Hey Folks,

So, I just got a 71 Rundabout and it has some serious bounce and body roll. If I stand next to the car and shake it with one hand it rocks very easily, not to mention it keeps rocking after I let go. I'm reasonably certain that its the original suspension from 71.

So, being new to Pintos, and leaf spring cars in general, I need a little advice.

For the rear:
1: Can I just buy new leaf springs and bushings, and then reuse my old shackles and and bolts, or is that a bad Idea?
2: When doing the rear suspension, what all do I need? In terms of parts.
3: The only rear leaf springs that fits a 71 that I've found so far are the Landrum units. Are they any good? any other suggestions? I'm looking for stock or maybe a little over stock stiffness. Though I'd like to keep stock height. I live in Oakland and there's a damn lot of potholes (ill post a link to the Landrums for reference at the bottom of the bottom of this post)
4: Any rear shock suggestions?
5: Do I need new perches for the shocks? Or is the schock switch as easy as just switching out the units?

For the front:
1: Suggestions on springs and front shocks?
2: Do i need anything besides just the new units

I know a lot of the questions will be answered by the Chiltons manual, but its not coming in the mail for another few days. Thanks in advance folks! I'm looking forward to getting involved in the community! Ill post some pictures of my car once I can get it out of the garage during daylight hours.

W

Link to the Landrum leaf spring i referenced:      https://www.carid.com/landrum-performance-spring/mini-stock-multi-leaff-spring-mpn-42-454sp.html?singleid=207837583&url=17002730

IMO, Gas-A-Justs play nicer with stiffer springs. They can be on the harsh side with softer ones.

An old sports car rally rule to optomize handling is to keep the front suspension stiff and the rear suspension soft to improve oversteer.

I always thought that would increase understeer because the soft rear will stick better. Like the opposite of adding a rear sway bar to make the back end slide better.
Being a '71, it's possible that there is no front swaybar at all. My '72 didn't have one stock.

The wagons did come with front swaybars, but early hatches did not. Early swaybar mounts were also quite different than '74-80. I'm pretty sure I looked at your wagon when the previous owner had it.

My comment about understeer came from an early Mustang background. A thick front swaybar will flatten their cornering and increase understeer while adding a rear swaybar will make the back end easier to swing out.

As far as rock auto..

Every 5ime i ch3cked their prices they were a lot cheeper than other places

BUT they make it up and more on shipping..

A part that Autozone charges  $12 for they sell for $9 but charge $6 for shipping..

Sounds like you might need a new oil filter and thicker oil.

Or your main bearings are worn.

My engine holds 40 psi at idle cold and 35 hot and comes up in about 1 second.

At 3000 rpm it goes to 60 psi hot or cold

I use an Autolite FL1 filter and 20/50 valvoline VR1 racing oil, its the only current motor oil that has enough zinc to prov8de proper lubrication for older wngines.

As far as suspension, as I mentioned, the stiff front and soft rear c9mes from the MGB rac8ng guys, not sure why but its how i always set up my mgbs.
 
Anyway, sounds like the poster just needs new shocks and a good oil change.

One thing that's not suspension related that I noticed today, on start up the engine doesn't build oil pressure for a solid 6-10 seconds. Is that normal for the 2ltr engines?

I would say no. What oil filter is on it? Sounds like the anti-drainback valve could be faulty.

Where are yiu located 65 Shelby?

I got my wagon from a fellow in Bakersfield, CA in November, 2015

He said he found it in a garage in the mountains above Victorville.

He mentioned that he had someone else looking at it when I got it.

I'm about an hour south of Bakersfield and the time frame is right. I wasn't looking to buy the car, but bought some parts from him. I was looking for a front sway bar and that's when I found out how different the early and late ones are. He had an early wagon parts car and the front sway bar and mounts wouldn't clear my huge oil pan. 

Good to know about rock auto. There’s an oreily down the street that I usually do most of my non internet shopping at. But they definitely don’t have a good stock in house for pinto parts I’m noticing.

As for the stiffer front, softer rear. You’re not just talking about spring rates right? You’re saying get stock performance shocks for the rear and stiffer ones for the front? Or are you saying I should get the gas adjust shocks all around and maybe some slightly stiffer coils for The front if I feel like I want to get my handeling turned up a bit?

I just changed my oil tonight to castrol 20/50 and put in a new wix oil filter. I guess we will see when I start the car up tomorrow evening if that solved my oil problem. Sure hope it’s not the main berrings...the engine allegedly had a rebuild 12k ago, but that was also back in the year 2000. I sort of was hoping to drive it a bit more before having to do a rebuild.

