I've had the last of the rust cut out and repaired. It was in the heater bubble & passenger side A pillar. I got a replacement pillar and heater bubble thanks to Phil @ the Escort shop and sourced a new under bubble panel from Magnum in the UK.
My panel beater spent 13hrs on it all and has done a great job. The replacement bubble was off a wreck and had some holes that needed patching which was no big deal. He used some cold gal around the heater bubble edges to prevent any further rust and I've bought some Septone anti corrosion wax spray to put inside the chamber when the top coats have been done. I've etch primed the bare metal on the heater bowl areas and will surface prime and topcoat with some colour matched acrylic. The pillars are primed and painted satin black. A new windscreen rubber & locking strip has been installed and done properly so water wont get in.
 
Next will be installing the motor and getting some rego. Not sure which direction to take the project after that.

 

 
Pillar ready for welding
 

 
 
 

Here's how it sits today. All the electrics have been sorted out. It was just dodgy bulbs really.
Not long till RWC. I've changed plans and the race motor's going in the MK1. My current pinto (130bhp) will be going into this mated to the auto! Good times


How do you find the auto behind the pinto conpared to the manual

Id love to do trans braked auto and high stall behind a turbo pinto one day.
Nothing better than letting go of that t brake button at full boost. Well thats what its like behind my boosted v8. No clutch car acceleration comes close to a boost and trans brake launch.!!

Hi, I drove it when it had the old standard pinto and it actually surprised me. Chugged along very well :D
I expect it to go a lot better with the 130hp motor but it's not installed yet.
I doubt the C3 transmission would suit anything hi performance.
 

Nice work Hayden, chipping away at it still, is phil located around aspley or that area?

Thanks Carlos. Phil is in Boondall, I can text you his number if you like.
I have taken a deposit for the 130hp motor so the only thing I have left to put in it is this :(
 

 
 

Whoa!!! your last engine put a big smile on my face, this ones left me in awe... Looks like fun
Cheers Drew...

Haha, cheers Drew. You know the only thing that put me off going turbo pinto in the past was the cost of the exhaust manifold. I recently bought this custom stainless one in a bulk lot of escort parts and it ended up paying for itself by the time I sold off some bits. It's just snowballed from there :D  There's still a lot on the shopping list so it will be a while before she spools up!

ratta tat tat
Thanks Carlos. Phil is in Boondall, I can text you his number if you like.
I have taken a deposit for the 130hp motor so the only thing I have left to put in it is this :(
 

 
 

now that's the way to do it, the pinto responds extremely well to boost and they are fairly easy to do, I just had mine on the dyno  for the final tune,we still have safe fuel mixtures and timing  we put out 160 kw @ wheels (214 rwhp), response is great from the little motor. makes it a real fun car to drive now.

LS1 coil bracket showed up today. Very nice bit of gear

The mild pinto was collected over the weekend and will find its new purpose powering a very tidy MK2 Cortina.
 

TT331
now that's the way to do it, the pinto responds extremely well to boost and they are fairly easy to do,

 
Thanks. I have been told that modding the head to suit the EFI manifold is pretty straight forward. The head needs porting & setting up anyway so this will get done at the same time.