I recently bought an 80 Ford Dump Truck with a 9ft bed. I think it is an F350 (all of the nameplates were removed during a re-paint) The truck is in great shape with 72K miles. The problem is NO POWER the motor is a 300 6cyl with a 4 speed manual trans. I am not a mechanic, but I have some friends that would help once I decide what to do. Is there anything reasonable that I can do to this motor? Should I swap it with a 351 or a 460. What are my best options?

 

Chances are strong your 300 six just needs a little TLC. I would definately start with a full tune up, fluids, and filter change. I like 351s and 460s, but many Ford owners and pretty much anyone who knows engines back me when I say the Ford 300 six is definately one of the best workhorse engines ever put in a pickup truck. The older 300s used the Carter YFA 1bbl carburetor which is not really the best choice and is usually the culprit for hard starting, lack of power and performance. I have a remanufactured Carter on my 300 and it runs like a sewing machine. If a 300 is well cared for 200k miles of service is very easily done. If abused really bad like mine ( now it's rebuilt), it should still hit at least 150k. If it were me I would try tuning up the 300 and see how it treats you, then go from there. How many miles are on it?

 

The truck only has 72,000 miles on it. I am the third owner. It was a flat bed farm truck with a single cylinder dump hoist. The last owner laid down a steel floor and built 28in steel sides. The curb weight is 6,800 lbs. The max GVW is 16,000. I am going to do a tune up fluid & filters. When I do this work are there any performance enhancing products like ignition or air filter available for this motor?

 

There most certainly is! I myself have installed an Accel high output coil, 8.5mm wires, Autolite Platnum plugs, K&N air filter, removed both cats, Flowmaster muffler with 2.5 inch tubing. Those are just the bolt ons though. I was forced to rebuild the engine at 135k because of a spun rod bearing. While rebuilding the engine I had the block bored out .040 over stock, and added a high volume oil pump, and a Crane Blueracer camshaft. The cam I chose was specifically designed for heavy duty truck applications to boost low end torque and pulling power. I run my truck on mid grade fuel or better. With this combination I am making approximately 315 to 325 Ft Lbs of torque at the flywheel. Adding the cam took a little off my top speed but it boosted the torque and acceleration noticably in my 300 six. If your engine has under 100k on it and you plan on keeping the truck for a while, I would recommend adding a low end torque camshaft. Crane has a new cam out for the 300 it's called the Powermax truck camshaft. I heard it produces noticable boosts in torque and pulling power. Some of my upcoming mods for my 300 include a holley 2bbl carb (adapters are available for stock manifold) and a set of EFI split manifolds with the split down pipe. Hope this helps!

 

To be honest, the 300s are great motors with good power potenial. However, you'll get more HP per dollar if you'd put in a 460. You'll have a good deal more power, especially if you pull a lot of weight. You'll also suck down a lot more gas.

it just depends on if you want to drop a couple grand for a new motor or just deal with it.

 

Thanks for the ideas. Since funds are limited, I am probably going to keep this motor and add "bolt on" parts as I can afford them. I will start with the air filter, plugs, coil and wires. In the meantime I am going to keep my eyes open for a motor that I can rebuild as time and finances allow. The question is 351 or 460? Will one bolt up easier than the other? Will there be a big difference in HP and fuel economy?

 

351w is a good motor, it would be a lot easier bolt on than a 460. you can get some serious HP from a 351w, but even more serious HP from a 460.

you can have a reliable 400HP from a 351W, maybe more depending on how you build it.

 

A 351W will bolt right up to your current transmisson, but you will need to install small block V8 engine mount towers. The 351W has great power potential, and parts are very easy to find. A 460 you will need to change the bellhousing and mount towers to big block Ford. A stock 460 will have all the power you could ever need. However I personally like the 351/400M series motors better, they seem to hold up better. I know a guy back home who uses older Ford Broncos and pickups for his snowplowing business. He either uses 351Ms or 400s in all his plow trucks. He runs them very hard and doesn't pay much attention to maintenance. He beats on them really hard, it makes me cringe sometimes. He discovered the 351/400M motors hold up better to abuse than 460s, the 460s had a tendency to over heat and blow head gaskets. That's just my 2 cents! Good luck!

 

I will have to wait and see if I can come up with some extra cash this winter, and get the I6 motor tuned up for spring. I think the 351w is the motor I am going to upgrade to. The 460 power would be nice but I think the poor gas milage would kill any profit I might make hauling stuff. What is the 400M?

 

Check out this page for some info about the 351M/400 engines:

http://home.earthlink.net/~bubbaf250/

 

I would go with the tune up, but leave the 300 I6 in this truck. They just seem to take a beating better then the V8s (unless you move into heavy duty engines like the 330 and 361). Also remember you are dealing with a 23+ year old truck, to only have 72K it could only have been driven 3K miles a year (172K only comes up to 7K miles per year), unless you know for sure I would be very suspicious of the mileage. Adding a lot of power to an old drive train could reveal a few weaknesses. We ran over 300K on a F600 with a 15' foot grain bed with out an overhaul, and its still on the road.

 

Do not get rid of the 300!! You can get plenty of HP out of it. It is a pure work horse. We ran one with a 1 ton camper (only half ton truck). We ran it to the flour mile after mile. did that for about 2 years. truck has 135,000 miles on it and still go in. Check out clifford .com for some good HP parts.

 

Cliffords are quite expensive and their service is not very good. Keep the 300 it's will take care of you, even if you don't take care of it!

 

I hope I don't get flamed for this, but a 300 in a 16,000 pound dump truck? I know, I know, the dodges have the I6 diesel cummins (which is a totally different animal, so, i shouldn't have even brought that up), and I know that the 300 makes all it's torque down low, but it's only what, 280 ft lbs or so? If you say the 460 will suck down gas, i'd believe that 300 would do as well when the truck is fully loaded. Maybe I'm wrong. I6 lovers, please don't flame me! Just asking a question/stating opinion.

 

Yes a stock 300 does make around that much torque, but bear in mind 80forddump has the heavy duty 4 speed with granny gear. That is quite possibly the best transmission to put behind a Ford 300 six, not to mention it's also in a 1 ton truck;so it's a safe bet he has pretty low gears in the rearend too. No motor will carry that much weight without the right gears. Ford used to put the 300 in everything from pickup trucks to school buses. The 300 was designed for that kind of work, it has a 4 inch bore and a 4 inch stroke (same as the Ford 400m V8), which is the recipe for gobs of low end torque! The big pistons and long stroke nearly make up for the lack of two cylinders...as far as low end torque goes. One of the biggest problems I have noticed in my experiences with the Ford 300, it's lack of breathing. The older motors used a puny 1bbl carb and an intake that didn't flow particularly well. Once they started choking them down with smog equipment like catalitic converters, they realy went down in power after that. In fact I found my most noticable power gains came from intake and exhaust upgrades. It's a back and forth argument over whether the 300 is a good workhorse or not. My experiences prove it's strength to that of the larger V8s.