I just spent two days pulling junk cars out of a treeline and got wounderful milage with my 85 f 150.

13 mpg in the rolling hills of eastren minnesota.-combined weight of 9200lbs
15 mpg in the flats of ND.-combined weight of 11000lbs.

3.55 gears and an NP 4 spd 300 six in a 85 f150 4x4

chevy can kiss my *** more mpg. more weight towed. older vehicle. why wont my brother in law give up his stupid gas hog chevys?
For hecks sake my 64 f100 with a 292 tows at 13mpg his 2006 chevy at 9. same trailer same route.

PS the guy I was working for.......His chevy wouldent start........Smile

 

newer GM gen III do get good mpg.

also make twice the hp and based on a couple graphs, better TQ as your six, what can ya do.

 

Better MPG and more torque than a 300-6? Naw...

 

I have a 300 in my PU and a LT1 350 in the wifes Caprice wagon. The gas mileage on the highway is about the same but my PU seems to do better around town. Of course the LT1 has a lot more Hp. My son in laws 03 5.3 gets about the same gas mileage. Even though I've been a chevy guy the 92-96 ford PUs with the 300 are the best WORK trucks ever made.

95 Ford F150 SC SB 300 5spd 3.08 16-20mpg Fast enough
94 Caprice Sta Wagon HD towing pack 14-22mpg very fast

regards
rikard

 

Yup. Whatever the 350 can do the 300 can do just as well.......well almost.....





Whens the last time you saw a 300 run 9's in the quarter mile?





Just a joke folks, just a joke.

 

gen III isnt a 350 ~ LT1

thats like saying the new ford mod motors get decent mpg cause my 351w gets 19.

its a 4.8/5.3/5.7 (LS1)/6.0


The 5.3 do make more torque than the 300 and do get better mpg, if you feel they do not, then your grossly misinformed. Hell, theres been this myth around for years that the 300 made more torque than the 302, 351w, in certain scenarios, the torque curve was more flat but this isnt an advantage of the 300 design, as its an issue with the camshafts used, put a torque cam in either 302/351w, see what happens.

Im not saying the 300 is a bad engine, hell I have one, its a turd that keeps on going and gets the job done but if your gonna try and convince me it makes more tq and gets better mpg than the gm gen III, then your dreaming.

Ive seen 5.3's with a performance cam and a tune put down over 300ftlbs across the board and that curve looked flat to me. I was let down by the level of torque made, yet at the same time realized there was still more available torque than a stock 300, and over 2X the hp.

 

its amazing to me how many people dont know that. chevy guys included.

the LSx is easily one of the best engines ever made.

But on this forum one must never let the facts get in the way of a good story

 

motorhead, the 300 did make more torque then the 302 back in 81 or 82 heh. the LS- are great engines, possibly one of the best ever made. gobs of power and fuel milage. technolgy is great!

i agree torx, this forum has some close minded individuals. i love the 300 but it isnt the best engine for everyone or ever scenerio. the only advantage it really has is its ease to work on and I6 design which puts less load on the engine.

 

Is this a chevy forum?
The 300 will kill a 350 all day in low RPM power, torque, and milage.
Yes, you get k/c 1500 350's that'll put out 20+ mpg........ With2.73 gears and an overdrive. Ive towed a 12' boat with a truck like that. one breath of wind and you cant do 65 with 1200 lbs in tow.

LS and LT motors are performance motors. Fine in a mudder truck. One dosent need 300Hp to tow a car trailer of scrap, bust snow drifts for 60 miles to work, or haul a bed of furniture.
My current "work truck" is worth about $800 Ive got about 2K in it with tires, rebuilt motor, and other ods and ends.

I pull 17 on the highway, unloaded, tailgate up, @ 55mph.
I tug @ 13 in the hills at 50mph with a 3/4 ton chev on a trailer.

I do this with a pickup thats frame and running gear have 200k + on them in the past 23 yrs. a truck thats on its third cab, 15 yrs on a salvage title. Using a motor desinged in the 50's with a (oh my gosh!) 1 bbl carb, and a contacts/petronix distributor setup.

I feed this through a NON OD 4 spd from a late 60s pickup, to a 3.55 rearend.

My pickup $2000 dollars.
cash.

My brother in laws 1500 HD 6.0 auto..........22K loan!

I match him mile for mile unloaded.
I kick his A$$ towing and loaded.
Ill spend my 20K somewhere else.

Stop and look around sometime. theryre are more 60s, 70s, and 80s fords out there than theyre are any other brand of truck. count them. seriously.

 

maybe in 81 or 82 opti...haha...



flipklos
I get your frustration but there comes a time when the BS is set aside.
A 6.0 isnt the most fuel efficient of the LS engines, Ill give you that.
However, a GM 4X4 x cab half ton with a 5.3 can get you close to 20mpg, thats not internet BS either.
Performance engine? Maybe. Potential? Like you cant imagine.
Dont let that fool you though. The torque/potential is there. If you want to optomize it for low end, thats a camshaft swap away.
Reliable? I can only speak from personal experience of one 5.3, it has over 200K and has yet to need anything, that was bi monthly heavy hauling on a daily driver. hit the go pedal and it lets you know its still young at heart.

Now if you wanna discuss low buck vs new, hey, your project is cool. Im not a fan of new vehicles from a cost or aesthetic perspective, what I do like, is the GM powerplant, which is inexpensive and easily retrofited into any vehicle. If chevy has done one thing right over the years, is provide a good engine, that becomes cost effective in used condition, the gen III line, has defined that concept.

It annoys me to no end. My truck gets 17mpg mixed driving which is considered great, considering the gearing. On the flip side, someone with a 5.3 can match that and still have power potential, its ridiculous.

