Ford Kent crossflow block - 1970s ford chassis numbers

[Moztune]

Have a spare 1.6 ford Kent crossflow engine block and trying to trace where it originally came from.

Not sure how to post photos but it's stamped engine number is: UE12493

These engines were stamped with the chassis number of the car it was fitted to.

Any help appreciated 👍

[hot metal]

There were casting numbers which can point to the engines age, as I recall, `691` blocks were the earlier MK2 Cortina type , the later `711` block is later MK3 or Escort on, thicker casting I understand, think it was on the r/h side of the block. Can`t pin the dates down too accurately without doing a search.

http://www.thekentlives.com/index.php/tech/engine/...

This might help

Edited by hot metal on Saturday 11th December 23:13

[Moztune]

Thanks for the reply. The year was the first 2 numbers on the block. 691 being 1969 and 711m being 1971 for example.

Mines a 711m hence I know the car it came from was a 70s.

[fox50]

IIRC 681 blocks have a rope rear main seal,anything after has a lip rubber one,711 blocks have more material between 2 and 3 cylinders,am sure I will be corrected if my memory fails me.

[hot metal]

fox50 said:

IIRC 681 blocks have a rope rear main seal,anything after has a lip rubber one,711 blocks have more material between 2 and 3 cylinders,am sure I will be corrected if my memory fails me.

Yes, correct, so better for over-boring.

[TarquinMX5]

No, not over-boring, it's really interesting.

[jon66]

Moztune said:

Have a spare 1.6 ford Kent crossflow engine block and trying to trace where it originally came from.

Not sure how to post photos but it's stamped engine number is: UE12493

Any help appreciated ??

Are you sure that it's UE and not UB ?

The engine number does usually marry up with the latter part of the chassis number of the car it was fitted to and as such identifies the year/month of build and the specific ID number. What it doesn't do is tell you what model/variant it was fitted in (Capri/Cortina/Escort etc).

From the build dates though, U dates it as 1978 and if it's UB that would put it at September. UE doesn't seem to be a code that was used !!

[Moztune]

It could be UB, OB, UE, UB ect it's fairly worn.

You raise a fair point about it only being the build date part of the VIN. I guess tracing the vehicle it came from would be impossible then?

[jon66]

As far as I'm aware no way of identifying exactly what it was previously fitted to, could have been anything in the range with a crossflow engine.

I don't believe that Ford used O or Q as a year code so won't be that. You're probably right with U given that fits for '78

Month codes for '78 were
UL,UY, US, UT, UJ, UU, UM, UP, UB, UR, UA, UG for Jan-Dec

[aeropilot]

Moztune said:

It could be UB, OB, UE, UB ect it's fairly worn.

OB was never used, nor was UE in 1978.
UB for Sept '78 most likely as already said.

Moztune said:

I guess tracing the vehicle it came from would be impossible then?

Pretty much, yes.