1973 was a good year, I was a still in high school and big engines weren’t extinct yet. Ford had a big assortment. We are talking 10 to choose from if you didn’t count the Mustang engines.
Ford Pinto (this will be a parking log spot light coming up)
On small size 6 cylinder were still king but 4 cylinder was available for the Pinto. For the larger engines displacement was large and the horse power small.
There was only one 4 cylinder available, reserved for the ill fated Pinto. It sported an overhead cam and iron block. It displaced a whopping 122 cubic inches and as one would expect had the smallest bore and stroke – 3.58 x 3.03. The compression ratio was 8.2:1 and it tore up the street with 86 hps. (No I didn’t for get the “1” in front of that.) It was topped with a Ford/Weber 2 barrel carb.
2.0 Pinto Engine
The six cylinders came in 2 varieties and were used in the Maverick and Torino. The first was dubbed the Maverick 6 cylinder. It was configured with overhead valves and a cast iron block. With the bore and stoke 3.68 x 3.13 it was able to displace 200 cubic inches. The compression ratio was slightly higher than the 4 cylinder at 8.3:1 but it was fitted with a 1 barrel Motocraft carb resulting in only 84 hp.
The second ‘big brother” six cylinder was called the Maverick/Torino. Again it had the overhead valves and cast iron blocks, same as its little brother, but it had a greater stroke 3.91 (3.68 X 3.91) compared to the its sibling 3.13. The compression ratio was lower (8.0:1) and topped with the same single barrel carb it managed 88 hps.
The Torino was not a small car so it really need those 4 extra hps!!!
Ford 6 cylinder - nicely restored!!!
V8s for 1973 coming up and then the Mustang engines.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
My (future at the time) In Laws had two Mavericks; one was a super stripper 1971, and I mean super stripper. This car was a 200 CID 6, automatic, AM radio, heater, but no defroster, one speed wipers, and a block out cover for the lighter socket. The other was a 1973 with ‘big’ 250 CID 6 cylinder, AC, but no PS, PB, three speed wipers, and heater+defrost.
In the early 1980s, the 1971 Maverick was passed to my future wife, with only 109K miles. She drove that car back and forth to college for 4 years, and it had the reputation as the only vehicle to start on campus on those -14 degree Louisville winter nights. After college, the car served as the daily driver right up to 1991 where is was donated, running at the time, with 270K miles. The head had never been off the motor, and other than a auto trans and carb rebuild along the way, with a water pump, or two, the car had resisted any major repairs, nor never left it’s driver stranded.
The 1973 Maverick served as a Daily Driver until the mid 1990s, when it was traded in, running and drivable, for a new Taurus. I beleive the odometer was showing just under 200K miles with it’s original carb and transmission working flawlessly.
Today my wife has this never ending appreciation for straight 6 Ford products from the 1970s.
Sort of makes you wish youhad kept the 6 in the Mustang, does’nt Tim?
Hey.. the 250 in my Mustang had a compression ratio of 9.1:1, but 175k miles on it. No…I don’t miss the 6. But the 3 speed transmission has served me well tucked behind my bored out 302. Of course that been replaced recently, but it will be rebuild, a subject coming up shortly after the holidays.