Most Dependable Engine Ive Ever Had And Only A Water Pump And Alternator In 225,000 Miles Good Low End Torqe And Decent Mileage You Can Not Beat Them

 

To answer the original, yes bring it back. It was super reliable and powerful for any 6 I've seen in a truck. The 4.2 v-6 is a good engine too, obvious trouble spots should have been addressed, but revamp that too. Hopefully someone from Dearborn reads these forums, what better feedback than this on problems, wants and styling trends.

 

Where are the molds for the castings for the I6? Did they trash em? I love that motor, as everyone stated it was super reliable and had good torque. I too wonder what the real reason was for dropping it.

 

Because it was a gas hog, and just getting old, but I still miss it. Never owned one, but I almost bought one.

 

Consider this...

I hate to bring up GM in this conversation, but realize that the 4.2 liter straight 6 built by GM makes 270 hp and 275 lb-ft of torque. That works out to about 64 hp and 65 lb-ft per liter. If Ford followed the same recipe, that would work out to around 315 hp and 320 lb-ft torque for a 4.9 liter six. Where do I sign up for one of those?!?!?

In my opinion, I agree Ford should bring back a modernized straight 6. They can be one sweet motor.

 

I had an 85 or 86 F250 with the 4.9L I6 for a work truck with 4 speed manual tranny. At the time I was working for an Inspection performing Industrial Radiography so it was pretty much my daily driver. The truck had a mobile darkroom on the back of it that was not exactly light. The gas mileage was horrible and if you got into a head wind 55 was as fast as you would go. But the motor also suffered from a blown head gasket. I drove the truck like I stole it. Finally got a few days of down time so the mechanic could take a look at it and found out the truck was only running on 4 outta six cylnders. Drove the truck a few more days till the parts came in to fix it. Damn tough motor I would own one. But ya gotta give props to the 5.4 mine has 255k+ and still running strong. No engine work done yet with the exception of "cobra" water pump and 3 plug changes and 1 set of cops.

 

I think that the 300 I6 is the best 6 cylinder engine ever made. I definetly think that Ford should bring back a modernized version of it. That engine was, and still is bulletproof!

 

I say bring it back and drop the current weak V6 that is offered in thses trucks.

 

Bring it on back. I had an 80' F-150 I6 that had only essentials on the motor, (pre-serpentine belt) and a carb. I could sit inside of the engine compartment and do a tune up. Gov. Christie Whitless came to Jersey and started talking about sweeping changes to inspection standards, and I got a little worried about re-installing all the smog stuff. I did'nt take it off, I just bought it that way. Anyway, in my own bit of reasoning wizardry, I bought an 88' F-250 w/ a 351. All legal. All EFI. All but impossible to work on in any sort of comfort. I do apt. maintenance. Stop-start is not a good thing to do with a 351. I recently bought a 90' F-150 w/ an I6. (topic of a post about an oil problem) The only things I don't like are the EFI, because it gets in the way of everything else, and the serpentine belt, because if that goes, everything goes. Other than that, I love that engine. It's got all the power I need for anything I'm going to do, and it gets great (for a truck) MPG. I went to our hunting camp in Maine this past spring, from Jersey, and used 2 & 1/2 tanks of gas getting up, and 2 tanks coming back. That's 600 miles more or less, and full loads both ways. Yeah, bring it back! Peace, Dave.

 

I've had both: '95 F150 reg cab 4.9/5 speed/3.55's. I bought it new in '94 late and drove it 37,000 miles until '97 when the new body style came out. I loved the body style, so I bought one...'97 F150 reg cab/4.2 5 speed/3.55's.

The '97 had half the power and half the torque...and more weight to lug around. Trucks do not need to have a 4.2, it simply had to work too hard.

I pull a 2700 lb Maverick on an open trailer behind both trucks. The old bigsix would pull the hill on the freeway in 5th gear easily, with plenty of pedal left. The 4.2 would not pull it in 4th...I would have to downshift to 3rd and keep the R's up around 3800-4000 to maintain any kind of "freeway" speed (about 60-65 mph, IIRC). The new style trucks DO drive great though, with the exception of the oversteer in the '97 that I had. It was pretty easy to swing the back end around on wet pavement if I drove it a little too hard. My Lightning does the same thing, but it requires a LOT more throttle input to achieve it.

I traded the '97 in 2000 for a '95 F150 that had a 5.0/5 speed/3.08's...great truck. It had NOWHERE near the towing power that the 4.9 did, but it did get much better fuel mileage (22 mpg with 3.08's). I later upgraded to a 3.73 Trac-lock rear that was given to me, and that helped the pulling power a lot, but mileage suffered. Thank God for dual tanks! I really miss that and the bigsix '95...both of them...wish I had kept the 5.0 one. I traded it on a 03 Lightning about 6 months ago, just in time for $3.20/gal fuel prices. At least The G2 lightning has some *****...pulls the car just fine, stops great, and is much more stable at highway speeds. It's just not as easy to work on.

If I had to do it all over again, I'd go find a pre 97 with a 4.9/5 speed...and fix it up to a nice truck again. The '96 was the last year of the true TRUCK from the F150 line. They are TRUCKS where the newer "trucks" are more car-like.

In all reality, if you have to use a truck to work with, you could easily go find a pre 97 with a bigsix, pay it off quickly and drive that and a little crap box 4 banger Mustang or something for fuel savings, and STILL be further ahead than paying new car insurance rates, payments, and upkeep.

 

or you could get a 5.4, get better mpg and have more power.

why would you need a bad mpg 300 ci motor when you have a 281 cubic inch v-8 and a 330 ci v-8, both capable of going over 200k miles.

i had a i-6 and i think it is like most things in the past, they get better and better with each passing year . seem like most people i know that have had them had a manual transmission with a granny gear and 4.10 geras, gee wonder why they pulled so well? the i-6 did best with standard transmissions, with an automatic they were dogs. ford sales more automatics

i dont miss the screaming 125 hp or the 11 mpg. on a very long long road i could hit 87 mph, with an 18 foot boat 64 mph was it.

 

I agree. I can drive my 05 with the 5.4 on a 400 mile trip and get 17.5 mpg at 75 mph. My old 82 with the 300 six, would only get 17 mpg doing 65 mph.

But it was tough. Finally sold that thing in 98 to a guy that hauls trash in it still today.

Had the head rebuilt in 92, at over 150,000 miles. Machine shop told me that the biggest problem that they had seen with the 300 is that people would drive them to over 200,000 miles and wouldn't leave them much to work with on a rebuild. I asked the machinest if I should just go ahead and pull the short block and he laughed and said, nah, wait another 100,000. We are kinda backed up right now.

 

Yes they should, I love this motor! Bullit proof!!

 

I agree with you. Give me a cleaner more effient modular motor any day. The old six does live forever, but it's weak and gets crappy gas mileage. Just like the modulars, Ford never thought enough of the engine to put a decent manual trans behind it. My buddy had a 90 ish F-150 6 with a stick. The tow rating was a pathetic 3500 lbs because of the trans. The good old days weren't as good as they now seem. Keep the old 6 as a memory, or build a better updated version of it.

 

I had a 95 straight six, I believe the last year they made them?? Anyways, it was with a manual tranny which cut the tow capacity in half compare to the Auto Tranny and at 50k needed a new oil pan gasket because of the materila they used would swell up over time and blow out. A $600 job to replace a $25 gasket. Other then that I thought it was a good engine, always got 16.5 MPG either in town or highway.