Pinto?

I'm thinking about a pinto motor/w auto trans for my 2A. what are your thoughts............Kimbob

 

The pinto motor used to be a fairly common swap IIRC, not sure about the auto. Someone recently had a pinto adapter in the for sale section and I believe that Herm mentioned he had one. But these adapter s would adapt the T90 to the Pinto motor. Not a Dana19 to an auto trans.

Here's a link to some information over in the knowledgebase at Novak's website - http://www.novak-adapt.com/knowledge/pinto.htm

 

There's a writeup on the Novak site for the Pinto swap - http://www.novak-adapt.com/knowledge/pinto.htm - but they don't list a price. The Pinto engines are a neat swap because their (manual transmission!) bellhousing depth is less than the T-90 bellhousing depth. This makes the adapter simple and comparatively inexpensive, using the original T-90 transmission which keeps costs down.

If you want an automatic, the GM TH350 is more practical. Automatic swaps in general are more difficult than comparable swaps with manual transmissions due to overall length of the transmission. Plus, automatics tend to be less efficient than manual tranmissions, which takes a larger proportion of the available power with a smaller engine than, say, a V6 or V8. Your easiest path if you must have an automatic would be a GM TH350 behind a Chevy or Buick V6. Not that you couldn't make the Pinto automatic work, instead you'd be exploring new territory and would have very little support in terms of products or experience.

hth

 

Isn't the C4 a good bit shorter than the TH350? I can't remember where I saw that and don't have one close by to measure but I thought it was several inches shorter than the GM. Never done a Ford swap but have a TH350 and it's very doable. Had a buddy in college that had 2.3 maybe 2.0 in it he and his dad did the swap his dad had one with a Falcon six in it.

 

I looked into the pinto plate some time ago.
Seems like it was right at $300. On the lower side of 3 but still.

 

Yeah, the Chevy/GM adapters are way cheaper than $300 used, and plenty are out there. You have a wide choice of inexpensive engines with that adapter, including the 151, 153 and 181 4-cylinders.

 

I saw a 2a with the Pinto engine once, but it seemed that the engine was offset to the left side of the engine compartment quite a bit.

I don't know if that was 'normal' but it was offset quite a bit.

 

Just remembered you have to mak eyour own engine mounts as well.

 

Don't know about the length, but Advance Adapters makes an adapter for the C4 to a Dana 18. Pretty expensive... $650. Depends on what the budget is, but it does not seem like a very cost-effective combination to me.

 

I have an m38a1 with a pinto 2.0L EFI with pinto bellhousing and all the clutch components t18a trany and d18 tcase. it's not difficult to adapt it. There is a few mods that you have to do but if you have fab skills it's easy.

 

It's certainly possible by using a C4 to D18 adapter, but as others have said, you'd be breaking new ground.

I believe it is, but I also think the adapters are longer so overall it ends up being about the same.

The engine itself is a bit shorter (or at least the flywheel doesnt' stick out the back as far), bellhousing is about the same. I did the pinto swap using the T-90 at first. I had to move the crossmember forward and still had to cut the firewall to move the engine back. When I re-did it using a T-98 which is 5 inches longer, I was able to move the engien forward out of the hole in the firewall, and only had to move the crossmember back 2" from the stock position. I don't know how much longer the C4 is than the T-98, but you should have some extra room by using the 2.3L.

Motor mounts are pretty easy. I used a CJ-7 mount on the right (I had to make one of the holes bigger with a torch.) I probably could have used the LH CJ-7 mount as well, but I made my own using a couple pieces of heavy angle iron. This is using Mustang motor mounts onthe engine side, pinto mounts are different.

 

Didn't you talk to me several years ago about this swap? Glad to hear it worked out for you. Do you have any pictures? I'd like to see how you did it.

 

Eric @ Novak sent some pics of a Vega style engine mount that looked real sweet.
I was still leaning that way untill just a week or so ago.
I scored an odd fire trans and tcase cheap.
Still think the 2.3 would be a sweet swap.

 

Check out ebay item....Jeep adapter
Jeep Adapter Pinto Engine to T84 & T90 Transmission Item number: 7993698848

 

here too
http://www.earlycj5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18425

 

You are wright. i can have a few pictures. where can i upload them.

You don't need adapter to make the conversion. Tomorrow i'll have the pictures and a few details about the swap.

 

You can upload attachments right here if you like.

 

some pictures from the engine department, the clutch pedal, the crossmember and how it fits

 

and the rest

 

Looks Good Fivos! What are those motor mounts out of? Did you make them? One of the issues I have is not much clearance between the front driveshaft and the bellhousing/starter. How much do you have? The last picture looks like it may have been trimmed. How does it run?