1991 Ford E-350 ClubWagon Conversion

[caleb22]

Hi, this thread will provide updates on the conversion of my 1991 Ford E-350. This van has the 5.8 L engine with 118,000 miles. The van was first used as a church bus then was later used for masonry work. I started the build two weeks ago, so I'm going to catch you up really quick and then try to post regularly throughout the build. 

I'm hoping this will be helpful to some people starting their own build, but I'm also hoping that you guys will comment and help me out when I need it. This is my first van build, so I'm sure there will be times that I will need some advice.

Thanks for following along!


here are some pictures of the van the day I bought it...






My initial thoughts on the van were that it was HUGE, and it is, it is roughly 12' from the back of the the front seats to the back door. I love the windows, I know this will make temperature control more difficult but I will sacrifice that for the ability to have natural light and nice views from inside the van. I was a little nervous about the 5.8, I prefer the old I6 over the V8 for both reliability and gas mileage; but it will be nice to have the extra power. If anyone has a good guess on what I should get on gas mileage please let me know, I'm hoping for roughly 15 but have no idea if that's even close. Overall the van was in great shape, it has very little rust (for a 91) and it runs well. 

The first step I took was to diagnose/fix a few important mechanical issues. I'll get into that in the next post.

 

[caleb22]

Fixing Mechanical Issues:

The van ran well when I bought it, but there were a few significant mechanical repairs that needed to be done. Here are the list of things that I have completed so far. These are basically the things that had to be done before I was comfortable driving the van around.

1. The van had a coolant leak. The two hoses running into my water pump had small splits at the ends, and I was dropping some antifreeze after each time I ran the van. Those hoses were replaced and now there is no leaking.

2. Replaced the headlights and windshield wipers.


Here are the other issues that still need to be fixed. I plan on completing these when I have access to a garage to work in.

1. Broken thermostat

2. Change PCV valve

3. Fix exhaust manifold gasket leaks

4. Replace Catalytic Converter and add muffler and exhaust (yes the van is very loud right now)

5. Heater fan blower wire harness has been modified by the previous owner and is no longer working (the motor works fine)



I hope to get the thermostat changed and add the exhaust system ASAP, but the rest will probably be fixed over time.

 

[closeanuf]

A good friend of mine has an 87 E350 with a 5.8.  He recently made a trip from Duboise, Wy to Galveston, Tx and back home and he got as good as 12 mph on the trip.  He only gave $400 for the van and has had to do the usual tires and general repairs but he has made that trip twice and pulled a loaded trailer  both times.  Have fun.

 

[JD GUMBEE]

Make sure you look up the chronic failure of the heater fan speed select system in Ford trucks.
(They had still not fixed it ten years later.)
Here is one of many many examples online about the issue.
https://www.f150online.com/forums/articles-how-s/378955-heater-blower-fan-fix-only-high-speed.html
It is not hard to remedy.

One thing I will warn you about...
Beware with "engine flush" products.
That era engine usually comes apart with loads of inner sludge.
They keep on running...the engine is actually VERY reliable...but I would strongly suggest against "flushing" one with 100K and unknown maintenance history.
You risk loosening large chunks of deposit and plugging the pickup screen/tube.
"Marvel mystery/cleaner treatment" whatever product, take your pick...(same with the old "dump in a quart of tranny fluid" trick)...if you do it, you risk the engine.
Just change with a good quality oil and keep changing it at normal intervals.

That likely has a 4:11 rear.
They top out @ about 14-15 at the very very best.
More likely, 12MPG is what you can expect.

 

[caleb22]

Insulation:

After looking at the mechanical side of the van, I decided to go ahead and start with the conversion. The first thing I did was to strip out all of the plastic siding and carpet. Behind that was old wool insulation, and it was not in the best shape so I decided to remove it and start new.

Here is what the van looked like after it was cleaned out.




As you can see there were some nasty rust spots on the floor of the van. I decided to fill these in with an old fiberglass body filler that I already had at the house. The spots weren't too bad so after just a few hours of sanding and grinding I was ready to apply the body filler. 




