FINALLY! A "Bad" Ford 4.9L 300 Straight 6 To Teardown! Most Reliable Engine, Ever?
Vložit
- čas přidán 10. 02. 2023
- To buy parts or peruse our inventory, please visit www.Importapart.com or email us at Importapartsales@gmail.com.
If this is the first time you've found the channel or the first teardown video you've seen, there are over 110 more teardowns here: • Blown Up Engine Tear D...
You have asked, and I have been looking for almost 2 years! FINALLY, I get a Ford 4.9L 300 in as a core. I've had a LOT of requests for one of these, and I had a few things working against me. They're all old now, and since we unfortunately use rock salt to treat the roads in my area, many of these trucks rusted away a long time ago. As well, the 300 is one of the most reliable engines produced, and thus has no core value so many yards don't save them.
I was at the right place at the right time! This engine was sitting in a core pile at a local salvage yard. I presumed it was locked up because I couldn't turn the flywheel with my foot. It was pretty banged up from being in that pile,, a lot of the front of the engine was broken. Didn't care, it was worth digging out the pile just to have it on the channel.
Its really amazing how simple these engines were. Low stress, Low tech, and high mileage for most. These engines were used in more than just Ford trucks and cars. They were used as stationary engines, sandblasters, generators, car crushers, pumps... I've even seen them in old construction equipment.
Really hope you enjoyed this teardown! As always I love all of the comments, feedback and even the criticism.
Catch you on the next one!
-Eric - Auta a dopravní prostředky
Great video. I have some ideas on how to improve the channel:
1: A cool theme song.
2. Have a couple of assistants who generally like each other but fight a lot. That would give it some drama.
3. Find a way to manufacture deadlines so give the teardown urgency, like Jesse James did. Maybe an important client breathing down your neck or something.
4. Maybe speed through some of the more mundane parts of the teardown, for more time to develop the interpersonal relationships of the new staff.
5. Add sponsors. Viewers like that because it shows businesses want to be a part of your channel.
6. Have a rivalry with a local shop.
7. Lots of cool graphics.
8. Have a score for the damage, like the Doug score.
/s
Just kidding! Don't change anything.
I read the list like No, Nope, Nah, No.... ha!
@@I_Do_Cars Thanks. Glad you liked it. 😆 You can always pin it for a good laugh, or even to generate feedback (though most everyone loves the current format.).
Ha ha, I was ready to reply with molten lava over this comment. Well played, sir. Eric, please keep up the great work!
@@LittleLadyLidbetter Thanks! Maybe I should have waited six weeks though, for April 1st. :)
Jesse James and Paul Teutul Sr. probably pitched Stacey David-style build shows before network execs gave them similar "improvements".
Serious narrator voice: "If he can't remove this 10 mm bolt before deadline, he could lose millions of dollars".
One of the most reliable engines ever built, I’m not even a Ford guy, and I have a ton of respect for this engine.
It didn’t love it it just did it.
Seven main bearings gear drive cam the way engines use to be built !!! FORD TOUGH !!!!
@@wilburfinnigan2142 - Kinda tough to argue with you there.
These engines were meant to be run forever. They were built accordingly.
@@edifyguy - That seems to be the consensus. Do you think someone would be just crazy enough to attempt a rebuild? Would it even be worth the effort?
That is a typical 300. What happened is the truck fell apart around the engine and then the owner neglected the engine and then finally it over heated. I'm pretty sure it was running when pulled.. I've seen bearings in a 300 that were worn way more than that and they were still working all day. Great engine never to be seen again. The Ford 300 engine never dies, they are killed!
I am the original owner of a 1979 Econoline with the 300 I6.
Hated it when people said 4.9
When was the last time you saw an original four on the floor van.
First vehicle I ever bought new.
Almost 300,000 miles and never removed the valve cover.
She’s my baby now with vintage car plates !!!
We’ve grown old together. 🤓👍
My stepdad had a 79 E150 with a 300-6 and 3-on-the-tree. It was made into a conversion van before companies that did that.
If I could find it today, I’d buy it in a heartbeat. It wasn’t a perfect van, my family camped in it once when it was Rand our tent leaked and our van did, too.
If I found that van today and had the ability, I’d buy it.
I love vans, especially with manuals and I really love 3-speeds on the column.
[X][X] []
Hopefully….. Long live the manuals.
Btw, I have had lots of 300s in my family, one was ran REALLY hot! New radiator, water pump and thermostat, it was like new!
1985 F150- 300-6, 4-speed manual OD.
❤
We measure in Freedom Units, not Commie units
I think how its supposed to go is 4.9 is the EFI version and 300 is the carbo version.
Every old ford ive seen if it said it has a "300" "302" "351" it was always carbureted except for one that was TBI and if it said "4.9" "5.0" "5.8" its the "modernized" engine with full multiport injection
We had a 1983 club wagon XLT 4 speed on the floor (3 and overdrive) with a 300 six and it was by far the best vehicle I've ever owned. 200,000 miles with zero engine problems but the rust ate the body up. I still hate myself for letting it go.
It's amazing how Ford invested in all the updated manifolds and bracketry to keep this workhorse going through the late 90s.
"invested" or saved a ton of money on design and retooling a new engine?
@@johnt.848 Both.
Why is that amazing?
Do you think it would be cheaper to design an entirely new engine from scratch, INCLUDING the new manifold and bracketry? 🤦🏻
C'mon, McFly... THINK.
@@82f100swb Ack, I dont buy that shit at all...
Why would they care if it would "outrun the 302"?
IF there is any crossflow factory ford pieces laying around, and IF they are a real trial effort by Ford to dig into the straight 6, then it was determined for whatever reason that it wasn't worth it re-tool the entire line up of exhaust manifolds, intakes, bracketry, exhaust pipes, and whatever else. IF it was that good, they certainly would have done it.
@@davelowets The heads were cast to use existing manifolds, no bracketry bolted to the head itself. Go over to fordsix and search it up. All the info is there from Greg.
As for the reasoning, what would be the incentive to buy the optional V8 if the base engine made more power?
We run I think at the moment about 15 of those here in the Texas oilfield.
They run on natural gas from the oilwell casing.
They run 24 hours a day seven days a week about 350 days a year on average except the days when the well is down
So if you convert that into a vehicle time, just imagine averaging 45 miles an hour 24 hours a day that would run you about 370,000 miles a year equivalent.
And those motors run at least two years before something ever happens, and generally it’s just consuming motor oil. Very seldom is a catastrophic event like throwing a rod through the block, or some sort of failure.
The key to those things are never shut them down. The only time they are turned off generally speaking is for an oil change. We run them with cap and rotor instead of electronic ignition. It’s just less trouble because they sit out in the weather all the time and the least amount of electronics you can have on something the better.
Never have any problems with the valves or carburetion because they are running on clean natural gas. And with no carbon in the engine, you can run those motors for a month before you change the oil, and believe it or not the old still has color to it due to no carbon.
Great motors. I pick them up every time I can find them.
Interesting comment - great to hear they are still in use. How long do the bearings last in these engines in Texas? 20 years ago I came across the same/similar 300I6 power units in the Lloydminster oil field. At the time they were replacing some of the 300I6 with new units powered by GM 4.3V6, a good engine. I remember the GM units had an auxiliary oiling system that would allow the techs to do halfass oil changes with the engines running. It was 250 hr service intervals. I saw one of the 300's that threw a rod because it was missed on the maintenance schedule and no servicing, they said it was running for 2 months by the time it ran out of oil. I hear they now they use Hyundai 2.4 with NG electronic injection - no idea on the durability though.
@@epasay9515 I’ve only seen maybe one or two actually throw a rod.
Which giving the time that is on those units is pretty understandable.
I am 52 years old and I have been gauging the same well for 22 years and it has the same motor on it that It did when I started pumping that well.
It is simply amazing how long that design will run. You can pull that engine up off of the frame with a forklift and do a “ in frame “ with caps and bearings in about 4 hours and be back running.
The valves get carbed up when the intake sucks dirty air, otherwise it's not too bad
Very interesting!
@@epasay9515 I don't know anything about oil fields, but I know a lot of the Fork trucks I've driven throughout the years have had the Chevy 4.3, and it's a very durable engine too.
I never expected we’d ever get a Ford 300 tear down. I am so incredibly stoked on this.
Yeah me either. Between how insanely durable, rugged, and reliable they are, and how little they actually cost, I figured the only way we'd ever see one on the teardown bench is if a subscriber donated it specifically for a video.
