Ever get the urge to build a Chevette?

In reply to newold_m (Forum Supporter) :

I love watching those Retropower videos. The Gordon Murray car is my kind of build, just not my idea of what I'd like to spend.

Chris_V said:

mdshaw said:

In reply to bobzilla :

There is not logical reason I can think of to put a 2.8V6 into anything. Has to one of the worst motors ever.   

They are compact and can make decent power. My buddy had one in his S10 and it went 250k miles with nothing but a water pump change in that time. it's similar in output to the 2.7 Ford V6 I swapped into a few little British cars (and had a overbored, 2.8 liter version in my Rokstock modded Capri)

 

As for Chevettes, a guy came out to one of our BSCC autocrossed with a beige '77 that looked stock, other than being a little lower over widened steel wheels. Had a 2.8 liter/5 speed swap and turned out to be FAST! Looked basically like this one (same

grille and color) with the wider black steelies and a touch lower:

I like this front end the best of all of them, and that little autocrosser is a big reason why.

That's the year of body shell I'd start with to build a Rally Vauxhall Chevette replica.

Chris_V said:

mdshaw said:

In reply to bobzilla :

There is not logical reason I can think of to put a 2.8V6 into anything. Has to one of the worst motors ever.   

 

As for Chevettes, a guy came out to one of our BSCC autocrossed with a beige '77 that looked stock, other than being a little lower over widened steel wheels. Had a 2.8 liter/5 speed swap and turned out to be FAST! Looked basically like this one (same

 

 

Back about that time, late 70's or so, GM/Chevy built one with the 2.8 V6.  The magazine said that they could not build it for production as it was faster than the Corvette.

DeadSkunk (Warren) said:

Chris_V said:

mdshaw said:

In reply to bobzilla :

There is not logical reason I can think of to put a 2.8V6 into anything. Has to one of the worst motors ever.   

They are compact and can make decent power. My buddy had one in his S10 and it went 250k miles with nothing but a water pump change in that time. it's similar in output to the 2.7 Ford V6 I swapped into a few little British cars (and had a overbored, 2.8 liter version in my Rokstock modded Capri)

 

As for Chevettes, a guy came out to one of our BSCC autocrossed with a beige '77 that looked stock, other than being a little lower over widened steel wheels. Had a 2.8 liter/5 speed swap and turned out to be FAST! Looked basically like this one (same

grille and color) with the wider black steelies and a touch lower:

I like this front end the best of all of them, and that little autocrosser is a big reason why.

That's the year of body shell I'd start with to build a Rally Vauxhall Chevette replica.

Girlfriend bought one with the Rally body style in the early 80s.  I put in a glass sunroof that I bought her for Christmas.  It was a dark metric red with a tan interior.  It had tach and speedo and a 4 speed shifter.  Shifted pretty well after I replaced all the bushings.  I kind of liked it.  I didn't think it was particularly underpowered and I was driving a '70 Formula Firebird with a RA IV.  Moved to Miami with it for school.  It had no AC so it got traded in on a brand new '84 GTI with was worlds better.

Scott_H said:

Chris_V said:

mdshaw said:

In reply to bobzilla :

There is not logical reason I can think of to put a 2.8V6 into anything. Has to one of the worst motors ever.  

Back about that time, late 70's or so, GM/Chevy built one with the 2.8 V6.  The magazine said that they could not build it for production as it was faster than the Corvette.

The Almost Chevette...

Although I never became a fan of chebbys 60 deg. V6, (I like buick's 90 deg better,) that would have been a very cool car for the times. Today, I think the 3800 from a F body would fit about as easy, and a SBC ain't all that hard. Seen a few, and if those guys could do it, can't be too bad.

A friend has one that he originally turbo'd the 1.6, then a carb 4.3 swap, then he put a turbo on that. Last version is a 355 that ran mid 11s but scared him once on the top end of the track so he cut it apart for a back half and it hasn't moved in years. He now drag races a rail and a mustang 

I feel like we have this thread every now and then, and every time we get the guys who drove one back in the day one or two times and think they should all be crushed. I think that opinion just shows an extreme lack of creativity. Sure, a stocker is a sad econobox, but this is Grassroots Motorsports, not Grassroots Stock-Commutersports.

What is not to love about a cheaply built (read:lightweight) rear wheel drive hatchback with a live rear axle and double wishbone front suspension? I wish there was something comparable built in volume in the past 20 years or so. Everyone here is going to throw away the original engine and trans and swap in something they favor anyway. 

In reply to dropstep :

Your friend should let it move onto the next owner.

In reply to newrider3 :

I agree completely. I've been browsing through a stack of a British magazine called "Retro Cars". Lots of RWD small cars that weigh less than a ton, with modern engines making 150-300 HP. They've got to be an absolute riot to drive. Cars like early Escorts, Chevettes, E21 BMWs, even the occasional Lada. I  find the idea intriguing.

newrider3 said:

I feel like we have this thread every now and then, and every time we get the guys who drove one back in the day one or two times and think they should all be crushed. I think that opinion just shows an extreme lack of creativity. Sure, a stocker is a sad econobox, but this is Grassroots Motorsports, not Grassroots Stock-Commutersports.

What is not to love about a cheaply built (read:lightweight) rear wheel drive hatchback with a live rear axle and double wishbone front suspension? I wish there was something comparable built in volume in the past 20 years or so. Everyone here is going to throw away the original engine and trans and swap in something they favor anyway. 

ALL cars from that timeframe were scary E36 M3boxes.  We know how to make them better.

At least, we pretend we know, and if that's enough to make us happy with lusting over a 45 year old E36 M3box that we'll never be able to buy anyway because they all returned to their ore states, then why question it?

The standard wheel alignment for a Chevette involved a frame rack to pull the ever so desirable upper control arm mounts an inch or two out, so you could come close to getting the camber corrected.

I would put an Infinity v8 in a B210 and feel much safer than anything more than the 1.6 in a Shovitte.

A chevete used to rot outside in my neighborhood.  Always would thought itd be an awesome project to swap my rotary motor and trans i have laying around into 

There's a titled four door Chevette automatic in state for $450.  I need all of you to pipe down...  

On the Bad Seed Chevette:

That car broke my brain when I first saw it! It more or less influenced me to start doing the stupid stuff I do now. Might still be my favorite magazine project car of all time.

stroker said:

There's a titled four door Chevette automatic in state for $450.  I need all of you to pipe down...  

is it two tone grey?

We had a lot of trouble getting rid of our Acadian. The dog had thrown a fit when left alone in the car for what it clearly thought was too long, and chewed and ripped up every accessible piece of carpeting, which resulted in a rather piebald look, and my wife had dropped it off at a ferry parking lot in the sun before going away for the weekend.  Sadly, she had overlooked a large carton of milk left behind the seats, which in her absence expanded, broke out and festered in a way that would pass belief unless you experienced it.

In order to get rid of it, we had to find a buyer who didn't care about appearance, who had also lost their sense of smell.  By offering it at a truly bargain price, we eventually found an old pensioner with no apparent sense of smell and very little aesthetic sense either, and made a deal.   I always wondered if he had any grandkids and pictured him going to pick them up for an outing and having them reeling and spitting up from the smell and wondering what they were on about....

The very best memory of that car was when it drove away in someone else's ownership.

In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :

The Inside of My Chevette ITC 

I forgot I had a picture of the car I talked about in the 2nd page of this thread.  That's Alfred kneeling next to the car, talking to a potential customer sitting in the car.

This photo is from a Super Chevy Show at Green Valley Raceway near Dallas in 1985.

Jalopy_Joe said:

Thanks for sharing. Can't remember the last time I saw an ITC Chevette. 

Is the photo above taken at Waterford Hills?

Rog

In the early 1980s, there was a four-door Chevette autocrossing with the Westchester Sports Car Club in New York. I think it was green, might have been that brown-tan.

The big thing was the owner had swapped in a Mazda Rotary engine! I presume a 12A, but never got to talk with the owner. It was quite a fast car and sounded very unusual!

boulder_dweeb said:

Is the photo above taken at Waterford Hills?

Rog

Yes, that's Waterford. I missed that detail and I raced there for years.

newrider3 said:

I feel like we have this thread every now and then, and every time we get the guys who drove one back in the day one or two times and think they should all be crushed. I think that opinion just shows an extreme lack of creativity. Sure, a stocker is a sad econobox, but this is Grassroots Motorsports, not Grassroots Stock-Commutersports.

What is not to love about a cheaply built (read:lightweight) rear wheel drive hatchback with a live rear axle and double wishbone front suspension? I wish there was something comparable built in volume in the past 20 years or so. Everyone here is going to throw away the original engine and trans and swap in something they favor anyway. 

I know this is over a year old but I need to address it. I thought they should all be crushed because we had multiple in my family. From 1979-1991 there was at least one chevette on the property. They were dreadful in literally every way.

That doesn't mean they couldn't be fun to me as an adult doing stupid things. But as a vehicle they were horrific

Did someone mispell Chevelle or Corvette?  J/K!