Re: Pinto Engine in Model A

Posted by Bob Carabbio on Oct. 26, 1996 at 21:34:47

In Reply to: Pinto Engine in Model A
posted by Wade Ingrham on Sep. 26, 1996 at 11:01:01

: Has anyone put a Pinto Engine in a Model A and and give me feed back as to perfomance. Good and bad.
The Pinto Conversion I was involved in used the bell housing, flywheel, starter and clutch assembly of the "A".Fron motor mounts were fabricated out of angle and sat on top of the frame at the front.We used a '73 Pinto engine.The Throttle linkage was done by welding a pin onto the stock linkage which was bolted to the two top ears on the clutch housing (which couldn't be used to secure the housing to the engine since there was no place to drill & tap. The Pinto water inlet is on the wrong side of the engine necessitating a crossover pipe to the lower radiator connection.
The Flywheel is mounted to the Pinto crank by drilling and tapping a proper bolt pattern into the Pinto Crank, and making a spacer to go between so that the flywheel is properly located in the housing.The spacer is a couple of inches thick, and MUST be machined with appropriate pilots so that concentricity is maintained.
The Clutch housing to Pinto bolts are tricky since you must centralize the housing with the crankshaft, and drill/tap the mount bolts. If you drill to deeply you'll hit oil.As it is you'll be into the water jacket so the bolts must be installed with sealing compound.
Driving the car was much like operating with the stock motor except that higher speeds are easily obtained.Cruising at 55-60 is not a problem.There is less low end torque so take offs are doggy compared to the stock plant.Vibration and engine noise is about the same.The big thing is that the engine doesn't slow down like the "A" does so clashless shifting up through the gears is difficult since it takes so long for the engine to slow.There is also not much engine braking.The spark also must be retarded somewhat over the stock setting to avoid preignition at low RPMs.I think that lightening the flywheel would make quite a difference in driveability, but would make the slow Idle characteristic of "A"s impossible.

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