered Opel GT. Cheers.
I remember my 74 vega 4 speed used a Saganaw transmission made in Michigan and it was the one thing I liked least about the Vega. The shift pattern was a very rigid H pattern and shifted like a 18 wheeler truck. I remembered driving a friends Datsun and was amazed at how smoothly it shifted and was a pleasure to drive. I knew then GM was in BIG trouble competing against the Japanese sports cars.
That Opal 1900 was very reliable. Had a 1975 sport wagon that was my first car. The 75 also had a Bosh multi port fuel injection system so it pulled nicely off idle and just kept going. That little wagon sure handled nice and was a blast ti drive in the country. Wisconsin winters eventually claimed it. The engine went into an Opel GT to replace the 1.1 so I'm sure that GT was a different car with the fuel injected 1900. It sure was a nice little wagon . Anyone that bought their "Vega" at a Buick dealership and got one of those Opels certainly got a better car and well worth the extra cost. Very nice suspension front to back in those too.
It has been said that the most difficult type of vehicle to engineer is a small car. The Japanese had a huge edge over everyone else, including the European manufacturers in this department. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, I knew of many Toyotas, Nissans (then known as Datsun), and Hondas that ran and ran; as the maxim went, you couldn't kill them. If properly maintained, the only things that could kill them were accidents and corrosion of the body and chassis.
The Vega's competition was Japanese cars...which were cheap at the time...and the Pinto. I believe Ford advertised the Pinto as the lowest priced American car available back in 1970.
In regards to the air cleaner, I bought a replacement (for my 72 Vega GT) and when I tried to install it, it didn't fit. I brought it back to the auto parts store and found out some were made in the U.S. and some were made in Canada, WITH THE SAME PART NUMBER.
i bought a brand new Vega hatchback in '71, because Motor Trend magazine was calling it the "Car of the Year". Yeah, right. By '73 and having about 35K on the odometer, it went to the junkyard with a blown engine and loaded with rust. I'm still kicking myself over it!
@@jamesrichardson559 They tend to just go with what they view is the most "advanced" or "innovative"..not necessarily whether it is any good or not...they have picked a poor car or truck for that award several times...
I had a 1976 Plymouth Volare, another Motor Trend Car Of The Year in 1976. Stalling, fender rust, recalls galore. The best thing about the car was the 225 Slant Six which lasted 200k miles!
Just that I can think of was the Northstar engines, the Cadillac diesel in the 80's, the AFM engines to this day. GM is a leader in the practice of releasing half-baked engine designs.
I had a 57 Chevy with an extremely modified 327 and needed an economy car for my new bride in 1974. I was a car enthusiast and an engineering student. I read everything on the Vega. I still remember the article titled "The Vega; Chevrolet's new Bright Star" which reported on the million miles of testing performed. I read about the improvements incorporated by 1974. I parked the 57 Chevy and with the help of my parents, I bought a basic '74 Vega. The only option was a heavy-duty radiator (smart). But I had been fooled. By 30,000 miles it needed a valve job. At the time it was being reported that the head design did not provide adequate cooling around the valve seats. Also, I found that there was dissimilar metal corrosion occurring at the windshield trim. Before buying the Vega, I had considered putting a mild engine and clutch in the 57. I wish I had gone that route instead.
I think this is the only mention of the Cosworth Vega here! Never had one heck I've only seen them in pictures and video but geez I'd love to own one. Seems like with it they fixed most if not all the issues with the Vega and yeah they were expensive at the time but a production American car with a DOHC engine and EFI, in 1976??? WAY ahead of its time and what the Vega should've been from the start!
I had a cosworth it was nice but my standard vega had 110 hp and the cosworth only had 120 hp. Nice to look at the engine but without the hood open not much else to see.
@@fahembree The advertised engine ratings were changed in 1973, so it probably wasn't as close as the numbers say. Like so much of the '70's cars, emissions were strangling them. A Cosworth could be made to run really strong.
