Potent, angry, temperamental, and not all that common, the turbo Pinto engine became a frightening force to be reckoned with in the hands of guys like Ohio George Montgomery, Buddy Ingersoll, and a handful of others in the 1970s. Turbocharging was still a technology that had not been embraced by drag racing fully (and it would take decades more for that to happen) and small engines weren’t exactly something that most competitors were clamoring for either so it took a special breed of guy to see the potential and mine it out of these little four banger buzz bombs. This particular engine is being sold in a crate along with another long block and a bunch of other parts. The seller does not know the history of the thing and neither do we.
Was it in a drag car no one has ever heard of? Was it in a car owned and run by one of the legends? Was it ever run at all? Your guess is as good as ours but we can tell you that it has a Holley carb set up as a draw through, a single turbo, a Weiand intake manifold, and awesome Ak Miller exhaust manifold with an integrated turboflange cast right into it, an adjustable cam timing gear, a Mallory ignirion box, and just a bunch of period stuff that has us drooling.
Ingersoll and Montgomery were solidly into the 10-second realm with these engines in their Pintos back in the day. Ingersoll raced his to an NHRA championship in 1977 competing in Modified Eliminator. His Pinto was classed as an AA/Modified Compact. Ohio George’s 2.0L engine reportedly made 500hp and he was running 26psi of boost through it back in the late 1970s and into the 1980s. Montgomery’s car used a blow through setup which is different than the draw through here.
This thing is awesome and needs to find an interesting home in a cool car to make its ear splitting scream again!
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE PHOTOS AND THEN HIT THE LINK FOR THE EBAY AD FEATURING THIS ENGINE –
EBAY AD FEATURING TURBO PINTO ENGINE
Fantastic find! Judging by the external parts, the rotating assembly must be decently stout too. It’d be awesome to get it running again with a more efficient modern turbo and EFI.
I recall seeing a similar set-up in a dragster up in Division 3 in the late 80’s running S/C. Not sure if this is the same mill but it was cool to watch back when turbos were still taboo in drag racing. There was once a failed initiative to create a head-up turbo-4 dragster class within the IHRA that had manufacturer support.
They were all draw through back then. Esslinger did a lot of work on them for drags and LSR, had around 650hp way back then. Awesome piece and would still be a lot of fun today, a Pinto would be good!
Alan
Very cool and it’s funny to see a Gresen Hydraulic filter pressure gauge on this setup. I used one as a fuel pressure gauge in the early 80’s…….
Hi Chad.
I don’t know about this particular Ford 2.0 lt / 2.3 lt, in Australia we only had the 2.0 lt in Escort Mk 11 and RS2000 and TC – TF Cortina.
We turbocharged many of these models, in various forms using mainly SU carbys ( which drove the best in varying conditions ) and Weber in both draw through ( i notice you guys use the correct terms, not suck, though some of the problems we ran into did SUCK ).
The majority were for street use, only a few for rallye and oval track
speedway, did not get the chance to an all out competition set up.
one we were playing with in1979 used modified Volvo CFI with auxialliary
methanol injection with a switched ign increase of 9 deg on the alky.
The best 1/4 mile ET by an RS2000 ( full street Trim ) 1982-83
Ran 12.7 with std g/box / diff , 13 x 7 with radials, TO4B V2 trim and 52 mm DCOE, on 28 PSI@ Canberra Int Dragway.
Back in the early- late 1970s, we were not scared to be running
30 plus PSI Boost on most jobs.especially prior to the availibility of wastegates.
I can send you numerous photos of early jobs,one especially close to to our hearts, my very first Turbo Conversion built only for drag racing ,
project started 1971 , Ford 200 ci 6cyl , using Rajay-weber – Holley- Crower,
later Garrett- Lycoming- Top loader -9″ – 32 x 12.5 Firestones – dropped tube
axle – 62 Falcon Ute Gasser. Want some photos and story ?.
Chad we treally love watching BS lots of cool stuff, we love the way
you promote Aussie motorsports, You guys are great Blokes !
PS. That engine you featured should at least go back into a Pinto as is.
Not EFI -I / cooler ( dont need it with draw through ) , it has an early garrett
wastegate, in Aust these were 42mm with a smaller dia diaphragm housing,
52mm were available which were the ones usedon early INDY Cars.
