Hello all, I've got some newbie questions about Pinto's. Our family does have one as seen in my avatar pic, it was purchased by my grandfather in 1976 and is a wagon with a 4 cylinder in it. I was wondering though, what size it is in liters and what trans would it have in it. I have always assumed a c4 but I do not know. Also is there any difference between the pintos and a bobcat besides one being mercury? Are they a little more classy? How well do the hatchbacks handle? With a standard trans, are they usually 4 speeds? I know some of the earlier fords had a 3 speed manual. I'm looking into getting another classic car, but something that is small easy on gas and fun to run around in. The wagon we have now my dad usually drives. Oh, and I saw some people mention 2.3 turbo engines. Are they very good and did any of those come stock in the pintos/bobcats? Thanks for all your help!
First off Welcome you will find alot of answers to your questions here.
I will try to answer some of them for you
Motor size 2.3l, C3 or c4 trany vin code tells or number of bolts in pan (drawing a blank on letter and bolt #), There are some differences between Pinto and Bobcat Front end (grill,and head light, ect) and tail lights. YES the Bobcat is more classy :lol: Maybe i am just partial.I have a wagon so i do not know about a hatchback. Standard tranny = 4 speed. The turbo is a swap from a newer ford usually a t-bird alot of info on here about that if it is something you would consider
Phils Toys
:welcome: waldo786!
I've done 2 - 2.3 Turbo swaps into Pinto Wagons. It really isn't that hard, providing you've turned some wrenches before. Good Donor Cars are Merkur XR4Ti, Ford Tunderbirde Turbo Coupes & Mercury Cougars XR7's.
With the Merkur XR4Ti they have a stand alone Engine Wiring Harness and you only have a few wires to hook up to make it all work as for the TC's & XR7's you have to seperate the Motor Harness from the Body harness but, they all do the same thing just a little more work with the TC's & XR7's. They are all 2.3 Turbo's but you will have to use a Pinto 2.3 Oil Pan & Relocate the Dip Stick.
Now I've done Tranny swaps on both of mine, I swaped from a 4 spd to a T-5 - 5 spd. I've also installed 8" Rear Ends in both to handle the abusive driving I do, Racing (at the Track), beating all the Jap Crap Cars that think they have a fast car because they have a muffler with 3½" Opening in the back, and not to mention all the Camaro's and Mustangs that think they're "King of the Road" because they have a "Pony Car". To me there is nothing better than beating a V-8 car and the look on the faces of the people when they see not only did they get beat by a PINTO but a 4 cyl PINTO! The feeling is great. Not to mention you just don't see Pinto's on the road that much.
As for the engines the were avalible in '76' I believe they were both 2.0 & 2.3 and like phils toy said tranny's were the C-3, C-4 & 4 spd.
There is plenty of info on this site just do some looking around and some reading to see all the options you have.
Once again :welcome: this site is full of info.
turbowagonman
Thanks for the responses guys. Good info and I'll have to do some searching on here also. I was wondering if the 74 and up hatchabacks came with disc brakes in the front, as my wagon did, but is this a wagon only feature? Thanks again!
Yes the 74 and up have disk brakes in front it actually started sooner but parts are harder to find
C3 tranny= 13 bolts
C4 tranny =11 bolts
phils toys
Thanks for all the info. The wagon I have also has A/C, p/s and p/b. Were these pretty standard options on all these cars also?