Berlinetta engine swap - Ford Pinto to Zetec

[dougohere]

Hello,
I joined the club recently so that I could find out how difficult it would be to swap a Pinto engine with a Zetec engine on a Berlinetta? I ask the question because I have seen a nice looking Berlinetta for sale with a Pinto engine that has some problems. If someone could offer advice and/or suggestions I would be grateful.

As I have limited spare time due to my responsibilities as a carer to my 90 year old parents, I am also looking for someone who may be willing to take on the engine swap job for an agreed price. I am not in a rush for the job to be done, so no time limits would be imposed.

Regards,

Doug MacDonald

[928cdu]

Re: Berlinetta engine swap - Ford Pinto to Zetec

Hi Doug, I would actually point you in the direction of Marlin themselves ..http://www.marlinsportscars.co.uk/ they undertake all sort of preparation work on kit cars and obviously would be able to advise on the practicalities.

Oh and welcome by the way, I hope you make the purchase !

[chris_cussen]

Re: Berlinetta engine swap - Ford Pinto to Zetec

Hi Doug,
I have done at ford DOHC to Zetec swap and it is documented here http://www.marlinownersclub.com/foru...stop-Issue-202

If I was to do it again I would probably save a lot of money by not buying the Omex package complete but by sourcing some of the items separately.

Since you are doing a complete swap you will need an ECU and engine bay wiring loom, two alternatives
1. Use a Ford ECU and wiring loom. You will have hours of fun unravelling the unnecesary wires from the loom.
2. Buy an ECU and wiring loom from Omex/Emerald or any other after market ECU suppiler. About £600

You will need a water rail, since the themostat is on the rear of the engine bloack and will foul the bulkhead. About £200
You may need a different sump, it depends on the clearance between any engine cross member and the new engine. About £400 I think, not sure about the price as the Omex engine came with a race line sump.
New exhaust manifold (about £180 from Burton Power)

You will need a bush to go in the rear of the crankshaft to take the input shaft from the gearbox. Rally Design do one.

Rest of the stuff is detailed in my artical.

The interface between the engine and gearbox is a 'standard' Ford bolt pattern so any gearbox will fit. Mine was a later MT75, but the type 9 will also fit.

You will also need a HP fuel pump, lots of silicone cooling hoses, engine side plates.

It will be necessary to fabricate a set of engine mounting brackets.

I wouldn't like to estimate how long it would take for a competent mechanic to do it but it probably took me 50+ hours after I assembed all the bits and pieces.

Best of luck!

[dogoncrazy]

Re: Berlinetta engine swap - Ford Pinto to Zetec

Can you elaborate on the pinto engine issues. It's probably going to work out a lot cheaper to stick with that than to go down the route of swapping to a Zetec as Chris has already mentioned.

[stevejgreen]

Re: Berlinetta engine swap - Ford Pinto to Zetec

Any engine swap will run into the £1000’s by the time mechanicals/clutch mountings etc, electrics, cooling, induction and exhaust are considered.
i would look at what is available in the Ford community for tuning a Pinto before heading down an engine swap route.

[chris_cussen]

Re: Berlinetta engine swap - Ford Pinto to Zetec

Steve is right. Even if you do it on the cheap with an engine from a breakers yard I doubt you could do it for any less than £2k. You can get a 'crate' Zetec engine (i.e. new) for about £1k, but you will still have to source the auxilary items. Realistically you are going to spend about £3k. And if you get a mechanic to do the work, then at garage rates of £40 per hour you won't see much change out of another £2k

There are plenty of Pinto bits on ebay and if the worst comes to the worst you could have the engine fully reconditioned for about £1k.

The only reason I went down the Zetec route was I trashed the engine so badly it couldn't be reconditioned. It was one that was in production for only a few months and I couldn't find another one after searching for a year, both in the UK and abroad.

[dougohere]

Re: Berlinetta engine swap - Ford Pinto to Zetec

Thanks for all your advice you nice helpful fellows. It was all very useful and interesting to read - and I agree that making the best of what is there is the best and most economical solution.
The car I had in mind is in Scotland and I live in Bristol, so as I don't have the time to go up and see it I would be buying it just from seeing the pictures - hence I have now decided not to buy it and wait instead. I have just finished speaking with Danny Nelson from the club who was also very helpful - he has also advised me to wait and hopefully in the not too distant future I will be buying a Berlinetta from a club member. A much safer option.