was coming out of the pharmacy and sitting at the light was a black ford econline panel van with a big blue cummins C on the side...then i heard it...it was a straight-piped cummins in there with a 4" tail pipe. it sounded really good and looked pretty slick in all black with the cummins logo.

took off and for sure it was the cummins and no power-choke

 

wow...if indeed that was a cummins conversion then id like to know how they squeezed that into the econoline....u would think the cummins would be in the drivers lap....interesting...always bring a camera

 

i didnt get to see under the hood but i know the sound of a cummins when i hear one and without a doubt it was a straight-piped cummins in that van. it seemed to be a cummins road service vehicle, not someones personal toy/conversion...it was a real work truck and i am positive it was C-powered

 

It would be an engineering challenge that's for sure, since there's really no way to get a hoist in there. Maybe if you came up with something like the subframed cars they have now like the 'Stangs and the F-body GM's where the whole front end drops out the bottom with the motor attached. Need a car lift to lift the van over it, but I imagine it would work. I've always wanted one with 6" sidepipes and DRW with some dually fenders grafted on. That would be wicked. Chopped top? Lol now I'm just getting carried away.

 

I know for a while those Econoline vans did come with the Ford 300 I-6. Almost as long and tall as our Cummins 5.9.

 

Ever seen the Ford van conversions that have a Powerstroke and 4X4 conversion??? Cant remamber the name at the moment.....

 

You don't drop a motor in a van, you drop a van on a motor. With a cutting torch and some metal skills you could put 2 in a row in one. Mmmmmm I12 CTD.....that's something I'd like to see.

 

I worked at the Ford lorain plant for 20 years the last 5 in heavy hole repair and changed a lot of engines . If you could see how tight the 7.3 was to get in their I would think getting a 5.9 would seem easy . The 5.9 is tall and would require cutting some firewall on top I would think and some additions on motor cover but I would think it would not be that hard . At the plant I could do a motor change in 4 hours I would remove the body bolts and disconect everything else raise it up support the body with jackstands , lower the frame pull motor and trans drop a new one in and reverse the whole process . Eveything goes a lot quicker with all new bolts and no rust . In the outside world I changed a 300 six with 750000 miles on it and it took over 16 hours . The 300 was the best motor ford had so they quit making it , the one with 750000 on it would still be running if his wife would have stopped when the oil preasure went to zero . It blew the rear main seal and she kept going till it was dry but we dumped oil in it and drove it on the trailor and into the shop . Ford makes a good van and the 7.3 was not that bad so they got rid of it to .