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Customs Please tell me about ford's inline 300 six?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Flynn's_57, Oct 5, 2020.

  1. railcarmover
    Joined: Apr 30, 2017
    Posts: 777

    railcarmover

    Worked on them in mobil sweepers,rollers,trucks,you name it.On propane they would run forever.EEC IV,EEC III,even the ones with that shitty feedback carb and the ignition module on the distributor body that would strand you without warning..Had one break the big end of the rod off,put a window in the block and rammed the slug to the top of the stroke..driver stuffed a rag in the hole and drove it in 5 miles to the shop..
     
  2. carbking
    Joined: Dec 20, 2008
    Posts: 3,715

    carbking
    Member

    We had one 300 CID six.

    Bought a van used at about 80k miles. Exhaust manifold was cracked, had Holley single barrel carb, and three on the tree. Mileage was horrible, about 10 MPG highway. This was my shop truck.

    Ordered new exhaust manifold, at the same time ordered an Offy 4-barrel intake; installed both with Carter 9400s (400 CFM). Could not believe the difference on fuel economy (jumped to better than 20 highway). Still didn't like the low end (I LOADED the van!), so replaced the three speed with a truck 4-speed with granny low. That solved the low end issues.

    I still shiver when I think about driving that van in Missouri winters. WAY too much interior volume for the heater. Installed a shower curtain behind the front seats which helped. Put one of the radiator covers on the front which also helped.

    Maintenance on the engine was a few sets of plugs, a couple of sets of plug wires, and 13, that is not a typo, thirteen electronic ignition modules! After the first one died, carried TWO in the van with tools!

    Maintenance on the van consisted of having a body shop cut out and fix the rust twice (Missouri uses salt and cinders to allow inferior drivers to get on the road in the winter). After the third rust out, junked the van. Engine was still running well with about 1 quart oil consumption between changes. Had a few more than 440,000 on the engine; and the cylinder head was never removed.

    That van went to a lot of swap meets across the country. As to the mileage I mentioned above; made one loaded trip from Eldon, Missouri to Chickasha, OK to the swap meet there with a Chevy buddy on board. He kept asking when I was going to stop for fuel. I finally did, in Chickasha! Standard fuel tank, whatever that is, doubters can look up the tank size and the number of miles.

    Really a great truck engine. Don't know what could be done to hot rod it, as other than the Carter 4 barrel upgrade, I didn't try.

    Jon.
     
  3. Boneyard51
    Joined: Dec 10, 2017
    Posts: 6,440

    Boneyard51
    Member

    The 240 was the standard engine in Fords big car line for years. The 300 was mainly a truck engine.

    The piston problem continued up to at least 1979, as I had trouble with my 1979 300 six. Ford made about ten different pistons for that six, trying to solve the piston problem. I’ve had two 300s piston problems on both. I swapped out to a 351W, never looked back!






    Bones
     
    Last edited: Oct 8, 2020
    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  4. I always considered the 300 to be a truck motor. But I have seen a taxi or two with one. I have not seen one in a car other than that but I imagine that they were an option for the full size ford.
     
  5. good torque ......ignition on the one I had(in a Truck, not hambish) was a constant problem. I'm guessing that starting from scratch you can address that issue, mine was a short term shop vehicle and, as such really didn't merit time to monkey with it. It was torquey....could get away from a traffic light pretty good for an old beater.
     
    Last edited: Oct 8, 2020
    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  6. Coggles
    Joined: Mar 3, 2019
    Posts: 67

    Coggles

    I have heard rumors that Hudson made a prototype ohv 308 and in the AMC changeover was picked up by Ford and evolved into the 300. Is it true... no idea...


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  7. King ford
    Joined: Mar 18, 2013
    Posts: 1,477

    King ford
    Member
    from 08302

     
    gimpyshotrods likes this.
  8. H380
    Joined: Sep 20, 2015
    Posts: 483

    H380
    Member
    from Louisiana

    I had a 71 F100 240 3spd. The thing to look out for with the early pre unleaded motors is soft/burnt valve seats and the fiber cam gear. Use an aluminum gear from a modern 300, put in hard valve seats seats. The carb choke used a heat riser hard line that screwed into the exhaust manifold. That fitting is always rotted out in the manifold. Use a different carb. I had no problems with the stock points. Give a sand every 6 months when it is hard to start without a functional choke. Good to go. Also low oil pressure is worn cam bearings most of the time.
     
