Maniak's 4x4 Van Tow Rig...

[Maniak]

A while ago we picked up a 1978 Ford e-250 3/4 ton van that has a pathfinder quadravan setup..

Van right after getting it home...

It has a 460 motor, Dana 44 front axle and Dana 60 rear....

It made some interesting sounds when driving and since this is going to be the tow rig for the X I wanted to make sure things were right.. Sooo...

We pulled the motor in hopes of finding what was making the noises...

We found the following..
many bolts were loose, including oil pan, exhuast, intake and a couple head bolts...
Lots of bearings looked really bad... (Crank bearings and rod bearings)..
Pistons show signs of burning oil..
3 of the pistons had the ring gaps lined up.
Engine has been rebuilt.. pistons are .030 over.
timing chaing/sprockets look great.. I'd say < 50k miles.. almost no wear..
Part of a starter snout was between the transmission bell housing and the torque converter..

We were glad we found at least "something" that could be cuasing the noise.. Just didn't want to find that much...

Soo....
currently, the motor is out and apart.. Heads are getting rebuilt.. block is getting checked/cleaned etc and the same with the crank.


We pulled (A friend actually did the work).. the motor on Thursday...

Motor pulled and sitting on the ground, waiting to be taken apart.


Today we took apart the motor and took the parts to the machine shop.

We also took the pressure washer to the engine bay, and with some Purple Power degreaser we got most of the grease off.. and even some of the paint..

Stay tuned for more updates....

 

[cybergasm]

did you remove the Valance when you took out the engine?

 

[Tbars4]

...What is the paint scheme plans for this motor???..

 

[Maniak]

Which part is the valence?

Basically, the Radiator/core support was removed, along with the grill etc...

The Heads and Intake were pulled with the motor still in the van..

It came straight out w/out the heads/intake.. With those in it was going to have to come out in a strange angle...

As for the paint scheme.. I'm thinking I'll do another Lego type motor.. but I think I'll use different colors.. and the block will also get color this time.

~Mark

 

[Dannyboy]

I've heard good things about Banks power on a 460, but this only lists engines from 87.
http://bankspower.com/products/show/139/46

You've always got some good projects brewing Mark!

 

[Maniak]

It looks like their kits are only for the computer controlled/ fuel injectec vehicles. But I know their kits a great.. My Mom's Husband added a Banks turbo kit to his old late 80's diesel f-250 (non turbo) and he said it made it into a new truck.

I hate sitting still.. and I'm lucky I have a friend that has done things like motor builds to help out.. He's also the one teaching me welding and even helped work on the tractor (he actually gave me the tractor).

~Mark

 

[mrboyle]

Sweet van! As much as I hate vans, I wouldn't mind getting a 4wd Econoline

 

[Maniak]

Finished the short block yesterday..

Picked up the radiator and other parts yesterday and today. . I can re-use the unknown radiator.. its big.. it appears to be a 5 core from a big truck..

Motor will be in in the Van on Saturday.. We will install the heads/intake etc once its in the van.. easier to put in w/out all the extra width/height and expecially the weight.

Cell phone pic...

~Mark

 

[inh]

Yay another Lego themed motor!

 

[IZwack]

Yes to the colors! YES YES YES!!!

 

[Turdle]

Looks great Mark

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

looks good mark keep up good work

 

[Maniak]

Well.. We are done with day 1 of the install... We are going to take a few days off to pick up a few little parts that we are going to need...


Dry fit on the heads etc on the short block before we put it in the van... (morning pics)

Here is where we were when we stopped for the day (3:30 or so).. It was raining heavy to the east, so we cleaned up just in case it came our way (we were getting the high winds).

note: more pics from the whole quadravan work is here.. http://www.flickr.com/photos/10384420@N03/sets/72157604698701780/

~Mark

 

[Turdle]

That looks great. Do you have to set the engine in thru the door?

 

[Maniak]

Nope.. We put it in w/out the heads or intake.. and made the chain really short. If we would have taken off the valence we could get it in with the heads.. but it wasn't bad.. the only real hard part is manuvering the motor mounts around the exhaust that is still in the engine compartment.. If we would have put the mounts on after it was installed it would have been quicker.. but it only took us 30 minutes to 'stab' the motor once we started.

~Mark

 

[dkchrist]

Lego themed motor, I like it.

Sweet van do you have candy in there? (Sorry, I didn't mean that.)

Any who, nice build. I didn't know the 3/4 tons ran coils, I thought the 3/4 ton ran leaves.

 

[Maniak]

Not only 3/4 ton.. its 4x4 conversion by Pathfinder..

BUT.. I'm pretty sure the 2wd ones were coil spring too..

~Mark

 

[BrooklynBay]

That looks pretty nice!

 

[cybergasm]

Sure you have the fuel pump in the right way ?

 

[Maniak]

Sure you have the fuel pump in the right way ?

I was wondering that too when I saw it in the pic too.. I'm pretty sure its upside down. We are on hold for a few days as I work on the mustang and pick up a few parts. I'll add it to the list of things to do when we start working on it again (I'm "thinking" next week).

~Mark