Pinto Car Club of America

hey, I plan on swapping my 1980 pinto's 2.3L 4spd out for a 1988 Mustang's 2.3L 5spd.  The Mustang is fuel injected but we plan on switching the manifolds too. Do you guys have any advice on how hard this is going to be and what i might run into?  thanks

Hello Ronlun,
The port shape is different on the F.I. manifold-head Vs. the Carb. manifold-head.
The Fi 2.3 had a D shaped port. The carb has round-oval ports.
The two manifolds "SHOULD" bolt up though.
There was a bolt position change at the front of the manifold somewhere in the changeover to F.I..
which could also cause you a headache.
I suggest you try to convert your Pinto to F.I.
Let us know how things turn out.
From Pintony

Yes the manifolds will bolt up, but you might want to do a little port matching on them. See how they line up. If you don't mind a little power loss, just bolt it up.

The engines are ABOUT the same.

Use the pinto oil pan and pickup. There is a dipstick hole for a front sump and rear sump on both engines, pop out the plug and move it to the other hole.

You should be able to use the stock pinto bell (depending on the 4spd) to keep the clutch easy.

You will need to re-locate the hole in the floor for the shifter forward an inch or so.

The driveshaft will be different to, check this link:

http://www.turboford.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=040352

IF you are THINKING about using the EFI, keep in mind that you will not see that much more power for ALL the work involved. The work you need to do is about the same as the turbo coupe/SVO swap: engine harness, comp., fuel pump.......(check out the thread in the FAQ section). The hood on the 79-80 models are higher, so you will have more room, but if you don't want to cut the hood, you will need the CORRECT y/m EFI parts (some of the over the valve cover intakes are taller than others), and you will still need to do some work fabricating parts.

If you just need an engine and want the 5-spd to boot, go with the stock carb. set-up on that engine. IF power is what you want, go with the t/c-svo swap, because for all the same work it CAN be twice the HP of the stock EFI.

Bill

Oh  man, this sounds like alot more trouble than I should go through just for another 4cyl.  So the motor in the pinto now threw a rod and I wanted another 4cyl standard. I wanted to keep the pinto because insurance is cheaper. I might just get rid of the pinto for the mustang. The guy with the stang was plannin on dropping a Buick 350 in it and use it for drag. But I might get the stang and give him the pinto for his 350 project. I'll update you guys on my choice.  And thank you soo very much for that info :)