Braddock1968 (@Braddock1968)

The Quickest Stock Setup The 1971 Ford Pinto equipped with the optional 2.0-liter EAO (overhead cam) inline-four engine and a 4-speed manual transmission is widely recognized as the quickest factory stock Pinto. In 1971, this imported "EAO" or "Pinto OHC" engine produced 100 gross horsepower. Because 1971 was the Pinto's debut year, the car was at its absolute lightest weight and completely unburdened by the heavy federally mandated safety bumpers and restrictive smog equipment added in later years. You might expect the 2.8-liter V6 from 1975–1979 to be faster, but it wasn't, by 1975, stricter emissions rules forced Ford to drop compression and choke engines with early catalytic converters. The 1971 2.0L made 100 hp in a car weighing under 2,100 lbs. By 1978, the 2.8L V6 only managed 90 hp while pulling a car that had ballooned past 2,500 lbs. In 1971, Hot Rod magazine ran an article called, "The Tail of Two Pintos". In this test they ran two Pintos, one was stock and ran a quarter-mile (best): 17.23 sec. @ 78.87 mph. The other one could run the quarter-mile in 15.82 sec @ 87.89 mph which is just as quick as a 1971 Chevelle SS with the LS3 396/400. The Pinto ran a 15.8 because it had $300 worth of modifications by legendary Ford advisor AK Miller for which he offered in kit form. This involved milling the head .060-inch. An Isky cam was installed and the Weber carb rejetted, although all the smog equipment was left on. The intake manifold was ported and a set of Doug's headers installed. And that was it. The conversion cost was estimated at less than $300; and Hot Rod said that if you can do the work yourself, you'll probably knock another $100 or so off that. Ak showed Hot Rod his chassis dyno where he developed the package. This is a chassis dyno and not an engine dyno, so this is is going to show how much horsepower is at the rear wheels after some of its horsepower is consumed by parasitic drivetrain loss and friction. He gave them some horsepower figures that were impressive. In pure stock form, the Pinto put out 62 horsepower at the rear wheels. Modifying the ignition curve and the jotting raised the figure to 68. The addition of the headers and open exhaust was good for seven more horsepower. Milling the head and installing the cam boosted the figure to 86 hp, a respectable increase of almost 27% over stock. The car depicted is not the car Hot Rod tested but it was chosen for this article do to the name of the paint color. The color is a clever, pun-based factory paint color called "Anti-Establish Mint". Ford offered this pale, iridescent mint green metallic paint from 1969 to 1972. It was introduced during the height of the 1960s counter-culture movement. Ford used cheeky, youth-oriented marketing names to sell cars to a younger audience.