theduck

Thanks Mat

Tomorrow (Tuesday 11th January) the site will be offline for a period of the afternoon while we undergo transfer to a new server. 

Spoken to Brian and can confirm this is SOLD

All done

Critical forum software updates are running this morning to be followed by some performance tuning (no, really!).  The site should remain fully available but while tuning is on going performance may be negatively affected and warnings may appear on some pages.

Working tonight so wont make it, have a good evening all

Been working on this one a while - Building a custom airbox from scrap.

The 

I have a set of 4 in red if they are of interest?

If you want to buy a cable the best thing would be getting the proper rj11 serial cable https://efi-parts.co.uk/product/megajolt-rj11-serial-cable-lead/

and then buying a serial to usb cable with the FTDI chipset like this one https://amzn.to/3gWh9tI

Had some spacers from these guys and they also make pcd adapters https://www.superforma.co.uk

Quaife atb type is ideal for road in my opinion and very well priced via Burton power. 

Some heads don’t have the raised section of the seat which makes them a straight fit. A suitable size holesaw will remove the raised section of the seat and allow them to fit and work. 

About time we had some seats in the prefect

Yep https://shop.quaife.co.uk/qbe6z

I'd probably skip that 90.0 cell though 

Hi Trev, really good to hear from you and that you are keeping well. 
 

The S7 went through a few iterations with me and I’ll share some photos and details below: 

when I picked it up from you:

Then in November 2015 it went through the IVA and registration with a 1.6 pinto and 4 speed box and looked like this:

Then it almost immediately came back off the road for winter and had a 2.0 pinto and 5 speed fitted, but in the process of doing so decided that wasn’t going to be enough and so using a pinto efi setup from a late model Sierra I converted to efi and turbo charged it  it made a round 150-160bhp at this stage.

soon after that I decided to fit proper a mapable ecu and turned it myself. It ran great and was much nicer to drive with that setup and made around 180bhp. 
 

then came the big rebuild! Over this time id become good friends with my local engine builder and tuner, and we agreed I’d pull the head and he would do some porting and maybe we’d fit a cam, and while the head was off I was going to try and improve the looks of the car. That all changed when I went to sell the head off as my wife came with me and she told Steve (my tuner) that he needed to convince me to just build it once and do it right. In that instant the spec changed completely.
 

The engine ended up getting a complete overhaul, steel rods, cosworth pistons, ported head, big valves, custom profile cam we designed to suit turbo application but still rev. In the end the only thing stock was the block! To complement this we fitted a Tran-x straight cut gearbox and a Quaife LSD diff, and of course, a bigger turbo. This setup ended up with 300bhp and revving rover 8k rpm!

Because of this extra engine work and the fact I was building a custom body and making over improvements to the chassis. The rebuild over ran, but it was (just about) back on the road for the annual pilgrimage to wales looking like this

At this point (august 2019)  we had really found, and past, the limits of what the chassis was really capable of handling. Also with that much power in that car, I was suddenly very conscious of how vulnerable you were when driving it.  The plan at this point was to do some more improvements to it over winter, fit a quicker steering rack, bigger brakes, finish the body etc.
 

However in December 2019 a car came up that I felt would make the perfect home for the pinto turbo setup, and so the S7 was stripped back to a rolling chassis in a more traditional seven style, and was sold to make way for my new car. That build is now nearing completion and I hope to get some miles on it this summer. 

I owe a lot to you and Brendan. Buying the S7 taught me more than I could ever dream I would know about building and working on cars and through it I have made many friends of people I would never have met if it wasn’t for that car, so thank you!

Got a little job done today I have been meaning to look at for a while, after doing the first one thought it was interesting enough and potentially useful enough to put together a little video on, so here it is.  
 

Have made some more progress on the car and will share a full normal video soon.

New video on YouTube now

Looks like a cortina based s7. Not aware of any off the shelf upgrades. 

I thought pinto heads had the valve guides cast in place? So if they become worn its a job of drill out and insert bronze guides?

That will work, yep.  My understanding with that setup is you want the high pressure pump near the swirl pot and should work fine.  I use an intank pump and swirlpot assembly but that involves modifying your tank.

Everything at Burton is pricey 

An original sierra efi manifold, fuel rail, injectors etc etc is good quality and what I used (but with larger injectors) to make 300bhp.  In fact the next iteration of the engine is still using the same manifold, throttle body and idle control and is aiming for even more!

If doing it in two stages, the original engine loom, ecu and efi dizzy is a good option and can normally be found for a reasonable price.  If you decide to go straight to a mappable ECU there are many many options, personally I used megasquirt because it was relatively cheap but powerful with lots of flexibility, but it certainly isnt for everyone as it is less plug and play than some other solutions.  

Very popular conversion elsewhere in the world and starting to become more popular here.  Not aware of any pinto specific guides, not ones in english anyway, but it is much like turboing any engine, so any generic guide will steer you in the right direction.  Happy to answer any questions you'd have too.  Basic requirements are:

Turbo Manifold (None off the shelf, but cheap to get made)
Turbo (I like TD04-13t and TF035 from Subaru imprezas and legacys etc)
Downpipe (exhaust)
Some kind of chargecooling, either air to air intercooler (ideal for low budget) or a water to air chargecooler (better for packaging)

Then it comes down to carb or efi.  Personally I'd go efi, its just all round better, so for that you will need
EFI fuel pump - either in tank or external
EFI fuel pressure regulator
EFI inlet manifold - pinto came with efi in later sierras etc and they are easy to get and ideal.  Can use the idle control valve, throttle body and fuel rail too.
Decent size Injectors - 300cc+
Mappable ecu - There so many options, best bet is pick a tuner and go with their recommendation.

That setup will quite happily run 200bhp on an otherwise stock pinto,  beyond that you are getting into a full engine build.
 

Best bang for your buck on a pinto is boost.  Supercharger or turbocharger running 10-12psi, and a suitable carb (renault 5gtt) or efi setup and you will have a really nice streetable setup producing in the region of 200bhp and similar lbft of torque.  And if you are careful, its possible to do the whole turbo and efi conversion for less than the cost of a decent carb and cam kit.

Personally, I doubt that will be something many people would want to take on.  The lightweight needs not insignificant modification to make it pass an IVA, the end result is not very light weight, and ultimately a car that was designed to last one or two race seasons rather than be a road car. I would suggest listing it on ebay and seeing what bids you get.