Other fun issues that cropped up as I was working on it this evenin: the front breaks won’t bleed. The bleeder nipples were very stuck and took a good amount of penetrating oil and persuasion to get loose, and then nothing came out when I tried to bleed them. When I get the chance I’ll pull the calipers and clean them out but I’m a bit worried they’re toast. Oreiley aperently has remanufactured one for about $40 a pop, but I’d rather save the money. Any ideas?

The other  new thing I found after changing the oil is now after I shut off the engine I hear a gurgeling noise for about 6 or 7 seconds. Sounds like it’s coming from under the valve cover. But I haven’t had the chance to investigate under there yet. Although it’s due a valve adjustment probably anyway, so it won’t be long before I get to that.

Looks like pretty much all the rubber bushings under the car are pretty old and cracked, certainly all the ones in the leaf springs anyway. And one of the steering boots is cracked open and looks totally dry inside. Seems like my super clean, and well running purchase may need a bit more love than I anticipated. Good thing I love my garage

Just for context, the car has was sitting for a pretty good chuck of time before I got it. That being said, it had aviation fuel in it so there’s no signs of a dirty carb and most of the time it starts on the first crank like a champ.

Well the answer is in. When I started the car for the first time in about 24 hours it took a solid 13 seconds to register oil pressure. And that's after I put the 20w50 in and a new wix on and warmed it up last night. So I'm guessing I probably have worn main bearings. Think i should worry about the lack of oil pressure on a fresh start up? Or is it not too bad as long as I don't rev it up? It only takes that long to build pressure after not starting it for a while. Otherwise It only takes a second or two.

Furthermore, I took your advice FordMan, and i got the vr1 racing oil and the big fl1 filter. I figure I'll run the castrol oil for a week to get all the grime mixed into it and then do another oil change, and switch to the better oil and higher flowing filter/

The things you describe are just the typical things you encounter with older cars since stuff does wear out and are usually pretty simple to fix.

Yeah, I don't doubt that. Just keep finding the little things. Ill get to them all with time.

What part of the country are you located in?

I'm located in Oakland California so I've got about 4 Auto zones within 2 miles of me  Know any other pinto guys in the area?

Is your car a 4 speed or automatic?

Its a 4 speed. I generally avoid automatics, i don't find them nearly as fun to drive

Also if your car still has a breaker point ignition, do consider converting to a Pertronics electr9nic module and coil that will make a considerable difference in reliability.

I did some posts here about how to wire up the Pertronics to use the high performance coil.

Also changing your factory cam pully to a STEEL not alloy adjustable cam pulley and advancing the cam timing will make an improvement in performance.

At the moment I'm still running points, but an electronic module is definitely in my future.

Yeah I've been looking into those cam pulleys. They really do make that big of a difference huh? Do you have a good source for a good adjustable steel cam pulley?

I've also realized that I've made a stupid mistake...My car is a 72. I think i said 71 out of wishful thinking, but no, i have the emissions choked 72. What can I do to get a bit more out of the horse power hole on that one? Obviously the cam pulley. And upjet the holley 5200 a little on the mains I hear?

Allegedly the car came with a cam and better pistons, although i have not had the valve cover off to verify the cam yet. Any good ideas on how to verify the pistons? Apart from just removing the head obviously 

The only things keeping me from driving the car everyday are:
1: the front break calipers still haven't been cleaned up/replaced
2: the suspension, in its current state, is so bouncy and wobbly its actually dangerous
3: I'm worried about hurting the engine with this oil pressure conundrum
4: The Left brake light wont come on.

I've addressed problems 1-3 with you guys. But was hoping problem 4 was just a broken filament on the left brake light. Well today i switched the right and left bulbs and the problem stayed on the left side of the car. Its weird because the running lights work on both the right and left, and well as the turn signals. However the brake lights and the emergency flashers only work on the right, not on the left.

Anybody got any ideas or knowledge about problem #4?

Well, when I changed the oil the  other day I put in a brand new wix filter and the oil pressure not building for about 10 seconds persisted, so I don’t think it’s a faulty check valve, as it’s persited through 2 diferent oil filters. But who know, maybe I got another dud. Hopefully the fl1 will help.

I need to take the car out to get better numbers on oil pressure once it comes up. But I’ll get back to you on that.
I’ll take the valve cover off and check the cam Oiler when I get he chance.thats one of the big things I’ve been wanting to check. Good tip on just using the starter moter to check without making a mess

I know the ground for the bulb works as the running light turns on on the left when the headlight is on. But good thought on the connector for the brake light circuit on the housing maybe being dirty. I’ll check that next.

