So recently I had a thought of building an overland camper out of a 1999 econoline. I was just wondering which ecoboost engines would fit as I want something with more power than a stock 99 econoline but I dont want to sacrifice fuel mileage. I was thinking of a 2.3 i4. Or maybe the 3.5 v6 or 2.7. I just wanted to know if there would be fitment problems such as the i4 maybe being too tall. I was hoping to also get some opinions on which engine would be best for mpg and power and also which would be easiest to swap.

 

You might want to "think" this through at least one more time. The EccoBoost engines were designed to fit F-Series and Transit vehicles. Along with physical limitations you'd have to provide the wiring harness and PCM for the EccoBoost and transmission combination.

This doesn't seem like an easily accomplished swap.

 

Andy Granatelli put a Pratt & Whitney turbine in a C3 Corvette in the late 70's. Anything's possible :-)

 

Is any Ecoboost is bigger than a fuel injected 460 or turbocharged 7.3 in any dimension? It should fit if the sump slots into the frame. Service access is another thing. Stand-alone engine and transmission control will be a bigger challenge unless your brain is good at that sort of thing.

If those Ecoboosts are intercooled, finding frontal space for radiator, condenser, oil cooler, transmission cooler and intercooler is another challenge.

Sixto
07 E350 5.4 177K miles

 

Fuel milage is mostly about aerodynamics and vehicle weight so don't think you will do any better than a fullsize pickup does with the same motor. The idea with engine sizing has always been to have something that can move the vehicle in question under moderate engine loads for most driving situations, that produces the best possible average fuel milage. So the combo has long been the bigger the vehicle the bigger the motor and bigger/heavier vehicles simply cannot achieve the milage smaller/lighter versions do. That has't changed but the overall milage possible has generally improved across the board due to improvements in powertrains and aerodynamics.
These blown motors use boost to produce big torque instead of displacement, that can be a best of both worlds type of thing but only if the motor can move the vehicle most of the time without using high boost levels... because when they are fuel consumption is as bad or worse than a larger NA motor. So my point here is that the smallest motors in this list are likely not a good option for a large, heavy brick with really poor aerodynamics, it won't produce the gains one might think. There will always be a sweet spot in engine size and for a fullsize truck I think that would be one of the larger engine models.

 

Don't do it.
International DT360 or DT466 swap,do it!

There was some guy here in this forum, doing 5.9 Cummins swap.
Somebody please dig it up and link it here.

 

What engine would you suggest then? I'd thought about the wiring harness being a pain but I've been seeing a few people swapping ecoboosts into classic pickups like 70s f100s or f150s.

 

The F-Series and E-Series are completely different vehicles whatever the era. Why are you considering another engine?

I'm on another site that has members who own and frequently drive adventure vans that are basically E-Series with 4x4 drive trains and numerous RV-like interior builds. Those build outs turn E-Series into small but rather elaborate campers with an amazing array of additions to make remote self-contained camping and rock crawling possible with nice creature comforts. Many of those are running stock 5.4's or 6.8's, some with various diesel engines as well.

 

One of those F100 swaps is badly misleading though, the owner actually ended up putting the classic body on a complete modern rolling chassis because the amount of fabrication necessary to do it the other way was beyond impractical.

 

That's just one of the things almost never mentioned when these cross generational swaps is attempted----the unforeseen problems and/or what amounts to an abandonment of the project as originally conceived. As we move more and more into integrated computer controlled drive trains the physical fitment isn't an issue as much as having the transplanted engine/transmission work together as they should.

 

The ecoboost doesn't have a stand alone available system (what i saw from chelsea denofa, go check out his youtube he just did some ecoboost swap stuff in a foxbody) and seems tricky to me. Way badass but intimidating lol. High fuel pressure and low fuel pressure. The easy route for MPG is the 300 inline 6.turbo'd with blow thru carb or holley sniper.

 

You don't mention if your 99 is a e350 or 150?
I guess you could swap suspension if you had to w a donor van.
I think your swap project is limited to what was available in a econoline of that area. At least this is the most feasible.
So if you choose to swap a 7.3 from a donor van. Ideally it would be the same year and you swap everything. Every wire, pcm, and dash parts. This would ensure that it will work.

Ive seen 7.3 blocks in wrecked trucks at the yards. There's also a few.yards that have 10-12 ambulances, these were all diesels for 20ish years.

 

Knowing the starting van and motor is valuable information. I did a motor/trans/tcase swap to my 99 E350 to make it into a 4x4. The motor/trans/tcase all came out of a F550. But I used the van wiring harness. I did not swap the oil pan or anything else on the motor itself. These are heavy vehicles, and if you under power them, they will not be enjoyable to drive at all. Even with a 6.8L its at its power limits if pulling a decent sized trailer.

 

^^^^^


That's why i suggested these "options"..

 

I didn't plan on using it to haul a trailer. I was gonna convert it to a small camper. the ecoboost would be more powerful than the stock v8 and better on gas. That's the reason I was considering an ecoboost. Most likely the v6. And it'd be coming out of a mustang or f150 and I'd probably try to snag a 6 speed auto or maybe a 10 speed. I want a comfortable trans that isn't really meant for racing