Engine Hours Question 300ci Ford

[lubec]

I am looking at a mid-80's boat that has a 165hp Ford in-line gas 300 cubic inch engine with 8600 hrs. Owner says engine is fine and burns no oil. He put an electronic ignition on it as well. Is this a lot of hours for this type of engine and am I looking at a rebuild in the near future? What is the cost to rebuild this type of engine? Thx in advance.

John

 

[Pedlyr]

I had a 1988 f-150 with a 300 (4.9 liter) that was fuel injected. 5 speed. I bought the truck new and put over 250,000 miles on it in 11 years. Used to haul fish with it sometimes and once I had over 28 totes of fish w/ice. Ruined the universal but the engine never flinched.

Gave the truck to my dad for Saturday dump runs. He later sold it to someone in Ct. who was going to make it into a show truck. Truck never burned a drop of oil.

 

[Sailorgp]

8600 hours is the most I've ever heard of on a gasoline engine. BUT...I was at the Detroit North American International Auto Show how last year. FoMoCo had a display where they took a high mileage 300,000+ miles V-8 and ran it on a dynamometer for 12 hours at max hp output. Exhaust manifolds glowing red hot while on the dyno. They disassembled the engine and had all the parts laying out on display inside a glass case. The internals (crank, conrods, bearings, cams, etc. all looked good. I was shocked to see how good the engine looked. I guess there is some goodness in Detroit iron

 

[F/V First Team]

The 300 is all gear driven internally, no chains clattering around
Rebuild kit on ebay is like 350ish give or take
I'm guessing it is a dry exhaust system so it should be fairly straight forward as far as that to keep up and replace if needed
Engine hours always vary from boat to boat mainly how it was used or abused

Ford Straight-6 engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

More info on the 300

I've been thinking of building a little boat for in close to shore and have it powered with a 300, I hear there are some interesting bolt-on accessories for that engine...