Does anyone have a good Pinto for sale (2.0). Id ideally like a 2.1 if cheap enough. Im ideally looking for a complete setup that i can drop straight in and bolt to my Sierra 5 speed (ie with carbs etc). Budget is as tight as me so needs to be cheap!!

Ive seen several on ebay - all a bit too normal. Ive privately bid on a 2.1 so am waiting to get a response from the vendor. Not looking good so far so if you know of anything that can be descibed as "fast road" without being too mad please let me know.
(Motoscope in Northalleton have a fantastic engine for sale, approx 160bhp at wheels, but too rich for me at sub 2 grand without carbs!!).


Many Thanks,
Darren.

have you thought about building one yourself? tired out pinto's are practically on every corner so easy and cheap to pick up, i built my knackered old 2.0 into a hopefully semi respectable 2.1 with stage 1 head and 40's for just the happy side of 650 quid, ok i can cheat a bit as i'm a mechanic by trade but pintos are childsplay when u got a haynes manual by your side.

john

I have seriously thought about it John and am coming round to the idea more and more. The only thing thats put me off is not having built an engine before, however i do fancy the project.

Ive just won a bid on ebay for some 2.1 motor bits. There is a block bith some slight marks that are allegedly honeable - this will hopefully save me a lump of cost. The pistons are scrap but iam told are not too expensive to replace. The crank is there, as is a standard 2.0 head.
Did you buy a ready built uprated head or do it yourself?

If you can supply some basic ideas of your build id appreciate it (what power / torque have you got) or alternatively you may be able to recommend a good book.

Mechanics dont phaze me and i have a couple of engine rebuilders close by who could do the machining bits. Sounds more like a goer every day.

Thanks for the inspiration,
Darren.

We built our pinto as our first build, went very well, we got lots of help and work from our local machine shop, they use the engine heavily in stockcars and where very helpful. We ported the head ourselves time consuming but well worth it. The cam kit is good and is not to wild its a fr32 kent cam kit, we are running twin 45s, advice is get the bits checked for straightness and get them to balance it doesn't cost much, the best book is Des Hammils book see ebay the engine produces 160bhp and has lots of torque see below.

http://forum.locostbuilders.co.uk/upload/135%20jets.jpg

[Edited on 9/11/04 by macspeedy]

[Edited on 9/11/04 by macspeedy]

When porting the cylinder it helps to start with the injection head it is a better flowing head from the word go, the areas that are most important are the valve stems which need blending to the valve removale is an option but reduces the life of the head, the area around the valve seats within half an inch is important and matching the import manifold and exhaust manifold to the head will also help. you need not polish the ports or combustion chamber as this attracts fuel droplets.
new valve stem guides should see compatibility to unleaded fuel.

a bit of light reading i aquired at some point, regards to the author

Macspeedy,

many thanks for the help. Your dyno plot looks most imressive, max power well below max revs and very flat torque curve. It must feel stronger than 160BHP.

I picked up my 2nd hand block, crank and pistons etc yesterday. The block has some vertical scores - a bit questionable if it is honeable, also it is not a 205 block so i need to research this / get advice from engine reconditioner. Crank looks reasonably OK, will grind to next size OK. Pistons look poor and will need to be replaced. I only paid £15 for the bits so nothing much to lose, im thinking i really need a old injection engine and start from there. I have spied a very low mileage 2.0 SOHC injection, everything included (inc g/box) but £200 sounds a bit steep. However with only 49K on the clock i could fit it for now, get through SVA etc and re-build as a winter project in the future. At least i could start collecting bits and save up.

Ill take your advice on reading material and do the research before jumping in and regretting something.

Many thanks to everyone for your help and inspiration.
Darren.

If you only paid peanuts for it, then it has a value as a trade in block etc, ie to reduce and surcharges that you might have to pay.