The Ford Kent is an
internal combustion engine
An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combus ...
from
Ford of Europe
Ford of Europe GmbH is a subsidiary company of Ford Motor Company founded in 1967 in Cork (city), Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with headquarters in Cologne, Germany.
History
Ford of Europe was founded in 1967 by the merger of Ford of Bri ...
. Originally developed in 1959 for the
Ford Anglia
The Ford Anglia is a small family car that was designed and manufactured by Ford UK. It is related to the Ford Prefect and the later Ford Popular. The Anglia name was applied to various models between 1939 and 1967. In total, 1,594,486 Anglias ...
, it is an
in-line four-cylinder pushrod
A valvetrain or valve train is a mechanical system that controls the operation of the intake and exhaust valves in an internal combustion engine. The intake valves control the flow of air/fuel mixture (or air alone for direct-injected engines) ...
engine with a cast-iron cylinder head and block.
The Kent family can be divided into three basic sub-families; the original pre-Crossflow Kent, the Crossflow (the most prolific of all versions of the Kent), and the transverse mounted Valencia variants.
The arrival of the
Duratec-E engine in the fifth generation Fiesta range in 2002 signalled the end of the engine's use in production vehicles after a 44-year career, although the Valencia derivative remained in limited production in Brazil, as an industrial use engine by Ford's Power Products division, where it is known as the VSG-411 and VSG-413. Since 2010, it has been actively produced in the United States factories for
Formula Ford
Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...
globally because of its popularity in motorsport.
The name
This series of engines became known as the Kent engine because Alan Worters, the company's Executive Engineer (Power Units), lived across the
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
from Ford's
Dagenham
Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross.
It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...
plant in the English county of Kent.
Originally within Ford, it is said that the Kent name was actually born with the A711 and A711M blocks (commonly called the 711M block) with square
main bearing
Main may refer to:
Geography
* Main River (disambiguation)
**Most commonly the Main (river) in Germany
* Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province
*"Spanish Main", the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territories in the 16th and 17th centuries
...
caps for the Crossflow series, which represented a vast improvement in the durability of the engines. However, the name caught on to be used outside the company to include pre-711M engines as well.
Pre-Crossflow
The original
OHV
An overhead valve (OHV) engine, sometimes called a ''pushrod engine'', is a piston engine whose valves are located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier flathead engines, where the valves were located bel ...
three main bearing Kent engine appeared in the 1959
Anglia with a capacity of developing at 5,000 rpm – unusually high for the time. With a bore and stroke, combined with independent (non-siamesed) four intake and four exhaust ports, it was a departure from traditional
undersquare
In a reciprocating piston engine, the stroke ratio, defined by either bore/stroke ratio or stroke/bore ratio, is a term to describe the ratio between cylinder bore diameter and piston stroke length. This can be used for either an internal comb ...
English engine design.
The same engine, with its bore unchanged, but with longer stroke and thus larger capacities were subsequently used in the
Ford Consul Classic
The Ford Consul Classic is a mid-sized car that was launched in May 1961 and built by Ford UK from 1961 to 1963. It was available in two or four door saloon form, in Standard or De Luxe versions, and with floor or column gearshift. The name Fo ...
() and
Consul Capri ( - the latter with five main bearings), the Mk1 and early Mk2
Cortina
Cortina may refer to:
Things
* Cortina (tango), a short piece of music played during a tango dance event
* Ford Cortina, a medium-sized family car built by Ford of Britain from 1962 to 1982
**Lotus Cortina, a 1963–1968 performance variant on the ...
s ( stroke stroke five main bearing ), and the early
Corsair
A corsair is a privateer or pirate, especially:
* Barbary corsair, Ottoman and Berber pirates and privateers operating from North Africa
* French corsairs, privateers operating on behalf of the French crown
Corsair may also refer to:
Arts and ...
s.
In addition to its '
over-square
In a reciprocating engine, reciprocating piston engine, the stroke ratio, defined by either bore/stroke ratio or stroke/bore ratio, is a term to describe the ratio between bore (engine), cylinder bore diameter and piston stroke (engine), stroke ...
