Any Ford Pinto fans?
- Thread starter Bigerik
- Start date
MarkAnderson
Addicted Member
When I was a kid my dad and I went car shopping. We looked at one of these and I thought it was the coolest car ever made. I begged him to buy it, but he got something else instead, an Escort or some POS...
What the hell is it? I like it.
merrylander
AK Member
I've had my share of small cars and also my last small car, at this point in my life I want comfort, like 6-way heated leather seats, power windows and a full size car.
Still is, in many of the "sportsman" class races around here.
Up at Lanier Raceway, there's still a class for these little ~2-liter "econobox" cars... and there's still lots of Pintos, Vegas and such.
However, last time I checked... it was a Manta built by a friend of mine (runs Rockdale Imports in Conyers GA) that was still pretty much king-of-the-hill. Just better suspension... and those 1.9 liter Opel motors could be made to make SERIOUS POWER... once you stuck a few small-block Chevy parts into them (valves, pistons, etc... and even re-grinding the cams to the legendary Chevy LT-1 cam profile seemed to work REALLY well). Not unusual for one of those Opel motors to be making 200-250HP, in the right hands...
Regards,
Gordon.
enjoythemusic
Active Member
Yes... why yes it is
Driving her is even 'sicker' See videos on www.EnjoyTheTrack.com and compare to the Ferrari. The Ferrari is slow as a turtle by comparison. To be fair, the Ferrari i had here, modded, and tracked the heck out of was a 1980's model. Then again so is the Pinto engine LOL!!! Still, not fair to compare a consumer car to a proper purpose-built track car. Now if i could install the Ferrari 3L tweaked Fi engine in the FC versus the 2L Pinto... The newer FCs use the Fi ZETEC engine and if you use the stock engine MAP you get around 200HP versus the SCCA mapped down 155 HP. i heard guys who has used the stock engine MAP have occasionally chewed through top-line Hewland M series gears in their LD200 tranny(!). Still, i can only imagine what going from 155 to 200 hp (and from 145TWQ to about 180TQ) would feel like in an FC. WEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Ok, not quite Formula Atlantic speed, yet... wow!
Super Vee, nice!!! And yes, LOTS of hard work to keep everything competitive (carb work, etc). In SCCA's FC, my catagory, you had to really make sure the wings and especially the gearing were PERFECT to get an advantage... or at least keep up. Fortunately, i did have a rather strong Pinto engine behind me and kept on her (valve adjustments, etc). AFter two years i have decided to retire, it was AWESOME FUN yet the workload of being essentially a one-man 'team' was downright fatiguing and time consuming on so many levels. Still, winning the Championship for the NYRRC and NARRC divisions is a thrill, especially considering it was only my second year wheel to wheel racing. So guess you guys can only imagine how i am with audio...
hipofutura
Active Member
One reason you don't see Pintos any more is that they were the car of choice as donors for their rack and pinion steering. All the guys building drag cars in the 80's - 90's used them. They were plentiful and cheap. In the 70's one of the big name Ford drag guys ran a Pinto with a 351C. It won everything. I think they ended up changing the class rules to get rid of it. Don
Until '72, the 1600 (known as the 'Kent', from the location of the plant in England from whence they came) was available, it quickly lost power due to tightening emissions regs. The Kent was the basis of the venerated FF (Formula Ford) class of racing cars in which many past (and present) champions honed their skills.
My first car was a '72 302 V8 Maverick. quick off the start as anything, the interior was perfect. :thmbsp:
on the down side, it got 8 MPG and the body just rusted away horribly :thumbsdn: