Bought a new (old) truck, With the best gas truck engine EVER

[R.W.Dale]

 A 92 Ford F150 with a 300 and a 5 speed. I bought this truck mostly cause it has the only gas engine ford has ever had that was worth puttin in a truck I haven't owned one of the EFI 300's before, do any of ya'll have any MPG figures to report or any other stories or commentary about  straight 6'es.

[DirtyHarry]

My dad had an 81 and a 92 both with manual tranny. I dont know the MPG on the 81, but I drove the 92 quite a bit and it got a hair over 17MPG on the highway unloaded. The only problems with the trucks were that the frame rusted so bad on them that they became unsafe to drive.

[Cheesehead]

Bought one new in 93. 19 mpg on the highway. 5 speed manual. The most reliable truck I ever owned.

Cheese

[30-30man]

The engine will last forever.  I have a 94 with 207,000 miles on it.  The gas mileage is not good. 13mpg average I just use it to haul trash.  I don't tow with it anymore.  The 5speed transmission is made by Mazda and its better than what a lot of people think.  I once towed a 5000lb camper with mine.  I was way over limit but it pulled it fine.  It was slow but the truck didn't complain.  We use to have one that was used by the local school system that had over 300,000 miles on it.  Good luck with your purchase.  I wish you the best.

[Keith L]

The trailer restriction on Ford manual transmissions is not for the transmission but for the clutch.  My Ford dealer explained to me that most people don't know how to properly drive a stick shift any more and frequently clutches die as a result of inexperienced drivers with trailers.  Sounds like you know how to drive one.

I had two 300 sixes over the years.  One was in a f-100 and I don't remember the year.  The other was in a '90 f150.  Both were great.  They out pulled the small v8.  The first one wasn't fuel injected and ran rough when cold, but smoothed out when warm.  Both were bullet proof!

[Lloyd Smale]

anti ford man here but have to admit that the 300 was probably the best engine ford ever made. Let me rephrase the only good engine ford ever made

[Cheesehead]

These engine were sooooo easy to work on. Lots of room either side of the motor. Once I held mine way past redline rpm for several minutes to get off a snow/slush covered lake that I had been stuck on for hours. My eye balls were as big as dinner plates as I watched the tachometer and the snow/slush/water fly as I held it wide open in second gear. A double layer of ice on the lake was the problem, 3-4 inches of ice then 10 inches of water, then 20 inches of ice, then 20 feet of water, 10 below zero, what a struggle. My friends and still kinda laugh about that day we went ice fishing and how tough that truck was. Never take your truck off the road with out 2 shovels. a dirt and a snow shovel.

Cheese

[EVOC ONE]

Oh boy!  This post brings back old memories and a heavy heart.

Around 1994 I bought a 1982 F-150 Custom 2WD for $1500 with around 120,000 miles on it.  It had the 300 I-6 with a 1bbl carb and a 3spd automatic.  I wasn't in bad shape, but had been used as a work truck, so it had some dings and dents and just a little rust around the cab corners.  The best it could do for MPG was 15 highway or city.  Then I got the bug to fix it up a little. I raided a wrecked bone yard XLT for trim pieces, put in a $25 bone yard bedliner and paid Earl Schieb $199 to fix the little bit of rust and repair the dings and dents and paint it Ginger Bronze Metallic. I drove it for five years before I sold it for $3200.  It ran like a top when I bought it and ran just as good when I sold it.  Using it as a yard truck, I put around 20,000 miles on it.  The fellow I sold it to still has it and has over 200K on the same engine and trans.

After I sold it, I bought a 1994 XLT 2WD with a fuel injected 300 six and a 5 spd manual tranmission.  The kids used to joke that the 1982 F150 was a "mans" truck and the 1994 was an "old mans truck".  It was sweet.  That truck would get 19-20 MPG around town and 22-23 on the higway.  With dual tanks, the cruising range was great.  I kept it for five years and traded it for a new Ranger 4X4.  The Ranger is nice, but doesn't come close to the '94 F150 in any way.  I regreted selling the '94 to the point that I  have been looking for another 94-96 F-150 2WD with the FI 6 cyl for the past year, to use as a weekend driver. They are old now and good examples are becoming harder to find.  That '94 was one of the best/nicest vehicles I've ever owned.

Thanks

EVOC ONE

[no guns here]

yup... had a 94 F150 xlt as well... nice little truck... if it had been 4x4 I would have kept it.  Dual tanks, I could get from Montgomery, Alabama to southern OK with one stop.  Pulled pretty strong for a smaller engine.  Got stuck on wet grass though.


ngh

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

my friend had  a 90 something f150 4x4 with the 300. best gas truck engine ever? ha! he only got 15 mpg and it was weak in the knees.

[prairiedog555]

I have a 85 Bronco, 300 six.  I have always got 13-4 town and 19-20 hwy.

Do the fuel injected models get better mileage?

[35Rem]

Got an 85 F-150 in the classifiieds....

[Sourdough]

Had an 81 F-150 short bed, 300 Six with carb, 5 Sp trans.  Got 27 MPG on the highway, about 20 in town.  The wife called it the gutless wonder, "It's so gutless it's a wonder it makes it home".  We lived up on a mountain at the time, and I would have to go to first gear to get around the switchbacks.  Yet my Jeep CJ-8, and her Honda Civic would easily pull them in second.  Used it to pull my little 16ft john boat to the river.  Could put the boat in and pull the empty trailer out.  But put the boat on the trailer and it would not pull them out, had to take my Suzuki 4-wheeler to take the boat out of the river and up the ramp.  Put over 350K miles on it with no major problems.

Traded for an 87 F-150, long bed, 300 six with EFI, auto trans.  Got 18 MPG on the highway, 14 around town.  Could pull a heavy load, not fast but I could get it there.  The boat did not faze it, put it in or out.  But moving my track rig on the big auto trailer was hard, but I did it for eleven years.  Put over 250K miles on it.  Sold it to a teenager, he rebuilt the tranny, and I see it two or three times a week around town. 

Finally thought I would get smart and get a diesel, WRONG!!!!!!!!!  My new F-350 gets 12 MPG  highway or in town.

[goodwrench6710]

A friend of mine has an 84 F-250 4X4 with a 300 six that had over 550,000 miles on it. Sounded like it was gonna fly to pieces at 400,000, it just won't die!!!

[R.W.Dale]

 I guess this deserves an update, The F150 is long gone. While the engine was as tough as nails the rest of the truck exhibited Ford's natural propensity to fall apart. While the engine may be good for 500K you'll have to bolt the seat to the frame as the rest of the truck will have fallen apart long ago.

 That M5OD was the crappiest manual transmission I've ever shifted.
 

[Buckskins & Black Powder]

lol. rusted pretty good eh. Thats what you call a flintstones brake pedal!

[R.W.Dale]

lol. rusted pretty good eh. Thats what you call a flintstones brake pedal!

Not rusty at all, but falling apart just the same