If you wind up needing some used parts. there is a salvage yard south of Rome GA on hwy 411 that had a mid to late 80's e150 with a 351 in it, the last time I passed by about 6 months ago. I got the DS II harness from it last summer. He is a bit high priced but the last time i saw the van, it was mostly in tact..

 

Hmmm...Ill have to think of some stuff that I'll need then. Thanks for the heads-up!

 

Hi mos68x, I had a bone stock '88 and the heater vacuum tank was a plastic ball on the driver's side. There is a metal can tank behind the battery on the passenger's side but it was only for smog controls, not heater.

The vacuum line came off the "tree" on top of the upper intake plenum, this is on an EFI setup. It connected to a tee and a check valve and the ball tank. The vacuum line for the heater control went through the firewall on the driver's side then to the heater control.

I don't have the van now so I'm going from memory and this photo I took. The white tank is the wiper washer bottle, the brake master cylinder is to the left in the photo. jim






'88 E150 club wagon heater vacuum tank.

 

I glanced through the wires that I saw there but I didn't put see any vac lines, I'll take a closer look though and see if I can find them. I remember my smog cans being on the left side. With the weather warming up I'll have the energy to deal with it at least.

 

This is going to be out of chronological order as far as pictures go, but I'm too giddy about my new tires to wait! I just bought these Hercules Digger MT tires for the van. I ended up getting them in 235/85R16 just so that I could still use them later when I get my new rims, but I'm still happy with how they look. Now I may be mistaken on where this "feeling" is coming from but...the only thing I don't like is how they "feel" loose in the rear (that's where the new ones went since I was only able to afford 2 tires today). I don't think that will go away when I get the fronts replaced on Friday, but I can hope I suppose. I think that is going to be inherent to any large **** tire but I'm not sure since this is my first set so if I'm wrong and someone has experience with this please let me know.

 

Mismatched tire treads as you now have could very well be contributing to the loose rear end or tail wagging as I'd call it. Along with the tread design if the side walls and/or tire pressure isn't a good match for the front tires you could have a handful of steering wheel with this current set up. I'm not familiar with those tires or their type, keep that in mind.

Another issue you may be having is weak rear springs, these tires simply making that more evident. Sorry for not paying closer attention whether this is the extended body or not----loads behind the rear axle coupled with weaker springs could also be a big issue here.

For now maybe wait until the new fronts are on----might smooth things out but be prepared to check the rest of the suspension both front and rear if a less loose ride is the goal.

I do like the look of those though---grrrr!

 

I've ran mismatched tread on most of my trucks and vans for years. I always run the BFG AT's on the rear and more of a highway tire design on the front. And I've never had that issue on any of mine.

It's either the tread design, air pressure or something else.

My question is with that tread design are those directional? If they are he might have them mounted backwards or on the wrong side ( at least the one pictured ) .

 

True.
I have tried this and it was hard to even go in a straight line.

 

From my experience when I was younger,, most of the time mismatched tires will cause a car to handle differently. As a matter of fact we have a old 77 truck that we use for hauling firewood on the property and very seldom is on the highway, but it has smaller tires on the front an it has allot of sway in it..

I bought a set of good year wrangler tires for the GMC van I used to own and they seemed to do ok. When I bought my E150, I had the wrangler tires swapped from the GMC to the e150 and bought a cheep set of new LT tires for the GMC. I could really tell the difference in the ride of the GMC. It had allot more sway in it with the cheaper tires, not that I am much more impressed with the wranglers.. .
I have read some reviews on the Hercules tires you bought and they seem to have good reviews.. So hopefully it is just the mismatch..
Congrats on the new tires...
My problem with the wranglers is that I cant seem to get them balanced correctly. The shop I bought them from has road force balanced two of them but at separate times..

 

My "tail wagging" is because of a couple issues that I know for sure, the bad shocks in the rear and the bad drag link in the front. Changing the tires in the rear cause this because it was already there, it is just the large lugs on the new tires and the fact that the new tires haven't work hardened yet that has made it feel worse. Even with the new tires in the front now it is still there and as bad. I did manage to stop by Advance, diagnose my steering ailment, and order a Moog complete center drag link that will be in tomorrow. I hope to have time to put it in as well, but I'll already be busy trying to get my two storage "units" consolidated into one. I've already sold a few things which has paid for the tires and drag link. Hopefully a few more items and I can get the rear shock and the front rubber brake hoses at least. If I'm lucky I'll be able to replace the left tie rod assembly and the front shocks too, hopefully that will calm this wild bull and at least make it feel safer driving the rest of the way to Arizona.

I was thinking they were directional too but no matter how they are installed it would still look the same. I've had many cars before, when I didn't have money for tires that had mismatched tires tread styles and never had this issue unless it was something else that was causing it. I had them inflate the tires to 70psi for the rears and with the the van being empty it has only exacerbated the problem and with horrible roads near my friends house, making driving...interesting. The lack of weight in the rear and bad shocks can't keep the rear wheels planted to the pavement which in turn makes the steering issue worse than it already is.

