The vegabishi

[Pirrofab]

Pirrofab submitted a new DSM Profile :

The vegabishi


Read more about this vehicle here...

 

[Ludachris]

Yes! This thing is cool. Hope you have some updates for this build thread soon.

 

[Pirrofab]

Depending how the winter goes and money comes in I may have some work planned for it..... I’ll try to move some photos from Facebook over to here that document more of the build.

 

[Pirrofab]

My dreams came true a few weeks ago. I’ve always been a fan of stock appearing turbos and trying to keep things super simple I’ve had my eyes on an hta68 to achieve my goals for a while but due to being a budget build a new turbo just wasn’t feasible and I was going to push the 16g until it spit the wheels out of it.

well, Robert young @ forced performance likes the Vega and we struck up a convo and we worked out an amazing deal on an hta68. The Vegabishi is now FP powered! The whole time talking to Robert during the transaction has been great.

My wife and I are currently waiting on some good weather and timing to get out in the garage and get the turbo swapped over! We also have some other plans for the 2020 race season including making some more changes in the weight reduction department, and installing an msd box that should help with 2step.

 

[Ludachris]

We need some install photos when the time comes.

 

[Pirrofab]

Install pics/ possibly YouTube channel video will be occurring for that. 16g out stock appearing bad mama jamma in!

I’m praying this build continues to teeter on that crisp edge of having everything work together ( or fight itself) depending how you look at it to still get up on the converter without nitrous

 

[Ludachris]

Install pics/ possibly YouTube channel video will be occurring for that. 16g out stock appearing bad mama jamma in!

I’m praying this build continues to teeter on that crisp edge of having everything work together ( or fight itself) depending how you look at it to still get up on the converter without nitrous

You can always upload your videos directly here if needed, without having to create a channel on Youtube. Just sayin'.

I'm sure you're going to get this thing sorted, and it's going to make a lot of people smile (and raise some eyebrows too).

 

[Pirrofab]

Weather hasn’t cooperated. We finally have lighting in the garage and the nights are slowly getting warmer so I’ll be able to get the wife out help with the turbo swap. Snapped a few pictures of the turbo removal process. Not that anyone needs a walkthrough on how to remove a turbo from a Chevy Vega but if you need to, it’s here. FWIW, this car has been fully assembled for 2 years and I used some low quality hardware from tractor supply. I can say that letting the hardware soak for 2+weeks with multiple applications of kroil was absolutely needed, I had 2-3 bolts that put up a fight coming out and I thought the worst. Going for some new hardware this time around and we shouldn’t have any issues. I really can’t wait to get the new 68hta on the car. This whole lockdown virus thing is a bit crazy and I miss being at the track but this is giving me time to get some odds and ends addressed before I head out. As you can see in the pictures. Things aren’t perfect, they don’t always need to be. If it isn’t going to be reliable you need to rely on ability.

you’ll notice the drain pipe is just a jacked up stock drain tube. I run a hose to it with a clamp. You’ll notice the 02 housing doesn’t exist. It’s just a downpipe straight to the flange. Wastegate port has been welded shut and we run a a wastegate from the manifold. The compressor wheel has a small mark on it. It’s had that since it was installed. No smoke,noise, or spool up issues with the 16g, just wanted a little more out of life and got a hell of a deal from Forced performance on the HTA. And yes finally, that is in weld you see and some boogered up flux core welds with rust on them!

 

[Ludachris]

This thing's gonna fly with the 68hta. Can't wait to see some videos of it.

 

[Pirrofab]

Sure hope so, would loved to have done a direct comparison with just the turbo swap but since it’s last track outing and the upcoming outing once we get back to normal it’s about 100lbs lighter, new front drag shocks, and maybe a few other little tweaks

 

[Pirrofab]

Race day recap: First things first! Thank you to my incredibly amazing, beautiful wife for pushing me to get to the track for the final outing of 2020 and holding down the fort with the little ones while I went racing.

( I literally come up with a million excuses to not work on the car most days or we are busy the other days I don’t have excuses to work on the car ..... y’all really need to thank Sarah Pirro for yesterday’s track outing), seriously..... I almost decided to snooze the alarm with the weather report I was looking at.

Got to the track about 20 minutes later than I wanted to. No biggy. Get car off trailer. Swap the back tires. Roll into tech inspection. All good to go, fire it back up put it in gear and get about 15 feet ahead of tech and the car shuts off. Cranks no start. No fuel pressure, no ecu. Fuses check out . Fuel pump won’t come on. Laptop won’t read link. Find out the master switch went bad. Jam a pair of pliers in behind the master switch to get the car fired back up. Get up into the staging lanes.