' cylinder dimensions, a further unusual feature of the Kent engine at its introduction was an externally mounted combined oil filter/pump unit designed to facilitate low-cost production and easy maintenance.
[
The engine is now referred to as the pre-crossflow Kent, in ]reverse-flow cylinder head
In engine technology, a reverse-flow or non-crossflow cylinder head is one that locates the intake and exhaust ports on the same side of the engine. The gases can be thought to enter the cylinder head and then change direction to exit the head. T ...
configuration with both the inlet and exhaust being on the same side of the head.
Applications:
* Ford Anglia
The Ford Anglia is a small family car that was designed and manufactured by Ford UK. It is related to the Ford Prefect and the later Ford Popular. The Anglia name was applied to various models between 1939 and 1967. In total, 1,594,486 Anglias ...
* Ford Cortina
The Ford Cortina is a medium-sized family car that was built initially by Ford of Britain, and then Ford of Europe in various guises from 1962 to 1982, and was the United Kingdom's best-selling car of the 1970s.
The Cortina was produced in fi ...
* Ford Consul Classic
The Ford Consul Classic is a mid-sized car that was launched in May 1961 and built by Ford UK from 1961 to 1963. It was available in two or four door saloon form, in Standard or De Luxe versions, and with floor or column gearshift. The name Fo ...
and Consul Capri.
* Ford Corsair
The name Ford Corsair was used both for a car produced by Ford of Britain between 1963 and 1970, and for an unrelated Nissan-based automobile marketed by Ford Australia between 1989 and 1992.
Ford Consul Corsair (1963–1965), Ford Corsair V4 (19 ...
* 107E Ford Prefect
The Ford Prefect is a line of British cars which was produced by Ford UK between 1938 and 1961 as an upmarket version of the Ford Popular and Ford Anglia small family cars. It was introduced in October 1938 and remained in production until 19 ...
* Autocars
Autocars Co. Ltd. ( he, אוטוקרס) of Haifa, Israel, was Israel's first car manufacturer. History
Autocars Ltd, founded in 1957, made fiberglass-shelled cars that were popular in Israel during the 1960s and 1970s. Government agencies were ...
Sussita
* Marcos 1500 GT
* Otosan
Ford Otomotiv Sanayi A.Ş. (''Ford Automotive Industry'') is an automotive manufacturing company based in Turkey that is equally owned by Ford Motor Company and Koç Holding. It was established in its current form in 1977, with original relations ...
Anadol
Anadol was Turkey's first domestic mass-production passenger vehicle company. Its first model, Anadol A1 (1966–1975) was the second Turkish car after the ill-fated Devrim sedan of 1961. Anadol cars and pick-ups were manufactured by Otosan Oto ...
1.2 L – 1.3 L (1966–1984)
* TVR Grantura
The TVR Grantura is the first production model in a long line of TVR cars. It debuted in 1958 and went through a series of developments leading to the Mark I to Mark IV and 1800S models. The last ones were made in September 1967.
These coupés ...
The Pre-Crossflow Kent engine was also used by Lotus
Lotus may refer to:
Plants
*Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly:
** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae
**Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...
on Lotus Mk.VII.
Crossflow
A 1967 redesign gave it a cross-flow type cylinder head, hence the Kent's alternative name Ford Crossflow. It would go on to power the smaller-engined versions of the Ford Cortina
The Ford Cortina is a medium-sized family car that was built initially by Ford of Britain, and then Ford of Europe in various guises from 1962 to 1982, and was the United Kingdom's best-selling car of the 1970s.
The Cortina was produced in fi ...
and Ford Capri
The Ford Capri is a fastback coupé built by Ford of Europe, designed by Philip T. Clark, who was also involved in the design of the Ford Mustang. It used the mechanical components from the Mk2 Ford Cortina and was intended as the Euro ...
, the first and second editions of the European Escort as well as the North American Ford Pinto
The Ford Pinto is a subcompact car that was manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company in North America from 1971 until 1980 model years. The Pinto was the first subcompact vehicle produced by Ford in North America.
The Pinto was marketed ...
