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TUNING A 1600 PINTO
ray.h. - 27/1/04 at 12:29 AM

My car is being built using a 1600 leaded Cortina.The problem is that i rang a local company to price up an unleaded conversion and he said he would not gaurentee the work because there is not enough material to put hardened seats in and the head might crack.
Also ,talking about tuning,he(being a stock car racer)recomends putting on a 2ltr head,four branch manifold and a twin choke carb to get good usable power.He also recommends staying with the four speed box.
Has anyone tried this combination or have any thoughts on the subject?

JoelP - 27/1/04 at 09:23 AM

i've never tuned a motor in my life, but in the past on here people have recommended starting from the 2 litre engine rather than flogging the 1600 to death just to get standard 2 litre power.

not sure about the 4 speed box, did he say it was more reliable or just better gearing, or maye just better for racing? check the ratios and compare with your diff to work out max speed in each gear, make sure 70 to 80 arrives at comfortable revs.

all the best anyway, Joel.

ray.h. - 27/1/04 at 10:16 AM

I think it was about getting the most from a1600 because of class limitations.The problem i have is that the engine free and it is a factory re-con with only 13k so i don,t realy want to junk it.Rear axle is cortina so gearing, therefore top speed ,should be the same as donor.The stockcar man said that because of the light weight youwouldn,t need first and you would only need fifth on motorways.
Lets face it these cars are best scratching round country lanes and doing track days so tractability is more important than top speed.
I know the 2ltr head has bigger valves and a2ltr twinchoke carb is slightly bigger,so if you add a four branch then the engine should rev easier and deliver more bhp.The question is does the head fit and how does it affect compression.Is there any particular model i should look for ie;emax,non-emax or whatever.
God this is getting complicated.

James - 27/1/04 at 10:23 AM

quote:
Originally posted by ray.h.
Also ,talking about tuning,he(being a stock car racer)recomends putting on a 2ltr head,four branch manifold and a twin choke carb to get good usable power.He also recommends staying with the four speed box.
Has anyone tried this combination or have any thoughts on the subject?


If you're gonna go to that much effort you might aswell drop in a 2.0 block in the first place.
IIRC the 1600 is 75bhp The 2.0 with standard carb is 105 and 2.0i 115bhp.

People *give* 2.0 pintos away and that's a 30bhp increase without starting tuning!

HTH,

James

ray.h. - 27/1/04 at 10:49 AM

The general concesus seems to agree with you on other threads but i was trying to be tight.What i might do is use the engine as is and do a 2ltr properly as money allows and fit it after it is on the
road....
Anyone got a 2ltr engine going cheap.
I,ll still stick with four speed because it suits my needs better,besides if i blow it up ive got another one and can get more.

[Edited on 27/1/04 by ray.h.]

Stu16v - 27/1/04 at 09:31 PM

quote:

The general concesus seems to agree with you on other threads but i was trying to be tight.What i might do is use the engine as is and do a 2ltr properly as money allows and fit it after it is on the


Nowt wrong with being careful with the money mate, but sometimes the pennys you save cost you pounds in the long run....
I'm with the others, if you want extra go, find a 2 litre. As you say, you can build the car with the unmodified 1600, but there isnt really any point in spending good money on that when a bigger lump is virtually a bolt in job.
Also, the 'Stock car man' is right(ish) about the gearbox. The four speed hass a superior gearchange feel IMHO, and the ratio's tend to be slightly better suited for 'blatting'. But after a while, it is nice to be able to put it in fifth, which saves fuel, wear on your engine, and your hearing

stephen_gusterson - 27/1/04 at 10:34 PM

if you put an ad in the local paper or in a sweetshop window, someone will gladly give you a whole 2.0 sierra for nothing. get a pre 89 unless you wan the non-pinto dohc engine - thats 125hp btw

atb

steve