Edited by SLO76 on 28/01/2020 at 09:42

I think the first CVH engines were 1.3 and 1.6. I hired a few Escorts when I lived in London without a car in the early 80's and a mate of mine had a company Escort which he thrashed like crazy. The pits had to be a 1.1 OHV model but to be fair it was very economical. Carrying 4 people up to N Wales with climbing kit was not the most rapid experience. They never gave any trouble but the poverty spec 1.3 was pretty noisy.

I think the first CVH engines were 1.3 and 1.6. I hired a few Escorts when I lived in London without a car in the early 80's and a mate of mine had a company Escort which he thrashed like crazy. The pits had to be a 1.1 OHV model but to be fair it was very economical. Carrying 4 people up to N Wales with climbing kit was not the most rapid experience. They never gave any trouble but the poverty spec 1.3 was pretty noisy.

Early Mk III’s used a 1.3 CVH but changed to the older OHV in later cars, I think from 86. The 1.4 and 1.6 were the CVH motors from then and they went well enough in the lightweight MKIII and Orion. The basic looking post facelift 1.6L with 90bhp could really surprise the hot hatch brigade with a 0-60 time of just under 10 secs, it was barely slower than the XR3i.

It was the 1.1 CVH that was replaced by the OHV-the 1.3 CVH continued.

All of the escorts were not electro-galvanised e.g. why they were rusting around the jack points at around 4 years of age. The production line was never reconfigured for the coat to be applied unlike the Mondeo of the early generation. Handling improved towards the end but they were always a rust prone poorly built Ford corner cutting output. Although the cabriolet releases were wax injected as Ford were scared that the integrity could be weakened by corrosion and were not willing to risk potential lawsuits of weakened vehicle structures.