(1971, 1972 and 1973 only). In South Africa it also powered the 1.6 L Mk II, Mk III, Mk IV, & Mk V Ford Cortina
The Ford Cortina is a medium-sized family car that was built initially by Ford of Britain, and then Ford of Europe in various guises from 1962 to 1982, and was the United Kingdom's best-selling car of the 1970s.
The Cortina was produced in fi ...
and 1.6 L Ford Sierra
The Ford Sierra is a mid-size car or large family car manufactured and marketed by Ford Europe from 1982-1993, designed by Uwe Bahnsen, Robert Lutz and Patrick le Quément — and noted for its aerodynamic styling producing a drag coefficien ...
.
The Crossflow featured a change in combustion chamber
A combustion chamber is part of an internal combustion engine in which the fuel/air mix is burned. For steam engines, the term has also been used for an extension of the firebox which is used to allow a more complete combustion process.
Interna ...
design, using a Heron type combustion chamber in the top of the piston rather than in the head. The head itself was flat with each engine capacity () featuring different pistons with different sized bowls in 681F and 711M blocks. The 691M block had the stronger 'square' bearing caps later used in the 711M, and small combustion chambers in the near-flat head (the bulk of the volume being in the piston bowl). In 1970, the new A711 block for and A711M block for were introduced with thicker block wall, square main bearing caps, large diameter cam followers and wider cam lobes, with the latter block having a 7/16" taller deck height, together with a return to the flat head. These changes represented a significant improvement in the reliability of the engines, and the blocks are commonly referred to as '711M' blocks.
The Ford Crossflow engine () also powered the Reliant Anadol
Anadol was Turkey's first domestic mass-production passenger vehicle company. Its first model, Anadol A1 (1966–1975) was the second Turkish car after the ill-fated Devrim sedan of 1961. Anadol cars and pick-ups were manufactured by Otosan Oto ...
(1968–1984). Other makes such as Morgan Morgan may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Morgan (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Morgan le Fay, a powerful witch in Arthurian legend
* Morgan (surname), a surname of Welsh origin
* Morgan (singer), ...
used the Crossflow on Morgan 4/4
The Morgan 4/4 is a British motor car which has been produced by the Morgan Motor Company since 1936. It was Morgan's first car with four wheels, the name indicating that the model has four wheels and four cylinders (earlier Morgans had been th ...
, Caterham
Caterham () is a town in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. The town is administratively divided into two: Caterham on the Hill, and Caterham Valley, which includes the main town centre in the middle of a dry valley but rises to equal ...
on Caterham 7
The Caterham 7 (or Caterham Seven) is a super-lightweight sports car produced by Caterham Cars in the United Kingdom. It is based on the Lotus Seven, a lightweight sports car sold in kit and factory-built form by Lotus Cars, from 1957 to 1972.
A ...
, and TVR used the engine in the Grantura, Vixen
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
, and 1600M. It has been fitted in countless other applications as well, being a favourite of kit-car builders not only in Great Britain.
Destined for the American market, beginning with the 1977 model year, the Valencia plant began manufacturing a 1.6L, , five-main bearing version that included a low emission bowl-in-pistons combustion chamber design based on the Crossflow head, and was equipped with a Dura-Spark electronic ignition
An ignition system generates a spark or heats an electrode to a high temperature to ignite a fuel-air mixture in spark ignition internal combustion engines, oil-fired and gas-fired boilers, Rocket engine#Ignition, rocket engines, etc. The widest ...
. This version was used in the short-lived (1977–1980) USA-market Mk1 Fiesta. Fitting the Crossflow into the Mk1 Fiesta posed a challenge for engineers, since the car had been designed around the shorter Valencia version (below), therefore the engine had to be mounted lower down in the chassis with shorter driveshafts in order to allow the transaxle to be removed from the car for clutch replacement. This engine would be later used in the XR2 version of the Mk.1 Fiesta, using the US 1600 bottom end and GT spec head and cam but without the catalytic converter or emission control equipment. 1.3L versions of the Mk I Fiesta also used the Crossflow, as opposed to the Valencia (see below).
