I was jsut seeing if anyone could tell me about how much torque i'd be getting if i bought a '79 truck with a stock 300?

 

Peak should be somewhere around 240 pound-feet in the range of about 1200-1800 rpm, provided the engine is in decent condition.

 

Thanks for the answer... that's suprising that for how weak the engine is horsepower-wise that is has that much low end. I think i'm going to get a torquer cam for it too...and some headers and hopefully i'll be able to lug around some 33's because this truck has a nice body and i dont want to pass it up...thanks again for your feedback

 

Right, not many horses. They are slow but pull, pull, pull... When I gave you the figure I was looking at a Chilton manual page I had copied for Vans (pickups should be similar) and they don't list the '79 in their table, but the '78 is 132 hp@3600 and 241 lb-ft@1800, whereas the '80 lists out as 115@3600 and 241@1800. The '80 was a major redesign, so I suspect your '79 is more like the '78. The EFI versions from about '87 picked up more horses and torque, but my '95 dosen't seem to be any quicker or more fun to drive than my '84 was. You are doing good getting a '79--a classic Ford Truck body style. Wish I still had my '77 (all three are in my gallery). I don't know what a torquer cam is, but maybe it's like an RV cam. You'd make a real stump puller out of it. If you want headers, though, you may want a slightly more agressive cam for the upper end as these engines peak out at 3600. I would suggest looking into a used set of EFI dual exhaust manifolds and a free flowing exhaust. Unless you are going all out, the header may be overkill. Search this Inline Six forum as there has been a lot of discussion of power improvements to the 300. Several knowledgable folks like StrangeRanger. I just run basically stock as I have no time or money for hop-ups.