@@TestECull Someone drove into a tree. YipEEEEEEEEEE !
Big 6 look see.
I know where there is one of those engines in an old van.
Power nation did a build on the 300 and it was kick ass.
Why? Do you people think that they NEVER wear out? Or that the trucks around the engines rots out and people keep the engines and just keep replacimg the truck around the engine?
Of COURSE there's MANY Ford 300 sixes in scrap yards.... Just as many as any other brand.. 🤷🏻
I loved this video. I wish you'd rebuild this 300 as a CZcams series of videos.
I bought a 1967 Bell Telephone Econoline van back around 1982. The original Bell Telephone color was forest green. When I found it, it had been painted yellow and white and looked terrible. It was used as a work truck and not treated with love and care. The good news is that this van was heavy duty, rust free and came with a 240 CID straight 6 in it. It also had a three on the tree transmission. It was equipped with a heavy duty suspension and nine inch rear end. When found, it was sitting in the owner's back yard on one brake drum and two flat tires. The back doors were open and a big dog was living in the back. The owner said it overheated so he parked it. So after some haggling, I got it for $340.00. The distributor cap had carbon tracking, which was easy enough to fix. After a couple of months of driving, I found that the cylinder head was warped (probably from the earlier overheating) so I took the head off and had a local machine shop make it nice and flat. In early 1985, I drove it from Atlanta, GA to Southern California. I pulled a small moving trailer and my 240 didn't miss a beat. At one time in the early 90's I had a burned exhaust valve so I pulled the head and fixed that. The machine shop guy working on my head told me how wonderful this engine is. I've still got this van. I took a body shop class and learned how to knock out dents. At the time, my van had plenty of dents. Looks a lot better now. I've got all kinds of spare parts and body panels. One day, it'll be a dark green Bell Telephone van once again.
Awesome
Thanks for sharing!
I bought a 1996 F150 with a 4.9L. I drove it 360k miles, the only engine related issue I ever had was I had to replace an A/C compressor. I sold it to a neighbor in 2018. The engine ran perfect, didn't leak or burn oil, and still had plenty of torque. The truck frame was in pretty rough shape however from 22 years of winter road salt and me not undercoating like I should have. He bought the truck just for the 4.9L. He had a really old Ford tractor he restored and put that 4.9L in it and it's still running strong today.
I'm a hardcore GM guy but I do admit that the Ford 300 six is a heck of an engine!! So simple and bulletproof.
Yeah, the Big GM Inlines 6s were good competitors but not around in the 90s.
Chevy 292 is on par IMO
Finally an engine a blacksmith can work on.
Most of the big auto makers had a similar engine that was simple and reliable. Ford’s 300, Chevy had their “Stovebolt” 6, Dodge had the slant 6, and AMC had their 4 liter jeep engine. They were all workhorses and super reliable with minimal maintenance.
Inline 6 engines are almost always a home run. They sound pretty good too
@@Acc0919mc There's ways to mess them up, but the basic design simply lends itself to reliability. Internally balanced, more main bearings, fewer moving parts etc.
Toyota JZ, Nissan RB... Ford Australia's Barra, BMW straight 6..
Yep. They're something else..
None of those engines had 7 main bearing journals and none of those engines were as strong as the 300 Ford.
@@Mark-in5yw ROFL.
I had a 76 f 100. Rebuilt that engine 3 times. The last one was the only time it needed any machine work. Bored it 30 over, shaved the head and deck 10 each.
Went back with flat top pistons, an RV cam which didnt give much ore lift, but longer duration on the intake side. New valves and springs, ported the head to match an Offenhauser 4bbl dual plane intake from Summit. And a 390 Holley carb. It made 378 hp. And almost 400 ft lb tongue on the engine dyno. Best motor I've ever owned. Sold the truck last year. Still on the road now in houston, sporting a new paint job. Really wish I had her back
The Ford 300 straight 6 is an awesome motor. One of the previous Ford CEOs for the truck division wanted to revive it, but there were concerns over emissions. The other concern was that trucks had become a fad and a money maker so they wanted to put an engine in the trucks that was refined and that would appeal to those people who drive "mall queen pickups" (You know. The ones lifted, with lights all over, over sized tires and a bed that has never been dirty).
"mall queen pickups" I like that one. "tonka trucks" where they have the wee little beds where practically nothing can be hauled. Of course, some use a pick-up exactly for what it was intended, but most are just for show and the people driving them are as clean as their flashy, lifted, big chrome wheeled truck. And, of course, it has to be a 4 x 4 even though it hasn't left their city streets in years. If it has, it's never left the highway either. Reminds me how all the city boys dressed like cowboys to line dance with their ladies---what decade was that? Probably driven to the club in their flashy truck. LOL
@@KStewart-th4sk I often refer to these types of trucks as "Pavement Princesses/Princes".
I wish people bought trucks for what they're made for. My 95 OBS with a 460 is a WELL taken care of truck, but it does work all the time as a hauler moving several thousand pounds.
mall queen pickups lmao, just cause you can't afford a nice truck doesn't mean you gotta put others down that can. Crew cab short bed for life. Everything else is just a peasant work truck.
and have it lifted like 30 feet in the air.
@@mitch9521should heed your own words. Was told this long time ago. Pick up has a 8 foot bed any thing shorter is a sub with an open back. That was from a ford heavy truck fleet salesman. Mall queen is appropriate description of short bed trucks. The irony is anything titled pick up not allowed in our condo complex. The home association stated we have standards.its like that all over Naples. The irony is the smaller ranger was based on Taurus platform and titled as a car initially. Funny how vehicle titles work. When you use words like peasants don’t harp when some calls out when you ask not to call names. Point vs counter point.
Eric.....you just brought us Christmas in February.
Iron water pump!!! Designed to last forever, just fit a kit when it goes bad. (From my book, My Teen Years.) A Fordson Tractor Waterpump. I was 18, 1963 and I fortunately found employment in the Queensland, Australia, Main Roads Department. It was possibly a year or two later when the below incident occurred.
The bitumen gang had a tractor dragging a broom. The boss and I went out to repair the waterpump, it was usual in those days to press the pump apart and replace the worn kit, bearing and seal not like today where you dump the old one in the bin, pull a new one out of a box. We were on the side of the road with the pump setup on some ripper tines and a hydraulic jack under the tractors front axle! Ted from down under.
What really caused a lot of water pump failures comes down to two things. One is the mechanical seal failing between the impeller and the bearings. Second is the belts start to slip and idiots overtighten the belts putting a heavy side load on the bearings. The material in the housing itself gas little to do with it. I've seen guys build minature drill presses using water pump bearing assemblies (1) as the spindle. Turn or grind a taper on one end to mount the chuck.
1) The shaft and bearing assembly came in from the manufacturer as a unit. Sealed bearings. The weep hole in the pump should keep coolant away from the bearings but shit happens.
Eric, love this video. I've got a 89 f150 with the 300 that my dad bought new. It has 240k miles and still kicking strong. Had to replace radiator, alternator, valve cover gasket and even transmission but the engine is still going. I change the oil every 4k miles. Your not going to win races with it but I love the old girl. Thanks again for the content. Old Hickory, Tn. 🇺🇸
Trucks are work horses in my opinion. If you want to race to work buy a car. 😂
If it has the 4 speed manual it's likely THE slowest vehicle on the road my 88 f250 is slow lol but I can shift err pretty quick if I want to lol still slow
@hickstylez Hey bud, the old girl has
a 5 speed manual. But starts every time.
A 300 with a granny gear 4 speed was a towing machine. I was sad when they stopped making the engine. This engine is the definition of they don't make them like they used to.
ford put them out (in 1977) with a single core radiator, work for communting but was under functional when doing heavy towing
and made that truck prown to overheating, a 3 or 4 core (cant remember wich, just to many years ago) radiator change out solved that hickup
I use a 300f150 with the Mazda 5sp transmission it pulls pretty good (small tires to apply more torque)
@@mikedesensi6391 hmm you might be onto something with that. I had overheating problems with a fully loaded truck (weighed down to where the axles are bottomed out) got a single core rad. Only problem I ever had with the truck otherwise
I have this motor and a Toyota 4.7 . Toyota is better motor that will last even longer. I like the 4.9 for sure but to me the 4.7 toyota is the best motor ever built. You do have to do the timing.
@@kingjesus7926neither of them are good.
