Finally got around to doing some work on my 71 sedan. I replaced my rusty rear bumper with a better condition one and rear bumper guard from Fred Morgan. Thanks Fred!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/slantsixgoon/Pinto/rearbumperbefore.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/slantsixgoon/Pinto/rearbumpeafter.jpg)
Next mini-project is replacing the point ignition with Pertronix and a Mallory Mag-Spark coil.
Looks good
what u going to do with the other one? is it striate
Do you need bumpers?
That looks 100 percent better keep up the good work
Quote from: apintonut on August 28, 2008, 01:07:29 AM
what u going to do with the other one? is it striate
Don't know. I will probbaly just squirrel it away in my garage.
Hey Reed why do you think I only charged you $20.00 for bump. because of the bend below youre rt. tail light that you should have straightened before instalation. Fred :lol:
No worries. If it really bother me I will wrap a couple rags around my 7 inch c-clamp and straighten it out. I was more worries about it being shiny than perfectly straight. ;D
Quote from: Reed on August 29, 2008, 03:25:54 PM
No worries. If it really bother me I will wrap a couple rags around my 7 inch c-clamp and straighten it out. I was more worries about it being shiny than perfectly straight. ;D
The Shiny police appriciates that...... :police:
More work done lately:
Got the heater box back in. It is warped and worn out. I need another.
Got the new carpet installed. THe cheap eBay $105 carpet is okay. Doesn't fit perfect, came in two pieces, didn't have holes for the seats, seatbelts, shifter or e-brake, but it is new and clean.
Replaced the widow felt weatherstripping on the two front doors. This is more eBay items. I used the "repop" brand. Fit and look great, except the inner felts have one clip in the wrong place, so the very front-most clip doesn't go in its hole. Doesn't really matter though.
Welded the broken track on my driver's seat and reinstalled the seats and lap belts. First time I have had seats in the car for over a month! It is much more comfortable to sit in now that the track is fixed.
Confirmed I need a new neutral start switch. Trying to find a used one to avoid paying $100 for anew one. I need to ditvh the pushbutton in the dash and I want my reverse lights to work.
Replaced the (+) battery cable that was corroded by the arcing poushbutton wiring on the satarter relay.
More work to come.....
At least the early bumpers can be polished out. the bumpers on the 78 are anodized alumunum and get cloudy with age, anyone know how to take care of that?
Mother's metal polish? All-Metal metal polish?
have to try that, thanks for advice, I tried turtle wax chrome polish but that didn't help
or blue magic
Quote from: discolives78 on September 29, 2008, 09:48:45 PM
At least the early bumpers can be polished out. the bumpers on the 78 are anodized alumunum and get cloudy with age, anyone know how to take care of that?
even the most expensive carpet will not have holes for anything take it from me ive be in carpets and floors for 34 years you have to cut them
Snuck out tonight and spent some time tuning my Pinto.
Didf a compression check on the 2.0:
Cylinder 1: 125 pounds
Cylinder 2: 120 pounds
Cylinder 3: 120 pounds
Cylinder 4: 130 pounds
Not to bad for a cold dry compression check.
I have been fighting a rough idle and poor(er than I would like) fuel economy. After I replaced the leaky valve cover gasket and did the compression check, I gapped the plugs back out to .045 and double checked the curb idle speed, mixture, and timing.
This time I disconnected both the vacuum advance line and the vacuum retard line (and plugged them both). I then hooked up a vacuum guage to the intake manifold and checked the timing. THe timing was right on at the factory recommended 6BTDC. However, my intake vacuum was pretty low - only about 13 inches.
I tried setting the base timing to achieve maximum vacuum and managed to get the vacuum up to about 17 inches. I then checked where the base timing was and saw that I was runnign at about 30 BTDC to get those 17 inches of vacuum. Howeverm the engine smoothed way out and I way able to lean out the mixture and back out the idle speed screw to get the motor to idle smoothly at the specified 650 RPM.
At this point I began to think that my viubration dampener had slipped and was no longer indicating the correct timing. I didn't have time to check if the dampener had slipped, so I put the timing back to what currently reads to be about 16-18 BTDC. Tomorrow I hope to go out with my positive stop tool and see if 0 on the timing tab is really TDC.
