exactly. to add all the features soccor mom's want, like heated seats and such you're loosing fuel efficiency. my 95 gets better gas mileage than my dad's 97 w/the 4.2 V6 (he always wants to trade trucks, he misses his straight six). they could make a truck that gets 22 mpg, but it would be very basic. they would rather make a truck that gets 15 mpg, but has more stupid features. you see: car manufactures need to meet a certain minimum gas mileage average of all their vehicles. let say the number it 27mpg(i'm making up the #, but the point is the same). if they want to make a big goofy excursion V10 that gets 9 mpg, then all they have to do is make a little 4 banger car that gets 45 mpg and the average is met. hybrid cars will allow companies to make more gas guzzling trucks that serve no purpose. i say "serve no purpose" because they are made to run around empty.

 

Yeah, I think it kinda blows that trucks and SUV's are in vogue right now, and I hate seeing all the soccer moms driving them and beds that have never hauled a load of anything. I guess I'll keep driving mine till I can't rebuild it anymore and then find another pre-97. I also hate the OBD-II computer deal. What a crock! That sucks as bad as the CAFE standard. Something like a transmission code or a loose gas cap can fail you on the emissions test, regardless of whether the vehicle is polluting or not. I'm just glad that we don't have a visual inspection in Tennessee yet. Places that have that can fail you for engine mods, such as converting from carb to EFI. Nevermind that you are running cleaner, it's not factory. If it's REALLY about keeping our air clean, why does it matter how you accomplish it?

 

I like this thread. Finally some real talk. I guess the politicians won't let us drive real vehicles anymore. And if they do build any, have fun w/those payments. Typical corporate communism, they'll take our lifestyle that we've grown to love for generations, and they'll rip it away from us, then make us pay huge to get it back. We all know they had cars/trucks and engines perfected years ago, could you imagine if the auto industry just kept making them? All those people out of a job cause they'd have nothing to do. So we can't be happy with a new vehicle anymore because we have to pay to accomodate someone in an office somewhere-usually a young kid that grew up on go bots and ninja turtles, that design the new vehicles. Don't mind me, it's just my little therapy venting over the computer. I'll go into the kitchen now and take some tylenol. Goodnight everyone.

 

woops, I have computer problems.

 

The 300 was the first thing I looked for when I bought my 1995 F150 back in 2000. I couldn't part with my 82 F100 so I put it in storage from october 2000 to July 2004. I drove it once a week for those 4 years to keep things working on it. One mile usually each week I drove it. Im glad to have my old truck back home with the 300 in her. All it needs now is a rebuild.

 

I love my inline 6. It gets decient mileage (17 MPG on the highway) and not to mention can run with pretty much anything I put in the bed. (providing it fits under the topper). I am really anxious to see what it will do this summer when I trailer my 99 Mustang GT to Houston from Western Kansas (a 700 mile trip, one way.)

 

I love my 300-6 as well. The low end power allows me to beat alot of stuff off the line, and it is rugged. Ive been driving like a maniac and the only thing ive replaced is my oil and a water pump / alternator since i bought it. (and they were bad at purchase)

 

When I started working as a mechanic in 1974 trucks were cheaper than cars, they didnt come with rear bumpers, spare tires or radios. All that stuff was an option, most of the trucks were stick shift , three on the tree, which meant the shifter was on the column, having the stick on the floor was a big deal. I'd like the shifter back on the colmun, that way it dosent get in the way of a third person in the front seat.

 

Ahhh, my good man, but you're forgetting the benefits of having a girl friend riding in the middle with a floor shifter. Hitting reverse is always fun for all.

 

300s are the best truck engines ever made in my opinion. I wouldnt trade my 88 straight up for a 2000 no matter what motor it has.

 

Inline 6s are nearly always terrific motors and the Ford 300 was one of the best of them, but it's not a modern engine design and is extremely unlikely to return to production for light trucks.

That doesn't mean no American company will ever build another inline 6 for light trucks, however. General motors has their Vortec 4200 which they put in several midsized SUVs, for example.

Additional info about that engine can be found here:

GM Vortec 4200 specs

and here:

Ward's Auto World preview of the Vortec 4200

Now I realize that the Vortec 4200 isn't exactly the sort of engine a lot of you would want. For one thing it's a GM product, and I know most of you are dyed-in-the-wool Ford folks. It's also got some features a lot of you might not care for like dual overhead cams, 4 valves per cylinder, variable exhaust valve timing, and an electronic throttle control, but it does have a few things that make it an interesting engine to anybody who likes inline sixes.

For example, thanks to the variable valve timing it's got a fairly broad torque band, with 90% or more of its 275 ft-lbs of torque being available from 1600 rpm all the way up to 5600 rpm. It also runs on unleaded regular, despite havng a 10:1 compression ratio. There's more, but I'll leave it to you to read the web pages I linked for more info if you are interested.

I keep wondering whether or not they'll put it in a midsized pickup (or maybe a passenger sedan or ???), but at this point they'e only using them in the SUVs and so far as I am aware they haven't indicated any plans to change that.

 

Inline sixes rock. My '60 has the stock 223 and gets 16 mpg town and highway (no overdrive x__x).

 

300 is great- I love it to death - but, if I could get the 300 design in a 400 CU IN I6 I would be in Heaven. A 400 I6 would be the greatest 4x4 truck engine of all time.

 

If we could somehow get ahold of the Ford block castings and start making these things on our own it would be awesome. (Of course i realize the complications there of...but yeah.)

Add some more deck height, lengthen the stroke, build up a better breathing Crossflow head. Drop that into a 4x4 Rig and have a blast.

But make sure of one thing... No freakin OHC! Keep the torque down low where ya need it!

 

I love the 300 straight six, but I'm still hopin/dreamin that one of the automakers will bring back the straight eight...like in the 30-40s buicks. Man what a ride.