5 speed in e-350 ?
Lead Driver
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 8,140
Likes: 4
From: Oak Harbor, OH
It wouldn't be easy by any means. You'd need to find a donor truck; F-350 with a 7.3IDI, 5 speed, and extended cab. It has a 138" wheelbase like the van does. You'd need to get the pedal assembly from a pre '88 van with a manual transmission and swap that in. Then you'd need to cut the holes in the floor for the shifter, fabricate all the linkages to make the transmission work. The drive shaft from the truck MIGHT work, then again you may need to have one made.
Elder User
Joined: Oct 2004
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Ditto. I've thought long and hard about this as well... unfortunately, there is no simple way to do it. Additionally, I would not want to lose the floor space between the front seats as I use that space for carrying long items. The only way I would do it is if I could figure out a way to make a column shifter operate a 5 spd. When Hell freezes over, you'll know I've figured it out...
Posting Guru
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,515
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From: Jasper, MO
You could get a rebuilt manual for about 2500. speed shops can hook you up with someone to shorten/lengthen the Driveshaft. The shifter can be heated and bent to a right angle in two places to move it forward, closer to the doghouse and your seat.
Also you'd need a new crossmember, tranny cooler, etc...
Also you'd need a new crossmember, tranny cooler, etc...
Thread Starter
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Freshman User
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 35
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I've got the tranny so there is no expense in that. My problem is the highest gear ratio I can get for the dana 70 is 3:54 and thats to low.I need an overdrive and I here the 4eod is junk.I also own a bodyshop so any fab work I can handle. Did the 88 manual tranny vans have a hydralic clutch?
Cargo Master
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 2,182
Likes: 7
From: Saint Augustine, FL
I see lots of people asking about putting manuals in place of automatics. Almost always its because they are either worried about the automatic or are convinced that automatics are junk.
The E4OD is not junk. Its a good transmission. But like anything else, some are better than others. And when it comes to rebuilts, way too often the truck owner blames the transmission for the shoddy work of the rebuilder.
Get a qualilty rebuild, or a quality remanufactured unit, and you won't have those problems. The key here is "quality".
Steve
'95 Clubwagon XLT
The E4OD is not junk. Its a good transmission. But like anything else, some are better than others. And when it comes to rebuilts, way too often the truck owner blames the transmission for the shoddy work of the rebuilder.
Get a qualilty rebuild, or a quality remanufactured unit, and you won't have those problems. The key here is "quality".
Steve
'95 Clubwagon XLT
Super Moderator
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 34,466
Likes: 2,798
RE: the clutch. From at least '85 and up, juice clutch, with flexing floor mount for the master to complicate a retrofit.
RE: the 5 speed. You would be looking at a ZF, and that is tower-shifted, and will stick out of the bottom of your doghouse, probably. No biggie. If you can figure out a way to make that a column shift, then you might get the Nobel prize for misapplied effort.
RE: the E4OD. See last post and here:
http://www.becontrols.com/products/e4odcat.htm
http://www.tciauto.com/Products/Ford...e4od-4r100.asp
And of course, one I picked up right here at FTE:
http://www.dieselperformance.com/
RE: the 5 speed. You would be looking at a ZF, and that is tower-shifted, and will stick out of the bottom of your doghouse, probably. No biggie. If you can figure out a way to make that a column shift, then you might get the Nobel prize for misapplied effort.
RE: the E4OD. See last post and here:
http://www.becontrols.com/products/e4odcat.htm
http://www.tciauto.com/Products/Ford...e4od-4r100.asp
And of course, one I picked up right here at FTE:
http://www.dieselperformance.com/
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Elder User
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 512
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Originally Posted by 85e150six4mtod
RE: the 5 speed. You would be looking at a ZF, and that is tower-shifted, and will stick out of the bottom of your doghouse, probably. No biggie. If you can figure out a way to make that a column shift, then you might get the Nobel prize for misapplied effort.
...although I've been know to dream up some pretty crazy (stupid) ideas... like maybe using a dash-mounted cable-shifter... 
I dislike automatics with a passion, but in a van it's a necessary evil and a auto to manual conversion sounds like way, way more trouble than it's worth.
The shifter really exits out of the doghouse? In my van, maybe 1/2 of the torque convertor is exposed and the bulk of the tranny is under the floor between the seats.
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Lead Driver
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 8,140
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From: Oak Harbor, OH
On the manual transmission vans (they did make them up until about '88 or so) the shifter came out of the floor above the transmission, it was however right in the middle of the seats. The handle was bent in such a way as to get the handle where the driver could reach it. If you really want to see how big of a headache shifting it can be go test drive a step van with a manual trans. It's much the same configuration that a van would be, and it's shifter is almost out of sight from the driver's seat.
Senior User
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 161
Likes: 1
From: The KeyStone State
What year van are you working with?
I have a 1996 with 351 and installed a ZF manual behind it, I modified a pedal assembly from an 84-89 E150, and made a custom pushrod for the master cylinder, still have to make the floorpan support for the master cylinder.
Since a 96 has the tranny tunnel as part of the floorpan unlike 91-older and 97-newer vans, I cut a hole in the floor for it. The shifter is right in front of a double layer of sheetmetal, which I did have to cut into for clearance, I also made custom engine mounts because of other issues since I converted it to 4wd.
It can be done, driveline work is the easy part, it's all the body work that adds up timewise. Mine didn't need much work to the floor, when the trans was out I jacked up on the floor with some wood to try and raise the floor for a wee bit of extra clearance. The ZF's are taller and don't have the sweeping curve from bell to tail like E4ODs and C6s.
The driveline on mine is sloped back to compensate for the ZF's extra height, and the transfer case needed some clearance too.
I have a 1996 with 351 and installed a ZF manual behind it, I modified a pedal assembly from an 84-89 E150, and made a custom pushrod for the master cylinder, still have to make the floorpan support for the master cylinder.
Since a 96 has the tranny tunnel as part of the floorpan unlike 91-older and 97-newer vans, I cut a hole in the floor for it. The shifter is right in front of a double layer of sheetmetal, which I did have to cut into for clearance, I also made custom engine mounts because of other issues since I converted it to 4wd.
It can be done, driveline work is the easy part, it's all the body work that adds up timewise. Mine didn't need much work to the floor, when the trans was out I jacked up on the floor with some wood to try and raise the floor for a wee bit of extra clearance. The ZF's are taller and don't have the sweeping curve from bell to tail like E4ODs and C6s.
The driveline on mine is sloped back to compensate for the ZF's extra height, and the transfer case needed some clearance too.
Elder User
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 726
Likes: 0
How 'bout this...
I imagine most van nuts who LIKE shifting their own gears have fantasized about this, as I have. The last manual trans Econoline I saw/drove was a late sixties, flat-nosed with I-6/3 on the tree. That means nothing, however.
I have cogitated on this subject and as far as the shifter position goes, I bet you would lose that valuable space betwen the seats we all like to use from time to time.
That having been said, I can't see how you would have a problem getting the driver end of the shift lever in a handy position if you really try. Cab-overs have dealt with this problem for years and maybe some parts fron one of them (to use or to copy in a lighter-duty form) would be the answer.
The deciding factor will be whether the transmission input levers are side mounted or top mounted, each having their own set of problems/adVANtages.
[Added note: I missed the previous post, apparently it isn't all that difficult to hang the clutch pedal. As for hydraulic-actuated clutches, I've seem rods, I've seen cables, but I haven't seen a hydr. since the old '61.]
Sorry if I seem out of touch with some of this. I am almost an old-timer so I always have a story to go along with my ideas, so here goes:
My first truck was a 1961 GMC 3/4 ton (305 V-6, 4-sp, top-end wound tight=61 mph...oh yeah, 8-9 mpg, still sucked at 39.9 cents a gal.).
My clutch quit working one day. I was 18 so what did I know? Well, I found out that the 1961 GMC had a dual master cylinder. Whoa, you say, no 1961 had a dual brake system. You're right. Half the master cylinder was for the hydraulic clutch. It had a little slave cylinder on the side of the bell housing that actuated the chutch fork arm. It was actually a very smooth acting, almost effortless set-up and easy to adjust. The $50 for the master cylinder almost killed me though (that was 1969-70 remember)!
Problem is, where would the master cylinder be mounted in a van? Electric controls, maybe on the shifter? That would be kinda cool, a hand clutch (JD double-lung-ers know how that works, huh?).
Didn't VW have an electric actuated clutch at one point?
I'm trying to think of anything to avoid that messy location up under the dash where there isn't much room for what's there already.
If I ever get the time and the body cancer under control (the van's, not mine
), my '89 E-250 may become a "Van-up" with a real gear box. 
A man can have a dream, can't he?
I have cogitated on this subject and as far as the shifter position goes, I bet you would lose that valuable space betwen the seats we all like to use from time to time.
That having been said, I can't see how you would have a problem getting the driver end of the shift lever in a handy position if you really try. Cab-overs have dealt with this problem for years and maybe some parts fron one of them (to use or to copy in a lighter-duty form) would be the answer.
The deciding factor will be whether the transmission input levers are side mounted or top mounted, each having their own set of problems/adVANtages.
[Added note: I missed the previous post, apparently it isn't all that difficult to hang the clutch pedal. As for hydraulic-actuated clutches, I've seem rods, I've seen cables, but I haven't seen a hydr. since the old '61.]
Sorry if I seem out of touch with some of this. I am almost an old-timer so I always have a story to go along with my ideas, so here goes:
My first truck was a 1961 GMC 3/4 ton (305 V-6, 4-sp, top-end wound tight=61 mph...oh yeah, 8-9 mpg, still sucked at 39.9 cents a gal.).
My clutch quit working one day. I was 18 so what did I know? Well, I found out that the 1961 GMC had a dual master cylinder. Whoa, you say, no 1961 had a dual brake system. You're right. Half the master cylinder was for the hydraulic clutch. It had a little slave cylinder on the side of the bell housing that actuated the chutch fork arm. It was actually a very smooth acting, almost effortless set-up and easy to adjust. The $50 for the master cylinder almost killed me though (that was 1969-70 remember)!
Problem is, where would the master cylinder be mounted in a van? Electric controls, maybe on the shifter? That would be kinda cool, a hand clutch (JD double-lung-ers know how that works, huh?).
Didn't VW have an electric actuated clutch at one point?
I'm trying to think of anything to avoid that messy location up under the dash where there isn't much room for what's there already.
If I ever get the time and the body cancer under control (the van's, not mine
), my '89 E-250 may become a "Van-up" with a real gear box. A man can have a dream, can't he?
Last edited by MuddyAxles; Jan 20, 2007 at 07:35 PM.
New User
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 19
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If you really want a manual with overdrive in a van it would be easier to convert the van to the old 3 speed manual and then put one of those gear vendor overdrive units behind that.
Presto, a six speed manaul column shift van.
Presto, a six speed manaul column shift van.