For now, the motor idles much smoother, much quieter, and I was able to lean up my curb idle. I was getting 20-25 MPG in mixed driving before this tuning session, so I am anxious to see what kind of mileage I get now. I am hoping that the wider plug gap, the advanced timing, the leaner idle mixture, and the disconnected distributor vacuum retard line will get my mileage closer to 30 MPG. I am shooting for over 30 MPG and I think I can get there without adding and aerodynamic mods.
Next up will be getting the carpet to sit correctly, adding the chrome carpet hold-downs at the door openings, installing the new heater box I got, installing the new vents and vent controls I got, and then maybe even installing a tach and vacuum guage.
A pressing problem I discovered is that I have a leak from somewhere on the driver's side of the rear window. There is a spot where the headliner has been pulled away from the window and underneath this spot a puddle forms and drips into the trunk. No real rust yet, but I am worried that there might be some rust problems under the vinyl top. :cheesy_n:
Otherwise the car runs and drives great! But I do need to replace these worn out seats. I need to find some nice leather power seats out of a late model import.
Updates and more pictures to come later as more work is done.
i need to get some of ur motivation!!!!!
i bout a sand blasting kit today and im going to try to get the scrap pinto off the trailer and the 74 on it sand blast and paint the engine compartment and set the turbo engine in.
I only get to work on my Pinto when i can sneak away from work, so my motivation builds up all week long until I can finally take a couple hours off.
How is your wife's car doing? If it is still idling rough you should see if your vibration dampener has slipped. If it has, the timing mark will actually read more retarded than where the timing actually is set. This will lead to poor idle which in turn leads to setting the idle speed screw higher than it needs to be and richening up the idle mixture more than it needs to be to get the idle smooth.
I tuned up my brother's van and found that his vibration dampener (on a 1983 Dodge slant six) had slipped 8 degree retarded. I have taken his van from 3 MPG to 21 MPG (highway) by fine tuning the carb and timing. The point is that timing is very important. And the more I work on my 2.0 the more I discover that these are very finnicky carbs and engines that respond to minor changes.
At last report I had disconnected the distributor vacuum retard hose going to the diaphragm.
I took the car for a long drive today and it felt slightly sluggish, like the timing was over-advancing. I hooked the vacuum retard bacl up and the engine felt much better, but got a slightly rougher idle. With the retard working the motor felt a little stronger and shifter smoother (?).
When time permits, I am going to spend some time with a vacuum pump and dial-back timing light and plot out the spark advance curve with and without the vacuum retard.
Lookin good! The black top on the car really sets it appart from the others! Adding Pertronix is the best thing you can do! Every one I know with a 2.0 has it installed and they love it!
discolives78,
The ONLY way to polish out the aluminum bumpers is to take them off and FIRST get them deanodized. They will never polish out if you just try to polish over the anodized coating. It is very cheap to get them stripped. I spent about 30 bucks for 2 sets.
Quote from: Pintopower on October 07, 2008, 06:10:37 PM
Lookin good! The black top on the car really sets it appart from the others! Adding Pertronix is the best thing you can do! Every one I know with a 2.0 has it installed and they love it!
discolives78,
The ONLY way to polish out the aluminum bumpers is to take them off and FIRST get them deanodized. They will never polish out if you just try to polish over the anodized coating. It is very cheap to get them stripped. I spent about 30 bucks for 2 sets.
Pintopower, I saw on TV this weekend that oven cleaner will strip the anodizing off. I believe it was on Trucks. The guy had a piece of trim off an old Chevy pickup. He used the oven cleaner to get the anodizing off and then he polished it. I have not tried it yet to see how well it works but it may be worth a shot.
I just caught that, about the oven cleaner, I'll try anything once! (twice if I like it) I don't think I can make the bumpers MUCH worse ( or can I ?) so I'll try that. Better take the plastic trim off the front bumper first, huh?
Brief update:
Not much more work done. I got the rough idle and bad gas mileage ironed out though. I set my base timing at 8 BTDC. Factory spec is 6. Plugs are gapped to .045 with the old Mallory Voltsmaster II coil and the pertronix ignition conversion. The more I drive it the smoother the idle is getting. I think I am burning carbon out of the cylinders with the leaned up mixture and improved ignition system. I also think I might be cleaning rust and gunk off of the valve faces.
