Ford Kent engine | |
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Overview | |
Manufacturer | Ford Motor Company |
Also called | Ford pre-crossflow Ford Crossflow Ford Valencia Ford HCS Endura-E VSG-411/413 |
Production | 1959–2002 |
Combustion chamber | |
Configuration | Pushrod straight 4 |
Displacement | 1.0 L 996 cc 1.1L 1117 cc 1.3 L 1297 / 1339 cc 1.5 L 1498 cc 1.6 L 1599 cc |
Cylinder block alloy | Iron |
Cylinder head alloy | Iron |
Valvetrain | OHV |
Combustion | |
Fuel system | carburettor (later (92-on) versions were fuel injected) |
Fuel type | gasoline |
Cooling system | water-cooled |
Output | |
Power output | 39–111 bhp |
Chronology | |
Predecessor | Ford Sidevalve engine |
Successor | Ford Zetec engine |
The Ford Kent is an internal combustion engine from Ford of Europe. Originally developed in 1959 for the Ford Anglia, it is an in-line four-cylinder overhead-valve–type pushrod 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 has finally signalled the end of the engine's use in production vehicles after a 44-year career, although it is still in limited production in Brazil, and produced as an industrial use engine by Ford's Power Products division, where it is known as the VSG-411 and VSG-413.
This series of engines became known as the Kent engine because Alan Worters, the company's Executive Engineer (Power Units), lived across the river from Ford's Dagenham 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 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.
The original OHV three main bearing Kent engine appeared in the 1959 Anglia with a capacity of 996.70 cc developing 39 bhp (29 kW) at 5,000 rpm - unusually high for the time. With a 80.96 mm (3.19 in) bore and 48.41 mm (1.91 in) stroke, combined with independent (non-siamesed) four intake and four exhaust ports, it was a departure from traditional undersquare English engine design.
The same engine, with its bore unchanged, but with longer 65.00 mm and 72.75 mm stroke and thus larger capacities were subsequently used in the Ford Consul Classic (1339 cc) and Consul Capri (1339 cc and 1498 cc), the Mk1 and early Mk2 Cortinas (58.20 mm stroke 1198 cc, 63.00 mm stroke five main bearing 1297 cc and the 1498 cc), and the early Corsairs.