The Iron Duke's were slow on the highway. My 76 Chevette had about 75 HP and was pathetically slow and dangerous on the highway. At least the Vega had some balls. Never had a problem merging into traffic with the Vega's 90 HP 2.3 engine. Although the body and exhaust rusted out faster than you could fix it. Awful build quality from GM. Even the crappy Chevette was a better car with 4-speed manual transmission and no overdrive ( car didn't need it slow as all hell anyway. People were constantly blasting their horns at me on on and off ramps on the highways in NY).
@@garykeith1048 Chevettes never got the Iron Duke ... the early Chevettes ('76 was the first model year, so probably yours) had a 1.4 litre pushrod engine of a different design (Isuzu) with a rompin' stompin' 53 horsepower! "Slow" was an understatement ...
You were much too kind in your review. The Vega was junk from bumper to bumper from the day it left the factory. The engine block was nothing short of experimental - and the public got to be the guinea pigs to do the beta testing. Follow that with issues with valve seals, engine cooling, and the list goes on. That spells out one thing - CHEAP. Instead of using quality materials in the valve seals, use the cheapest junk you can get to make them from. Wonder why they failed? Too CHEAP to put cylinder liners in the block so that they would not be worn out before the new car smell was gone. CHEAP rust prone metal used for the body panels spelled cars less than a year old having rust holes in the fenders. Then there was that CHEAP exhaust system. They sounded like a poorly running chain saw - even when new. All in all, corporate GREED and overall CHEAP spelled the end for the Vega. As I have said so many times, Chevrolet (and GM) was the best salesman Toyota ever had.
Because it was a hunk of shit, thats why it turned people against it. That engine should have never made it to production in the original configuration. They could have used the 153 that was used in the old Chevy II /Nova ( no not the Iron Dookie ) with a better breathing aluminum head. They already had the tooling for it and the 153 was a great 4 cylinder engine. In fact its still made today for marine and industrial use.
Thanks for another Vega video Adam. I grew up hearing the many horror stories of my dad’s brand new ‘72 hatchback. As a kid hearing about his 3 engine failures in 2 years, I didn’t get the concept of the aluminum engine block and lack of cylinder liners. In addition to the car overheating and destroying its engines, my dad’s car suffered from the famous rust and two transmission failures, all within 2 years of ownership. He wound up dumping the car in early 1975 for a ‘72 Catalina, a car he loved for almost 10 years. He also never bought a brand new car again.
My next door neighbor when I was growing up could beat that story: He 'inherited' his son's '74 and drove it 3 miles to work. He had to clean the plugs before he could drive it back home again. The shifter on the 4 speed was so bad, it often stuck and he would have to get under the car to unjam it. They bought a used engine to swap into it as the original had one cylinder with a score. After pulling the head, they found it had TWO scored cylinders. The car leaked water so badly, he drilled a hole in the trunk to let the water out. The car was donated to the school district for the auto shop class.
The Vega also holds the record from the initial test to falling apart: *8* laps into a test John Delorean saw the front end fall off the Vega undergoing testing on a test track. (REFERENCE: On a clear day you can see general motors)
A 350 has too much torque and will twist the thing to where you can't open the doors. A 2v 283 with a PG would be sufficient for energetic hooning while being kinder to the car. A '72 Vega weighed 2158 pounds.
Is the V8 Monza the car model where you had to pull the engine to change the spark plugs due to the extreme shoehorn job done to fit the classic small block Chevy V8 under the hood?
@@billdang3953 You didn't have to pull the engine. A friend of mine was a Chevy mechanic then. He was able to change the trouble plug by using a short piece of water hose to help screw in the new plug.