I topped up a few weeks ago and have driven roughly 50 miles since the total fill-up. Just today my needle on the gas guage dropped to halfway between the "F" line and the first line on the guage. I figure I am getting roughly 30 MPG in city driving. Not too shabby!
I need to pull the interior apart though. These seats are worn out and hurt to sit in, I need to install a stereo and speakers that work, I need to replace my heater box and fresh air vents, I need to pull the rear seat and build a shelf to extand the trunk capacity, I need to install the dealer A/C unit under the dash, I neeed to install the A/C components under the hood, I need to install the front sway bar, I need to install the last front bumper guard after I replace the broken bolt in it, I need to track down the last few water leaks into the interior, I need to rebuild my windshield wiper linkage, I need to install a higher output alternator, I need to install the new cherry bomb muffler to supplement the rusted out turbo muffler already on the car, and I need to find me some skinnier rims and tires. That should keep me busy this winter!
Quote from: Reed on October 20, 2008, 03:15:41 PM
Brief update:
Not much more work done. I got the rough idle and bad gas mileage ironed out though. I set my base timing at 8 BTDC. Factory spec is 6. Plugs are gapped to .045 with the old Mallory Voltsmaster II coil and the pertronix ignition conversion. The more I drive it the smoother the idle is getting. I think I am burning carbon out of the cylinders with the leaned up mixture and improved ignition system. I also think I might be cleaning rust and gunk off of the valve faces.
I topped up a few weeks ago and have driven roughly 50 miles since the total fill-up. Just today my needle on the gas guage dropped to halfway between the "F" line and the first line on the guage. I figure I am getting roughly 30 MPG in city driving. Not too shabby!
I need to pull the interior apart though. These seats are worn out and hurt to sit in, I need to install a stereo and speakers that work, I need to replace my heater box and fresh air vents, I need to pull the rear seat and build a shelf to extand the trunk capacity, I need to install the dealer A/C unit under the dash, I neeed to install the A/C components under the hood, I need to install the front sway bar, I need to install the last front bumper guard after I replace the broken bolt in it, I need to track down the last few water leaks into the interior, I need to rebuild my windshield wiper linkage, I need to install a higher output alternator, I need to install the new cherry bomb muffler to supplement the rusted out turbo muffler already on the car, and I need to find me some skinnier rims and tires. That should keep me busy this winter!
Sheesh, Reed:
Your list sounds all too familar. I need to do about 100 things, too! If I could just get my brake system working, I'd be happy. Don't ask - nearly all of it has been replaced and I'm still trying to get a solid pedal. Man, it can be a lot of work!!
Chris
Yah, its a bunch of little things. I figure if I can get myself a free weekend of two full days where I don't have to work, I should be able to get most of the interior stuff done. I am just going to gut the dash all at once. Pull the glove box, heater stuff, stereo, etc... and replace it all in one fell swoop. While the dash is torn apart I will hit the junkyard and try and find some nice black seats. I would love to find something like a junked Eldorado with power leather sets :afro: but I am not sure if they would fit. If I could find some seats with integral seatbelts I would love to ditch the stock shoulder belt. I am glad I have it for safety, but I had forgotten how much i hate non-retractable belts. >:( If I leave it loose enough to adjust he radio it comes unclipped. If I keep it tight enough so it stays fastened it rubs the side of my neck raw. >:( Maybe i will find something in a 80s era K-car, like a Lebaron or New Yorker.
These 15 inch Mustang rims are so wide that the tires rub the fenders in hard turns (such as parking). The steering effort is too difficult so I am going to try and track down some skinnier rims and tires. I am hoping to find something off of a Fairmont or some such at the boneyard. Unless someone wants to trade me a set of the factory slotted mags...with tires. 8)
I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.....
Reed:
You got me going, so I am thus compelled to share my "must do" list:
1) Finish the brakes
2) Replace the gas tank (has leaks)
3) Replace the windshield gasket
4) Fix the cowl leak hole
5) Rebuild the front end (everything is SHOT)
6) Remove and repaint/rebuild the dash
7) Get another solid steering wheel
8) Sound insulate the cabin and recarpet
9) New window sweeps
OKAY, I'm getting depressed......... :(. Sounds like you have "less" to do - at least you are driving and enjoying it. I am far from that....
Chris
Hey you reminded me:
I also need to add sound deadening, repaint the black matel bits of my interior due to surface rust, repair/replace the headliner, and fix leaking front and rear window gaskets.