Ive BS'd about this for a while in regards to mpg but it wasnt until I actually got my hands in there and retrofitted a 5.3 into an older GM and saw just how well these damn engines respond to a simple performance tune and how easily they can be retrofitted. Just say, my mind is made up and considering Im basing it on first hand experience, gonna take alot for someone to change my mind.

With that said, the ford 4.9 gets the job done, like a slug, but I can live with that.

 

Why cant you give respect where respect is due? Your BIL's 6.0 has 3 times the power your 300 does. Is that a bad thing? do enjoy having 120 rwhp in a 4500+ lb truck? woudl you like it better if you had less?

Whats your fuel mileage at something a little more reasonable, like 70 mph? 55 is pretty damn slow for "highway". I hope you do that in the right lane...Where i live, speed limits are a minimum of 60. The interstate is 70 and most people to 5-10 above, no matter what. Is it a bad thing that your BILs 22k truck has an OD gear and isnt screaming its guts out at 80 mph? I bet he gets better mpg at more real world highway speeds. Gasp. I bet his 22k truck is nicer to look at, easier to drive, quieter, more comfortable, has way more power (wait, i dont bet that...i KNOW that...), has fewer problems, and is more versatile in that it can be used as a people carrier AND a truck. Have you no interest or value in these features? Nope. But some people do. Versatile trucks are not a bad thing. Yours only does the one thing. Haul heavy loads slowly and get good mpg. Thats hardly something to be ashamed of, but its not versatile. Its function over form. I know, because i have almost the exact same truck you do. Its almost more of a tool than a vehicle.
Albeit a damn good one (if it wasnt, it really would be a POS). My point still stands.

Im not flaming you I just think you need to get off your high horse a bit. You act like no one should ever want anything more than a 300. Its great for your lifestyle, but it might not be great for someone elses. And Ford isnt the only one that knows how to make a good engine. Lighten up.

 

Gearing is definitely a part of everything.
I just did a 250 mile round trip at 75 - 85mph in my Bronco with a 300. RPMs were around 2100 max. 30" tires, 3.00 rear end, and an overdrive, and I got around 15 - 17mpg. If I slow down to 65, I'm at 1700 RPMs at can get 20. It handled and drove wonderfully.

Unfortunately, not many 300s came with those kind of gears or transmissions, and yeah, are around 3000 RPMs or more at those speeds, which is ok for short distances, but I can't imagine holding that for hours. They were designed when the speed limit was 55 max.

As everyone's said, it's all in what it's designed for. There is obviously junk out there, and yeah, some truck engines were just garbage that people were suckered into buying, but there's also a lot of pretty darn good ones.

I love bragging about my engine, especially since I do with it what a lot of 300 owners don't do, which is maintain high speeds for long periods of time, but it's not a work vehicle and with my gearing I probably couldn't do much hard work with it because I'd keep burning up my clutch unless I put it in low range (which I do for camping and off-roading.) That's a limitation. I can't both do my highway driving AND pull over and help some guy haul off a 10 ton tractor. The 300 definitely can, but not at the same time.

On the other hand, a lot of newer trucks can. You can see a truck pulling 10,000 pounds, and then haul off and hit 100mph. Then again, you have technology (and price!) on its side.

Like I said, I love my 300, brag about it, and won't change it for anything, but I know its limitations and I know what others can do better than I can. To just say it is THE BEST and others don't match up no matter what is kinda ignorant.



All in all though, long live the 300!

 

I can pull 14 mpg at 70 mph unloaded speed limit is 75 on the interstate.
I will agree with you a modern motor GEN III, magnum, or modular can out perform a 300L-6.
I dont need 300 rwhp on a truck! I dont spend 3 days a week with a tri axle goosneck behind me.
There is no savings in having a modern motor by my numbers.

buy what you like. If going 80 mph is your trucks job do it. I use mine as a truck is ment to. I pull, haul, and drive through the famous ND winters in it. 120 HP will still be the way for me.

 

i agree, and thanks for not turning this into a pissing contest.

We figured out engines a long time ago. my 93 mustang gets the same gas mileage as my dads 2000 GT, and both of THOSE get the same gas mileage as the new S197s.

Mainly, what you pay for in a newer vehicle, is refinement, quality, and the inability to work on it lol. IMO, you also pay for a vehicle that has soul and character engineered otu of it. Ill ride the old pig iron til i die!

And i wont be getting rid of my 300 anytime soon either because it gets the same gas mileage that most newer trucks get, and its in a truck that is so rotted out and bombed out that i wouldnt get any money out of it if i tried to sell it. It also saves money on car insurance. But i dont pretend its the best truck ever built or the best truck engine ever made. Especially nowadays, it really doesnt matter who you buy it from, a newer engine (mid 80s and newer) will probably last 500k miles if you take care of it. Hell, ive barely broken my motor in at just 96k miles lol. and the bodys already rotting off the frame....

peace

 

the piont of a truck with the 300 was a six for millage and lots of torque so it could still be a truck it wasn't 500hp to drive to soccer practice or make you ride like a king it was meant for work and was extremly reliable

when was the last time you took milage in your inline with a 6 speed tranny like the new chevs? that makes a diffrence

like to meantion i am against "engineering" how many computers do you need to massage youre but or make it warm or make sure you get the best millage. trust me it was cheaper to do a yearly tune up rather than have a computer and a sensor for everything in the truck that cost way more to fix replace or find a broken wire? just sound like more trouble to me

of all the technolodgy we have in a new truck for the price is it worth it to buy one when you can do as much with the old and still have comparable millage?

5.0torx- here yah metal rusts but id rather have it then carbon fiber and plastic

iono im stuborn