1.6, 2.0 or 2.3 Liter engine?
I had a 2.3L in a 1978 Pinto I had for a year ... would you believe I bought one of those 2-plane Offenhauser manifolds for it? It *did* make a difference BTW - low end torque picked up ... I also bought a section of jets from the dealer for the staged 2-barrel carb too ...
I also had the 2.3L in a 1978, with the optional 3.18 rear axle. I couldn't afford manifolds and such, but I did advance the camshaft one notch on the timing belt (luckily, the valves and pistons didn't meet, LOL) and managed to obtain a little extra low-end grunt. Unfortunately, I was doing hole-shots one night trying to show off to a girl in a Camaro (silly me) and ended up blowing the spider gears to pieces when I dumped the clutch one time too many! After I replace the axle, I realized that I had also chipped a tooth or two in first gear. The junkyard liked me!