i would just put an old style propane system on it. and ditch the gasoline.
Yes there’s lots of manifolds because the engine was carbed for many years before. Some recommend the offenhauser.
I may be better off leaving it as is unless I get around to installing a 300hp 351.
I had 2 friends with the HO 351 and I tweaked one of them for more power with carb tweaking and timing curves.
It was in a 1984 E250 and I had a 302 .030" over in my 84E150 .
I added another overload spring and dual shocks up front and 3" lift at that time was on my 150.
He did not have any seats in his Van or interior except door panels other than driver and passenger. I had 4 captain chairs and a fold down bead and all carpeted head to toe.
Weight I would guess were about the same as they use the same frame .
I would out run him easy with the 306" ford but I did port my heads and ported the exhaust manifolds and intake manifold.
260H comp cam and 2 barrel carb , 3" single exhaust.
AOD in both of the vehicles my van averaged 17.6 MPG and I did not use the OD as it was too tall and I had 3.50 gears.
Other buddies 351HO was in a truck and it finally gave up and a 350" chevy was stuck into it and it had way more power everywhere.
My 306" after 13 years developed a miss and traced down to 1 cylinder that needed the valve lapped in.
Buddy needed a good engine and trans for his truck and ran a machine shop so I gave him that deal.
I then mocked up my E150 for a SBC.
Gas then went to 4 bucks a gallon and i parted the project out.
Was only me and the wife and she never went anywhere with me so I decided to get a Geo metro and jacked it up and painted it camo.
If you are going to swap something in there think really hard about what would work best for you.
I kind of wish i had put one of my 455 Olds engines into that Van.
But with gas so high I was shooting for 20 MPG.
Hard to get from a 6000 lb brick.
It was in a 1984 E250 and I had a 302 .030" over in my 84E150 .
I added another overload spring and dual shocks up front and 3" lift at that time was on my 150.
He did not have any seats in his Van or interior except door panels other than driver and passenger. I had 4 captain chairs and a fold down bead and all carpeted head to toe.
Weight I would guess were about the same as they use the same frame .
I would out run him easy with the 306" ford but I did port my heads and ported the exhaust manifolds and intake manifold.
260H comp cam and 2 barrel carb , 3" single exhaust.
AOD in both of the vehicles my van averaged 17.6 MPG and I did not use the OD as it was too tall and I had 3.50 gears.
Other buddies 351HO was in a truck and it finally gave up and a 350" chevy was stuck into it and it had way more power everywhere.
My 306" after 13 years developed a miss and traced down to 1 cylinder that needed the valve lapped in.
Buddy needed a good engine and trans for his truck and ran a machine shop so I gave him that deal.
I then mocked up my E150 for a SBC.
Gas then went to 4 bucks a gallon and i parted the project out.
Was only me and the wife and she never went anywhere with me so I decided to get a Geo metro and jacked it up and painted it camo.
If you are going to swap something in there think really hard about what would work best for you.
I kind of wish i had put one of my 455 Olds engines into that Van.
But with gas so high I was shooting for 20 MPG.
Hard to get from a 6000 lb brick.
I've had 150s with both EFI and carbed 300s, including a 300 with headers and a Holley 4 barrel on a Clifford aluminum intake. For all around drivability, power and economy, the EFI wins. Its not terribly difficult to set up a carb to beat EFI at one of those, but at the expense of the other two.
You can delete the smog pump and all its associated plumbing without hurting anything. Don't delete the the EGR unless you plan on reprogramming the computer. It doesn't hurt performance and will trip the CIL if its gone.
If you really want the EFI gone, go all the way and drop in a 351W. Gobs more power and torque and it'll bolt up to your existing transmission.
You can delete the smog pump and all its associated plumbing without hurting anything. Don't delete the the EGR unless you plan on reprogramming the computer. It doesn't hurt performance and will trip the CIL if its gone.
If you really want the EFI gone, go all the way and drop in a 351W. Gobs more power and torque and it'll bolt up to your existing transmission.
Probably affect resale value, if that's important to you.
I used to like to tinker with vehicles, but getting older I've become more a fan of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
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I used to like to tinker with vehicles, but getting older I've become more a fan of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
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Why not go back to steam if you are wanting to devolve?
Well, I have considered selling it and buying an older truck. 60s-70s. It’s just for fun. I paid 1500 for the truck back before they went up in price.
I can appreciate not liking the mess under hood, especially if you can't identify what most of it is off hand, but there is no way on a stock or fairly stock motor I'd give up EFI if I was going to drive it year round and regularly. Someone else mentioned there is likely a lot of stuff you can get rid of and leave just the EFI.
I was the "Carb guy" amongst my buddies growing up and I can still rebuild and tune and have owned and driven daily everything from a 1 barrel to weirdo side draft multi carb European stuff, and worked on a ton more, 4+ cylinder motorcycles are another matter entirely and I own a digital carb sync tool, if that says anything. They perform better than you'd think, if you discount emissions, when they are in good order, but become a bloody headache after enough time or neglect just like anything else. And unless you're buying a Holley or some other known-brand new performance carb I shudder to think what you'd get as a "rebuilt" unit across the local McParts store counter these days with as low as the sales volume has got to be on them. Vintage/used units more often than not have worn throttle shafts sucking air or are an incorrectly jetted replacement installed decades ago so add that onto the pile of annoyance.
I like carbs, and if I was doing a weekend v8 car or some vintage euro stuff, sure nuff. But on a daily driver, EFI is the best thing since the round wheel, with the possible exception of non-points ignition.
All that said, is it not running right? It's plenty old enough to need some attention, and electronics, capacitors, resistors, drivers, etc such as are in the ECU, do fail from age.
I was the "Carb guy" amongst my buddies growing up and I can still rebuild and tune and have owned and driven daily everything from a 1 barrel to weirdo side draft multi carb European stuff, and worked on a ton more, 4+ cylinder motorcycles are another matter entirely and I own a digital carb sync tool, if that says anything. They perform better than you'd think, if you discount emissions, when they are in good order, but become a bloody headache after enough time or neglect just like anything else. And unless you're buying a Holley or some other known-brand new performance carb I shudder to think what you'd get as a "rebuilt" unit across the local McParts store counter these days with as low as the sales volume has got to be on them. Vintage/used units more often than not have worn throttle shafts sucking air or are an incorrectly jetted replacement installed decades ago so add that onto the pile of annoyance.
I like carbs, and if I was doing a weekend v8 car or some vintage euro stuff, sure nuff. But on a daily driver, EFI is the best thing since the round wheel, with the possible exception of non-points ignition.
All that said, is it not running right? It's plenty old enough to need some attention, and electronics, capacitors, resistors, drivers, etc such as are in the ECU, do fail from age.
