120E / 122E 1500 Pre-Crossflow — the engine behind the early Cortina GT

Ford's 1.5-litre Kent Pre-Crossflow marked an important step in the development of the company's compact four-cylinder engine family.

Introduced for the Cortina, the 1,498 cc version gained a five-main-bearing crankshaft, making it substantially more robust than the earlier smaller Kent engines while retaining the simple cast-iron, pushrod architecture.

Early blocks can carry the 122E designation, particularly in GT and early Lotus-related applications, while 120E became one of the common Mk1 Cortina 1500 block identifiers. Historical block documentation describes the two as fundamentally the same 1500 architecture.

In standard Cortina form the engine produced approximately 59.5 bhp. For the Cortina GT, Ford transformed the same 1,498 cc base with a higher 9.0:1 compression ratio, a Cosworth-developed high-lift camshaft, larger exhaust valves, a four-branch exhaust manifold and Weber progressive twin-choke carburetion.

The result was 78 bhp at 5,200 rpm and 91 lb-ft of torque, a 31% increase in power over the standard engine.

This GasketKeys piece recreates the distinctive 1500 Pre-Crossflow head-gasket profile as a miniature stainless-steel tribute to the mechanical heart of Ford's early Cortina GT era.

Engineering & Craftsmanship

• Industrial Grade Build: Precision laser-cut from premium 304 stainless steel with a brushed finish.
• Protective Frame: Presented inside a 3.3 mm CNC-machined PLY frame.
• Technical Precision: Cylinder bores, coolant passages and significant gasket features are digitally mapped from the original gasket.
• Letterbox Friendly: Slim under-5 mm packaging keeps UK delivery straightforward.

Those construction elements follow your supplied framework.

A subtle early-Ford GT memento

The 1500 Pre-Crossflow is particularly significant because it sits at the beginning of several important Ford performance-engine branches.

It connects:

Cortina 1500
→ Cortina GT
→ Lotus Twin Cam development
→ later Kent/Crossflow performance engines

The head-gasket profile therefore represents more than an ordinary Cortina engine. It is a small mechanical reminder of the engine architecture from which much of Ford's 1960s small-car performance story developed.

7. Technical Specifications