Ford Pinto engine colours

Belt-driven overhead-cam four of 1970 to 2001, fitted to the Cortina from the Mk3, the Capri, the Granada, the Escort RS2000, the Sierra and the Transit. People who have stripped them say the block and head were black. The cam cover was blue on early engines and black on later ones, the change is put at about 1976, and nobody has a Ford name or code for the blue.

Also known as: Pinto OHC, EAO, Taunus In-Line, Ford OHC four

Records

Black

Pinto OHC 1.3 to 2.0 · 1970–1983 · block, satin

Awaiting measurementC · Community consensusLast verified 2026-10-01

Not yet measured. The patch will appear once a spectrophotometer reading is recorded.

Fitted to

Model	Years
Cortina Mk3	1970–1976
Cortina Mk4	1976–1979
Cortina Mk5	1979–1982
Capri Mk2	1974–1978
Capri Mk3	1978–1983
Escort RS2000 Mk2	1975–1980
Granada Mk1	1974–1977
Granada Mk2	1977–1983
Transit Mk2	1978–1983

Modern matches

Product	ΔE	Type	Where to buy
VHT Engine Enamel, Satin Black, 312 g aerosol	not measured	1K to 288 °C	Amazon UKUnited Kingdom · verified 2026-10-01
VHT Engine Enamel, Gloss Black, 312 g aerosol	not measured	1K to 288 °C	Amazon UKUnited Kingdom · verified 2026-10-01
E-TECH Engine Enamel Paint Black A/Sol 400ml (manufacturer reference AEE01-BK)	not measured	1K to 250 °C	Amazon UKUnited Kingdom · verified 2026-10-01

Notes

The head is described as the same black as the block. The best evidence here is one engine: the original unit of a 1979 RS2000, cleaned by the man rebuilding it, black on block and head. Satin is the word of the builder and of a former Ford dealer mechanic working from memory; nobody offers another sheen. This record stops at 1983 on purpose. One contributor recalls Ford painting passenger-car engines grey from the start of Sierra production that year, with vans staying black. No second source for that was found, so the Sierra has no record here, and the Capri Mk3, Granada Mk2 and Transit rows end in 1983 although those models carried the engine for longer. Another contributor's memory is that Pinto engines were blue until the Mk4 Cortina and black after it; four others in the two threads put the blue on the cam and belt covers and the black on the block, and that reading is followed here. The blacks listed are general engine blacks, not matched to anything.

Sources

forum: Locost Builders: One for the Ford Pinto Lads, RS 2000 Restoration — A builder rebuilding the original engine of a 1979 Escort RS2000 expects satin black for the block, the head and the cam cover. A former mechanic at a Ford main dealer agrees with satin black, from memory, and another builder says the Pintos he has seen had a black block, head and cam cover. The first builder then cleans his block and head and reports that both are black. One contributor recalls passenger-car engines being painted grey from the start of Sierra production in 1983, with light commercials still black
forum: Old Skool Ford: What Colour to paint a Pinto?? — The owner of a 1974 facelift Capri with the 1.6 Pinto has been told the block should be black with a blue rocker cover and cam belt cover, and asks whether that is true. A member answers yes: black block, blue cam and belt covers
forum: PistonHeads, TVR Classics: Painting an Essex V6 — Two owners state it as the rule for Ford engines that blocks and heads were black from new and that genuine factory reconditioned units were blue all over. The rule is stated for Ford UK engines generally, not for the Pinto
forum: BuySellCortina, The Ford Cortina Forum: Engine paint — Two owners say Ford engines were black originally and that blue was the reconditioned finish. One of them painted his own Pinto with blue Hammerite, which is his choice and not evidence of anything
community: Wikipedia, Ford Pinto engine — The engine's span of 1970 to 2001 and its years in each European Ford: the Cortina TC1 from 1970 to 1976 and TC2 to 1982, the Capri Mk2 and Mk3 from 1974 to 1986, the Granada Mk1 from 1974 to 1977 and Mk2 to 1985, the Sierra from 1982 to 1992 and the Transit from 1978 to 1994. Says nothing about colour
community: Wikipedia, Ford Cortina — The Mk3 from 1970 to 1976, the Mk4 from 1976 to 1979 and the Mk5 from 1979 to 1982, each with the Pinto in 1.6 and 2.0 litre sizes
community: Wikipedia, Ford Escort (Europe) — The Mk2 RS2000 with the 2.0 litre Pinto, announced in the UK in March 1975; British production of the Mk2 ended in August 1980

History

2026-09-05 · Draft researched from public sources; unverified
2026-10-01 · Sources read again and checked against the record. Two threads about the Pinto itself added, one of them with original paint found on a 1979 engine; the draft had rested on statements about Ford engines generally. Finish changed from the default gloss to satin, as those threads give it. The record now ends in 1983, where one contributor says the colour changed. Satin and gloss engine blacks added as matches. Published

Suggest a correction to this record

Blue

Pinto OHC · 1970–1976 · cam-cover, gloss

Awaiting measurementC · Community consensusDisputedLast verified 2026-10-01

Not yet measured. The patch will appear once a spectrophotometer reading is recorded.