Get it kinda up on the converter. Boost around 24 psi. Click off a 12.0 right off the trailer.

Get right back in line. Someone scatters the rods. Wait out an oil down for about an hour. Literally leaving the car idle most of this time because it’s cold out and I’m trying to stay warm. Look over the log gave it some more boost. Look in my side mirror at the back tire and realize it’s nearly flat. (It has a slow leak) get out of line , pump up tire. Get back in line. Wait out another oil down. Rolled deep into the lane before stalling up. Screwed up the starting line routine and took 20 seconds on the converter before leaving. Pass felt good. Find out it slowed down to a 12.1.
I’m angry. Look over the logs. Play with timing. Play with fuel. Crank up the boost another 2 turns. Stop back at the air compressor hose. Instead of leaving slicks at 20psi I make them look like hot air balloons at 25psi. (The slicks are too much for the car, a stiff radial would be better)
Back at the tree I start the stall up process early. Boost climbed to 12psi halfway decent and then it came to live and sat around 28. I nearly put my foot through the firewall holding the brakes as the car wanted to leap forward. I didn’t bother dumping the timing as I was too hell bent on leaving with “all of it” light goes green while I’m doing this and sit there for another 6 seconds as boost was loading.
I now have a new personal best 60ft from this. I wound up missing 2nd. Banged the limiter for what felt like an eternity. (Still no tach in car, shifting by ear and feel) 2nd felt good but I figured I just wasted the pass but was interested in what my mph would be so I held onto it. 3rd was drama free. Roll around to the booth for my slip. Finally got my 11.96! Looked over the log. A bunch of things are funky. I smell antifreeze. Coolant temp shows 245.... don’t see anything anywhere though. I let it idle for about another 30-40 minutes. No issues. It lives to fight another day. I took a peek at the turbo.... stupid me had something on the inside of the intake pipe or filter. The turbo looks like it got into a fight with a blender. I kinda wanna keep running it just because.....

Plans for 2021:
Tach and speedometer
Drag radials
Bigger intercooler?
E85?
Fix the tune.

Thank you to those that have helped lend me beer or parts while working on this thing, or donated parts to this build. Or sold me incredibly cheap parts for the build
My loving wife, you are amazing!!! Thank you for all you do so when I do race I can do it without worry.
The businesses and friends that have helped me along the way: thank you for believing in the little guy
White Shed Speed: Kurt Opposum Stuart
Performance Partout: Nathan Crisman John W Hanlon
DSMpartout: Norbert Madrigal
Chuck Exton:exton automotive machine
Robert Young: Forced Performance Turbochargers
Roy Neimanroysinjectorservice
Bill Hincher: one badass adapter plate!
Rob Fig: Forced Induction Guys, INC.

Stock 6 bolt with arp and mls gasket
Hta68 turbo
1450cc injectors 255pump in tank
2g maf
Th350 trans
9” rear with 4:10 /spool
V3link ecu
26x8.5 slicks

 

[Pirrofab]

 

[Pirrofab]

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I had this back in the day. Been wanting to do the same thing.
I love it!

 

[Pirrofab]

You’d think after dropping a v8 into a Vega putting a 4cylinder back into the car would be a walk in the park. It’s really not. If you plan on keeping the same geometry for the transmission/driveshaft / transmission crossmember you’ll actually have to cut out the firewall further because the thermostat housing requires another 6 inches of clearance behind the cylinder head. You’ll need to massage the trans tunnel further because the adapter plate will hit both lower areas of the tunnel..... including the gas pedal mounting points my crank angle sensor literally sits within a 16th of an inch, maybe closer to the firewall directly underneath the wiper motor.
I had to use an oil filter housing from a 90 because any other housing would have interference with the center link for steering. The intake manifold is also less than an eighth inch away from the steering shaft.

it’s a snug fit.... it was also built on a tight budget so I didn’t have the ability to modify anything.
Some issues could be solved by restricting head passages for coolant and run a thermostat housing out of the front of the head. Rack and pinion steering upgrade could gain more clearance to oil filter housing or run a filter relocation kit.rack and pinion steering would also make oil pan design much easier. Making a custom steering shaft to get more clearance for intake manifold.

we got very lucky with how the motor fit. Lifting the motor higher would have created more issues with the trans tunnel and wiper motor clearance. Putting the motor forward more would have changed driveshaft and trans crossmember and weight balance .

