I have had my truck sitting in the driveway for about three months now. Gas prices and mechanical issues just haven't motivated me to do anything with it. So time comes up to get some new tags for the beast and I replace the starter, change the oil, and fill the tank. Then I head down to emissions.......Passed my first time up.

Not bad for an 18 year old truck with 205k miles on it thats been sitting in the driveway for three months and no tune up. If ford still made em like that I might actually buy their products more often.

 

Ha ha! Nice. I love to hear stories like this.

Now, if only Ford made'em get better mileage you would DRIVE their product more often..

I'm tired of hearing these GM owners achieving 21 mpg highway out of their V8's on 4-door trucks. Why doesn't Ford adopt similar tech? It makes sense to me; why use all 8 cylinders on the highway when you don't need them?

My coworker claims to have gotten 26 or 27 (I think) mpg one time, going with the wind, in his Caddy. Northstar engine. He says it only happened once, but he gets about 22/24 MPG highway normally (something like that).

Still, it's an ugly thing..

 

i dont believe thier claims of that much milage on the 4 lane. hope they arent going by the onboard. but the LS engine is new tech, ours is old tech. look how much fuel milage GMs vortech 350s were getting...not that great. these engines were designed 40 yrs ago now at days they have tight tolerances, computer designed cylinder heads, computer driven matchatically matched ccam shafts and better engine management.

 

Its true.

My old man has a 4X4 X cab half ton with the 5.3, gets every bit of 20+ and it has almost 200K on it, truck still runs like new, truck will flat haul *** too, considering what it is.

Heck, my youngest brother was getting 21-22 with mostly highway driving with the 305 with the TBI thats an old design with updated heads, that was a 2wd x cab fullsize. He started getting closer to 17 and couldnt figure out why until he found himself on the side of the road with no 4th gear. Matter of fact, he putting a low mile 03 5.3 engine/tranny in it now. Its unreal how easy the swap is and how much support is available, and IMO, its cost effective. As 6cylbill knows, if given the opportunity, read had the extra cash, I would stick a 5.3/T56 combo in my truck and wouldnt think twice.

As much as I hate to say it and this really strikes a nerve with me. Chevy mass produces the hell out of the right engines, unlike ford. Chevy either by pure luck or with forethough, will produce parts that interchange across the board and makes swaps/modifications extremely easy and cheap. Ford on the other hand will build for a specific application and youll usually end up with three or four engines that have nothing in common, youll end up knowing more about engines than you ever wanted to know, still be frustrated and your pocket with be bone dry cause the parts are not cheap. Seriously, if you look at % of the 5.8 put in a certain year truck, its so low its not even funny. Around here finding a truck with a 5.8 is rare, I bought the only one Id ever seen. They all have 4.9's and on occasion youll stumble on a 302 equipped. On the flip side, every older design chevy you see will have a 350/305 and if you find one with a 292 or a 4.3 its rare as hell. If you do end up with a 305 truck, your neighbor is likely to have a 350 block sitting in his garage, if not a runner and willing to take a 100-200 for it and will probably help you install it. hehe



Optikal is right about one thing, our trucks where an old design. Hell, ford didnt even give a chit enough to change the camshaft design. You have to ask yourself, where do you see most ford trucks, and that would be for farm or commercial use, ford knew their market and people like us end up with deluxe fleet trucks.



So yeah, as much as Ive grown to like my truck, this still irritates me. Think the only think that keeps me into the old inline six banger is the fact I think a dressed out I6 engine is about as slick as it gets, well no, I just cant afford to swap in the 5.3/t56 right now...hehe... Actually despite what youve read so far, for a street truck/cruiser w/t a relatively stock engine, IMO, the 4.9/5speed is pretty good, I even prefer it to the 351w truck I had...the old 4.9 just feels right under 2500 rpm. Now if your talking 2000+ rpm, its a totally different story. If you wanna throw in the 4.2 equipped trucks as a comparison...well...it gets sketchy for me...I had a 97 2wd short bed with a 4.2/5speed and I dont know if it was a fluke or what, it didnt have the low grunt of the 4.9 but it would tow a fair amount of weight and without a doubt, it would haul butt, that old truck would scoot down the road nicely, it felt more like a car than truck. I just couldnt live with the bodydesign, I like my truck to have a manly box design, I tried to live with it.


Forgot to mention the chevy 4.2 inline engine....see why the hell didnt ford redesign the big I-6. Chevy brings this thing out, it has four valves per cylinder, LITERALLY flows CFM like a big block, now they are putting down 300+ hp bone stock, thats giving up .7 liters from the 4.9 and in an envoy of all things, big dumb damn SUV, it will get you about 17~18 mpg and have enough ***** to get out of its own way, my sis in law had one. The variable valve timing, which allows it to flow like a big block and still produce low end torque, is tricky when swapping to another vehicle but its all been figured out...just another thorn in my side.


I feel better...haha...ramble off.

 

You're right. I've been frustrated lately with my truck. I've always been happy with it but gas prices have me a little edgy I suppose. I just think I should be getting more bang for the fuel she uses. Don't get me wrong though optikal, I love my 300. I honestly believe that if my truck got better fuel economy, I wouldn't gripe so much. And please don't bring up the fact I hurt it with the gears / tires. I put in the gears a long time ago before gas prices were quite this bad. I just feel for the power I get I should be getting 20 MPG hwy, 17 city. -shrug- Not that my 300 is pathetic, but it's no 351.


Sorry I can'y reply in detail, as I'm off to work in a few, but I do agree with most everything you brought up.

 

the reason ford pry wouldnt bring back the I6 is probably beacuse it outlasted 302 or 351s and 350s for the most part ..pretty much any v8,yet it still manages to outlive many newer engines...now just imagine going to the dealer and buying a 2009 f150 w the I6 in it..it pry wont happen because u wouldnt need to buy a new truck for a long long time

 

I think the major reasons I keep this truck around is its durability and the low end grunt lends it to some serious crawling ability out in the desert. Especially for a two wheel drive. Gas mileage isn't great but its not terrible. I got 15mpg out of this last tank. Out of the 210miles I traveled 170 was city driving. That being said.

As someone pointed out. This engine is an old design. But then so is the 350. When they converted it to EFI it doesn't look like the engineers at Ford put a whole lot of effort into it. From my point of view it looks like they redesigned the intake and exhaust manifolds. Maybe tweaked the comp a bit. Otherwise not much difference in the internals of the blasted thing. And Ford is probably wondering why they aren't doing so well right now.

I dunno. I think Ford relies more on luck than good engineering sometimes. And in this case they got lucky with the 300/4.9. You would figure after picking up Jaguar, Mazda, Range Rover, and a few other companies they might incorporate some good engineering in their domestic vehicles. And maybe they have. But not from my point of view.

 

Wow. Very well said.

 

sometimes just the right changes/parts/tuning to an engine can dramaticly help mpg. My 90 mustang 302/aod/3.27 gear and its got some mods. intake/exhaust. gets 27 hwy. not to bad! its also less bricky than a truck.

you could do simple things such as a tonnau cover to reduce drag.

just my experience