Warning: long, epic story of truck love below
My wife and I once owned a '75 Ford F100 Ranger (in green) with the 300 that we used as a second daily driver before we had kids. We even used it to move into our home we currently live in. 3 on the tree, only 54,000 miles, had a couple issues but was mostly a nice, clean, solid truck.
One memory enshrined it in my memory as a member of the reliability hall of fame. We were driving down the highway between towns, about 15 or 20 miles or so in winter in North Dakota. It was -20° out and it still ran like a champ. We were about 8 miles from home when we noticed it was losing power and heat in the cabin was fading (it has awesome heat). As we saw the temp gauge rise above normal, we pulled over. We waited for it to cool down, but it still wouldn't restart.
After we tried a couple more times and the cold set in, we called for a ride and got home. The next day we made arrangements for it to be towed home so we could decide what to do with it. I did some forensics and discovered the coolant wasn't the right ratio for winter and had frozen in the block. Noticing that it had some milkshake in the oil and feared for the worst and planned to resuscitate it in the spring. We loved that truck.
Long story short, I went all in, and swapped the head gasket. It was the first time I did anything like that. After it was done, I flushed the cooling system and put in fresh oil and it ran like a champ until we sold it. It went to a very excited high school boy and his father. We later saw it entered in a local classic car show with a vanity plate, "SWEET P." We like to think she's still out there chugging along.
Good chance of it!
Sweet Pea such a lovely name for a lovely machine.
I cried reading this.
Mines been through a flood that destroyed all the other trucks in the neighborhood. It drove out in water up to the bench seat. Then i over heated it and continued to drive it for about 10 miles with no coolant. I've run it out of oil and drove it home multiple times. I dont neglect it but it has sprung a couple terrible leaks and leaked its oil out on the drive.
Great video, brings back memories. I'm a retired Ford tool eng who worked for 20 yrs at cep#1 the home of the 300. Some trivia for you, the 300 was based on a Mercedes straight six. Ford truck mandated tighter tolerances on these engines which also contributed to their longevity. We had a group of GM hourly come in from their Oldsmobile plant. We gave them the run of the place, made friends for life, they all had 300's
I'm not 100% certain, but wasn't the 300 designed by the same engineer who did the famous Hudson 308 c.u. twin H, flathead six?
@@briansearles4473 Would like to know more.....
@@briansearles4473 The Hudson 308 was just a stroked and bored 262 which began in '48.
The 300 is based on the 240 which bagean in '65.
The split exhaust manifolds looked like the old Mercedes.
I totally agree. Yes I'm a diehard GM LS fan but in my 40+ years of Automotive experience, the 300 6 cylinder / 4.9 EFI engine is hands down the best, most reliable engine ever. I personally drove a 77 F-250, (which was one of our farm trucks) to high school and when we sold it, the speedo had been broken at 410k for over 5 years. Then dad bought an 88 4.9 efi 4x4 that was a mail truck and we took it over 500k miles. I've been in Automotive Management for 32 years in the shipping business (Brown Truck's) and we beat the snot out of these and rarely did we loose one under 300k. I personally rebuild my neighbors f-150 and when I tore it down, I could still see the cross hatch in the cylinder walls at 102k, it didn't need rebuild! Like they say..After Armageddon is over, the only thing that will survive is Cocroaches and 300 6 cylinders!
you haven't seen a barra then
And Keith Richards
16:29 and that's why you NEVER have valve timing problems with these engines. What I love to see! That timing set is immortal. They're said to live through two engine rebuilds before they even get any appreciable wear on them and I don't think anyone's ever put so many miles on one of these engines that they truly wore a timing set out.
Uhh, word of advice, don't try to get the gear off the cam. IT's a press fit. They're married for life. Death do them part type deal.
Like my previous 2 wives. Similar.
The old IH 304 in my Scout had a gear driven cam as well. It weighed 700lbs and I think it was rated at 145 gross hp.
Had one the crank keyway enlarged caused a knock and led to timing gear tooth breakage. Why it enlarged don't know.
@@jeffpolakiewicz2277 that was probably some impressive levels of abuse!
@@Prestiged_peck Box truck
I can't explain why, but the sound of breaking a bolt has just become so comforting to me.
My dad has a 66 F250 with one of these that started life as a logging company truck. It continues to haul firewood to this day.
We had a slant six by Mopar and the Ford Straight six in trucks on our family farm. Both always started and required little maintenance other than filters and occasional oil changes. Incredible engines that have stood the test of time.
Look how much progress we've made since then. High strung, high maintenance units that might last 150K.
@@markleggett3944 on the other hand the 300 made like 150hp max even with EFI, and probably would be rated at less with modern HP ratings. All while getting like 20MPG or whatever at best. I love mine (I have a 240 in my 68 F100)... but if Ford tried to release a 150hp gigantic iron beast that only got 20mpg today.... They would be mocked mercilessly and nobody would buy it.
Gotta love the 300 inline Six brother, it'll outlast any Ecoboost engine with ease.
300: Hey ecoboost, where are you going to leak today?
Ecoboost: Anywhere I want, wiseass!
@@BobSmith-mc7uq eco boost: jumps time.
@@LMHS63John Bingo. The wife had a lease Escape, think it was an 18 or 19. Low miles, started gurgling the coolant, dealer dropped in a new short block.
Towards the end of the lease, the dealer she leased it from hounded her to bring it back in so they could resell it.
She went to a different dealer, they had her buy out the lease, bought it from her & she walked away with money in her pocket.
While she was waiting on the engine work, she had another Escape she was driving, Titanium. Nice car.
I'd love to see you take those parts as a starting point and completely rehab and rebuild this engine. Doubtless it would not make financial sense, but I think it would make good CZcams TV.
POWERNATION channel did a Ford 300 build series about a year ago that is worth watching. They took it from a former stationary power plant application and built it in stages, dyno-ing it along the way.
With sending the block , head ,and crank. Out for machining $1200. To do complete rebuild.
@@steveb6103 Which is a hell of a lot cheaper than a modern engine. and you'll get some free cubes along the way!
@@bendeleted9155 That was a good 1 and they got some really impressive numbers out of it.
POWERNATION just about doubled the power output by just installing a 4 barrel intake and long tube header. The factory 1 barrel carburetor and small port intake manifold are terribly restrictive.
Had a 350...302...360...283... still. THAT 300 ate the dirt and RAN...in my 3/4 ton Ford E250!!! Had beefed up rear end, shocks, etc... OUCH!!! Used to haul AT LEAST a ton inside ...man, Ford NAILED it!!!!! ✔️🤟✌️
By far the best engine ever made by any manufacturer. I had one in a 94 F150 with 300k miles and was still running like a sewing machine when I sold it and the new owner is in love with the truck.
The best by any manufacturer? That's debatable. Another good candidate would be the Volvo Red Block 4 cylinder. The Ford Barra used in taxis would rack up some truely incredible numbers of miles or kms. One thing that's really needed for an engine to have a long lasting potential life is a good oiling system.
Back in the day, I bought a 1979 F-100 with a 300 in it. Former owner put cold water in it when it overheated. The head cracked between each valve on each cylinder. First engine I ever rebuilt using an old Chilton manual as a guide.
That's quite the thought process there.
Good Ole days 😪
My first car was a 81 f150 with this engine. One of the great things was that it didn’t take up a ton of the room in the engine bay so it was much easier to get to things than modern engines.
I got a 87f150 good trucks for sure. Wish it was a 250
Had a 77 F150 extended cab with 8ft bed, & that big 6 got 21mpg on the road way back then. + it was easy to work on!
My dad bought a new f100 heavy duty in 1976 with a 300 4 speed manual transmission as a farm pickup. Pulled stock trailres, anhydrous tanks, grain augers,seed tenders you name it that heavy .5 ton truck did it all. My brother and I learned to drive in it. Ps we beat the absolute shit out of that thing. So was purchased new in 1976 was used on my dad's farm every single day until he retired in 2002 ish and then my brother took over and "inherited" the old ford pickup from dad which he used the same way until 2018 or 2019. At which point it had so many different things wrong with it that repairing it was not financially feasible. 600k plus miles on a farm pulling loads well above its range for nearly 50 years at least 3 clutches multiple alternators and 4? Carburetors. Same engine with one head rebuild and several pushrod replacements. Most bullet proof engine I have ever seen. Pretty much unbreakable if you did even minor routine maintenance.