The Crossflow was superseded in Ford of Europe vehicles in stages - the larger capacity 1.6L was supplanted by the overhead camshaft Pinto
Pinto is a Portuguese language, Portuguese, Spanish language, Spanish, Sephardi Jews, Jewish (Sephardic), and Italian language, Italian surname. It is a high-frequency surname in all List of countries and territories where Portuguese is an officia ...
(Lynx) unit in the Ford Cortina
The Ford Cortina is a medium-sized family car that was built initially by Ford of Britain, and then Ford of Europe in various guises from 1962 to 1982, and was the United Kingdom's best-selling car of the 1970s.
The Cortina was produced in fi ...
and Ford Capri
The Ford Capri is a fastback coupé built by Ford of Europe, designed by Philip T. Clark, who was also involved in the design of the Ford Mustang. It used the mechanical components from the Mk2 Ford Cortina and was intended as the Euro ...
by the late 1970
Events
January
* January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC.
* January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...
s, and all versions ceased to be used in the Escort when it was replaced by the CVH engine as the Escort moved to its third generation in 1980
Events January
* January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission.
* January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC.
* January 9 – ...
. The final "official" use of the Crossflow was in the aforementioned 1.3L and XR2 versions of the Fiesta I which ceased production in 1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...
, when these were again replaced by the CVH, leaving only the Valencia variants (below) in the Fiesta I/II and entry versions of the Escort III.
Valencia
A redesigned version of the Kent engine was conceived to suit transverse
Transverse may refer to:
*Transverse engine, an engine in which the crankshaft is oriented side-to-side relative to the wheels of the vehicle
*Transverse flute, a flute that is held horizontally
* Transverse force (or ''Euler force''), the tangen ...
installation in 1976, primarily for the Mk1 Ford Fiesta
The Ford Fiesta is a supermini car marketed by Ford since 1976 over seven generations. Over the years, the Fiesta has mainly been developed and manufactured by Ford's European operations, and has been positioned below the Escort (later the ...
, although entry level versions of the Escort Mk3 also used the engine. This derivative would go through two major revamps in 1988 and 1995 and would be a mainstay of Ford's entry level compact range for nearly 25 years.
Original Valencia (1976–1988)
The Valencia was initially available in (in both high compression and low compression versions ) and a high compression version.
For adapting the Kent Crossflow for front wheel drive the ancillaries were repositioned, and the cylinder block shortened by . This decision was taken in order for the engine to fit transversely across the Fiesta engine bay, whilst still allowing the transmission unit to be comfortably removed for clutch replacement. This difference however means that very few parts of the Valencia engine are interchangeable with a Crossflow. However, Ford ended up installing the Crossflow engine into the Fiesta anyway, when the market demanded a 1.3L capacity, and later a 1.6L version for the North American market models – ultimately the 1.6L Crossflow also was used in the Mk1 Fiesta XR2 when the North American market Fiesta ceased production in 1980. The bore diameter was reduced to 74mm (from 81mm on the full-size Kent), and was standard across both the 957 and 1117 versions; the extra capacity was achieved by varying the stroke.
In addition to these changes, the Valencia featured a new transmission flange to suit the BC4/5 transaxle and the cylinder head redesigned using flat-top pistons and the traditional combustion chamber in the head. Another key difference from the 711M Crossflow block is the absence of mounting spigots cast into the faces, therefore the Valencia (and the later HCS and Endura-E versions) cannot be mounted in a longitudinal application - when installed in a Fiesta/Escort III/Orion the engine relies on the transaxle mountings for lateral location in the vehicle.
Owing to these differences, Ford officially regarded the Valencia as a completely new engine despite being derived from the Kent/Crossflow family and initially dubbed it as the "L-Series" or "Valencia-L" engine ("VL" is cast into the cylinder head and block), however it became better known as the Valencia to the wider world, after the Valencia plant where it was manufactured, but eventually the name was officially adopted by Ford as well – although in sales literature it was always called simply OHV. Although the engines were assembled at Amulssafes, the blocks and heads were in fact cast in Dagenham alongside the full-size Crossflow and shipped to Spain for assembly.