It is driveable, yes, but still needs a bunch of work before I turn it over to my sister.
Keep chipping away! You will get it done.
Turn over to your sister? And then....another car for you? Or is that it for your Pinto involvement?
Chris
Well, both me and my Sister still live with our family, so I would still be able to drive the Pinto occasionally, and I would be in charge of maintenance.
Reed,
I doubt if Eldorado seats would fit, but you might look for a junked Cimarron. I had a 1987 and it actually had very nice leather seats with all the normal power adjustments. If memory serves me correctly, there was no Cadillac emblem stitched into them or anything like that... should look great in a Pinto!
Dwayne :smile:
ive got mkviii seats in mine but had to make brackets to bolt to the factory seat rails. comfy though.
Cool! Thanks guys! I will keep my eyes out for a Cimarron or a MarkVIII.
I got the Pinto into the garage yesterday and put it up on jack stands.
I snuck out tonight and verified that the rear shocks are TOAST. Totally dead. After the shocks were removed the rear end bounced up and down nicely instead of sitting there like a rock.
I also cut a 16.5 inch section out of the muffler line and got about halfway done installing a little cherry bomb. That should quiet it down some, hopefully.
This weekend I am hoping to finish installing the muffler and get the dash stuff taken care of (radio, heater/A-C, etc....).
Got the muffler done. Found a few small rust holes in the trunk. Due to the factory undercoating the rust is actually from the inside out. I will deal with that later.
Now it is on to finishing up the interior. :laugh:
Cool looking Pinto, Reed! I miss my 72. my interior took a week longer than I planned 5 years ago, and I've had the car for so long that I'm going back and redoing things I did before. Feels like I'm "rearranging the furniture"! Looking forward to seeing your interior when its done!
Chuck
Mostly I am replacing the seats and cleaning and fixing a bunch of stuff in the dash. I need to get a can of the correct paint for the interior to deal with the surface rust too. I will post pics when I get it all done.
Quote from: Reed on October 25, 2008, 12:40:07 AM
Got the muffler done. Found a few small rust holes in the trunk. Due to the factory undercoating the rust is actually from the inside out. I will deal with that later.
Yup, undercoating can actually hide issues. When I inspected my car, the silent but reasonably involved rust that was hiding between the carpet and floorpans was neatly concealed from beneath the car by the undercoating. It has long since been cleaned up and repaired with POR-15, but nonetheless I experienced the same thing.
Chris
Actually, the floor pans were'n't that bad. The rust in the trunk is all in the spare tire well. he floor pans and cowl have already been repaired and POR-15-ed. The work I am doing now is all dealing with the HVAC system and radio system (or lack thereof).
Got the new heater box installed. The back half of the one I got from Apintonut cracked right as I was putting it together, so I ended up using the front off of the parts Pinto and the original back. The back is still warped, but the heater door moves freely now. These fiberglass heater boxes aren't the sturdiest thing in the world. Both my original 71 and the replacement 72 were warped, but the 71 was warped wprse. THe 72 rear portion broke with very little force applied. >:(
Got the new shocks installed on the back. The old Monroes were comletely dead. They wouldn't decompress on their own. The new Gabriels should smooth the bumps out better.
Also, started prepping the trunk for POR-15 repair. Got the sanding done and sprayed the metal prep on it. Tomorrow comes the POR-15 and fiberglass hole treatment.
The rust in the spare tire well is more than I originally expected. I am having second thoughts about installing the factory trailer hitch I bought. The last thing I want is to hook up to my trailer and than go over abump and have the back of the car rip off. I will have to look closer at the rust tomorrow and see if I can't weld a patch in or if I should just leave the hitch off.
I am going to leave off installing the A/C for now. It is winter in Washington and I don't really need A/C. I do need to fix the various water leaks though, and get some heater control cables so I can use the window defog.
I still need to figure out how to get the radio mounted and looking good. I don't want to cut up the radio plate, but you gotta do what you gotta do...
Its coming along slowly, but it is getting there.
let me know when u want to come by for more parts... heater control cables and a new heater box......
For me it's a race with Discolives AND Reed. Man, you guys are killing me!! Nice work!!
Chris
Quote from: apintonut on November 12, 2008, 09:12:56 AM
let me know when u want to come by for more parts... heater control cables and a new heater box......