In 1976 I bought an old 1966 Econoline van with a 240 in it. The engine was blown and I paid $75. for the whole van. I did an amateur rebuild with the engine in the truck. I was able to drop the oil pan, remove the head, take out the pistons, etc, using all hand tools of course. The cylinder head went to the shop. I remember that the cylinder bores were really worn as evidenced by the ridges. Two pistons had holes in them. I put new pistons, rings, and bearings in, all original size. Really an amateur job by a 20 something amateur. It ran, always using a small amount of oil. Well, I drove that thing for 60k more miles and then sold it in working order. When I saw this video, I was smiling the whole time, and I can appreciate how crazy and broke and young I was. You're not kidding, that engine was really great!
You made my day.
I've got one of these in the driveway in a 1991 F150 attached to the Mazda 5 speed that Ford used at the time.
This motor put out about 1 Hp for every 2 cubic inches.
I can go slow for the rest of my life with this motor.
Thanks, Great video!
Only 145 hp FI but 280 ft lbs of torque. 7 main bearings gives it a continuous duty rating, they make 92 KW running on nat gas.
The crazy thing is that you could probably put it all back together as you found it, drop it in a truck and drive it home! Lol. Those engins are insanely tough!
Definitely designed by a mechanic
Poor thing was neglected cuz you could!
I love how every video on Ford 300s is just everybody in the comments saying how they've got 17 trips to the Moon and back, 3 lifetimes worth of memories, and 12 oil leaks on their 30 year old daily driver sitting in their driveway. We truly are a cult.
280k miles on my '94 F150 with the 300 and now a ZF5 and kevlar clutch. Only problems I've ever had with the engine were cracked radiator/hoses and the gear on an aftermarket distributor falling off the shaft and into the oil pan, smog pump seized and water pump changed within the last couple thousand miles. All easy fixes thanks to how accessible everything is. The goal is to try and get it to half a million miles, but the oil pump may put a kink in that plan. Not quite sure yet if changing an oil pump warrants just going ahead and rebuilding the entire engine or not.
Thanks for the video. Enjoyed watching that.
I love these things. Heavy, slow, rock simple and require about as much maintenance as an anvil. They were extremely overbuilt (and never made enough power to hurt themselves), which greatly helped their longevity. I remember growing up with my dad, he had a 1993 F150 with this mill, and gave it to a friend after buying his 99 F250 used (I was about 5 at the time, maybe around 2002-2003). His friend still drives it, and it is well north of 500K miles. The entire truck has fallen apart around it. Shackles and spring perches are paper thin, the bed has rotted out long ago, and the bottom of the cab has mostly returned to the earths, but it still runs beautifully, and he states that it barely burns oil (although it leaks plenty). It now resides in a stone quarry now, living an easy life of pulling a water tank around the pit once a week, probably never to see the road again. I’m trying to get the engine and trans out of it, once it inevitably splits in half for a half-assed rebuild and some boost, to put in a Jeep.
My uncle has one in his old 81 f150 he uses in the summer. It's been redone and keeps it as a summer cruiser. 3 speed on the tree, 2wd, 300 with the old carb. Simple machine and runs like a top
Even the most hardcore GM guys think it will be a 300 that hauls the last remaining LS to the scrapper.
We ran one out of oil on the farm and locked it up. The next day after it had cooled overnight, we added oil and it fired right up. Still used it as a feed truck for several more years.
No we don't
I can think of only the 3.0L diesel that is used in the 80s toyota hillux as more reliable 🤣
@@michaeltarno2979 I'd say the 22R could be a serious contender there... My cousin Had a Hylux and put it thru hell and back... Fequently ran it out/ low on oil and that motor would not die....
Even after he crashed it and flipped it onto it's top... that damn motor still fired right up....
The rest of the truck was totaled though....
Old chevy inline sixes had the same reliability as a 300
@@UAE_8100 The 235, 250, and the 292 were excellent engines.
Trip down memory lane...my 1st truck was an F150 with a a straight six. I loved the torquey bottom end. I lived up north and had a freeze plug rot out from salt and rust and semi-cooked the engine. The starter complained every time starting after that. I found a donor truck and swapped for another. She ran well until the rest of the truck rusted away from the engine.
My 1982 Bronco had the 300 I-6 with a four speed granny gear manual transmission. It was a beast. We were out canoeing with a bunch of people and the main canoe trailer was being pulled by a Suburban 4WD. It could not make it up the levee and I hooked up to the Suburban with the trailer attached and walked it up the levee in 4WD low, 1st gear. I ran Mobil1 oil in the engine and at 80K miles the drain plug stripped out, brought it to a garage to get fixed and when the mechanic pulled the oil pan he called me and asked what kind of oil I was running and said the bottom end looked like new
There are a few issues on those later engines. The cam gear for a while was fiber, and would disintegrate, but it's a non interference engine so a new gear fixes it. The heads can crack between the valves, but that usually takes some major overheating. The plastic was likely dropped in when the pan gasket was changed, it looks like a hose support. The heads don't flow very well, but there is tons of meat for porting, and unshrouding the intake valve makes a huge difference too.
The 300 and 240 came out in 65, and both were available in the trucks until 74, then only the 300 from there out. The 240 was also available in full size cars as the base engine, but was dropped in 74.
I've built these engines a few different ways, with my favorite build having been a late 70s head and block, bored .080" over, using flat top pistons from a 360 to get ~9.5:1 compression. I kept the stock 1bbl carb, and it moved my old van very nicely.
"The cam gear for a while was fiber"
Yeah, my understanding is they originally used metal gears but at some point a decision was made to switch to nylon due to noise reduction. Most people recommend changing to the metal gear, because the nylon ones have been known to fail.
I was going to say something about reliability of these , I've seen one towed into my old shop as a no start- Phenolic cam gear teeth had stripped out, first time I'd ever seen a fiber/plastic cam gear
@@midnitetoker15 chevy 6 cylinders , as well as all of their V8 engines always used nylon timing gears . Nearly all domestic V8 engines started using nylon timing gears in the mid 60's and continued to do so for decades .
@@HowardJrFord Grew up in a GM family, learned to hate what the bean counters did to the faithful customer.
Granddad had farm trucks that had the 'for dependable economical transportation' tags on the kick plate
But one of the WORST screwing was the Olds/Pontiac stories...
The 300 I6 has a 4" bore. The 360 V8 has a 4.05 bore. Overboring the 300 by .080 would not allow you to run the 360 pistons. Most hot rodders overbore the 300 by .050 and run the 360 or 390 flat tops. An Offenhauser dual port intake with a Holley 390 cfm 4 barrel carb, comp cams high energy camshaft, porting and polishing of the head and a set of steel tube 3 into one headers make the 300 into a real powerhouse.
8:54 Those shorties are sought after. They flow damn near as well as an aftermarket header does and are a common upgrade for the older carburetted engines which just have a pair of cast iron 'logs', one for intake one for exhaust. Worth a decent amount of money on their own.
had a 300 in my 93 ford F-150 ,5 speed ,2 fuel tanks ,huge low speed torque, i had 340,000 miles on it when i sold it ,biggest mistake i ever made ,i loved that ,never had any problems, except 2 cluch replacements
i have had 4 300 straight six. loved every one. the best one in a 68 econoline. that van went for years and years and years. all over the southeast usa. what a nice ride.
28:03 Still probably ran just fine truth be told, at least as far as bottom end racket goes. And keep in mind these things don't really give a shit what viscosity oil you put in them, so when the bottom ends start getting noisy they'll just get fed thicker and thicker oils until each change is 7 quarts of 75w90.
And you know it is time to up the viscosity when you air cleaner housing fills up with engine oil. These engines may be unkillable, but you'll wish they would just die already. I owned 5wo F150s with the 300 I6. Put a reman in one at 125k; the other started blowing oil at 150k.
@@robertmcgovern8850 lol you think that's time for a replacement on a 300? A third of the way into its useful lifespan and you yeet it because the air filter is slightly oily?! God I feel sorry for your wallet with this modern garbage that doesn't even last that long before it spins a rod bearing...
350k miles on mine before I finally called it. I prolly drove that son of a bitch for 10 years with it oiling its air filter like you describe. It still ran fine, it still had oil pressure, so I still drove it. I only called it when the bottom end started clattering to beat the band and the oil pressure gauge didn't move.
@@robertmcgovern8850 By the by, the time to up the oil viscosity is when you get bottom end clatter, not when you get a little blowby. Blowby is top end wear and you're never gonna get that to go away by putting thicker oil in the sump.
