Ford V6 Engines - General Information

2.8 2.9 'COLOGNE' and COSWORTH  V6

There is still a lot of tuning parts available for these Cologne family engines. For notes regarding the Essex V6 please click here.

Cylinder Heads.- ported and polished stage one though to big valve stage three specification.

Camshafts - cams and follower kits are still manufactured and available from Kent Cams

Block assemblies, big bore kits (Ultimax Engines ) - we can bore and stroke these engines up to 3.5 3.7 litre  - this includes the Cosworth V6. The 2.8 litre engines require additional machining to the nose of our crank. This work will be carried out at no extra cost should you have one of these engines. Please call for further information.

- We have been building these long-stroke Ultimax engines since 1990 -

2.9 Cologne stroker short block

Typical RND Engineering short block parts kit. Note baffle plate welded into the standard Cologne sump.

It is worth bearing in mind that the people behind RND are the same as those who originally developed the legendary Ultimax out of the 'Cologne'. The low-down 255 lbs/ft plus torque and 210 BHP produced by these naturally aspirated developments of these Ford V6 OHV engines is awesome - because the power is available across such a wide rev band. From the standard 2.8 or 2.9 litre, we took these Capri, early TVR and 2WD and 4WD XR series Sierra units right up to 3.7 litres. And we also offered supercharged versions ...

Ultimax crank  Ultimax bores
Ford 'Cologne' Ultimax V6 - bores and bottom end. These pictures are of the original 3.5 litre Ultimax engine, which we assembled back in 1990 as 'proof of concept'.

Specifications and data are given below for the standard V6 Cologne as fitted to the majority of road-going RWD Fords of the 1980s and 1990s, and various TVR models of the same era.

Ford V6 Cologne standard engine specifications

Ford Cosworth 24v front view

Ford Cosworth 24v DOHC V6 version of the Cologne 2.9 litre. Note the aluminium twin cam heads taking the place of the 6 valve cast-iron items on the  'cooking' engine. Original image by John Brown.

By contrast, these are the specifications for the Cosworth derivative of this same engine, which featured aluminium DOHC cylinder heads in place of the cast iron 6 valve units on the base Cologne.

Ford V6 Cologne Cosworth standard specification

3.0 'ESSEX'

The Essex engine is now over 40 years old  but we can still do a lot of performance  upgrades including boring and stroking to increase capacity  as well as turbocharging. Again, you will need to call us with your specific requirements.