[greensmurf20]

anybody tried to put a older chevy 4 banger into a GT yet? i'm sick of all this obsolete german junk that i cant get readily, and my blocks are too out of round and then they will need to be fixed and that means boring and more money, simple fix is that vega GT 151 HO with 125 horse and a chevy 5 speed to top it off. if anybody has tried this i'd be interested in pros and cons of doing this task. thanks in advance.

 

[kwilford]

Well, a "Pro" is that you never have to change oil in a Vega engine. They burn it fast enough that you just add oil when it is down. Say, every 500 miles or so....

 

[oldopelguy]

easy to find parts?

Last Vega I had was more difficult to get parts for than the 1.1 Kadett that replaced it. Maybe you live where all the Vegas went to die?

 

[opelgt73]

"obsolete german junk " ?

Come on now you can get every single part that you need from OGTS, and it usually arrives in 2 or 3 days, I doubt that there is a "Chevy Vega Source" where you can readialy order anything that you need, so you will have to settle with a local parts store that will most likely order you the wrong part, or some online chevy parts store which can be just as unreliable.

your block is out of round? get a new block, you can find them for $50 or less, but when I had mine bored it cost less than that to bore it.

If you want to save money swaping engines isn't going to save you any as you will have to have a ton of custom parts made, driveshaft, mounts, coolent system ect....PLUS you are still going to have an old engine that probly needs work, or has a problem that you dont know about.

 

[greensmurf20]

it ran good when we pulled it and its never locked up since then, turned over good 2 months ago but has been setting for 6 years. and somebody said something about here being where all the vegas went to die?.... any car that sees michigan dies!!!. its supposed to be rated for 125 horse, and i dont have to rebuild it, and i can use a 5 speed without killing myself for a 5 speed is my main 2 reasons. chevy parts are alot cheaper than the opel engine would be, BUT i still have to get the new clutch kit for the chevy set up which puts me out a hundred something as i just bought a new kit for the 1.9 and didnt get 100 miles on it, it still has the printing on the flywheel disk if that tells you how much wear it has. we have the ability to make the mounts as we did for my packard, and a friend does our driveshafts but what would i have to change on the cooling system besides hoses and possably and custom shroud?

 

[greensmurf20]

forgot... does a chevy bellhousing fit in a GT without hackin my transmission tunnel up? looks pretty tight

 

[TGSI Racing]

The Vega engine had a special chrome bore on the cylinders since it is an aluminum block. When it wears out... about 50,000 miles... it starts smoking (burinig oil). Then you have to throw away the block since it can't be bored. The only way to save the block was to have liners installed... about 10 times the cost of a bore job. So the only option was (is) to keep pouring in oil as you go smoking down the road. That's probably the reason you see far more Opels GTs on the road than Vegas. Vegas were made for 10 years... Opel GTs only 4 years.

"Obsolete German Junk" BLASPHEMY. The Opel uses exceptionally good steel alloy in everything on the car. And the CIH engines were over engineered (for their HP rating) so that they would last a long time. In the 70's the average German saved up for 10 years (or more) to buy an Opel. A properly rebullt engine... yea, bore the cylinders, regrind the crankshaft, etc... if properly taken care of will last for 100,000 miles or more.

 

[kwilford]

Vega Engine

As Bob has stated, the original Vega engine used a very early technology of aluminum block. If I recall correctly, it had a nickle/silicon compound impregnated into the cylinder bores after they were machined, and the aluminum pistons actually had a thin coating of iron to supposedly improve the friction characteristics of the piston/cylinder interface. But the two layers would wear prematurely, and since the cylinder coating was only a few molecules thick, you couldn't just over-bore the cylinder and use oversize pistons. Later engines had cast iron sleeves right from the factory, but they were still poorly designed engines, and badly balanced as well from what I recall.

Now, you might be thinking of the "Iron Duke", which GM brought out after the 2300 Aluminum Vega engine and was put in the Monza and the Monza Wagon (which was actually still a Vega). I believe that these were somewhat more durable, but were badly underpowered. More recently, they made a Quad 4 engine, which was a DOHC design. Better by far, but still lacking the quality of design and manufacture of the Rice Burner DOHC engines. But I believe that they are fairly wide and may not easily fit the Opel engine bay without extensive cutting. Which means you may as well go the route of the 60 degree GM V6 (2.8/3.1/3.4 litre). And be prepared to spend the next year or two making that conversion work.

And Jared, lest I need to remind you, there is no harm in asking advice as to what engine swap would perform best in an Opel, if you don't want to invest the time and effort in building a CIH engine to its ample capabilities. But please be a bit more sensitive to our members when you deride the quality of the cars that they have chosen to spend a bunch of time and money on.

Enough said.

 

[jordan]

Lots of good info! ^ (thats one dedicated moderator)

 

[greensmurf20]

ya keith i hear ya, i appologize to all. in short just frustrated as this GT was supposed to be a "decent" car to drive in high school until i get my 51 packard done, and done the way i want it. now all of my time is going into this GT and leaving no money for another car. i know the Opel name is great and our cars are far better than most new cars, and cars of their day...they're not junk. i'd love to rebuild a 1.9 into a 2.0 or something but the only place to get parts is OGTS....100 bucks a piston, $18*.** camshafts and 125 dollar gasket sets, it is just so expensive for me to handle, so i'll agree i'm being cheap with my GT. i'm about to throw in the towel guys, this was just not the car the PO claimed it to be.

 

[Travis]

While we need to support OGTS to help preserve the availability of parts for our cars in the future, I do understand the financial constraints we sometimes have. Parts are available elsewhere and sometimes at a much reduced price. Jared, if you need help trying to get an Opel motor together as cheaply as possible, I can help. Just let me know.

-Travis

 

[greensmurf20]

(ring ring) "is travis there"? i need alot of help travis as the tape measure eliminates the vega motor...manifolds are on opposite side as the opel motor. i do need to bore and possably overszed bearings. what all is needed to bore my origional 1.9 to a 2.0(seems most economical) as from what i have read so far, i need chevy 265 pistons and rings which are widely available. i will then need a head gasket for a 2.0, can i just order a gasket set for a 2.0 or does it have to all be for a 1.9 and then a 2.0 head gasket? what has to be done with the wrist pins for the chevy pistons to fit the opel rods? is this all that needs to be done or am i missing something else rather than having it bored? do you have any of these gaskets or chevy pistons/rings? what about main and rod bearings?

 

[kwilford]

I think I will split this thread, since the discussion is now heading down the engine rebuild path....

 

[greensmurf20]

sorry keith

 

[kwilford]

Jared,

No worries, I kind of like how this has turned out. A discussion on the economical rebuild of an Opel engine is just what this site needs. Many of us are more interested in a decent, cheap rebuild and the reliable operation of our cars than the more esoteric requirements of building a 7000 rpm 2.4 litre race engine.

Here is the new thread...

http://opelgt.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=9558#post9558