How to increase reliability on a Ford 300 inline 6?

I know people say the Ford Inline 6 is pretty much bullet proof. I have one with 212k Miles and looking to rebuild it when I get some cash. Would Forged internals increase Reliability or just power.

Now, if someone can give me a answer that'll make it more reliable and more power, well that's even better.

Forged internals are stronger, but, unless you add a ton of new horsepower to it, unless. They have no direct link to adding power, they will just hold together longer when you add power. But, on the other hand, *IF* you plan on maybe adding to the engine later, they would be worth the investment.

It was designed for over 300K, if you take care of it, by following the recommended maintenance cycle. Changing fluids on proper cycles, along with inspecting the lines, hoses, belts, plugs, etc are more important, as the miles increase. Forged internals last longer, but will not give you more power, just longevity, when properly maintained.

I have seen several inline 6's cross the 400K mark, but only with a lot of TLC, covered, cleaned and kept out of the weather when possible. Usually interior wear and body cancer are bigger factors as time and miles pile on.

The usual large problem is the lack of decent fuel economy, which the 302 V8 and even some of the larger engines are capable of.

You won't really nee to use forged pistons, You can if you want to though They won't add horsepower there stronger to handle more horse power.Here's is the best things to do in my opinion.1 the cylinder head have the valves, guides and seals done. You can if you want to have a lil porting done to improve air flow. You can also put a lil bigger cam in it. You have to remember the I6 is a long stroke motor so it will never rev hard. But it does have good torque output If you do rebuild it There are some after market items out there if you want to go that route The one area you will have the best results in gaining anything is in the cylinder head and I do believe they make a intake for that motor offenhauser makes one for it i know for sure. But always keep in mind it can't rev like aV8 or V6 But it is a trustworthy workhorse of a engine and very reliable and easy to maintain too so overall you will gain some power just by refreshing the bottom end It won't be a record breaker but it will be capable, and reliable too. But horsepower increase would be mild

Everybody is right the inline is pretty much bullet proof. I had one for 6 years and never had a problem with the engine. As far as building it up the only thing you can do is get a forged crank out of an old f250 box truck or dump truck. They came like that to handle the heavy hauling. Other than that there are people on youtube that have turboed them to keep up with a 5.4 f150. But that would be a custom job all the way around and not worth the hassle trying to make something like that work… Look at cliffordperformance.com they make headers and a few other performance parts for inlines check them out and go from there