I owned both, a 1973 F-100 with the 302, and my current truck 1981 F-150 with the 300. Both with the T-18 4 speed.

The difference I saw imediately with the 300 and the 302, was the gas mileage.

302 - 15mpg (if you keep your foot out of it)
300 - 21mpg (if your foot is in it or not)

The 300 has more low end torque for towing, than the 302, and at a stoplight I could pull ahead of the 302, with my buddy driving it, but watch him wizz on by after he got up to speed.

Three engines were put in the 73, one at 150,000, one at 300,000, and one at 450,000. It's now going on 600,000 miles...

The 81 still has the original engine in it at 450,000.

My opinion, if you want speed, go with the 302. If you don't care about speed, or want to tow, go with the 300.

 

In all likelihood you won't own the truck long enough to wear out either motor unless you keep the same truck for 10+ yrs and drive 20k per year, so you should look at the character of the two motors. The 300 can move when you need it to, but it is all about low-end torque and it quits making power after about 3500rpm. The 302 doesn't have the low end torque, but it makes power well after the 300 drops off and is a snappier engine. I've seen both engines hit 300+k miles, but I've never seen a 302 hit 400+k like 300s have.

 

I would want more info--what transmission? What are you going to use it for? Other equipt. differences?

I have the 300, and it does take a little care and feeding when it comes to exhaust manifolds and my tranny.

 

Here's my 2 cents... Sorry for the book

If you said 351 vs 300, you might have a tough choice there, but the 351 is a thirsty motor. The 302 doesn't have the low-end torque of the 300 and torque is what you want in a truck. I have pulled some big stuff, large tree trunks, abandoned autos you name it and never had to stress the motor. On the other side of that coin, I cannot down shift at highway speeds to pass some bozo on a two lane road, since the stock 6 runs out of breath at 3000 RPM. Gotta get a run at 'um in high gear! The V8 would do better in that situation. The real question is what drive train does each truck have? It's tough to beat the inliner with a manual trans, specially the NP435!

This is my second six cylinder, the first one was a '68 F100 240 CID with ??Miles, the old guy said if you can get it running, you can have it. The truck was painted with white exterior latex! I killed off the wasps, got it running (replaced the coil) and drove off with a half tank of 5 year old gas to boot. when I got it home we re-ringed, bearing, valve job, water pump, timing gears gaskets, clutch....about $500 at the time (early 80's). That motor had more bore wear than i've ever seen, not what you would call well cared for. Even with all of that piston slop (i couldn't afford a bore job and new pistons) the motor used almost no oil and ran great. I'm guessing the low RPM manners of the motor made the sloppy bore a non-issue. Just a little noisy.

The demise of the truck was rust. The vehicle spent it's entire life on Delaware's eastern shore and the salt air took it's toll. My uncle and I and drove that truck untill the cabmounts rusted away and made it undrivable. I wish I had pulled the motor before the junk man came to get her.

The 302 is for the Crown Vic... go with the inliner.

 

It all depends on what you use your truck for. If you want to go out and spin the tires and go fast then the 302 is for you. If you want to use you truck as a truck and tow and haul stuff then you can't beat the 300. I've had 2300 lbs in the bed of my '92 and another 1700 on a trailer and the 300 performed outstandingly well, I don't think a 302 could do it. I say go with the 300 but I may be a little bias.

 

Go with inline 6.

I convert my 1986 F150 4x4 carb 6 cyl to rebuild 1989 EFI 6 cyl. This 6 cyl is now offically 5.0L 6 cylinder .[ Block is bored .060 over ]
I rebuild 1990 Bronco AOD to replace broken 4 spd manual trans. I'm getting 14 to 16 mpg around town and 18-20 mpg highway.

 

[QUOTE=cdherman]The 4.9 is a better truck motor as well, but this forum is biased. I think you may be able to get a tick better mileage out of the 302. 300's have a very strong bottom end, so they can pull and run for a long time. But if you are a careful driver, take care of the oil, the 302 will last a long time too.QUOTE]

Basic Operation Theori says... Inline engines work at lower RPM so Piston speed is lower. Wear at cilinder walls is produce by load applyed, piston speed and cylinder temperature.

As you know I6 works fine under 3.000 RPM and V8 can work easy up to 4.500 RPM, so towing, climbing or heavy aceleration will put more than 3k RPM on a V8 so more wear will appear in this condditions. Both will have almost same life if work in same conditions and UNDER 3k RPM...

 

I had a couple of Chevy half tons with there inline 250 cu in sixes and did not have as much luck with them in long life ( I Blew up two). It not just that the 300 six is dependable just because all lower reving inline are dependable, because some other makes are not.

