- Joined
- Sep 26, 2010
- Messages
- 9,837
1980 and 1981 Pontiac 301 4.9L engines combined with a TH250 and 2.29 or 2.41 rear gearing.
Boat Anchors Award
- Thread starter userfriendly
- Start date
- Status
Originally Posted By: BHopkins
Originally Posted By: buck91
Originally Posted By: Klutch9
My vote is for any of the truck/van applications of the Ford modular 4.6L V8. Durable as any engine I've ever seen, but man are those things dogs!
Towed an overweight stumpgrinder and trailer behind a 4.6L F150 for a while with no issues. Certainly wasn't winning any races but kept up fine and did the job.
Isn't this the engine that was famous for blowing head gaskets at about 70,000 miles? Almost 100% of them.
The 5.4 was the bad one. I took in trades on several 4.6 trucks that had over 200k on them without being opened up for anything major.
Originally Posted By: buck91
Originally Posted By: Klutch9
My vote is for any of the truck/van applications of the Ford modular 4.6L V8. Durable as any engine I've ever seen, but man are those things dogs!
Towed an overweight stumpgrinder and trailer behind a 4.6L F150 for a while with no issues. Certainly wasn't winning any races but kept up fine and did the job.
Isn't this the engine that was famous for blowing head gaskets at about 70,000 miles? Almost 100% of them.
The 5.4 was the bad one. I took in trades on several 4.6 trucks that had over 200k on them without being opened up for anything major.
Originally Posted By: dishdude
Can I nominate almost every 80's car?
Clearly you're totally unfamiliar with most of the 1973 through 1978 models... Yeah several of the early '80s FWD models(didn't drive one then and still don't) were a POS but most RWD were becoming really decent...
I'll nominate any Ford Falcon('60-'63) or Fairlane('62 & '63) with the 144 or 170 I6 & two speed Ford-O-matic transmission...
Can I nominate almost every 80's car?
Clearly you're totally unfamiliar with most of the 1973 through 1978 models... Yeah several of the early '80s FWD models(didn't drive one then and still don't) were a POS but most RWD were becoming really decent...
I'll nominate any Ford Falcon('60-'63) or Fairlane('62 & '63) with the 144 or 170 I6 & two speed Ford-O-matic transmission...
4L60Es behind GM V8's.
Toyotas 3VZ-E V6 3.slow. Power of a 4cyl, fuel economy of a old V8. Poor exhaust manifold design causes the headgasket to fail.
Toyotas 3VZ-E V6 3.slow. Power of a 4cyl, fuel economy of a old V8. Poor exhaust manifold design causes the headgasket to fail.
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
My buddy's old GF's dad had a full-sized 60's Impala with a 283 in it backed by a powerglide and highway gears in the rear diff. Slow didn't even begin to describe that car
Haha, sounds just like my Dad's 68 Impala SS with the 307 2 bbl. Could just barely make 100 mph with a lot of road, died an early death because you had to floor it all the time...
My buddy's old GF's dad had a full-sized 60's Impala with a 283 in it backed by a powerglide and highway gears in the rear diff. Slow didn't even begin to describe that car
Haha, sounds just like my Dad's 68 Impala SS with the 307 2 bbl. Could just barely make 100 mph with a lot of road, died an early death because you had to floor it all the time...
82 cadillac cimarron 1.8. Actually had some HP high on the cam but the auto trans shifted at 2k unless you floored it.
Mercedes 240d with 67 hp pulling ~2 tons around. At 4 way stops other drivers were confused, was I going or waiting? When it was "my turn" other drivers would look at me, expecting motion, but their attention spans wouldn't hold until the time the car actually started moving. Car couldn't chirp a tire on a wet road. This was with a stick shift, new fuel filters and the valves adjusted.
Mercedes 240d with 67 hp pulling ~2 tons around. At 4 way stops other drivers were confused, was I going or waiting? When it was "my turn" other drivers would look at me, expecting motion, but their attention spans wouldn't hold until the time the car actually started moving. Car couldn't chirp a tire on a wet road. This was with a stick shift, new fuel filters and the valves adjusted.
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
My buddy's old GF's dad had a full-sized 60's Impala with a 283 in it backed by a powerglide and highway gears in the rear diff. Slow didn't even begin to describe that car
Haha, sounds just like my Dad's 68 Impala SS with the 307 2 bbl. Could just barely make 100 mph with a lot of road, died an early death because you had to floor it all the time...
