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Author: Subject: disapointed with pinto engine (rant)
stonefish1

posted on 1/3/10 at 11:07 PM Reply With Quote
disapointed with pinto engine (rant)

not long ago i bought myself a tiger with a 2.0 pinto engine.. always wanted some sort of kit car, and i was really chuffed driving it back, even thou it was bloody freezing with snow on the ground and the drive took me 2h 30mins... the thing is now i have been out in the car four times since the weather has been better and found that the performance is poor.. think i expected to much..??? my normal drive is a honda civic type r ep3 and im pretty confident that it would leave the tiger for dead and out do it on the handling.. has anybody else had the same thoughts.. so now it makes me think is my engine poo slow.???. is it worth me having zetec..?? just dont now anymore... would love bec but can't afford it.. sorry about the rant just needed to get it of my chest..
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austin man

posted on 1/3/10 at 11:17 PM Reply With Quote
depends what spec the pinto is and what the overall weight is . I have a 1.8 zetec on twin carbs and have given a few cars a good run for their money. I think you probably need the car setting up properley. the pinto is possibly giving between 95 and 110 bhp which is around 200 per ton so not a million miles off the civic a good set up pinto will give around 150 bhp a well set up zetec around 200. How deep are your pockets





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dlatch

posted on 1/3/10 at 11:21 PM Reply With Quote
its not that hard to bring a pinto upto at least 150bhp which should be plenty performance, if however the pinto is tired all ready then a zetec conversion would be a great idea
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ReMan

posted on 1/3/10 at 11:22 PM Reply With Quote
I expect that compared to a very competant car like the R , you are not going to be blown away by the tiger-pinto combination
But there may be room for improvement in engine tyres driver before you inevitably plump for a bike engine
going to hide now

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stonefish1

posted on 1/3/10 at 11:47 PM Reply With Quote
maybe i should just engine upgrade.. cause the block looks really old and i do have other problems with the car aswell.. over heating,, in this weather tonight i had the fan on from start up and i was out for 10mins and it hit boiling point.. its done that now twice.. decisions decisions..
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Steve G

posted on 2/3/10 at 12:00 AM Reply With Quote
engine upgrade, decent sticky tyres and a suspension setup could totally transform the car. I've driven a Tiger that was a total dog.... and another that scared the pants off me with very little extra power but a properly set-up car suspension and brakes-wise.

See it as a challenge to make it go better and you'll be ok. Dont forget simply having the carbs out of tune can make a huge difference What spec is the engine??

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ashg

posted on 2/3/10 at 12:08 AM Reply With Quote
to be honest it sounds like that engine is not setup properly.

my 1.6 pinto on bike carbs and megajolt professionally setup at ATSPEED in essex is a little rocket. Makes 90bhp at the crank and is easily as fast as a type r civic.

i would suggest before spending any huge amount of money on a new engine. take it to a rolling road pay the £50 odd notes and find out what bhp it is actually making.

if its making what is should then change it for something with more go.

if its not running right and massively down on power ask the rolling road if they can set it up to be right or ask if it is shagged and needs replacing.

at the end of the day an engine that is set-up and running correctly shouldn't overheat especially in this kind of weather.

also ask yourself this, if your civic was over heating would you take it out and rag the hell out of it?






again with the suspension take it to a proper place that has the equipment to set it up correctly, it is quite likely that the car was built and lined up by eye which will be the cause of the problem, its amazing what a difference properly setup suspension can do.

a tiger however underpowered should be absolutely destroying a civic through the twisties so there is something pretty wrong there.



[Edited on 2/3/10 by ashg]





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stonefish1

posted on 2/3/10 at 12:34 AM Reply With Quote
thank you for all your replys.. the engine is standard with a standard carb.. i have my eye on some bike carbs at the moment... i will get it on a roller asap and see what is happening with it.. cheers lads

[Edited on 2/3/10 by stonefish1]

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norfolkluego

posted on 2/3/10 at 12:38 AM Reply With Quote
My first kit was a Tiger Cat E1 with a 2 litre Pinto with twin 40s, it would leave a Type R for dead and handling wise the Civic wouldn't have a prayer, get it sorted and you'd be amazed.
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SixedUp

posted on 2/3/10 at 03:34 AM Reply With Quote
Just to echo the previous comments, a Tiger with a good standard pinto ought to be quicker through the bends than a Civic type R, though I suspect it will probably be no faster on the straight bits. A well-sorted Tiger*, with a tuned pinto ought to completely destroy the Civic.

