Well you missed my point somewhat bnine, though I appreciate the info you provided. Sure its old and heavy. But my point was "so what?". It does not need anything new and yet it works as well as or better than most newer engine designs. The distributorless ignition was just an example of that something not really needed and only making the system more complex with no real gain anywhere. Aluminum heads and blocks, roller rockers, titanium valves, etc. Yeah I like them but guess what? They don't seem to give the new engines better fuel economy than that old iron block 6. They just make the engines they replaced better. Well then put the same stuff in the 6 and it will also be better...again. Just because it's old does not mean it's bad and just because it's old and there's newer stuff out there it does not mean it needs to be replaced....is all I was getting at.
Just like some of us, Apex....
:D:D
Oh ya, I agree with you 100%, its definately a "not broke so dont fix it" type of motor.
The only benefit I see to the new ignition is sealing and and some room under the hood, as in not looking so busy.
Its true lots of these fancy motors see similar milage to what the old six does.
The big difference is efficiency. For some of their 25 mpgs they are making motors put out 250 plus hp.
Or in the extreme cases like a vette, you have a 400 horse sbc that gets 22 on the highway.
Im sure if similar upgrades were ever added to the l6 you would see similar results. Basically the same milage, just better hp and torque for that mileage. They have already shown that trend over the years. The mileage has never changed by a whole lot, but they do seem to squeeze a little more power out of them as time goes on.
I also agree it doesnt need replacing. I personally love the simple straight forward approach used in our jeeps. From the age old proven motor, to not having to worry about power window and abs systems.
Sort of off topic, but I just had a co worker pay 1800$ for an abs controller on a chev half ton with 30k on it. Lucky for us we dont have to deal with situations like that with our "old" tractor motors, and relatively simple in todays standards jeeps
