Well yeah my Colorado is a LT 4x4 Crew Cab Victory Red, 3.5, 3.73, rear locker, power everything except the seats, cloth interior. it's a nice truck but I'd say it should only be worth 12k or 13k, and that 25k is with interest and all(was like 20k before). $421.21 per month for 5 years, it ain't bad but I could have got out of my parents house for that kind of money. Thats why I should have just bought a much more used vehicle. It doesn't get the 22 MPG either and I only drive 60 MPH down the highway.

The 351 does have good low end grunt, but I can tell you this much that bad running 300 that I drove felt like it had even more low end grunt than my 351, I put it in drive and it launched by itself, the 351 didn't do that, I am assuming they both had 3.55's I know mine did. You really had to put the brakes on to keep it from lunging forward on you.

I'd say from idle to 2k the 300 wins, but from 2k on the 351 wins. I hear all these people saying they pulled 350's with their 300's, but there is not much difference in the 350 and 351(at least on paper). The TBI 350 has a peak torque of 300 at 2800 RPM, and the Vortecs have 330 at 2800 RPM, thats not much of a difference, and people say that they still pull 350's with their 300's. Maybe it's all in the weight of the truck, and if I'm not mistaken Ford pickups are traditionally heavier than the rest.

I just want to know what the deal is and find out what you guys think. What happens if you hot rod the 300 a bit? What can you do to the 300 to make it scream? Does it loose low end? With all the low end it has can you afford to put a little more up top? How high RPM is high in a 300?

What about the 351? There is a lot more you can do with it. Stroke it as small as 393(smallest I know of), and as big a 427. What kind of ungodly numbers would a 427W have? What RPM would they be at? Who cares it a 427W? It would be freakin sweet. But how much would a stroker cost? You don't have to stroke it to make awesome power but I'd say 300HP 400TQ is pushing it for a still truck reving 351. The reason I compare these two is because they are the only real truck motors in the years I have listed(except the 460 and diesel), and both happen to be 2 of my favorite motors(even though I've only driven a 300 once it's reputation alone speaks for itself).

 

Actually, the 2.75 gear ratio has been around a while. It was replaced with a 2.73 when they stopped using the 9" and went 8.8".
My 1980 F-150 came with the 2.75 behind the 300/C6. It's a LWB regular cab. My buddy has a 95 flareside with the 300, 5spd, and 2.73 gears. Both of these trucks see frequent trailer duty, usually hauling cars. (he has a set of 3.27 gears to go in his, and I have 3.25 gears for mine). Both do the job, but nowhere near as well as my old 94 did. That had the 300, 5spd and 3.55 gears. My ex hated me for buying that truck, as it was the least "Pretty" of the group, but all other 6/5spd trucks had the 2.73 gears. I bought it to use, not look at. She managed to total it, and I replaced with the current '80 model back in '97.
As said, the 2.75 & 2.73 gear ratios were used to achieve MPG. I can see as high as 17MPG combined in my truck, but hook up the trailer, and it drops to ~13MPG hwy on a good day. The older 2.75 gears were used behind many engines (I had a 75 granada 250 with the same gearing), while the later 2.73 were mainly used only behind the 300 EFI/5spd in 2WD trucks, as a MPG leader.
My former wifes brother had an 81 F-100 with a 300, C4 and 2.47 gear rearend. Talk about a dog.......

 

Come to think of it, my '84 probably was the 2.47 rear end.

I think the 3.08 is a very good rear end for the mid 90s F150s with the 300. I can already break loose the rear tires, so I figure the 3.55 or 3.73 would be way too low. (Now the Aerostar (listed below has 3.73 and really needs something like 4.55.)

 

Generally speaking, If you have a 300 EFI people put on chevy rockers, an rv cam, gut or cut off one of the cats and put a nice decent exhaust on. thats just generally speaking. As for carb'd 300 people put on 4bbl carbs on an offenhauser intake with headers or EFI manifolds with an rv cam aswell as a nice exhaust keep in mind this generally what people to do. how ever ive seen some hot rodded cars out there with 300 sixes and they run 3x2 carbs or 3x1 i saw one with webber carbs on it even!

 

The 3.55 gears, when combined with the ~.80 O/D ratio 5th in the 5 spd, roughly equals 2.84 final drive. You don't want to know what the 2.73/5spd final drive comes out to (~1.80). Anything short of the low end torque from the 300/4.9L just couldn't cope with that kind of low RPM gearing.

 

Yeah I wouldn't want a gasser with those kinda gears unless it really did get awesome gas mileage, but most people say higher gears can be counter productive, and deliver worse economy in some cases. Anything higher than 3.08( really probably more like 3.20) is for a diesel motor IMHO.

 

does anyone no what would be needed to swap a 351W EFI in a 300 EFI's place?

 

Give me my 300 over a 351 any day of the week. Runs forever, decent mileage, easy to work on. Pull anything.

 

The 300 and 351 have the same bolt pattern. I would assume all you would need is the 351 motor mounts, and the right balancing stuff, because I think the 300 is internally balanced(most inlines sixes are). Not sure I would swap a 300 for a 351 though. I did however wish I had a 351 and tranny, and a 300 and tranny and motor mounts for each so I could swap them back and forth every 300k miles or so. That would be cool.

 

And let's not talk about how over sized tires can kill power too. I'm going to 4.10's for several reasons. I really hope I'm not making a mistake. I'm hoping for better off the line and more torque meeting the road without killing my gas mileage even more. I'm hoping that because the tires I have on now I will actually get BETTER get mileage once I put the 4.10 on. Eh, don't tell me different. Ole' betsy is killing me in gas as she is. x_x

I really wish I had a 4 banger ranger to run around in, bleh. lol

 

Or have two trucks, one with each motor. Put the 300 in your daily driver and the 351 in your work truck / backup truck. Or vise versa, depending on how you look at it. If you have a truck you like to show off but not race, it might be better to put the 300 in it.

Either motor is awesome.

 

I have the same general feeling. Would love a 4 banger Ranger if it had a half a 460 V8 for the 4 banger. Just imagine that! A 230 cid pushrod 4 banger. That'd be a tractor!

 

Now you know why I have the nissan truck. 25MPG, and still has light hauling abilities. it's only got a 2.4L (146CID) I4, but it gets around pretty decent, for something with 222K....

 

i've had both a 351 and the 300. i miss the 351 truck, 94 f-250 ext cab xlt with every option and the zf 5 speed, just an absolutly beautiful truck. i got rid of it because at 90,000 miles it was burning a decent amount of oil and got 11 mpg.... i really wish that i had just swapped the 300 from my parts truck into that one but i just didn't have the time to the swap. That 351 was ungodly torquey, def gave the 300 a run for its money, and it was more daily driveable then my current 300. my 87 feels about like driving an old r model mack(party due to f-450 springs) which is all part of its charm but it doesn't make for the best daily driver. But I also average 16 or so mpg which is mostly around town and it will tow anything I need it too. I enjoy the feel of a big 6 not to mention the durabilty so my choice is def the 300 over all.

 

Huh. I wonder what kind of mph a 230 ci 4 banger would get? Let's all chip in and design a monster 4 that gets 29 mpg and can tow 5,000 lbs.


Like I said before; Both the 351 and 300 are great motors, but you'll find the 300 is voted best all around truck motor. Ha! Don't get me wrong, I would love to own a pickup with the 351. But only if I had a 300 powered pickup too.



Only 25? ha, jk. Those little nissans and toyota tacoma's get awesome mileage. *sigh* at least I'm not getting 11 mpg. A friend of mine has a 318 (he thinks it's king) and he says it only gets 8 mpg. Ha!