The Ford Pinto engine was the unofficial but generic nickname for a four-cylinderinternal 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 sometimes called the "metric engine". The internal Ford codename for the unit was the T88-series engine. European Ford service literature refers to it as the Taunus In-Line engine. In North America it was known as the Lima In-Line, or simply the Lima engine. It was used in many European Ford cars and was exported to the United States to be used in the Ford Pinto, a successful subcompact car of the 1970s, hence the name which is used most often for the unit. In Britain, it is commonly used in many kit cars and hot rods, especially in the 2-litre size.
Pinto OHC (TL)
In Europe, the Pinto OHC was introduced in 1970 to replace the Essex V4 used in the Corsair as that range was subsumed into the Mk3 Cortina and Taunus V4 for the German Fords range. It was the first Ford engine to feature a belt-driven overhead camshaft. Applications:
The Pinto engine was available in five displacements:, earlier, later, and the. Later. Due to emission requirements, it was phased out towards the end of the 1980s to be replaced by the CVH engine and DOHC engine, the latter being a completely new design and not a twin-cam development of the Pinto unit. The only DOHC direct derivative of Pinto engine is the Cosworth YB 16-valve engine, powering Ford Sierra and Ford Escort RS Cosworth variants. The final Pinto engines used in Ford of Europe production vehicles were the litre versions used in the Sierra until 1991, and the last units were used in the Transit until 1994.
1.3 (TL13)
The smallest member of the family was the which had a bore and stroke. It was produced in two compression ratio versions:
TL13L – the low compression variant, which developed / depending on carburetor model, had a compression ratio of 8.0:1 and the engine codes started with 'JA'
TL13H — the high compression variant, which developed / depending on carburetor model had a compression ratio of 9.0:1 and the engine codes started with 'JC'
The fuel was supplied by the Motorcraft single-barrel carburettor in the early models, and Motorcraft VV carburetor for the vehicles built after April 1979. Applications:
1970–1982 Ford Taunus
1972–1974 Ford Capri
1982–1984 Ford Sierra
1.6 (TL16)
Early low compression variant (TL16L)
Initially, the had a bore of and shared the crankshaft with the 1.3 L model with a stroke of giving the displacement of. The TL16L had a compression ratio of 8.2:1 and developed of power and of torque depending on the carburettor and application. As the 1.3 L model, it used the Motorcraft 1V and, later, the Motorcraft VV carburetors. The engine code of the low compression variant started with 'LA'. Applications:
1970–1982 Ford Taunus / Ford Cortina
1979–1986 Ford Transit
1975–1985 Ford Capri
Early high compression variant (TL16H)
The HC version of the early had the same bore and stroke as the LC version, but the compression ratio was higher, allowing it to produce of power and of torque. It used the same carburetor models as the low compression version. Applications:
1976–1982 Ford Taunus / Ford Cortina S / GLS / Ghia S
1975–1978 Ford Escort Mexico
1972–1976 Ford Capri GT
Late variant (TL16E)
At the beginning of 1984, Ford Pinto engine displacement range switched from 1.3/1.6/2.0 to 1.6/1.8/2.0. The newly introduced 1.8 L engine used the 2.0 L crankshaft, so to uniform engine parts for the whole range after dropping the 1.3 L — the 1.6 L was redesigned to also take the 2.0 L crankshaft which had a stroke. This of course led to bringing the bore down to to keep the displacement within range — it was now. The TL16E became now the only available 1.6 L engine of the Pinto range. Although the compression ratio was raised to 9.5:1, the power figures did not differ much from the earlier TL16H version — the engine developed of power and of torque. This engine is sometimes referred to as 1.6 E-Max engine. Applications:
1984–1989 Ford Sierra
1.8 (TL18H)
The Pinto engine was introduced in 1984 as a replacement for the "old" 1.6 L. The engine had an bore and stroke giving the displacement of. Output was of power and. Fuel was supplied by the Pierburg 2E3 28/32 carburetor. Applications:
1984–1989 Ford Sierra
1985–1992 Ford Scorpio
2.0 (TL20)
The was used in many Ford vehicles from the early 1970s. Due to its robustness and high tuning potential, it was often used as an aftermarket engine upgrade or base for building race and rally engines — not exclusively in Ford cars. The engine has bore of and stroke giving the displacement of. It was manufactured in several variants:
Low compression variant (TL20L)
Three completely different LC variants of the 2.0 L were produced. One was used on the 1970–1982 Ford Taunus export version to Sweden — fitted with the Weber DGAV 32/32 carburetor and compression ratio lowered to 8.2:1 to meet the rigorous emission specifications; it delivered of power and of torque. The second one was used on 1978–1991 Ford Transits and P100 models. With modified induction and Motorcraft 1V carburetor, it produced of power and of torque available at only 2800 rpm. The compression ratio in this case was also 8.2:1. The Transits also used the third variant called the "Economy" engine. The power figure of this one was even lower — it developed only. Applications:
Although Ford marked its standard 2.0 L engine as HC, it actually uses engine codes meant for the 'increased performance variant' engines, these have a compression ratio of to 9.2:1. This engine used different carburettor models across the years:
Weber DGAV 32/36 - on all cars up to 1987
Weber DFTH 30/34 - from 1987 until the end of production run
Weber DFAV 32/36 - on engines exported to USA
The engine produced of power and of torque, though a few models with a higher output were produced. Applications:
The injected 2.0 L used the Ford EEC-IV engine control system which brought the output up to of power and of torque, although much of this increased performance can be attributed to the improved design of the EFI variants cylinder head. As the EEC-IV installation on most of those engines contains some Bosch parts that are easily visible in the engine compartment, it is often - but falsely believed that they are fitted with the Bosch L-Jetronicinjection system. Some of the TL20EFI engines have closed-loop lambda control, while others are lacking that feature. Applications:
This variant was used in Ford Transit exclusively. The power output was. Applications:
1985–1992 Ford Transit
Cosworth YB (CH20EFI)
In the beginning of the 1980s, Cosworth developed a 16-valve performance head conversion for the Pinto engine. This was seen by a Ford executive who asked Cosworth to develop it with a turbo for use in the new Ford Sierra RS Cosworth. The engine is therefore based on a modified Pinto block topped with the Cosworth-developed alloy head and Garrett turbo.
Lima OHC (LL)
2.0
The 2.0 litre version was a narrower-bore version of the original 2.3 liter "Lima" four. Bore and stroke are, respectively, for an overall displacement of. This engine was installed in the 1983-1988 Ford Rangers and in some Argentinian Ford Taunuses. ;Applications:
The Ford Pinto used the OHC version, a unit introduced in 1974 which has a bore and stroke. This version lasted until 1997 in various guises. The earliest units produced and. This engine has also been known as the Lima engine, after the Lima Engine plant in Lima, Ohio, where it was first manufactured. In 1979-80, a draw-through, non intercooled turbo version was produced for Mustang Cobras and some Capris. Lack of dealership and owner training resulted in many stuck turbochargers and other maintenance problems. They were limited to of boost, though Ford Motorsport sold a wastegate with an adjustable rod which allowed an increase up to. It was used in this carbureted form in a number of passenger cars, from the Fairmont Futura Turbo to the 1979 Indy Pace Car edition Mustang. In 1983, Ford introduced a fuel-injected version of the turbocharged engine, which was used in the Thunderbird Turbo Coupe and the Turbo GT trim of the Mustang. In 1984, the Mustang SVO was introduced with an intercooler, initially producing and later increased to in 1985½. After the SVO was discontinued, the intercooler was added to the Turbo Coupe. Output for this turbo/intercooled version was and for the 1987-88 models with the five-speed manual transmission. In addition to the 1983-1984 Mustang Turbo GT and 1983-1986 Turbo Coupe, the nonintercooled version of the engine was also used in the 1985-89 Merkur XR4Ti and 1984-1986 Mercury Cougar XR7, producing and. A dual-spark version was introduced in the 1989 Ford Ranger and 1991 Ford Mustang. This version produced and. ;Applications:
A stroked by version of the 2.3 OHC Ford Ranger engine appeared in 1998 yielding 2500cc's . In addition to longer stroke, it used higher-flow cylinder heads utilizing narrower valve stems. Crankshaft counterbalance weights were increased in count from 4 to 8. Output was and. It was replaced in 2001 by the Mazda-derived Duratec 23, but Ford Power Products continues to sell this engine as the LRG-425. Applications: