58 CAR CRAFT AUGUST 2019F
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TECH NOTES
Who: Brent Hajek
What: 1973 Ford Pinto Pro Stock
Where: Ames, OK
Engine: Ford’s 351 Cleveland was
beginning to become a favorite power-
plant for the Ford camp by 1973, with
Gapp & Roush leading the charge.
Hajek’s current engine came in a
roundabout way after Bob Glidden sold
off his Cleveland parts to John Healy
when Glidden switched to Boss 429s.
The block is a rare furnace-brazed Boss
351 casting with markings that indicate
a Roush origin. G&R engines typically
used an internally balanced Boss crank,
Brooks aluminum rods and pistons, and
a General Kinetics valvetrain and roller
cam (period article mentions specs of
321/330 degrees duration and
0.721/0.700-inch lift). Much-modified
Boss 351 cylinder heads feature raised-
exhaust port plates to straighten the
exhaust port (again, these heads
once being in the Glidden inventory).
A modified Edelbrock tunnel-ram
mounted twin Holley Dominators.
Sounds simple, but the truth was
infinitely more complicated!
Exhaust: Custom JR headers.
Transmission: Rob Holzman per-
formed the mechanical restoration of
the Pinto in 2000 and reinstalled a
Lenco four-speed, per original.
Remarked Holzman, “Even though it
had a Powerglide in it when Brent
bought it, the original mounts and holes
for the Lenco were still there and were
used when we reinstalled the trans.”
Rearend: Ford 9-inch with 5.68 gears,
a spool, and Strange axles.
Chassis/Suspension: Gapp and
Roush had Tom Smith’s Wolverine
Chassis build the chassis for this car,
one of many Pintos Wolverine did in
the era. The front suspension was a
production-based double A-arm
arrangement with Koni coilovers, while
the rear suspension featured Koni
coilovers, a Watts link, and adjustable
ladder bars.Brakes: Strange four-wheel discs.
Wheels/Tires: Period photos during
the 1973 season generally show the
Pinto running Motor Wheel Flys up
front and Spyders in the rear. The 1975
images show Flys all around by the
end of the G&R era, and that’s the way
the Pinto appears today. Appearances
can be deceiving, however, because
the current wheels were actually
custom-made by Bogart to strongly
resemble Flys. The 15x3.5/15x12-inch
rims are shod with Moroso frontrun-
ners and Firestone 14.5/32.0-15 slicks.
Interior: The interior is pretty much as
found in 2000, which is to say that it’s
circa 1973 with various revisionsthrough the years. Holzman tells us he
believes the carpet, dash, seats, and
door panels to be original, and likely
other bits and pieces as well.
Exterior: Roush tells us that the G&R
Pinto was so fresh when it arrived at
the 1973 Winternats in Pomona, that it
had yet to be painted: “Pomona ended
up getting postponed for a week due
to rain, so we took it to a nearby shop
and had it painted in the interim.” A
period article in Super Stock credited
Tom Stratton for that paint job with
multi-color accents, which was repli-
cated in 2000. Fiberglass panels were
used for the hood, hatch, fenders, and
dash.