As for the cam timing gear, any sources when I can find an adjustable steel  cam timing gear?

I read your post about making an adjustable cam timeing pulley for the 2.0 engine. If I can’t find a steel adjustable pulley, you’d recommend modifying the one I have instead of buying an aluminium unit?

As for the carb modifications you mentioned in that write up, you simply switched the mains jets from the secondary into the primary and then upjetted the secondary about 2 sizes correct?

Did you also open up the air box by adding more carb base gasketsas well? And did the former jet modifications account for the increased air flow?

And last question about getting a bit more power, you guys are usually running the base timing up to about 10 or 12  degrees correct?

Thanks again FordMan! It’s nice to have someone with some experience with the engines that I can bounce questions off of.

Heres a link to some pix of the Ford or Holley 350 or 500 cfm 2 barrels.

https://www.holley.com/products/fuel_systems/carburetors/performance_2_barrels/

The link is to see what they look like. Dont need to spend the money they are charging

The carbs were used on small to midsized Ford V8 engines fr9m the 50s to the 9ps so there are a lot of used and replacement ones around.

Do some research about what the model numbers mean and you can probably find a good used one at a swap meet or a rebuilt one.

Adapters are available to fit them to the pinto manifolds.

So, the Gas adjust shocks are in, and the ride is much better! That being said, now that I can actually feel things while I'm driving, i can feel how loose the front end is, and there's a clunk when I'm braking. I went and shook the front wheels and as expected, looks like my control arm bushings are boned. So i gotta figure replacing those. Hopefully not too much else down there is real bad. Any suggestions on doing the job? Should i just go ahead and buy a kit that comes with the upper and lower bushings, ball joints, and everything? or just individually replace what I find bad?

Oil continues to not build pressure for about 10 seconds on startup. That being said, I have not tried the new FL1 Oil filter yet.

oil pressure at idle warm is only about 12 pounds
but as soon and i rev it it goes up to at least 45 pounds

I figure its probably not the worst as long as i don't rev it up a lot before I get oil pressure.

I have not yet gotten in contact with racer walsh about the adjustable cam pulley, but am looking forward to getting that one done. I'm betting it'll do a lot.

The Carb: i got tired of fighting the leaky, dirty, seriously incorrectly jetted holley 5200 i had, and just went ahead and bought a brand new weber 32/36. Everything runs much happier and smoother now. I'll want more performance soon, but for now I'd just like to drive the damn thing, and get a little reliability.

 That being said, the new weber did not have a port for the deceleration valve. I just put a vaccum cap over the port on the decel valve. Is that enough? Or do i actually have to remove the whole valve and plug the hole in the manifold. What are you guys doing when you do aftermarket carbs? Do you keep trying to run the decel valve? Or just nix it entirely?

As for the electric choke, i was getting 12 volts of switched power to my coil, so I just went ahead and spliced it in there. Not perfect as the choke will begin to warm up with the key on even if the engine isn't running, but it'll do for now. Any suggestions on a better place to pull 12 volts for the choke?

Also, my new air filter does not have a port for the hose that comes from the big pot next to the radiator on the drivers side. Charcoal canister? evap canister? Should I drill a hole into my new air filter and put a fitting on so I can route that hose back to my air filter? or should I just put a little air filter on it and call it a day?

For the brakes i rebuilt the Calipers and put on a manufactured brake master cylinder and everything feels a lot better! That being said, the brass adapter fittings that are between the brake lines and the master cylinder aren't making the best seal, as it's a little wet on the bottom of my master cylinder. I'm guessing the brass fittings are just old, or I over-tightened them a touch. Anyone happen to know the sizes on those? I was planning on pulling them off this weekend, and then driving around town until I found the right ones, but I'd much rather just order them online and save myself the trouble.

Brake lights work, though at the cost of my turn signals. The left hand brake light wire was not getting power all the way up to the connector that goes into the steering wheel, and that's when I stopped digging and just spliced the connector from the drivers side brake light into the passenger one that was working. The only downside being that now the turn signals make both sides of the car blink, not just one. I"ll figure it out and do it right a little later down the line, but for now I'd rather have brake lights that turn signals. That being said, if anyone has any ideas of where to check for for the wiring disconnect on the drivers side brake light, I am all ears.

Thant's all for now folks. Looking forward to hearing what you have to say!