Pinto PA

quote:
Originally posted by Ohhhh

Under 24 hrs and it still has'nt reached £2k
At this rate I may be tempted to buy it and sell mine:D



I was thinking the same, bang on a last minute bid and hope I don't meet the reserve :I
I think the reserve will be quite high though and will be surprised if it goes - nice though it is - credit crunch and all that[xx(]

'Harvey the RV'
 
No trafficators I'm afraid

the lights act as side lights and they flash when indicating too (flash with white light that is to say) pretty cool in itself
 
I'm not jealous[^] - once the Woolfy panels turn up and mine has a new coat it will look just as good. Although I have tried for two weekends now to get some time to look at the engine - so aside from fixing the garden, the house and feeding the kids there is a gleaming Commer sat on the driveway just waiting to get out.
 
quote:
Originally posted by admin

No trafficators I'm afraid

the lights act as side lights and they flash when indicating too (flash with white light that is to say) pretty cool in itself



I totally "PA"gree, admin.
The combined white sidelight/indicator is cool ! [^]
 
Greetings,

We are the proud new owners of the 'Pinto PA'! We did not inherit a name so she is now forever named Fontaine. We have read an awful lot of info on this forum over the past week or so and it has been very useful and helpful.

Fontaine is our first Commer, and we are very happy with her. The pinto engine is ok- we sat at 57mphish en route home to the midlands and had no overheating problems etc. The gearbox is from an old Orion, its automatic and seams fine. She was well looked after it seams with little work to do.

We would like to upgrade the engine, which we may look at doing this winter. We both aren't mechanics of any sort- we are campers so this is new territory for us. If we could ask a bit of advice in our first post it would be greatly appreciated. We are thinking of putting a 2.0l pinto engine in place of the 1.6. Would this be pretty straight forward, suitable, worthwhile etc? Also, what auto gearbx could you suggest? Ours is 4speed at the min. We would have to source the work out, so if anyone knows anyone you can recommend, again we would be grateful!

Thanks in advance. We hope to meet some more commer-ers soon!

Cara and Jon
 
Hi! Congratulations on your purchase and welcome to the forum, and the crazy world of commers!

Jon mentioned on the previous page that he was thinking of doing the same swap as you, so I am sure there will be some good advice and support around here.

If you are free next weekend, and can make it to the New Forest, you will see more commers in one place than there have ever been since they left the factory.

As a word of warning, you will be asked for pictures by all the obsessive commerpulsives of the forum, so be ready to get your camera out!
 
If we are really lucky, we may exceed the 14 we got at Hatton :p
Welcome Fontaine, if you are anywhere near, next weekend is the place to be, a big winter booster for all those renovators (I think that is nearly everybody) [8D]
 
hi hope to see you at the new forest meet if you can make it. where abouts in the midlands are you exactly,[?]:p;) as im in coventry , i might know a man that could fit you your new engine in for you.
 
Welcome to the Madhouse :p:D:p
I'm pretty sure a swap for the 2 litre will be straightforward enough, all the hard work will have been done. I'm not sure but I think Ford used the same auto box for most of the ranges in that era and a four speeder is one of the later ones - I had a 1.6 three speed auto in an '83 Sierra.
Good luck :)

'Harvey the RV'
 
Thanks for the welcomes! We'll get some photos taken and up shortly once we've given her the once over. We would of loved to make the meet, but this weekend isn't possible. However, we will deffinately be on the look out for the next one. Is this the last of the year?

We are near to leicester, in Melton Mowbray so not to far from Coventry at all. Woolfy, feel free to email me at [email protected] if you think it is something that the person you know will want to undertake! I was looking at http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=150303611507 on ebay as the possible new engine. But as i say, we need to really get our mechanical heads on and do some hard learning- fast! It is slightly more difficult to grasp than the tent we are used to!
 
Hello fontaine that engine on ebay your looking at is the same one im goin to be fitting in to mine as its the 205 block on efi which is about 130bhp standard and being a 205 block means the casting is alot thicker so could also be over bored ti 2.1cc but as well as the engine you need all the wiring loom and ecu to make it work.You could take the efi off and put a sierra twinchoke webber on it will go straight on and make the hole job a doddle.As far as gearbox goes i plan to fit a sierra type 9 5speed gearbox but ive got to fabricate a complete new linkage to keep it a manual,but if your sticking with auto you need a sierra auto box,i cant see yours being an orion box as there front wheel drive[?]
Ive done quite a bit of research on this as i think its prob the best suited engine for the commer as its not much bigger in size than the commer engine, this is what all the petrol transits were also running the only down side is its quite a heavy engine.But if it can take the v6 ford which is mega heavy then its quite light compared to that.Im also in the midlands so if you need any advise give me a shout wouldnt mind a peek under that engine cover either to see the 1.6 pinto in situe as the mountings will be the same;)
 
contratulations on your 1st commer... we are new owner too and just love it... Happy days ahead for you :D

Cazz... student commerade!!!!
 
hello there Fontaine, lovely little commer you have there ! (get some black and white plates pleeeeeease!) I'd love to see some more piccies too.

welcome to the forum

Rupert

www.littleyellowcar.co.uk
 
Some great pointers Jon, thank you! We're keeping an eye on that engine, hopefully we can nab it! Regarding the gearbox, we were told it was an Orion, but this can't be the case! We'll investigate further this week, we may take her to get a once over with a garage- no doubt a few gremlins will pop up!

We'd love to tour her around europe again (so says the previous owners window stickers)this summer so that is our plan- after a engine upgrade hopefully. We hadn't quite realised how gripped we would instantly become with fontaine, we can't be two foot from her for any length of time!

BigMonkeyMan....plates were on order within 24hrs of having her, the yellow rear plate is such an eyesore.

We'll get some pictures taken this week and post them up in readers' rides over the weekend along with the ups and downs of our first week with Fontaine!
 
No problem just give me a shout if you want anymore info good look with her she looks a really clean example [8D]
 
Jon-
We picked up that engine for £100 so it looks like our plan is set in stone! We've located an auto gearbox near to heanor, derbyshire and will be getting that at the weekend. Where abouts in the midlands are you based? We forgot to say in our earlier replies that your more than welcome to see how the 1.6 pinto engines sits in fontaine anytime. Our email address is in an earlier post or i'm on 07810754808.
 
Hi Fontaine, welcome to the forum :) congratulations on your new wheels, looks like you've got a cracking little van there with bags of character. I might well be wrong but as far as I know the 2.0litre pinto is physically the same size as 1.6 so hopefully an easy swap and should be very worthwhile - looking forward to finding out how you get on.

Happy motoring:)

Bessie - four star commerdation
 
That would be great im nr lichfield so not to far away from you you.Did that efi engine come with the loom and ecu? Or you going with sierra twin choke carb? I will have to give you a call and pop up to have a look ;)
 
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