Pinto Car Club of America

Are there any mods that can be done to hop up the 2.8L v6?  What is the main reason for poor power in these engines?  Thanks for any insight on this.  I understand there is an offenhuaser intake for these but would a good mandrel bent dual exhuast and new intake wake it up or..?  Would porting/polishing the heads do anything and do they make headers, etc?

   Yes there are several things you can do.
                The poor power rating came from the low compression and mild cam installed with several degrees of retard necessary to make it pass smog in the U.S.
I know there were headders  4-BBL intakes and several aggressive cams (All solid) to choose from. I think Racer Walsh might be a good source of info on where to get these things.

    An aggressive cam with compression as high as street gas will allow with headders and that 4-BBL aluminum intake with a small 4-BBL carb should get you close to 200 HP. Porting the heads will make it a lot more angry. Just depends on what you consider a streetable cam and RPM range. Those motors love to rev so if budget allows good pistons and valves/springs sounds like a fun combo. I really want to build one too after seeing a 70s 2.8 Capri lay waste to an 80 something  5.0 Camaro. My friend had one in his Capri and said it got only 14 or 15 MPG with the 4-Speed, steep gears, and all the mods. I am unsure about things like where to get a good overdrive stick shift (Or auto) tranny that will work and fit a Pinto. And hop up parts are sometimes hard to find.

Hope this helps. 

David ,
Great to hear of your V6 interest in modding the 2.8. In my library I have a book from 1982 on V6 performance, and it has a Ford V6 section that had all the reasons that the 2.8 was a better engine than the 2.6 V6 that the european ford Capri came with.
Count you blessings, the 2.8 in U.S. smog legal trim is a slug BUT there was a bunch of potential for that motor back then and some of the V6 goodies for the Ranger v6 (non Mazda source) would fit the 2.8.
There was a V6 Ford aftermarket company back in the 90's , for Ranger Pickups. They built a wild 4.0L v6 for racing in the Nevada open road racing series. Unfortunately, I believe they went out of business, and I don't know if they reopened later.

I'll look into it further , who knows ...we might get lucky :amazed:

Pintosopher

here's a offy intake on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Offy-4BBL-Intake-Ford-Capri-Mustang-II-V6-Pinto-Ranger_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ34198QQihZ021QQitemZ310043876687QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW
and here's some intresting info on the Ranger station
http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/2_8L_Performance.html

Volksnut...Thank you Thank you Thank you for the Ranger station link.

Very cool lots of good info there.  Thanks!