I've had enough with the degraded 32 year old SD fuel injection. I don't want to update to sequential with MAF; I just want it simple. I've removed the thermactor system completely, put on a set of short tube headers (shorty pickup headers fit vans perfectly) and ordered a flange to put on a nice high-flow cat and exhaust. Will be replacing the high-pressure rail mounted pump with an electric unit of lower pressure.

Grabbed a 4V manifold off an '87 F250 in the salvage yard and cleaned it up, as well as a DSII harness, throttle cable and kick-down rod out of a van.

My main concern is that van harnesses don't seem to be plug and play like the pickups. As far as I can tell, the DSII system will work if I hook it to power off of the solenoid... But it also has a lead for the oil pressure sending unit, temperature sensor, and what looks like a grey terminal connector which I would guess to be power for the electric choke. I want to make this as non-butchered as possible so its reversible (no cutting wires). I also would like to retain cruise control and air conditioning, however I'm not sure how much is controlled via the computer, or how much it can control without engine data. Basically how much will still work after removing the injection, and what has to be re-routed?

 

The test subject...



Ugliness removed...



Junkyard score...




After some de-greasing and cleaning and a left over can of old Ford blue. Cheap build.

 

Several years ago I converted my 85 E150 with a 5.0 engine and EEC IV + feedback carburetor to a DSII system. It is hard to remember all the details now but I got the donor harness from a bit newer van with a 5.8 but there had been a fire around the carb so I had to repair the harness. I had also gotten another harness from a different van but it was not the correct one. I was able to use connectors from both harnesses to make what I needed.

Here is the forum I started and you may have to follow along to understand. I was rebuilding the harness and soldered on connectors as well as having to clean the connectors. If you need connectors, there are several sites that sell some of them. Also keep in mind that you do not have to use connectors from that time period. You can use modern connectors if you wind up building your own harness
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...eeclv-tfi.html


This might also be of some help. My EVTM shows a 7.5 engine, 4.9, and this 5.0, but not the 5.8. Maybe the 5.0 and 5.8 are the same for the ignition? Anyway this is the 5.0

 

Are the carb and FI ports the same for those years? I used an '85 ignition module (blue tab) and wiring for my Mustang. Put ended up going with MSD on one and a Mallory on another. Think the only wires I had to hook up was power, tach, and ground. Its been a bit though. Gauges went to manual aftermarket for better accuracy. Electric holley pump was wired to an aftermarket relay and triggered by the ignition. Electric fans too.

I wonder why you ditched the fuel injection and then put on such an outdated intake and carb? Were you having electrical issues or drive-ability issues? I had an '88 E-250 with the 351w and it was a dog for sure top end. It was a trooper though.

 

Thanks for the input Annaleigh. The biggest thing I've noticed about the van forum is the lack of interest. I love vans, always will. I grew up in my dad's 1969 Club Wagon (which I still have). There seems to be a huge hole... Granted I'm a huge pickup truck guy as well, but finding information on these vans has presented itself a fairly decent sized challenge. Granted, I get it... the last of this body style came of the lines in 1991... I was 5 years old. The 70's are over, no more **** carpet, disco ***** or wolf-waterfall-mountain themed air brushing. I will say this much though, mini-vans just don't get the job done the same. I really would like to start compiling a database on these trucks; much as Gary has done on the '80-86 Ford F-Series. I've dubbed the '75-91 era vans Bullnose Vans. Very similar in design and interchange.

Supposed to pick up a functional Holley carb tomorrow from my buddy. Stay tuned... More pictures to follow.

 

Outdated is better then rudimentary. I can tune a carburetor. The old EFI was bank fired and speed density, not like the more modern civilized sequential efficient systems we have today. The 80s EFI was quite frankly a crappy effort shotgunned on the market to say that Ford had fuel injection. I can ether convert to modern fuel injection and spend a lot of coin, or swap factory parts that are decades tested for dirt cheap onto an engine and get it to run right in a few hours with a screwdriver and vacuum gauge. When I take my family on vacation, the last thing I want to be doing is working on my truck... My scanner and test light and spare sensors and junk. The system is old, it's ether update or return to the roots, which is what I'm doing.

 

I love the 3rd gen Econolines and the Bullnose trucks!

I'm going to be doing almost the same swap on my 89 E350. I splurged on my intake, I picked up a Edelbrock Performer RPM air gap for mine. And I'm rebuilding a mid 60's Autolite 4100 carb. I also grabbed a couple different 351W DSII distributors for it too. I'm going to tear them down and rebuild one. The DSII is a pretty simple set up.

Most people don't understand why anyone would want to dump a EFI system for an old carb. What they don't understand is a 30+ year old efi system is prone to failure. old electronics like to crap out at the worst time. Capacitors in the computer burn out, sensors fail, wiring issues, etc. A corroded pin in a wiring connection can leave you sitting on the side of the road. And that can be a nightmare to diagnose. If you have a carb problem, it can usually be fixed with a screw driver.

And Saznaut if you had a 351W and it was gutless, then there was a problem with it. I have a 96 E250 and the 89 E350. Both have the 351W. I tow a 20 foot car trailer and have no issues with power.

 

So now I have my ignition power wires run, and I've tracked down the wires for the temp and oil senders, and also the wires that go to the neutral safety switch in the chassis harness for the backup lights, but I can't seem to locate the two red/blue wires in any of the four connectors for the actual neutral safety switch. Did they change colors up stream of the engine harness, or am I not looking at the right connector?

 

I'm not sure which Ign. Module your using but there are some features on some of these units that are interesting. Last year I converted a '74 version of the Euro Ford 2.8L V6 from point ign. to DS II. I used new and rebuilt parts for this engine as installed in the Mustang II of the same era. On my box there is a white wire that when you connect it to the starter side of the starter solenoid will retard the ign. 5-6 deg. when cranking the engine. The engine will crank faster when this is done and when it starts and you release the key the ign. timing returns to the timing set at the dist.
There are a number of ways to wire these boxes and I happened to pick an incorrect one that showed the white wire to the run side of the ign. This caused the ign. to be retarded all of the time except when trying to start the engine.
I of course set the timing with this retard functioning so the timing when cranking was about 18 deg. BTDC and not the 12 deg. BTDC. It was OK when cold but hot starts were a problem. I couldn't figure out why it was so until I went back to the internet and compared wiring diagrams and found a different one that explained this feature.
Ever since I fixed the wiring starting this engine is a non-issue hot or cold.

 

Did you find the wires for the NSS?