What would you do with this?

Open to some ideas, I picked this up from Doug while I was in Montana and not sure what direction I want to go with it.

QtrWarrior wrote:With the price of fuel, assuming it's a 4 banger.. I'd get it running

It does not currently have a drivetrain. I do know of a turbo 2.3 with a SROD 4 speed though.

X275!   

cool40 wrote:X275!    

Don't laugh too hard a 275 fits great in the wheelwells on these and with a curb weight of 2430 fully loaded one could be made a contender.

If it's going to be a drag car using ladder bars on a Pinto will be harder to do than a 4-link from a packaging standpoint just because of their long length (harder to find room for the driver & ladder bar in the same small area). Using a 4-link will usually allow more driver leg room & let you set the back of the car lower vs a ladder bar.  

A big tire deal (say 33" & bigger) on a Pinto build can have problems if you want to build the car ride height fairly low. The rear body angles in quite a bit each side above the rear wheelwell openings chewing up a bunch of sidewall clearance room on a tall tire. If a Pinto build is getting big tires you usually have to either set it kinda high off the ground in the back, (like the old Pro Stock Pintos sat) or suck the rear tires way in under it to get enough clearance to set the body lower. A small tire (say 13x31 or smaller) would be a lot easier to get under the back of a pinto if it's going to have a fairly low ride height.

The Pinto OEM front suspension layout would probably work OK in some cases. One drawback is there might not be as much aftermarket help these days for the Pinto front suspension like there is for the Mustang II layout (some of their parts & layout are not exactly the same). The Pinto had at least two different spindle types/designs (maybe even more) over the years. The early Pinto drum brake spindle was wimpy and not as beefy as it's later disk brake spindle design. The later beefy Pinto spindle design I have does look almost the same as a Mustang II spindle, but they aren't 100% exactly the same. There is just enough differences between my Pinto disk spindle & my MII spindles that some suspension geometry & bump steer problems can happen if the correct spindle isn't used.

[EDIT] After doing some more checking it looks like the Pinto's made sometime during the Mustang II's run (possibly 74-79) might have used the same spindle as the MII. So technically there may have been at least 3 different spindles for the Pinto (small bearing early drum, large bearing early disk, larger bearing late disk-aka MII). The Pinto disk spindles I have must be from before 74-79. My spindle's caliper mounting & dust plate mounting holes all look similar to a MII spindle, but mine have the steering arms sitting slightly lower on the spindle than a MII does. And mine have a slightly shorter height distance between the top/bottom ball joint pads vs what a MII spindle has.


You could probably mini-tub it for an 8" tire (mini-tub might even fit a 10" tire) & add a simple 6-8 point roll bar for a fairly low buck street/strip deal. Or you could do a "driver seat back" back-half chassis & full roll cage to use a tire in the 13x31 range.

By opening the bottom area of the wheel well (front and back) you can fit a 28 x 10.5" tire with no tub. The 71-73 front end has the R&P mounted forward of the crossmember. The 73 is a half breed between the 72 and 74. The rack is similar to a MII rack but has early Pinto type mounting. 74-80 is the same as the MII. There has been turbo 4 and plenty of v8 swaps. I hear the ecoboost is coming in a crate motor....

Well I'd start with a can of gas and some matches.....

Da Fuck are you thinking?

$259/ton

yellowhorse7 wrote:Well I'd start with a can of gas and some matches.....

Da Fuck are you thinking?

I kinda like them, I haven't had a street/strip vehicle in a long time and miss cruising. I am thinking either turbo four or fuel injected 302. I have two friends who have V8 Pinto's and they both run consistant low 13's the one has an Explorer crate engine with a carb and runs 13.00-13.10's on an old pair of M/T Indy Profile SS's.

I am not worried about setting the world on fire with this just thinking more of a S/S low budget toy.

yellowhorse7 wrote:Well I'd start with a can of gas and some matches.....

Da Fuck are you thinking?

Maybe not everyone wants an aids infested piss green Mustang...       

jasonf wrote:

yellowhorse7 wrote:Well I'd start with a can of gas and some matches.....

Da Fuck are you thinking?

Maybe not everyone wants an aids infested piss green Mustang...       

  it's Yeller!

bigblok2000ranger wrote:

yellowhorse7 wrote:Well I'd start with a can of gas and some matches.....

Da Fuck are you thinking?

I kinda like them, I haven't had a street/strip vehicle in a long time and miss cruising. I am thinking either turbo four or fuel injected 302. I have two friends who have V8 Pinto's and they both run consistant low 13's the one has an Explorer crate engine with a carb and runs 13.00-13.10's on an old pair of M/T Indy Profile SS's.

I am not worried about setting the world on fire with this just thinking more of a S/S low budget toy.

I like the fulie 5.0 deal better then the turbo idea. Lot of parts made for the 5.0's you can get cheap, not to mention the 347 stroker stuff. It will be alot faster than 13's if you put a decent 347 in it. They are ugly, but that makes it all the better, when you smack the competetion around with it.

If only it was a wagon....

BigBlockRanger wrote:$259/ton

230 per ton here. Do ya have a title for it? You can keep the tank and tires.  

Alright I figured out what I am gonna do with the car. I am gonna build it period correct, mild steel square tube backhalf with ladderbars, a 302 with 351W 4V heads and a Torquer II intake with a 650dp, toploader 4 speed, Lincoln Versailles disc brake 9" with 4.11 posi, M/T Indy Profile SS L60-15's on 15x12" Cragars.

The body will be painted Deep Purple with Yellow flames coming from the grill back. Windows will be tinted 20% limo tint and a dingle berry headliner installed with a set of fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror.

 

Puff Puff Pass  

The Top Loader might be worth more than the car. Sounds like a C-4 deal to me.  

IDT-572 wrote:Puff Puff Pass  

shit is dank......

It's gonna need some retro aluminum slots.