Ford Capri 2.0 S - Leaded or Unleaded ?

[pauleo9]

Hello everyone! Hoping someone might have a simple answer for this one so here it goes ...

I'm a little unsure if my Capri 2.0 S has been converted to run on unleaded. I bought it at the back end of last year (fella had passed away and the woman couldn't tell me) and have been using an additive while tinkering with it, looking to go on the road this week.

I've got two exhaust readings, one saying leaded (before it was axed) and one saying unleaded (after leaded fuel was discontinued), but I'm not sure if this means its with an additive or its actually ready for unleaded fuel. Are there any clear signs to check this? I was told by the garage at the time of MOT that the timing has already been adjusted which could indicate its been changed.

Thanks for any help!!

[HellDiver]

Leaded and LRP is long gone, so unless he's been pushing it for the last few years, it's been running on unleaded.

[El Capitano]

i ran my 2.0S on uneaded with a dash of additive.... ran perfectly fine for the 2 years i had it, and fine after that as far as i know.

The pinto engines are built well.. they seem to cope fine with unleaded

[OllieC]

No standard capris left the factory with heads suitable for unleaded

I have run my 2 litre capris with unleaded plus additive with seemingly no ill effects.

You can also swap the head to a later injection sierra version, these are all unleaded as standard I believe.

[FreezerWeasel]

OllieC said:

No standard capris left the factory with heads suitable for unleaded

I have run my 2 litre capris with unleaded plus additive with seemingly no ill effects.

this is correct. tbh a lot of people now have moved towards zetec conversions instead of head swapping. if you're going to faff, may as well come out of it with a more modern, driveable engine.

[pauleo9]

Thanks for the comments people!

It's been garaged stored for the last 8yrs and just had top ups with unleaded + additive. The garage said it may of been changed for unleaded but wondered if there was anyway I could tell so I don't have to throw any more additive in.

I know a few people don't bother with the additive but would still probably use it if its set to run on leaded. Additives must be being made for a reason hey!

Cheers

[ROB 100]

Is there any letters stamped in the head just above number 4 spark plug?

[Baz Tench]

I would have thought it would have been converted about 20 years ago to be honest. At the very least 15 years ago anyway.

[grimfandango]

I ran my Pinto engined Ginetta for about a year before I wondered if it had been converted to unleaded or not. At this point I got a bit worried and bought a big box of additive stuff. used the addative stuff for a couple of weeks and I dont know what was up with it, but it really didnt seem to like it, the engine spluttered and it was down on power? just went back to normal unleaded after that and all was good again!?!?!

[Rich1973]

Some years ago my brother and I wanted to swap the head on the 2.0 litre pinto in his kit car to an unleaded one. I seem to remember the unleaded heads have a 'plip' or a small lump cast into them which is visible. Cannot remember the exact details so hopefully someone else can be more discriptive..

Richard

[OllieC]

This is just copied and pasted from the Locost forum, but I believe it is correct : SOHC Pinto Engines

" All engines produced after 01/89 are suitable for use with unleaded fuel. For all other engines, an identification mark (adjacent to No 4 spark plug) must be present to designate suitability for unleaded. These are:

• 1.6 - M, MM or N, NN
• 1.8 - S, SS
• 2.0 - P, PP or R, RR "

OP - do you visit the capripower forum, theres some very knowlegable guys on there to help with any queries you may have

can we see a pic of your car ?

Any excuse to post mine hehe :

[pauleo9]

Thanks for the help people, I'll check the head to see if there's any markings. Going to mention it on Capri Power as well to see if there's any other pointers.

Here's a pic ..