washington will ; Good luck and have fun   my only advice is REBUILD the engine first, when i bought my TD who ever built it put a worn engine in it  

Will;

Just a tip,the Chevette should have a catalytic converter,I would not put this item back on.But DO NOT throw it out.These GM cats bring some nice $$ at salvage yards.Last year I was getting $150.

  Will   mine came with a manual 4 speed but if the floor pan needs to be reshaped remember it is fiberglass easy to work with as the carb goes 1.4 came with a one barrel easy to rebuild.. the shift  linkage ,was the trouble!! I wanted a stick all my other vehicles are automatic boring to drive and my wife won’t/can;t drive a stickI think you can find a stick shift,   down here they were very common 30 years ago!!! The off road header sounds interesting where did you see it ?? …………Dan

Mine runs on a 2.3L Ford engine with manual four speed. It will peel out easily in first, and very rarely into second (but did burn a bit of rubber once hitting second ). My problem is the engine does not strain and I get over the speed limit before I know it. It is wonderful when passing someone, you can feel the acceleration when you push it down. A friend of mine has a VW version and he has not had any problems with a zippy ride. He does have me beat with all the trunk space that I do not have and his antifreeze purchase is one hundred percent less than mine. I do love the front engine, probably because I am more used to that, but my friend prefers the rear engine, probably because he is used to that.

Will;

To change over to a stick should not be that bad.All the small cars from 1980’s GM,chevette,vega,monza,pontiac 1000,astra,olds starfire.all used the same drive line.The 4 spd tranny should be a common item.The bell housings may have different bolt patterns per engine maker.The rearend should hold up just fine,as most of these little 4 bangers had under 90 horse.You may recall GM was putting V8’s(150 horse) in the monza’s and starfires,and using the same rear.There are a couple guys around town here that have V8 vegas,300 horse,and still running the original rearend.A possible donor for a 2.8 with stick would be the S10 S15,chevy gmc 2wd pickups from the 80’s.And the nice thing about these is you have a better chance at finding an OD tranny.Also these trannys have no shift linkage as the shifter is mounted directly into the top of the tranny.

Like JasCochran, I too have a 2.3L ford, which is VERY quick. I owned a new Chevette, and would not need to experience that again. See if a 2.3 will fit, and if you are going to rebuild an engine anyway, why not go for the best four banger? Just a thought.

Greg 

Pacesetter used to make a Chevette header, but it’s discontinued.

If you try the Chevette forum,  http://members.boardhost.com/Vette_Man/ , there’s a guy that hot rods these motors for the dirt oval classes that run these cars in the TN, KY, IN area. It’s called Fields Performance. If I remember correctly. There was even a local cam grinder who’s name escapes me right now.

There was also a guy in TN that once a year makes headers for these race cars. If Rick can’t find a header, maybe Fields Performance can.

I always wanted to use a Toyota C-20 (late 70’s to mid 80’s) 4 banger. They were actually little 2.0L hemi’s. The engine was in everything from a RWD Celica to their pick-up. The engines used to be plentiful in boneyards, left over from the Legend Cars (oval racers). They used modified RWD Celica rears, spindles, driveshafts, brakes, etc. The engine and trans were left after the rusted bodies were crushed. Legend Cars use a 4 cylinder motorcycle engine.

The Chevette drivetrain/TD Replica is about as close as you’ll get to the way a real MG-TD drove…not exactly a bullet.