Also you're never gonna get a 300 that doesn't have a healthy amount of blowby. They weren't built with that in mind. They have a lot of blowby even when brand new, just how they are. all the tolerances on these things come from the mid 1960s when people just didn't worry too much about making engines fit super super super closely like they do today. They put more value on rugged durability than they did close precision part fitment, so yeah, these things have blowby by default. Every engine from that era does. Just the nature of the beast.
@@TestECull Agree with all of that. But it did seem to get unsupportable around 90-150k miles. Like, when my father gifted me the first F-150 (c. 1982 model), he had wired an orange juice bottle to the grille and ran a hose from the air filter's PCV fitting to catch the engine oil.😄 Had to empty it every 1000 miles or so. And keep a case of 50wt behind the seat. There's little doubt the 300 would have run another 100k like that, if you kept filling & emptying the oil.
I dropped a reman in the first truck ($1400, plus a clutch pack), which was dead simple even for a relative newbie like me.🙂 When the second gifted F-150 (c.1988 model) started blowing oil, I just traded it in. Both trucks wound up costing me $250 a month to keep them on the road (water pump, starter, ball joints, radiator, starter, manifold, distributor, did I mention starter?). The two Toyota trucks I've owned since have a combined 550k on them and burn/blow zero oil. I feel no nostalgia for the F-150s at all.😒
@@robertmcgovern8850 lol I'm gonna have to call bullshit on that level of oil use. Either he was way overfilling it or he somehow managed to burn a hole in a piston. Mine...keep in mind this is with 350,000 miles of wear and prolly a good 40-50 thousandths ring ridge built up...didn't foul up an air filter all that quick. I never had to top the oil up and the air filter lasted about 30-35k miles.
Either you're just full of shit or there was something really wierd going on with your engines that doesn't happen in anyone else's.
I've been hoping you'd do one of these. Loved it! The 4.9L in my 92 F150 (bought new) ran perfect at 240,000 when I got rid of it. One of the most reliable, low maintenance, never in the shop engines I've owned.
My dad had one in his E150. Cargo van. In white. Same year though
255k on it before it even hiccupped thinking something went on the distributor because it would start but wouldn't idle right. Still could move the van just slowly and had no issue holding 60 mph with a dead miss.
These things are true workhorses!
I had an '87 Bronco out in Nebraska (salt roads in Winter) and the body just rotted away...motor and 5-speed (LUK clutch) ran like scalded dogs. I REALLY miss that truck (4X4).
The 300 Inline Six is basically Ford's version of the Toyota 2RE (considering they both have outstanding reliability and dependability as well that live for decades and decades) and they'll outlast any EcoBoost engine Ford makes with ease.
Bet you it's still out there driving somewhere
Same story here , 92 , 4.9 , 240 tho. most reliable . Mine had a 5 speed manual.
I was friends with a guy that had a dad that hotrodded the ford 300. To the point it sounded like a cammed up 429 and ran like a nicely warmed over 351c. He loved the mid seventies to mid eighties blocks for the work over. All the smog equipment get pulled off, valves, head flow, a bit extra stroke and larger bore had it pushing 5.3-5.5 liter six. Fab up a four barrel intake a triple two exhaust (three sets of two into one pipes then into two with cross duals).
It was wacky feeling those straining against the brakes as you loaded up for launch. Just smooth, no real trembling like an bb eight. Just dump it and pedal to the floor hold on to your butt. I don't know how many of those were around for five counties. Chances are someone has one in a rusty pickup in a back yard or a few made their way to a scrap yard. Anyone that found one and knew it was different would be wise to put it back into service on a ratrod or just rebuild and paint for a garage art piece of hotrod history.
I'm a Chevy guy but I have a great deal of respect for the 4.9L. Not only are they super reliable but with the fuel injection and intake they are super fuel efficient and have about the same power as a 302. I'm actually rebuilding one right now with a rv cam and Bosch performance flow matched injectors.
Hi, I am in Australia, I would like to replace my 351 cleveland with this type of engine, as fuel economy is atrocious in my f250 with Holley carb and propane. what mileage do you get or expect?
@@buddyrojek9417 mine is still a work in progress. A friend with 95 f150 5 speed 2 wheel drive got around 22 maybe 24 highway. I got flow matched bosch4 injectors and a mild cam (more for efficiency than power) so along with the efi system I'm expecting good results once I get it all put together.
@@nathanhale7444 thanks for that, mine does 3 km to litre of propane at 65mph
@@nathanhale7444 your friends truck gets 3 times the mileage of a mild stock 351 v8 on propane, I am impressed by the ford 6
@@buddyrojek9417 well propane is kinda Hard to compare to gasoline. It's energy density is lower but you do get a little more power and it burns so clean you hardly ever have to change the oil. The straight 6 design is by nature more efficient than a v8 because of its harmonics but the fuel injection, 5 speed transmission combined with how well they're balanced seems to be what sets it apart so much. Oh I almost forgot it had had royal purple oil in it since it was almost new and even with over 200k miles didn't leak a drop of oil between changes. Synthetic oil also makes an engine more efficient.
I was a mechanic for Ford starting in 1971. This engine was bulletproof and this engine was very rebuildable after a trip to machine shop. It was plugs and points back then.
I bought a Ford F150 new in 1988 with this 300 six cylinder engine. 18 years later it still ran like new. The only thing that I did was replace 1 freeze plug. Not even a water pump or alternator.
If you only drove it 1000 miles a year, thats not impressive. Tell us the mileage it had on it. Thats what we want to know!!
@John Franklin I have a 95 with almost 500,000 km (close to 300,000 miles). I am the fourth owner (that I know of). The gentleman that owned it before me ran it out of coolant twice and never changed the oil.
It was running just fine (a little lower on power than it should be) until I freshened it up and slapped two turbos onto it. I'm almost at the point of having it on the road again.
Bought a 1992 E 250 extended van from a guy set up with a carpet steam cleaning machine.. With all the stuff inside the van was somewhat heavy.. this set up came with the 4R10e, the predecessor the R4100 trans. On the hwy it got like 16 mpg and 12 around town.. At times it would have 125 gallons of water on board, and still would pull like a fricken cummins 6.7L diesel. The torque was amazing.. Can not image this engine with a 4 barrel and some decent headss.. talk about a classic.. Again fun to watch..
PS: my wife think I'm nut's watching a rando tear down old/new engines. LOLOLOL... told her it was the best way to see some of the awesome technology used in sometime modern engines.. it truly is amazing at times.. Thanks..
Hands down the best engine put in a truck!!! They put them in the F350’s too!
I'm surprised you didn't pull the lifter side cover since that's not a frequent thing people see. But I'm glad you retrieved this engine from the bin!! Thanks!!
Yes! Another classic off the list!
Thank you for your effort in finding this motor. I've turned wrenches on these guys for ages but have never been able to tear one apart - none of them ever failed on me enough to tear down.
It's tough to screw up a straight six. The Chrysler Slant, the AMC 242, even the GM TurboThrift are all pretty reliable and make excellent torque for their displacements, but the 300 is just an absolute monster in terms of sheer durability in the face of neglect. I appreciate the salvage efforts!
Keep it below 4 grand and it will run forever.
@@johnstreet797 Nah even at 4 grand it will run forever as long as there's something vaguely oil like in the pan. 10w, 20w, 30, 40, 50, any multivis between 10w30 and 75w90, hell you could probably dump seven quarts of castor oil in the sump and never have any problems as long as it doesnt sit long enough to gum up.
Don't forget the jeep 4.0L. Another near bullet proof motor.
@@chaddog313 Somewhat, if you got a carburetted one. If you get an EFI model you get that oh-so-wonderful Chrysler electrical unreliability bolted onto the outside. Still a really good longblock with a bunch of shit smeared over the side haha
@@TestECull yea I had a bunch of 80's cj's I used to build for 4 wheeling. The efi from the 90s yj sucked the latter tjs with no distributors were pretty bad ass though. They didn't mind getting wet at all
In Australia we used the small cousins of these engines up till the mid seventies and then started playing around with the heads to make them crossflow and then we switched the cam to up top and then we added another cam and the Barra engine was born. Yes there were bottom end changes but when you start with a strong set up and improve it you get something even stronger. Inline sixes are great. lets put a twin cam Barra head on a 300 bottom end and watch it boogie, if only we could. The sludge in the sump is plain old dirt. When it falls out of suspension it forms a rubbery mat. You would see this a lot in the Flintstones era when the crankcase ventilation was a pipe straight out of the side of the crankcase and pointed at the ground. You might have a bit of steel mesh in the pipe to keep rocks out. You would also see that same gunk in oil bath air cleaners. They were from before the Flintstones era.
When I was 19 I drove the inline 6 F150 on a four month road trip starting in Alabama, through two dozen states Alberta and BC, down to San Diego and back. Great memories.Thanks for the teardown vid.
For a deeper dive into the 300 six look up what Power Nation did with one. Starting with one from a industrial pump and making 81 horse power they went crazy and had the thing making around 500 horse on the dyno. Be surprised if someone does not snap up this one for a buildable core.
There was a man from Virginia or North Carolina who took 3 Ford Boss 302 cast iron cross flow cylinder heads with big valves and ports, (no such thing as aluminum heads at the time), welded them together (note: 300-sixes have 4.48 bore centers, but 302's have 4.38 bore centers) machined off the exhausts, raised the exhausts by 1/2 or 3/4" with aluminum plates, had a special cam made up, (the intake exhaust valve sequence is exactly opposite between a 300-6 and a small block Ford V-8) adapted Chrysler 392 mechanical fuel injectors, and ran the engine for years at the drags, setting the elapsed time and mph records for his class several times. The video is on CZcams, search under.. "Six In A Row Sherman Slighs Boss 310 Six Cylinder Ford..." His interview starts at 27:20 in to the video. . Going back to the 1960s-70s, I had a friend who ran a 300-6 at a local 3/16 mile dirt track, 305 cubic inch size limit, homemade 4-bbl intake, several other mods for "durability and economy" and he was rarely beaten. His 300 6cyl had torque coming off the curves that Chevy and Ford 302 V8s could only dream about, and he still was able to go down the straits as fast as anybody else. But the key was he had the torque coming off the curves. And BTW, the 2nd fastest car at the track had a Chevy 292 straight 6. The inline 6s just had the torque down low that (as above) Chevy and Ford 302s couldn't even dream about.
If the cylinder head isn't cracked, it's a KEEPER!
I had a 300 six in a 1976 Ford Econoline. Aside from a few alternators, starter, and a valve job, I drove that van 400k miles. For 20k miles before I sold it, it had deep engine knock, but it still ran pretty darn good... That engine actually looks quite rebuildable
Looks to me like a perfect rebuild candidate, of course it needs to be magni fluxed to be sure that there are no cracks in the block or heads and some work done at a machine shop.
Yes, that's a good core.
Hi Guys, I am from Australia but don't judge me on that. I really do enjoy this show and do tend to Binge watch as it is very entertaining. Back to the 300, I am open to correction on what I say here I am only going on memory. I was raised on Mopar which down here we called Valiant. Had many slant 6 engines and loved them. Ford introduced the Falcon in 1963 with a 140cu inch 6 cylinder. This engine stood the test of time and the basic design was improved to 170 200 and 250 cu inch. These were a very reliable engine and well respected. 1978 ish saw Ford Aust. put a crossflow head on the 250 and it was a hit. The block, crank and whole bottom end was so strong and would put up with a lot of punishment so was constantly developed. 1990 saw a turbo version appear for a short time and through the 90's computer managed Electronic ignition came into play and by the end of that decade we had what was the XR6 and XR6 turbo. Roll into the 2000's and ford produced the meanest 6 cylinder engine on the market, still based on the original design with a few tweaks and called it the BARRA engine. Google it if you are not up to speed. These engines could easily produce and sustain 1000hp and hold together in racing form in fact There are engines that have produced 2000hp. with twin turbos and a heap of fun stuff. Unfortunately Ford Australia could not sustain it's entity and closed with that the Barra was a dinosaur though the blocks are highly sought after for racing. There is a huge market for billet alloy racing engines built to this spec and it all started with what you have just stripped down. Just have a close look at the strength of the block build of that engine crankshaft and bearings. Keep up the good work
The 240/300 is a different engine completely from the Aussie six. The 144/170/200/250 family you're talking about, came before the 240/300 engine of '65. Ford finally discovered coil springs for the real suspension that year, adveristed it as quiet as a Rolls-Royce in LTD trim, and gave taxi-drivers of America a new six cylinder.
The original 144 started out with four mains like the Slant Six in fall '59. The original 144 at 85 gross SAE hp on a very very good day and about 60 net couldn't pull the skin off an orange. Then, if you really wanted an automatic, Ford had a 2 speed Ford-O-Matic for speeding downhill with the wind behind you. Marginally less performance than a VW beetle driven by a maniac. With 4 mains, it wasn't all that smooth either. The 200 with seven mains was much better. Drove a Torino wagon with the 250 and three on the tree a fair bit
in '69 on a summer job. Very smooth, nicer than the 250 Chev in a new Malibu, IMO, and I have no skin in Detroit's game.
The 240/300 was a physically larger engine than the one you're talking about (144.170/200) that Ford Australia used for decades. In '78, my parents bought a smog-equipped 200 ci Ford Fairmont. 89 hp at 2900 rpm -- that was the malaise era. What a dog, smelled hot if you ever gave it much gas and never ever idled properly. Yeah, it was the first year for the Fox body, also featured on Mustangs.
Glad Ford Australia made it into something to be proud of. Because here, that engine family disappeared without trace and no regrets I've ever read.
After watching this video. I now miss my 1979 F-150 rust bucket, with the 300 and 3 on the tree. Great video. The 300 was a tough, probably the toughtest ford motor ever built.
Toughest OHV, but I think the venerable Flathead V8 is right there alongside it for overall. I'd give a tie between the two.
The 300 straight six was my first realization that tourqe is freaking awesome! Had one in my 81 Bronco 4 speed and in 4-low it was a BEAST! Thanks for taking me back down memory lane!
I had one in a 86 pickup. I loved that first gear, it pulled that 2 wheel drive beast up 30 degree berms while I was checking railroad tracks. Cake.
This engine has permanently altered my perception of power to the point I don't consider an engine to have any power what-so-ever if it doesn't pull like a freight train at 1600RPM. An engine can make all the numbers it wants on the north end of the tach but if it doesn't pull worth a fuck at 1600 I will straightfacedly say it has no power.
@@HappyHarryHardon My 85 has 2.49 rear gears and the wide ratio 4-speed manual. I can hit 40mph in first gear, 70 in 2nd, and yet despite the super long legs it will STILL pull a 7,000 pound trailer without a care in the world. STILL manage to out-pull its suspension, brakes.
I've heard some guys call these a diesel with spark plugs. I'm inclined to agree.
@@TestECull 40 in first is crazy, I can barley hit 20😂
@@TestECull 85 4.9L says it has 223ft lbs at 1600. My 96 Explorer with the 4.0 OHV has 220ft lbs at 2000 RPM. Both develop torque very low like a Diesel.
I have 4.10 gears, feels very torquey! The EFI 4.9s look like Torque Monsters.
Had a 78 f 150 with lots of miles. Had 3 broken piston skirts and it still ran. Couldnt find one in the junk yard so i rebuilt it. Great motor.
I started at Ford March, 1977, my mentor was a man by the name of Charles Burke. Charlie was a tool engineer who came over from Chevrolet Parma. He was the one that told me that Ford had based the 300 on the Mercedes. He also told me that the 351C was based on a Cadillac design. The Ford 289 came about because of Chevrolets work on the light weight small blocks. I myself still think the 327 was one of the finest engines on the planet. I never questioned Mr. Burke, but the tooling knowledge he passed on to me gave him a lot of credence in my eyes.
My 94 is still running great at 360,000 miles and I also have a 93 with 420,000 miles she’s the drinker of oil but as long as she has oil she runs well for the amount of abuse it’s been through lol best engine ever made I think!
Hey I was just wondering what type of oil and weight u run in the 300s. I have a 94 f150 with the 300 and currently using Rotella but seen yours have that many miles I'm wanting to shoot for that many on mine. Thanks
@@darrellhobbs1898 I got the 93 with a little more than 200,000 on it and drove it for over 10 years and it did really well with the Motor Craft 5w-20 or 5w-30. I’ve not once had a lifter our valve knock on a cold start like I’ve had when using other brands, at least in that price range so when I got the 94 I started using the same thing and the same results. I never really thought about running shell, I would assume using it would give you the same results if not better! And especially if you are keeping up with maintenance on a regular basis.
Thank you for your time writing back. I really appreciate it.
