Just wandering if anybody is familiar with the Ford 2.9 V6 EFI ? (1990 vintage)

Checking an engine out that is running in the car and could do with a few pointers of if they have any issues to check ?

Eg what sort of oil pressure should I be looking at etc ?


Appreciate they are 'old school' but somebody might know their way around one



Thanks

tough old lump but heavy and inefficient.

I remember having to reface the rockers as they had worn groves from where the tops of the valves rub (rattly top end, which causes the valve guides to go oval where the rockers push the tops of the valves) low oil pressure is not unusual 40-60psi remember they were designed for 20/50 oil not this modern 10/30 watery stuff.

Not very tuneable, there are more parts for the Essex V6, a 3.0 litre Capri was faster 0-100 than a 2.8 injection as you could stretch the 3rd gear out.

Pretty sure the cam gear has fibre teeth on both engines, these strip with age, you will only know when it is to late, you could get all steel gears which are noiser.

I enjoyed my youth driving v6 fords as a 21 year old

Note, if you cannot drive it smoothly using just 2nd and 4th gears them there is something wrong, they will lug away from idle.

[Edited on 25/4/16 by mark chandler]

cam gear was nylon on the 2.9 i seem to remember,they still exploded into millions of bits the,steel ones were available aftermarket but were very noisy.
better to get a more modern one ,jag V6,s are pennies

Dreaful engine heavy and rough but a lot better than the Essex V6
Cam gears stripping is a major problem on both Colonge and Essex V engines.

tough old lump, revvier than an Essex, pistonheads TVR S section will answer all your queries. yes they are old tech but much nicer on the road (having owned one for many years in a TVR) than the other posters would suggest.
guess it has to have 4 pots and rev to 11 to be liked on here ;-)

throttle potentiometers are notoriously dodgy, AFMs can give grief, but usually if stood for a dogs age. Theres a neat throttle slide plate mod to stop revs dipping as the throttle is opened from idle, again huge wealth of knowledge on Tiv forums on pistonheads.
as a road engine they are greta to drive in summat that doesn't weigh as much as a Granada. If you fancy one, the BOA/BOB 24v cosworth variety is the nicest of the bunch but only came with autobox so needs aftermarket ecu ideally
Good luck :-)

I had a TVR S3 with a 2.9 Cologne engine and the cam drive was by chain and sprocket. The fibre/nylon gears were from the earlier Essex engines. Not sure what was on the 2.8 but as you're looking at a 2.9 it isn't relevant.

They are tough old engines with a reasonable torque but circa 150bhp in stock and allegedly 170bhp from TVR isn't exactly great. Tuning options are limited and quite expensive so if you want to go above 200bhp you're better off with the BOA/BOB cossie engine.