Burton Pinto rebuild

Author
Discussion

MikeV67

Original Poster:

3 posts

35 months

Monday 14th June 2021
quotequote all
Hello anyone who can help. New to PH and new to Pintos!
Have recently bought a Dax rush that has a Burton Pinto 2.1l engine, fast road cam and 4 motorcycle carbs (currently the limit of my knowledge)
Unfortunately have blown the engine (wasn't in a great state to start- somewhat missold on Car and Classic)
Have contacted Burton, but they no longer do rebuilds.
Thinking of 3 options:
a)Replace with a 2l Burton i have found but has little history (for sale at £1k)
b) get existing rebuilt (does anyone know of someone in the Surrey area?)
c) replace with a more modern/faster engine

Not looking to spend a fortune, have looked at a few sites that are offering exchange rebuilds at £3.5-£5k
Any thoughts/contact gratefully received!!!

Wacky Racer

38,099 posts

246 months

Monday 14th June 2021
quotequote all
The Pinto engine is rather old fashioned now, but is usually unburstable, (I have used them for over 200,000 miles over the years in Capris, Granadas, Westfields, Tigers, Sierras, etc, without a single problem), but as you probably know the camshafts are prone to wear so 6,000 mile oil changes are a must, as the spray bar can get blocked.

I bought a nice re-conditioned Pinto (Less carbs) for £250 from Westfield back in 1990 smile

I think it's a great engine for a kit car.

gazza285

9,779 posts

207 months

Monday 14th June 2021
quotequote all
Ford specialists Harris are not that far from Surrey

https://hpemotorsport.co.uk/

peterg1955

746 posts

163 months

Tuesday 15th June 2021
quotequote all
The Pinto engine is very basic and easy to rebuild at home, find a copy of David Vizard's book (see below) about them and learn how it all goes together

https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Modify-Ford-H-C-Engin...

MikeV67

Original Poster:

3 posts

35 months

Tuesday 15th June 2021
quotequote all
Thank you for all your replies, will spend a bit of time contacting the above, everyone I've tried so far everyone is very busy, although one chap who could look at it in July reckons he could easily get 200bhp out of a rebuild.
@Peterg1955, thanks for the link and would take me back to my youth of rebuilding mini and beetle engines, unfortunately time and space an issue now! I'll have a read anyway..........

markcoznottz

7,155 posts

223 months

Saturday 19th June 2021
quotequote all
MikeV67 said:
Hello anyone who can help. New to PH and new to Pintos!
Have recently bought a Dax rush that has a Burton Pinto 2.1l engine, fast road cam and 4 motorcycle carbs (currently the limit of my knowledge)
Unfortunately have blown the engine (wasn't in a great state to start- somewhat missold on Car and Classic)
Have contacted Burton, but they no longer do rebuilds.
Thinking of 3 options:
a)Replace with a 2l Burton i have found but has little history (for sale at £1k)
b) get existing rebuilt (does anyone know of someone in the Surrey area?)
c) replace with a more modern/faster engine

Not looking to spend a fortune, have looked at a few sites that are offering exchange rebuilds at £3.5-£5k
Any thoughts/contact gratefully received!!!
Wow nostalgia. Wasted many hours reading car & car conversions, David vizard & co discussing three angle valve seats and camshaft vernier pulleys. I think Burton subbed thier engine builds out. The best pinto engine builders back in the day were HT racing. From memory their pinto 2.1 used modified Sierra XR4 pistons. Best place to ask would be the passion Ford forums, if they don’t know, no one does.

Zener

18,928 posts

220 months

Saturday 19th June 2021
quotequote all
MikeV67 said:
Thank you for all your replies, will spend a bit of time contacting the above, everyone I've tried so far everyone is very busy, although one chap who could look at it in July reckons he could easily get 200bhp out of a rebuild.
@Peterg1955, thanks for the link and would take me back to my youth of rebuilding mini and beetle engines, unfortunately time and space an issue now! I'll have a read anyway..........
you wont easily get 200 brake out of a rebuild a decent build with correct parts yes , cheap it wont be

Evoluzione

10,345 posts

242 months

Saturday 19th June 2021
quotequote all
Ditch it, put a Duratec in.

steveo3002

10,493 posts

173 months

Sunday 20th June 2021
quotequote all
Evoluzione said:
Ditch it, put a Duratec in.
at one time you could buy the duratec brand new for not alot...be worth seeing if still possible

stevieturbo

17,229 posts

246 months

Sunday 20th June 2021
quotequote all
Do you even know what is wrong with the current engine ?

If swapping, I'm sure there are lots of options...just depends at what expense and work

Evoluzione

10,345 posts

242 months

Sunday 20th June 2021
quotequote all
steveo3002 said:
Evoluzione said:
Ditch it, put a Duratec in.
at one time you could buy the duratec brand new for not alot...be worth seeing if still possible
You can still buy 2.5s new, but they're £3360.
They're worth buying used to rebuild if you have the knowledge as they don't actually wear out very easily.
100k miles is nothing to a Duratec, strip it, re-ring it, hone it and send it back out is bare minimum they need.

MikeV67

Original Poster:

3 posts

35 months

Sunday 20th June 2021
quotequote all
Thanks all, engine being stripped in a couple of weeks to see what would need doing. 2.5 duratec looks an interesting option if engine looks like it needs major work.