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Author Topic: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.  (Read 53456 times)

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Offline don33

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #60 on: July 22, 2013, 02:31:30 PM »
Next on the agenda is obtaining a Ford Explorer complete rear axle assy...




Well, just got back from the wrecking yard and here it is, a complete 1998 ford explorer rear axle assy. cost me $245.00 , that's an awesome deal. you get 5 lug 11.25" disc, 31 spline heavy duty axles, a trac lock 8.8 diff and 373 gears. try rebuilding your 8 inch with the above features for that price... 


Offline don33

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #61 on: July 26, 2013, 05:54:24 PM »
just thought this pic might be of interest to anyone who is considering the explorer axle swap...   in the pic is a 1998 ford explorer rear, the drive shaft is a 1997 areostar aluminum drive shaft, the transmission is a ford C4. what's cool about this you ask ?  they all fit together, no mods required.



as soon as I get the axle housing narrowed, I can start assembling the car.

Offline don33

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #62 on: July 27, 2013, 10:04:40 PM »
I got the rear axle housing all disassembled, now I just need to drill out the plugs that hold the tube in the center section. pull the tube out. using the one cut method, cut 2 15/16 off the end of the tube and insert tube back into center section. weld everything in place and reassemble with two short side axles. let me tell you, those are some beefy axles. this thing will be very durable.

a little progress, I went back to the wrecking yard where I bought the housing from and traded them my long side axle for another short side axle, no cash involved, small victory...   

Yesterday I got the 3 plugs that secure the axle tube into the center section drilled out, tomorrow I'm taking it down to the shop where I work to see if We can get the tube extracted from the center section ....   stay tuned.

Offline thmpsn70

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #63 on: September 07, 2013, 04:20:31 PM »
I don't have a pinto but our setup will be more similar than not, I have a 1975 mustang II i was wondering what master cylinder you are considering to go with those  gm calipers and the explorer discs, is your set up manual brakes? or power ? mine is manual at the moment this is the reason i have been on the hunt for a ranger 8.8 with drum brake (no need to change masters with that set up

Offline tintmaster

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #64 on: December 04, 2013, 11:38:43 PM »
Love the build! I have a '77 hatch. Plan on about the same setup as yours. Couple of questions.


1) Did you get the upper control arm from Speedway as well?


2) Are you running power brakes for the conversion? Can I keep my manual brake booster doing the swap?
C. Eugene Brown

Offline don33

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #65 on: January 28, 2014, 06:12:33 AM »
yes I did get the upper control arms from
speedway. and yes I am running manual brakes. everything has been on hold for a while hope to get back at it soon...

Offline JohnW

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #66 on: March 08, 2014, 11:53:47 PM »
Keep us updated. I'm in the process of doing almost the same swap.

I put the Explorer rear axle in as-is. Had to cut off the bracket from the diff for the 3rd shock on the Explorer and beat the floor under the back seat with a hammer quite a bit. I may need to cut a little padding out of the right side seat base. I also have to cut some metal out at the end of the trans tunnel and build it up to clear the speed sensor and cast tabs that protect it. There's just enough room under the seatback to get the clearance while not modding the seat. If you center the pinion, the speed sensor will not clear in a Pinto without serious modifications that would get in the way of the back seat. And I like the extra width from it, pushes the wheels out to fill the fenders better and allows the use of higher offset wheels.

I also have an Aerostar driveshaft to go along with my T5. Can't beat $80 for a good condition aluminum shaft.

The NPR intercooler looks like it fits perfectly. I would go that route if I didn't already get a free Greddy front mount.
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Offline don33

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #67 on: March 17, 2014, 01:24:48 AM »
Ok, I'm just about to get back into the build if it would just stop snowing...!  I'm hoping to get the rear axle cut and welded this coming week. Yeah, the large NPR is a pretty good Fit. I wont have any problem filling the wheel wells, just get wider wheels and tires...

Offline JohnW

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #68 on: April 15, 2014, 10:29:58 PM »
Most of the wheels that are easily available are higher offset and have been for the past couple decades. I'm just leaving my axle alone so I can fit them without spacers and even if I wanted to shorten it, I don't have the tools to do so and there's nobody local who can do it.

The axle barely fit at stock width. If I clearance a few spots of the car and cut the bump stops, I'll be able to get about 1.5" of travel with the lower Landrum leaf springs I bought. The tabs that protect the speed sensor and the sensor itself stick out too much (my car is resting on them right now!), but they're centered and I'm going to cut the floor out at the back of the trans tunnel under the seat and rebuild it to clear. I'm using the electronic speed sensor. With one side shortened, this would be off-center and even harder to make fit. But if you're cutting it off and plugging the hole, that's less of an issue. It's still going to be tight though.
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Offline don33

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #69 on: April 27, 2014, 05:10:57 PM »
Well I'm glad to report the snow is gone it's warming up and I am back at it.  well, got my 8.8 explorer axle cut and welded. ordered some nice new spring perches from Summit Racing, perfectly sized for the 3.25" explorer axle housing. check it out.


Offline don33

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #70 on: May 03, 2014, 10:57:14 PM »
Got some major progress done today, my narrowed explorer rear is in...




