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1.6 Pinto in a Mk1 Escort/Capri


olliehsmith

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Hi guys, 

 

Has anyone had any experience using a 1.6 pinto in mk1 Escort/Capri? I'm looking to buy either of these as my first car (daily driver) due to cheaper insurance - compared to a piece of shit corsa I don't give a toss about.

 

I've been told the Pinto would be the way to go as I'd get a lot of power for very little modification, as well as it being quite a reliable engine, however the 2L could be a bitch on insurance due to - what - 150-170BHP under the bonnet? May try my luck with a 2L but I haven't rung up to ask. I've asked about a 1.6 Zetec for the reliability, and this only increased my rate by about £60/80 - anyone know the average BHP in that?

 

In case anyone was wondering, the Escort in question is a 1971 Escort XL 4 Door 1300cc, with the insurance quote with Adrian Flux being £1,350 fully comp (as it's currently registered), or £1,410 (ish haha) with a 1.6 Zetec 

 

Many thanks for your help guys!

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a standard 2 litre pinto is 100 - 110bhp when new, yes you can extract 160 - 170 bhp from them but not without quite a bit of expenditure. 

 

I'm afraid a tired 1.6 pinto in standard trim wouldn't pull the skin of a rice pudding in a capri, in an escort you're better with a warmed up x-flow than a 1.6 pinto

 

Top tip, Adrian Flux are sponsors on here and do read the forum, don't say things like "1.6 Zetec (ish haha)" :wink:

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Oh right okay. I'll ask a mate of mine what he thinks a X-flow installation would be like. Pinto could still be an option so would have to see what that would do to the quote! 

 

Sorry, wasn't obvious - meant the quotes were roughly about that price haha! It's defo a 1.6 Zetec for that! Many thanks for your reply!

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Hi guys, 

 

Has anyone had any experience using a 1.6 pinto in mk1 Escort/Capri? I'm looking to buy either of these as my first car (daily driver) due to cheaper insurance - compared to a piece of shit corsa I don't give a toss about.

 

I've been told the Pinto would be the way to go as I'd get a lot of power for very little modification, as well as it being quite a reliable engine, however the 2L could be a bitch on insurance due to - what - 150-170BHP under the bonnet? May try my luck with a 2L but I haven't rung up to ask. I've asked about a 1.6 Zetec for the reliability, and this only increased my rate by about £60/80 - anyone know the average BHP in that?

 

In case anyone was wondering, the Escort in question is a 1971 Escort XL 4 Door 1300cc, with the insurance quote with Adrian Flux being £1,350 fully comp (as it's currently registered), or £1,410 with a 1.6 Zetec (ish haha)

 

Many thanks for your help guys!

Doing the work now to fit ether a zetec or pinto is no bad thing as it will make up grading power/engine size in the future easy, just make sure you correctly spec the supporting modd's now to cope with bigger power later down the line then its just a bare engine swap to up the power, what's your grand plan for the car will it stay a daily driver or become a weekend/hobby car this may sway which way you go with engine.

 

Also don't get carried away chasing power to soon, first car + RWD = unpleasant out come. Learn to handle a RWD car properly before you go upping the power.

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Wow your insurance is high in the UK. I wont tell you what I pay for for full comprehensive on my 2lt Mk2 it may upset people lol Does the insurance jump substantially when you go from 1.6 to 2lt there?

 

Not especially, it's more to do with age. Young drivers in the UK are always faced with very punitive insurance costs. In some cases much greater than the value of the vehicle they're trying to insure? At 44 I'd probably pay about £80 to £100 per year for the same car on a classic policy.

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I think many first time drivers think they need 200bhp in their classic to have fun, I keep seeing people going on about wanting to turbo everything for more power and wanting 150+ out of a crossflow by fitting some 1300 pistons...

 

Especially in the escort, even a 1.3 xflow will give you loads of fun, probably even a 1.1! You might not be keeping up with everything but you can rev the nuts off it and have a load of fun.

 

I've still got the 997 in my Anglia and that's enough to spin the big sticky tires or slide the car if I really want, not that you should be doing that...

 

I am being a bit hypocritical here since I'm fitting a hot 1.6 xflow soon, but I've done/am doing a full brake/suspension overhaul and full restoration soon so I want it a bit fancy under there.

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