I currently have a 66 LeSabre with a 220 GROSS HP 340 2 barrel and the Buick/Pontiac/Oldsmobile ST300 2 speed trans. It is not a barn burner by any means. What saves it over a powerglide is that it has a switch pitch converter. But I am fairly certain a 425 Nailhead or 455 is going to find its way in the engine bay sooner or later.
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
My buddy's old GF's dad had a full-sized 60's Impala with a 283 in it backed by a powerglide and highway gears in the rear diff. Slow didn't even begin to describe that car
Haha, sounds just like my Dad's 68 Impala SS with the 307 2 bbl. Could just barely make 100 mph with a lot of road, died an early death because you had to floor it all the time...
I currently have a 66 LeSabre with a 220 GROSS HP 340 2 barrel and the Buick/Pontiac/Oldsmobile ST300 2 speed trans. It is not a barn burner by any means. What saves it over a powerglide is that it has a switch pitch converter. But I am fairly certain a 425 Nailhead or 455 is going to find its way in the engine bay sooner or later.
Originally Posted By: thunderfog
1981 AMC Eagle 4.2L inline 6 put out a whopping 110hp. 0-60 in 13.9s.
VERY slow!
We timed my mom's 68hp 1985 Corolla at 15.5 seconds for 0-60. Then we bumped up the timing at little, flipped the air cleaner lid, and got it down to 14.5! Fastest I ever got it going was an indicated 90mph at the bottom of a hill.
It was a fun car though, I learned to left foot brake for drifting on the gravel roads.
1981 AMC Eagle 4.2L inline 6 put out a whopping 110hp. 0-60 in 13.9s.
VERY slow!
We timed my mom's 68hp 1985 Corolla at 15.5 seconds for 0-60. Then we bumped up the timing at little, flipped the air cleaner lid, and got it down to 14.5! Fastest I ever got it going was an indicated 90mph at the bottom of a hill.
It was a fun car though, I learned to left foot brake for drifting on the gravel roads.
Originally Posted By: Robenstein
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
My buddy's old GF's dad had a full-sized 60's Impala with a 283 in it backed by a powerglide and highway gears in the rear diff. Slow didn't even begin to describe that car
Haha, sounds just like my Dad's 68 Impala SS with the 307 2 bbl. Could just barely make 100 mph with a lot of road, died an early death because you had to floor it all the time...
I currently have a 66 LeSabre with a 220 GROSS HP 340 2 barrel and the Buick/Pontiac/Oldsmobile ST300 2 speed trans. It is not a barn burner by any means. What saves it over a powerglide is that it has a switch pitch converter. But I am fairly certain a 425 Nailhead or 455 is going to find its way in the engine bay sooner or later.
Wow, Super Turbine 300 automatic transmission. I've never heard anybody else mention those. Back in 1976, I helped dad put a 225 Buick V6 with a ST300 trans into a Chevy Vega, to replace the boat anchor 2.3L I4. That became a fun little car with about 150 HP. Then dad showed how smart he was by selling it when I got my driver's license.
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
My buddy's old GF's dad had a full-sized 60's Impala with a 283 in it backed by a powerglide and highway gears in the rear diff. Slow didn't even begin to describe that car
Haha, sounds just like my Dad's 68 Impala SS with the 307 2 bbl. Could just barely make 100 mph with a lot of road, died an early death because you had to floor it all the time...
I currently have a 66 LeSabre with a 220 GROSS HP 340 2 barrel and the Buick/Pontiac/Oldsmobile ST300 2 speed trans. It is not a barn burner by any means. What saves it over a powerglide is that it has a switch pitch converter. But I am fairly certain a 425 Nailhead or 455 is going to find its way in the engine bay sooner or later.
Wow, Super Turbine 300 automatic transmission. I've never heard anybody else mention those. Back in 1976, I helped dad put a 225 Buick V6 with a ST300 trans into a Chevy Vega, to replace the boat anchor 2.3L I4. That became a fun little car with about 150 HP. Then dad showed how smart he was by selling it when I got my driver's license.
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Wow, Super Turbine 300 automatic transmission. I've never heard anybody else mention those. Back in 1976, I helped dad put a 225 Buick V6 with a ST300 trans into a Chevy Vega, to replace the boat anchor 2.3L I4. That became a fun little car with about 150 HP. Then dad showed how smart he was by selling it when I got my driver's license.
Ahhh, the 2300 Vega 4 cyl, the boat anchor of all boat anchors, in the real world nothing else comes close... Yeah it ran fair with a stick shift but the aluminum cylinders were failing before 40K miles... With the two speed Power Glide it was pitiful...
