Rookie on the 6 cylinder...is it good?

[montmorcey]

Risking to step on toes here...but what about the older 6 cylinder engines? Do they have enough power? Reliable? Spare parts? Value? What are your thought? Seems cars with the six trade at lower prices. Thanks!

 

[bmc69]

Fairly weak. Reliable as a hammer...dirt simple and easy to work on. Parts plentiful.

 

[DirtDonk]

Lot of six cylinder lovers around here these days, so no toes to worry about.
But most owners that drive theirs regularly, whether out on the highway or just on local streets and expressways do like the extra power that the V8's offer.

It's not something that has never been dealt with of course, but most of us live in areas where traffic is increased along with the frustrations and resulting finger pointing at "farm equipment" (which is not much removed from what an old EB was intended to be) trying to share the road at a much slower pace. We're used to racing around and hate it when someone slows us up.

If you're in an area that either is still more rural and patient, or just in a big city where nobody is getting anywhere fast, the little sixes might be just the cool-ticket you can love.

They can be the cool thing you love anyway of course. Just sometimes it's nicer to be able to get out of the way of a hauling big-rig a little quicker!

Have fun.

Paul

 

[thegreatjustino]

The old six cylinders will run forever with basic maintenance. However, whoever decided to use a 170 as an engine in a heavy vehicle like a Bronco had no clue on the concept of weight to power ratio.

Of all the Broncos I've owned over the years (10 of them) only one had the 170. For the most part, I'll never buy another one. Lack of power, constant down shifting on steep hills, low top speed, crappy acceleration even driving around town. Makes the Bronco not so fun to drive. I actually was considering buying a military Bronco a few years ago with the 170. After taking it for a test drive and realizing it had the same power issues as the six cylinder I already owned, I decided to pass. It was the 170 that made me pass on buying that Bronco. Terrible choice for an engine in an EB.

 

[okie4570]

What's been said above for sure. I've never driven a Falcon with a 6cyl, but the curb weight is almost identical to that of a 66' bronco, so surely they had some idea that it was going to be sluggish.

 

[SHX669]

I borrowed a 63 Falcon with a 170ci back in the day - and have to say it was pathetic. LOL
I always thought Ford put em in Broncos because of a " clerical error " the manufacturing dept. ordered 10,000 170s and some dummy moved the decimal point and ordered way too many and then had to get rid of them before the Big wigs found out. LOL

 

[bmc69]

What's been said above for sure. I've never driven a Falcon with a 6cyl, but the curb weight is almost identical to that of a 66' bronco, so surely they had some idea that it was going to be sluggish.

Exactly. Ford put 170s and 200s in lots of similarly sized vehicles back then.

Everyone complaining about the 170..obviously weren't ever in to Scout 80s like I was back in the old days. LOL..that 4-banger...snap your head right off your neck. Jeep's offerings about that time weren't exactly power houses either.

 

[Prizefighter]

170 in a U13 could be okay compared to what IH and Jeep offered. Maybe a U13 Roadster is what they where basing the power to weight ratio off of??

What about a 200? How does that feel and is it a big difference over a 170? I had a 170 in a Bronco once and it was weak.

 

[okie4570]

One of my 66' has the 170 with 4.11's and the other 66' has had a 200 swapped, but has 4.57 gears. Hard for me to compare but the 200 seems like a rocket compared to the 170, but I'm not sure how much is the gearing and how much is the 30cid.

 

[Prizefighter]

One of my 66' has the 170 with 4.11's and the other 66' has had a 200 swapped, but has 4.57 gears. Hard for me to compare but the 200 seems like a rocket compared to the 170, but I'm not sure how much is the gearing and how much is the 30cid.

Do you know Mike Mudd or see his 200 powered Bronco at OCBR? He takes that Bronco everywhere and I watched him hang with the big boys no problem. When he told me it had a 200 I made him open the hood because I didn't believe him.

