73 Pinto
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34,722 Posts
73 "should" be exactly the same... I had a 72 and 76 body parts fit it....
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34,722 Posts
I just love them pics every time I see them!
FE
FE
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34,722 Posts
There's one around here, a brown 72 possibly a 71, and it's perfect ORIGINAL and the old lady still drives it...
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56 Posts
Hello 89 coupe sub, are you the one with the pinto wagon? If you are what do you have for rear suspension? Those are some great pictures of your wagon. What do you run the 1/4 or 1/8 mile in? Thanks.
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Yes, that is one of my cars but I have nothing more than a stock suspension. No traction bars or adjustable shocks or anything. Here is a link to what I did to the suspension and it's ET/MPH:
http://bbs.hardcore50.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=32529
I will be installing some Cal Tracs to try to control the wheelstands so I don't waste so much power going up instead of just foreward plus I will be getting a better cam that DOESN'T make most of its power below the RPM the converter stalls to. BTW, it is a street car I drive a lot on the street and handled many hours of cruising and idling in gear in bumper to bumper traffic at Woodward Dream Cruise last year in Detroit last summer. Despite many attempts to pull the front in front of the Woodward crowds, I was unsuccessful but I did get yelled at alot by the police, no tickets given out though
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http://bbs.hardcore50.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=32529
I will be installing some Cal Tracs to try to control the wheelstands so I don't waste so much power going up instead of just foreward plus I will be getting a better cam that DOESN'T make most of its power below the RPM the converter stalls to. BTW, it is a street car I drive a lot on the street and handled many hours of cruising and idling in gear in bumper to bumper traffic at Woodward Dream Cruise last year in Detroit last summer. Despite many attempts to pull the front in front of the Woodward crowds, I was unsuccessful but I did get yelled at alot by the police, no tickets given out though
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811 Posts
78 fenders will not work on a 73.
The 78 fenders have different shape down by the bumper in front of the wheel opening.
I think they are slightly longer too, not sure, but a 73 has the straight across front core support, while the 74 and later has the curved core support.
I have a 72 and a 78 Pinto, and I can see the differece between the two, but the bolt holes are probably all the same, so you may be able to put the entire 78 front clip onto the 73 as a unit.
The 78 fenders have different shape down by the bumper in front of the wheel opening.
I think they are slightly longer too, not sure, but a 73 has the straight across front core support, while the 74 and later has the curved core support.
I have a 72 and a 78 Pinto, and I can see the differece between the two, but the bolt holes are probably all the same, so you may be able to put the entire 78 front clip onto the 73 as a unit.
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56 Posts
Hello 89 coupe,
pretty impressive times. Working on 72 pinto runabout I had built in high school. I had sold the old motor which was a mild 302 with c-4, home ported 69 351w heads, torker 289, 700 double pumper, ford solid tappet. lemans cam, 4.56 gears and 4000 stall converter. Looking at old time slips and there are no 60ft times. I remember the car spinnig the tires about 100ft out of the hole after good burn out. I ran 9 inch slicks 28 inch tall. Alot of time slips in the elevens. best one was 11.84 at 110 mph. Car was still consistent even though lots of tire spin. I have twenty time slips that are from 11.91 to 11.94 108mph to 110 mph. Building new engine still have c-4. I was wondering do you have subframe connectors, looks like I see role bar or cage in pictures. Also asking because I was talking to a guy at englishtown who had a sedan, he had a 8 point cage and when he put in the subframe connectors he said it slowed the 60 ft times down .3. He claims it stiffened the car up to much what do you think? That car was running 10.90s at 119mph. It had a 306 with canfield heads and 4000 stall c-4.
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pretty impressive times. Working on 72 pinto runabout I had built in high school. I had sold the old motor which was a mild 302 with c-4, home ported 69 351w heads, torker 289, 700 double pumper, ford solid tappet. lemans cam, 4.56 gears and 4000 stall converter. Looking at old time slips and there are no 60ft times. I remember the car spinnig the tires about 100ft out of the hole after good burn out. I ran 9 inch slicks 28 inch tall. Alot of time slips in the elevens. best one was 11.84 at 110 mph. Car was still consistent even though lots of tire spin. I have twenty time slips that are from 11.91 to 11.94 108mph to 110 mph. Building new engine still have c-4. I was wondering do you have subframe connectors, looks like I see role bar or cage in pictures. Also asking because I was talking to a guy at englishtown who had a sedan, he had a 8 point cage and when he put in the subframe connectors he said it slowed the 60 ft times down .3. He claims it stiffened the car up to much what do you think? That car was running 10.90s at 119mph. It had a 306 with canfield heads and 4000 stall c-4.
When I did the cage and subframe connectors it helped my 60' and made it very consistent and at that time I wasonly running 10.90s naturally aspirated and high 9s with nitrous. My gaps below the driver door and passenger doors would get wide and I would hear spot welds "pop" when launching. My doors became hard to open and close so when the cage was made there was just 2 jack stands under the car one under/behind the driver door and one right behind the passenger front tire. Made the cage and the car sits level and the doors open/close easily. Mae it launch better. I would DEFINITELY do the subframe connectors. I have been mid 9s in it and I am working on mid 9s naturally aspirated then I may try nirous again but it's just a street car and I have fun with it.
