Pinto Car Club of America

Hi,
I've been looking for a project for a while and I came across a 72 Pinto Sprint in one of the local wrecking yards. It's in rough shape, but isn't wrecked and the entire interior is intact so I have a couple of questions.

1: I know these cars are rare. How hard are parts for these cars to find? It is missing the right fender, nose, and engine/trans. It even has the sunroof like the car in the Ford ad.

2: I'm thinking turbo 2.3/T-5/8 inch to replace the missing powertrain. How difficult would wiring the car be? I've swapped an EFI 22R Toyota motor into an early pickup so wiring isn't really difficult for me if I have the proper diagrams and/or help from someone who's done the swap to tell me what can stay and what can go.

3: Speaking of turbos, this same yard has a 79 Turbo Mustang with the engine still intact. I'm assuming this is the carburated turbo motor (hood won't open and I didn't have time to play with the latch). Would this be a good candidate for a donor motor or should I look for a TC/Merkur instead?

Advice and comments would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Joe

Go with the TC or Merkur set-up.  Way more power and reliability.  I would look into restoring it back to a real Sprint, as yes they are very rare these days.

I agree. If you get it don't mod it, but restore it back to showroom shape. The fenders & driveline as well as the nose I believe are from the same year Pinto the Sprint was made. Just different interior, wheels & exterior paint schemes, as far as I know anyways.

Ok, I'm really considering getting this Sprint. Is there anything specific that I should look for besides the normal old car in a junkyard stuff?

Also, how hard would it be to find an original engine for the car?
How about interior stuff (carpet, dash pad, etc)?

I attached a couple of pics of the car in its current state, the rest are in my gallery here. It's the Gallery tab beside the My Messages tab not the one on top.

Thanks,
Joe