Hopefully next week I'll have more energy in the evenings to actually catch up on the rest of this build besides just the mechanical stuff. Of course everyone that has seen the new tires on the van loves them as much as I do. Some of the guys at the tire shop even wanted to know what I was going to do with the van lol.

 

I'll agree with you on the cause of the tail wagging.. I just remembered (since you mentioned it) that my GMC had bad shocks, worn out springs, and the pitman arm had just a little play in it. If I went over a speed bump too hard it would bottom out.. Sounds like you are making great progress !

 

Well it has been a busy two weeks here in Alabama!








Got the drag link replaced and tightened up the left wheel hub bearings since I noticed they were loose. Got the alignment done on the van and even got the rear tank replaced and the fuel tank selector valve working. Also managed to get the lash adjusted in the steering box too. The wild bull has officially been tamed, although I would be happier with some new shocks. She drives and tracks great now and isn't shy about going faster than 65mph. The only other thing I'd like to upgrade to on the steering is the steering stabilizer from the ambo's. Yesterday was a fiasco with the rear tank. Dropped the tank only to find that it was half full of 12+ year old gas. Got the new one in today after getting some new hose for the filler neck from CarQuest. I couldn't find a new fuel sending unit anywhere so I did what I could with the old one and put it back in. It doesn't read a full tank but at least it reads from E to about 1/4, so I'll just try to remember to use that tank first and then switch to the forward tank. I cleaned the contacts in the sending unit but I noticed that some of the graphite(?) for the resistance traces was missing so I wasn't to hopeful about it working correctly. The pickup and return tubes were both rusted/clogged shut so I worked on them for a while and got them cleaned and flowing good. It would be nice to rejet the Holley and adjust the squirter cam arm before the drive west in a couple days, but I'm not going to be too hopeful about getting that done yet, but if I do it'll probably have to be tomorrow along with yet another oil change.

Speaking of oil changes, has anyone used the new K&N oil filters yet? Normally I use Mobil1 because of the high pleat count on the filter element and the overall construction so I was wondering if anyone has seen the K&N filters disected yet.

One of these days I'll get around to the build process for the inside of the van, I just haven't felt like dealing with the headache of it yet.

 

K&N are good filters.
I use WIX, Bosch, Motorcraft and K&N.

 

You are getting there!
Just a thought, this is something i am thinking about trying in my van later on..
Of course this is just the bed and kitchen but after staying in the mountains for 2 weeks in a van, sleeping across the van side to side is kind of short. I think this plan might even give a bit more space. I have read where some people build a air tight box for a propane tank, vent it outside and have a removable sealed door to access from inside. Tank could go under the stove or work space under the sink and be accessible when you open the rear door. If you plan on using something for heat like the MrBuddy heater, you could probably tee of the stove line some way.
With this plan you would use the left rear door to access your water tanks under the sink. If you are living in a van full time you are not going to be using it as a cargo van anyway. A futon mattress is much more comfortable then any 2 piece foam mattress and you could have storage under the couch part of the bed.
Since the pic was a layout someone else made, I deleted most all of their layouts and moved things around.. The table I just moved out of the way,, it could go anywhere if you wanted one. I think i would have a fold down one. But there is lots of room on the passenger side to work with and don't forget you can build storage in the doors and overhead.

 

Of course a day or so after I posted that I finally looked up some videos of dissection of the K&N oil filter and it looks as good as the MobilOne filters.


Looks good! I haven't had any issues with the 5" foam that I've been using from Joann Fabrics, only thing I would change would be to go to the 4" instead, which was my first choice anyways until I realized that they didn't have enough.

Update on the steering, I still feel a little slop in the steering, which I suspect is in the pitman arm or the steering box shaft for the pitman arm. I found one on Summit, but I'm not sure if it'll fit yet so I'm still looking into that. If the vans use the same steering boxes as the F-350 then I'll assume that I can use those. I also got a steering damper from Advance by Monroe and installed it. I haven't test driven it yet since I was also changing out the .031" squirter in my Holley and fixin my windows so that I could roll them down again since its been getting to warm for them to be up here in Alabama, not to mention I'll be leaving for Arizona on Wednesday where it's even warmer. Yesterday I took out the 65 jets and swapped in some 67s to alleviate a lean mix at part throttle. The squirter was to alleviate a hesitation problem off idle that I've been having since I installed it, but was I too lazy to fix since it was too cold for me up in PA a couple months ago. I may or may not swap out the "stock" vacuum spring for the secondaries to one of the other two that came with the carb to see how they perform now that I noticed that I had the upgraded "quick change" top for the secondary vacuum spring.

Edit: According to Autozone's website, the '86 F-350 in 2WD and 4WD both use the same steering box as the E-350 so I'll use a pitman arm from that vehicle so that I can get a new one at least. Maybe I should've looked up the fuel tank sending unit for it as well lol