If your Pinto has a V-8, turbo or even a smokin' hot 4-banger, before you bolt on the slicks you better put in some sub-frame connectors. The back end of the Pinto has no frame at all, and because of that they are pretty weak. Another thing I found is the rear spring forward mount is only spot welded to the body. Mine even had a few welds that had burned through. I took a dremel and grinded it all the way around and welded it solid.
For my '71, I had two five foot sections of 1/8" channel made, The frame rails were a size that standard channel would not fit. I also wanted the sides tall enough to be flush with the floor in the front. 50 bucks for both pieces.
After putting the car up on the lift, put stands under the ball joints in front and under the rear end housing or leaf springs in the rear and let the lift down. I left the lift arms about 2" below the rockers for saftey and then bounced the car up and down real good to get the weight settled on the stands. Then I made sure the doors opened and closed smoothly and evenly.
The rear floor pans are lower than the front and I didn't want the connectors hanging down, so we marked and cut a slot for them to go up into the car. It looks a little scary but we'll fix it! ;D
We used screw-type stands to hold them in place, sprayed the floor with weld through primer and got everything ready to weld.
We cut 9" off the connectors and used that to box them in and make the pieces that attach to the spring perches. After checking the fit of the doors one last time, we welded them in. We also welded a 4" square of flat steel to the bottom for added strength.
In the rear floor where the connectors were sticking through, we cut them down to about a half-inch above the floor. Then we spot welded the floor to the connectors and took strips of sheet metal and put a 90 degree bend lengthwise and welded the floor up to the connectors front to rear on both sides. (sorry, no pic of that :P) Then we used a urathane seam sealer and sealed evrything up, top and bottom and coated the floor.
I used a 1/2" thick piece of solid type styrofoam to fill in the channel in the back floor, then we covered the floor with heat/sound barrier.
After the sealer dried we undercoated the bottom of the car. Forgot to take my camera to the shop so these pics were taken at home laying under the car, might be a little hard to see the finished job.
Then we put the new carpet in. Love the color, hate the fit! :mad: The front fit pretty good but the area over the trans tunnel is too big and it won't lay flat. One of these days I'm going to have it redone by a professional, the old carpet came from JC Whitney and it had wrinkles around the trans tunnel as well but overall it fit better than this one.
I'm very pleased with the way the sub frame connectors turned out, once again I owe a big "Thank You" to brother Bill! ;D
With a few changes these could be made to bolt in. The front is easy, just drill through the frame rails and bolt it there. If you don't want to cut the floorboard you can trim the rear part to fit up against the floor. At the back there is an oblong hole in the spring bracket, make the rear part to match up to that and bolt it there. I don't think it will be as strong as welded in but it would be a big help. :)
My 75 has welded in frame connectora and a 6 point roll bar. That chassis [body] is so stiff I can jack it up anywhere and start picking up the entire car.
Very nice tutorial! I'm sure lots of guys will heed your advice!
Chuck
Always a pleasure to read and watch your projects, You do a wonderfull job with the pics and the whole story. I am about to get back on my car still on your last project. I took my heater box out and was able to angle it and got another 1 inch maybe more, i went ahead and widened the tunnel couple inches on both sides. Need to weld and seal it all up then its oil pan Reconstruction time.
Any way just wanted to give my appreciation for your post, it make me want to be their helping!!!
Thanks guys, glad to help out with project info when I can.
You're right Jim, I can jack the car up under the front frame rail and get three wheels off the ground! :lol:
Good idea on moving the heater box back, I hadn't thought of that. If I lived in a state that had nice sunny days year round, I would take mine all the way out and move the engine back even more! But, even though the Shenandoah Vally is a great place to live, I still need my heater and defroster from time to time! ;D
Same here would be nice to be able to move the weight back more but i live in WV and like Va you just cant do with out the heat and defrost. I scored one of the short water pumps that you have on ebay, new clearance for $80, will have to figure out the pulley for it. If you remember what yours came off of let me know or if you stumble on another i would buy it off of you.
Yah i know its an older post but still i had to comment.
Great job! I did something very similar to my car and i used 1/8 x 1.5 x 3.0 boxed rectangular tubing. Wish i had documented the process though. I didnt have the time! LOL.
I also had to cut the floor and take a 90 to the perch. Wish i had thought of finish welding the perch in though. I didnt catch that on mine.
Just to add another thought , i ran my tubing along the outside the "frame" at the front and 45 it and boxed it up. And then did something very similar at the back.
Great minds think alike! HA HA!