Will do! I think I have the heater box licked, but I really need some cables. Both of mine are busted, as is the clip that holds them to the controls.
Before work this morning I got about 95% of the por-15 and fiberglass down in the trunk. Still have a couple tiny holes I missed with the fiberglass. I will them later today.
Nexy up is polishing the door sill trim I got from Apintonut and installing it and installing the carpet better.
Then comes cleaning up the dash, replacing the burnt out lightbulb in the dash, installing the radio, and installing the seats, and DRIVING IT!
Beautiful little car you have, Reed! It sounds like a few of us have our work cut out for us.
Thanks for the compliments.
I originally had bought a combination tape/CD player radio for my Pinto, but I would have had to cut the radio bezel to install it. Well, tonight I went out and looked at it and i just couldn't bring myself to cut up a perfectly good radio bezel. Instead, I dug up an old Kraco tape deck that mounts under the dash and some radio shack speaker. I wired it all up and it actually sounds good! The Kraco deck is one I bought at a thrift store about ten years ago for five bucks. I don't know how long I have had these Radio Shack speakers, probably close to ten years too. They were just collecting dust in my attic. So, for very little money I actually have a nice sounding stereo in my Pinto!
Now I need to build a box that will mount to the rear package shelf that will hold the speakers and act as a bass reflex box. The holes in the shelf are 6x9 but the speakers are 5 inch round. I plan on building a box ot of plywood that will extend across the entire package shelf with three chambers: one for each speaker and a center chamber that will open into the center hole in the package shelf. Each chamber will have a small opening into the center chamber so the stereo separation is maintained but the center chamber acts sort of like a woofer. Fun fun fun.... :laugh:
Reed, you've just added something else to my list!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v484/slantsixgoon/Pinto/dash.jpg)
Figured i would post a pic of my dash as it sits right now. You can see the vintage Kraco AM/FM/Cassette/Equalizer underdash unit, the vacuum and volt guages, and the untidy state of my Pinto.
I am going to be installing the fancy silver instrument cluster and vents and putting the heater control assembly back in. While the instrument cluster is out I am going to splice into the dash light feed wire so i can have the lights in the aftermarket guages work.
I think I can, I think I can....
Got the silver trim air vents installed. Got the 72 parts car driver's fresh air vent installed. Got the plastic duct for the driver's side fresh air vent and the dealer installed A/C installed. Replaced the trim around the speedo from all black to the fancy silver trimmed one. Also replaced the faded green turn signal indicator plastic. Pulled the dash pad so I can recover it.
Looks like I did a terrible job installing the new carpet. Unfortunately, I already cut holes for the shifter, seats, seatbelts, and e-brake. >:( :P I need to reposition the carpet, change the holes, and figure out how to cover up the holes I already made. Grrrr.
Also, it looks like I need a new ignition switch. I checked the signal going from the switch to the starter and I get no current when I turn the key. That's why the previous owner installed this lame pushbutton in the dash.
On the upside, I temporarily hooked up the vacuum guage and wired up the volt guage. Looks like my motor gets about 20-21 inches of vacuum at idle and the charging system puts out 14.5 volts at idle. Pretty good!
Getting closer....
Took the Pinto out for a 100 mile round trip today. The new rear shocks REALLY made a difference. Now it actually feels like there is a suspension in the back.
A couple of bad discoveries. The front end has a shimmy at 65+ that gets worse as I get faster. The front end sits higher than the back and is much more bouncy than the back.
The worst is the rims and tires. I have the later Mustang "vector" or "hurricane" factors aluminum mags, but they are the wrong size. The wide tires cause several problems: (1) it is too hard to turn the manual steering, (2) the front tires rub when i have the wheel turned hard in one direction, and (3) the tires don't have enough traction to keep the brakes from locking up. I was driving and the wheels barely keep traction enough to stop in normal conditions on dry pavement. If i were in an emergency situation on a wet or slick road (a significant consideration here in the Pacific Northwest) I would loose tractin and just slide around. Not good.
Before any more regular driving gets done i need to replace these rims and tires, get new seats, and finish reassembling the interior of the car. Two steps forward, one step back...