Eric thanks for this 300 teardown
What this showed was the design of why this engine was bullet proof. Ford’s champion
I think it's safe to say that most - if not all - straight six engines built in America were extremely good engines. The 300 was defintely a gladiator, but so was the mopar Slant -6, and the AMC/Chrysler 232-258-4.0L. Lots of successful GM I-6's also. There's just something about the inherent qualities of the striaght six that makes them reliable.
The inherent self preservation qualities of low compression, restrictive intake and exhaust tracts and torque biased cam timing makes all the Detroit straight sixes long lived.
@@countryjoe3551 High compression inline engines can also last a long time. Cummins 5.9L anyone? And then there's Mercedes inline diesels. Inline engines are inherently more robust. Even inline fours.
I LOVE the 300-6. I’ve driven a few and had at least one other in the family. I also have a story.
I have personally driven a 1979 F-100 with a 300-6 and a 3-on-the-tree, a combination at least engine and transmission-wise I’d like to find for a fun, classic vehicle today and a 1985 F-150 with a 4-speed manual OD.
The story I have is about the 85, owned by my step-dad (my grandfather owned the 79). My stepdad was going to pick me up from Explorer Scouts in the early 90s and the water pump and thermostat went out. I’m not sure which was the chicken and which was the egg. My stepdad drove a long way to pick me up with the truck overheating and a long way back. We did stop on the way back to top off the radiator. He replaced the water pump and thermostat and there were absolutely no negative repercussions from that situation.
Seeing this engine is sad to me. This engine very obviously was majorly neglected when it came to maintenance. This was a great engine that deserved better.
Look up Ford Bronco Tannerite on CZcams. It’s an old video. Basically some gun enthusiasts put Tannerite in a 1979 Ford Bronco and shot it causing an explosion. Do you know what survived? The 300-6 engine block that was in it. I will say though, I always knew they were bulletproof. Apparently, they’re explosion proof, too.
It really is a shame they don’t make them anymore.
By the way, I’ve never driven a fuel injected one like this. I believe this is an 87 or newer. It was probably the best version of the engine.
31:01 With a 300 there is a not-zero chance it will just simply stop turning without being damaged. Take plugs out, spin it till the chambers are clear, put plugs back in, fire it back up, carry on. They really are THAT tough. They will survive swallowing pond water.
A fella really has to be deliberately trying to kill one of these things and even then it's gonna be a challenge. Why we love them so much!
I put the hurt on my 240 in a '70 F100. it rattled and what not yet it would start, sometimes reluctantly, on cold WI mornings when not much else would. The engine lasted longer than the Warner 3 speed behind it.
I hydrolocked one in a mire at close to 12,000ft in elevation (totally my fault). Pulled the plugs, blew the water out of the cylinders, changed the oil and it fired right back up, but with a knock. Wheeled it down off the mountain and then drove about 75 miles back to the city. Fairly certain I bent a rod and that thing was really only running on 5 cylinders during the trip back - still got 18 mpg and the rod knock quieted considerably. Found another 300 and swapped that in. Probably could have saved the original since it only had about 130k on it, but I only paid $400 for the second engine and it had around 60k on a rebuild. The kicker is that the original engine had something going on in the bottom end when I bought it. It had a strange, barely audible knock at idle that had driven me crazy for years. I think somebody had damaged it long ago and my hydrolock incident was the final straw. I bet a fresh 300 would have survived. Did it fail? No. Never. Ran for years with what was probably low oil pressure and then got me all the way back to civilization in a compromised state without breaking a sweat. Truly impressive.
@@silasakron4692 And that's why I firmly believe...to the point I will die on this hill...that the 300 six is the best overhead valve engine Ford has ever and will ever produce. Why I'm all too happy to keep driving one in 2023. They're amazing engines. Tough as nails, reliable, smooth, long lasting, rugged, miserly, torquey...the perfect engine for a half ton truck or a full size car if the hood will allow it to fit.
They can brag up the ecoboost V6's power and efficiency all they want. I don't care. Gimme a 300 with a Carter YF instead.
I agree on serviceability too. You can tell that whoever engineered it did it with that in mind. It's kind of funny because you never have to tear them down, so it doesn't matter that they're so easy to work on. I put a new distributor in one many years ago and forgot to put the oil pump driveshaft back in when I reinstalled it. After starting and shutting it down due to the loud lifter noise for 20 minutes of total running, I finally realized what I had done. Sick to my stomach, I located the driveshaft for the oil pump and fired it up once again. The valve train noise persisted, so I pulled it half out of the shop to let it blow up right there in the driveway as I cleaned up the shop. After about 25 minutes of further idling, I went to go shut it off because I had to get to bed, and right before I did, the lifter noise stopped and never came back. I drove that truck another 15k miles with that engine with no further issues. It did lose oil pressure at idle but no knock developed and it didn't even take a hit on gas mileage. Only reason I tore that engine out and rebuilt it is because I needed to do a cross-country run from California to NYS to pick up some belongings I had left and my brother and sister's house when I left. I think the engine probably would have made the trip fine, but with the oiling issue I didn't feel comfortable, so I took it to the machine shop, had the cylinders bored .030 over, had the crank polished, did pistons, rings, cam and threw it back together.
The reason this story is so remarkable to me is that I once had a perfectly running Chevy 350 in a van that lost oil pressure for maybe 10 seconds at idle because the oil filter had rusted completely through, and when I pulled it out of the weeds to bring it into the shop, it dropped the entire contents of the oil pan on the ground. It lost oil pressure pulling it into the shop and shut itself off due to the low oil pressure sensor as I went to throw it into park. That few seconds of no oil pressure? The engine was dunzo. We tried doing an oil and filter change, but the bearings were already gone. My buddy whose truck it was drove it for another couple weeks like that but couldn't keep oil in it. We tore it down and it was completely destroyed. None of the bearings spun but they were badly damaged, and the cylinder walls were badly scored. I have a lot of reverence for the SBC even though I'm a Ford guy, but that just illustrates the difference between a V8 and an I6 and the differences in reliability. The crankshaft on the I6 with 7 main bearings is just so much more stable with much less deflection and therefore less friction. that's the only way I can explain the lack of damage to the bearings with me running that thing so long with no oil pressure. I still have a hard time believing it even though it was mee that had the experience. 20 minutes with no oil, and the engine was like, meh.
The "little brother" to the 300 Six was a 240 CID offering; same bore, shorter stroke. Along with the 300, came out in ' 62 or '65, can't remember which, and was intended for the FULL-SIZE Fords as the base engine. Any engine has to have a fairly stout bottom end to be hauling around a Ford Galaxie sedan. Few private customers bought 'em, I understand most went into non-police fleets. I do recall seeing one in a neighbors' 1970 Ford.
@@selfdo Yup. I've heard of the 240. I watched a video recently where they found one in an early '70s Ford 1/2 ton van but I've never seen one in person. I think from the outside they're basically identical to the 300.
@@selfdo I have a 70 with a 240 .
The 300 needs maintenance the gaskets are terrible on these older i6s. And they do tend to need repairs on the in two and outer two cylinders. The efi 300 this is less of a problem. But the 300 i6 isn't that great on reliability. If you guys didn't use running as the objective measure you'd see most older i6s are outside of desired optimal health
V8 5 main designs have less crank deflection and are more stable than a i6 7 main bearing design.. this is objective truth.
I know this engine wouldn’t make a good candidate for a cheap overhaul. But I would love to see it brought back to life. And put in some old pickup I think it would run many more years. These engines are unbelievably tough. But a lot of the older Ford engines are also. My Dad always owned Fords, he used to claim you can’t put a Chevy on flat car and ship it as far as can drive a Ford. I drove more than one for an unbelievable long time myself. Used them hard and they always stood up great.
600,000 miles on a 76 econoline van 4.9L, when my dad sold it in 2012 still ran great! just bought a 93 f-150 shorty because it had this motor in it.
I love this engine. Had one in a '96 F150 and it was bullet proof. If you could get traction, you could climb a tree.
My first truck was a '92 F-150 Flareside with the 300 and a 'Mazda' 5 speed. Loved that truck except for the few icy days here in North Dallas. She loved 80mph in 5th gear OD on the tollway, and with a dual exhaust it had a note that my trusty old dog knew the sound of before I even turned the corner for home. Sadly, even here in Texas, everything around the 300 was falling a part long before the engine was even 'broken in' at 130k.
Drove 2 E350's with these for 13yrs as a forklift road tech, they never failed me, between the 2 drove 250k miles. With all my tools, parts, supplies and a compressor, it weighed in at 9000lbs....never phased it. Along with that it would at times pull a heavy duty trailer with a Miller welder/genset and a hydraulic forklift tire press on it.....never batted an eye.