What is disputed

The shade, the end date and which cars had it. Shade: one owner gives RAL 5010, twice, three years apart; another answers with RAL 5017; Frost puts RAL5005 in the title of its Ford Dark Blue. None of the three comes from Ford, and nearest_ral is left empty rather than pick one. End date: one owner recalls blue until the start of Mk4 Cortina production, the owner who first asked describes it on Mk3 and early Mk4 cars, and a third ties the change to the cure for the engine's camshaft wear. The cars people actually owned fit that: blue on a 1974 Cortina, black on a 1978 Mexico, a 1981 Cortina and a 1983 Capri. Which cars: one contributor says every RS2000 had a blue cover and is told that blue belongs to the Mk1 and the Cortina; another ran Transit vans that all had blue covers, and the Transit did not get this engine until 1978. This record keeps to the Cortina, where the witnesses agree.

Fitted to

Model	Years
Cortina Mk3	1970–1976
Cortina Mk4	1976–1976

Modern matches

Product	ΔE	Type	Where to buy
Frost Ford Dark Blue Engine Enamel Paint RAL5005 (500ml) P800DB	not measured	1K to 170 °C	Amazon UKUnited Kingdom · verified 2026-10-01

Notes

Most of the sources call it a rocker cover; it is a cam cover here because the engine is overhead-cam, and it is the same part. The cam belt cover is described as the same blue wherever it is mentioned, and the air filter housing with it. Several owners match all three by taking an original cover to a paint factor or a powder coater, which is the sound way to do it and an admission that nobody has the code. A member confirms blue covers on a 1974 facelift Capri as well; that car is left out of the table only because its dates with this engine were not established. The Cortina Mk4 row is a single year because the blue is described on early Mk4 cars only. Frost's Ford Dark Blue is listed because a Cortina owner points others at it by name, not because it has been shown to match: its RAL5005 agrees with neither number the owners give. Recorded as gloss because no source states a sheen.

Sources

forum: Locost Builders: One for the Ford Pinto Lads, RS 2000 Restoration — One contributor says every 2 litre Cortina had a royal blue cam cover in the early 1970s and that the change came at about the time the engine's camshaft wear was put right; another had a 1974 2.0 Cortina with a blue cover and a 1981 Cortina and 1983 Capri with black ones; a third recalls blue until the start of Mk4 Cortina production. One says the cam cover on every RS2000 was blue and is told that blue belongs to the Mk1 and the Cortina, not the Mk2. Another ran a fleet of Transit vans, all with blue cam covers
forum: Old Skool Ford: What Colour to paint a Pinto?? — For a 1974 facelift Capri with the 1.6 Pinto, a member confirms a black block with blue cam and belt covers. Another asks whether the blue is Ford tractor blue, and a third has painted his engine in that
forum: BuySellCortina, The Ford Cortina Forum: Ford engine blue? — An owner asks for the blue on the Pinto cam and cam belt covers of Mk3 and early Mk4 Cortinas. One reply gives RAL 5010 and mentions a tin seen at Halfords, another points at Frost's Ford dark blue P800 engine enamel, and the owner settles on a Plastikote Pacific Blue found by searching for RAL 5010, which he calls very close to the original
forum: BuySellCortina, The Ford Cortina Forum: Pinto Rocker cover colour — Owners asking what the blue on Mk3 Pinto rocker covers is. One could not find it and had a powder coater match an air filter cover, another offers to take a cam belt cover to her paint supplier, and a third shows a newly painted cover beside an original. The owner who gave RAL 5010 three years earlier gives it again; a later post says RAL 5017
retailer: Frost, Ford Dark Blue Engine Enamel Paint RAL5005 (500ml), P800DB — A Ford-named engine enamel, RAL5005 in its own title and rated to 170°C. The page names no Ford model and cites no Ford document
community: Wikipedia, Ford Cortina — The Mk3 from 1970 to 1976 and the Mk4 from 1976, both with the Pinto in 1.6 and 2.0 litre sizes

History

2026-09-05 · Draft researched from public sources; unverified
2026-09-17 · Amazon UK offer added for Frost P800DB Ford Dark Blue RAL5005 (ASIN B0FD446TS9), verified on amazon.co.uk
2026-10-01 · Sources read again and checked against the record. Two more threads added. The record now ends in 1976, where the witnesses put the change to black, instead of running to the end of the Cortina; the two RAL numbers the draft placed in separate threads are in the same one. Published

Suggest a correction to this record

Black

Pinto OHC · 1975–1983 · cam-cover, satin

Awaiting measurementC · Community consensusDisputedLast verified 2026-10-01

Not yet measured. The patch will appear once a spectrophotometer reading is recorded.

