Learn me older vans

I have an E350 with the powerstroke. It tows darn near anything. I'm getting 20-22 mpg empty. Reliable doesn't begin to describe it. Fortunately it rarely needs work done to the engine because there is no room to fit a hand in there.

all of them will be tough to work on under the hood, but straight 6 is better for room.

Can't really go wrong with any of them in my opinion. I'm not a fan of the Dodge but its fine. Get a big tranny (most of them have the bigger slushboxes regardless of engine)

Any of the V8s of that era are going to be ridiculously wimpy. The most hp any of them offered was in the high 100s, so don't expect miracles when towing unless you upgrade. For that reason, a V6 or inline 6 might not be a bad option since they often made as much power/torque as the V8s.

Fords for me. I've got a combined 1.3 million miles on 4 of them. All still in the fleet and still used every day. The tire problem isn't so bad as long as they are aligned with the weight they normally carry and rotated regularly. The I-Beam set up is bullet proof and damn near indestructible.

Personally, I'd stay away from the 4.9 and get the newer 4.2 if you want the 6cyl. It has good torque and hp and will return 18mpg if you drive it easy. 15mpg if you drive the crap out of it. I've got 320K on one of them, and it's still going strong. It just towed the Lemons car 300 miles without missing a lick.

Not that I am looking for a full RV/live out of a van setup but this guy's van would be perfect. I'd go visit more places if I had something like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSvrjesW7wI&feature=related

I had a 95 F150 with the 300 and an E4OD tranny, then a 97 F350 with a 7.3L and E4OD that I used to tow the track toy with and would sleep in the bed(it had a camper top). But I really just want a van. I have always had Ford trucks but I do not wear Ford blinders, I am open to all kinds of vans. I was really leaning more towards the GMs and Fords but was not going to rule out a Dodge if someone could give some positive experiences.

The ability to tow an open trailer is all I really need it to do muscle wise. I am really turned on to the hi-toppers for more storage space. The guy's video I just posted up was the perfect van except I would like the bed to sit a little higher and have my tool drawers underneath the bed(I know that is eay to fix, lol). I had my track toolbox mounted to the rear of the bed of my pickup to make it easy to get to the tools while at the track.

I picked up an '01 Ram Van earlier this year. It's your basic cargo van. No side glass or rear windows. It was well maintained by the previous owner, and I am very happy with the van. It's pictured in my GRM garage.

Mine is a 5.2 (318) auto, 3.55 open rear. I pull an open trailer with it. Have hauled assorted 3200-3500 lb cars with it so far. The only thing I miss from my '04 CTD Ram I used to tow with is the gobs of bottom end torque, and the 3/4 ton springs. I'll probably replace the springs in the van later, and add some more gear with a limited slip.

The footwell can be a little tight for big footed people, but I don't have a problem. If I had SCUBA flipper feet it wouldn't work.

The vans got the Magnum engine starting in '92 for the 318, and '93 for the 5.9/360. If you are going to look at the Dodges, I would consider holding out for one of the Magnum powered ones. The earlier engines are OK, but not as torquey. If you want to mess with them, it's not bad.

The box itself is essentially the same as when they first released the B-van in '72. There are changes over the years, but it's still a very basic truck under it all. That's what I was looking for.

Yea some of the body gaps are a bit large but I'm OK with that. It's an 11 year old van, not a brand new Lexus.

curtis73 wrote: Any of the V8s of that era are going to be ridiculously wimpy. The most hp any of them offered was in the high 100s, so don't expect miracles when towing unless you upgrade. For that reason, a V6 or inline 6 might not be a bad option since they often made as much power/torque as the V8s.

This is true. I can't remember far enough back to when my van was stock, but my dad said he had to wait quite a while to get to interstate speed with the pedal to the floor. The good news is that my Ford with the 302 responded quite well to upgrades. We did back to back 0-60 test with and without a hypertech chip and the average improvement was 2 seconds (multiple runs, same day, same road). If butt-dynos are to be believed, he claims the exhaust work (ford racing headers and gibson exhaust) made an even bigger difference. Now after that (and a few other things) it's still slower than new trucks, but certainly usable.

Rob_Mopar wrote: Yea some of the body gaps are a bit large but I'm OK with that. It's an 11 year old van, not a brand new Lexus.

Im with you on that, I could care less about gaps unless it affects the reliability.

Rufledt wrote:

curtis73 wrote: Any of the V8s of that era are going to be ridiculously wimpy. The most hp any of them offered was in the high 100s, so don't expect miracles when towing unless you upgrade. For that reason, a V6 or inline 6 might not be a bad option since they often made as much power/torque as the V8s.

