A thank you note to Mueckster and the ford-trucks.com community:

I would like to thank you for your support. Between Mueckster's help, and ford-trucks.com, I was able to address all the issues on the van. it came to us a diamond in the rough. It ran fine, but it leaked profusely. The power steering box couldn't hold its liquor. The transmission piddled any time, any where. It didn't care if you were watching or not. Hidden from us until we solved the transmission leak, the fuel bowl had succumbed to the new utra-low-sulfer diesel fuel. The seals were losing it. The vents were stuck on defrost.

It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks. Freda and I scraped, scrabbled, cleaned and exchanged parts to transform the machine. It has: new steering box and Pitman arm, new transmission pump and triple clutch billet torque converter, new seals all around for the fuel bowl, new vacuum lines and a new vacuum reservoir for the vent controls. It doesn't leak any more! It's like a new van.

It's shifting fine, so we elected not to install the new frictions and metals. That can come later. We've gotten pretty good at dropping the transmission, so that's no barrier.

Did I mention cleaning? The underside of that van looks pretty good now. If it springs a new leak, we'll know it immediately. It's about to start a new life as a tow car for a Formula Ford campaign, so it has to look as good as it runs. I can't think of a more appropriate mission for this beast of a machine.

Well, there's an open bay in the hangar, so I'm pulling the Sprinter in next. It has...issues.

 

Well let's see it! (The van, at least. Sprinter pics are optional)

 

Non-descript white extended cargo van. You've seen one, you've seen them all. There are exceptions:



Instead, I took pictures of the torque converter:



And my beautiful bride, meticulously hand-scrubbing the thundering 4R100 transmission:

 

Optional Sprinter pic: