That big beautiful rear sway bar!
That big beautiful rear sway bar!
Dang, just 6 months? That's...well...I'm just glad it happened at all!
I don't know how I missed the update but please for the love of God don't swap out the i6.
That 300 is a great engine, stupid smooth and reliable as hell. You aren't going fast no matter what and the i6 has waaaayyyyy more cool factor. Keep it in there and turbo it for ultra cool.
Yesterday the weather was pretty nice so I took it as an opportunity to hang the rear sway bar.
It took WAAAAY longer than it should have. The instructions are some of the worst ones Ive ever seen. While there are not a ton of parts, everything has to be orientated a certain way. Some bolts need to go down, some bolts need to go up. Apparently there are differences in how the holes for the end links are located in the frame (The directions say use the existing 1/2, mine required drilling out a couple of 1/8 inch holes). We installed and removed the bar and associated parts many times before finding the right way. If I had to do the job again I could mount one in 45 minutes. I was having flashbacks to my flat rate days!
As they say "Experience is what you get right after you need it".
Anywho.... This thing made an amazing difference. It was well worth the wait and headache installing. It now feels like a Miata! Well, a 7 foot tall 4000+ pound Miata with a truck suspension. When we brought it home it had 4 blown shocks and no bars and the very hint of a turn made it wallow around like plates of Jello being juggled. Now it actually feels "modern" when cornering. Still feels like 1982 technology when trying to climb some of the hills around here!
On to the pics!
Not that many pieces, but it was still a pain figuring out how they fit.
View from the back. The dip in the bar is actually centered on the pumpkin but the angle of the pic makes it look off.
Apparently I am going to have to do something about the exhaust soon 
Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:I don't know how I missed the update but please for the love of God don't swap out the i6.
That 300 is a great engine, stupid smooth and reliable as hell. You aren't going fast no matter what and the i6 has waaaayyyyy more cool factor. Keep it in there and turbo it for ultra cool.
Mrs Logdog wants more power and more gears. You know what they say, "If momma aint happy, aint nobody happy!"
Honestly, what vehicle gets the 5.3 is not 100% decided. But getting better rear end gears and more forward gears in the van is something we want to get done but nothing will happen until this winter at the earliest. I still need to get the CJ5 nice and reliable before I tear into this. Until then the 300/2.70s/3speed is safe.
Because the internet loves cat pictures, Danica Catrick joined us for the sway bar test drive.
So does it corner like a Civic racecar now?
logdog (Forum Supporter) said:Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:I don't know how I missed the update but please for the love of God don't swap out the i6.
That 300 is a great engine, stupid smooth and reliable as hell. You aren't going fast no matter what and the i6 has waaaayyyyy more cool factor. Keep it in there and turbo it for ultra cool.
Mrs Logdog wants more power and more gears. You know what they say, "If momma aint happy, aint nobody happy!"
Honestly, what vehicle gets the 5.3 is not 100% decided. But getting better rear end gears and more forward gears in the van is something we want to get done but nothing will happen until this winter at the earliest. I still need to get the CJ5 nice and reliable before I tear into this. Until then the 300/2.70s/3speed is safe.
I still like this idea. Would need to do something for the gears, but an Gearvendors overdrive might help?
Mr_Asa said:logdog said:Option 7 - Whatever we didn't think of. 4BT? Turbo the 300 I6? Miata 1.8? VR6? 460 with NOS? You name it.
Turbo!
Start with Option 3, buy one of these for your turbo manifold https://www.ebay.com/i/274151638168 and find a forged steel crankshaft (Ford made a Heavy Duty version of the 300,) forged rods can be found in the EFI versions.
Wait, no. I berked up.
Ford LSx head
BlueInGreen - Jon (Forum Supporter) said:So does it corner like a Civic racecar now?
Let me put it this way. We drifted a bunch of tofu to a hotel at the top of Mount Akina with no damage.
