hello out there i have a 78 f100 swb fleetside 2wd with a 300 6cyl in it i just want to know the ups and downs of having this motor in my truck.it has a 3sp trans.i have no plans of pulling anything with it or hauling heavy loads.this is the only truck ive owned with a 6cyl in it.any comments at all will be helpful.

 

The 300 is tough, torquey and long lasting. Its best for low and medium RPM. It is not a screamer. It can handle 20k+ lb gross weight in a medium duty truck with appropriate gearing but wouldn't be fast. It does respond to power upgrades.

It should work quite well in a F100.

Do you like the truck with the 300? If so, no reason not to keep/rebuild/upgrade it.

 

The Ford 300 may well be the best pick-up engine ever produced. Lots of low-end torque and they will run practically forever if properly maintained. They will also get respectable mileage when tuned, geared, and driven correctly. For engine specific questions, you can go to the 300 engine sub-forum here or go to this site:

FORDSIX PERFORMANCE • Index page

 

The only downside to a 300 is it doesn't sound like a v8 lol. Its all up from there.

 

torquey????? would 255,289,302 have more

 

Nope. 300 will eat em up off the line.

 

My dad had an 89' F-150 with the 300 Fuel Injected, and now has a 96' F-150 with the 302. He complained about the lack of power of the 89 when he owned it and especially after trading it for the 96'. I can say though, the 89 and 96 are both still on the road with minimal problems and the 89 was rode hard its whole life. I know it isn't the right years or fuel delivery system, but I assumed they would be similar in relation. I could, of course, be wrong.

 

thanks blue i believe it has 2.73 gears but i havent driven it 10 miles since i got it.dont know if ill like it or not.

 

thanks for the help blake wasnt real sure what torquey meant.but there is no racing in my future(see my previous comment about not driving the truck)as we speak im trying to get my drivers license back.tickets,tickets,tickets.so slow is good easy to work on is great.everything ive heard about these 300s sounds really good to me it seems i couldnt go wrong by keeping it

 

i dont have enough mechanical knowledge to switch to E.F.I i have very little wrench time on these hands so the easier the better for me.

 

Nope can't go wrong. They are a great little engine.

 

The 300 was used in dump trucks, so there's no doubt about its torque. The 300 was used from 1965 to 1996. How many other engines have gone that long with only updating emissions and EFI? I think only the Ford 302 and Chevrolet 350 can compete with that. The 300 was only dumped because engine bays at the time were getting smaller and smaller and diesels were becoming the new thing for torque. The 300 is one of those engines you'll hear people say, "Yeah one time me and my buddies took out an old beater with a 300, ran it dry of oil, and couldn't kill it no matter how hard we tried!" You can have that engine at half a million miles with bad rod knock and it'll keep on going.

It's been said that when properly tuned, the engine is capable of 30mpg. I've yet to see a confirmation on this, but the point is that it can be far more economical than a similarly-sized V8.

It's can be quiet, it can be loud. Properly muffled, you won't hear a thing. Open header and it literally sounds like a NASCAR race truck (with Hedman split headers), but ear plugs are not required.

When balanced properly, a marble will remain stationary on the valve cover.

There's some aftermarket for it. Classic Inlines claims to be working on a cylinder head for it, but right now you can buy intakes, exhausts, carburetors, roller rockers, valve covers, pushrod covers, and things like pistons from a 351W can be swapped for better performance.

 

I love the 300's but 30mpg's is never going to happen. With the right tuning, gearing and driving style 21 or 22 mpg is possible. But 15-19 mpg is more realistic.

With a poor tune and beating on it it'll get the same as a 460, 8-10 mpg!





And to the original poster, if you are going to have a 6cyl truck this is the 6 you want. It's nearly bullet proof, easy to work on and it has fewer parts then a V8. So it's cheaper to maintain and repair.

It's also pretty easy to modify if you ever do want some more power out of it.

 

300/6 is a great engine. If it were mine I would think about finding a 4 speed to swap out the 3 before I did anything else to it. It will pull about anything you need to pull with a 1/2 ton truck. My Dad had an 86 with 300 and what they called 3 speed w/od. Pulled like an Ox. And would go about anywhere in the sand. And knocked down about 18 mpg. Hard to argue with that.

 

8-10 WTF! your killing me.for that kinda mpg id get the 460 it would look better.it has a 1 barrel carb.2.73 gears and the heaviest thing im gonna put in it is about 230lbs but im working on that too lol.