Hello everyone,
I have a 1973 Pinto with a 1.6 Kent and 4 speed in it. When I purchased the car it came with photos of it being rebuilt, unsure of how long ago my best guess is 2012.
The car runs and drives fantastic. It has a new pertronix electronic ignition.
I am going to do a 2.3 turbo swap on the car in the hopefully near future. I had never considered the 1.6 would be a desirable engine to certain communities. I am looking for advice on the best way to advertise/sell this engine when the time is right and how much the engine/trans combo is worth.
Thank you
KevinLG
New Reader
10/20/24 11:11 p.m.
The Kent is still (and likely will always) be used in Formula Fords, so I would at least advertise to that community. No idea on value, I'm not that well versed with them.
wake74
Reader
10/24/24 8:37 p.m.
A stock Ford 1.6 Kent probably isn't worth too much as a core for an FF engine. All the builders have mostly shifted to the forged crank, aluminum heads, dry sump configuration etc. The heads are massaged a fair bit (within the rules). I heard Ford racing is back to casting replacement 711 blocks again, but they want like 3k for them. I don't think full block replacement is that common. The engines seem pretty reliable in the vintage circles I run in. ApexSpeed is the website you want if you want to sell it.
Where are you located?
The FFs all run Hewland MK9s. Talk about expensive. My recent MK9 rebuild cost more than most cars I have purchased :-)
In reply to wake74 :
I am around Atlanta, Georgia
I know a bit about the Ford Kent engine. The block is useful to a FF racer. The head is the early "crossflow" head that has a shallow combustion chamber where the later Kent's and current FF head is "uprated" meaning it's flat, as in no chamber. It can used by vintage FF racers as that's what the early cars used. The crank and rods have value as well. While Scat makes both rods and cranks for these engine I've heard some of their cranks failing long before one would expect that to happen. The rods are a bit better then a stock rod but the OEM rods can last if the engine is not over reved.
I would guess the 4 speed would be almost worthless. I was looking for a kent engine years ago to transplant into a Spitfire, but could not find one. If you are looking for top dollar you should list it on vintage FF sites. I might be interested in it but I am a cheap old bastard.
I sold my 1.6 kent engine for good money to a morgan enthusiast. The 4 speed ended up as scrap unfortunately. I advertised it for months and had no interest. Lets see your Pinto!
Try the British Ford guys at Enfostuff. Your stuff may be more valuable than you think. :)