OK so i have alot of back story here, When i was in high school senior year my dad funded me to rebuild my grandfathers 1966 f100 custom cab with the 300ci sright six. I finished building the motor but i had to leave for basic training and didnt get a chance to break in the motor. so my dad nenver broke in the motor and left it with a block full of water which froze that winter. I live in North Dakota so winter here is very rough -20 most is the norm December-March. I finally got to come home and i find a new motor that wasnt broken in and had water in the block and radiator all winter long. I tried to drain the motor but not much came out so that scarred me very much. I filled the radiator with full strength anti freeze and stated the motor. She spat out black and white smoke and would idle at all. checked it a day later and the radiator was empty. I pulled the dip stick, didn't see any green but its hard to say looking at a dip stick. Im pretty sure that the water jacket has cracked. So im thinking ill just scrap the motor and build a hot rod from my grandfathers 66. I was thinking a blown crate 351 Cleveland with a ford racing 6 speed transmission. ( home stretch). I would love some feed back on both the straight six and my 351 idea.

thanks guys

 

If the truck has any sentimental value. And you want to keep it stock and use it as a daily driver. The 300 is an excellent motor.
If you like to go fast and like to spend all your money at the gas station. Put that blown 351 with new tranny in it.
All depends on your needs and your budget.

 

The question really is what do YOU want the truck to do and how much money are you willing to spend and how much time do you want to take to have it be drivable? Obviously, replacing the 300 with another would be the cheapest and quickest and you'd have a nice running truck. The hot rod set up you describe would require a large expenditure of funds, take the longest to do, give you a large number of "reengineering" challenges to overcome, and result in a fast, thirsty vehicle that would not be suitable as a daily driver. Since it was your suggestion, I'm guessing you'd rather do the latter. Find out what that would cost, then double it, then ask yourself if you can realistically afford to do it. If you can - have fun.

 

cloudflare Welcome to and the Slicks Forum

+++ on the above, put a 300 back in the truck and build a hot rod car for fast. You might need a good truck to tow your hot rod with.



John

 

About the frozen block.....if leaking internally, when run it should have turned the oil muddy brown and would be over full. If the oil is clear, it may have pushed out the freeze plugs.
Any coolant on the ground?

 

Keep the 300 and get a turbo.

 

sorry for the late reply crazy work week and weekend. here's an update on the motor, I managed to start the 300 BUT she ran really bad and wouldnt idle. She was spitting some smoke but it wasnt the billowy white smoke of anti freeze. she sounded like she was running on only 4 cylinders. The carb gasket leaks on the intake. So the motor seems to wanna live. Any thoughts on what my next step should be in getting this motor to run?

 

You first need to find out if you have a cracked block or just popped out freeze plugs.

If the block turns out to be OK...if it were mine, I would assume that the carburetor is gummed up. So I'd pull it off and put a rebuild kit in it (after a thorough cleaning).

Then, after it's re-installed, I'd start looking for vacuum leaks.

One of the easiest ways to do this (and probably ill-advised because it's a bit dangerous), is to get the engine up to operating temp and then get a can of something flammable (carb cleaner works great) and squirt it lightly around any area where there might possibly be a leak.

If there is, the vacuum leak will draw in the fluid and the engine will speed up a little bit. If you use carb cleaner (and not something greasy), it will evaporate right off and not leave a mess.

Just be careful and have an extinguisher nearby.

If you rebuild the carb and cure any leaks, then it's on to other things like checking compression, but do those first.

(I'm assuming you've changed the old oil)

 

Here's a hot rod six for you. The 223 with an 080 overbore, hot cam, headers, 2 barrel Webber, port matched , CC'd combustion chambers, and more....Everyone has a small block...be different. At least that's my 2 cents....The 300 has even more power possibilities go for it.....

 

that straight six is beautiful but how would one start building such a piece of art

 

Building it depends on your skill level and budget. Research this site for ideas and methods. Start with some research on what's available for the engine and how practical it is to do. Go to car shows and swap meets and talk to as many as you can about what they did and what you want to do. All car guys love to talk.... Find a good machine shop locally and get ideas of pricing for such things as cylinder boring, head reconditioning , etc. Get all the parts catalogs you can - Dennis Carpenter, Macs, NPD, LMC, - this will give you an idea of how much you have to spend to accomplish the level of quality and driveability you want. Find the thread started by theastronaut - it will literally show you how to fully restore one of these trucks. Good luck and keep posting whenever you need help....

 

OK here is what I'm thinking, first off in going to tear down the 300 to the block and inspect it. performance wise I'm thinking a Offenhauser Dual Port intake, a holley 390cfm 4 barrel carb, Hedman Hedders, msd ignition, and 240 head for increased compression. Thoughts?

 

Hello, I drive a '65 F-100. Been doing so since 12/23/82. This is what I do: I keep it 100% stock. I do that because my chance for a dependable truck is guaranteed. I am very strict when it comes to oil change mileage. When the 3,000 miles is going to land in the middle of the coming week, I have it changed the weekend BEFORE the 3,000 miles comes. The engine(a 240 c.i. 6) has 159,900 miles on it. It burns NO oil. Now I had the valve stem seals replaced 8 years ago. I also have a pocket sized notebook on the dash( I am into the 2nd one of them now). I write down maintenance events. Date/mileage. There is too much to remember. I lived in Minn. for 3 years. I am familiar with really tough Winters. I should say too that I run 16" rims. The ring and pinion ratio I am not sure of. I also bought Michelin 60,000 mile tires. Recently I got 19 mpg. Course there was 11 miles of interstate and 10 miles of four lane. In town is way less. If I were you I would keep 'er stock and enjoy a reliable way to go. Best to you and welcome, , Pete

 

my cousin used to race a 300-6 it was awesome and it put him in a different motor class so he stomped lotsa people he wanted to make it cleveland headed but never got around to it but he did have it balanced and .060 over hyperutectic flat tops and a 4bbl Holley 650 and it would rap tighter than you would believe me typing about it not many v8's wanted to play against it either....