No way was that mechanic telling you the truth, the Aerostar was never designed to have anything larger than a 4 cyl. Putting a V6 in there was an afterthought.

 

And we all have scraped, bloody knuckles to prove it

 

And a very very good afterthought, I mean, my 4.0L is sluggish compared to a 3.3L Grand Caravan... Imagine how hard it would be to merge with a 4 cyl aero...

 

Well, it is possible to stuff a V8 into an Aerostar. The problem is the width of the V8 compared to the V6, the 6 is narrower, and taller, and shorter. Much of the V8's extra length can be moved to the front, where all the accessories and the big fan shroud are, but you do have to do some significant cutting back in the tranny tunnel to get the back corners of the cylinder heads to fit. But aside from that, a small block V8 will go right in. There's plenty of room up top, so much in fact, you can put a big ol' old school air cleaner up there, and barely enough room on the sides to get clearance for plug wires, a set of manifolds (but headers are out, too wide)

Trust me on this

http://www.revrend.net/ltr/pictures/aeropar9.jpg

 

Welcome!


Woa, that is awesome!

So what eninge is that? Details man, Details!

 

Well, you guys are probably going to hate me for this, but it's not a Ford engine in there, sorry to say.

It's a 318 out of my old rustbucket Dodge pickup I drove though high school and college, and then it, kinda fell apart. I've been sitting on that engine for, oh, maybe 5 years, with nowhere to stick it. THen about 6 months ago, the neighbor down the road got a new car, told my dad and I that we could have his old Aerostar van free if we wanted it, because KBB said it had no value and wasn't worth squat for a buy/trade in . Well, a quick compression test revealed that the 3.0 in it was dying, and it was leaking oil like a sieve, but the body of the van was in good shape so we hit upon a diabolical idea. Can you fit a small block V8 into an aerostar?

It hasn't hit the road yet, we're still working on it, but so far, the answer seems to be yes. Though it's not a 5.0 in there, or a 351, from what we've seen, there's no reason why you COULDN'T put a Ford block in there, all the mods we've had to make would be the same for just about any V8 swap.

The Major changes

- Cutting required in tranny tunnel just to get the motor into the van, you can't go in from above, it has to go in from below. The pieces you have to cut out can be welded back in once the engine is in place.
http://www.revrend.net/ltr/pictures/aeropar41.jpg

- Cutting required of both driver's and passenger's floor pans, to make room for exhaust manifolds and the last cylinder on each side. You lose a bit of the passenger's pan, but about a third of the driver's pan.
http://www.revrend.net/ltr/pictures/aeropar25.jpg
http://www.revrend.net/ltr/pictures/aeropar25.jpg

- Stock radiator has to go, along w/ the oil cooler and fan shroud. We replaced the radiator w/ a cheap aluminum racing job from Summit, the oil cooler was relocated to the passengers side frame rail adjacent to the transmission. Fan had to go, replaced with electric ones running on the other side. You will lose A/C permanently if you do this swap, sacraficed to make room
http://www.revrend.net/ltr/pictures/aeropar21.jpg

- Had to scratch build motor and tranny mounts out of steel stock
http://www.revrend.net/ltr/pictures/aeropar44.jpg

- We're using a late 70's engine, so all the hardware is english, the van is metric, so some fancy plumbing was required to bridge the metric to english parts, like the power steering system and the fuel system, we also had to put a pressure regulator in the line to cut the 100 PSI fuel injection down to 5 PSI for the Edelbrock 650 carb


I've got a lot of pictures of the whole project, it's been a blast and a learning process. Lookin' forward to getting it out on the road this spring.
http://www.revrend.net/ltr/pictures/aeropar23.jpg

 

Nothing wrong with that, I have always liked the Chysler 318 V8. Beautiful job! Both the van and the engine look real sharp.

I just know that Nighthawk is hauling out his cutting torch right about .... now! In the spirit of Al Bundy, he might even have his neighbor look from the inside while he's cutting from the outside: "Jefferson, look closely and let me know when the flame comes through."

 

Talk about a HOT foot. Looks like your foot is sitting on the Exhaust Manifold when you have it on the Gas petal.

JaY

 

Holy Cow LTR! That is some inspiring work!

I don't hate you for using a non-Ford engine in this project, but I think you would have had an easier time with a Ford small block. It's the most compact American v8 ever made. Remember that its heads were designed to fit in between the shock towers of a 63 Falcon. (Obviously this desire to shoe-horn a larger engine into the place where a smaller engine once sat is not new.)

There is only one Ford v8 I know of that will fit into the Aerostar compartment without cutting metal: the old Cosworth DFV. But it's still only 3 liters, its power band is totally wrong for a vehicle this heavy, and it's still hideously expensive. Check out:

http://www.bacomatic.org/~dw/txt/engfyi.htm

Unfortunately, this list does not contain dimensions for the Chrysler small block. But it was compiled by Dave Williams, an engine machinest who has worked with a lot of engines, and well known on the Fordnatics mailing list.

Note that the 2.6/2.8 liter versions of the Ford V6 is actually wider than the small block Ford v8 (260/289/302). The 4 liter version of the v6 is a stretched version of the 2.6/2.8 liter engine, so it's wider yet. But the important thing he points out is that it's not the overall dimensions, but the actual shape of the engines that determine where they will fit. (I too have looked into what it would take to put a small block Ford v8 into my van, but gave up because I can't do the necessary cutting and welding that Low-Tech Redneck can.)

 

Another thing that's going to put a stopper on the project for a lot of people is that the motor has to go in from the bottom, and to really be able to do that and do it without driving yourself insane, you need to put the van on a lift. Our workshop has one, and many times during the project we've had problems that would have stopped someone else with only jacks and stands dead in thier tracks.

The conversion is "easy" if you have already made an investment in tools and specialty hardware, but if you're simply looking for a fun and easy side project, like how some folks put 350's into S10's or other kinds of swaps, this one is probably going to eat up more money, more time and more garage space than you'd think at first glance. But if that prospect doesn't scare you, then have at it.

I've personaly enjoyed having a grizzled ol' gearhead or two tell me it wouldn't work, and then get really quiet when he saw the pictures.

 

Congratulations on your swap. That took a lot of sweat and gearhead engineering. I guess I was one of the guys who said it wouldn't work, but what I really meant was "it won't work without some major cutting torch work".

Since it's carbureted, I'm curious if you will get some vapor lock when the temperatures get above 90 degrees......

Good luck on your project. With the Aerostar's non-performance suspension, how much of the horsepower actually gets to the ground?

 

great mod job low tech red,

and i thought it was an engineering and sheet metal feat to shoehorn in a 350 375 hp Chev SB w 4 sp Muncie into a '70 Vega, only time it didn't overheat was at 80 plus on the freeway, but what a launch


new Aerostar accessory?
Asbestos shoe for right gas pedal foot in designer colors or roasted piggies from the left header on a hill pull

love than power house TorqueFlite tranny behind the Mopar iron, betcha she rumbles at the lights
now chop out the front and rear wheel wells and put on bigger meat especially on the rear

 

How about relocating the gas pedal so your right foot is not right next to the exhaust manifold? This should be easy compared to what you've already done.

 

That picture is a little deceptive, the field of view doesn't show that the gas pedal still has full range of travel, it's just going to be crowded by the engine cover, kind of how the pedal is on an Econoline. But, we still have plenty of time to fiddle with things, and we'll probably end up moving the gas and brake pedals as far left as we can.

 

Bravo! Love the professional appearance of your work and the attention to detail. First class job.