( still have a 52mm one new in box the one with the big top housing.)
When building first set up, did not have much to go on with not much info
a bit later the guys i took notice of.
Malicoat Bros – Bill Edwards – Bruce Crower – Buddy – Ohio George – AK Miller – first of all was the results of the BMW 2002 race program 400 + HP
2ltr
Would love to see Ohios Mustang !
must get back to work , sincerely Garry Maher.
Garry, this is Brian, I am the guy who wrote the story and who runs lots of the Aussie stuff. I’d love to see your photos and stuff. I love championing the efforts of Aussie racers because you guys are just like us. Hardcore for sure.
My email is [email protected]
Hi Chad.
I don’t know about this particular Ford 2.0 lt / 2.3 lt, in Australia we only had the 2.0 lt in Escort Mk 11 and RS2000 and TC – TF Cortina.
We turbocharged many of these models, in various forms using mainly SU carbys ( which drove the best in varying conditions ) and Weber in both draw through ( i notice you guys use the correct terms, not suck, though some of the problems we ran into did SUCK ).
The majority were for street use, only a few for rallye and oval track
speedway, did not get the chance to an all out competition set up.
one we were playing with in1979 used modified Volvo CFI with auxialliary
methanol injection with a switched ign increase of 9 deg on the alky.
The best 1/4 mile ET by an RS2000 ( full street Trim ) 1982-83
Ran 12.7 with std g/box / diff , 13 x 7 with radials, TO4B V2 trim and 52 mm DCOE, on 28 PSI@ Canberra Int Dragway.
Back in the early- late 1970s, we were not scared to be running
30 plus PSI Boost on most jobs.especially prior to the availibility of wastegates.
I can send you numerous photos of early jobs,one especially close to to our hearts, my very first Turbo Conversion built only for drag racing ,
project started 1971 , Ford 200 ci 6cyl , using Rajay-weber – Holley- Crower,
later Garrett- Lycoming- Top loader -9″ – 32 x 12.5 Firestones – dropped tube
axle – 62 Falcon Ute Gasser. Want some photos and story ?.
Chad we treally love watching BS lots of cool stuff, we love the way
you promote Aussie motorsports, You guys are great Blokes !
PS. That engine you featured should at least go back into a Pinto as is.
Not EFI -I / cooler ( dont need it with draw through ) , it has an early garrett
wastegate, in Aust these were 42mm with a smaller dia diaphragm housing,
52mm were available which were the ones usedon early INDY Cars.
( still have a 52mm one new in box the one with the big top housing.)
When building first set up, did not have much to go on with not much info
a bit later the guys i took notice of.
Malicoat Bros – Bill Edwards – Bruce Crower – Buddy – Ohio George – AK Miller – first of all was the results of the BMW 2002 race program 400 + HP
2ltr
Would love to see Ohios Mustang !
must get back to work , sincerely Garry Maher.
Thanks Brian , that was quick , i’ll get to it as soon as possible. Lots of photos to find and sort, will take a bit of time.
Sincerely Garry Maher , Port Macquarie , NSW, Australia.
Never knew Ak Miller sold performance parts. Seeing that turbo exhaust manifold must be a rare find.
the AK Miller exhaust manifold was part of the kit for the Pinto Pangras built and sold by Huntington Ford in California in the early 70’s. I recall hearing once that AK Miller only made around 50 of the turbo kits for Huntington, not sure if he sold any/many himself. This setup looks a lot different than the Pangra setups. if allowed in comments I’ll add a link to my web page describing the Pangras and there is a good picture of that turbo setup for comparison to this one
http://www.cookieboystoys.com/vintage%20pinto/pangra.htm
I worked in a Ford agency back then ,the black valve cover was a 71-73 Capri
the blue ones were on Pintos.I saw Ingersoll run his Pinto it was an amazing car
I seen this last night amazing piece of automotive history then tonite I see it again on my favorite page bangshift lol keep up the good fight guys peace to all
I owned this engine (and the vehicle it came in along with all of the other parts mentioned) for years and I know all of the history of it clear back to the late 70’s. I sold it to the eBay seller and of course he listed it before he started listing the parts before he’d even picked it all up from me at 5-10x the price he paid. Of course it’s still for sale a year later since it’s so overpriced.