IM NOT A FORD GUY EITHER,I BOUGHT AN OLD ECONOLINE IN THE 70S WITH THIS ENGINE,240CI..IT HAD NEARLY 200,000 MILES WHEN I GOT IT AND I DROVE IT FOR ANOTHER 10 YEARS AND IT WAS RINNING PERFECT WHEN I SOLD IT TO A FELLOW IN MONTANA..IN COLORADO MY WIFE WOULD USE A SCREWDRIVER TO BREAK THE ICE OUT OF THE CARB,AS THE MOTOR WAS BETWEEN THE FRONT SEATS,WE WOULD DRIVE WITH THE DOGHOUSE UP AND KEEP THE ICE CLEAR,GREAT MOTOR,ONLY CHANGED THE OIL AND PLUGS
That 300 straight 6 is a prime example of why maintenance is key on any 300 straight 6 no more than 3,500 Mi interval oil changes and always always always always a good oil
Thank you Eric for this. Mine has 295k miles so it'll be kicking for a while.
bought an 03 2500 hd (6.0 lq4 with 4l80 trans) from my boss. (We used it for our tree service) This truck had 370k miles when i bought it. We would regularly tow a skid steer and sometimes a stump grinder at the same time on this truck on the freeway going 80+ mph. Straight up torture tests on the daily. My co-workers would also dog it anytime they had the chance lol. I don't think they changed the oil for a year. Got the truck, replaced coils and plugs, deleted the muffler and replaced stock cat with a cheap high flow cat and serviced the transmission just fluid, fillter and pan gasket. Changed the oil (puralator filter, used a mixture of 10/w30, lucus oil, and marvel mystery oil.( i called it motor milk 😂) Ended up selling it at 420k Miles after the manifold gasket slowly went. Had that truck been properly maintained from the start, it could've hit a million miles.
I've been driving one of these engines for 40 years in a 1983 F100 that I bought new. I lived in rust belt Pennsylvania for over 30 years, but I have almost no rust. That is because for a short time, Ford used Sumitomo coated steel which had excellent rust resistant properties. Later years rusted our much faster than my 1983. I had one internal engine problem. One of the rocker arms had its oil hole drilled a little off, so the rocker did not get as much oil as the others. This did not hurt the rocker, but the reduced oil flow caused the lifter to stick after many years. This appears to be because the reduced flow allowed varnish to coat the inside of the lifter. Since the lifter hydraulic adjuster has extremely tight tolerances, the varnish is enough to cause the lifter to stick on cold starts. I took it apart and cleaned it, but now after 40 years and 300,000 miles, a few lifters now stick. Someday I will remove them and clean them again. One thing I will NOT do is try any kind of oil additive or treatment to clean the lifters. I changed the front crank seal a few years ago, but left the back one because it is too difficult for me. Even so, I don't have to add oil between changes. No sign of oil consumption. Years ago, when running on real gasoline and lower speed limits, I got 20+MPG on the highway thanks to the AOD transmission, which is also original. Today it is about 17 but that is at 70mph speeds.
I had a 240 cubic inch version of this engine in a '66 F100. You keep oil in it, it runs forever.
Great video!
That old engine looks like it gave years of service, most likely outlasted the original vehicle it lived in. Thanks for an entertaining video, love your sense of humour, looking forward to the next video!
I had a 93 F150 with the 300. It was a plain Jane truck: no carpet, manual windows, manual locks, 5 speed. It was 4wd. Loved that truck and engine. 100k miles trouble free. Passed it on to Dad and he put 30 or 40k on it. Then he passed it on to a cousin. For all I know that truck may still be out there running.
I was a dealer technician when Obama instituted the cash for clunkers program, where older vehicles were given a rebate when traded in for a new one.
One of the stipulations of the program was the engine had to be destroyed (locked up). They sent a silica solution we were to mix with water, then replace the engine oil with it, and start the engine until it locked up. If I remember correctly the rules were to let it idle. So of course we would pin it every time because we had to know how it would turn out. I’m sure you know where I’m going with this.
Of all the engines we destroyed, the 300-6 was BY FAR the toughest engine to kill. I believe it stayed wide open for over a minute, then started again and lived for a more seconds. Most engines would barely make it a second or two at wide open throttle. Toughest. Engine. Ever.
There is almost no doubt this engine would run. I remember gasket slapping headgaskets on them, took about an hour and an oil change, good for another 100K.
If you haven't already I bet you sell the manifolds first! An 84 model 300 was the very first engine (and most expensive) engine I ever rebuilt way back in high school at 14 years old. Still driving it 26 years and 490k miles and counting!
I learned about engines by working in an auto parts store in the late 80s. The engine was like home. No complicated alloy frames or balance shaft capsules or overhead cams. Just lots of iron and steel. I was a skinny dude, and carrying heads and cranks for these engines just about did me in. Great episode, sir.
Bought a 67 F-250 with a 300 in it in North Dakota in 81. Pickup had almost 200K on it when I bought it, ran like a watch. Started every time no matter how cold it got.
Overheated it when the water pump went out, blew the head gasket, had the head reworked, it needed very little, drove it another 100K then sold it to a friend, as of two years ago he still had it.
All his kids learned to drive manual on it, still uses it on his farm.
Bought a new F-150 in very late 86 with a 300 in it, drove it over 160K and traded it off on a 96 Power Stroke. Really wanted the Fuel Injection, but the new 87s were just hideous, couldn't do it.
I live in Maine and I work with a guy that had a late 80's F-150 with one of these engines in it, and like you said these trucks all rust away at a certain point and his was at between 280-290,000 miles when the frame split. But he went through all the trouble to find a clean '96 with no motor from Texas, shipped it up to Maine and he threw that motor in it. Last I knew he racked up 400,000+ miles on that motor and she's still goes as strong as an ox.
Why can’t more engines be like these. So simple, so easy to work on.
Blame the EPA
@@vorant77 I can only blame the epa so far. The rest I blame corporate penny pinching. For example, the epa doesn’t tell them they need to use a cheap belt drive system, that’s a choice. Look at the timing system on this engine. For its entire life you don’t need to worry about a belt or chain that can break or stretch or slip. You don’t have a cover over it that you have to take 5000 bolts and remove 20 parts to get at. This engine could be completely disassembled in about 30 minutes if nothing else was wrong with it because it was designed that way. The EPA doesn’t force car manufacturers to do any of that different.
Because they make no power and would never pass emissions
I'm a Mopar guy, but I came to love this Ford engine. It's so unbelievably tough! That 4.9 you tore down has to been run more than 400,000 miles. I've seen them go 450,000 miles before a rebuild if they've been well taken care of.
My first vehicle was a red '93 F-150 with a 300 in it. Short bed, 2-wheel drive, with a 5-speed. I enjoyed that truck so much. I have never seen the insides of one of these, because I never had to do anything to mine. I really appreciate seeing this. One of my favorites (so far) of your vids!
Great video! PowerNation built one of those and got some impressive power out of it. Seven main bearing in line 6cyls can handle quite a bit of power.
I remember that episode! Throttle body fuel injection, and a turbo, roller tip rockers... all the usual serious hop parts and tricks. Over 500 h.p. and 600 ft. lbs of torque. all at around 45oo rpm if I remember correct. Gotta go back and check it out.
I bought a 94 F150 (auction) as my very first project, I had never done any mechanical work on anything, ever! Luckily it came with a 4.9L 300 and manual transmission. 246k miles still going strong! Now back to the video :)
My 300 in my old '96 F150 just turned 265k miles today. Still going strong.
Great breakdown video! Love how you efficiently remove all the accessories and systematically disassemble each section. Looking forward to your next teardown.
7:27 That's shockingly clean for a 300 not gonna lie. But still closer to 'dirty' than most of the engines you call dirty.
Thanks for tearing this down. My dad bought a 65 Galaxie 500 with 240 inch “Big Six” as they called it at the time. First to have a PVC system which failed resulting in a blown valve cover gasket. I put more miles on it than any other family member until I graduated from college and got my first car, a ‘68 Mustang GT. Then my sister totaled the Galaxie. Great engine compared to the former 6 we had in our 59 Ford and 6 we had in our 61 Chev, both of which didn’t make it to 80,000 miles before needing an overhaul.
Had one in my '91 full size Bronco, coupled to a 5 speed manual. LOVED that engine. Narrow power band, huge torque.