Rebuild Recommendations For 200 V6 Daily Driver

[Redwolff64]

I am getting ready to pull my sprint 200 Inline 6 engine and rebuild her. I have never done this before, and I will have help when I finally take it apart and put it together. Until then, I am on my own. I will be putting a t5 in at the same time. As far as I am aware, then engine itself is all stock. The only upgrade I have done is electronic ignition. I want this to be my daily driver, so my main concern is MPG, though I do want halfway decent torque and hp.

I guess my question is this. What would you put into this rebuild? I am talking specific parts. Everything from the head to the valves to the pumps. Pretty much breaking it down Barney style.

I do not have an unlimited budget for this, but a decent one. If I need to, I can wait for a little longer to increase funds, but the engine is on its way out. My compression is anywhere from 50 PSI to 120 PSI. So the sooner the better. Thanks for the help.

Randall

 

[Hack]

Not what you asked for, but my advice is to put a 302 in there instead. I foolishly rebuilt the 250 straight 6 in my '70 years ago. What a waste of money! I should have never done it. Build a 302 - then you can use your car while you're building the engine. Also you'll end up with better performance and the fuel economy will be very close if you drive the car gently. The 302 will be cheaper and many more parts are available for later upgrades if you so choose. As far as details go - better than doing a rebuild, you could just use a junkyard 302 with GT40 heads from an Explorer and some shorty headers. I put a roller cam 302 in my car out of an early 90s Mustang that already had well over 100k miles on it. I haven't touched it. It didn't and doesn't need any work. Easy and inexpensive - rebuilding a motor costs a lot more than buying a used one. Of course with a swap you'll be spending more on exhaust and other swap parts, but IMO it's well worth it. My junky used 302 is WAY better than the fresh 250 6 ever was.

 

[Falcon79]

While I agree with the 302 being cheaper, one thing Hack didn't tell you is you would have to replace the rear end and front spindles to go to a 5 lug pattern. Also replacing the motor mounts. Given the price of all that, it will be cheaper to rebuild the inline 6. My parts advice to you would be to get a good set of headers and port the heads to fit the exhaust. Also, there are a lot of aftermarket parts for the I6 that will make it breath better, look into a better intake, I like the one that has a 3 carb setup, but there are lots of flavors.

There was a post on this site a while back that had a link to a vendor site that specialize in I6 mods.

 

[Hack]

While I agree with the 302 being cheaper, one thing Hack didn't tell you is you would have to replace the rear end and front spindles to go to a 5 lug pattern. Also replacing the motor mounts. Given the price of all that, it will be cheaper to rebuild the inline 6. My parts advice to you would be to get a good set of headers and port the heads to fit the exhaust. Also, there are a lot of aftermarket parts for the I6 that will make it breath better, look into a better intake, I like the one that has a 3 carb setup, but there are lots of flavors.

There was a post on this site a while back that had a link to a vendor site that specialize in I6 mods.

Yeah I didn't think of the 6 cylinder wheel lug issue since my '70 originally came with 5 lugs. However, you could get away with 4 lug suspension if you aren't doing anything crazy. Switching to 5 lug could be a long term project - or never. All the Fox Mustangs ('79-'94) came with a 302 and 4 lug wheels, so it's not like you would be doing something risky running a V8 with 4 lug wheels. My last Fox was in the 13s at the strip and with 4 lugs. I know people are going a lot faster than that with 4 lug wheels.

If I wanted to run a straight 6 I'd use a newer 300 straight 6 as the starting point. Still doggy compared to a 302, but much better than a 200. Speed parts will be limited and not very effective.

 

[Noobz347]

Yep... there's folks who are running in the 9's with a beefed up 8.8 inch rear and hardened set of 4 lugs... 650HP+

 

[Smitten65]

The reason to upgrade from the I6 suspension parts (4 lug) to the V8 parts (5 lug) has less to do with the number of studs on the wheels and more to do with the sturdiness of the suspension parts and rear axle strength. The I6 components are considerably less strong, having come from a Falcon pedigree. Ask an Australian what they know about early Falcon I6 suspensions. The V8 stuff is Fairlane based. The diff (excuse the pun) between the 7.5 rear behind the 6 and the 8" (or 9") rear behind the V8 is significant.

