When I was in High School (30 years ago) a friend had a Pinto wagon with a V8. It was with out a doubt the fastest pinto in town, one of the fastest cars in town for that matter.

 

I'm with ya dude. I had a '74 pinto in '77 when I was a junior in HS. Put 90K on that car in a year and half- beat a chevy 4x4 up a hill on a bet cause i was crazy and he didn't want to screw his truck up- got it stuck on beaches, raced a dirt road to my gfriends house in the morning- every morning- took me about 20 trips to learn how to not bottom out the oil pan on a rock in a turn- got pulled over by the hwp and had my bro's immature pot plants in the back- a felony in NV at the time and he let me go- I lived in that car during the winter near lake tahoe for 3 months- had a down bag and young, flexible joints as well as plenty of other joints back then. My friends called it the 'Thing' cause I had my hiking, hunting, fishing and camping gear in it all the time and was an outdoor heathen. I could get it to 111 mph across the washoe valley flats an did so often. It was dented, ran out of oil, raced, wrecked and nearly rolled more times than I can remember. It got me to work before and after i went to school for the day and tons of keggers on weekends. I had a ''57 f100 and a '67 cougar before that thing and they both wussed out way before the pinto did- '67 coug is my dream though so I will never get back into a pinto but am glad someone is.

But the tranny and the rear end will have to go. trade the windsor for a 302 if you can and an 8" rear from an older car.

 

Didn't someone offer a kit to put a 460 in these things back in the 70s?

 

I can't believe a 460 would actually fit in the engine bay of a pinto...But then again, I think people have put 454's into Vegas so it could be possible.

 

> but unfortunately they probably weren't

No, they kept breaking motor mounts. Yea, I would never ride in it either.

 

actually several people have put 460s and stroker variants of them into pintos and yes the fit although you can't close the hood.
I personally put a 351c with a C6 in a 79 bobcat (pinto with a facelift basically) and it fit just fine without even cutting the hood or trans tunnel, and yes it was scarey fast.

 

Here's an amusing little story:

A few years back I was in a local wrecking yard and saw a pair of finned Cobra valve covers in the office. I bought 'em for 40 bucks, and in talking to the guy he said they came off a Pinto with a 289 in it. I got to thinking about it a few days later and decided to go back and take a look at the Pinto to see if there was anything else worthwhile on it.

When I went back and asked to see the Pinto those Cobra valve covers came off of, the guy behind the counter (not the one I'd bought the covers from - he wasn't there that day) thought I was nuts. He said they didn't have any Pinto with a V8 in the yard. He happened to be an expert on Pintos, and said authoritatively that it just wasn't possible to fit a V8 into a Pinto. I didn't want to argue with an expert. I was busy thinking, "How proud you must be, to be an expert in such a fine automobile...!"

So there you have it. According to a Pinto expert, these V8 powered Pintos that you all claim to have seen, ridden in, driven and built are merely figments of your imagination. Such a beast can't possibly exist!

 

My wife has always said I have a vivid imagination. I guess with the back up of your Pinto expert, she's right, I'm nuts!

 

guess someone forgot to tell the pinto expert that the first year pinto prototypes were actually setup with a 302 in them oh well he's the expert so that 351c I put in one must have been my imagination.

 

My parents gave me an 80 Pinto Pony as my first car but I never got to drive it on the street. My mom wouldent let me do anything cool with it like slap a 302 or a V6 for that matter into it, or even the 5 speed that my dad had gotten to replace the 4 speed when it eventually craped out. So my mom had a wrecker come get it rather then let me play with it.


A few months back I was in the local pick N pull yard and seen a hatch back pinto. I dident run over to it or anything just walked by and glanced down at the engine bay to see a striped 302 shortblock bolted in with a ton of wires and FI fuel lines. I asked the yard owner about it. He said it was a MPFI conversion that ran when they pulled it in but had dead 5 speed and a rod knock.

 

Hey monsterbaby,
What did you use for your rear end? (in your imaginary car) As my kids are getting older and leaving home, I find myself with a bit more disposable income. When I am real nice I even get to spend some of it. After I finish my truck, building a hot rod of some kind is next on the list.

 

If you want to build a "hot rod" I'd say you'd be better off building a Fox mustang ('79-93). More parts available for those things than you can shake a stick at.

 

In my "imagination" I used a 8" ford out of a 75 maverick. direct bolt in no problems.

 

Wasn't it a bit wider? I would imagine so...

 

Nope same width within an inch total