Pinto vs Kent

[John Roberts]

Don't forget the rubber timing belt merry-go-round endemic to the Pinto. Jumped in a mate's fairly high-mileage low-maintenance 4-speed TE many years ago and went roaring off down Parramatta Road
- made more exciting by a tiny hole in the downpipe near where it met the exhaust, giving off a simply marvellous noise when you tromped the loud pedal in the lower gears. Anyway, she suddenly stops dead.

After checking the non-functioning fuel gauge, I sighed and traipsed a mile round trip to the closest servo, buying funnel and using an empty oil bottle from a skip which I'd filled with super and then back to the car - she still no go. Scratching my head in the engine bay I was fortunate (?) enough to espy said broken timing belt - made possible by being only semi-covered and showing two lovely shredded ends at the uncovered bit. I presume maintenance of this would be much more of a pain in a hotted-up engine than a chain would.