The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I'd put a properly geared 300 up against any V8 engine for sheer brute guts and durability. Oh, sure, a Big Block might make mincemeat out of hills the six might wheeze over, but 200,000 miles from now, the six will still be wheezin' over the hill and the Big Block will be an anchor on some red neck's boat. In spite of that, I did have a 305 chevy engine in the old cabinet truck assigned to me when I worked for the Delaware DOT, that had, no kidding, 278,000 miles on the original engine. When they put her up for auction, she must have been insulted, because she blew up that same day.

 

good points, seems the 318 and 300s are known for their relibility and the 305, is well...a dog. when i posted this originally i just wanted to see if anyone heard of the 300 I6 makin the same power/torque then the others i listed but this has actually taught me something. good info.

 

Yep I would say between the 300 and 318 it's pretty much equal. Durability wise I think the 300 will take more of a beating, having seen both of them run. That still does not make me look down on the 318 though. However I think my particular 300 will certainly give any 318 a very good run for it's money and more than likely beat it as far as torque and pulling power. I would certainly feel better pulling against a 318 with my 300 six than a 302. The 305 is just a hopeless case, poor design from the bottom up. I have seen people put a ton of miles on 305s, but they were'nt heavy towing, hauling, off road miles. It's just a sad shame Ford and Dodge quit building the best motors you could get in a pickup !

The best motors:
Ford: 200 six, 240 six, 300 six, 289, 351w, 400m, 390, 428, 460

Dodge: 225 slant six, 318, 340, 383, 440

Chevy: 250 six, 292 six, 283, 327, 350, 454

 

The 300 is a great truck engine. I really don't think I would want it in anything else. The 305 is junk. It has a 350 crank with pistons the size of a soup can. That means you can't run big valves but you still have the wear and tear of a bigger stroke of the 350. As far as the 318, that was probably one of the best engines ever built. Back in the 70's it had power and gas mileage. I have not talked to one person that has anything good to say about a 5.2. Only Chrysler could take a good engine, fuel inject it and make people hate it.

 

ya, i did hear a lot about the FI 5.2s being pigs and no one really liked em. also heard the same from a few people about the 5.9 also. i believe when they werent choked down with emmisons they were pretty hot. i have also heard horror stories about those 305, especially when pushing 35s and being romped on pretty hard.

 

The 305 is just a boat anchor. The 318 and 360 were both good motors, I think the 318 is the best of the two. As for a fuel injected 318 being a pig...I beg to differ! One of my buddies in high school had a 91 Dodge 1/2 ton 2wd regular cab longbed with the MPI 318. That truck was mad quick! At the track on street tires he would run mid to high 16s in the quarter. The only things he had done to it were: high output coil, K&N air filter, Flowmaster exhaust, and a mild shift kit in the tranny. From a stand still if you punched, it would smoke the tires all the way through 2nd gear! The truck now is sitting on a 3/4 4x4 frame with 38s and it will still smoke em.

 

.........I drive an older 1988 Dodge Maxivan at work with a 318 magnum, she's clocked 278,000 mile with alot of heavy trailer hauling 7-10k usually, including a very heavy load of tools. She's wore out the 727 once, and has clogged the catalitic convertor once, and has had the oil pump changed. Not to shabby. She has the ride of a bucking Bronco though........She's fuel injected.....

 

Yeah, my fuel injected 318 is pretty strong too. I run 31's on my Grand Cherokee and it is still pretty fast with 144K on the odometer. The only problem with newer 318's and all other engines are the emissions components like O2 sensors, etc... I was just 4 wheeling this weekend, got into about 3.5-4feet of water and had the O2 sensor go out. Other than that, truck ran fine the rest of the day, climbed hills, etc... with plenty of power.

 

My buddy has a 79 Plymouth Trailduster 4x4 with a 2bbl 318. His Dad gave it to him when he got his license. We put brakes on it, added headers and dual exhaust. It burned oil and was pretty tired when he got it, but he had taken several trips to the Upper Peninsula (we live in Michigan) in her with no problems what so ever. Unfortunately we blew up the original 318 when we were out mud running, he wound it out just a little too high in low range and spun a rod bearing. Since then we dropped a used 318 with an estimated 500 miles on it into the TD and she is running strong as ever now. I tip my hat to the little 318 for holding up to all his leadfooted adventures! It's a tough long lasting motor and Dodge should not have quit building them!

