PINTO CAR CLUB of AMERICA
Shiny is Good! => Your Project => Topic started by: Drexx on October 03, 2013, 08:32:41 AM
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So let me start by saying I love Pintos, They are my favorite car. My father and I built my first one at 15 and I have been in love with them every sense. This is my 5th Pinto to date some were street cars one was a drag car and all were 4 cylinder engines.
So I found this 1980 Pinto recently on Craigs list for 1500 I figured it was a good deal so I bought it. The paint is bad but I can't find any rust on the car other than minimal surface rust here and there. Future paint color is undecided right now but I am leaning toward white with some shelby blue stripes on it. Here are the specs on the car as I know them right now.
2.3 Engine (Stock with No oil Leaks)
4 Speed Trans (I don't like this trans because Reverse is next to 1st and it is way to easy to slip into reverse while going to 1st gear for this reason I am thinking of putting a good T5 in it)
1992 Ranger rear axle with a 3.73 gear.
Front Brakes have been upgraded to 11 inch disk brakes with 5 on 4.5 lug pattern.
14 inch wheels and tires.. (wheels are either weld or Crager. Not sure which brand.)
Steering wheel has been changed to a grant wheel and gauges have been put in the dash.
Headliner is in perfect shape
Exhaust is a combo of 2" to 2.5" with no Cat
I plan on changing the interior to black so I'm going to attempt a spray dye on the headliner. (It would be a shame to rip a perfectly good head liner out.)
Please feel free to offer suggestions and ideas. I'll keep this thread updated as I do work to the car.
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Looks like a good starting point!
A serious question...did it come with bumpers? lol
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I don't understand your shifting issue. In order to shift into reverse one must push down firmly, over and then forward. Perhaps your shifter is not working properly. Every pinto I have driven is the same.
Bill
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yeah it has stock bumpers they just aren't on right now. they are the ones with the flipper things on the end. I would like to put a solid aluminum bumper on i have to find out what year those came on. As for the shifter.. I will check that because it could be a bad shifter.
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77 and 78 had aluminum bumpers also Bobcat too. Fred :)
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Perfect.. Thanks again. Ill check with my local Pinto Graveyard to see what he has. I'm pretty sure he has some.
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Update under the hood.. I had a chance over the past couple of days to start detailing under the hood and cleaning it up. Here are the pics. I'll post more as I make more progress.
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Looks good.
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Awesome nice score! Have fun dialing it in!
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Looks Great!!!
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Something to think about when you get to the bumpers. I has a 79 some years back that had the standard ft bumper valance below the ft bumper. I measured and found a mid eighties ft bumper spoiler off a Volvo Sedan (240 through 740, I believe, fits nicely under the stock 79 bumper and looks pretty good. Easy to install and durable-held up for many years on that car... You can probably find one at your local U-pick salvage or online... Good luck with your project.
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I've seen Ford Fairmont bumpers on several Pinto, and they fit very well.
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Ill keep that in mind thanks.. that's a great idea ill look at the Volvo valance and the Fairmont bumpers.
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Ok so I have been in the shop the past two days tinkering on the Beast. I also built myself a nice buffer for making thinks nice and shiny. To start off I built a new battery hold down that provides heater hose management. Then I polished up the alternator bracket and clear coated it. I also added a puke tank but haven't got completely plumbed in yet. Let me know what you think.
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Looks good, kinda cool idea on the battery hold down, just gotta do something about that stud though. :D
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As per the shifter, the easy reverse issue is because the rubber spring under the boot has either deteriorated or slipped past the c clip that holds it down. Mine used to do the same thing. One way to fix it, is to put very tight zip tie in the top rib of the rubber spring so it no longer goes past the c clip. That or modify a mustang 2 shifter spring into the shifter so you never have to worry about it again.
Here is the thread I did up to explain the Mustang II and Pinto stock 4spd shifters and how I modified Pinto shifter into a Pinstang hybrid. :)
http://www.fordpinto.com/general-pinto-talk/mustang-ii-to-pinto-shifter-conversion-modification/msg72910/#msg72910
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Yeah I will be changing the hold down rod on the battery that stud sticks up way to far. I'll do that in a few days probably.
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I will pull the shifter and see if I can fix that issue, I figured it was an internal issue.. Thanks for the info.
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As per the shifter, the easy reverse issue is because the rubber spring under the boot has either deteriorated or slipped past the c clip that holds it down. Mine used to do the same thing. One way to fix it, is to put very tight zip tie in the top rib of the rubber spring so it no longer goes past the c clip. That or modify a mustang 2 shifter spring into the shifter so you never have to worry about it again.
