I like the idea of a 4 cylinder engine in my T. Would give it a more nostalgic look I think. Would need something that I could dress up a bit with a custom valve cover and the like.
Saw one TP car in a hot rod magazine a few years back running a 6 cylinder Ford. Looked good.
Any ideas on a four-banger?
There is a guy on another forum with me, Jim Robinson, and he is building a cool little track car T using a Ford Ranger 4 cylinder and stick setup. Cool little rod. I just dragged home from my job at a marina a 3.0 liter Mercruiser 140 hp engine that we pulled out and replaced. It has a valve problem, which is minor, so someday I might rebuild it and put a 3 speed Chevy transmission I have behind it for a similar car.
When the gas shortages were hitting in the 70's there were article after article in all the car magazines of how to pull out your big ole gas guzzling V8 and replace it with a 4 banger. We were convinced we would never have gas again. :welcome: Problem was, guys started to realize hot rods are supposed to scare you when you step down hard on the gas, and the little 4's just weren't getting it done.
Ford makes a 2300CC four cylinder that would be my choice if going that way. That is the engine used in many pro modified 4'rs. Lots of parts supply around and you can built it as bad as you want. My buddy ran one in his car and the thing would scream!
I have a Track-T with a 2300cc Pinto engine with automatic trans and am happy with it. Didn't build it the car but have been restoring and fixing it up over te past year. Haven't found much in the way of engine trim parts but did find an aluminum valve cover that fits and looks good......just removed all the old black paint, ground off the "fuel injection" wording, added blue to the Ford oval and red to the valleys - looks pretty good. Speedway Motors and a some others have a few things for the Pinto engine.
Go to Clifford Reasearch and several other places....you can get oilpans and valvecovers from Moroso.......you can get alum. 4 BBL. intakes for these little motors, and headers.....theres plenty-of-parts if you look..............and theres alot of guys that specialize in them.
Last year.....we did a complete custom Air Research Turbo system for a guy running a 2300 Ford engine pumping out 22 pounds of boost.......
There was a track T at the local car show this summer that was running a 2.0 ford 4. The chassis came from an old formula racer, the independent front suspension was made from oval airplane type tubing. 2 side draft carbs and a mallory ignition. I didn't have the camera. They do 200 ft burn outs -drags at the court house road . I didn't know about the show in the park. (This is the first year living in this area)
Racer Walsh has all you'll ever need for those ford 2.3 and 2.0 engines. Don't forget the factory turbo engines ford put out either. We used to race the 2300 in ponystocks...great motor. Don, where can I find the build on the bucket/2300/5spd combo? My dad and I have been contemplating this but were a little leery of the clutch assy and interior space
On a side note, a friend of mine has a Mercedes kit car with a 2.0 Racer Walsh engine...made 250hp on the dyno and sounds just plain grumpy
Here is a car that a friend built about 30 years ago that might be somewhat like you are asking about. 2.3 with a 4 speed and a track roadster configuration. It weighed 1385 lbs and would go like stink for a bone stock motor. It was all based around a Pinto which we used as a donor car. Engine, transmission, rear end, front spindles and brakes, entire brake system, stock motor mounts and a ton of other small things. It used the stock pedal assembly including the original clutch cable unit.
The front of the car was rather large due to using the motor mounts, stock alternator mount and radiator. About the only major components that were not stock Pinto were the steering box (Vega) and the gas tank (VW).
This car was driven from KC to the east coast on 3 occasions that I know of and a pile of other miles, so I think that we could safely say that it was reasonably comfortable to drive with the clutch.
I have a partially completed version of this one that is using the 2.0 and a C-4 with the rear end, spindles, and brakes. On this one, I have elected to go with fabricated motor mounts and alternator mount and an aftermarket radiator to be able to get the nose down to a more aesthetic appearance.
I'd be happy to try to answer any questions that you might have.
While I have a good running Cheby 2.8 V6 and running gear... I am considering plopping in a SIMPLE 4 banger. I don't need 0-60 in 2 seconds.
I want mine to be as simple as possible. I have an old Toyota Van with complete running gear (but it had lots of electronics) and I THINK there is still a rotten Pinto wagon around the plantation somewhere.
But did I mention the V6 is complete and running?
Decisions...
I've heard some lousy sounding V6s but once I got my 93 Camry I changed my mind.
It sounds good.
Mind you.. that's the engine they toss in different pistions and wedge them in the Toyota MR-2! They can get 400hp out of them. Can't imagne that in something that small.
Just off the top of my head try looking up "mini stock car racing" they tend to use the inline 4's like the Ford 2300. They sound good and generate tons of HP for a small engine. Something to think about, at a salvage yard by my house they have a pile 20' tall of these engines and performance parts are everywhere including Ford Racing.
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