Engine dilemma

[alga]

So, tomorrow I'm getting my donor -- a white 1987 Sierra with a Pinto 2.0, carb for an equivalent of 105 pounds. The owner has lost hope to sell it whole and has already sold the front bumper, lights and rad. I did not see it run, as the coolant is drained and it's out of fuel (leaky tank), but the owner assures me that the engine is a sweetheart, not a single oil top up necessary between changes.

My plan was to go for Zetec, so CVH would have been a better interim option, but somehow they're hard to come by, with lots of twinks and some Pintos on the market.

So, the dilemma: a complete, running, although outdated, relatively heavy and weak Pinto vs. trying to assemble a Zetec system with unsolved fuel pump, intake manifold, ECU, starter, flywheel, clutch, alternator questions. Or should I try to find a complete CVH engine and get it running on the cheap with plans to upgrade to Zetec later on? What would you do?

[Coozer]

There would be no advantage to going down the cvh route, swapping a pinto for a zetec is dead easy and very straight forward.

Its just basically a collection of the right bolt together parts to get the zetec up and running, as far as intake goes bike carbs and megajolt is possibly the easiest cheapest option. It is also possible to use a one of the Ford ecu units with carbs aka the coil packed carbed cvh engined Orion and Escort EEC units.

Cost wise my donor had a 1.6 pinto which I replaced with a 1.8 zetec and ZX9R carbs/Megajolt. Cost was under £400 but I did pay £200 for the engine which is possibly a bit over the top for a zetec. Since then I've bought one for 99p (ebay) and another from a LCB member for £10. Theres one for sale on there now for £75.

Mate of mine has just upgraded his MK from a pinto, sold it for £300 and bought a 2L zetec for £50. A bit paint and it looks the dogs...

Breakers typically want £200 for zetec motors but if you go along you get everything from under the bonnet so some parts may be sold on. Brand new ones from Ford can be had for around £700, long engines dressed with ancillaries and clutches etc.

IMO a zetec is the easiest cheapest option for 160+bhp.

Don't hesitate, go for it...

Cheers,
Steve