I have a new project...

[cr8crshr]

Welcome back Rob. I have always maintained no matter what Marquee one is wrenching upon, it is all good. And I might add that if I wasn't playing with MOPARS, it would be Fords. Generic Motors stuff...Not interested...cr8crshr/Tuck

 

[Homstead]

That's too cool! Friend of mine had a Pinto with a 340 mopar swapped into it back in the day. He bought it for the drivetrain but ended up running it at the strip for a couple years. It was crazy consistent and won more races with that thing! Eventually he removed the drivetrain from it and the car was sold off. The new owners put a big block mopar in it and as far as I know its still like this. Good luck with the project! Its going to be a lot of fun!

 

[Budnicks]

I bet that car is a hoot. I am doing this for a couple of reasons. First, to keep me in the hobby. I don't care what anybody says, Mopars are costly in comparison to Fords and Chevys. Secondly, I did a V8 Pinto about 30 years ago when I was a kid. It was a real hack job. I cut that car to pieces. Kinda always wanted to redeem myself. This car is a factory P/S, manual disc brake, A/C auto. So far, I've swapped in the 8" rear end, swapped in manual pedals, got the engine built, the transmission bolted onto the engine and the engine bay cleaned and painted. I need to patch a hole on the passenger's side fender well where the battery was, and get the HVAC box out to replace the heater core and inspect the evaporator. Once I get that done, I am gonna stab the engine and trans in. The 74 and up cars are a complete total bolt in swap for a small block, as they share the same chassis as the rustang II. I think the only reason Ford never offered a V8 in these is because they wouldda upstaged the rustang. ......and they certainly would have. Hopefully I will be driving it by the end of the Summer if not before.

Cool project, good luck, it's too bad you couldn't do something with your Dart or any of the others, some other Mopar... But I too like many different cars & have built some strange stuff in others eyes, pissed off allot of my purist GM Ford Mopar, even German & British car buddies...
I say go for it, if it rocks your boat or blows your skirt up...he he ha ha !! that's all that matters, at-least it's not a Fox Body Mustang, something different & out of the box, a Mercury Bobcat instead of a Ford Pinto even, not a big fan of the Fugly a$$ big bumper era cars at all, but should rock & roll with that V8.... Again Good luck

 

[Nsane]

Hey rusty any new progress?

 

[conv67bdere]

Ok. Here it is. A 76 model Mercury Bobcat. I am putting a 1999 5.0 Explorer engine in it. It is the GT40P engine. Has the best heads Ford ever used on the 302. Almost ready to stab the engine and trans in the car. It's a world class T5 5speed transmission. I have already swapped in a Ford 8" rear end with 3.40 gears. It's essentially just a small 9". Looks just the same but is a tad smaller. Had Oregon Cam do a custom grind off the stock Explorer core. .447/.506 218/224 @ .050 on a 110. Hydraulic roller. Desktop Dyno says close to 300 HP and over 340 LB FT of torque. Should be snappy pushin around less than 2500 pounds.

This kinda looks familiar . . . Got my neighbor putting a 5.0L Ford engine in his Maverick . . . right down that same alley ! ! !

Both of them ought to be really COOL ! ! !

Glad to see you back RustRatRod . . . will be following your thread . . . keep us posted.

 

[Ron 73]

Good to have ya back again Rusty, whatever your workin on, were all car guys and our DD now is a Merc! I was just telling my wife after watching a show and seeing a 63 Impala SS i would love to have one, Mopars may be my favorite but the money it cost to build them (OH how Chevy/Ford parts are cheaper) would make a poor guy cry even harder then this one typing lol Have fun man!! :hello2:

 

[RustyRatRod]

My apologies for no updates. We have made it through probably the toughest spot we've ever been in before. Hopefully, I will be reporting progress soon.

 

[MoparMitch]

Cm'on man, Get to it !

 

[RustyRatRod]

Cm'on man, Get to it !

LOL! I will. Probably quicker than you think.

 

[Meep-Meep]

V8 Pintos / Bobcats and Vegas helped define the 70 decade (IMO). Glad you are keeping it alive. And welcome back by the way.

 

[MT_Mopar]

My brother had a Grabber back in the day. Glad to see you back Rusty!

 

[Propwash]

My apologies for no updates. We have made it through probably the toughest spot we've ever been in before. Hopefully, I will be reporting progress soon.

Good to hear you pulled through and made it out of the trenches Rob. Looking forward to progress down the road.

 

[satman72]

Good to hear things are looking up Rob. I look forward to seeing this "little" beast.

 

[383man]

Good for you ! I was telling a friend a few weeks ago how back in the 70's I would see smallblock Vega's and Ford Pinto's and I never seem to see any now like they all got wrecked ? Pro Stockers raced the 351 Cleveland Pinto's in the 70's like Dyno Don and thats basically the same car as the Pinto. Very cool and that should run good as you dont need 600 hp to run 11's at 2500 lbs. Good luck with it , Ron