I for some reason cant stand to rev a motor very high. Like on my 87 300 with the old crappy 4 speed overdrive, big jump from second third, it shifts good if it is reved to like 3000 but i just cant make myself do it, I have always thought reving one causes more oil useage and more over all wear. I dont think i ever get over 3000 rpms. The few times i have reved higher and shift it defineatly stays in the power curve better cause i can grab the next gear and go.. So is it just my head, or does revving actually cause more wear and oil consumption? How many of you rev a touch hard between shifts? And one more that has been going in my head, Say pulling a hill or a back road where the speed and gears dont mix, will holding say 2500 rpms for a short distance hurt anything? It is my understanding that this is a tractor motor in design, so holding revs like thought shou;d be no problem. I always try to shift up but some times the conditions dont warrent well so you must either rev or shift up and run lesser rpms where the motor is quite as happy. What do you all do? just rev it? I guess i am just being paranoid, putting too much thougth into this, but this is my first 300 and i am just trying to learn the right way first.. So am i worrying about revving it too much? Do i really have anything to worry about?? thoughts???

later chris

 

It depends on the engine. Our inline6s don't take revs very good. I don't really press mine that hard. I don't think that 3,000RPM will hurt them though. If you were trying to get 5,000RPM from the six I would say that it's a matter of time until you blow it. On the other hand I have a built 400CI bigblock in my Bronco and I don't really worry about the revvs touching 5,000RPM in it.

 

Well, here's a story to answer part of your question. I used to drive an airport shuttle van to the airport (surprised?). If I drove it over 70 mph, it would burn a qt of oil on the 150 mile round trip. If I kept it below 70, no oil consumption. This was a 94 Ford van, 351. Way over 400k.

If you have a load and are going up a hill you should rev it to around 3k in 2nd before shifting to 3rd.
Rev between shifting? Why?
2500 should not hurt anything at all. Redline is 5k or so. When I'm speeding along in mine, it'll run about 2500, seems quite happy. No oil consumption at any time. When I was towing home my winter car, an 88 Accord, I used the gears to the max...up to about 3k each gear. Pulled great.

 

I have your same setup and I shift around 2000, unless I'm nearing a hill, where I just decide to gun it so I can shift to third, or just stay in 2nd.
The 300 has good low rpm torque in first and second, but very little in third.
I have a 3.08 rear.
To me, more rpms mean more wear.
I'm at 170,000 with no internal engine work done whatsoever, and not burning any oil.

 

I don't rev mine anymore, but i used to alot. You can tell just by the sound of the engine when you stop making power. It just sounds trashy like somethings gonna give. This motor can and will take alot of abuse but you''ll just shorten its life if you rev it hard.

 

I added EFI manifolds, a Walker downpipe and Dynomax cat-back system to my truck and noticed an extended power band (no surprise). The motor now pulls to about 3200 RPM. I rarely rev the engine over 3500. Stock 1V, kinda pointless... Maybe when the truck turns "Historic" I will trash the factory intake and carb for something that flows better. Oh yeah, while trashing things, the EEC IV Distributor gotta go too. I'll choose that timing curve, thank you.

I would be interested in reading what some of the members with 4V and headers spin their motors to. If there is a underlying strength issue in the reciprocating system, they should be the first to find it!

BTW, If you want to here an engine rev, here’s a link to my old 4V Cleveland '73 Mach 1 "Mock Boss 351" 11:1 compression ratio, solid cam, electronic ignition, 780 CFM Holley, headers etc. Shifted at 6700RPM. Gave the Chevy small blocks hell!

 

hey i guess i'm not the only one that hates the TFI IV

sometimes it has incredible power then all of the sudden it takes off like a rocketship....then doesnt anymore. stupid computers.

Duraspark for me.

 

I shift at around 2,000 in all of my vehicles unless I have a compelling reason not to. The only reason I have found is getting out of the way of a train you just didn't see and when starting up a steep hill with a load.

If I am going on a flat road and the engine can take it (no large load), I shift to get as close to idle as possible without lugging.

 

Yea, that seems to be about what I do.
I was thinking today about the 4 spd OD. You know 4th is .70 and 3rd is 1.00 just like a regular 3 speed. Well 3 speeds usually are like this where third is a long way from second.
I guess that's why they went to work on the 5OD, which I assume is a 4 spd with a .70 tacked on. Probably a little more versatile. I've had a few 4 speed cars....they were good trannies.
When I bought my 83 in 83, that OD gear was a real improvement.....it came with an "OVERDRIVE" nameplate on the tailgate. We were coming off some expensive gas back then, so OD was a welcome option.

 

this is not a high reving engine so i do not abuse it.

coming up on two years and it has not given me one bit of trouble engine wise.

and not many other problems for a 94 that has lived its whole life in ohio.

 

I pushed my 300 to around 4500rpm...but it was nice and modified. Therefore there wasn't much of a problem.

1985 F-150 4x4
Former home of 300ci I-6
Now home to a BUILT 351W

 

I'm looking at buying a 89 F250 with a 300 six. Sounds like i'm going to have to change my driving style if i get it. I have an 88 F150 with a 302 and i rev the S**t out of that thing because that's where to power is.

 

I just put 35's on mine with 4.56 gears and I now move at the speed of a school bus My wife laughs. She said if it a sunny sunday, we will take my truck to town, but if she is in a hurry she will take her Expedition. My driving style suits the truck though.

But this is the question that I was wondering too since I am going to put a tach into it, I was wondering the rev range that these things run in. I do rev a little higher now with the big tires, but I think I am still below 3000 at my shift point. The tach will tell me for sure.

 

I've driven my 300 for 23 years and with 4OD and 3.08 I find shifting between 2000 and 2500 ideal. Past about 2700, there's nothing there.....except burned gasoline out the tailpipe.

 

Yep I revved my 300 to around 4500...also helped a bit that mine was a good bit modded. Ported head/500cfm carb/intake/header/camshaft. So it was a happy motor.