Here is the thread I did up to explain the Mustang II and Pinto stock 4spd shifters and how I modified Pinto shifter into a Pinstang hybrid. :)
http://www.fordpinto.com/general-pinto-talk/mustang-ii-to-pinto-shifter-conversion-modification/msg72910/#msg72910
Dave the article you sent me worked well.. My issue was the C clip and the rubber had slipped up however the guy that had it before me had apparently welded a turned back upper shifter shaft. So What I did was headed to the auto store found a good compression style spring and cut it a quarter inch above the C clip grove. I then ground down the welded knuckle that had been added and opened the center of the washer up to fit over the knuckle. Next i cut a 1 inch pipe cap down to keep the spring from slipping out from under the washer then flattened the top of the PVC pipe cape so the washer would sit flat. Added an E clip and put it back in and it works like a charm. So this is my take on a modified Mustang 2 conversion.. Thanks again for the great Info. If this E clip gives me even the least amount of problem I will machine a two part collar to fit around that area and or Tack weld it or use a grub screw to hold it in place.
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Looks like a good modification! I will have to try this out on a spare shifter I have lying around!
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I should have my dash finished up in the next week or so. I'm waiting on a few parts but I will post new images later today sometime..
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Sorry it has taken so long to get more pics up. My wife has been sick so I have been per-occupied with her health recently. So I got some parts from Howard recently and have started working on the beast again. I got my Carpet in, The new valve cover stripped, polished, painted and installed and started doing my gauges. Here are some pics of the progress.
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Even though the spinning sprockets look neat, I can attest to the fact that if you run bare with no front cover long enough the sprockets will gradually erode their sharp corners that retain belt teeth. The dust and dirt do it, like throwing sand in the belt path. Cam belts and sprockets don't like that. And when I did it I was always thinking, what if some day going say on gravel drive and you spit up a small amount of rock into the crank pulley? You could easily be walking home in a few seconds. I had impact cuts inside my belt after removing it after no cover running for a while. The sprockets had to be replaced, they SHOULD last forever with a cover over them. Then there's always the crank snout seal, they don't live half as long when exposed to lots of dirt.
I ran with no cover for a solid two years or so, but not wise. The belt erodes quite a bit more. Of course, the flip-flop is that I could change a belt with no cover like that in maybe five minutes, LOL.
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First time I took mine off I was thinking there should be a way to make a 2 piece aluminum cover that would be quick removal..
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Ok so i was able to find white face gauge kits for the early models but not for the older models. So, i created my own white face gauges. I created a template in Photoshop of the gauge layout the glued thin sheets of sheet styrene plastic to the old gauge face. I then took my gauge layout that i created and printed it off on water slide decal paper like you would use on a model car and applied it to the gauges face. after that I sprayed it with clear coat and added Blue LED lights to the top.. Here is the final product.
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Looks great. 8)
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Here the gauges are at night.
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So its been a while but i have made some progress on the old pinto. I have done a good bit of work on the inside and built a custom console and put seats out of an Integra in it.
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Here is a look at the new front spoiler i built out of an old file cabinet. Let me know what you think?
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That is a good looking air dam, great job!
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Where's the front bumper? Air dam looks good.
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amen!!!
Even though the spinning sprockets look neat, I can attest to the fact that if you run bare with no front cover long enough the sprockets will gradually erode their sharp corners that retain belt teeth. The dust and dirt do it, like throwing sand in the belt path. Cam belts and sprockets don't like that. And when I did it I was always thinking, what if some day going say on gravel drive and you spit up a small amount of rock into the crank pulley? You could easily be walking home in a few seconds. I had impact cuts inside my belt after removing it after no cover running for a while. The sprockets had to be replaced, they SHOULD last forever with a cover over them. Then there's always the crank snout seal, they don't live half as long when exposed to lots of dirt.
I ran with no cover for a solid two years or so, but not wise. The belt erodes quite a bit more. Of course, the flip-flop is that I could change a belt with no cover like that in maybe five minutes, LOL.
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didn't really like the look or cost of a new bumper so i decided to do a sort of bumper delete and make a quasi bumper if you will
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well this weekend i decided I was going to build a custom hood scoop. This is a ram air hood that has baffles inside of it to direct air to the right side into the carb. The left side leads to the back like a cal hood to vent engine bay heat. As I get the air box done ill post those pics.
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Looks like a winner to me!
Dwayne :)
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New T5 trans goes in this weekend.. Anybody know what year and make / model vehicle I can get an Aluminum drive shaft out of that will fit the T5 and a ranger rear axle. I have been kind of eye balling the aerostars. Any thoughts?
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I can picture that on my 79, it looks awesome!