Now with the rust spots cleaned up It was time to install the insulation. I decided to go with the green rigid foam board from Lowes. I bought 3 sheets of 1" and 1 sheet of the 2" thick board. The two inch board was used in the van walls below the windows and the 1" would be used for everything else (upper walls, between windows, ceiling, floor). For inside the doors and the rounder back corners I decided to us some scrap fiberglass home insulation I had lying around. Here is a picture of the van after most of the insulation was installed. As you can see I also used great stuff to fill in the gaps that were too hard to fill with the foam board, and I cut out reflectix as window covers as well.




I am curious what you guys recommend to use for insulating around the wheel wells and the gas tank inlets? I was thinking of wrapping them in reflectix even though I know that's not how it really works.




This post has you up to date now on my progress. I plan to complete the floor insulation as soon as the weather decides that winter is actually over, the forecast shows snow again tonight.

 

[closeanuf]

I boxed in over the wheel wells with plywood and put insulation in them.  That gives you something to build around too.  You're gonna find out that there is no level and plumb in a van.

 

[caleb22]

Due to the poor weather, progress has been slow this past week. I have almost finished laying down the floor joists that I am going to screw the plywood into. Once those are completed I will lay down the last bit of insulation foam and use the expanding foam to fill any gaps. 

Did anyone else struggle getting self tapping screws to get through their van? I had to drill pilot holes and actually broke a few drill bits doing that, until I got a better feel for where the frame was under the floor.


I also found the solution to my failing heater fan blower. It was a bad blower relay. When I removed the relay and jumped the plug with a paperclip it fired right up. I already purchased a new relay and it should be in early this week.

Please let me know what you think of my layout! I'm definitely open to suggestions...

 

[safarivan]

you may have a bad batch of self tapping screws.. (bad drill tips)

I use the same foam board over the wheel wells cut to fit tight then use spray can foam to seal and smooth the edges of it. once the spray foam dries for an hour you can then remove the excess with a hack saw blade and smooth the edges.

after that I put reflectix over it and then box it in with thin plywood.

you might consider using a thinner foam board under your flooring also.

 

[caleb22]

you may have a bad batch of self tapping screws.. (bad drill tips)

I use the same foam board over the wheel wells cut to fit tight then use spray can foam to seal and smooth the edges of it. once the spray foam dries for an hour you can then remove the excess with a hack saw blade and smooth the edges.

after that I put reflectix over it and then box it in with thin plywood.

you might consider using a thinner foam board under your flooring also.

Ya I think that is how I am planning on doing the wheel wells. I'm not sure if I'll box it in or not though.

I'm going to use the 1" board on the floor, I'm not too worried about losing an extra 1/2" of clearance.

 

[caleb22]

Make sure you look up the chronic failure of the heater fan speed select system in Ford trucks.
(They had still not fixed it ten years later.)
Here is one of many many examples online about the issue.
https://www.f150online.com/forums/articles-how-s/378955-heater-blower-fan-fix-only-high-speed.html
It is not hard to remedy.

Thanks for the tip on the blower resistor, it actually ended up being the blower motor relay!

 

[caleb22]

Due to the poor weather, progress has been slow this past week. I have almost finished laying down the floor joists that I am going to screw the plywood into. Once those are completed I will lay down the last bit of insulation foam and use the expanding foam to fill any gaps. 

Did anyone else struggle getting self tapping screws to get through their van? I had to drill pilot holes and actually broke a few drill bits doing that, until I got a better feel for where the frame was under the floor.


I also found the solution to my failing heater fan blower. It was a bad blower relay. When I removed the relay and jumped the plug with a paperclip it fired right up. I already purchased a new relay and it should be in early this week.

Please let me know what you think of my layout! I'm definitely open to suggestions...

Sorry! I didn't have enough posts to add a link the first time so it was removed. I believe I do now, so I'll try again.

https://cl.ly/3v0F1h1H2r0I

Again this is a safe link that is a screen recording of a 3-D rendering of my van layout design. I made the model and render in the Autodesk Inventor software. The screen recording was captured with the cloudapp software.

Let me know what you think of the layout design.

 

[dragonfiregrill]

i get 16 hwy in my 5.8 but it is a 93, city though i get really bad mileage, need to replace the solenoids in the transmission.
good luck on your build