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Well....I love it
Mods for sure in any case. Mine was a pinch in just about every place but it was cool back then.
Now I'd like to 4g swap one with a 400TH or a PG trans. The trans adaptor would be a nice piece.

 

[Pirrofab]

Th400 would be bombproof but a proper power glide if drag only or A th350 would be ideal

 

[Ludachris]

I made all you thumbnails in your previous post full size Casey - hope you don't mind.

 

[Pirrofab]

Don’t mind at all! I’m still thankful this place is still around!

 

[Pirrofab]

Looked over the car from the last track outing several months ago when I went 11s..... my turbo decided to try and eat some of my maf.....

Still gonna send it

p.s. that is a boat load of jb weld on my j pipe. After welding it some of the welds are a bit sloppy and rather than keep rewelding it I figured just slap the magical end all be all on it. It works

 

[Widgmaster]

Pretty interesting post . I use to do a bit of bracket racing with a best of 12.9 . in a 1970 Montego MX 3245lbs. My dream was to put all my equipment in a shaved 62 Ford Falcon 1300lb .. I had a dream of getting into the 10`s but it never came to fruition ... I think if you get your reaction times down you could get a better time slip . Getting your turbo to spool up at the start line so you have full boost can be tricky.. Keep up the good work and I will be watching for better time slips brother..

 

[Pirrofab]

Reaction time doesn’t have impact on overall et though. Clock only starts when the beam is broken from front tires. I do have a routine down for leaving under full power. It just takes a while. I have some things to try for a stall up routine but ultimately I’m at the mercy of my converter.

 

[Pirrofab]

2 weeks prior to the shootout we got back out for testing (for the shootout) and had some issues with a stumble/miss and taking time to get up on the converter. unfortunately it was severe enough that i melted a plug, which in turn cooked 2 valves, melted a piston, pinched a ring and scuffed a cylinder. compression test showed 75psi on cylinder 1 and the other 3 cylinders showed 120psi. cylinder leakdown yielded less than stellar results with all cylinders showing leakdown beyond 20% all through the exhaust and crankcase. motor is now out and over the past 2 weeks was at the machine shop being rebuilt with half used but decent parts that ive been slowly collecting the last few years. new motor is a 2.3 stroker. using a stock 2.4 crank cut .010/.010 ,manley h beam with 21mm pin, wiseco 8.8:1, arp mains, kiggly girdle. still utilizing the hta68. i cant remember if i updated or not but the car has had a Hughes converter in it for a bit, its definitely helped with stall up and consistency but as the motor was hurt with the poor leakdown and compression i was fighting an uphill battle for while. the car has had a best of 11.7 @111 with a 1.55 60' being the best its gone. The original 4g in this car lasted just over 60 passes of pure torture and MANY learning curves/mishaps with running lean, tuning problems, out of gas, overheating, hot laps. while i would have loved for it to last forever i cant be mad because it owes me nothing.

 

[Ludachris]

2 weeks prior to the shootout we got back out for testing (for the shootout) and had some issues with a stumble/miss and taking time to get up on the converter. unfortunately it was severe enough that i melted a plug, which in turn cooked 2 valves, melted a piston, pinched a ring and scuffed a cylinder. compression test showed 75psi on cylinder 1 and the other 3 cylinders showed 120psi. cylinder leakdown yielded less than stellar results with all cylinders showing leakdown beyond 20% all through the exhaust and crankcase. motor is now out and over the past 2 weeks was at the machine shop being rebuilt with half used but decent parts that ive been slowly collecting the last few years. new motor is a 2.3 stroker. using a stock 2.4 crank cut .010/.010 ,manley h beam with 21mm pin, wiseco 8.8:1, arp mains, kiggly girdle. still utilizing the hta68. i cant remember if i updated or not but the car has had a Hughes converter in it for a bit, its definitely helped with stall up and consistency but as the motor was hurt with the poor leakdown and compression i was fighting an uphill battle for while. the car has had a best of 11.7 @111 with a 1.55 60' being the best its gone. The original 4g in this car lasted just over 60 passes of pure torture and MANY learning curves/mishaps with running lean, tuning problems, out of gas, overheating, hot laps. while i would have loved for it to last forever i cant be mad because it owes me nothing.

That really sucks, Casey. Sorry to hear about the bad luck. Sounds like it will be back together before too long though.

 

[Pirrofab]

That really sucks, Casey. Sorry to hear about the bad luck. Sounds like it will be back together before too long though.

I think the last of the parts are finally at the house. The reassembly has begun!!!