New guy with a Pinto

[JohnW]

I'm 19 and live in New Hampshire, although I'm about to move back to the South Shore in Mass for a while near where I originally grew up. I bought my Pinto right after graduating high school and got it running after it spent 5 years in a box trailer. I've put 20k miles on it since with the underpowered stock 4cyl.

I just did some of the rust repair it needed (floors and quarter panels) and am having a friend who does good bodywork finish the rest up. It's surprisingly clean for a Pinto in New England, even though it had door and quarter panel rot. The floors pitted from the inside and I had to patch a few places, but I removed the surface rust on top and welded in pinholes so they'll be good for quite a while now.

My current plans include building a subframe, converting the rear suspension to 3-link with a torque arm, some sort of turbo inline 4 or 6 cyl with a 5 speed, 8.8 posi explorer rear end, tubular front suspension with coilovers (all bolt in thanks to the parts available for Mustang II suspension), among other things. I want to do a mix of road racing and autocross with it as well as some drifting now and then.

Sitting in the trailer:


Right after I put it on the road:


Mountain pass cruise with my buddy and CB radios:




Before I started the bodywork:

[BMR Sales]

It is wild to see Pintos anymore..... I remember when they were everywhere!

[Lamoogle]

Can't wait to see what you do to your car! We are both on opposites sides of the spectrum as your car is small and mine is a tank, I like to see stuff that's not the norm.

[jakespeeds]

Another Pinto lover! I just sold my 74 wagon and now am looking for a 72-73 wagon. Take a look at the Mazdaspeed3 MZR 2.3 turbo engine. You have to turn it 90 degrees but with a stock 260hp it turns the Pinto into a screamer. It is essentially the same 2.3 that came in the Pinto and Rangers for years.

Jake

[jakespeeds]

My bad! I mean the MazdaSpeed3 DISI engine. Not the MZR platform. Although the MZR version would work well. Its not nearly as fast.

Jake

[cobragt]

See if you can find a 90's T-bird Super coupe. The Supercharger V6 in those would give a 5.0 Mustang a run for it's money. The Pinto is so much lighter than the T-bird it would be a wild ride!

[ManwithNoName]

You could also look for an 80's T-bird Turbo Coupe. They were running a 2.3 turbo & should swap into the Pinto. I'm looking forward to seeing where you go with your build, lots of cool potential.

[mr.wendell]

Love the pinto.Definately sleeper potential!

[srh3trinity]

There was a guy in an old Hot Rod magazine that ran a Pinto with a Thunderbird turbo motor and it was fast. I always thought one of those motors would be cool in something. They should be pretty cheap and relatively easy to find.