When I turned 16 in 1973 I was going to purchase a 1968 Pontiac GTO that was mint for $800.00. When I discussed what I wanted to do with my dad, he said NO and we proceeded down to the local Chevy dealer and we ordered a new 1974 Vega. Needless to say I wasn't overly happy with my Vega, and I will admit in the 2 years I owned it (and being 16) I beat the s...t out of it. It Never let me down, but it was starting to use oil so my dad traded it for a used 1974 Nova. Funny thing about it, the Nova had a bad motor we discovered a couple of days after we bought it. Took it back and got my Vega back! Then the next day I bought my moms 1974 Monte Carlo and got rid of the Vega. Looking back 50 years later, I wish I would have keep the Vega!
A lot of people give the U.S. a lot of grief, and rightfully so, for our early "innovative" 4 cylinder cars like the Chevrolet Vega and such. However, what a lot of people keep forgetting is that even in the heights of the fuel crunch, here in the U.S. if we can't have top end horsepower, give us lots of bottom end and mid range grunt. GM missed that mark along with the reliability issues from their attempted brilliant, but dumb move. With the combination of emissions, lack of engineering time and money, and small cars being better built by Japan and even the Europeans, GM was doomed for trying too many new things at once that was out of their comfort zone. Honestly, if they had made the block from iron, the head from iron, ok yes it would have been heavier but MUCH stronger. It would have been cheaper, it really wouldn't have been much heavier, and it could have given them a chance to innovate later. Hindsight being what it is, GM, Ford and even Chrysler could have done better. But the brass got lazy and cheap, held back the development needed to make BETTER products, and let the Japanese build some of the best small cars in the world. I do not know what the issue with the Big Three is, but they constantly make bone head choices that keep them from truly being competitive in the world in certain segments.
Your statement is contradictory. On the one hand, you say the big 3 “got lazy” when they were in fact trying to innovate with new engine materials. Then you said they should have just stuck with old iron engine design, which would have actually been the “lazy” thing to do. I was born and raised in Flint MI. It was the union who then and now fought against innovation (the vega was one of the first cars to be welded robotically). They destroyed the US auto industry. Now, the big 3 are effectively arms of the federal govt because they get special perks and bailouts when needed. Theyre managed by bureaucrats, not innovators.
My grandpa bought a Vega wagon brand new - he drove it from his home in VT to our house in upstate NY - he had to stop 3 times to let it cool down and add anti freeze- it was a 4 hour trip that took him 6 hrs in a new car - when he returned to VT he drove it to the dealership and said “you can shove this piece of shite where the sun dont shine” he bought a Datsun B210 and drove it all over for 10 solid years - zero issues -
Someone once said 'Failure is like onions', there is always another layer. That was the Vega. They put too many novel features into the engine, into the manufacturing process and even the shipping. They also forgot that it is your economy buyer who is going to get hurt the worst when a product doesn't live up to what you lead them to expect. And they are usually young, will be buying cars for a long time and will never forgive you. It didn't help that Chevrolet started blaming the owners for the cooling system failures. The open deck block was an experiment. Using an iron head on the aluminum block trying to seal on the unsupported top of the cylinder was an experiment. The silicon lined cylinders were an experiment. The Youngstown assembly plant they built was never a happy place and GM Corporate took over management from the divisions and Fisher Body at this time which was part of one of the longest and most costly strikes in industry history. "Pride go's before a fall' and GM had no shortage of pride when they rolled the Vega out. They thought they could do anything they imagined.
Lordstown, Ohio. My first brand new car as a newly married young father, the Vega hurt me and my family very badly. Fortunately, I had the skills and co-workers help to bail me out. I paid near list for this car and got the WORST car I have ever owned, After the Vega, I bought a used 1965 Plymouth Belvedere 4 door sedan, 318 2bbl, auto. My wife and I drove that car for 4+years , with no issues at all.,
I was a vega mech at a dealer in the 70,s. As far as the engine is concerned, the silicone impregnated cylinders was the problem. The gm replacement short block came with steel liners in the aluminum block . Solved all the engine problems
I bought a used Monza around 1980. It had the Vega motor and I never had any problems with oil consumption and the motor outlasted the rest of the car. I bet it was a replacement sleeved motor.
