I just bought a 74 Pinto Squire Station Wagon and of course I love it. It only has 87,000 miles on it and seems to run excellently. My whole family thinks it is hilarious that a 24 year old girl with no kids would love a station wagon so much, but I digress.....
First off, the gas gauge doesn't work. After two tanks of gas, this is what I have found: The first tank was all town driving and after doing the math I found out I was getting only 17 mpg! The second tank was all freeway driving and after doing the math I found out I was getting only 18 mpg! This is after I replaced the air cleaner, oil, oil filter, fuel filter, spark plugs, wires, distributor cap, rotor and points. My dad also adjusted my choke and timing. I will be looking into my float level next. I am also thinking about installing an electronic ignition unit. Any advice or suggesstions?
Second, even though I love my wagon, I hate the 'wood' paneling! After removing all of the trim, which left big holes (they really didn't want you taking that stuff off did they?), I am trying to remove the wood sticker and I having a tough time. First I tried a blow drier to heat it up, but that only enabled me to peel enough off to really make it look ugly. I have tried WD-40, goo-gone, professional adheasive remover, and nail polish remover, all to no avail. Any suggestions? My goal is to get the paneling off, fill in the holes left by the trim and repaint what I have to the original color, medium brown ginger. Maybe I should just sand the sticker off and repaint the whole thing?
Oh yeah, I thought this was pretty funny. To temporarily cover up the holes and make it look presentable I got big flower stickers, put them on magnents, and cut them out. They cover up the holes, stay on at 70 + mph and can be removed easily! lol!
Anyway, I also plan on puttin in a stereo system (right now only original AM radio!) and tinting all of the back windows. Everyone tells me that I should keep it all original, but I want to keep this car for the rest of my life, I dont care about resale value, so why shouldn't I personalize it any way I want to?
As I mentioned before any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Also, please tell me about your station wagons and what you have done to spiff them up! My email is cc_racer@hotmail.com
Thanks!
Hello and welcome to the site!! I'm on of the older "farts" here, being fifty-seven, but I have owned six Pintos over the years and all were wagons. Always did like the wagons better than the sedans/hatchbacks! Three were '77 Cruising Wagons, one '77 Squire, one '79 Panel Delivery, and one '80 Squire. I still own the last three. I've owned the '77 for twelve years. The '80 is my daily driver and is a 4cyl/4spd, but I will be selling this when I have the '77 running again. I am currently building a 2.8L V6 to replace the bad one. I want to get it running again because it is the best driving of all the Pintos I have owned. I will also be attempting to do what you are doing and that is to remove all the Squire trim, fill in the holes, remove the studs, and then repaint with the original color (white). The '79 Panel Delivery is my project vehicle. It will end up being what is called a restomod today. I've collected a lot of NOS parts for it and it will get completely rebuilt from front to back. Good luck with your wagon!! Treated well it will serve you for many years!
Alright i got you for the system, i just installed 2 this weekend and have a pretty good idea for a good one. Id start with a Pioneer deck about 50Wx4 hook that up to two pioneer 400W 6-way 6x9's and some 120W 4-way 6's. try and find a precision competition 4 channel amp (preferably w/ highpass/lowpass filter options) to hook up the compnenets to. and since its a station wagon, id go with 2 600W 12's and at least a 1200W 2 channel amp. then HAVE SOME FUN!
CC, welcome to the site! You will need to drop your tank, drain the gas, remove the float assembly and then work that sucker bill. It is prolly rusted stuck, as was mine. You will want to look at the screen on the pickup tube as well. BTW my guage has been working for several months since "exercising" it.
I would check the wiring before pulling the sending unit out, could be just a bad connection/ground. I know on my cars, 77/78, the sending unit is on the bottom, won't it come out without dropping the tank?
Be careful with sanding that stuff off, if you heat the metal, it will warp. Same with removing the holes with a welder. If you just scuff th decals, some paint remover should be able to work it's way into it(and thru). Do you have all the trim? If so, have you thought about putting it back on with new woodgrain? That stuff is fairly easy to apply, and if your trim is ok, or just needs to be painted, that might be easier than fixing the holes(correctly).
As far as your mileage, 18 was very good for 1974.
If your car came with a/c, there is not much room for a radio in the stock location.
