Best Inline-6 ever made?

Saw the 603 mentioned, but this wasn't. The MB OM606 has to be up there. Not just great reliability-wise, but it could also hold some power.
 
My 1988 300 I-6 is at 255k and still doesn't use any oil between changes.. My grandad bought it new and I've had it since 2004. Its just getting broken in. I had to get a another truck to hold the kiddo's and their massive car seats.
 
The SR20DET made a lighter and more balanced car. It was also a lot more money at the time. My 240 got an S14 blacktop swap, about $3k at the time, and the RB20 was $1000 and went into a $1200 240. Again this was a long time ago when you could still buy those cars. I believe the best swap might be the RB25DET if you can do it all well like Saabkyle’s build for example.

I had an S13, I really like how they look. This yet another car I had that could have been something.

I swear it, as I amass my empire, I have about.. 8 unicorns I have to re-obtain. Two of which are Nissans.

I will look for destroyed drivetrain and otherwise good condition cars (Blown head gasket! Engine seized! Transmission no good!) My 240SX was in perfect shape and that was a great car.

Aside from the alternator under the water pump, that is. Ask me how I know.
 
My previous and current daily driver have been I6s, it's one of my favourite layouts.

I'm surprised the Mercedes M104 only got mentioned a couple of times, they have definitely got to be up there just aren't as popular or commonly accessible as other brands.
I know of one with over 600k miles I read about in a magazine, only mechanical fix ever was a head gasket at 3xx,000 miles.
It is an incredibly well balanced and refined engine, and built like a tank motor.
Here is a video of my W140 getting a "smoothness test". After 29 years, 100% of the engine and accessories are factory original.


My previous car was a 2000 Ford Falcon with a 4.0L 'Intech' SOHC I6. I actually prefer this engine over the Barra which takes all the attention. Yes the Barra has DOHC but the variable valve timing required much more stringent maintenance. I know of two Barra powered Falcons that died due to being serviced once a year instead of by mileage, and in both cases, and I've seen it before too, the VVT seizes and snaps off the cams. Yes they can still cover 1,000,000KM if serviced every 10-15k, but my workmate owned an older SOHC for 120,000KM and didn't service it once. Got parked up at 410,000 due to rust!
Complementary vid of my SOHC's exhaust.


Interesting to note - these Aussie 6s are direct descendants of the Ford 200. They were enlarged and the heads were tweaked over the decades until they evolved into the DOHC Barra.
 
My previous and current daily driver have been I6s, it's one of my favourite layouts.

I'm surprised the Mercedes M104 only got mentioned a couple of times, they have definitely got to be up there just aren't as popular or commonly accessible as other brands.
I know of one with over 600k miles I read about in a magazine, only mechanical fix ever was a head gasket at 3xx,000 miles.
It is an incredibly well balanced and refined engine, and built like a tank motor.
Here is a video of my W140 getting a "smoothness test". After 29 years, 100% of the engine and accessories are factory original.


My previous car was a 2000 Ford Falcon with a 4.0L 'Intech' SOHC I6. I actually prefer this engine over the Barra which takes all the attention. Yes the Barra has DOHC but the variable valve timing required much more stringent maintenance. I know of two Barra powered Falcons that died due to being serviced once a year instead of by mileage, and in both cases, and I've seen it before too, the VVT seizes and snaps off the cams. Yes they can still cover 1,000,000KM if serviced every 10-15k, but my workmate owned an older SOHC for 120,000KM and didn't service it once. Got parked up at 410,000 due to rust!
Complementary vid of my SOHC's exhaust.


Interesting to note - these Aussie 6s are direct descendants of the Ford 200. They were enlarged and the heads were tweaked over the decades until they evolved into the DOHC Barra.

The Falcon 4.0L probably put out two or three times the horse power of the original 200? One of my first cars was a 65 Falcon with the 200 and probably with the 2 speed automatic if I remember correctly. That car was cute but very slow.
 
BMW M30

Based on sound alone; Jaguar 4.2 in an XKE...many years ago I got to drive one through the tunnel in Boston very, very early one morning. I can still hear that exhaust at full throttle for a few seconds.
 
(Slant 6) It was a fine engine except being pretty gutless. The one in my old D100 pickup couldn't get out of it's own shadow. That had to have been the slowest vehicle I've ever owned or driven.
Had the 225ci in a 1963 Dodge Dart, and discovered that Chrysler had some interesting performance parts in their Chrysler Marine catalogue ... 4bbl carb on a runner manifold, headers, cams, and a little tweak with the distributor. I think there might have been some heads as well, but memory's vague on that. Fond memories!
 
The Falcon 4.0L probably put out two or three times the horse power of the original 200? One of my first cars was a 65 Falcon with the 200 and probably with the 2 speed automatic if I remember correctly. That car was cute but very slow.
Absolutely. In their final turbo form the XR6 Sprint was nudging 500hp + 480ft/lbs from factory
 
I must be the only one here that dislikes the Ford 300. In early 90’s bought and F150 with it, spun a bearing during start up. Got a new long block and spun a bearing again after 30K miles.

300 was the only engine I have spun bearings on.

Chevy 230 on the other hand seemed to be be bullet proof. Way underpowered but kept on ticking.
 
Was gonna rebuild this old I6 Ford until I found they’d been using 5w20

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Did you see the leaning tower I posted early in this thread ?
No I missed it....
I re-read this and found another fellow said he could not think of to many inline sixes that were bad and I must agree with that.

Not sure what it is about the design, maybe the smoothness of the firing order and all the force lined up in a row, but most of the best generator engines and marine gas were inline sixes. I am going to single out the the 300 incline ford on Onan generators like the EK30, the Flat head Chrysler and the slant six as being exceptional. GM made some good inline sixes and the diesel in the Toyota land crusier is very impressive to. The ones I notice as exceptional though seem to shine the most in aplications outside the frame rails of a car.
 
Absolutely. In their final turbo form the XR6 Sprint was nudging 500hp + 480ft/lbs from factory
Not only that but the Barra turbo will handle 800HP on e85 on the 2007+ factory motors and will last a long time on a competent tune. Lots of people doing it now.
 
Not only that but the Barra turbo will handle 800HP on e85 on the 2007+ factory motors and will last a long time on a competent tune. Lots of people doing it now.
The bottom ends will cop anything, but head work is absolutely necessary if you are venturing beyond stock outputs though. I've seen and heard of a few cases of the heads lifting from the block after a spirited sesh! This is the reason my brother in law wouldn't take his XR6T to the skids cause he'd also seen it too many times on budget builds haha
 
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