That engine no doubt increased sales of straight 40 weight oil by several percentage points in that mid & late '70s...
Wow, Super Turbine 300 automatic transmission. I've never heard anybody else mention those. Back in 1976, I helped dad put a 225 Buick V6 with a ST300 trans into a Chevy Vega, to replace the boat anchor 2.3L I4. That became a fun little car with about 150 HP. Then dad showed how smart he was by selling it when I got my driver's license.
Ahhh, the 2300 Vega 4 cyl, the boat anchor of all boat anchors, in the real world nothing else comes close... Yeah it ran fair with a stick shift but the aluminum cylinders were failing before 40K miles... With the two speed Power Glide it was pitiful...
That engine no doubt increased sales of straight 40 weight oil by several percentage points in that mid & late '70s...
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
My buddy's old GF's dad had a full-sized 60's Impala with a 283 in it backed by a powerglide and highway gears in the rear diff. Slow didn't even begin to describe that car
My stepfather had a 1972 Plymouth Fury with a slant six. Putt...putt...putt.
My buddy's old GF's dad had a full-sized 60's Impala with a 283 in it backed by a powerglide and highway gears in the rear diff. Slow didn't even begin to describe that car
My stepfather had a 1972 Plymouth Fury with a slant six. Putt...putt...putt.
The 88 S15 with the 2.5L Iron Duke automatic. I lost in a race against a UPS truck!
The last boat anchor I drove was a new rental Ford Fusion with some sort of little 4 pot in it. You floored it...and...and...and it made some noise!
Last edited:
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Originally Posted By: Robenstein
Originally Posted By: BHopkins
Originally Posted By: buck91
Originally Posted By: Klutch9
My vote is for any of the truck/van applications of the Ford modular 4.6L V8. Durable as any engine I've ever seen, but man are those things dogs!
Towed an overweight stumpgrinder and trailer behind a 4.6L F150 for a while with no issues. Certainly wasn't winning any races but kept up fine and did the job.
Isn't this the engine that was famous for blowing head gaskets at about 70,000 miles? Almost 100% of them.
The 5.4 was the bad one. I took in trades on several 4.6 trucks that had over 200k on them without being opened up for anything major.
They didn't blow head gaskets, however they did launch spark plugs.
Originally Posted By: BHopkins
Originally Posted By: buck91
Originally Posted By: Klutch9
My vote is for any of the truck/van applications of the Ford modular 4.6L V8. Durable as any engine I've ever seen, but man are those things dogs!
Towed an overweight stumpgrinder and trailer behind a 4.6L F150 for a while with no issues. Certainly wasn't winning any races but kept up fine and did the job.
Isn't this the engine that was famous for blowing head gaskets at about 70,000 miles? Almost 100% of them.
The 5.4 was the bad one. I took in trades on several 4.6 trucks that had over 200k on them without being opened up for anything major.
They didn't blow head gaskets, however they did launch spark plugs.
Chevrolet 267ci V8.............110hp.
Pontiac 301.....a dog even with a Turbo.
Ford 2.3 HSC. So much noise, so much vibration, so many oil leaks, and so little power.
In all my years I saw one 4.6 launch a plug, and it was a DOHC on a MK VIII. Never saw a 4.6 SOHC launch anything. Great engines. Not powerful, but so reliable.
Pontiac 301.....a dog even with a Turbo.
Ford 2.3 HSC. So much noise, so much vibration, so many oil leaks, and so little power.
In all my years I saw one 4.6 launch a plug, and it was a DOHC on a MK VIII. Never saw a 4.6 SOHC launch anything. Great engines. Not powerful, but so reliable.
Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
My stepfather had a 1972 Plymouth Fury with a slant six. Putt...putt...putt.
What does the Fury have to do with me?
My stepfather had a 1972 Plymouth Fury with a slant six. Putt...putt...putt.
What does the Fury have to do with me?
The old slant six engines were bulletproof though. Probably part of that was just how under stressed they were.
My experience with the slant 6 were far from bulletproof, last one I had was in an '84 1/2 ton Dodge, which I bought new. It broke two exhaust manifolds due to overheating trying to maintain 55 mph into a 50 mph head wind, yes twice. Also it came from factory without completed machine work on the end of the camshaft, starving the lifters of oil. The dealership put in 7 sets of lifters before it was tore down and found the cause. It also ate starters, they usually lasted 10,000 mi., also due to overheating/ not adequate heat shield to protect it from exhaust manifold.
- Status
