Pinto Refurbishment

[Guest Duncan Venn]

I'm now living in Istanbul, having had a great 5-day drive here last June. I have an Exmo with a standard 2 litre lump in it, which I pulled straight out of a 1987 sierra with probably 100K miles on it. I changed the timing belt and apart from that have done nothing to it. I wondered whether to refurbish it at the time, but was advised that since it seemed to work OK, just to keep going until it started to complain. It has a standard Weber 2V Carb.

 

4000 miles later and it's still going strong: it starts with a burst of blue smoke, coughs a bit when cold, bangs and pops cheerfully when coasting, very occasionally backfires, and gently drips oil when at rest. I can get 75 mph out of it, though the accelleration is not especially spectacular and after about 3500 revs I get more noise rather than any oomph - good for setting off alarms on parked cars, but not much else. I use unleaded petrol on, as far as I can tell, a leaded head, with some of those fuel cat beads in the tank (no idea if they work, but no obvious damage yet). It has not let me down, but I'd prefer to get the engine refurbished before it goes bang on some remote Turkish road.

 

I have just found a garage that makes 7 clones, race a Cossie and an Escort Mexico and claim to be Turkish drag-racing champions. They will do anything to the engine I want and given the chance they'd love to squeeze as much HP out of it as they can. However all I really want is a clean, fuel-efficient engine that will give me what it was designed to do. A couple of cheap extra HP here or there would be good, but I'm not racing the thing.

 

So, given that you really can't tell what needs to be changed until the engine is dismantled, and that my budget is likely to be limited, what should I be looking to replace?

[Joel]

I can get 75 mph out of it, though the accelleration is not especially spectacular and after about 3500 revs I get more noise rather than any oomph....

 

I have exactly the same setup as you, and that sounds very familiar - I was even made to eat dirt by a diesel focus the other day! Very embarassing, especially with all that exhaust noise - they know you're trying

 

Loads of info about modding pintos on here if you search about a bit, but as a starter you could change the carb - pick up a cheap one from ebay, then a bit of mild airflow work on the head shouldn't have too much of an impact on your bank balance - they can fit hardened valve seats at the same time, so you can run unleaded without damaging the engine.

[Snapperpaul]

Carb, Cam, Head, Rings possibly.

Its really up to your budget, i assume that labour is cheaper in Turkey so its the parts that will cost.

Get a copy of Burton Performance catalogue and read Des Hamils book on how to tune the Pinto.

Very simple cheap mods are to fit the Injection head, the injection head has much better flow on the inlet side sharp turn and is good for 5-10 bhp on its own (whole engine if you can find one, better rods) with a cam kit and a DGAS carb from the 3 litre engine. Should see from 120 bhp with this set up and if you are only getting a top speed of 75 then i think your in for a treat.

If you decide on a rebore then standard oversize pistons go to +90, others got to a massive +2.25 but will cost.

The cheap trick of using V6 pistons from the 2.8 will give you 2.1 but will be further down the bore loosing some compression, V6 pistons with Cosworth rods redress the balance but are not an exact fit, piston pin retention is the issue.

[Guest Duncan Venn]

Thanks guys, very helpful. I've got a pair of dellorto 40s that I'm toying with putting on, though I understand that the fuel consumption goes through the floor, so I'm not sure it's worth the candle.

 

As a matter of interest, with a 100K mile engine, what should I expect to have to replace

[Snapperpaul]

As a matter of interest, with a 100K mile engine, what should I expect to have to replace

 

The Pinto was always ready for a rebuild at 100K, especialy if it has had a chequred history.

I would go for a recon short motor(bottom end) and add a better head, cam etc.

Bottom end usualy has new big end bearings, pistons and rings with the main bearings being replaced but only ground undersize if needed.

The head is a much bigger job so a good injection head off a lower milage car would be ideal, add new valve stem oil seals, new cam kit with cam bearings and spray bar this usualy has valve springs and followers ( 250 ish GBP) you will need a complete head gasket kit to complete.

The twin forties are good enough for your needs but will be thirsty so the next best carb is the DGAS which will give much better mpg and is good for upto 150bhp.

[Guest AWhite]

On my standard 2.0 (not anymore) i could get 110mph at a push. Obviously not on her majestys roads.

 

On my modified engine the top speed is not much more but it gets there ALOT quicker. Down to the aerodynamics of the car.

 

75mph is a bit low for a 2.0, more like a 1.6.

 

Andy

[Guest stu205]

what sort of money are you looking at for all the refurb work v's a newer lump, vauxhall/zetec for example? you seam to be able to pick them up cheep enough nowerdays, red top with bike carbs say? saves the mega-bucks-jolt. just an idea!

[Andy Spencer]

Just a thought (not disagreeing that a Pinto likes a refurb after 100k) but if the engine is generally strong and not rattling, do you really need to do a full rebuild?

Starting with a puff of smoke is likely to be the valve stem seals - head off job only (can actually do it with the head on at a push). Pinto's are likely to give you some warning that they are failing (I drove my old S7 with a 1.6 in with 1/2 the recommended compression but no serious knocks or bangs to Le Mans and back!) so don't be too paranoid about complete failure.

If the bottom end is sound and not making nasty noises, you haven't got a big budget and don't do many miles, do a compression test to see of the rings are OK and perhaps just do a head off job? Your poor performance could be timing, carb setup, valve seat degradation (if using unleaded on a leaded head), and just general poor tuning.

Not trying to put you off a rebuild, its good fun to do anyway.

 

Andy

[DAVE CASTLE]

Old Fords Never die they just go faster

Dave

[Guest Duncan Venn]

I cannot change the engine in Turkey. As it is the law does not really cater for kit cars (it is illegal to alter a vehicle spec) and it is something of a mystery how I have managed to get the Exmo through their equivalent of the DVLA. It might be because I had the Turkish Army helping me, or it might be down to the fact that I was able to answer all their technical questions, the car had been SVA'd and registered in UK previously and it would only be in the country temporarily. If I change the engine it'll give them kittens. To give some idea, I've been exempted from the emissions test because the car is 'new', even though the engine is 1987!

 

Thanks for the help. The engine runs smoothly enough, so I'll only tamper with the bottom end if either the compression is poor or the job is cheap to do (there are a lot of old Taunus' on the road and pinto parts, probably locally made, are cheap - though the quality might be suspect). I'll concentrate on the head: I'm probably stuck with a normal head because the Sierra doesn't seem to have made it here in quantity.

 

Just one more thing so that I can source one - what cars had the DGAS carb?

[Snapperpaul]

3 Litre Capri but i think ebay would be a good place to look.

As for engine changes, any Pinto will do as the engine numbers are only stamped on the block under the exhuast and have been known to fade over time, some people have even been conciencious and re stamped the numbers ( as seen on the reg documents) back onto the block.

[Guest Duncan Venn]

Paul, thanks - my comments about engine change were in answer to stu205's suggestion that I change the engine type. Does the DGAS use a different manifold or will the standard one do?

[Guest AWhite]

The DGAS uses the same manifold and throttle linkage as the standard DGAV.

 

Andy