Well, I can't seem to find anything out on the internet about these things, and I don't have the $$$$ to join the site at this time, so I figured I'd ask here.

1: what are some common problem areas (if any) that these motors experience?
2: what motor oil should I use? I typically use Rotella 15W40 in all my cars with good results
3: what automatic transmission would I have in an 83 F150 behind a 300 L6?
4: what kind of mileage can I expect between city driving (In Indianapolis), and highway driving (65+ mph)
5: these things are torque monsters, from what I've heard. Can I expect one to reliably pull a 4,000 lb car up a 20* dirt hill? I've got a project car stuck behind the shop, and there's no room for it in the shop, and it stays down there. I've been using the jeep to pull it up with no problems, but I'd like to use the beater for that now
6: what kind of maintenance on these is different from GM L6's? my chevy truck has a 250, can I expect to do about the same things to the 300 as I do to the 250?
7: what is the reccomended timing that I should have?

thanks all!

 

Check these 2 sites: www.fordsix.com & www.inliners.org (mainly chevy sixes, but there is a ford section). The 250 chevy in a truck is more comparable to the ford 240. A very equivelant chevy motor is the 292, despite the very obvious visual differences, they are (internally) very simular. Both also respond in about the same way to modifications.
Edwin

 

thanks for the links!

 

The 300 6 is the best motor Ford ever made. It lasts forever. What it doesn't do is get good gas mileage. Expect 16-17 IF you keep your speeds to 65 and lower (2000 RPMS).

My 300 6 will hit 250000 miles this month (I drive it 100 miles round trip to work each day). My gas bill is nearly $70 week. And yes, it used to have lost of torque and I thought excellent power, now its old and not as strong as it used to be. Face it guys, our trucks are getting OLD, I'm starting to think about a new truck.

 

When I bought my first pickup I swore I would have nothing less than a V8. And sometimes I still wish I had one in my old 84 F150. But dang it...that ol six just keeps on chuggin! It always seems to get the job done, even when I think it might not happen. Heck I'll buy another 300 they're good strong long living motors!

 

Come on Ford, bring back the famous 300!

 

1: what are some common problem areas (if any) that these motors experience? Cam gear failure with high volume oil pumps. The plastic gear is weak. Fortunately there are metal gears available to replace the plastic gear.
2: what motor oil should I use? I typically use Rotella 15W40 in all my cars with good resultsTypically I use Mobil 1 5W-30 in the summer and 0W-30 in the winter. I thing that the Rogtella is a good oil, but the clearances in the 300 are designed for a 30 wt oil. However, if it's an old engine, and it's loose, then the 40wt oil could be fine.
3: what automatic transmission would I have in an 83 F150 behind a 300 L6?
4: what kind of mileage can I expect between city driving (In Indianapolis), and highway driving (65+ mph)Dunno. Gear ratio, body type, 2-4wd, tire size, trans type and gear ratio all affect this.
5: these things are torque monsters, from what I've heard. Can I expect one to reliably pull a 4,000 lb car up a 20* dirt hill? I've got a project car stuck behind the shop, and there's no room for it in the shop, and it stays down there. I've been using the jeep to pull it up with no problems, but I'd like to use the beater for that now Cake. My 300 will reliably pull a 6,500 lb trailer,and I have used it to pull start fully loaded 18 wheelers.
6: what kind of maintenance on these is different from GM L6's? my chevy truck has a 250, can I expect to do about the same things to the 300 as I do to the 250? Similar in maintenance, different in performance. The 300 runs like a diesel. Low revs, lots of torque, little horsepower.
7: what is the reccomended timing that I should have? With my EFI truck, I get best performance and gas mileage with timing set 3 degrees more advanced than the factory setting. Not sure of what I'd use for the carb'd setup.

 

the 15w40 is just what the engineers say you should be using, check out www.gopurepower.com they help with oil questions and concerns, they also have links to other independent site that tell why the synthetics and the 0w oils are not really all there cracked up to be. any oil you use should have the numbers closer together
15w40 vs 10w40 or 5w30 vs 10w30 it is recommended to use a sae c grade oil over just an s grade oil

 

Very interesting site. Where do I need to go to find the link you are speaking of? I am interested in seeing that article. As an aside, I can share that when I pulled my straight six from my truck to replace my rotten oil pan and freezeplugs (which rotted from the outside in, as I flush the cooling system anually) and decided on a full teardown to replace any worn components, Iwas shocked to find that my internal components were in new condition, with over 230,000 miles, and not a single spec of sludge or varnish. Still had crosshatch in the cylinders and everything. The bearing surfaces, the cam lobes, even the lifter bottoms spec'd out to be within brand new specifications, not service tollerance, mind you, but new. So, that's my testament for 0W-30 and 5W-30. But these things are also attributable to running a 195 degree thermostat, and 4,000 mile service intervals.

 

I believe you now have to contact the company for that info. the owner is an engineer that only deals with lubricants and filtering systems he tests oils all day for a living. its pretty interesting information and after seeing it it convinced me to switch from the sythetic i have been using for near on 6 years in all my vehicles and started using the 15w40.

 

1) Well, 1 minor annoyance for carbureted models is the manifold bolts can sometimes work loose. If they do that on the back or the front, that long, LONG exhaust manifold will warp a bit. It is then a PAIN to get sealed off w/o taking it to be machined flat again. ( Which is an excellent excuse to put the EFI manifolds or headers on if this happens. 8) ). The other thing to watch is about 85-86 they went from a steel gear on the camshaft to a fiber gear. If your truck just dies, and the oil pressure drops to 0 even while coasting to a stop, put it in neutral, and don't turn the motor over until someone can verify that the distributor rotor is turning when you try to start it. If you just fix it at that point, no damage will be done, since the valves don't intefere with the pistons on these.

3) Probably a c-6. I had a '78 351W with a c-4 that turned out to have been from a car.

4) Mileage is very fluid. Depends on tranny, gearing, tires, and YOU. I had an '87 with NP435, 3.55 gears, and 235/75/15 tires, and got a solid 16-17. My 91 with the M5OD and 3.55 gears and same tires got 19-21 with mixed City/highway. My current '94 with 3.08 and AOD gets 17-18 city, and just a scooch shy of 20 on pure highway driving. But I don't accelerate hard, and I never go over 65 mph. I learned w/ the manual tranny's that a 300 accelerates better if you don't wind it up high anyway. Shift about 2300rpm. (Use the torque, Luke!)

6) Well, ever 250k-300k, pull the motor, slide a new truck in under it, and re-install the engine. I put about 600 mi. a week on my truck if I don't use it on the weekend for anything. 222k and still kicking. ( I bought it used w/ 116k on it since I figured it had finished breaking in.)