The most reliable engine ever made in a older American car

[ykf7b0]

In 1970, AMC introduced the 258 inline six. Was a very reliable engine. I would say the slant six and the 258 would be too close to call. Small block chevys and 318 Mopars were very close too...

This is very good company except for the small block shivvy. I don't feel it even begins to rate in durabiltiy with the 318. I have owned enough of both engines to make my claim. It is nice to be able to get the shivvy parts at the Dollar Store however.

 

[Herr_Poopschitz]

Model A engine went on forever as a Contenental industrial engine. Remember, flat heads have no valve train pieces to break.

Aren't they notorious for valve seats cracking? I swear I've seen a few w/ failures in the seats...can't remember why...

 

[monaco66coupe]

my Buddy runs a machine shop, and his bread and butter is rebuilding chevy 350's. it is the only engine he won't guarantee to not use oil. Blocks are cheap, everything cheap in quality. he loves building Mopars, as he says you actually have something when you are done!

 

[Cranky]

I'm going with the leaning tower of power on this one. I've tried blowing up slant sixes and it's damn near impossible. I've had several over the years and never had a failure of an internal part.

When an engine has small valves and cam, it's hard to blow them up but I've seen several /6's in wrecking yards over the years that had windowed blocks but what made them come apart is a guess.

Yes and no. Don't know about all Pollys but my 1966 came with forged crank, rods bushed for full floating pins, and pistons notched for valve relief. It seemed close to a 340 than 318. I am sure it was a more expensive engine to produce than the LA.

Yes, the poly engines were more costly to produce.

 

[Kern Dog]

I too have seen fist sized holes in the sides of junkyard slant six engines. It may have occured because the engine ran so good, people forgot to do periodic maintenance on them.

 

[ArtH]

very true, and the old flathead mopars were even in the Sherman tank, I believe eight of them? I saw a picture once at a Chrysler plant.

I believe the Shermans used an air cooled radial aircraft engine and Chrysler A57 Multibank 30 cylinder 21-litre engine. Depending on which version. I saw a TV show where they were restoring and old Sherman that had the aircraft engine.

When I was a kid the NYPD were using Slant Sixes in their patrol cars. I once asked a cop how could they catch someone with that engine in their car. His response was something like how fast are you going to go in New York City traffic. Point taken.

 

[bigblock]

Ha,all Mopar engines are good! We swap engines in everything but Mopars in our shop. Chevy being the most common! Nissan being next.

 

[monaco66coupe]

I believe the Shermans used an air cooled radial aircraft engine and Chrysler A57 Multibank 30 cylinder 21-litre engine. Depending on which version. I saw a TV show where they were restoring and old Sherman that had the aircraft engine.

When I was a kid the NYPD were using Slant Sixes in their patrol cars. I once asked a cop how could they catch someone with that engine in their car. His response was something like how fast are you going to go in New York City traffic. Point taken.

You are correct, in the beginning Chrysler use a 2200 Air cooled airplane engine, but as demand for airplane engines Increased, Chrysler built an engine platform consisting of five six cylinder flathead engines creating 450 HP for the M4 Sherman tank. An example of that engine is in a Chrysler Museum in Michigan.

six flathead Chrysler engines producing 450 HP from 1943 to 1945

 

[sleepar]

Slant 6 will outlast everything but a Mercedes diesel.

 

[67440chrg]

Slant six.

 

[glassman]

The old 265 cu.in. flathead Chrysler and the 308 Hudson flathead were our first race motors. The Chrysler would do it's winnings against the smaller v8s where the old Hudson which was bored .125 over for 330 cu.in., would run with the 440 6 packs and some of the slower Hemis. We won a lot of races with the flatheads before we went to max wedges and hemis.

 

[dieseldazzle]

85-91 forged piston 5.0l roller 302s are some of the toughest bastards on the planet. Built with moly rings, roller tappets, forged pistons and pedestal mounted rocker system, priority main oiling. You cannot beat them.

Next up 318 mopar

 

[mosquito13]

Ford straight six 300

 

[moparmarks]

I had a /6 that threw a rod out the side of the block. Big honkin hole in the block and it still ran.
Had a 318 with over 300K and still ran strong.
But my best one was the 235 in my 54 Chevy truck. Mains were gone. Start it up and the oil pressure would go to 60. After it warmed up the pressure would drop to about 10. Give it some throttle and the pressure would drop to 0. Let up on the throttle and the pressure would go up to about 25 then back down to 10. Drove it for daily 6 years like that and was still running when I sold it.
My 97 Dakota 5.2 is pushing 300K and still runs real strong.
But probably one of the best motors ever is the Cummins 12 valve. Mine has 300K and a friend has 700K on his.