 

[rbohm]

ok back to the OP now. building a strong running six isnt that hard, but it will be more expensive than building a V8 due to the lack of parts available and the lack of competition building those parts.

as i start with any build, first decide what you want from this engine. is it going into a daily driver, a weekend cruiser, a street/strip toy, etc. and then build accordingly. since you are planning a daily driver, you want to select parts that work best in the 1000-5000 rpm range.

lets start with the head. with the inline small six you have a few options;

1: upgrade the stock head with larger valves and pocket porting

2: step up to an aussie or argentine head with a removable intake

3: step up to the ultimate head, the classicinlines aluminum head.

each of these options have their advantages and disadvantages. the stock head is limited in what can be done without major mods and fabrication, but is the most economical way to go and probably all you need for the street.

the aussie/argentine heads are available, but limited, need rebuilding, and most of the time need to be shipped from australia or argentina. the aussie head uses the same header design as the american head, but the argentine head will need custom headers built.

the classicinlines head is the ultimate, and initially based on the aussie head with many improvements made. however the complete package is going to be expensive, around $2000 all told, but the head will support 400hp if you want to build the engine that far.

check out www.classicinlines.com for things that you can have done to the stock head other than just rebuilding it. things like adding a direct mount two barrel conversion, larger valves, porting the head, etc.

i suggest mounting a carter/weber staged two barrel on a direct mount system for best results overall.

for the cam, again www.classicinlines.com has a large selection of cams(and other parts as well). they are made by clay smith, and readily available and specifically designed for the small six. you want one with 110-112 degree lobe separation angle for the best street use.

you already have the electronic ignition, so stick with that.

you want to get your compression ratio up to around 9.5:1 for the street. to do this you need to mill the head about .050, plus the added thickness of a modern head gasket, usually about .025.

stock replacement cast pistons will do just fine and save you some money, and use a stock cast iron ring as well, no chrome or moly rings are needed.

for more information check out the forums at www.fordsix.com as we have a lot of information there and a lot of guys that will share lots of information with you.

and hack, we have a guy on fordsix whose WIFE has a driver that runs in the tens with a turboed 250 inline six.

 

[fiveohwblow]

Yep... there's folks who are running in the 9's with a beefed up 8.8 inch rear and hardened set of 4 lugs... 650HP+

never had an issue with my 4 lug setup. Not one. Granted I'm only around 500 Hp and not 650, but I don't foresee someone wanting a 6 cylinder going past what I have....

 

[Hack]

SNIP

and hack, we have a guy on fordsix whose WIFE has a driver that runs in the tens with a turboed 250 inline six.

Great post! Nice to see some tech and details on building a six. That last part is a little sexist, but hey that's fine.

I think it's fine that someone wants to be different. It sounds cool to have a vehicle that's fast with an unusual engine. However, it's not the cheap or easy way to go fast. My car was fast enough to be fun with factory iron non-ported heads and intake - a cheap 302 build. I didn't even buy a stroker kit. I'm not going to give a novice advice that he should rebuild a straight six. I'm not too proud to admit that I spent too much money rebuilding my 250 (even though I did all the assembly work myself).

I've seen ads on Craigslist too where somebody rebuild their original small, not powerful but numbers matching engine and they're trying to sell and get some of their money out. It's sad because the car would have been worth more and the owner dollars ahead swapping a larger engine in. I'm trying to help others learn from my mistakes.

The 302 weighs around 460 lbs and the 200 straight 6 weighs about 385. The difference in weight is less than the difference of having a passenger or not. You DO NOT need to change the suspension to handle an extra ~100 pounds!

 

[rbohm]

hack, i agree with you that building a V8 is cheaper than building a six, and there is more power potential from the V8.

as for spindles, if the car in question is a 66 or earlier model mustang or falcon, i highly recommend swapping to V8 spindles if you swap to a V8 as teh six cylinder spindles are suspect strength wise to begin with, and i have seen a few six cylinder spindles break with the extra 100lbs from the V8, as well as the added weight of the V8 transmission and other weight adding items. understand that V8 cars are about 200+lbs heavier than six cylinder cars overall.

sometimes you just have to dare to be different, and for a daily driver fuel economy is important, and a properly built six has it over the V8.

 

[Hack]

hack, i agree with you that building a V8 is cheaper than building a six, and there is more power potential from the V8.

as for spindles, if the car in question is a 66 or earlier model mustang or falcon, i highly recommend swapping to V8 spindles if you swap to a V8 as teh six cylinder spindles are suspect strength wise to begin with, and i have seen a few six cylinder spindles break with the extra 100lbs from the V8, as well as the added weight of the V8 transmission and other weight adding items. understand that V8 cars are about 200+lbs heavier than six cylinder cars overall.

sometimes you just have to dare to be different, and for a daily driver fuel economy is important, and a properly built six has it over the V8.

I'll have to take you at your word on the spindles - do you also recommend against passengers, especially heavy ones? One passenger ok but more than one not? Just asking..

If I were going to try to be different with a small engine I'd probably go turbo 2.3 over a straight six NA, but a turbo six does sound cool.

 

[rbohm]

I'll have to take you at your word on the spindles - do you also recommend against passengers, especially heavy ones? One passenger ok but more than one not? Just asking..

If I were going to try to be different with a small engine I'd probably go turbo 2.3 over a straight six NA, but a turbo six does sound cool.

its more than just the weight regarding the spindles. most of the time there is no issue, but fatigue does set in sooner on the smaller spindles, and most people dont take the time to make sure the wheel bearings are in proper condition, among other things. i have yet to see a V8 spindle break, but i have seen six cylinder spindles break.