Just finished cam work on my 2.0 pinto - new burton 32.33 cam (fast road), springs, followers, balls, bearings, stem seals and a vernier pulley. The car before the upgrade was.. and lets be fair.. a pudding. Car is alot quicker now and should be set up correctly finding tdc, correct cam timing, ignition blar blar..
My question is; is there any fine tuning which can be done to maybe lessen torque, increase top end power? I am still not convinced it is running at optimum. What tweeks to cam/ignition timing etc have what effects. It seems the engine has less power at high revs, not more!
Dont get me wrong the risk of spinning the wheels in the wet in 3rd is an issue but can I 'tune' the power
Am I being an ass, this is a pinto when all said and done!

You'll no doubt find it needs rejetting to get the top end power. When its at the rolling road they can adjust the cam timing to vary the characteristics of power and torque. Have you fitted a vernier cam pulley at all??

Isnt the best static timing figure given by Burton Power to suit that cam??

Hi, try a little more advance on the cam for more top end and a little on the ign too dont go mad or youll end up with detonation and melted pistons Ray

Yep fitted a vernier pulley as it worked out that I was about half way between belt teeth for full valve opening. What do you mean by static timing. is this what i have done? using a timing disc, dti guage etc?

For more top end power you need to improve the breathing. This means opening up the ports, gas flowing, modding the valves, bigger carbs etc. etc.

Don't give up - you can get some very satisfying power from the the Pinto

Is that the general rule? more cam advance = more top end power? Worth a go tho. Its also being VERY reluctant to start recently. should this be an indication (of impending doom etc), although I did find the carb mixture was out due to new cam.

wrt the gas flowing of the head, although the internals have a roughness to them, there is no big casting faults etc which i was expecting to see although there is a big difference between the inlet manifold and the port of the cylinder head, quite a stepped change. What does gas flowing do and what sort of money would i be expected to pay?

once everything else is pretty much sorted I think you can move the peak torque/power around a bit buy playing with the length of the exhaust primary pipes and inlet manifold, but thats not the easiest thing to change and it soulds like you've got more to do before you get to that stage...

you might not think that the standard ports look too bad, but they are too big and the wrong shape

there are a few good tunning books for pinto's, look for the des hammill and david vizard ones - both give details of the porting etc.... well worth a read

linky



[Edited on 3/12/09 by mcerd1]

You are chasing BHP for the wrong reasons..........
BHP at any costs makes a car slower unless you are at BHP peak revs all the time......
However, torque is all in racing and is much more relevent to (mainly) road driving.

Talk to race teams (and i do) and they will talk torque and how much they have over how much of the power band more than peak bhp.

A quote for you...

BHP sells engines,
Torque wins races.

Drive your car, or any car and log where the car spends most of its time...
I was suprised when i looked at my Megajolt log (road) and found whilst i was in the zone with full on adrenaline 5 to 7K revs, most of the time the car was no more than 4k.
Get the grunt low, you will be quicker IMHO

Have a look at the Turbosports forum, very very good Pinto info.
To much cam and no compression = no good.
To much compression and not enough cam = detonation (Knock)
Vizard says less duration more lift (under 300 degs about 12mm lift)

To centre the cam when the piston is at TDC if you devide the inlet and exhaust lobes then they will both be pointing up the same amount.

Compared to the above improve bottom and mid range by up to 10% advance the cam 5 - 7 degrees, this is the prefered setting by most people as you drive low and mid end, but you lose 5% top end.

Cam retarded 5 degrees from central lose 5%-10% bottom, gain 5% top end.

For myself many years ago I had a pinto with 285 cam, skimmed heads and large valves, made 140bhp with standard carb running 7 degrees advanced.

So to reverese this thread slightly what is the best way to get better torque ?

regards

steve

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Originally posted by steve m
So to reverese this thread slightly what is the best way to get better torque ?

regards

steve

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somwhere in the big scheme of things we are being cheated ??
i can spend thousands in making my engine more powerfull and more BHP

but i have to buy a bigger engine if i want more torque

i wos done !!


steve

quote:

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Originally posted by steve m
but i have to buy a bigger engine if i want more torque

i wos done !!

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quote:

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The power transmitted by a rotating shaft = the torque T x the angular velocity

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