What is disputed

The RS2000 and the vans. One contributor says the cam cover on every RS2000 was blue, which set it apart from other Pintos. He is answered that blue belongs to the Mk1 RS2000 and the Cortina and not to the Mk2, with a photograph of a Mk2 rebuilt for concours whose engine is all black, and the man rebuilding a 1979 car's original engine expected black from the start. Separately, a contributor who ran a fleet of Transit vans says they all had blue cam covers, and the Transit only took this engine in 1978, after the cars had changed. Nobody cites a Ford document for any of it.

Fitted to

Model	Years
Cortina Mk4	1976–1979
Cortina Mk5	1979–1982
Capri Mk3	1978–1983
Escort RS2000 Mk2	1975–1980

Modern matches

Product	ΔE	Type	Where to buy
VHT Engine Enamel, Satin Black, 312 g aerosol	not measured	1K to 288 °C	Amazon UKUnited Kingdom · verified 2026-10-01
VHT Engine Enamel, Gloss Black, 312 g aerosol	not measured	1K to 288 °C	Amazon UKUnited Kingdom · verified 2026-10-01
E-TECH Engine Enamel Paint Black A/Sol 400ml (manufacturer reference AEE01-BK)	not measured	1K to 250 °C	Amazon UKUnited Kingdom · verified 2026-10-01

Notes

Every date here is somebody's car: black on a 1978 Mexico, a 1981 Cortina and a 1983 Capri, and blue still on a 1974 Cortina. The change is put at the start of Mk4 Cortina production by the one contributor who dates it, and the RS2000 row starts a year earlier because the Mk2 car did; whether the very first Mk2 RS2000s were already black is part of what is disputed. Satin is the word of the builder and the former dealer mechanic, as for the block. The Mexico is left out of the table only because its dates were not established. The record stops at 1983 for the reason given on the block record. The blacks listed are general engine blacks, not matched to anything.

Sources

forum: Locost Builders: One for the Ford Pinto Lads, RS 2000 Restoration — The builder of a 1979 RS2000 engine expects a satin black cam cover and a former Ford dealer mechanic agrees. Others report black covers on the Pintos they have seen, on a 1978 Mexico, on a 1981 Cortina and on a 1983 Capri, and one recalls the change from blue to black at the start of Mk4 Cortina production. A contributor shows an RS2000 rebuilt for concours with an all-black engine and says the blue cover belongs to the Mk1 and the Cortina. Against that, one says the cam cover on every RS2000 was blue, and another ran Transit vans that all had blue covers
community: Wikipedia, Ford Cortina — The Mk4 from 1976 to 1979 and the Mk5 from 1979 to 1982, both with the Pinto in 1.6 and 2.0 litre sizes
community: Wikipedia, Ford Capri — The Mk3 from March 1978, with the Pinto in 1.6 and 2.0 litre sizes
community: Wikipedia, Ford Escort (Europe) — The Mk2 RS2000 with the 2.0 litre Pinto, announced in the UK in March 1975; British production of the Mk2 ended in August 1980

History

2026-10-01 · New record. The draft carried the blue cam cover to the end of the Cortina in 1982; the owners in the Locost Builders thread put black covers on cars from 1978 onwards. Published

Suggest a correction to this record

What the factory did

Black, with a blue cam cover on the early engines. No Ford document says so. The people who say it have stripped the engines, and one of them was looking at original paint when he said it.

He was rebuilding the engine of a 1979 Escort RS2000, the unit the car left the factory with, and wanted it put back exactly as it was. He expected satin black on the block, the head and the cam cover. A former mechanic at a Ford main dealer agreed from memory, and another builder said every Pinto he had seen was black on all three. Then the block and head were cleaned of their years of dirt, and both were black. One engine is one engine, but it is a known original, and nobody in the thread or anywhere else read for this page offers a different colour for the block.