 

300s last forever and have quite a lot of torque.
Older 318s are slightly more hi po than a 300.
All 305s are trash. No power. All gas guzzler. No fans. Period.

 

I own a I6 300 in a 94 F150 auto and have outpulled and outran 302's with less mileage and a manual tranny, i wont even bother to test a 305 since i could probly pedal a bike more efficiently. I wish the 300 had a lil better gas mileage but other than that i am sold on that motor. I would buy it over ANY other Ford gas motor. I also happen to own a 318 in a 97 ext cab shortbox auto and i can say it has WAY more snap than the I6, i havent pulled anything with it yet but it doesnt feel to drive with quite as much torque as the I6 at low RPMS but the 318 does get very good gas mileage if i keep my foot out of the floor, i can get almost 22 MPG if i drive good but i still get about 17 if i haul *** everywhere, i am a huge fan of a 318 too and probly would prefer it over the I6 but my I6 is so dependable and reliable i dont think i will ever get rid of it until it blows up (which wont happen for a LONG time). IMO 302's are almost as worthless as a 305, Ford should have never tried putting a 302 in anything except the Boss Mustang (not a Mustang fan). As for the 350 chevy, one of the best all around engines ever, has decent life span, can get decent mileage, has more than decent power, cheap to buy, even cheaper to hop up with extra parts but i still bet i could outrun alot of stock 350 LB's in a full size pickup. A 360 had awesome power for smaller gas engine ( I have driven these at work) but i took one on a 230 mile road trip and i figured it to have about 11-12 MPG doing about 65-70 on flatlands which is the biggest reason i am in favor of the 318 over it.

 

I love my 300 six, it has a good balance of everything I need: decent mileage for everyday driving, reasonable top end for pretty much effortless highway driving ( runs beautiful around 65-75 mph), and most of all, plenty of low end torque for pushing, pulling, and off road driving. With a 4 spd grannybox behind it, it's the perfect combination for a 1/2 ton 4x4 pickup. I believe Dodges 318 small block motors have very similar characteristics to my 300. Although the 318 does hold the advantage when towing though the hills due to having more higher end power. The 302 will always be better than the 305 hands down, but both are lighter duty motors that are better suited in mid sized cars and weight sports cars (Mustang/ Camaro/ Firebird)

 

Howdy fellas.

Man you guys are really hurtin' me doin' all this Chevy bashin'!

About the 305 having a long stroke and dinky pistons...take a close look at the specs on the new Ford Tritons...you may be surprised to find out they have HUMONGOUSLY long stroke and...dinky pistons...hence the reason they need three DINKY valves to move air in an out of the cylinder.

About the 305:
The early 305 has been rightly pegged as an absolute dog. I'm not sure they could pull themselves out of a wet paper bag when its raining.

BUT...that's the EARLY 305's. The Vortec 305's made a mockery of the older 350's! And the Vortec 350's were stouter still. Check the numbers...they don't lie.

The 300 I-6:
This has got to be one of the most stubborn engines Ford has ever built. You can beat it, rag it, and abuse it and it still runs everytime you turn the key. A great engine for sure.

The 318:
Chrysler has always made some fine engines. The trouble is, they also seem to be the most cantankerous. The 318, while stone cold reliable, seemed be plagued by a variety of ignition/carbureation problems.

That's my two cents...take if for what is cost ya!

 

Okay guys StompGo does have a point about the newer Fuel injected 305s they do have much better power and reliability than their predecessors. I used to work with a guy who had an 89 Chevy K1500 with 3 inch lift on 33s with the TBI 305 in it, it did pretty good, but still had power issues when you loaded it down. Yeah the 318 had it's quirks like any other engine, Q-Jet small block and big block Chevys are the most cold blooded engines I have ever seen. As for the Ford 300 being stubborn... I beg to differ! I know I might not beat every truck off the line but I can burn the tires through 2nd gear! I feel the 300s pull just as strong if not stronger than most small blocks!

 

Pkupman82,

Thanks for giving me credit. :-)

I apologize for the 300 comment, I think you took it wrong. What I meant was that the 300 was tough as nails. You could do all you like to it and it was too stubborn to die!

Then again...most inline 6's are just plain tough. The Chevrolet 292 was equally stout. No dissin' for the 300 I6 from this Chevy guy...I know a fine piece of machinery when I see one.