"Rare" Engine On Manx

ManxManiac · Post by **ManxManiac** » Sat Aug 10, 2013 4:12 am

While on a quick shopping trip to Vons this afternoon, Patricia & I spotted a really nice authentic, "tagged & badged" Meyers Manx buggy!
The sort of odd rare engine hanging on the back was a Turbo'd 2300cc Ford "Pinto style" 4 cylinder & it was mated to a 70s Bay window VW Bus automatic transaxle!
We waited a few minutes & the owners came out of Vons & climbed in. I only got to talk a couple minutes, but their names are Clark & Lahoma & they live in Texas. Clark built it a few years ago & they have put a hair over 20,000 miles on it... no problems whatsoever!!!
He said right after he built it, on a chassis dyno, it put right at 200 hp to the ground & said it might be a hair more now. Transaxle has lots of work done to it!
It is an original Manx 1 with front & rear badges & the ID tag.
They are camped up near Ojai, leaving in AM, headed to Pismo Beach for a few days, then continuing North. They are on vacation, destination is Seattle & then they'll be heading back home first week in September!
This is their 3rd long trip in the buggy & have it figured out real well on what to carry! They said it handles & runs real well & it'll run any speed you want or a combination of all day long. It averages 25 mpg!
I gave them my phone number & the Manx Club's website, so hopefully we'll hear from them soon!

BTW... it is bright Ford blue with polished Centerlines... looks awesome!!!

Sorry... no photos... no camera & my cell phone camera doesn't work.

1856 · Post by **1856** » Sat Aug 10, 2013 4:46 pm

D@C have a long Fibercraft bodied with the same combo for sale. Dennis also indicated it need help ....

ManxManiac · Post by **ManxManiac** » Fri Aug 16, 2013 3:42 am

A long time lurker here on the Manx Club site, got ahold of me today & offered a 2300cc Pinto 4 cyl engine with a Pinto to VW transaxle adapter for a very reasonable price. I'm going to check it out on Sunday. It is a running engine & is mounted on a "start up" stand.
He said the head was rebuilt, ported/polished etc. by Esslinger Engineering & most parts in & on the engine came from them too. It has dual side-draft Webers, a Jet-coated "street header", a trick "crank triggered" HEI ignition & a bunch of other goodies. He & his son built it for a Baja Bug & it was run for about 1500 miles. However, his son traded a motorcycle for a complete, fully built & dyno tuned 2276cc VW & put it on the Baja. All of his buddies gave him such a bad time about the "Ford", that he decided to go with the VW.
I've always wanted a "little Pinto"!!!

FulsGld · Post by **FulsGld** » Fri Aug 16, 2013 4:49 am

Sounds like fun to me. My brother has a Pinto engine in one of his sandrails and it's a moon-shooter. Most reliable engine he has. Hope you try it out...

ManxManiac · Post by **ManxManiac** » Mon Aug 19, 2013 5:24 am

Well... at least I owned a "Pinto" for a little while! This morning I cruised over to the lurker's abode to check out the 2300cc Pinto 4 cylinder engine. He wasn't lyin'... it was a complete "running" engine & it ran real well & sounded great! After about 30 minutes he told me "how much" & the only thing I could do was say yes! He even loaned me his little 4' X 6' trailer so I could get it home! Lots of extra parts too, maybe enough to build an extra basically stock 2300cc! He also gave me the custom engine "running" stand!
Well... I almost made it home with it! I stopped at an "In n' Out" for a quick treat & when I went out to our GMC Yukon "Kate", there were 3 guys leaning on the trailer checking out the "Pinto"! I let them read the "build sheet" & then I fired it up!!! They loved it!
The one guy Kurt, has a Baja Bug with a basically stock 2300cc Ford Pinto engine hangin' out the back & it was tired when he installed it, as it had a 120,000 miles on it! He's been running it hard the last few years (another 10,000 miles) & it is really tired now! He knows everyone at Esslinger Engineering & some other 4 cylinder Ford specialist & he knows what this stuff costs!
He said he wanted to buy it from me! I told him I had just picked it up myself & was heading home! After awhile his persistance got to me! I told him I had to call the guy I just got it from & I did! Explained everything to him, he said it was mine now & he didn't care what I did with it!
So I delivered it to the guy's house & he layed the cash on a barrelhead!!! No kidding, he layed the money out on the end of a big wooden barrel!!!
So... he was thrilled & I was a very happy man too!
It just doesn't get any better than this! Well... it could, but this will do for today!!!