Bill
Welcome CC,
As for the gas gauge check the ohms at the tank unit with a full tank then use about a half tank and check the ohms again if you get the same reading the float could be full of gas, if you get different readings then the sending unit is probable OK. If not you can pull the sending unit out without dropping the tank on a stationwagon, I did it on my SW. The float, sock filter and o'ring are replacable if they are bad. If this is not the problem, let us know and we can tell you the next step to check. As for the woodgrain you may have to sand it off.
part#s for sending unit parts if you need them.
float= COAZ-9202-B, O'RING= COAF-9276-A, if the tube size is 5/16" sock= D1FZ-9A011-A, if tube size is 3/8" sock=
D1AZ-9A011-A, these part numbers are available at the local FORD dealer.
I like my wood "paneling" look ;D Then again, I am going for that sleeper look. My car looks 100% stock inside and out, untill you open the hood ::) Check out my site for more details.
Well, looks like after I switched my internet, they shut down my site. Here are a couple pics. It has a 2.3l EFI turbo engine from an 88 Thunderbird turbo coupe.
engine
Cool car. With very little modifcation you can get the hood to close, I did. Might not work with power steering. I dropped the engine and tranny about 5/16", and did a little grinding to the intake/t.b., fits like a glove.
Bill
How did you get everything to drop 5/16"?
My car is a 77, the engine is from an 86 t/c. I used the upper intake, valve cover, and t/b from a 87/88 t/c because they are lower due to the i/c. I took the engine mount brackets that bolt to the engine, and slotted the holes. Not that simple for some of the holes due to the shape of the brackets. For the big problem one, I used a lug nut. Ground it down to fit, welded it in, and it is a spacer. You will understand when you look at yours. The other holes were covered with washers welded in the new locations and the rest of the old holes filled with weld and ground flush on the engine side. What made this very easy for me was using a spare block to bolt them to while the welding was done. 5/16" is about all you can get out of those with "ease". I guess something could be done with the ones that bolt to the body too. The next step was cutting the "floor" off the tranny mount(the part that the mount sits on), cut 5/16" off, and rewelded it. Yes, it will warp even if it is in a jig. My floor jack and the front diff. on my K10 did the trick. The starter and the rack are the two things that will keep you from going further down. I have a manual rack, they are smaller, so I don't know if there is room for the power one. Yes, you can get the starter in and out. This also brings the exhaust closer to the frame because of it's angle. I flatened the pipe just a little near the flange, no problem. I used an a/c underdash box, so the blower is not an issue. Once all that is done, I removed some meat off the t/b mount flange, & upper intake where they come together, as well as that blob on the top of the intake. This seems to have the engine centered very well, and I have had no problems. The last thing was putting a 45* elbow for the vac., and had to grind that too. I have pics posted in this section in "carbbed turbo" and also in the general talk in "new member here". Seems like alot, but I did alot of figuring before I even started, and it all worked smooth. You can do this, or you can get a cut, and rotated upper (never had one, so I don't know if even they will fit), but the power steering pump can be an issue.
Bill
CC, Since you plan on repainting it anyway, you could just sandblast the car to strip the paneling and paint together.
OK kiddys I just finished taking off the fake wood trim and the decal. I tried every thing ! 16 grit paper clogged up ,3-m remover,goof off,goo gone,oops,aceatone,thinner ALL TYPES,heat gun, Torch "only for a second" Used my sand blaster which makes one hell of a mess! The little hefer didnt like sand all over the yard. FINALLY tried jasco premuim paint remover,It softend up the vinyl then i scraped off the vinyl a little at a time with a putty knife.This left the glue still on the car and i was able to get it off with 36 grit paper "GO SLOW" the metal will heat up and it "WILL WARP" .Then i hit it with 100 grit then finally, 180 grit. Filled in the holes with my mig before 100 grit sanding .Slapped on some bondo sand again. Used good 2 part glazing putty sand again,Sprayed on urethan filler,primer sand again.Then finally sprayed the stock color.sand color,sprayed clear. WHEW!
The moral of the story is try to salvage the trim and replace the vinyl PAIN IN THE BUTT
P.S This is the reason i got on this website in the first place couldnt figure how to get it off.Now im hooked See ya Mike