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1,311 Posts
I have to add that YES Subframe connectors at the very least. And unless you back half the car, youll have to fab your own up out of something tubular steel. I say something because theres a guy running a 408 winsor 78 sedan with slicks and he just uses some round 1.5 tubing running from the front 'sub frame' to the rear leaf spring mount,No cage. Works very well for him. I opted to do it the hard way and am using 1.5x3 rectangular tubing on the same mounting points and cut through the floor welding the entire way to the back.
I opted not to run a cage cause im not going to put slicks on it anytime soon and ran out of fabrication time an $$ anyways.
Im banking on it being stiff enough so i dont ruin the car.
Good luck all.
its amazing how we can get off topic huh? LOL
Robert
I opted not to run a cage cause im not going to put slicks on it anytime soon and ran out of fabrication time an $$ anyways.
Im banking on it being stiff enough so i dont ruin the car.
Good luck all.
its amazing how we can get off topic huh? LOL
Robert
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56 Posts
Hi 89 coupe,
Looked at SW race car web site. They have prebent full cages up to 14 point, rear frame kits for leaf and coil over prefabed, crossmember and ladder or 4-link available for pintos that can be purchased, weld in. This is according to Lenny at SW per phone conversion. I guess now the only thing to do is figure out what I'm going to do on the rear suspension. How many runs do you think you have on your stock leaf springs? What do your leaf spring clamps look like? Did you make them yourself? Sorry about all the questions I just like the idea of the car looking stock as possible and hooking up. Probably will run the subframe connectors as I will be running bigger tires and dont want to twist the car in half 60 ft times or not. I saw a few old sixties mustangs twist and have there windows pop out and twist the body of the car. They must have been running tires that were to big for there set-up. Thanks for the feed back.
Ken
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Looked at SW race car web site. They have prebent full cages up to 14 point, rear frame kits for leaf and coil over prefabed, crossmember and ladder or 4-link available for pintos that can be purchased, weld in. This is according to Lenny at SW per phone conversion. I guess now the only thing to do is figure out what I'm going to do on the rear suspension. How many runs do you think you have on your stock leaf springs? What do your leaf spring clamps look like? Did you make them yourself? Sorry about all the questions I just like the idea of the car looking stock as possible and hooking up. Probably will run the subframe connectors as I will be running bigger tires and dont want to twist the car in half 60 ft times or not. I saw a few old sixties mustangs twist and have there windows pop out and twist the body of the car. They must have been running tires that were to big for there set-up. Thanks for the feed back.
Ken
Robert is right, sub frame connectors at the very least but I have not seen any available for a Pinto. I had 2 choices and one was to tie in to the front leaf spring mount and run the tubing through the floor to the front sub frame OR tie the front sub frame by welding in a kicker front the front subframe to the rocker and attach the front of the cage to that bridge and a bar straight back along the rocker to the main hoop which I mounted directly over the front leaf spring mounts. The rear bars off the hoop go back to the rear leaf spring mounts so it is all tied together. The top bars coming off the main hoop foreward stay up close to the roof and curve down in front of the dash between the vents and the doors. Then the bar that crosses over head is just behind the visors soI can still use the visors and put them in the up position when not needed yet pull them down when needed for street driving or when the sun is in my eyes at the track. I tried to make the cage user friendly and to not stray away from the street car theme. I still have the rear seat intact and my kids ride in the back fairly often when cruising or just going out for a drive. My bar that ties the sub frames is about 1" off the floor and about 1" away from the rocker panels. The chassis is very stiff with the 8pt cage and it is a custom bend to fit cage, not a prebent cage from a catalog place.
The suspension on mine is still totally stock. My wagon came with a 2.8 V6 and A/C so it has the same front springs as a V8 Mustang II and the rear springs are the same as a V8 Mustang II I believe. It is the stock spring pack and wagons came with staggered shocks meaning one shock is in front of the rear end and the other side is in back of the rear just like the old SCJ Drag Pack Cyclones, Torinos, Falcons, and Mustangs which eliminates wheel hop without using any traction devices. The clamps I am using are simple store bought thich steel plates that go under the leaf springs and a U-bolt goes over the springs and when you run the nuts on with the u-bolt going through the plate it forms a tight clamp that hold the leaf springs tightly together so they don't slide or slip effectively making the leaf spring "solid" in that area. Putting multiple clamps between the rear housing and the front spring eye greatly stiffens the springs and prvents them from wrapping up when a lotof power is applied at once. The right rear springpack on mine also has clamps otherwise my right rear sits down over the slick and the left rear of the body extends away from the slick and it launches with the left front sky high. I have tried to keep that from happening but after nearly 15 years of hard launches it no longer is able to launch without the front coming up high. The suspension is totally worn out as is the front coils and rear leafs. I am hoping the Cal Tracs allow enough tuning to keep the front down and get 60' times in the 1.20s using a 10" wide slick. My wagon is very heavy so the springs I need are stiffer than what you need. When I first started racing it with no front/rear bumpers and no hood with no cage and all iron 351W it weighed 2860lbs without driver. Since then I have added a 9" rear, full cage, '71 front/rear bumpers and front/rear valance panels, various safety related things, large headers and full exhaust, extra complete Pinto insulation added to my stock carpet and original insulation to keep the noise level down and the heat out of the driver compartment, heater box, and 2 seperate fuel systems (one for nitrous system when it come time to use one again), and other little odds and ends. Now it weighs a tick under 3200lbs without driver and 5 gallons fuel. An overweight pig for sure
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It seems the more power I put to the chassis the better the car works. There is literally thousands of passes I put on this car over the years and many different engine/trans combos(all 351W/C4 combos). I am seriously considering goin down to 28-9-15 slicks if the Cal Tracs work out well.
