Most miles on an FE engine?
Butt-Head
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 9,448
Likes: 2,934
From: Reed Point, MT
More than on a 335 series so long as one considers rod/main bearing roll-ins a "rebuild" and not just scheduled maintenance on those turds!
I don't know mileage on the ranch pickups but we've got a 62 F250 that's done nothing but ranch work with the same untouched 390 it's had for 40 years (of course swapped-in back in the early 70's). My grandparents bought it new and my dad put the 390 in it.
I don't know mileage on the ranch pickups but we've got a 62 F250 that's done nothing but ranch work with the same untouched 390 it's had for 40 years (of course swapped-in back in the early 70's). My grandparents bought it new and my dad put the 390 in it.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 1,459
Likes: 70
From: Southern Maryland
What wears all of these old engines out are the very thick and stiff piston rings, and the FE has a crazy thick 2nd ring, so the bores are going to be heavily worn by about 120 to 130K miles no matter what oil you use. If you replace the pistons with a modern design that uses thin low tension rings you can solve that problem. The other thing that limits their life is the plastic over aluminum "silent" timing gears. The plastic hardens and cracks off into the oil pan. I've never seen one make it past 120K miles. Use a double roller chain coupled with modern pistons and rings and you will have no trouble getting 300K miles so long as you change the oil and filter regularly with quality brands and do other routine maintenance.
Hotshot
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 14,333
Likes: 247
From: Stanley, VA
My '73 F100 w/360 (AKA "The Pumpkin") had exactly 300,000 miles on it when I swapped it for another 360.
I had the replacement engine sitting on the engine stand for months. The engine in the Pumpkin was getting worse (no power, low/uneven compression, really low oil pressure, rough idle). It finally came down to I needed the engine stand for another project and decided to bite the bullet and swap it out. I pulled the truck into the shop on a Sunday and the odometer was reading 99,999.8 so I ran it around the building a couple of times to bring it up to "0".
Just a note, this was back in the late-80's. I still have the Pumpkin, its undergoing a (much longer than anticipated) full frame off restoration.
I had the replacement engine sitting on the engine stand for months. The engine in the Pumpkin was getting worse (no power, low/uneven compression, really low oil pressure, rough idle). It finally came down to I needed the engine stand for another project and decided to bite the bullet and swap it out. I pulled the truck into the shop on a Sunday and the odometer was reading 99,999.8 so I ran it around the building a couple of times to bring it up to "0".
Just a note, this was back in the late-80's. I still have the Pumpkin, its undergoing a (much longer than anticipated) full frame off restoration.
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