Two steps forward and one step back? Nobody gets too far like that! I know. my dash pad is sitting on a bench in the back of the shop waiting for a few minutes of my time, my vents, heater control and ducts are in a box in my room. Didn't I just put this back together? ???
Chuck
Also depressing is my miles-per-gallon. I calculate I am getting about 16 MPG with mostly highway driving. That is pretty crappy for such a small car. Plus, when I drive for any length of time my left foot goes numb due to the cramped space.... >:(
Wow, Reed, sorry to hear of the various troubles. When I >do< get to carpet, I will pay to have someone install it for me. It's not that I'm incapable, it's just that I am not particularly "skilled" at auto interiors, so I will leave it to the pros. I'll do whatever I can on this car, but when it comes to the "special" things - I shy away form it.
Best wishes!!
Chris
It really was my own fault on the bad installation of the carpet. i was too lazy to remove the shifter so I couldn't get the carpet quite right. Had I removed the shifter it would have been a breeze. :rolleye:
Hey Reed, try looking in the breakers yards for some cheap econobox with a dead pedal in it. That should help with the left foot, I know it does for me in my wife's car (2002 Kia Rio)
Oh, and the automatic cars never did get astonishing mileage. All my 79 (2.3/C3) ever got was around 16-18.
Good luck with her!
That explains my '79 2.3 C3 getting lame milage. Plus that the engine and tranny were about 2/3 wore out probably didn't help.
I'm taking a little break from my Pinto while waiting to get my springs from JayCee Gypney and 3.25 gears and "Posi" differential from two other guys.
Some of you might have already seen it, but I am putting my Pinto up for sale. See HERE (http://www.fordpinto.com/smf/index.php/action,classifieds/sa,view/id,244.html).
I am asking $1000 obo, which is a heck of a deal. I need to get the car sold in the next few weeks though, or it will be donated. I haven't listed it anywhere but here, yet, since I would like to see it go to a Pinto fan.
I would get it if i had a way up there and a way to get it back to AZ.
ahh yes, but that requires money for gas doenst it ? lol. I have enough money to get there and get the car not back .
I need to sell by the end of the week! $750 obo! No serious offer refused! If it is not gone by Saturday I have to donate it, so I would rather see it go to a Pinto fan. $750 is what I paid for it, so you are getting all the new parts and labor I put into it for free!
PM me or e-mail me: reedspeirlaw (at) seanet dot com
Sorry you have to sell the car, Reed. That's a big bummer; hope it goes to someone who will treat it right!
Chris
Yeah. it is a cute little car and I like it, it just isn't the right car for me.
However, I do have one interested party in Muncie, Indiana, who wants it because he had a similar Pinto in high school and wants to fix this one up like his. With luck, this Pinto will be put in the hands of a Pinto enthusiast who will treat it right and fix it up. Yay!
I am 6'4" and weigh 230 - I would not say that my wagon is "roomy", but I fit in it OK. My biggest problem is leg room - it's RIGHT at the point where any more leg length, and I would be done. I am glad you have a lead, that would be great. It's really a good looking car!
You know, what I have learned from all of this (unfortunately) is that the return on investment is just not there with Pintos - yet. It's a labor of love, and you have to know that going in. My money is into the several thousands of dollars on my car, and it's not even roadworthy yet. Kinda scares me at times.
Chris
Yeah. When I drive it, my legs *barely* fit, but my left foot goes numb on longer trips. My right foot barely fits between the gas and brake pedals. Old cars never give you a return on your investment. I see it as spending money to have fun. I don't have any other vices, so this is it for me. I could probably move the seat back and be more comfortable, but with the gas mileage it gets I would rather just move up to a slightly bigger car. :cheesy_n:
Anyway, its not sold yet, but I am hopeful it will go to a pinto fan.
Reed, why do you have to have the car gone by saturday, if you don't mind me asking. You should just donate it to one of us in Wa. st. ;D
Gone by the end of the week is the mandate of the female occupants of my house. ;) I'm sure you understand.
Can you give me a tax writeoff if I donate it to you?
Tax write-off, uhh, I don't think so, sorry. Women, sometimes I just don't understand them ::)
Well, if the man from Muncie doesn't buy it, I am still negotiable on the price.
Well, the female member of THIS house would forbid you to sell it!!! ::) LOL If I had more room and a vault of cash I know where that adorable lil' red baby would be living...I always did want a Pinto with a vinyl-top.