Offline JohnW

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #71 on: May 07, 2014, 04:15:26 PM »
How'd you go about cutting it? Just a warning, the speed sensor and protecting tabs will NOT clear the floor. You can either remove them or cut the floor. Also the diff cover may hit the gas tank strap mounts, I cut some metal out of mine for clearance.
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Offline don33

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #72 on: May 07, 2014, 04:54:31 PM »
had a fab shop cut and weld it back together, they had the means to ensure it was straight. I have a fuel cell in mine so no worries on the diff cover hitting that. also since my rear has been narrowed, it is perfectly centered.  At this time I don't believe the tabs on the rear will hit the floor. we shall see.  not a big deal, nothing a sheet metal modification tool (hammer) cant handle, and if I need to cut a little, cut and weld.  anyway the big news of the day is, I got my shock mounts all welded in and shocks are mounted. the shocks I used are Strange 10 way adjustable intended for a Fox body mustang. check it out.










Offline JohnW

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #73 on: May 07, 2014, 11:59:45 PM »
You might have to actually cut like I did. Yours is probably 2" off from where mine is. I was right at the reinforced area for the bump stop in the center. It was 2 layers, one was 3/16" thick. I'm going to have to fab up a patch soon. My car was resting on the speed sensor tabs with the lower Landrum 125 springs I put in. I would've hit them during normal suspension travel on stock springs. I'm only going to have about 1.5" of suspension travel on my car.

I want to add a fuel cell and a better rear subframe like that next year. Yours is looking nice. I'm going to just do subframe connectors for now. Any photos of how the front of that tubular section connects to the chassis?
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Offline don33

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #74 on: May 08, 2014, 04:41:49 AM »
Start on page 1 it's pretty much all there.

Offline JohnW

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #75 on: May 08, 2014, 07:21:43 AM »
I didn't see any photos of how you connected the subframe connectors in the rear. Just curious, I think I already know how I'm going to be attaching mine.
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Offline don33

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #76 on: May 08, 2014, 12:15:11 PM »
oh ok, yeah, haven't done that yet, still have to figure that out... how are you thinking of doing that ?

Offline JohnW

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #77 on: May 09, 2014, 10:19:29 AM »
I was just going to attach them to the front leaf mount with a piece of box tubing on either side. Then someday build a new subframe inboard of the stock one
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Offline don33

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #78 on: May 09, 2014, 03:47:02 PM »
I've got an idea that I'm going with, pics will follow...

Offline don33

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #79 on: May 12, 2014, 01:55:57 PM »
ok, got a little work done over the weekend. first I cut a piece of 1/16 plate and welded it in on top where the subframe connector goes through the body sheet metal.



not quite done yet, but then on the bottom I welded some 1/8 plate to tie together the end of the subframe, body sheet metal and the front spring mounting point.  this should tie everything together to give the added strength and rigidity needed to handle the expected increase in HP.




Offline JohnW

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #80 on: May 12, 2014, 03:02:21 PM »
The way that's attached underneath doesn't look very structural and the end of the tubing is open. Might want to seal that and not leave places for dirt and moisture to get trapped.
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Offline don33

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #81 on: May 12, 2014, 04:20:43 PM »
yep, not done welding yet, when its done it will all be sealed up and a couple of braces added, still a work in progress.

Offline don33

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #82 on: May 14, 2014, 01:13:12 PM »
got the 1X2 tubing welded into the end of the subframe and angled up the the plate on the floor. triangulated, its strong now. still some sealing up to do but its almost there.

Offline JohnW

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #83 on: May 14, 2014, 01:40:03 PM »
Looking good. I was talking about how the tube didn't appear capped and it looked like it wasn't possible to do so after the metal you added. I really want to make a new rear subframe later so I'm going to have to leave room for that. I want box tubing all the way back and I want to add a hitch receiver and fuel cell. That'll have to wait a while though.
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Offline don33

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #84 on: May 16, 2014, 01:08:04 PM »
Ok one more pic on subframes, looking forward, this pic is of where the subframe connector enters the existing front subframe. I placed a piece of 1/16 plate at the intersection of where all the frames and braces come together and welded everything together. a couple more beads and done... she should be pretty solid now. 


Offline don33

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #85 on: May 18, 2014, 10:15:07 PM »
now that all the work under the car is done, I wanted to get everything mocked up today. mainly wanted to see everything fit. well it all went well until I tried to put the hood on. it wasn't  happening. it looks like my Pinto will be sporting a cowl induction hood scoop. so much for the sleeper look...





I'll be selling the upper intake and replacing it with a low profile model... I think I can get away with a 2.5 or 3 inch cowl induction hood scoop.

Offline D.R.Ball

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #86 on: May 19, 2014, 06:21:35 PM »
Try a 1983 Mustang GT. hood scoop , that's what I'm going with. Remember it goes on backwards...Gr ill toward the driver...Not towards the front. I just hope the guy you buy one from packs it better...Can you say crack.....Oh well it's going to be repaired...

Offline don33

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #87 on: May 22, 2014, 12:49:36 PM »
I got the low profile upper intake yesterday and did a quick fitment check, much better, yes, but I'm still going to need a hood scoop.




Offline don33

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #88 on: June 01, 2014, 06:50:28 PM »
after installing a new mustang II poly transmission mount and getting everything settled as it is going to be, I got everything mocked back up. cut the hood, measured and it looks like I can use a early rear facing Mustang turbo GT hood scoop.  things are looking up. here's the pic.


Offline JohnW

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Re: Official 1980 Turbo Pinto Project Thread.
« Reply #89 on: June 01, 2014, 07:39:26 PM »
Big turbo on a top mount?
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