63 econline VIN number, best engine swap?

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hey guys

yeah yeah:) here comes another newbie!! So Im humbly requesting your help with two things.
One can anyone ID my van the VIN is 134712A-6921190-L Series F11 And where it says engine on the tag it says OZ-3. L/D
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Two: AllllllSO I heard the 200 is a good swap but am afraid I wont be able to get enough power out of it for the roads around northern ontario being as it looks difficult to upgrade the 200's intake system??? witht he manifold being part of the head and all.... so Is a 300CID a B$#@ of a swap 302??? small Vee SIX???? or would I jsut be better to go with the 200.... ?? I DO like the idea of the 200 I love Sixes!!! Evvvveryones got a vee6 Or a V8 and I hate cookie cutter vechiles!
All I intend to do with the van is mod the interior a bit so its comfy for the wife and I to go on short trips and cruise around town.
Soooo again guys any hellp would be greatly apprecitated
Thanks again form up here in the great white north!

yours T
Kevin
Thunder Bay ONtario
 
Kevin,

I do not have the Canadian Mercury Vans vin info so cannot help you there. If you want to email privately I can supply you with the web addresses for a few early Econo sites that can provide the decode for you.

As far as the 200 - go for it. IMHO that is the best swap (and practically painless) for the pre 64 Econos.

Jim
 
Kevin,

Hook up with these guys:
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldeconolines/

If you send them you vin, don will decode it, and offer you his Something Econoline Quarterly, with a ton of resources for these vans.

To swap in a 250 you will need to swap the transmision as well, since they use different bell housings, best to find a Maverick or Monarch or Granada and use the whole drive train. Except of course the tailpiece on the transmision will be totally different. The 250 is 2" taller and an inch wider, and longer (I think) so the motor mount bolts don't line up either.

If you put a bigger motor in it you will want, and you may need an actual crossmember. There is a nice guy in Pasadena, California by the name of Eugene who makes and sells these and other important bits, 626-798-9996.

I think the 200 is the way to go, that's the way I went. These vans don't really weigh that much, unless you have them full of stuff.

Bryan Wood
 
I put a 289 in a '62 Van for Hot Rod Mag in the early '70's and it's not that hard, but the 200 is a direct bolt in. With the 250 or v8 you need the matching cross member that bolts up to the stock mount holes on the frame, but you will need to add a L bracket for two of the bolts as the cross member uses 4 bolts per side. Check out the Petersen book "Complete Book Of Engine swaps" as it has the full story. It was called the Wabbit Waggon Transplant. The van was called the Wabbit Wagon because of the liberal use of the playboy bunny heads in key locations.

The 200 with a 2 bbl would be great for that van. Add a little bit of cam and a header and zoom, zoom, zoom. If your van had a 144 you would now have 100% more hp and if you had a 170 you would have over 40 more HP.
 
I'm trying to tackle a similar problem right now. I've got a 64' econo van that someone already installed a 250 in. Problem is, they removed the crossmember and cobbled in some weird engine mounts which don't really support the motor the way they should. It works for now, but I've already welded a crack in one side of the (non)crossmember and I'd like to get something more reliable/strong in there. I like the power of the 250 and surprisingly, it gets great gas mileage. Something that can really be appreciated in these times of $2.50 a gallon fuel prices.

Hotrodbob, Which crossmember should I be looking for to keep this engine setup? V8? Would one from a van with a big six like a 240/300 work? I know of a yard with several of those available.
 
The cross member from the same style van as yours, but later model (1967) will have the cross member you need. '68 and later vans share nothing with your van and as such parts from them will not work.

I went from a 144 to a 289 and just used the V8 cross member. Before that the 6's only had bolt on arms one per side. If you can find the Petersen book called the "Complete book of engine swaps" or "Complete book of Fords" or "Complete book of Vans & Pick-up" all published in about 1972-3 the story is in there. Titled "Wabbit Wagon Transplant" it shows the cross member and the stock 6 mounts.
 
Ahh... ok, mine still has the bolt on arms, but someone cut the ends off to fit the 250 between them. The reason I asked about the 240/300 is that the two "Heavy Duty" badge 67's that I regularly scavenge parts from are both equipped with a 240/auto setup. They have a big round xmember that dips down to accomodate the oil pan. I'm sure I could easily get one of those if it would work. The mounts look nothing like the ones on my engine, though. I'll see if I can locate one of the books you mentioned. Seems like it might help me figure this out. Thanks again,

Andy
 
I've got the Peterson book called the "Complete book of Fords" and it's only got one page on the "Wabbit Wagon", saying nothing about the engine. THe more detailed transplant procedures must have been in the "trucks & Vans" book.
 
thunderbirdesq":9bvcjm3e said:
Ahh... ok, mine still has the bolt on arms, but someone cut the ends off to fit the 250 between them. The reason I asked about the 240/300 is that the two "Heavy Duty" badge 67's that I regularly scavenge parts from are both equipped with a 240/auto setup. They have a big round xmember that dips down to accomodate the oil pan. I'm sure I could easily get one of those if it would work. The mounts look nothing like the ones on my engine, though. I'll see if I can locate one of the books you mentioned. Seems like it might help me figure this out. Thanks again,

Andy
Click to expand...

There is a nice guy in Pasadena, California by the name of Eugene who makes and sells these and other important bits, 626-798-9996 or 323-684-6639. He calls his company "Blue Oval Engineering". You could call this spam, but he really saved my hide when I started doing a simple 170-200 swap that became a 250-200 ordeal. Not only does he have the crossmembers, he's got disc brake conversions too.
 
mustang6":xbc2jhy5 said:
I've got the Peterson book called the "Complete book of Fords" and it's only got one page on the "Wabbit Wagon", saying nothing about the engine. THe more detailed transplant procedures must have been in the "trucks & Vans" book.
Click to expand...

Ok, maybe my memory is bad, but the issue you have only has the outside of the van and the interior. The next edition had the engine swap as did the complete book of engine swaps and the Vans and Pick-up book from the same year.

Sorry 'bout that. It's been a few years since I looked at them. My copies are stuffed away in the attic and the stories were done over 30 years ago.... Damn I'm old. Seems like only yesterday I was doing this swap. Heck, I was still a swingin single back then.

Forgot about the 240. Wasn't that from the 300 family of 6 bangers?
 
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