Pinto Car Club of America

Well, after all the hassles I finally got the engine and trans aligned and the engine mounts welded in.  I'll tell you though, it was tough to "commit" knowing that it is basically a permanent issue. If there was a bolt hole relating to the engine or transmission (ANY of them), I slotted the holes..., just in case.

A couple of other things (hopefully pictures some day):

1.  The battery tray was rusted out. Since the battery has to be moved anyway, I hacked the whole section out and fabricated a new piece. It sits a lot lower than the original inner panel. This eliminates the outer exhaust bolt problem and created clearance for the wastegate actuator ( I have the Big IHI turbo with the wide placed wastegate actuator).

2. I found a great fix for the heater fan motor clearance!  I have a Sunbeam Tiger (Yea, yea, - Get Smart) and had replaced the heater motor with one from an MG.  It was about 2/3rd's the original size and could be called "stubby."  Slotting the two mounting holes was all it took to fit the Pinto with this item I snagged from the Tiger.  The cage is slightly smaller - and backwards, but reversing the polarity still has this thing pushing a lot of air.  I now have at least 1" clearance to the exhaust manifold (some might say the O2 mount).

3.  My '73, Auto with a 6-3/4" upgraded to a T-5 with a 8" rear end and the original driveshaft fits -PERFECTLY!

Happy (for the moment) Tom

Great info for the heater motor!

I used the IHI on Connies car but I relocated the WGA to the engine side.

The C4 and the T-5 are roughly the same in length, but the 8" does push the driveshaft about an inch forward. I was not able to use the stock one a couple of times, but other times it was ok.

When do you think you will be driving it?


Bill

Drive it? Oh, man I haven't thought that far ahead.  The time I drive is less critical than the fact that I do all I can and not wishing I had done something when the circumstances were better (as in while the car is apart).

The drive shaft when slid all the way in is a little over 1" away from the mounting points on the rear yoke. I basically mimic-ed it through the rearend travel and it seems just right.

I'll post some pics on the fan motor.  I think they are about $10 at the self serve yards. It's been 100+ degrees plus here in So.Cal. for days now. When your dirty, tired, hot and hungry snapping a photo isn't at the top of the priority list.

Tom