pinto

[peterporsche]

Hello everyone I just came across this jeep on ebay I havent heard of anyone doing a conversion to a pinto before but the seller says its done alot would they have just some kind of adapater plate below is the link to the item.
Peter



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WILLYS-JEEP-/ ... 19c7a8bec9

[wesk]

I wouldn't say it's done a lot. More like occasionally or rarely. The pinto 4 banger was probably a readily available engine in the UK from Euro Ford engine supplies at salvage yards and cheap. It's close in size weight and displacement. Not a good low end torque developer but an ok cruise engine. The routine was to use a tranny adapter. The Chevy Iron Duke 4 banger was a more common swap.

[BullRun]

More Pinto Engine Info:

In the 1970's J.C. Whitney in the USA made an adapter plate that allowed the Ford Pinto engine (the car that famously blew up when rear ended) to be mated to a T-84 transmission. The plate was around $100 dollars.

It worked great. I had an MB adapted this way and drove it everywhere. Performance was about the same as the Go Devil. The Pinto engine (itself) was a highly respected design that performed extremely well. In the 1970's original engine parts were getting very hard to find for WWII jeeps in my area but Pinto engine parts were readily available.

Would I buy one now. No way! Before the internet you did what you had to do to keep your vehicle going but now finding an original engine is not that big a deal. Comparitively speaking.

Since J.C. Whitney carried the adapter for years it probably means it sold well and many conversions were done. But, in 2011 a conversion is now likely worn out too. But in their day they were an excellent engine swap.