Transmission Question..Ford 3.8 V6 with C-5 Automatic

[abonecoupe31]

The woodie is powered with a 2.0 liter 1971 Ford Pinto engine, tied into the stock transmission and rear end.  3.78 gears and 29" tall 7.00 x 16" tires on the rear.

That sounds like a TECH entry for June, did you take pictures? GPster

I didn't have a camera when I did this GPster.  And me making the swap wasn't rocket science, as I paid $300 for a kit from Hudson Wagon Works in Hudson, IA.  

this was back in 1979.  He had an ad in Hemming's.   Dean Feazel, the guy who ran HWW at that time sold a set of plans to build an A Huckster wagon, then came up with this kit.  He also had plans to bolt in a 2.3 and auto in an A chassis.  

Funny thing, I was driving my stocker 30 A at that time.  I was given a photocopied set of these plans by a guy who was an Engineer and who worked for Electric Boat.  (I met this guy in Rhode Island in 77 when I was on active duty in the Navy there.)

Funny thing, he had a straight six powered Jeepster....I stopped to look at his car as he was working on it in his driveway....that's how I met this guy.

As far as this swap goes, it was so * simple that I kicked myself for not thinking this up by myself.

What Dean did was cut clearance on the Pinto block to clear the A starter, then bolted up a stock Model A clutch housing to the bock.  A simple spacer mounted a cut down and reballanced A fly wheel.  Some simple front engine mounts and it was a bolt in.  He recommended a Float-a-Motor kit to mount the clutch housing to the A frame.

The hard part was trying to get his stupid throttle  design to work. I wrote him and still couldn't get it going right.  So I bought a spoon throttle from Lokar and made that work with a  cable and a homemade bracket I designed.  19 years later.  I also made up a custom plate to mount a 10" Edelbrock aircleaner tot he Pinto 2 BBL carb.

I wrote to Dean a few years back and he was out of the kits.  He had plans for the spacer though for big money....(You had to have him machine the spacer for the OD of the Pinto crank flange, and that dimension varied....he redrilled the A flywheel for the Pinto crankshaft,a nd supplied long metric bolts to suit.)

I bought this kit in 79, spent $250 to rebuild a $25 engine, and did the swap, and in 80 I got into motorcycles, so my old car hobby sat for ten years.  Then I got married in 90, so everything sat.  When the boys got bigger, I went back to the old car thing, no room for two boys on a bike.  When the wife left in 2001, I got back into bikes again.

(In retrospect, it's funny how the wrong woman can hold you back...)

My advice is that this dinosaur swap is just something that I did because I was sick and tired of dealing with the stocker A engine.

Try and find a second hand 2.0 liter Pinto engine.  Downright impossible.  Parts are available.  Points and rotors/caps are VW parts--Ford used a Bosch dizzy as this is a German Ford engine.  The 2.3 is US made and not even close.  I bought a new cam and followers in 2001.  Followers are impossible to find.  Cams are easy to find.  Cams were a problem.  The oil wasn't the right stuff I was told, and Ford just changed to their 7500 mile oil change schedule.  Bad Idea.  All of us Rodders  know you have to change more often. I do it every 3k.

And the reason you can't do the 2.3 swap as the oil filter is in the way of the starter.  Feazel was working on a swap with the Escort mill when I wrote to him years back.  He must be in his 80's now.  You gotta love those geezer gearheads!

When I did this swap I was asked by another old car guy--who was very much into flatheads and Model A's...my mentor, Bill Proos, (RIP)--why I didn't use the Pinto auto trans as well.
Make a more modern chassis.

Well, I wanted to avoid having to hang a open rear end and all of the costs involved.  I felt you may as well make up a new chassis and start from scratch.  I didn't have that much money back in those days.

(Looking back today, it's looked like I've gone full circle...)

I guess that, today, with what I know about tooling, manufacturing, pattern making and foundry work...If I wanted to swap in a more modern engine into a Model A Ford and use the stock transmission, I'd use Dean's original idea, but I'd engineer an adapter bellhousing or a sub plate of some sort to bolt the engine to the A transmission.

I know that more than a few Chevy 4 Nova engines were swapped into Model A's with a V8 adapter from Chevrolet to 32-48 Ford transmissions.  But these engines were never very popular around where I grew up.  They were 2/3rds of a straight Chevy 230 six cylinder engine.

The closest that I came to one was my cousin who had a USPS Jeep Dispatcher with a Nova 4 and a powerglide, and I wanted to buy it when he had it for sale ($500) but he wouldn't sell it to Family.

I just wanted the engine and trans to put in a  Model A.  I guess I should of sent over a stranger with $500 to buy it.  Looking back, I think  I'd be ahead of the game with the Chevy engine over the Pinto mill.  But I wanted to keep it Ford in a Ford.

But I did see on a website a rebuilder who'll sell rebuilt long blocks outright.  Old Pinto 2.0 liters as well as the Chevy Nova mills.  But they're dinosaur engines and I'm sure the rest of the parts are hard to come by too.  And they're not cheap either.

[abonecoupe31]

I went to an antique motorcycle meet on Sunday, at the Red Barns in Hickory Corners, MI with youngest son Dan, 13.  I found a good vintage car restoration book (British) for $4 and a 1930 MI plate for son Dan's Model A.

On the way back home, we stopped at the golden arches and we saw for sale a $200 Ford LTD 2 4 door.  It has nicer tires than my junker wagon, and some charging problems.  A new alternator was installed, and, judging by the asking price, I think the owner is fed up with it (overcahrges and battery continues to go dead) and has priced it for a quick sale.  It also has the Fuel injection, (1984 model).

So here's my "donor car" for the engine and transmission.  

Now to come up with the $200 bucks....and figure out a way to get it home and dissassembled....