A five bearing version of the Valencia became available in 1986 for the facelift "Erika-86" version of the Escort and Orion, replacing the similarly sized CVH unit, which increased to for higher specification models. The cylinder heads and pistons were modified in 1986 for unleaded fuel and the cams changed to meet the new European emissions standards
The European emission standards are vehicle emission standards for pollution from the use of new land surface vehicles sold in the European Union and EEA member states and the UK, and ships in EU waters. The standards are defined in a seri ...
along with the addition of electronic ignition.
HCS (1988–1996)
In 1988 the second generation of the Valencia unit was launched to meet with tightening European emissions legislation. The substantial redesign of the engine included an all-new cylinder head with reshaped combustion chambers and inlet ports for 'lean-burn' operation, hardened valve seats and valves for operation on unleaded fuel, and the Ford EDIS The Ford EDIS or Electronic Distributorless Ignition System is a computer-controlled ignition system developed by Ford that uses an ignition coil for each pair of cylinders (wasted spark). All the coils are placed in a single module called a coilpac ...
fully electronic ignition system, with the option of single-point fuel injection for use with a catalytic converter
A catalytic converter is an exhaust emission control device that converts toxic gases and pollutants in exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine into less-toxic pollutants by catalyzing a redox reaction. Catalytic converters are usually ...
- Weber carburettors were specified to replace the unreliable Ford Variable Venturi (VV) unit. The engine was renamed the Ford HCS (standing for ''High Compression Swirl''), although some internal Ford service publications call it the Valencia-HCS in reference to its heritage. This engine used a much leaner fuel-to-air mix than a typical engine, at a 1:19 ratio.[ Mastrostefano (Ed.), p. 203] In addition to lowered emissions, Ford claimed that fuel economy increased by 11 to 18 percent while power was up from 5 to 8 percent, depending on the model.[
It first appeared in guises on the Ford Escort and Orion for the 1989 model year, and on the then-new Ford Fiesta Mark III the same year, which also offered a smaller version to replace the older Valencia.
The HCS engine is easily distinguishable from the original Valencia by the rocker cover, head and block being painted grey instead of black, the presence of a crankshaft position sensor adjacent to the starter motor, and the absence of a distributor drive on the rear face of the cylinder block. The mechanical fuel pump also has a return line to tank, whereas the original Valencia did not. The HCS also has a "mirrored" spark plug arrangement where the plug leads appear to be splayed outwards, whilst on the original Valencia they are all at the same angle.
]
Endura-E (1995–2002)
The final redesign came in 1995, with the launch of the fourth-generation Ford Fiesta
The Ford Fiesta is a supermini car marketed by Ford since 1976 over seven generations. Over the years, the Fiesta has mainly been developed and manufactured by Ford's European operations, and has been positioned below the Escort (later the ...
. This edition was effectively another redesign of the Valencia/HCS derivative, known as the Endura-E, and featured many revisions to combat noise and harshness, including a thickened cylinder block and a cast aluminium sump. The RH engine mount position was also changed to the top of the cylinder block. Multipoint fuel injection was
now standard. This engine would also be used in the Ka until 2002 where it was replaced by the Duratec and the 1.3 Escort until 2002.
This type of engine still has tappet noise even after adjustment. This noise is said to come from the cams due to incorrect valve setup (when setting valve clearance each cylinder must be set to TDC) or from age and use of incorrect oil grade. The correct oil grade is 5W-30 semi synthetic oil. Another reason is the large tappet clearance on the exhaust valve. This could of course be reduced to lower the noise level but the engine would then suffer from a rough idle and usually stalled.
Despite Ford's engines being well regarded for their ease of service, the Endura-E has a very awkward placing for its oil filter, at the back of the engine and facing from left to right rather than pointing downwards or out, this being a leftover from the original Kent which was normally mounted longitudinally for rear-wheel drive. This mounting position makes it very difficult to access from underneath the car (without a mechanic's ramp), and despite being very short, the can-type oil filter still manages to protrude past the tip of the adjacent starter motor, meaning it is very difficult to remove using chain-type grips.
