Pinto Engine – Introduction

[Kim WarnerKeymaster]

The “Pinto” name is an unofficial nickname, Ford referred to it as the “EAO” or the “OHC” or the “Metric Engine” their internal codename was the “T88-Series” Engine, Ford Europe refer to it as the “Taunus In-Line” and as the “Lima In-Line”. However it was also the engine exported to the United States to power the successful Ford Pinto and hence the nickname that stuck.

The Pinto OHC (Overhead Cam) engine was introduced in Europe in 1970 to replace the Essex V4. It was the first Ford Engine to feature a belt-driven overhead camshaft.

Internationally the Pinto Engine was available in 5 displacements; 1294cc, 1593cc, 1598cc, 1796cc and 1993cc, in South Africa we only know the latter 1993cc version with a 90.82mm bore and a 76.95mm stroke.

Due to its robustness and high tuning potential the Pinto was often used as an aftermarket engine upgrade, or base for building rally or race engines, in fact the legendary Cosworth YB series 16-valve engines which powered Ford Sierra and Escort RS Cosworth variants are direct derivatives of the 2.0L Pinto Engine.

In South Africa the Pinto was first fitted to the early MkIII Cortina 2000GT, then to MkIV and MkV Cortina models, to the RS2000 MkII Escort, to various Sierra and Sapphire models and to the base MkII Granada.

Early Sierra fitments included an electronically controlled carburetor (Weber DFTH 30/34) and in the last range of Sierra’s and Sapphires an Electronic Fuel Injection EFi engine was used, featuring (in automatic versions) integrated digital control of both engine and gearbox. The EFi Engine produced 85kW (160N.m) and the carb unit 74kW (156N.m), an exception was the engine fitted to the 1976 Escort RS2000 which produced 81kW.

The Pinto Four came to an end in South Africa with the introduction of the “Badge Engineered” Mazda 626/Telstar range as replacement to the Sierra/Sapphire.

• This topic was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by  Kim Warner.

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