    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  9. MO54Frank
    Joined: Apr 1, 2019
    Posts: 440

    MO54Frank
    Member

    Several years ago I saw a young guy who had shoe horned a 300 Six in a Ford Fairmont/Zephyr coupe. I know its an OT car, but still a creative repower.
     
  10. seb fontana
    Joined: Sep 1, 2005
    Posts: 8,442

    seb fontana
    Member
    from ct

    I built a 300 6L back in '84 and put it in my '71 Torino GT with 4spd and 3.00 gears. Ran great, fun car but sucked as a daily driver here in CT because wasn't cold weather friendly with all the 4v alum intake hanging out. Lots of cam, lots of head work, maybe 275-300 hp. CT winter road salt pretty much trashed the car. Used it to tow my pulling Garden Tractor to the fairs. Acquired a set of 3.50 gears and put them in so I wouldn't have to go to second gear around town and towing-wise it didn't seem to care. Gas mileage, 13/16. Spent too much time tinkering with it so parked it and bought a new '92 pick up with the 300 6L EFI, 5 spd and 3.55 gears. Not as much fun as the Torino [dog had fun] but still running for around town use, yes CT weather trashed it too..
     

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  11. badgascoupe
    Joined: Jul 22, 2011
    Posts: 186

    badgascoupe
    Member

    There was a guy who ran a green maverick with a 300 @ Lebanon Valley N Y ,car ran in the 10's.
     
  12. PacaRacer50
    Joined: Oct 3, 2010
    Posts: 171

    PacaRacer50
    Member

    Yes this is true. The Hudson engineer that did the design of it had the prototype engine for years in his garage. He did not stay at AMC after the merger but went to Ford. When Ford started to look at replacing the 223 I six he contributed heavily. Not sure if how much as he brought to Ford on this as he is long gone now. The story I was told was that the bore and stroke were the only big differences between the two engines. Basically it was a direct copy of what Hudson had done. Doubt anyone at Ford now would know anything about how it came to be after all this time. Best damn Ford engine I ever owned was a 300 six in a mid 70's F100 1/2 ton short bed truck. I bought it with 190K on it from a friend of my dads. I put over 200K on it myself and ran the crap out of it.
     
  13. big bird
    Joined: Feb 16, 2014
    Posts: 158

    big bird
    Member

    Reliable, indestructible, tons of torque. had an OT F150 that I drove until about a quarter million miles. Gave it to a buddy who drove it another 50+ thousand miles and traded it in.
     
    Truckdoctor Andy likes this.
  14. Great engine, better and faster than a flathead, I had a 223 cu in 52 Ford 2 Dr with a 6 cyl 235 Chevy carb and glasspack exhaust 72 mph at the drags, beat a lot of Olds and Cad powered cars out of the hole, 2 blocks later they'd catch up but hole shotting them was big fun. JW
     
  15. THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Joined: Jun 6, 2007
    Posts: 5,366

    THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Member
    from FRENCHTOWN

    Hello Flynn's_57.
    I have been a Ford big six advocate for much of my hot rodding hobby.
    I would like to refer you to a very good website about these engines www.fordsix.com.
    I have built several hot rods powered by 300 and 240 ci sixes.
    Some info on this thread is correct; other comments have - ahem, little basis in fact.
    Regarding length: V8 engines have the accessories hung off the front of the engine. The 300 accessories fit largely off behind the water pump pulley, making the difference in overall length smaller than one would expect.
    I worked at Ford R&D in Dearborn for 31 years, mostly in the Engine Performance Development Group. While my official duties involved V8s I did have privy to info on the sixes too. I think they make good engines with which to build a hot rod on several counts. You will find that they are very straightforward to build and their weak points and subsequent fixes are well documented on www.fordsix.com.

    Feel free to contact me personally if I can be of help in your build. Good luck with your project - have fun with it.

