hey guys,

I just installed a factory tach in my '95 f150 with the straight six. What i've noticed is that it stays under 2000 rpm through all the gears! is that normal??

 

It might not be calibrated for a six. I had an instrument cluster with a tach in it and swapped it into my 83...didn't work so I went with an aftermarket tach mounted on the steering column.

 

harte, hmm thats a good point. but when im in park i can rev it up past 2000 and when its idling its around 700 which seems normal. i just never drove anything that didn't need to go past 2000rpm for normal driving.

 

Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me one bit that the engine never reaches 2K during normal driving. The 300 makes plenty of torque in the lower RPM range, so unless you are hammering on it, there's no need for it to rev any higher.

 

thats great. before i had the tach i knew that it didnt take a lot of rpm for me and my daily driving but i never thought it would stay under 2000 the whole time! awesome truck and awesome engine! the 300 straight six is greatest engine i've ever owned!

 

My '81 originally had no tach in it and I drove it that way for a couple years, finally swapped one in and it popped to life, idled at 700 RPMs, and worked great. However, when I drove it, it never went over 1800 RPMs and it was then that I realized that it was I that never went over 1800 RPMs, not the engine. Straight sixes can be pretty loud and I was revving it until I thought it was having too much. I knew they could at least go to 4000, but after driving it for two years and only revving to 1800, usually shifting at 1400 (I didn't know! My first truck and it didn't have a tach to tell me where it was at!), it took me another three months to get the courage to rev it to even 3000. I thought at 3000 it was going to sound like it was going to die, but it sounded hungry and mean and I've never been able to stop revving it since. =P

Summation: your tach might be set right, when it's parked and running, try to keep pressing the gas until it gets up to around 3000 - 4000, it's mostly the sound you're used to and your comfort level you're getting past. The engine can take it.

 

My 1980 doesn't have a tach either. After driving it for over 10 years, I'd be scared to actually hook one up. With a C6 and 2.75 rear gears, I know it stays under 2k until somewhere around 65 MPH. It goes against logic, but I actually use this truck for towing a trailer often, and most of the time, there's a car on the trailer. It ain't fast, but it does the job. Usually getting 12MPG or better while doing that much work..... Unless I turn on the A/C.

 

to the OP: what have you been driving that needs to spin past 2k in normal driving? These arent hondas. Driving a 300 under 2k is pretty normal. In fact, pretty much any street engine 300 cubes or bigger probably doesnt need to be revved that high just to get from point a to point b.

 

I generally up shift about 1500 just around town. In the top hole it does about 1000 at 30 mph, 1900 at 55 mph, about 2100 at 60 mph and about 2350 at 70 mph.

 

I know what you mean. When I got my '95 it got around 17.5 mpg. Then I started revving it and haven't been able to stop, so I get around 14.5 mpg. Was getting 15.5, but when I added the Raptor muffler it dropped more. Sounds great.

Wow! I know you can do this and the manual actually says to for mileage, but I can't keep my foot out of it. I
typically rev out to 2500+ before shifting and like to cruise between 1500 and 2000. Never use OD except on the freeway. In OD mine turns 2050 at 70 mph. You must have a 3.55 gear. My old '84 had a 2.47 gear and turned about 1600 at 70 mph.

 

Those 300-6 anything anything past 3k is just showing of. I had mine wound up pretty dman high before. Had her to 4.5k once, mind you not for very long. Got scared. But in reality anything over 3k is just dumb. My truck usauly goes to 2,100 right before I shift. O/d is usualy 1,800

 

I totally disagree. The horsepower peak is 3400 rpm, so you are going to get good power right up through 3400 and then some. I would set 4000 as the redline, not that it will blow at 4001, but there is definitely no need to go over 4000 and I have found that 3600 is a pretty good shift point when you are in a big hurry. You definitely will get out faster running 2500 to 3600 in each gear than you will running 2000 to 3000 in each gear.

Now this am I tried the shifting at 2000 rpm, for one run through the gears. Two observations:

1) Yes it works and is probably sufficient for 90% of all driving.

2) It still sounds really good if you run it up to 2000 quickly.

Nonetheless, I only live in this world once, so I'm going to drive this 300 for the maximum fun.

 

great responses guys, i really enjoyed reading them so far.
abandonedbronco, thats a really good point you make. i guess it is my driving style that determines the shift points more than the engine itself. It's my first truck too and i also didnt have a tach so i was doing the same thing you were doing. i never realized i could push this thing waay harder than i was. now that i have a tachometer to tell me where im at instead of my inexperienced ear, i will be driving my 300 to its potential! on the way to work today my shift points were around 2200-2700 instead of the 1700-1900 that i was doing before. it did sound hungrier and meaner! im taking baby steps. afterall, this is my first truck and i want it to last forever.
5.0torx, i can assure that ive never driven a honda in my life. i learned to drive on a later model mercury and i can remember getting that thing spinning to 4 and 5k without even trying that hard. i guess a smaller car is easier to whip around than a full sized pickup but im learning! thanks for the responses everyone.

 

If you want it to last forever and get reasonably good mpg you will "grandpa" it around like I do ...Although I do occasionally have a teenager moment .

For a real eye opener on driving habits install a vacuum gauge.

 

haha thats cool man, i figured itd be something with a smaller engine and probably in a car anyway. I was raised on nothing smaller than fords 4.6L V8, my brother had a LT1 formula for a while, and i now have a 5.0 Mustang and a 300 cid F250, all of which shift and cruise at under 2000 rpm. so needless to say, its a real treat when i get into anyhting smaller like what my friends drive. I always chuckle at my friend who recently got a scion tC as an in town commuter car. he says he pulls 80 mph at 3600 rpm. It just cracks me up. my mustang will do 80 at 2050 and probably has more power available at that speed too!

The 300 on the other hand, while certainly the least powerful engine ive ever experienced, will do sub 2000 rpm stuff just fine. If i get angry at only having 60 hp at my disposal and traffic whizzing by ill gun it to 2500 to catch up, but part of my problem is that i have the NP435 which basically limits me to 3 usable (and quite tall) gears for commuting from a to b. Im sure if i had either of the later model 5 speeds i could do sub 2000 rpm shifts since theres 2 more gears thrown in for smoothness. I always get a kick at the looks i get sometimes when i gun it form a stop in granny low and the truck jumps in the air with that gear whining like crazy. and that of course only lasts like 2 feet before its tach'd out lol

enjoy shifting under 2!