 

[Cranky]

Can't complain one bit about my 97 Cummins powered 2500 Dodge. The only thing about it is the ride quality, handling and creature comforts compared to a brand new Ram. My seats suck compared to just about anything else out there. Might have to go seat hunting soon....

 

[Sonny Black]

Sonny grandfather -in - law......had a valent with a 3speed/ slant 6....
and he bragged about all the miles he had on it!...and then bragged and said.......

"I never changed the oil in it , KNOCK ON WOOD!".......

I swear it is a true story, all he did is add oil when needed...he drove that car for years like that!....he would take off in a puff of smoke...lol!

 

[kdtjb]

Just tore down a 318 poly with 98000 miles on it. The crank is spot on factory specs and the worst cylinder has .002 wear near the top of the cylinder. I was surprised at how little wear it had. I am becoming a fan of them for sure. There isn't much out there for performance, but I have other big block cars so I am looking forward to see how this does MPG wise. I have a friend that gets 18 MPG on the hi way with one. This one is going in the place of a /6 so I might tear it down to see how it's faired over about the same miles.

 

[mopar 3 B]

While in the The Military in the early seventies, I drove tugs with the slant six pulling large planes from the Taxiway to various staging areas. No other six cylinder engines in sight! LoL

Tugs pull baggage trailers. Aircraft towing tractors pull planes. If USAF the tractor you are refuring to would be an MB-4 if I remember correctly. It has been over 40 years since working on one but I believe that is the correct number. Slant 6 with loadflight transmission.

 

[Kern Dog]

I know I'll seem like a bullshitter, but I went 369,000 miles on a Chevy 305 in an 84 1/2 ton 2wd truck I owned from 1994 to 2002. I bought the truck with 93,000 miles in the winter of 1994 and drove it as a daily driver for the entire time I owned it. I made every road trip I went on with that truck. The best mpg it ever got was 22.5 but I had to drive like a granny at 55 mph to achieve that.

 

[Seventy]

Th ford 3000 was first to pop into my head, I had one on a generator (trailer mount), my uncle bought it new LONG TIME ago, never changed teh engine, just changed oil and filters, it had 14000 hours on it when I sold it!!!! I had john deere diesels in them that only last 6K hours and I was happy to get that!!!! That ole' genny would not stop, reliable and just worked.. I wonder if its still going, sold it to a guy in upstate NY, he was going to use it for back up genny on a mobile home...


BUT I heard the chrysler 383 was the most reliable motor of all time, they did the study from service records between the big 3 and that engine had the highest production numbers with the lowest service issues, and CONSIDERING they put them in cars prone to getting "spanked", its pretty impressive. PLUS, they always run, I have had them locked up solid, mystery oil them for a week, then unlock, put plugs in them, gas down the gullet and "pop, bang, purrrrrrr" All the 383's I have played with I have only had 1 that failed (that wasnt full of rat piss)it had a spun bearing, but it was recently rebuilt and I think it was a builder/machine issue..


SO my vote is 383 chrysler, second place would be the 300 ford, third would be the 4.0 jeep (pre coil packs, the dizzy motors were the good ones, pre99), fourth would be the toyota 2jz....

I also think the LS chevy motors are amazing, my buddy lives in florida, 315K miles on a corvette, that is impressive, its on its second tranny replacement, and he had to have the rear end done once, but the car aint rotted.....

Another one is the BMW motor they put in the mid 2000 m3's, it was something like 400hp straight six, (I think an S45 or something like that), I seen a few of them with 300K+ miles on them and still running really nice...

Chevy v8's work too, I have had 6.0's in service trucks with 250K on them, 5.7 with 225K, even the old 3.8 v6 they used to put in everything was a decent engine, they used to go a couple hundred thousand...

Toyota and honda have made some engines over the years, as has VW, Benz, and a few other companies... I think a lot of it is how you take care of them


I think a lot of our recent engines have been pretty reliable, I think cars are getting much better than they ever were, I remember when we would RUN from a car with a digital dash because you knew it was going to break in 2 years and be expensive to replace, now they are all digital and hardly ever fail, cars are faster, safer, smoother, quieter, more efficient, and reliable then they have ever been..
I mean a 750hp street car that doesnt get 2 miles to the gallon, is AMAZING, lol.. A car that you can run into a brick wall at 40 and only the driver gets broken thumb, all other passengers are unscathed!!! AMAZING, my wifes car gets 50mpg and fits 4 adults very comfortably, as well as goes 400K miles with out an engine transplant!!!! (I have a toyota hybrid prius, with 365K miles on it, NEVER touched the engine or the motor, we changed the batteries ONCE and it cost me $2200 and took an hour, I will drive that thing to florida tomorrow, if I had to and not worry about getting stuck)....




ANYWAY cars are awesome, all of them, even the fiats... OK, maybe not the fiats..