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I have to add my story. Back around 1992 or so a buddy had Dodge Dart with the slant six. His was a last generation model, probably a 73 or 74. I can't recall if it was a 2 or 4 door. It was not a bad looking car, but it had faded paint and was old, and there was not much appreciation for those cars yet. It had a lot of miles on it by then.
When he finally got a newer used car, he purposely took it down some really rough dirt roads and just beat the crap out of it all afternoon. In bashing trees with it, we later found out he punctured the oil pan, and began to loose all the engine oil. He didn't know it at time and still kept beating it up, drove it home, and it was still running. Looking back it was a shame, but at that time you would have a hard time finding anyone to pay you even $200 for the car. But that was then. When it was finally dead, a local wrecker company towed it and he probably got $25 for it for scrap. |
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Quoted: 1998 Dodge Neon I bought new, killed in Jan 2013 by a Honda. I still have the gauge cluster. https://i.imgur.com/spG5Ktq.jpg View Quote Those Neons were good cars. Unfortunately for the car they were cheap enough that the average buyer drove it i9nto the ground quickly with a lack of maintenance. |
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From the post above about the first gen Dodge Neon, they were good cars. My friend had one that went at least 300K and was extremely reliable and a good driver. Chrysler marketed it as "starting with a clean sheet", and it was pretty good. Sadly, later models seemed to lose the engineering excellence and they reverted back to status-quo cars.
The first gen Saturns were similarly pretty good cars. |
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I personally had 2 cars with the venerable 225 slant 6, and they ran great.
My folks had several Valiants too, and none of them quit running. Oh man though, the bodies rusted out pretty badly from Michigan Winters |
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Quoted: Hino was responsible for the FJ Cruiser. They had nothing to do with Land Cruisers as far as I know. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Hino. I never realized LCs were assembled by Hino. J40? Hamura? I knew about the Hino involvement in light trucks, Briska that became the Hilux after Toyota was brought in to rescue them. They were contracted to produced subsystems for many Toyota vehicles, but the only Cruisers I knew they assembled were the FJC and J150 at Hamura (and now the J250 as well). I'd never seen anything but the initial Honsha ( Koromo when BJ commenced until '63) production until the 1981 1 million Land Cruiser celebration there. Hino do assembly in the 70s? Hino produced at various times HDLC, LDLC and SWLC axles, frames and subassemblies, and TCs - in Japan at Hamura and Hino, and at Samrong in Thailand. But as I indicated above AFAIK, and as you point out the FJC was at Hamura as well as the J150 LDLC, and the new J250 that prolly not fair to call LD any longer, that's commenced but not yet delivered. Also 4R, Surfs, and Hilux, and a few others at Hamura. But Fxntime is normally reliable. My impression has always been J40s for the States were always Honsha, as were the bulk of J40s in general. Tho many in country CKD assembly facilities - Portugal, Mexico, Costa Rica, Iran, few places in Africa and ME, Indonesia, etc. J40s and J70s mostly. SOFASA and S o Bernardo got full on assembly plants with local variations due to a number of factors - mostly import laws. |
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Quoted: You must not be old enough to remember when a car hitting 100k miles without any major repairs was almost unheard of View Quote Yup. That was a long stretch for 60’s & 70’s cars. I drove a hand me down Olds 98 wagon that finally shit the timing chain at 136k. Way past its expiration date. |
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As long as we're on the topic of old cars that had a long life, my dad had a '76 Dodge van with the 318 V8 engine and automatic transmission. That was our family cruiser growing up, and it took us on many a road trip and camping trip. Picked up dirt bikes, hauled firewood and literally tons of other stuff.