 

[okie4570]

I've seen Mike's but had no idea it was 200. I've been on the verge of selling that 66', because I'm probably never going to restore it. It's got a Dana 44 already as well, so I've kind of been throwing the idea around of just making it OCBR capable. The kids are going to need a bronco to drive while there before long lol.

 

[norm02]

Risking to step on toes here...but what about the older 6 cylinder engines? Do they have enough power? Reliable? Spare parts? Value? What are your thought? Seems cars with the six trade at lower prices. Thanks!

I've owned Broncos with both a 302ci and the 170ci. I can say without hesitation that the 302ci is easier to drive and live with everyday than the 170ci. My current Bronco has the original 170ci that it rolled off the assembly line with (rebuilt short block) and while it's fun to putt around in, it's not fun to try and keep up with the flow of traffic on roads with a 45mph+ speed limit.

As others have already mentioned, where you drive/live may have a big impact on your enjoyment should you stick with the 170ci. I live in a fairly urban setting that happens to have 40mph-45mph speed limits on the main roads and stoplights every mile or so. I also have a 22 mile commute to work that's on a highway with a 70mph speed limit. Needless to say, I'm almost always the slowest vehicle to get up to 45mph (except when I'm in my 700hp CTS-V ) and I have not attempted to keep up with rush hour traffic on my way to work. As you can probably imagine, I would love to be able to drive my Bronco to work every now and again but it simply would be too much of a PIA to drive it on the highway with the other early morning maniacs.

With that said, I will be converting my '66 over to a 408ci within the next few years so that I can enjoy it with the 35's I plan on installing regardless of what the speed limit is. Until then, I'm going to enjoy driving around in the city with my little 170ci and my 31" tall tires. Make your decision based on how you're going to use the truck, the performance expectations you have of it, and what if any mods you anticipate doing in the future. It will be next to impossible to have a bad time driving your Bronco regardless of what motor is in it so long as you have realistic expectations of its capabilities.

 

[spap]

lightly turbo it and leave it till it blows up, which it wont.
there are tons of write ups on ford 6 s with turbos. prob cheaper than converting to a v8.
In the day ford had the six, the competition all had fours jeep, land rover, scout. so it was probably a big step up to have a six, 105 hp and some torque.

different times,

 

[bmbm]

Just find a 250 six for your 170 Bronco and get a five speed trans. My 250 is stock and I have no problem keeping up with normal traffic flow. This combination changed my driving experience completely and I would not hesitate to drive it anywhere. The od gear provides stress free cruising on the freeway.
As stated it depends on what quarter mile times and top speed you require. Your driving environment and what size tires you want is a factor.
And check out fordsix.com for performance mods.

 

[B RON CO]

Hi, my 66 1/2 cab has the 200 six. It is adequate for farm and hunting trails as well as beach driving and snow. If you want to do real serious off roading and mudding go with the V8. The 302 is 1/3 larger than the six and the 351 is 50 cubes bigger. The performance parts for V8s are all over the place. Figure out the kind of wheeling you will be doing and come up with a plan. Figure out your budget. If you need to hire out the work the costs will add up fast. One other point is the six cylinders came with 411 gears. That limited my top speed to 60 MPH until I put the late model front and rear ends in with 350 gears. Now I hit 70 MPH at 2700 RPM. Plenty to think about.

 

[BOBS 2 68S]

when I lived in town with mostly city driving the 200 six with 3:50 gears was good. But when I moved to the country and all highway the six just was not enough. I put in a cam, headers DUI ignition, 1:6 rockers, Rhoads lifters. Bottom line I felt like I was pushing with a rope. I put in a 302 out of the EB down for rebuild. Performance parts for the six are harder to find and cost more than the V8. Look at vintageinlines.com He bought out the stock from classicinlines. He still has a link to classicinlines dino page. Just my .02 cents.

 

[Ak Westphal]

I know a lot of guys that had the sixes a few still do and love the reliability and enough power. If you're not with the "bigger,faster louder croud" you can be happy with the 6. But my '86 250 on 36's only had a 302 in front of 4spd; so I wasn't winning any stoplight races. (Unless there is a foot of snow then I'd hold my own.