This is true. I can't remember far enough back to when my van was stock, but my dad said he had to wait quite a while to get to interstate speed with the pedal to the floor.

I suffered with an 88 Chevy 2500 with a 350 TBI. Not only did it make a wheezy 180 hp, torque was something like 275 #, and I couldn't get more than 14 mpg out of it empty. Towing my 27' travel trailer would mean topping a hill at 35 mph and getting 6 mpg.

Fortunately, all of the big three have pretty easy solutions. A wheezy chevy small block is just vortec heads away from 300 hp and improved MPG. Dodge smallies can benefit similarly from Magnum heads. Ford windsors have a similar benefit from GT40 heads. Aftermarket parts are a dime a dozen.

A nice thing about diesel is that I'm just an intake, chip, and exhaust away from 700 lb-ft to the wheels. Get a duramax and the same treatment could get you 900 to the wheels.

this seem like a really good deal

http://nashville.craigslist.org/cto/3295927801.htmll

I bought a 1990 E150 in 2003 as a winter beater. It had about 140k when I bought it. It had the 5.8L/E4OD combo and it was unstoppable. I was poor and couldn't find a 4x4 truck in my price range, so I picked it up for $400. I beat on that poor thing for 2 years. I changed the oil and trans fluid and did a tune up when I first bought it. Thats all the maintenance I did. I ran it out of coolant multiple times, overheating it. I did brake stands, winter drifting and drag raced my buddies beaters. It took it all. I sold it to the junkyard in 2005 when we moved and lost all street parking. I still miss it to this day

When you remove the rear fold down couch, it actually has quite a bit of room...

So you can haul your buddy's 5.0L in the back:

Lurking behind my 1984 Supra P-type and 1999 Cobra vert: I also towed probably 10 cars with it. You couldn't beat it for $400...

stanger_missle wrote: I bought a 1990 E150 in 2003 as a winter beater. It had about 140k when I bought it. It had the 5.8L/E4OD combo and it was unstoppable. I was poor and couldn't find a 4x4 truck in my price range, so I picked it up for $400. I beat on that poor thing for 2 years. I changed the oil and trans fluid and did a tune up when I first bought it. Thats all the maintenance I did. I ran it out of coolant multiple times, overheating it. I did brake stands, winter drifting and drag raced my buddies beaters. It took it all. I sold it to the junkyard in 2005 when we moved and lost all street parking. I still miss it to this day

I'm never selling mine. No place to park it? I won't move there. Seriously. It's in great shape and works perfectly, i'm not selling it. When I finally have a place to work on cars easily (and not a tiny tiny garage that barely fits my RX8) i'm starting with the van. It'll be crazy how much fancy crap i'm gonna do to it. People will think i'm nuts to do it to this old thing. Seriously, it's already on paper.

Rufledt wrote: I'm never selling mine. No place to park it? I won't move there. Seriously. It's in great shape and works perfectly, i'm not selling it. When I finally have a place to work on cars easily (and not a tiny tiny garage that barely fits my RX8) i'm starting with the van. It'll be crazy how much fancy crap i'm gonna do to it. People will think i'm nuts to do it to this old thing. Seriously, it's already on paper.

I totally understand as I had similar plans. It's difficult to explain how much I miss my van. Sure, the 5.0 wasn't all that powerful and the body was started to rust a bit, but it was just so nice to drive.

When the ebay buyer picked it up, I hadn't started in well over a year after hearing an odd noise from the engine (thinking it was a WP). I mentioned to bring a battery and it might start. Did it start? Not only did it start, it started after maybe 3 cranks and purred like I'd driven it yesterday. My TDI that I drive every day doesn't start that easily. My Cummins never starts that quickly... It was like it was laughing at me... A week later the new owner sent me some pics of it cleaned up and said the noise turned out to be the p/s pump.

I'm sure he's still enjoying it to this day...

If someone offered me a decent 90's Ford conversion van in trade for my Cummins, I would barely hesitate...

Mine used to start rediculously easy, too. It was like a crank or 2 and it would fire up. Sometimes in below 0 weather i only got 7 cylinders right away when starting cold, but it would start. the 8th would kick in after about 10 seconds. That may have been the spark plugs, though, as they were who knows how old at that point. It hasn't happened since they were replaced. Now (4 years later) it takes about a second longer to start. Still about as fast as my 2009 rx8 starts.

