PINTO CAR CLUB of AMERICA
Shiny is Good! => General Pinto Talk => Topic started by: SonicXtasy on April 14, 2013, 09:58:45 AM
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Hi guys,
New to the forum and to Pintos. My son turns 16 in September and so we recently started looking for a unique, inexpensive car that we could work on together to get ready for his 16th birthday. He really wanted a 70's or 80's hatchback or wagon. His first choice was a mid 80's Toyota Corrola GT-S hatchback, aka AE86. Besides the fact that a decent one was way out of our price range, a new to driving 16 year old should NEVER get a RWD, stickshift "sports car" as there first car! The search moved to other cars such as a Chevette, Gremlin, Pacer (he wanted one bad but could not find an affordable decent one), Omni, Relient/Aries wagon, Pinto, other old Toyota's and Datsuns. After a long search of local cars (up to 2 hour drive) and finding nothing but over prived rust buckets we began looking on ebay where we stumbled upon this....
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1978-Ford-Pinto-Wagon-Original-Stock-Survivor-/300880692849?ViewItem=&item=300880692849&forcev4exp=true (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1978-Ford-Pinto-Wagon-Original-Stock-Survivor-/300880692849?ViewItem=&item=300880692849&forcev4exp=true)
Needless to say I was the high bidder. I still can't believe I bought a car in California that I had never seen in person. Then I still had to ship it cross country here to Florida! Anyway, it arrived Friday and it looks better in person. There is some surface rust at the battery and I have found 2 very small rust bubbles starting but otherwise there is no rust anywhere. If the California plates on the car are any indicator then the last time the car was on the road was in 2003.
(http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh310/sonicxtasy/20130412_185201_zps6a8df133.jpg) (http://s259.photobucket.com/user/sonicxtasy/media/20130412_185201_zps6a8df133.jpg.html)
(http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh310/sonicxtasy/20130412_185223_zps71212ab3.jpg) (http://s259.photobucket.com/user/sonicxtasy/media/20130412_185223_zps71212ab3.jpg.html)
(http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh310/sonicxtasy/20130412_185249_zps36cd6aec.jpg) (http://s259.photobucket.com/user/sonicxtasy/media/20130412_185249_zps36cd6aec.jpg.html)
Car will remain mostly stock with the exception of upgrading the stereo which will be done without cutting up any original parts of the car. We had planned on painting the car because of the few dents but it looks so good I am having second thoughts. I will be posting for needed parts any opinion and help in the near future as we get more into the car.
Thanks,
David
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First of all, Welcome Sonic!! We are glad to have you here. Secound, GREAT CAR! I am sure that your son will have a blast in it.
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WELCOME SonicXtasy!
That looks like a really good wagon! Nice score!
Dwayne :)
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hello thats exactly what my pintowagon looked like when i first got it.had mine for over 6 years 3rd owner.good luck with your pinto chris
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GREAT LOOKING CAR!!
WHAT PART OF FLORIDA ARE YOU IN??
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Congrats!
I purchased a 76 wagon from Northen California 1 1/2 years ago. It too was very solid. I flew out and drove it home.
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Thanks for the welcome. It will be a fun experience.
@bbobcat74 - I am in Largo which is between St. Petersburg and Clearwater. About 20 min SW of Tampa. I see you have wagon you are parting out. By chance does it still have the radio bezel and front kick panels? Will they fit the 78?
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nice find. Really clean. step 1 exhaust system. it's got a v6 so give it true duals with a x-over. cats on a carbed car = bad bad bad. Is your bezel missing for the radio? I'll bet the son wants a din deck with aux in and stuff so if you have a hacked one you may want to just make a cover .
Ooooh check this link out http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/2_8_FuelInjection.html
And it needs rims.... But you have a house slave now. Oh and its a first car. don't let the rims get bigger than 15's or you run out of sidewall. more scraped lips.
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will check on the kick panels and stereo bezel- wagon is full of boxes of parts
im not too far away then!! im in swfl near naples ft myers
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Actually the radio bezel is untouched. It has what looks like a factory AM/FM 8-Track from the front, but looking at the rear wiring it looks more like an "OEM looking" aftermarket radio. A DIN radio will get installed if I can find another bezel to cut up. Also want the extra kick panels to cut up and fabricate mounts for speakers. I will not cut up the doors etc. Someone did installed some crappy dual cone speakers in the rear side panels. They will be replaced and the grills made to blend in. Will probably get a moderate amp and a small removable subwoofer box. I was a car audio installer many years ago but haven't done anything to our current cars because they stock sound was adequate. I am looking forward to installing a nice simple low key system in his car.
I like the FI upgrade idea. Will that get rid of the 8000 vacuum hoses on this engine? What the hell does the smog pump actually do??? Actually, I don't care about about making the car go faster but I am open to anything that increases fuel milage which usually does increase power as a byproduct.
Rims are a maybe. My son is a little nerdy (he's in robotics club, etc) and the hub caps are fitting. But if we stumble upon the right "era appropriate" rims for the right price then they will probably make there way on the car.
(http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh310/sonicxtasy/20130415_180533_zps9a6cd65f.jpg) (http://s259.photobucket.com/user/sonicxtasy/media/20130415_180533_zps9a6cd65f.jpg.html)
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Check the tune up and/or valve clearances they sound like it has to to be done. The valves need to be adjusted about every 10 thousand miles or so....It also looks like the seal on the pinion bearing could use replacing, it looks like it's leaking...Othe r wise great car.
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Check the tune up and/or valve clearances they sound like it has to to be done. The valves need to be adjusted about every 10 thousand miles or so....It also looks like the seal on the pinion bearing could use replacing, it looks like it's leaking...Othe r wise great car.
I just ordered the 1987 Ford mechanics books on CD rom and when it arrives a very mechanicly inclined friend is coming over to help us go through each system one by one.
We don't have emissions here and the car idles rough and runs very rich. He recommends that we replace the carb with an aftermarket 2 barrel and remove the smog pump and all the vacuum crap thats not needed. I actually think it will be cleaner with everything removed and running leaner. Any opinions? If I am posting this in the wrong section, mods please move it and let me know. Thanks
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Congrats! Welcome to the Pinto world. I'm restoring an '80 hatchback to be my sons 1st car when he turns 16. It should serve him well for years to come.
I picked up a '77 with a V6 a few years back & it ran rich & rough. When I tore the engine down both heads had cracks between the valves. Apparently that's common with the 2.8L
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Yeah the FI will clean up the hose mess. like the article says you strip off all the original stuff. Air pumps pump air into the cat so it has o2 to burn unused fuel. Circle jerk emmisions control device. being injected it wont get so slobbering rich that even if u need cats you can go airless n loose the air pump.
Have at er with the coping saw to mount a din. If the factory one is taller i just make a plexi coverplate and paint it from the back. chopping the panels doesnt really help they are pretty tight. if you are gonna do kick speakers you may want to make rings and standoffs n just pull/glass some fleece. I haven't played with car audio in a few years myself. one thing I noticed is power and gobs of it is now dirt cheap
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Congrats on the super clean purchase! I would ditch the 2.8, but that's just me. I hate those things. But, if you're gonna keep it, EFI is the way to go. I'd personally go with either a turbo 2.3 or a stock 2.3 from an 07+ Ranger...good luck, look forward to seeing more on this one!
Sent from a crack house in the ghetto.