what are or were the best straight (in line) 6 cylinder engines?
what are or were the best straight (in line) 6 cylinder engines?
BMW M-anything.
Best for what?
Was there a bad straight 6 engine?
Oh, and 7MGTE.
L-28DET
93celicaGT2 wrote: Best for what?
performance, construction, etc
Best for me: 
A good substitute:
I'm with Dr. Hess, I can't think of a bad I6 motor, only poor choices of application for an I6.
For performance engines, I'd probably go with the 2JZ-GTE, mostly because I'm much more familiar with Japanese motors than German. I'd take the Yamaha-headed 'yota over the RB26DETT only because the 2JZ is actually legal on public roads here in the US.
For workhorse engines, It's hard to pick between the 4.0L Jeep and the 300 Ford. I'd probably go wth the Jeep motor just because they were offered in smaller rigs where the 300 was only in full-size trucks/vans.
Dr. Hess wrote: Was there a bad straight 6 engine?
Exactly, too many great ones to list:
Jag XK 3.8 and 4.2
Aston Martin
Chrysler slant 6
AMC 4.2 and 4.0
BMW S54, S50, S52
Benz
Triumph 2.5 liter
I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch
Go Toyota JZ series !!! NEVER EVER GO WITH 7M's
Chrysler Flathead Six. An engine to launch a company and a reputation. Foley Engines still sells them as industrial units.
M30 /thread
7mgte
2jzgte
1fzfe (THE monster.)
Whatever straight six was in the BMW E36 M3
BMW S54
Toyota 2jzgte
Nissan RB26DETT
Ford's 4L Turbo in the FPV F6 Typhoon (Aussie Ford)
Those are what come to mind...
Volvo B6294T.
Twin turbos in tiny transverse package. Needs to go in a Locost.
Tommy Suddard wrote: M30 /thread
This.
225K on my current one. 225K on my last one when I sold it. 265K on my dad's. Plenty with way over 300K and quite a few up to 400K. Incredibly robust if you didn't overheat them, and were used for longer than any other BMW engine. Powered everything big and BMW from 1968 E9's up to the E34 535i and E32 735i. Served as the basis for the M88/S38 as well. Good stuff.
Not the best strictly performance I6, but almost certainly the best all-rounder.
After a bit of thinking, the only straight six I heard ANY complaints about is the flathead six used in Ramblers in the 1950s. Seems they liked to blow head gaskets.
the only "bad" one that comes to mind is the sohc I6 that was in my '81 cressida. No power. Poor efficiency. Stripped the crank pulley keyway, which I was led to believe was a common problem.
93celicaGT2 wrote: Whatever straight six was in the BMW E36 M3
S50---- 1995 M3 (3.0 liter) S52-----1996- 00 (3.2 liter)
The six out of the 93-95 Mercedes 300E/E320's, make sure its the 3.2. Beats the M20 IMHO. But I've never been in a car with the S50/S52.
IF you want to keep the Penta based mill (slant 6), have you ever heard of Clifford Performance??
http://www.cliffordperformance.net/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=CP&Category_Code=MY
ok its not the best. but its one of my best pics of it
Pontiac Sprint Six. A friends dad had one in a Firebird.
(2) Metro 3 cylinders...
...Oh, wait. 
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