 

Okay, my GM roots are coming out. Gotta defend their inlines. (first car was a Nova with the 230). Even thought they stuffed these things in trucks I always thought of them as car engines because they are NOT the low rpm long-stroke engines that the 300 is. I'll still have to say the 300 Ford is probably the undisputed best, longest-lasting gasoline engine ever built, but it's kind of an apples to oranges comparison. The 230 Chevy only had a 2.25" stroke! And the 250 only a 3.53". The 300 I6 has a 3.96" stroke. The little 230 was a winder (or would be if the head didn't suck.) Some of the old 194's came with forged steel cranks which were the hot ticket for drag racing the 230. (Same stroke). The only real Chevy/Ford comparison I'd make on a truck engine would be the relatively uncommon 292 Chevy/GMC inline that had a scary 4.125" stroke. I only had one experience with one of those. A place I used to work had one in a big (2ton?) truck they ran with a 500 gallon liquid tank mounted to the bed. I hauled liquid oxygen back and forth between Nashville and Knoxville and had 450,000 miles on it when I worked there, on the original engine, and I saw it running the road for years after I left. Not bad, eh? The closest I'd come on any other comparison would be the 240 Ford and the 250 Chevy, and I think there the Ford would likely kick the Chevy's *ss in a similar application! One thing to always remember, brand loyalty aside is that anything made by humans is subject to failure, and you can get a jewel or a lemon in any brand. I've seen two IDENTICAL Chevy trucks, same year, engine, tranny, etc. that friends/relatives owned. One went through two engines, three trannies, and two rearends in 150,000 miles of easy driving. The other was still going strong at over 300,000 miles of punishment with only two water pumps and 3 starter solenoids. Maybe some truth to the Monday or Friday build theory?

 

Before you make your decision, call a few shops and asked what it costs to replace the intake gaskets on a 302 when they start leaking coolant, because they will. Same with the timing cover gaskets. These are both known problems with the 302 and are not cheap to fix. They are not a concern for the 300. I can't think of a single failure that is common on the 300 that will cost several hundred dollars to fix. Some will say the timing gears are a weak spot, but I would say a timing chain is just as much of a liability.

 

I unfortunately pulled my 300 with 230,000 miles for a V8 because my engine needed a pan, and valve cover gasket, and side cover gasket, as well as freezeplugs (the pan and freezeplugs rusted through due to being parked on salt every day when I worked for the DOT in Delaware) and I got greedy and swapped in a 5.0L V8. Well, with 230,000 miles my inline six looked like brand new on the inside. I'm rebuilding it now, because the V8, while much faster than the six, has no guts when I tow my buddy's racecar trailer (6,200 lbs), and gets about half the milage. Not to say the 302 isn't a good engine, because it is. However, it's operating charicteristics make it more suitable for cars than trucks. I'd even take the I6 over the 351, but others will call me a wackaloon for that. BTW, there's a reason why the F-250 HD and F-350 offered the 300, but NOT the 302.

 

They don't really fail. they just slowly wear out untill they need to be rebuilt at around 300,000-400,000 miles.

the later nylon/phenolic timing gears have been an issue, but thats not the 300's fault (And replacement steel gears are easy to get).
All engines with nylon gears from all manufacturers have had timing gear durability issues.

 

Not Me.

BTW: I've seen a couple 200,000 mile 300 6cyls that still had crosshatch pattern in the bores and only needed to have the crank polished not ground.

 

All else being equal, you might should base your decision on how you are going to use the truck.
Being past owner of both I'll offer examples.
When visiting Dallas I got caught in Friday afternoon rush hour, downtown. My 300 and 5 speed screeched and zoomed right along with everybody else but was not "happy" doing it. It was fairly obvious the engine was never designed to excel at jackrabbit starts and such. My wife even noticed it. Another time we towed an Aerostar home over the Blue Ridge mountains. I didn't take it particularly easy but the truck was right at home and never showed a sign of strain. My current Bronco has a 4.9 and my wife has commented that she enjoys riding in it much more than the 5.0 Mustang as I drive like "grandpa" versus the teenage lunatic the Mustang brings out. I don't think it's so much me as the nature of the vehicles.
My old 74 with a 302 was great to drive as long as it was unloaded. Perfect for zooming back and forth to the parts store, driving to work and such. It would pull and haul whatever I asked of it, but you could always tell it wasn't best suited for heavy work. I suspect that pulling the same heavy trailer a 302/5.0 would suffer more in the mileage department than a 4.9 would under the same conditions.
Though my Bronco does little towing it's actually about 500 pounds heavier than a 2wd truck. I actually prefer a 302 but wouldn't put one in it, the 4.9 does just fine. Now a 351W....maybe.

 

My 300 lasted 340,000 miles of torture. Offroad high rpm driving and towing huge weight loads. Then it started knocking so i rebuilt it and i think im gonna give it an easier life now. But for your question, dont consider a 302 ever again unless in a mustang.