    Go to my profile page to see some of my six-banger drag cars and hot rods - altered roadsters, Willys, Anglias, etc.
     
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  16. THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Joined: Jun 6, 2007
    Posts: 5,366

    THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Member
    from FRENCHTOWN

    300s have been put in Falcons, Comets, Mavericks, and even Pintos. To do it right will require some firewall / floor pan mods. And by "right" I mean with a proper amount of engine setback to achieve a good weight distribution so you can take advantage of all that torque. With a side draft multiple carb setup you will not even need a hood scoop / blister. The rear-face-of-block is the same as small block Ford V8s so transmission choices are plentiful. Go for it.
     
    MO_JUNK, chryslerfan55 and jim32 like this.
  17. sunbeam
    Joined: Oct 22, 2010
    Posts: 6,213

    sunbeam
    Member

    Most 300s had Carter carbs I would replace them with 1920 holleys and watch the milage go up a bunch. A 300 can be made to preform think how well a 302 would run with a little one barrel carb and a log exhaust manifold.
     
  18. THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Joined: Jun 6, 2007
    Posts: 5,366

    THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Member
    from FRENCHTOWN

    In addition to carb and exhaust upgrades great improvement can be had by doing some head work in the valve bowl area and installing bigger valves which will aid in filling the 50 cubic inch cylinders. Concentrate your efforts around smoothing and enlarging the bowl - port matching is largely a waste of time unless you are building a hi-rpm racing version.

    For a practical streetable engine build capable of being daily driven and still setting you back in your seat when you punch it here is a list of things to try:

    2V or 4V (or multiple) carbs
    on an aluminum intake (or fab your own using the bottom half of an EFI)
    dual EFI cast exhaust manifolds
    low restriction exhaust system
    RV or towing cam with more lift than stocker


    Other things to address:

    replace the fiber timing gears with metal ones
    replace the early strutted cast pistons with hypereutectic ones
    use a FelPro #1024 high performance head gasket
    larger valves - SBC 1.94 and 1.600 will work
    Harlan Sharp roller rocker arms
    Clifford cast aluminum ribbed valve cover (or Aussiespeed)
    Duraspark ignition to replace points distributor
     
  19. Was working in a machine shop in the mid 1980"s.A guy I knew brought a 300 in for rebuild.My job was to pull it apart.One of the main bearing inserts was NOT there.Forget if it was top,or bottom now.I asked him if anyone had ever been inside the engine since he got it new.He said no I was the first.Ford had left half a main bearing out ! It had run fine,and had oil pressure.
     
    Truckdoctor Andy likes this.
  20. THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Joined: Jun 6, 2007
    Posts: 5,366

    THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Member
    from FRENCHTOWN

    I have taken a couple of 300s apart and found broken main caps. These on extreme duty race engines. One had two broken caps side-by-side and kept on revving.
    These engines are the B-17s of engines. Hard to knock 'em out.
     
  21. I had an 85 F150 with the 300 my dad bought new. He basically bought so could use it and help him haul stuff time to time. It was a fun truck with the 4 speed manual OD transmission but I destroyed the clutch by the time it had 40K miles. I could lay rubber in first gear really easily. By the time 80K miles rolled around, it was ready for it's third clutch.:D By then I looked into getting a heavier duty clutch and found out the larger diameter clutch was a simple bolt in. The flywheel already had the extra holes drilled and tapped for them from the factory. The issues it had was it would lose exhaust manifold bolts no matter how well they were torqued and Loctite was used. It later developed a really bad rattle when starting and then when accelerating and decelerating while it was cold. By then my dad had taken it back to use himself. After a while the transmission ended up giving out and he had it converted to an automatic. The exhaust manifold also cracked eventually from some lost bolts my dad didn't keep up on. He kept driving it and finally parked it after buying a new 94 F150 with also a 300. The 85 probably had over 300K or 400K by then and still ran even though it sounded like a can of loose bolts. I think he finally gave it away to one of his workers.
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2020
  22. carbking
    Joined: Dec 20, 2008
    Posts: 3,715

    carbking
    Member

    "Most 300s had Carter carbs" - agree.