Ian F wrote: If someone offered me a decent 90's Ford conversion van in trade for my Cummins, I would barely hesitate...

I wish a Cummins would fit in my van.

curtis73 wrote:

Ian F wrote: If someone offered me a decent 90's Ford conversion van in trade for my Cummins, I would barely hesitate...

I wish a Cummins would fit in my van.

I seem to remember hearing about it done over on FTE years ago. Not sure how, though, since it barely fits in the Ram and that engine bay was designed for it... I think he had to hack the crap out of the fire wall for the engine height. I'd imagine it'd be loud as hell too unless you built a new doghouse with additional insulation... which you'd have to do anyway or the turbo would bake the interior.

Happy birthday, btw.

curtis73 wrote:

Ian F wrote: If someone offered me a decent 90's Ford conversion van in trade for my Cummins, I would barely hesitate...

I wish a Cummins would fit in my van.

have you checked into this: http://fordcummins.com/eSeries-cummins-conversion.html

They say a 5.9 will fit in an E series, but it's a bit of work.

I had a 3/4 Ton Chevy for a while. I believe it was a '92. I liked it because it was fuel injected (305) and had overdrive. It was bare metal inside (a little noisy, but not bad). I didn't check to see if it had antifreeze in it (Previous owner apparently was running straight water) and let it freeze. So...since I had other projects to persue that weren't swapping an engine in a van...I traded it for another hole in my head ('50 GMC...since traded several times over).

I hauled with it once and it did great. The 305 wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

No, it doesn't really say that on this side, a friend photoshopped it. It was an old "Serve Pro" van or something.

After owning the van, I decided I did more hauling stuff that needed a bed (ie, too messy to want to put inside a van) so a truck was a better option for me at this point in life. I'll have another old van at some point, though, I bet.

Clem

Rufledt wrote: have you checked into this: http://fordcummins.com/eSeries-cummins-conversion.html They say a 5.9 will fit in an E series, but it's a bit of work.

Damn... I'd forgotten about that site... If I had the shop room to attempt such a project, it would be tempting... Mmm... 12V diesel 4x4 van...

Ian F wrote: Damn... I'd forgotten about that site... If I had the shop room to attempt such a project, it would be tempting... Mmm... 12V diesel 4x4 van...

That would be pretty sweet. Unfortunately I think that would be a bit too much work for my rear drive E-150. I'd need a different van to start with, and that would kinda mess up the idea of keeping my van. I wonder if an ecoboost V6 would fit. There would have to be a way to reprogram the transmission or use a different one, I hate the way the Flex and F-150 I drove shifted.

The emissions and inspection requirements in my area would require a different van as well. Probably one from the 70's with a non-catalyst engine. As long as I'm dreaming, I'd look for a 3-on-the-tree as well with the pipe dream of figuring out how to shift the 5spd in my truck.

It wouldn't cost that much money, but would require a massive amount of space and time to gather, restore and assemble everything. I'd need to win the lottery to make that happen. Of course, if money were no object, I'd get a 4WD Sprinter w/ a 6 spd from Europe and have a specialist federalize it.

My '94 E150 Conversion van is an amazing vehicle. With the 5.8L and towing package it can handle just about anything. I picked it up from a family that was experiencing the sticker shock of having a 140k vehicle properly maintained. I put the usual... shocks, ball joints, brakes, tune up and all fluids changed, and have been driving it for 6 years without a problem. Air front and rear is still frigid, everything on the van works great. I updated the transmission valve body with one built by Gregg Evans, put Bilsteins on all four corners, and Hellwig Sway bars front and rear. Tows my E30 like its not even back there.

Grizz wrote: Always gets posted in a van thread.

And always posted when Aerostar is mentioned is that the bellhousing supposedly matches the Taurus SHO V6.

Ian F wrote:

curtis73 wrote:

Ian F wrote: If someone offered me a decent 90's Ford conversion van in trade for my Cummins, I would barely hesitate...

I wish a Cummins would fit in my van.

I seem to remember hearing about it done over on FTE years ago. Not sure how, though, since it barely fits in the Ram and that engine bay was designed for it...

Quite true. I am a big fan of the powerstroke. If the cummins were that much better, I'd think about it. But I'd rather spend my money on go-fast goodies for the 'stroke.

Happy birthday, btw.

THANKS!

In reply to Hntsvl_E30:

A van like yours is realistically what I'll be looking for if/when my truck leaves the fleet. A diesel would be nice, but for the amount I'd drive the van, it wouldn't be worth the purchase premium.

Whoa!