Endura-E engine specs (Ka):
998CC:
Power output - 53HP (5250RPM)
Torque - 77.2 N/m (4000RPM)
Bore - 68.68mm
Stroke - 67.40mm
Redline - 5450RPM
RPM Limit - 5675RPM
Compression Ratio: 9.2:1
----------------------------------
1297CC:
Power output - 60HP (5000RPM)
Torque - 104.0 N/m (3500RPM)
Bore - 73.94mm
Stroke - 75.5mm
Redline - 5450RPM
RPM Limit - 5675RPM
Compression Ratio: 8.8:1
Motorsport
Ford Kent engines had a profound influence on motorsport, possibly more so than any other mass-produced engines did in the history of motorsport. The Satta
Satta may refer to:
People Surname
* Melissa Satta (born 1986), Italian television presenter
* Salvatore Satta (1902–1975)
* Sebastiano Satta (1867–1914), Italian poet, writer, lawyer and journalist
Given name
* Satta Sheriff (born 199 ...
/ Hruska designed Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." ...
750/101 DOHC engine, and the Alex von Falkenhausen Motorenbau
Alex von Falkenhausen Motorenbau (AFM) (but some sources claim the M stood for MunichFor examplean) was a German racing car constructor. The team was started by Alexander von Falkenhausen, who was in the 1930s an important engineer in the developm ...
designed SOHC BMW M118 engine may have had similar influence on the motorsport scenes in Italy and Germany respectively, but not internationally.
Lotus
Lotus may refer to:
Plants
*Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly:
** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae
**Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...
used Ford Kent engines on Lotus Mk.VII to establish its corporate foundation, and subsequently used most of the Cosworth early racing engines for the legendary success in motorsport. Lotus also built the successful Lotus TwinCam
The Lotus-Ford Twin Cam is an inline-four petrol engine developed by Lotus for the 1962 Lotus Elan. A few early examples displaced 1.5 litres, but the majority were 1.55-litre (1557ml) engines. It used a Ford 116E iron cylinder block and a new ...
engine for Lotus Elan
Lotus Elan is the name of two separate ranges of automobiles produced by Lotus Cars. The first series of cars was produced between 1962 and 1975 as a rear-wheel drive vehicle. The second series was produced between 1989 and 1995 as a front-wheel ...
on the Kent block, crank and conrods.
Cosworth
Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive industrie ...
's initial products were all Ford Kent based, and the later SCA
SCA may refer to:
Biology and health
* Sickle cell disease, also known as sickle cell anaemia
* Spinocerebellar ataxia, a neurological condition
* Statistical coupling analysis, a method to identify covarying pairs of amino acids in protein mult ...
, FVA and the BD series used Kent blocks to dominate many FIA categories including Formula 2 and Formula 3.
In addition, many respected racing engine builder/tuners, such as Holbay, Vegantune, Novamotor, Brian Hart
Brian Roger Hart (7 September 1936 – 5 January 2014) was a British racing driver and engineer with a background in the aviation industry. He is best known as the founder of Brian Hart Limited, a company that developed and built engines for mot ...
, Richardson and Wilcox owe their foundations to the Ford Kent-based engines.
Furthermore, the Kent Crossflow engine was used as the regulation engine in Formula Ford
Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...
, although it was originally proposed to be the pre-crossflow 1498 cc Cortina GT unit in 1967 (before the establishment of the series). In Europe, Formula Ford switched to the Zetec
Ford Motor Company used the Zetec name on a variety of inline 4-cylinder automobile engines. It was coined to replace "Zeta" on a range of 1.6 L to 2.0 L multi-valve engines introduced in 1991 because Ford was threatened with legal acti ...
, but American Formula Ford continued to be Kent-powered until 2010; the SCCA
The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional r ...
having approved the use of the Honda L15A i-VTEC for Formula F.
As it was nearly impossible to succeed in motorsport without some activities in Formula 2, 3 or Formula Ford, most of the well-known racing drivers in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s owe their careers to Ford Kent to some extent, and the current historic motor racing depends heavily on the Kent-based engines.