The fact that yours is overheating (in this weather?!) suggests that something is fundamentally wrong. Get all the basics fixed now, then get a rolling road to get it set up properly (putting a sick engine on a rolling road is just asking for it to expire).

Then if it's still not fast enough, consider either tuning it or an engine swap, depending on your ultimate goal & budget. The pinto is a classic "old school" engine, and can really make a Tiger (or Locost) fly. But if you're looking for more than ~160bhp a Zetec may well be the cheaper route these days.

* My Super Six has a highly tuned 2.1 pinto, and lots of modifications to the rest of the car to match (gearbox, diff, suspension, brakes, tyres etc). I am now the weakest link, as it really needs a better driver than me to get the most out of it. It's taken some hard graft to get it from the same spec as yours to where it is now, but the grin factor is enormous!

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David Jenkins

posted on 2/3/10 at 08:07 AM Reply With Quote
As above - if the engine's running hot and is giving poor performance in this brass-monkey weather then it needs some basic tuning checks - even before going to a rolling road.

If it was mine I'd start with checking the timing - if it's significantly retarded then you'd get exactly those symptoms. If that was ok then I'd use my Colortune to make sure that I was in the right ball-park for mixture.

If you've got a DGAV carb then it's not uncommon for the automatic choke to pack up - the colortune would show that too.

There's plenty you can do before taking it to a rolling road - even a traditional old-school garage could do these checks and be much cheaper than a RR session - do that when the car's nearly right.

Afterthought - if it turns out that the Pinto does need significant money to sort it out - get a Zetec.

[Edited on 2/3/10 by David Jenkins]






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lotusmadandy

posted on 2/3/10 at 08:21 AM Reply With Quote
I had a 2.0 pinto with bike carbs in my indy and it used to be very quick.
I suspect you need it setting up properly to get the best out of it.
You need to sort the cooling issue as well
that won't be helping.

Andy






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fesycresy

posted on 2/3/10 at 08:48 AM Reply With Quote
I had a 2 litre Pinto.

I used to keep it on top of a pile of roofing sheets at the bottom of my garden, they weren't going to blow away with that baby on top

A Zetec conversion is no more expensive than a BEC when you take into account the additional costs of throttle bodies, megasquirt etc.

Come to the darkside, get a 'blade installed.

Or just get it set up as the above boring responses





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garyo

posted on 2/3/10 at 10:52 AM Reply With Quote
I suspect there's something wrong with your Pinto. My 2.0 Pinto Westfield was a flying machine. As others have suggested, the timing is very easy to swing back and forth, or perhaps the carb is faulty, are you getting full throttle?

You don't have a crazy diff ratio do you?

Gary

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02GF74

posted on 2/3/10 at 12:13 PM Reply With Quote
befpore forking out money on rolling road, do a few simple checks first.

1. check timing - set correctly, advance working?
2. do compression test
3. examine plug colour - mixure correct?
4. is air filter restrictive, blocked

etc.

the running hot 'til almost overheating, in this weather, doesn't bode well fpor a correctly set up engine.






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garyo

posted on 2/3/10 at 02:53 PM Reply With Quote
before forking money out on anything, buy a new pinto from a breakers for £50 :-) That's what I used to do...
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AndyGT

posted on 2/3/10 at 03:01 PM Reply With Quote
Is the dog-poo performance not down to a knackered head gasket. That would explain the performance (or lack of) and the over-heating issues. Check for oil or rust in your cooling system and/or salad cream in the engine oil.

A compression check wouldn't be a bad idea too, as this could determine the condition of the rings and the head gasket at the same time...

EDIT: somebody on here should be able to tell you what PSI you should be getting on apinto. I'd imagine about 160psi evenly on all cylinders but I am open to correction....

[Edited on 2/3/10 by AndyGT]





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blakep82

posted on 2/3/10 at 04:33 PM Reply With Quote
have a read of this
http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=131129





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stonefish1

posted on 2/3/10 at 06:11 PM Reply With Quote
thank you everbody.. all your replys have made me feel better about the car and what it is capable of.. to answer some questions the car is torally standard.. there is a old skool place by me he has a race cortina like the lotus one.. might get him on the case.. but i will check the basics myself over the weekend.. cheers again lads..
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iank

posted on 2/3/10 at 06:41 PM Reply With Quote
It's not the low compression pinto from a transit is it?
Good as the basis for a turbo motor, but nothing much to set the world alight NA.

Worth checking the diff ratio as well while you're looking over it. But favourite must be the head gasket if it's overheating.





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