Inline 6 F250's that aren't beat up are hard to find. But I've been kicking aroudn the idea. I have a 1991 F250 with a 460, OD, and 4.10 rear gear. If I drive 55 max I get around 10-11 MPG mix. It's either empty, light load, or I use it to haul a racecar (about 6000 lbs on the trailer). It's mostly flat around here other than going up/down the over/underpasses on the freeway.

What would I be in for should I buy an inline 6? MPG and ability to tow? I take it they could handle towing 6000 lbs?

The other thing is my truck has A/C and I'm betting a lot of inline 6's do not? I'm in Arizona. Right now there's a 1976 F250 for sale with an inline 6. I heard to stay away from EFI.

 

How often are you going to tow? If it's just occasionally, you'll probably be fine with the inline 6, but it's always going to feel a lot smaller than the 460.

As far as a fuel mileage, I don't have any numbers for you, but you're still going to be pushing around an F250 rather than the lighter F150. Mileage will be higher, but probably not more than a few miles per gallon. Is the slight increase in mileage worth the loss in power? That's only a question you can answer.

 

Averaged 13-14 with my 300. 5spd 4*4, F250.
Did ok towing a small camper or boat. If you're averaging 10-11 now its probably not worth the expense of swapping unless you drive a lot of miles. Won't compare to the 460 power wise.

 

Why would someone tell you to stay away from EFI? The EFI engines will last a lot longer as they have less of a tendency to wash all the oil off the cylinders from being too rich. It's also less maintenance, as in no carb rebuilds and no readjusting the carb and choke for the different seasons. The carb intakes were know to leak at the gasket and then you'd burn a piston in very short order. My dad actually warned me about that when I was looking for a truck. He told me to find the EFI truck as they were less prone to that.

 

300 was always known for low end torque, its a GREAT pulling motor. i have never had a 460 but i know with my 300 i only got 12-14 mpg. you can easily pull 6k with the 300, but you wont go fast at all

 

I've had 'em both and there is no replacement for displacement. My 300 got about 16mpg and my 460 does about 12. Mine has 3.55 gears, tho. Still, I would not go back to the Six - the 460 romps on it.

 

there ya go then.^
truck 460 = 12 mpg
truck 300 = 16 mpg

15k miles per year @ 3.25 per gallon =
truck 460 = 4063 per year
truck 300 = 3047 per year

300 truck saves over a grand per year.own the truck for 10 yrs (and if fuel doesn't go up) truck 300 saves you 10 grand over the ownership duration.
drive more then 15k miles per yr then truck 300 saves even more.drive less,then less obviously.as fuel prices raise the more truck 300 saves you.

now count in the sale price of 460 truck and purchase price of 300 truck and figure in any insurance price differences etc.

is going fast uphill worth 10 grand to you over a 10 yr ownership,or are you ok will slowing down while towing uphill with 300 truck and either saving the 10 grand or spending it on other things in life besides fuel?

what if you don't' even need a truck?
sell the 12 mpg 460 truck and drive the same miles per yr at the same fuel prices,then a little car getting 30 mpg saves you over 24 grand over a 10 yr ownership duration in fuel alone....and that's if fuel didn't go up in the next 10 yrs....of course that's silly,so it's probably a more realistic 27-30 grand or more savings.

should you sell a truck for another or perhaps just a small car? well,only you can figure out your priorities,wants,needs,desires and budget in life.a decision only you can make.

 

My 89 4x4 f 350 was ordered by me with the 4.9 in it. It has 4.88 rears And a zf 5 speed. It will do anything any truck out here will do, just don't be in a hurry.
With 35" tires on it, in a good mood, empty, full, pulling a trailer, it gets 11 mpg.
I have run this truck for 495,000 miles, and other than clutches, the drive train is what was put in it in 88 when I picked it up. It outlasted/ out pulled the 03 6.0 that replaced it( that one lasted a year and turned into someone else's problem)

 

I would love to find a project truck that has the combo you ordered new! Sweet truck.

 

It would be one thing if your 460 was in need of replacement, but to go ahead and do this swap when you've currently got a functional engine sounds kinda silly. As others have suggested, if it's MPG's you're looking for, get a second vehicle (a 4-cyl car), for that and just use your truck for when you really need a truck.

 

If you can afford to drive a 460 everyday, you should be able to buy a car and still save money. Been there done that

 

Any one that tells you to stay away from the fuel injected 300 doesn't know what there talking about, I have An 88 f150 with the 300 and it's the first year it was efi and I have had no problems and the truck just turned over 143,000 miles. It's a very slow engine there's no doubt about that, but it has tons of low end power, my great grandpas 76 f150 300 (now my dads truck) as hauled 3 cord of firewood over 200+ miles many many times and it never had a problem, just don't expect to win any races. I vote for swapping on into your truck or if possible sell yours and find a factory 300 f250, I have never seen any other engine that can withstand so much abuse and keep on ticking like its nothing. Six in a row makes er' go!!!

 

It's funny, I had an 86 f 350 with the 4.9. It got wrecked, so I wanted a new truck. I had to beg, threaten, cry, etc to get this truck set up like this. Ford did not want that engine in that truck

In the end, It sometimes gets interesting to get parts for it. Sometimes, it's a 350, sometimes a 250. If there is a question anymore, I just buy parts for both, and take the parts I don't use back


If I had it to do over, I probably would have used a 4.10 gear, the truck screams at 65-70 mph. I imagine that's why it's so hard on gas. I can tell you this though, If you take off in that truck in 1st, low range, and something was tied down, the truck would rip it in half, without spinning a wheel


Sorry to steal your thread.

 

If your planned on pulling out a loan to get another vehicle (which is plausible even on this old of a truck) then no matter what vehicle you buy, you WILL NOT come out ahead. I own a 460 powered F-250 and it clears 11 on a good day. I kicked around the idea of buying an old Jetta TDI that gets 40+. If I scooped one up for the steal price of 5 grand and took out a loan on it, it STILL wouldn't pay me to get it. What im saying is, I spend less in gas in my 460 than a $150 car payment + its gas would cost. That's not including insurance either. A 300 gets 20 if set-up right. That Jetta gets double what a 300 would get so youll definitely be losing money on that deal. Keep the 460

 

Not trying to argue,but you can't get three cords of wood on a F150/250/350 pu. How about 3 ranks.(which in some areas is 1 cord.