These first two are new, but I swear I've seen the second two before years ago
One of my all time favourite engines. Love the Ford 300.
A little surprised they didn't use a 240 head and BBC rockers, considering they were doing "not a race motor but a stockish rebuild"
If it were mine, there would be a Quadrajet on there instead of a Holley.
I watched that video earlier this evening on YouTube before seeing it posted here.
One of my favorite engines. Sad to see it go away. The F-series trucks are mostly gone here in the NE.
I saw a factory 300 I-6 in a F-700 once, it was a railroad track truck, amazing.
I had a 76 F250 with a 300 and a 3-on-the tree in 79. As a muscle head at the time, I wasn't all that impressed with the 6. But I will say, it could NOT be killed, and for low end grunt, it was AMAZING.
My dad used it to get some gravel. Told em he wanted about a half a ton. They started poring gravel out of the loader... he stopped them when the rear bumper moved about an inch, figuring that would be about right. Had to pay for a ton and a half!!! Said the only reason the truck knew it had that much in it, was it rode better!
Those are fun to watch, but every time I finish them I ask myself how much the new parts/labor would have cost as compared to putting in a V8...
Neat engine. When I was a kid it had a reputation for being as powerful as the 289/302 but with better gas mileage.
I think the height and length prevent it from being used in more swaps.
stroker said:Those are fun to watch, but every time I finish them I ask myself how much the new parts/labor would have cost as compared to putting in a V8...
As a hotrodder myself, I completely agree. But there is something to be said for the uniqueness of it. I will gladly spend a bit more cash getting the power I want from an obscure engine just to be different.
stroker said:Those are fun to watch, but every time I finish them I ask myself how much the new parts/labor would have cost as compared to putting in a V8...
Are v8s as easy to work on in a truck? I've never owned a full size so I don't know how much space there is. I know in smaller stuff there are times I would rather have the I6 just because it's so much easier to work on.
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
Anything will fit with a big enough hammer.
I wouldn't recommend it though
A friend had the 300 in a bronco when I was in high school. He could pop wheelies up a certain hill in that thing.
I remember not believing that a six could be 4.9 liters. Huge cylinders!
Came here expecting a large Mopar sedan with a turboed-Vortec inline 6...
But this is fine. I like old inline 6's
ProDarwin said:stroker said:Those are fun to watch, but every time I finish them I ask myself how much the new parts/labor would have cost as compared to putting in a V8...
Are v8s as easy to work on in a truck? I've never owned a full size so I don't know how much space there is. I know in smaller stuff there are times I would rather have the I6 just because it's so much easier to work on.
Depends on the truck. Recent trucks, no. I recall Dad and me both sitting on the fender wells of his 78 Chevy pickup with a small block passing a ratchet back and forth changing spark plugs. Enough space for two large Americans to sit beside it.
In the early '80s I worked at a company that ran a fleet of stretched, 15 passenger E-350s back and forth from NYC to Albany, NY. At that time the fleet was mostly powered by 300 sixes and we were transitioning to the International IDI 6.9L diesels. The 300s were dead reliable and about the only engine I've ever worked on in an Econoline that wasn't a total pain. We'd get about 250k miles out of them and when they got tired we'd put new Ford engines manufactured for the marine market in them. You did have to make sure that you ordered the correct rotation.
That F250 I had with the 6, I could actually scoot myself in to stand beside the engine in a couple of places for maintenance. But at 110 lbs at the time, there was a lot less on me...
setting on a fender as Curtis described was no problem.
What's some of the wacky E36 M3 that can be done with the 300s again? I know someone here had an aussie head and Toyota 1JZ pistons in theirs, and I remember a 240 OHV head was the easy way to gain a bump in compression...
CrustyRedXpress (Forum Supporter) said:Neat engine. When I was a kid it had a reputation for being as powerful as the 289/302 but with better gas mileage.
I think the height and length prevent it from being used in more swaps.
I’ve actually seen better milage from the 289/302. Maybe the sweet sound of the v8 made them stand on it more. Or maybe they just assume a 6 cyl. should get better mileage than an 8, since the car makers were putting 4 cylinders in everything cause they got better mileage.
In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/ls-headed-300-brainstorming-problems/178791/page1/
Blown 300 by Roush in the Posies Fleetliner:
http://www.posiesrodsandcustoms.com/posies_statements/fleetliner/
Is this the same engine used on the 90s F250s? Sorry didn't watch the video.
J worked on a fleet of those for a while. Reliable besides the exhaust tick they all had. I'm surprised by the love, I found them pretty...uh... terrible. Okay not terrible, but uninteresting.
Someone posted a video a while back of someone who strapped a UPS truck turbo to one and ran 10s or something ridiculous. That I could get behind.
That motor is indeed a beast, but it's also bloody heavy - like iron big-block heavy, so you kinda need a truck to support the damn thing. But as a fleet owner, they were far more reliable than the OHC V-8s that Ford subsequently put in their vehicles.
I also love these engines.
I do remember reading soeme 30 years ago about some hot rodder/drag racer taking a pair of Boss 302 heads and cutting them up and welding them back together to make a canted valve crossflow head to bolt on to one of these blocks. Don't remember how much HP it made but it was cool!
It would seem to me that with the advent of so many aluminum heads for the 5.0L Ford that someone could do that today. It's way easier to weld up an aluminum head then a cast iron one.
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