[maf 914]

The Ford Kent is a pushrod four, 1600 cc, also called the cross-flow due to the head design. It is a very compact engine with great tuning potential. It was used in many British Fords and kit cars. The Caterham Seven used it for years. This engine was the original Formula Ford engine in near stock 1600 trim. Caterham and other engine tuners would bore it to 1700 and regularly get 140+ hp. Cosworth, Lotus and others used the block and internals and added new heads to build dual overhead cam engines, such as the Lotus Twin-Cam.

The 1600 Kent engine was used in the original Pinto models, until Ford brought out the 2.0L overhead cam four, which became known as the Pinto engine. It was quite a bit bigger, taller and heavier than the Kent engine. Side by side with a Kent engine it looks huge. This was a new design and not a developement of the Kent engine. It later grew to 2.3L and was used in many Ford models. The 2.0L version was used in Formula Ford 2000 and Sports 2000 class racing.

Mike