    "replace them with 1920 holleys and watch the milage go up a bunch." - respectfully disagree

    "A 300 can be made to preform think how well a 302 would run with a little one barrel carb and a log exhaust manifold" - agree

    Jon
     
    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  23. sunbeam
    Joined: Oct 22, 2010
    Posts: 6,213

    sunbeam
    Member

    I did 4 or 5 early 70s 1/2 tons and one f600 and they all improved the Holley carbs came from chrysler slant 6s It could be I'm not good with YFs
     
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  24. AldeanFan
    Joined: Dec 12, 2014
    Posts: 892

    AldeanFan

    We had some 300 6’s in delivery vans when I worked for a transportation company. They were pretty much indestructible.
    Good power at 300+k with no maintenance, I can only imagine how one would do in a light car with a little work.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
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  25. carbking
    Joined: Dec 20, 2008
    Posts: 3,715

    carbking
    Member

    Or maybe I'm not good with Holleys.

    Jon.
     
  26. SS Pete
    Joined: Jan 13, 2017
    Posts: 48

    SS Pete
    Member

    Did a lot of work for UPS trucks in a machine shop in the 70s. the heads got new stellite valves,. springs, shave and a haircut. 6 new forged pistons on rods with rings and installed. hot tanked and painted oil pan, pump, screen, and drive rod primed and ready to install. these were on the shelf in stock. P.S. Jerry Arnold ? raced on in NHRA with 2 or 3 BOSS 302 heads welded together. he was a real deal racer.
     
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  27. THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Joined: Jun 6, 2007
    Posts: 5,366

    THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER
    Member
    from FRENCHTOWN

    I believe Jerry never raced a crossflow headed motor. He ran mostly in E/EA and E/ED classes which require a stock head. In his later racing years he used the GMC DOHC six. His buddies Ambrose, Argenta, and Huettman raced the crossflow head and they know more about those wonders than anybody else on the planet. Bob Huettman - a Ford dyno technician - was instrumental in designing / sourcing the one piece billet aluminum head based on the Yates NASCAR heads. Both teams, Jerry and AA&H ran world class drag racing operations. Look these guys up on the Google Machine for more info.

    But I digress...

    R.I.P Jerry
    R.I.P. Ray Argenta
     
    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  28. Boneyard51
    Joined: Dec 10, 2017
    Posts: 6,440

    Boneyard51
    Member

    I bought an OT ( by three years) truck with a 300 automatic 3.54 traction enhanced rear end. I put ten inch wide chrome wheels with low profile aggressive tires on it. My first truck. It would come out of the hole like crazy! I repeatedly out run my buddies 396 Chevy four speed....... for about Three or four car lengths! Then he go by me like I was setting still.
    I pulled the engine after many miles to replace the rings . I looked and could see that the torque converter was machined crooked. So I replaced it with a know good converter I had out of a transmission behind a 289. After that the truck sucked for power, but got better fuel mileage. The converter I pulled out was colored gold, so I guess at sometime in the trucks history it got a stall converter, but it alway had a vibration. The new converter fixed the vibration. Just my experiences.








    Bones
     
    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  29. From personal experience, I can tell you they are TOUGH. Worked in a shop with lots of 300 powered pickups. One day did a service on one and the driver took off before I put the oil in. Called me from his destination 6 miles away and said it was ticking. I knew right away what was happening. Drove down with 6 quarts of oil and filler it up. Told the guy to drive it until it blew up. When we cycled the truck out with 100.000 miles on it, it was running as good as new. Don't recommend trying this, but worked out well for me.
     
  30. X-cpe
    Joined: Mar 9, 2018
    Posts: 1,958

    X-cpe

    Had a 240 in a stock car in the late 60's. Set of used 289 pop-ups that had been fire slotted with a rat tail file. Carb off a 292 Chevy. Cut 2 cylinders off one end of the exhaust manifold and one off the other end. Brazed the pieces together, and brazed caps on the center section. Shifted the center section forward or backward (Can't remember now.) and had a split exhaust. With my lack of tuning knowledge the exhaust would get cherry red hot but the engine never faltered.
     

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