The cam cover is the part with a story. On the Cortina Mk3 it was blue, and so were the cam belt cover and the air filter housing. One owner remembers every 2 litre Cortina of the early 1970s with a royal blue cover, because he replaced so many of their worn camshafts. Another had a 1974 2.0 Cortina with a blue cover. A member of another forum confirms blue cam and belt covers on a 1974 Capri.

Later engines had black covers. The same owner's 1981 Cortina and 1983 Capri had them, and so did another man's 1978 Mexico.

What changed, and when

The engine arrived in the Cortina Mk3 in 1970. It went into the Capri, the Granada from 1974, the Mk2 Escort RS2000 from 1975, the Transit from 1978 and the Sierra from 1982, and Ford went on building it until 2001.

The cam cover changed from blue to black in the middle of the 1970s. The one contributor who puts a date on it says blue lasted until the start of Mk4 Cortina production, which was 1976. The owner who first asked about the colour describes it on Mk3 and early Mk4 cars, which fits. A third ties the change to the time Ford cured the engine's camshaft wear. The blue record on this page therefore ends in 1976 and the black one takes over, and both dates are owners' memories of their own cars.

There may be a second change. One contributor recalls that when Sierra production began in 1983, Ford started painting passenger-car engines grey and left the vans black. No second source for that was found. It is recorded here as a lead: the records on this page stop at 1983, and the Sierra has none.

Common mistakes

Painting the whole engine blue. Blue belongs on the covers of an early engine. A Pinto that is blue all over is either somebody's own choice or a Ford exchange engine, which every source on the Ford pages describes as blue.

Putting a blue cover on a late engine because Pintos have blue covers. The witnesses have black covers on cars from 1978 onwards.

Assuming a tin named for the marque settles the shade. Frost sells a Ford Dark Blue engine enamel, and a Cortina forum member points other owners straight at it. That makes it worth listing. It does not make it right, and its own title carries a RAL number that neither of the numbers the owners give agrees with.

Ford tractor blue. One owner painted his Pinto in it and was happy. It is a different blue for a different Ford.

What to buy

For the block and head, black engine enamel in satin. Black has no shade to get wrong, so choose on heat rating and finish; satin is what the builder and the former dealer mechanic both say. The blacks are listed on the record above, engine enamel explains the ratings, and you can compare the black engine enamels in the shop.

For a black cam cover, the same paint.

For a blue cam cover, the honest advice is the owners' own: match it to a part. Take an original cam cover, cam belt cover or air filter housing that has never been repainted to a paint factor and have the colour read, then have a heat-resistant paint mixed to it. If you would rather buy a tin, Frost's Ford Dark Blue is the one a Cortina owner recommends by name, and one owner was pleased with a general-purpose aerosol he found by searching for RAL 5010. Neither has been compared with an original by anyone using an instrument. The cover runs at engine temperature, so use a paint rated for it.

Most of the result comes from preparation. The preparation guide covers degreasing so that the paint stays on.

What is disputed

The shade of the blue. One owner gives it as RAL 5010, in two threads three years apart. Another answers the second thread with RAL 5017. Frost puts RAL5005 in the title of its Ford Dark Blue. None of the three cites a Ford document, and the three are not close enough to be rounding. The nearest_ral field on the record is empty for that reason: picking one would turn somebody's guess into a citation.

The RS2000. One contributor says the cam cover on every RS2000 was blue, which set it apart from other Pintos. He is told that blue belongs to the Mk1 RS2000 and the Cortina and not to the Mk2, and is shown a Mk2 rebuilt for concours with an all-black engine. The man with the 1979 car expected black before he started.

The vans. Someone who ran a fleet of Transits says they all had blue cam covers. The Transit did not take this engine until 1978, two years after the cars are supposed to have changed. Either the vans kept blue longer or the memory is of something else, and nothing read for this page says which.

Finding original paint on your own engine

The cam cover is the part worth saving, because it is the part with the colour on it. Before cleaning one, look at the underside of the flange, the area masked by the oil filler cap and the shadow behind each fixing boss. Cam covers are handled, leaned on and degreased more than any other part of the engine, so an untouched patch is usually small.

An original, unfaded blue cover or air filter housing is a reference sample and should be measured before it is touched. Three RAL numbers are competing and none has a document behind it, so one instrument reading from a known-original Mk3 cover would settle more than the whole of the existing discussion.

On the block, look under the engine mount feet, behind the alternator bracket and around the bellhousing flange, and count the layers. If the first layer over bare iron is blue, you are looking at a Ford exchange engine, and that is worth knowing whatever colour you decide to paint it. If you have a Sierra or a late Capri and the first layer is grey, tell us: that would be the second source the 1983 change needs.

Every record above has a correction link. Applied corrections are logged on the record and on the changelog with their source and date.