hi all

Am after some first hand straight from the horses mouth been there done that and bought the tshirt info from anyone out there still happily running their cars with a 2lt pinto....especially if on bike carbs..... I am at the very start of my build and have a partially stripped 205 pinto block (non efi) minus cam and carbs, that came with the chassis and other bits and pieces that had been sat for years in someones garage and i'm intending to put together... Question is do i stay with the pinto or bite the bullet and upgrade to a zetec running full injection from the outset?!

Am intending on using it as a road rather than a track car and would like decent driveability and mpg figures as well as smiles per miles......... Have been more confused than enlightened i think after reading all the posts so would appreciate some peoples real life feedback on living with a pinto.....and what benefit the bike carbs make...

Oh and if there's anyone in the east anglia region who's up for giving me a ride out in one to see what they can do in the real world then Please let me know or U2U me......would be very much appreciated.......

Cheers fellas

I can tell you that a zetec on carbs vs a zetec on Injection there is around 2 - 3 mPG difference in fuel I do around a 30 to 31 on a 1.8 zetec brother inlaw gets around 33 he is running 200bhp.


Oh we drive them quite spirited

Sorry cant inform on the pinto

one advantage of the pinto is that you deffinatly get a pre-cat emissions test at the IVA (you can swap the engine later once its on the road....)

plenty tunning parts out there for a pinto too, but its not the cheapest per bhp
I've spent alot more than I'm going to admit on my pinto

as for driving it, I'll need to get back to you on that one (mines still a wee while away from finished....)



bike carbs have a few advantages over twin webbers: they have a reputation for staying in tune better, they'll give better MPG and they are alot cheaper - power wise they should be about the same
EFI is the next step up again though....



the 1.8 blacktop zetec is a nice revvy engine (and easier/cheaper to get hold of than the 2.0) - i've only had one of these in my tin-top but I love it
its missing a little of the torque that the 2.0 has but a set of cam's and some big end bolts should give decent power

[Edited on 30/10/2012 by mcerd1]

In My Westfield I have a 205 inj block and head, Kent FR32 cam, Bestek ignition and a set of FZR 1000 bike carbs (drilled and fettled by Bogg brothers although no R/R yet). If driven carefully I can get high 20`s mpg normal (ie flat out) it drops to about 23 mpg. Engine is very use able it copes with traffic well yet will scream up to 7000 rpm no problem. The carbs have not gone out of tune in two years and were easy to strip and set up. Fast Dan (off here) is a whizz at making manifolds to suit what ever bike carbs you end up with. Bike carbs and old fashioned enginering are the way to go!!!!!

quote:

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Originally posted by nearly done although no R/R yet). If driven carefully I can get high 20`s mpg normal (ie flat out) it drops to about 23 mpg.

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Build with a Pinto put a Duratec in later
Zetec has exhaust and inlet on opposite sides to the Pinto
Essex kit car club meet in Chelmsford and we have a good range of different cars
Me I'm running 3 Pinto's at the moment
Standard
2.1 (+2.25 pinto pistons on standard rods), FR32 injection head 130bhp revs to 7,200 and is quick
2.1 V6 pistons, Cosworth rods, big valve head, RL31 cam
All use bike carbs and Megajolt
2 in bits for winter
Ill be back on the road next year with plans to sell the Pinto's ( perhaps not all of them) and go Duratec

I would build with the Pinto, upgrade that to 130 to 150bhp with the injection head skimmed to 10 to 1 compression with a 1.3mm gasket (Reinze) run an FR32 for revs or the FR30 & 34 are popular for low rev applications and a set of bike carbs, ignition spark adjustment is helpful and I prefer the Megajolt over the fixed Bestek:
Another bonus with the Pinto is that the exhaust manifold can be modded to fit the Duratec saving hundreds when you swap.

[Edited on 31/10/12 by snapper]

Couldent agree more with snapper we built ours with a pinto on carbs got it through the sva then after a while we injected it with R1 throttle bodies running 8 staged fuel injectors. Then last year we went to a duratec wow what a differance.start simple(nothing simpler than a pinto) and grow with your car untill it is all you want it to be. You will never stop tinkering

cheers for the feedback guys......all gives me food for thought. 20-something mpg depending on the right foot is about what i was figuring from the pinto... yamapinto how much more do you get out of it running the duratec?

We can get 36 to 40 mpg spirited driving and 30mpg on a trackday we are running standard ford induction megasquirt ignition and a decated ss exhaust it's not all about the horse power it's also about how it's deliverd Ford spent millions on that injection system and it surprises me that more people discard it so quickly

I have a pinto in my car and get 25-30 mpg
this is with zx9r carbs set up by Mr Bogg on his R/Road

Jacko

Stick with the pinto. Then possibly upgrade down the line.

I'm waiting for my pinto to go bang before I change the engine. I'm running 45 dellortos, so can't advise about bike carbs.

As for mpg, the tiger does around 20mpg, but to put that into perspective my daily sensible run around astra only does 25mpg when driven like a nun, on track 7mpg if I'm lucky.