The suspension on mine is still totally stock. My wagon came with a 2.8 V6 and A/C so it has the same front springs as a V8 Mustang II and the rear springs are the same as a V8 Mustang II I believe. It is the stock spring pack and wagons came with staggered shocks meaning one shock is in front of the rear end and the other side is in back of the rear just like the old SCJ Drag Pack Cyclones, Torinos, Falcons, and Mustangs which eliminates wheel hop without using any traction devices. The clamps I am using are simple store bought thich steel plates that go under the leaf springs and a U-bolt goes over the springs and when you run the nuts on with the u-bolt going through the plate it forms a tight clamp that hold the leaf springs tightly together so they don't slide or slip effectively making the leaf spring "solid" in that area. Putting multiple clamps between the rear housing and the front spring eye greatly stiffens the springs and prvents them from wrapping up when a lotof power is applied at once. The right rear springpack on mine also has clamps otherwise my right rear sits down over the slick and the left rear of the body extends away from the slick and it launches with the left front sky high. I have tried to keep that from happening but after nearly 15 years of hard launches it no longer is able to launch without the front coming up high. The suspension is totally worn out as is the front coils and rear leafs. I am hoping the Cal Tracs allow enough tuning to keep the front down and get 60' times in the 1.20s using a 10" wide slick. My wagon is very heavy so the springs I need are stiffer than what you need. When I first started racing it with no front/rear bumpers and no hood with no cage and all iron 351W it weighed 2860lbs without driver. Since then I have added a 9" rear, full cage, '71 front/rear bumpers and front/rear valance panels, various safety related things, large headers and full exhaust, extra complete Pinto insulation added to my stock carpet and original insulation to keep the noise level down and the heat out of the driver compartment, heater box, and 2 seperate fuel systems (one for nitrous system when it come time to use one again), and other little odds and ends. Now it weighs a tick under 3200lbs without driver and 5 gallons fuel. An overweight pig for sure
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56 Posts
Hello again 89 coupe,
I was thinking about going to 4-link but after talking with you I believe I'm going to try the leaf spring deal. This will not be such a pain in the wallet. I can use the money in other parts of the car and try experimenting with the clamps and also adding weight to the back of the car. I have an idea on how to add weight by tying another frame piece between the two rear leaf spring boxes, and bolting plates to it. The car weighed 2500 lbs with 302 full tank of gas. I forgot to mention when I ran the car back in the early 1980s we had made up some home made traction bars with adjustable snubbers. Snubers were made out of teflon and when I think back I remember tracion bars making an audable clunk when getting on the power. This might have caused car to break traction. I'll try to find some new spring pads and try the spring clamp deal. Probably going to go with the 8 point cage tying it in to the points on the car that you mentioned. Your sub frame connectors are inside the car connected to the front and rear hoops of the roll cage correct? One I forgot to mention was I saw brand new leaf springs for pintos from the roundy round guys in three different poundages I think in speedwaymotors catalog. Thanks for the info.
Ken
I was thinking about going to 4-link but after talking with you I believe I'm going to try the leaf spring deal. This will not be such a pain in the wallet. I can use the money in other parts of the car and try experimenting with the clamps and also adding weight to the back of the car. I have an idea on how to add weight by tying another frame piece between the two rear leaf spring boxes, and bolting plates to it. The car weighed 2500 lbs with 302 full tank of gas. I forgot to mention when I ran the car back in the early 1980s we had made up some home made traction bars with adjustable snubbers. Snubers were made out of teflon and when I think back I remember tracion bars making an audable clunk when getting on the power. This might have caused car to break traction. I'll try to find some new spring pads and try the spring clamp deal. Probably going to go with the 8 point cage tying it in to the points on the car that you mentioned. Your sub frame connectors are inside the car connected to the front and rear hoops of the roll cage correct? One I forgot to mention was I saw brand new leaf springs for pintos from the roundy round guys in three different poundages I think in speedwaymotors catalog. Thanks for the info.
Ken
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