Pinto Car Club of America

I've finally got most of my parts together for my 74 Pinto overhaul. The head still needs to go to the machine shop to have new cam bearings installed. The block has been overhauled already, it was in great condition so someone must have really taken care of this engine. Still have to rebuild the turbo as well.

What I hope to start this weekend is the suspension upgrade. I robbed some parts of my Maverick project since its going to be awhile longer till it will need these parts. In the front I will be running tubular a-arms, wilwood pro-spindles, machined hubs, Cobra 13" big brakes, new steering rack, new shocks, and I'll have to check the springs once I get these spindles on to see where its going to set. I just got through making a set of caliper brackets out of 3/8" steel plate to mount these calipers to the Wilwood spindles. I will be running Mustang Mach 1 17" wheels for now till I get a set of narrower 17x8 Cobra R rims for the front to match the 17X9.5's I already have.
The rear Im swapping in is an 8.8 out of a 97 Mustang Cobra w disc brakes. Going to keep the leaf springs for now so I got some new perches to weld on the cobra rear end. 

I do plan on running some sort of fender flare. Body mods are minimal. Mainly dropped the big bumpers, replaced the front bumper with one from my 71 Maverick...almost a perfect fit, just had to make some custom brackets. Rear may get some custom lights and a rear roll pan. Custom front valance to fit around the front mounted intercooler.

My aim is to have a nice quick, good handling, compact car. Pro-touring style.

I will post pics along the way. Hopefully within the next month the 2.3 T will be in and running. It's my daily driver so it cant be down too long.

(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/BikeINK/000_0216.jpg)
Here's the 13" Cobra brake setup
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/BikeINK/000_0217.jpg)
FMIC. I like it mounted lower. I do however have to build a custom valance for it now.
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l43/BikeINK/000_0218.jpg)

I ran outta batteries before I could take any engine pics. Try to get some up soon.

Sounds like fun.
Your maverick sounds like it will be scary fun. :-)
Russ

What year are the mach 1 rims you plan on using? i assume the cobra rears are from the 97.   bolt em on the rearend and measure the width from the back of the rim to the back of the rim. i can tell you that nothing narrower than what i used will get those rims into a pinto wheel well without altering the inner structure or having them try and hit the springs due to the backspacing.  and it definitely is wider than the sn95 diff.

stuff those rims in the wheel wells and give me a measurement from mounting face to mounting face.  i think you may end up using something wider to make it all work but i have a couple solutions in mind for ya.

Sorry about bein vague on the details on my end, have committed myself to keeping it mostly under wraps till she is ready for her debut. Planning to be at the all ford show here on the 10th so it shall be soon.

what year turbo motor you workin with 87/88 head should be fine . earlier one make sure to get er checked for cracks between the valves and if it's not f'd up get a hardened exhaust seat cut into it. it is pretty hard to hurt the turbo blocks they are high nickel and pretty much indestructible.  it is not uncommon to find cross hatches still in the bores of 120k motors. add arp rod bolts and spin the hell out of the stock reciprocating assembly.

sounds like a pretty sweet combination 2 thumbs up on the trick suspension up front. i went leaf in the back for this year as well but just finished putting a chris alston's chassisworks G-bar triangulated 4 bar in the '69 and was thinking of using it to pattern up a replica for the wagon this winter.

Happy wrenching,  and cutting,    and welding and ....

OhSix'

Im using 03 Mach 1 wheels 17x8 for now, my Cobra R's are 17x9.5's. Off the top of my head ( I have the measurements at home) the 8.8 is about 2 1/2- 3 inches longer per side than the stock rear end, so with the late model offset wheels It will be close. Like I said if it sticks out past the fender thats fine I can run fender flare so thats no biggie.

While I was here at work today I put the pinto on the lift and did some measuring for the driveshaft etc. I also measured the stock 4 speed manual trans and I have to compare it to the T5 I have so I know how long or short my driveshaft will have to be. I will be using the Cobra shaft since its beefier and has the correct pinion yoke. I bought a brand new Ford Racing T5 trans yoke for it as well.

I want to get the suspension done before I drop the engine in. The engine is out of and 88 Turbo Coupe. One of the cleanest engines Ive ever pulled apart!

I built a custom tri-angulated 4 link for the Maverick I really like and thought about putting one in the Pinto. But I dont want to get into that much fab work which has held the Maverick up for so long. Other than more adjustment in the suspension, doing a 4 link without narrower frame rails and a mini-tub job doesnt appeal to me at the moment. Thats what I did on the Mav and I plan on later cutting all that back out and back halving the whole thing with a pro-touring style rear frame kit.

Updated. I added some pics.