On 16 October 2009, Ford announced that it would be putting the Kent block back into production in order to supply the historic racing community and active Formula Ford series that use the Kent engine with spares. According to a Ford press-release, engineering work began at Ford Racing's Performance Parts division in the US, with sales scheduled to start in 2010. This coincided with a Sports Car Club of America
The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional r ...
rule change allowing the Honda L15A7 engine to be used in Formula Ford events in that country, which uses the Ford Kent engine (SCCA does not sanction Duratec or Ecoboost classes)
Link to Kent block in Ford Motorsports Parts online catalog
The 1300 cc was the engine of choice for BriSCA Formula 2 Stock Cars
BriSCA Formula 2 Stock Cars is a class of single seater auto racing in the UK. Cars are custom-built and race on oval tracks of either shale or tarmac of up to a quarter-mile in length. The tracks they race on are surrounded by either steel pla ...
until a rule change about carburettors pushed people towards the 2000 cc Ford Pinto engine
The Ford Pinto engine was the unofficial name for a four-cylinder internal combustion engine built by Ford Europe. In Ford sales literature, it was referred to as the EAO or OHC engine and because it was designed to the metric system, it was som ...
.
Harry Mundy
Harry Mundy (1915–1988) was a British car engine designer and motoring magazine editor.
He was educated at King Henry VIII School in Coventry and went on to serve his apprenticeship with Alvis. He left them in 1936 to join English Racing Autom ...
designed the Lotus TwinCam
The Lotus-Ford Twin Cam is an inline-four petrol engine developed by Lotus for the 1962 Lotus Elan. A few early examples displaced 1.5 litres, but the majority were 1.55-litre (1557ml) engines. It used a Ford 116E iron cylinder block and a new ...
engine for Colin Chapman
Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman (19 May 1928 – 16 December 1982) was an English design engineer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of Lotus Cars.
In 1952 he founded the sports car company Lotus Cars. Chapman ...
, who needed the replacement for the Coventry Climax FWE engine used in Lotus Elite
The Lotus Elite name has been used for two production vehicles and one concept vehicle developed and manufactured by British automobile manufacturer Lotus Cars. The first generation Elite Type 14 was produced from 1957 until 1963 and the second ...
. As Keith Duckworth
David Keith Duckworth (10 August 1933 – 18 December 2005) was an English mechanical engineer. He is most famous for designing the Cosworth DFV (Double Four Valve) engine, an engine that revolutionised the sport of Formula One.
Early life an ...
and Mike Costin
Michael Charles Costin (born 10 July 1929, in Hendon) was, together with Keith Duckworth, the co-founder of Cosworth Engineering, a producer of Ford-funded and sponsored engines. Drivers including Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Jochen Rindt, Emerso ...
, the co-founders of Cosworth
Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive industrie ...
, used to be Lotus Development Ltd employees, the initial racing adaptation of Lotus TwinCam was carried out by Cosworth, and the Kent block Cosworth SCA
Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive industries ...
was designed using the basic SOHC
An overhead camshaft (OHC) engine is a piston engine where the camshaft is located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with earlier overhead valve engines (OHV), where the camshaft is located below the combustion cha ...
reverse-flow cylinder head
In engine technology, a reverse-flow or non-crossflow cylinder head is one that locates the intake and exhaust ports on the same side of the engine. The gases can be thought to enter the cylinder head and then change direction to exit the head. T ...
configuration of the FWE. Due to Mundy being also the co-designer of the FWE, the Kent block Lotus TwinCam initially used the cam profile of the FWE, and shared the same valve clearance adjustment shims with Coventry Climax FWA, FWB, and FWE in production.
See also
* List of Ford engines
Ford engines are those used in Ford Motor Company vehicles and in aftermarket, sports and kit applications. Different engine ranges are used in various global markets.
3 cylinder
A series of Ford DOHC 12-valve inline-three engines with Twin Indep ...
* Lotus-Ford Twin Cam engine
* List of early Cosworth engines
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford Kent Engine
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
Straight-four engines
Gasoline engines by model