Pinto Car Club of America
Shiny is Good! => Your Project => Topic started by: propinto on March 10, 2006, 08:05:40 AM
I am looking into restoring my 79' Pinto. I am leaving this post because i need help. I dont really know where to go or what to start with. My pinto has about 60000 miles. I know that there are a few seals that need to be replaced and the fuel pump which i have and plan on replacing today. Othere then that i dont really know where else to start. Please help.
If i were you i would start from the ground up. Start with the floorpans and move to suspension. After suspension is done move on into the interior. The next would be the motor and last would be the paint job. Just my opinion. I wish i could do it this way but i will probably be driving mine way before its done.
If it's going to be a driver, I always start with the brakes and I replace almost everything unles I know something has be done recently and I trust the person that did it. It doesn't make much sense to spend a bunch of money on upholstery or paint or whatever if you can't stop and end up destroying the car. If the car is running acceptably, I then tackle the suspension. If the car can't be down for long, do it in steps. Get an extra set of control arms, clean them and repaint them, get them rebuilt with new bushings and ball joints or buy a whole new set, depending on your budget. If you have the time, replace all arms at once along with replacing the strut rod bushings. The springs and strut rods can be cleaned and painted while you have them out. Install new shocks as well. While you are doing all of this, check the tierod ends and steering rack as now would also be a good time to replace them if needed. Once you have done al of this, it would be wise to have the front end alligned. At this point you now have a car that will stop and and will be able to be controlled with a reasonable amount of certainty. From there, plan it out and go for it! If you have the time to completely tear it down to restore, this is all mute, but I have seen more projects not get completed that are completely torn down than I care to count. Just take a look at eBay these days! There are unfinished projects galore!