The van was pretty reliable and a good driver overall. I think my dad got at least 200k out of it over 15 years. Because we overloaded it quite a bit on camping and cross country road trips, I grew up helping replace leaf springs and U-joints at least once or twice, and I think a failed alternator somewhere in Georgia. But that was expected for what we put it through, and it was a good vehicle. Like everything around here (New York and Pennsylvania area), age and rust finally took it's toll, but it did its job. |
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Quoted: If we are discounting leaking valve covers and cracked exhaust manifolds, maybe. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Laughs in Jeep 4.0. If we are discounting leaking valve covers and cracked exhaust manifolds, maybe. I never had a single issue with mine. I bought the jeep factory new. Grant you I didn't try to climb rocks with it. Mostly trails and mud....lots and lots of mud and ditches. |
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Quoted: You must not be old enough to remember when a car hitting 100k miles without any major repairs was almost unheard of View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: 200k is not a lot of miles You must not be old enough to remember when a car hitting 100k miles without any major repairs was almost unheard of Laughs in Porsche. |
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Quoted: It was enormous miles back in the 60s & 70s. Not until jap cars did 100k mileage become normal. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: 200k is not a lot of miles It was enormous miles back in the 60s & 70s. Not until jap cars did 100k mileage become normal. Dr. Porsche is not amused. |
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Quoted: The Toyota 2UZ-FE has multiple examples of 1 million miles. View Quote Indeed. I have 2 of these. Keeping for the long haul. 5000 mile oil changes. Just have to make sure to replace that rubber oil line that goes to the cooler. That is the main reason for failures on well maintained trucks. |
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Quoted: Ford 300 i6 or Buick 3800 v6 get my votes. View Quote One of GMs better engines There was no need to cut it from their lineup. It was a proven engine that was as fuel efficient as any of their modern v6's , it could have been installed in any of their modern platforms. GM could have carried it on as a corporate engine |
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Quoted: I personally had 2 cars with the venerable 225 slant 6, and they ran great. My folks had several Valiants too, and none of them quit running. Oh man though, the bodies rusted out pretty badly from Michigan Winters View Quote That ain't no shit. Over the years I have gotten rid of a number of cars just because the bodies rusted out to beat hell. |
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Quoted: One of GMs better engines There was no need to cut it from their lineup. It was a proven engine that was as fuel efficient as any of their modern v6's , it could have been installed in any of their modern platforms. GM could have carried it on as a corporate engine View Quote I like it, but I think it would have been really tough to keep it power competitive while meeting today's emissions standards. |
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Quoted: A 57 Chevy could get a top end rebuild by the average shade tree mechanic. Nothing built since 1990 is remotely similar. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: The 1957 Chevy recommended the first top end rebuild at 35,000 miles A 57 Chevy could get a top end rebuild by the average shade tree mechanic. Nothing built since 1990 is remotely similar. I'm guessing you havent done many top ends recently? They arent hard |
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Slant 6 is a fine engine.
However, the Chevy straight 6, or inline 6, was in continuous production for 70 years. Let that sink in. |
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Quoted: ' I'd take a B series in a volvo C303 https://silodrome.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Volvo-C303-1600x1235.jpg Not sure I'm hippy enough for a 240D View Quote I had a 245 in the mid '00s. My wife and kids hated it, but I thought it was cool. |
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Quoted: 200k is not a lot of miles View Quote ETA the boomers are strong in this one. nothing old is "reliable" you had to service them and constantly adjust shit. todays cars go 100K with tires and oil. the metallurgy simply wasn't there to make engines last back in the day the blocks needed boring at 100K. |
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Quoted: UZ series is pretty under-stressed. I've run a few over 350k - the UOA's were excellent across the life, even at 10k OCIs. The timing belts a major advantage if your intent is doing large miles, if done on schedule. One I sold is on its sixth belt. Prolly it's 3rd starter You also have the various million mile examples, Farah's LS, some other Toyotas as well. What Sheppard's Tundra tear down showed was interesting. But there's a lot of Million Mile cars - even a Frontier - @midcap. How they get there and what it required is the telling part. https://carbuzz.com/features/highest-mileage-cars View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Lexus 1UZ-FE /thread UZ series is pretty under-stressed. I've run a few over 350k - the UOA's were excellent across the life, even at 10k OCIs. The timing belts a major advantage if your intent is doing large miles, if done on schedule. One I sold is on its sixth belt. Prolly it's 3rd starter You also have the various million mile examples, Farah's LS, some other Toyotas as well. What Sheppard's Tundra tear down showed was interesting. But there's a lot of Million Mile cars - even a Frontier - @midcap. How they get there and what it required is the telling part. https://carbuzz.com/features/highest-mileage-cars BIL bought a frontier with a KA24 with 350,000 miles when the timing chain popped from shitty maintenance. got the head rebuiot and slapped a new timing set on and sent it on it's way |
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Quoted: Sold my 98 F150 to my sister who drove it daily for 20 years until black ice claimed it. Not all 5.4s sucked. View Quote How were they in 2007? I'm helping my mom get some shit straight. She inherited a 2007 E250HD van with a 5.4 and 44k miles. The engine still has that new engine smell to it. I'm still up in the air about what to do with it. |
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"Reliable" engines are so because they are over-built and do not generate enough power and rpm to shorten their lifespans.
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As long as you keep on top of the timing belt, the Ford 2.3 is pretty hard to kill.
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