In reply to Mr_Asa :
I actually looked into Gearvendors but they didn't offer anything for a Ford 3 speed manual.
The sticking together of cylinder heads is certainly an interesting idea. Looks a tad outside my skill set though!
In reply to logdog (Forum Supporter) :
Understandable. As someone who has owned and driven multiple Ford vans I can say that no matter the power.....they are still slow. The difference between the 300 and the 460 is small somehow. One of our vans has a newer 5.8 in it. Feels the exact same as the 300 only with more noise.
The m5odr2 was behind a lot of 300s, 5 speed manual and a decent enough trans, maybe swap one in?
Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:
The m5odr2 was behind a lot of 300s, 5 speed manual and a decent enough trans, maybe swap one in?
That trans with better rear gears hasn't been ruled out. With some of the other car stuff going on around here the powertrain in the van gets to stay as-is. A few months ago we were thinking of cracking into it this coming winter but since the CJ5 is getting back burnered for awhile any major surgery on the van will wait.
Taking care of some of the rust is moving up the priority list.
So many projects....so little time!
The last several weeks have been fairly quiet with the van since we haven't done much but drive since the rear sway was added.
Our horse seems to think the van is a treat dispenser.
We did a day trip driving around the Catskills. We've lived in their shadow for 4 years now and never really checked them out.
In reply to logdog (Forum Supporter) :
I totally get that. I currently have a 12 car fleet I'm taking care of
Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to logdog (Forum Supporter) :
I totally get that. I currently have a 12 car fleet I'm taking care of
Here lately I keep saying "You know, a smart man would have taken up stamp collecting instead..."
logdog (Forum Supporter) said:Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to logdog (Forum Supporter) :
I totally get that. I currently have a 12 car fleet I'm taking care of
Here lately I keep saying "You know, a smart man would have taken up stamp collecting instead..."
Lol, exactly!
One of them is an 88 clubwagon with the 300 too. I need a truck with that engine soon
Did a little Pennsylvanning this weekend and took a meandering drive out to Bill-Town in the central part of the state. The only picture we took was in the Wegman's parking lot as we were eating lunch.
It may not be exciting but the red wine & pepper salami was quite tasty!
We did make one pretty serious mod over the weekend. Ever since the first Lemons rally we have been using a plastic tub as a "catch-all" between the front seats. It looks goofy but works for holding stuff since this van was built before cubby holes, cubholders, and storage bins were invented (I am amazed at how good of a job Ford did on the new Transits in this regard).
Fabulous blue tote!
The tote has been replaced.
About 10 years ago when my grandmother-in-law moved we ended up with a load of stuff from her garage. Part of it was a wooden milkcrate that I thought was cool looking. Its been collecting dust in the basements since we brought it home. The markings look like it was originally from a dairy in Lynn Massachusetts. This crate has apparently traveled from Boston, to northern Maine (where we got it), to Michigan, to Pennsylvania. So it seemed appropriate to make it the new "catch-all". I wiped the dust off, stapled some rug grip tape to the bottom, and stuck it in the van. BlueInGreen says it will help get me hipster cred points
I'm guessing West Lynn Creamery on that crate... Cooler than the tote for sure!
In reply to 11GTCS :
It fits the vibe I am going for much better. I don't want to mount anything permanent there and the size is less obtrusive that the big blue tote. So far the grip tape is working quite well.
Way back in September on Page 10 I picked up some rotating seat bottoms from Beanco. I finally started cleaning them up and installing.
A little bit of elbow grease and paint
I have the passenger side mostly installed. Because these seats are from an Astro they are not direct bolt ins. On the old brackets the top where the seat was bolter was a little wider so there was a bit more meat to work with in positioning the GM seats on the Ford brackets. I have it mocked up on the passenger side as seen below. I think I am going to play with it a bit more and move the seat back an inch or so but I want to make sure it will still rotate. But so far, its looking good!
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