Pinto Car Club of America

ive been told i can swap my stalk 2.3 for a mustang svo. i read up on that and turns out svo's are pricy and hard to find then i heard an 88 firebird turbo is the easiest. then of course the merkur 2.3 turbo. whats the dealio???

thunderbird turbo coupe, not firebird.  those motors were in several mustangs, merkurs, cougars and thunderbirds.  even a blow through carb version for 79-80.  the motor itself bolts up to the pinto chassis like it was ment to be there.  but then you have to figure out the wiring, mount the turbo motor computor somewhere, move the turbo or notch the innerfender, finding and placing a high volume/high pressure fuel pump.  it is a simple swap.  thats assuming you know your putting a non-factory driveline in your pinto.  you will find speedbumps.  search on this site.  i, along with several others have gone though most of the issues weve stumbled across.
your best bet would be to find a doner car to strip.  merkurs and turbocoupes the cheapest.  88 turbo coupe would be the best bet for the fact it has the fastest processor in an eec that ford put in a turbo powered car.  they are also easy to find for fairly cheap.  i payed 400 for mine and it was driveable...other than a rotted brake and fuel line.  and at 195 hp, its only 10hp under the most powerfull svos.  although, the 87-8 turbo coupes have the most pain in the neck harness to sort through. 
anyhow, do some searching on here to give yourself some more info on your goal.

bob