Hi all. I want to rebuild my E350 this summer and would like advice on what should be done and possible upgrades to do in the process. A little history first.

I bought the van last fall. Its an E350 with a 4WD F250 frame and F350 diffs with the 4.9 in it. It has a 4 spd manual and a bit oversized tires, not sure on the gearing. I needed a work van and found this for sale. The guy I bought it from built it in the early 90's to cruise the beaches of CT and fish. It was never driven in the winter and well maintained (or so I'm told) and therefore quite clean. It runs well and makes decent power now but the compression is a bit low 130-140. It gets me around just fine but it could use a bit more power, Ive been stopped by a stiff headwind in low 4th before...

I've never rebuilt an engine before but I think I'm capable and I have all summer to do it since I will be living where I work.

I have done a fairly complete tune-up on it since I bought it, plugs, wires, rotor and cap, ignition coil, ignition module, timed and tuned to the best of my ability. Oh, and rebuilt the carb (stock).

I am planning on doing piston rings, honing the cylinders, laping the valves and new timing gears. What other routine parts need replacing while I'm in there?

As I said before I would like to get a bit more power out of it in the process. I live in RI and because it is over 25 years old I don't have to worry about emissions. Because of this I am running pretty much straight pipes although that doesn't seem to have made much of a difference. I don't have a ton of money to spend and I'm not looking for a race van, I love that it has so much torque down low (being able to pull stumps is very useful ) but I would like to accelerate up a somewhat steep hill in fourth... I'm sure some of that is because of the weight, the tag on the body says it is 9300, plus tools.

Anywho. Thank you to anyone who has read through this very long post and gives me some wise words of wisdom!
Andre

 

I don't know how much space you've got in the doghouse of a van, but an Offy intake and 4-bbl carb adds a good bit of power.

A pair of exhaust manifolds off a fuel injected 300 are like cheap headers vs. the stock log exhaust. You'd lose the heat to the bottom of the intake though and that could be a problem.

If the engine is out of the truck anyway you might look at a new cam. The Iskenderian Mil-A-Mor should work well with a stock intake/exhaust. A little porting on the head helps a ton, too.

 

I'm pretty sure an intake and 4-bbl is out of my price range, although it would be nice.

What does the heat from the exhaust do? the metal pipe that goes from the bracket on the exhaust to the flex pipe fits terribly and doesn't stay on well and is currently sitting in the cab.. But I didn't notice any difference after it came off.

I'm planning on porting the head while I've got it out. From their description that looks like the cam for me, know anyone that has used it?
Thanks for the info!

 

I don't know a whole lot if anything about rebuilds, but I'd like to see a photo of her if you have any.

 

"What does the heat from the exhaust do?" The stock manifolds are bolted together and the exhaust manifold heats the intake manifold. This provides a stable temperature environment for the intake system. Without that, driveability problems happen as the gas will separate from the air when it hits the bottom of a cold intake. It is not unique to I6 engines but there were such arrangements on V8s also to heat the intake. The duct you mention probable goes from the heat stove to the air cleaner housing which provides warm air to the carb to prevent carb icing in cold weather.

 

I personally wouldn't be thinking rebuild if the compression is that good.

your exhaust may be hurting you. what size straight pipes are you running? Is it true duals?

 

That makes sense, it's gotten fairly warm here now (consistently above freezing) so the carb wouldn't be icing without it. Thank you for the clarification on the manifolds.

I'm running a single straight 2.5" pipe from the stock down pipe and manifold that runs back to a cherry bomb muffler with another section of 2.5 that makes it to the back of the van.

How bad would the compression have to be for you to consider a rebuild? What about things like timing gears? Is there anything else like that that does need replacing at some point in the engines life?

I could take a pic or two i suppose. Just have to figure out how to post them...