The best straight six?
- Thread starter Straight Six
- Start date
As a penny-pincher, I must ask "At what cost?" There's the cost of acquisition, cost of maintenance, and cost of operation. In that case:
For a light duty truck: the 4.9L Ford.
For a large sedan (saloon for you Brits): the MOPAR Slant Six (Except for the Lean Burn horrors).
For a compact: the 200/250 Ford.
That's my final answer.
For a light duty truck: the 4.9L Ford.
For a large sedan (saloon for you Brits): the MOPAR Slant Six (Except for the Lean Burn horrors).
For a compact: the 200/250 Ford.
That's my final answer.
American Thunder
Well-known member
Another vote for Cummins.
This one has 735hp and 1300 ft/lbs of torque, gets 21 mpg cruising, broke both speed records for fastest pickup, and fastest diesel at 222+mph on the same day, and arrived at the salt flats that morning pulling the equipment trailer.
http://bankspower.com/sidewinder.cfm
Oh yeah, and it beats down vettes in its spare time.
http://bankspower.com/Sidewinder-images ... rv2-lg.wmv
Full size dodge pickup with cummins on street tires goes 10.6:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ3yzOq6EcE
Cummins is an AWESOME engine. (What did you expect, it's owned by Ford)
This one has 735hp and 1300 ft/lbs of torque, gets 21 mpg cruising, broke both speed records for fastest pickup, and fastest diesel at 222+mph on the same day, and arrived at the salt flats that morning pulling the equipment trailer.
http://bankspower.com/sidewinder.cfm
Oh yeah, and it beats down vettes in its spare time.
http://bankspower.com/Sidewinder-images ... rv2-lg.wmv
Full size dodge pickup with cummins on street tires goes 10.6:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ3yzOq6EcE
Cummins is an AWESOME engine. (What did you expect, it's owned by Ford)
Again, I'll throw in my 2 cents. A one-off made of unobtainium with supercomputer ignition, fuel and cam timing would blow away the American sixes. However, factoring in cost of operation, acquisition and maintenance, they blow away the fancy shmansy imports. :USA: :vert
:USA: :vertrussk":34izifn2 said:
My point exactly. 8)
CougarT
Well-known member
What about this one? Not that I've ever seen one, but it's gotta be worthy of an honourable mention, especially the 1973 and newer triple Weber, 7 main versions...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeep_Tornado_engine
and the Argentine "Torino"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Torino
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeep_Tornado_engine
and the Argentine "Torino"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Torino
About 10 years ago my dad gave me his 81 BMW 528i automatic, with a 170 cube SOHC six, 175 stock horsepower. About 110,000 miles on it, it still starts with barely a flick of the key, and pulls strong and smoooooth to its 6500 rpm redline. I have had it cruising at 80 to 90 mph for 8 hours, never missed a beat, and has never had any engine repairs. It is well maintained and reliable. Starting to use a bit of oil, but apparently the valve guides tend to need replacement at about 100,000 miles.
I also have an 85 BMW 325e, the "economy" six they made for a while.
A lower reving and torquier engine, with just over 200,000 miles on it. Again, no major motor or power train problems, runs all day at 90 mph if you want to, and gets about 30 Canadian MPG at 70 mph.
I have a lot of respect for the Ford 200 6cyl in my 80 Mustang, but there is no comparison to the BMW motors in smoothness and performance.
Not saying BMW 6's are the best, I haven't had a lot of experience with other 6's, but they are definitely right up there.
I also have an 85 BMW 325e, the "economy" six they made for a while.
A lower reving and torquier engine, with just over 200,000 miles on it. Again, no major motor or power train problems, runs all day at 90 mph if you want to, and gets about 30 Canadian MPG at 70 mph.
I have a lot of respect for the Ford 200 6cyl in my 80 Mustang, but there is no comparison to the BMW motors in smoothness and performance.
Not saying BMW 6's are the best, I haven't had a lot of experience with other 6's, but they are definitely right up there.
60s Refugee
Well-known member
Sometimes telling the truth hurts. I'm a Ford guy and always have been, so it's hard to deny the Ford 300. However hard that makes it, the truth still cannot be denied. The best inline six combo has to be the Dodge/Plymouth slant six with the torgueflite tranny. So there it is!
Harry
Harry
goinbroke2
Well-known member
jamyers":29qxchq6 said:
I'm sorry but that is just blasphemy!
Pop the hood on an old mustang and see a toyota engine?
No I never watched fast&furious either. (I heard they did something like that)
You do what you want with your own veh obviously, but I would certainly never encourage it.
(%$^& bad enough a chebby in a ford...but a toyota? #%^&*)!
goinbroke2
Well-known member
double post...must of really bothered me! LOL!
Oh, my vote, well the 300 is the obvious choice and the 198-225 slant six is a close second.
Oh and for the record, I've never seen a bmw that wasn't smoking. Living in germany for a total of 8 years I found two obvious things. 1) if a car passes you and it has black smoke out the back it's a mercedes. 2) If a car passes and has blue smoke out the back, it's a bimmer. And yes that could be old or brand new. Bimmers (in europe anyway, don't really see any around here) all smoke.
Oh, my vote, well the 300 is the obvious choice and the 198-225 slant six is a close second.
Oh and for the record, I've never seen a bmw that wasn't smoking. Living in germany for a total of 8 years I found two obvious things. 1) if a car passes you and it has black smoke out the back it's a mercedes. 2) If a car passes and has blue smoke out the back, it's a bimmer. And yes that could be old or brand new. Bimmers (in europe anyway, don't really see any around here) all smoke.
Didn't mean to get ya so riled up, lol. Just idle wondering...
I'll second your comments about bimmers, the 2 years I spent in Germany back in the 80's (when BMW's were "the" status car) showed me that: BMW = German Chevy. Not even Chevrolet, just Chevy.
I'll second your comments about bimmers, the 2 years I spent in Germany back in the 80's (when BMW's were "the" status car) showed me that: BMW = German Chevy. Not even Chevrolet, just Chevy.
Yup. Although...some of my fondest memories of life in Germany involved riding in a Mercedes taxi. The 5-speed ones were the best - especially late at night on the way back to the kaserne with 6 of your best friends after a night of Gasthaus-hopping. Some of those taxi drivers could have driven F1 (or at least thought they could).wallaka":6hjjxc5v said:
60s Refugee
Well-known member
Well...the original post asked what was the best combination of 6 cyl/tranny. If it were just the engine I would agree that the Ford 300 is best, but add on a turqueflite and for one of the few times chrysler corp wins....but....You are completely correct about BMW/Mercedes engines. They smoke when they are NEW! I could never figure out where the concept of "high quality German engineering" came from. Maybe "they" confused automobile reality with Tiger Tanks and ME 262's! 
Harry [/i]
Harry [/i]
A
Anonymous
Guest
CougarT i was totaley supprised by the mentioning of a 230 tornado , no one seems two know about them . i owned one in a 64 j-300 pickup and really did like that truck , it was a very good engine - but i will have to vote for the 300 ford , just turn the key year after year just keeps on going and going [ better than a rabbit on high powered batterys ]
RB26DETT of course.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_RB_engine#RB26DETT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_RB_engine#RB26DETT
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