2 Litre Pinto Tuning ?

[MarkB]

Best option for smiles per quid spent is fit a bike engine, but the Haynes is a bit big and lardy really.

[twinturbo]

Bike engine in a Sierra would be BAD

TT

[MarkB]

Sierra's unless XR4's are bad anyway and not a patch on a Capri or MK1 or MK11 Escort

[TSM Locost]

Hi Bonzo

There's a 4 page spread in CKC this month on bike carbs and mentions pinto's

[Bonzo]

Cheers Mike

will get the good lady wife to pick a copy up when she goes shopping.

Rob

Forgot to mention that Junior is lurking about on the Sierra Forum.
Being as he is a shy little flower I doubt that he has introduced himself yet

[robo]

2ltr pinto with cam,carbs headers is plenty good enough for a hop up from standard and any more than that will make the insurance co have a cardiac.
Bob

[Bonzo]

Originally Posted by robo

2ltr pinto with cam,carbs headers is plenty good enough for a hop up from standard and any more than that will make the insurance co have a cardiac.
Bob

Yes Bob, there is that aspect to it

At 23 with 4 years NCD, Juniors insurance premiums are still quite steep


Rob

Thank you for those links

[baz-r]

if cheap easy power is your quest look round for a good cam (new or used) as pinto bits are cheap and a plenty,
get the old head off give it a decoke and a bit of home porting while your at it befor it goes in
next mod would be a 4 branch befor the carbs fro me

[Bonzo]

On Wednesday I managed to spend a full day in the workshop ( For the first time in several months )

With Junior doing the Donkey work, I managed to more or less fully strip the Pinto engine down.
I must say, it was a real joy to be working on an engine from an age that I am most comfortable with.

Seems that the Ebay punt has worked out fine & the engine is in a reasonable condition.
It would appear that I have got a better deal than I had thought.

Let me explain, the engine was sold as 205 block Pinto for spares/core stock & was believed to have originated from a P100 pick up.
Went for this particular engine as it was complete, had a 5 speed type 9 gearbox & most importantly, local to me ( Few & far between in this neck of the woods )

The first thing I done when my Two lads bought it all home was to cross reference the engine number.
The engine number started with the letters GS, this relates to the engine being produced in March 1986.
This would appear to rule out the P100 as according to my research, the P100 was not produced until 1988.

On proper examination of the cylinder head, it would appear that it is an injection head ( Pear shaped inlet ports )

All components removed are standard & are original Ford parts.

I did have a concern that this 2 litre engine may have been the low compression version but if it turns out to be a full injection engine I will be happy.

All in all it looks as if the engine has never been stripped & is totally original.
That said, still have more research to do to confirm that the block was produced for an injection engine.

Markings on the pistons are a very grey area for me, read, I havn't got a clue what they mean
The only visible ID on the piston crown is the part no: 832 E 0186, a large 2 ( I assume to mean 2 Litre ) & the customary direction arrow.

Spent almost an entire day yesterday researching all things Pinto & only finding small snippets of info.

Now have a rough plan on what I am going to do to this engine but still have to try & find out if the cylinder head is suitable for use with unleaded petrol !!??
I have checked for the Ford identifier code ( Adjacent to the spark plug ) & all I see is a capital letter " I "
This mark is not listed as being an unleaded stamp but from my research it is commonly found & I have yet to find out the meaning of this mark

I would be gutted if I pay out £150 for an unleaded conversion just to find out that it was converted already.
Looking at the valves & seats, it is obvious that the engine has a good few miles on it but can find no substantial wear on any of the valve train.

Valve guides very good, valve stems very good, no pitting to the valve faces or the seats.
Not knowing how long this engine has been laid up, it could be entirely possible that this engine has not been subjected to any long term use with unleaded fuel, the lack of wear could definitely be a Red Herring so I guess it would pay to give it some serious thought when it comes to conversion.

Well best to get back to the research.

[snapper]

There are some simple tricks to get more from a Pinto
Fr32 or 33
Thinner Felpro head gasket
Bike carbs
Megajolt
Should get you 130bhp

The injection head, the one with the egg shaped inlet ports is worth 5 to 10 bhp
The Felpro gasket will give 9.7 to 1.
10.5 to 1 max for cast pistons
Rev limit for the rods 7200 and that should limit your cam choice.
Megajolt releases the power that a standard dizzy will strangle
Megajolt will give you easier starting, better idle, more power and better fuel economy.
It's not hard to fit and set up.