When I was young and full of beans I completely rewired an early-60s flatbed Chevy truck from scratch. It can be done. You just replace every wire, then bundle it all up with protective split housing. It worked, after I added a ground wire from the flatbed to the frame.

 

not sure but fordamacation may have schematics for a E350 of that yr (they seem to have everyother one). U could copy it or do what the other ten guys did & continue testing/hackin...

 

Well if that doesn't describe literally all of them...

I did spend several days (scattered over a few months) chasing down wiring demons. Improperly made connections, corrosion, rigging lights to this and switches to that.... wires that went nowhere which I had to find the purpose of. Redid the entire tail light harness.

I have the shop book for the F/E-series on a CD. The electrical sections are really lacking, though, so I had to perform a lot of guesstimation and multimetering work anyway.

 

fordamacation - but it's not the aftermrkt that Centurion did may B a place to start (along with this manual 'e posts)?

 

Boy it's been a while since I've been in this thread... that means the truck is running too well, obviously.

Since last Fall, the biggest improvement has been adding a Gear Vendors overdrive, documented in my "Learn my some Gear Vendors" thread. This improved the highway behavior a whole lot.


My shop went ahead and made a new driveshaft as well as moved the hanger bearing crossmember.




And lastly, I had to fiddle with speedometer extensions a little in order to get the speedo cable fitted up - it involved a 20" generic square-drive extension which was not included in my used GV setup.



I have a few small mechanical bits to throw on which I got from Rock Auto for a good price, and also put in a new starter recently since the old one (likely original, judging by its condition relative to its surroundings) finally ran out of brushes. The next big service item for this thing is going to be a power steering pump and hose replacement. I can't quite tell where it's leaking from, but the bottom of the gearbox and hoses is always wet and beginning to get worse.

Speaking of steering, anybody know if there's a way to make these things turn a little more? Bigger Pitman arm, perhaps?

 

wonderin how it was goin.
Put a saginaw (canned ham) on then decide if other mods R needed.
(I'm gunna go back & viw pic links now).
Oh, BTW: how much does the GV weigh, what R the ratios it provided?
Thanks!

 

Don't all the third gens already have the Sag pump on them?

I think he's also talking about increasing steering angle to decrease the turning radius. I don't know how much sharper the wheels could be turned before they get into the sway bar or strut rods/radius arms. If you want to change the amount of steering angle you'd first have to check for and remove any steering stops. I don't remember if they have any or not. If they don't have any stops you'd have to either change the length of the steering arms on the spindles or the pitman arm. But I believe doing this will also change how quickly the steering reacts.

But if you do this you definitely need to check for tire clearance on everything.

 

Where would the steering stops be? I suppose I could go have a look. I'm curious if there are any aftermarket parts solutions for this kind of thing or if it's all a DIY affair. I don't mind either way

 

aren't there some studs inside the knuckles? The head(s) just serve as a bump stop. Has a nut on the shaft that tightens against the cast metal to lock down.
Some just loosen the nut, pull out the bolt'n throw away.
My concern w/this is danger at hi speed turns, and simple tire wear on steering components (bent components if done @ higher speed?).

 

well, just some more stuff. hope it's helpful and not more confusing.
So far the 4dor bronk site has been the top 4 me, here's other info ~

E350 Centurion (Mark I, II, III)

Company Overview. Centurion Vehicles Inc. manufactures and sells luxury conversion vehicles for family and personal use. The company's brand names include Cobra, Advantage, Rockwood, Centurion, and Starcraft. Centurion Vehicles was founded in 1977 and is based in White Pigeon, Michigan. 69651
https://www.bloomberg.com/research/s...ivcapid=106650

Jun 11, 2001 –
The acquisition changes Centurion's sales mix from 50 percent van and 50 percent truck conversions to about 75 percent vans and 25 percent trucks. The company has been certified by Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Chrysler group. Centurion sold about 4,000 conversion vans and trucks last year

Jan 25, 2006 –
Centurion Vehicles of White Pigeon, Mich. has shut its doors, moving all of its operations out of Michigan after being purchased by an Alabama-based company. The Starcraft brand vehicle customizer was purchasedlast week by Trussville, Ala.-based Southern Comfort Conversions Inc. Terms of the deal
Conversions Southern-comfort - Unique Concepts

Sep 10, 2015
The company got its start in Oneonta rebuilding van chassis for companies like Krispy Kreme and Frito-Lay, but moved into the business of customizing passenger vans for ... In 2006, Southern Comfort purchased Centurion Vehicles of White Pigeon, Michigan, a licensed upfitter of Starcraft Conversions
About Us - Starcraft Parts

Good Luck ~
post what ya got...esp interested if any schematice as the ele systems have been hacked into rat's nests by multiple POs.

 

The steering stops should be a post that sticks out the front of each I-beam. But just remember Ford wouldn't waste the money on them, If they weren't there for a reason. If you remove them there is a very good chance the tires are going to rub on something. You need to check this before making any mods. Turn the wheel all the way to one direction then crawl under it and look for clearance. Then repeat for the other direction.

 

As stated above !

 

I got curious about the state of the air conditioning after witnessing that the compressor clutch did kick in when I had the fan settings on A/C Norm and Max. It never blew cool so I figured something was broken and never thought anything of it, but I had 3/4 of a can of R134a so figured why not try.

After a whole lot of searching around the vast information wasteland of the Internet, I finally found a post by Annaleigh telling me where the low side service port is on these damn things. For easy post-facto access and SEO: The air conditioning low-pressure service port on a 1986 Econoline is located on the right-hand (passenger) side of the firewall, at the back and top of the engine bay, near where the low-pressure (suction) line of the compressor enters the evaporator housing. Take your hand and follow the long hose that crosses the back of the engine bay and leads from the compressor to the evaporator, and it will be there!

That took forever - in fact, it took about as long as finding the transmission dipstick! They really loved hiding things everywhere on these vans, huh?

After feeding the rest of the can into the system, I found that it indeed blew cold - so now I will hand the truck off to my vanstylist for actual leak chasing and diagnostics.

 

Kouwell.
U Go Boy!

The vans R really 1 of a kind (like the 'Step Vans").

 

Man, it's been a while. In the intervening eon, I renovated it - mostly exterior repair and bodywork, but also comprehensively redoing the horrifying Centurion aftermarket wiring on the interior

Here's a good photo from recently!




I also got a friend for it last year, which I've mostly done mechanical work on - it's very ratty on the inside. 6.9 turbo and extra rare single rear wheel version.





Actually it currently has a lot of friends....





The blue and white ones are recent purchases and are both IDI diesels. White one is a 1990 7.3, and blue is a 1985 6.9. I'm currently gathering resources and knowledge on swapping the 460 to one of those and adding a turbo.

And yep it brought each of those back from far away lands...