‘64 build advice

Terrorshark

New member
Recently picked up an Econoline with a 200 and a 4 speed. Everyone drops V8s in these things but I want to keep my original six and just make it mean. When it comes to these ford six motors I am just not sure what aftermarket parts are good and what are junk, and what mods will actually give me some serious performance. I figured this was the place to ask so any recommendations are great!
 
Welcome aboard.
What your 200 engine do you have?
Easy mods are a decent distributor with the proper advance curve. Ford DS11 is a great distributor. Check the small six for sale section of the forum.
When you advise us of what year engine it is then you might want to make a carburetor change?? Bill
 
Engine is a ‘64
I was planning on doing some basics like an aluminum radiator. Electronic ignition. And a full rebuild.
My biggest questions were this.

Worth it to bore it out?
Port and polish possible on it?
How do people feel about the offenhauser three carb intake?
Was contemplating roller rockers and a new cam.

Definitely not a daily driver by any means i am going for a 70s custom van feel so something fun to cruise around in but also get as much out of that motor as I can.
I have a 67 Econoline as well with the 170 and it is bone stock and pretty gutless
 
Your distributor upgrade is limited cause you probable have a 1/4" oil pump shaft. All later engines have the 5/16" oil pump drive.
A machine shop can bore out the pilot hole in the block where the distributor engages the oil pump to .517"-.518" then you get a later oil pump with the 5/16" shaft. Problem is the engine would have to be completely torn down.
The DUI by performance distributors markets one for the 1/4" oil pump drive, but the cost is over $400.00
 
Please take this in the light with which it is intended (because, generally, I try never to be a jerk) -- I think you will find that cruising through the forum, doing a lot of reading and researching for similar builds first - will yield tremendous results and a wealth of information. I believe investing time with this approach will provide the results you are looking for - and will establish a strong foundation for future specific questions and clarifications.
 
Are you positive that the engine is a 64? According to my book, the only year that a 200 was offered as an option was in 65, and even then it is so rare that I've never heard of such an animal existing in reality. It would have been a custom order in 65. What I'm trying to say is that the 200 you have is a transplant and you'll have to check the block code on the lower block aft of the fuel pump iirc to know for sure what year the engine is. The head's code on the intake log is meaningless. Also, it's easy enough to pull the distributor and check the size of the oil pump drive and see if it's a 1/4 or 5/16".

https://fordsix.com/ci/SmallSixSpecs.html#cast

https://fordsix.com/ci/Ident-2.html

http://econoline.org/enter.php
 
You are in luck. You can now upgrade to a DS11 or i offer a DUI for your engine if you don't have power steering. Brouse the for sale section of the forum. I do not recommend the HEI.
What carb do you have? Is it the original with a SCV??? Bill
 
bmbm40":1xytyylk said:
Did you say 4 speed?

Dagenham 4 spd manual. Notoriously known as a weak transmission. I always thought a stock dagenham 4 speed van(4 on the tree) would be a great candidate for a 3.03 4 speed swap. They never offered that stock. Mines a 64 and came with a 3.03 3 spd, it was the first year they offered the 3.03. Yours already has the 4 spd shifting mechanism, not sure how compatible but it's a good start. I have the proper 3.03 64 Econo bellhousing if you ever want and try to go that route. What I don't know is if the 3 spd 64 Econoline stubby output will bolt up to the 4 spd version of the 3.03, but I suspect it will. In 65 they changed the hanging mount on the trans output, so the 3.03 lrg bearing short hanging output is a 64 only item. I have that part to.
 
2 good cites above from our 'van man' in post 6. The 1st 2 can B accessed they the big blue box at top of the page right w/crossed screwdriver'n wrench. Like post 5 sez do ur due dillegence & come to know what U got B4 "havin at it". Many of us use "The Ford 6 Performance Handbook" and that tech archive. (C Matt at vintage inlines dot com for the Hanndbok). These two will ans many of ur Qs even some U can not put to wrds right now.

Look on the exhaust side, aft of the 'down tube' for the ID casting numbers. Ck the head for those #s as well.
Both resources name easy cheep mods as (post '67 motors) the DSII ign swap, & carb upgrade (oem or holley, weber & more, C what's there by tag or casting #s) as cheep quick & basic (easy). If U have tools & the willingness we can take U further here but using the 2 sources can get U up to speed quickly. I had 2 use them to get up to speed as these R a lill different motors ('66 has a carb/dizzy feed back sys 4 advance - LOM/SCV).

Post 3? all that is possible and more but ID what U have 1st.

Do U have tools or will U farm all this out.
Will U pull the head for machining & upgrades to it, to chuck & get a performance head (the log intake is the only real prob w/these 4 'sm sixes'. 'Big 6' have seperate intake on those 2)?
How much performance do U want (MPGs'n pep)?

For the '70s look (as U mentioned) the shag rug walls'n celling kinda fit along wid da round bubble window...
:roll:
 
Just to add something on this discussion 200s were available in 64 but only mated to an automatic transmission. It was a very rare option though not common to find this is an add from the 1964 booklet.

 
Yes it does that the 4 speed transmission.
It does have the original carb. I know that much. Bought this to pull the motor and trans to put in my other van but this one has a better body and already has some killer windows cut into it.
I will be doing all the work myself with the exception of any heavy machining. I have a motorcycle shop and know my way around an engine. I guess my biggest questions were about performance headers and intake. I will cruise around this forum and see what I can find but this is all a great start.
 
For intake/carb you're best bet is to find a later lrg log head and do the 2v conversion to it. Like Bill said, you'll definately want to upgrade the distributor at that time to a late seventies DSII.

The stainless dual outlet headers on ebay will fit, but you'll have to modify the doghouse a bit for clearance.

These are pics of what stanyon did to fit them on his. Disregard the starter clearance problem, his 200 is an 80's low mount starter block.

dg_hes11.jpg


dg_hse12.jpg


dg_hse13.jpg


dg_hse16.jpg


dg_hse19.jpg
 
"... performance headers and intake."
headers only give a 5 - 10% improvement (usea 'port divider').

"chop" the log for 6 Kiehn carbs if U want pep...
The Offie 3X 1v intake (sits on topa da log) is hard to show off 2 ur buddies, may need a taller doghouse, but may B inline (pun intended) w/a multi-carb bike man (linkage/tuning).
 
I remember hearing about a stock 4 speed column shift in some Econolines that is a cool option to have. If you don't abuse the Dagenham will it be ok I wonder. And if you could get the linkage to work with the 3sp + od that would really be good.
 
Terrorshark":2keshfdi said:
Yes it does that the 4 speed transmission.
It does have the original carb. I know that much. Bought this to pull the motor and trans to put in my other van but this one has a better body and already has some killer windows cut into it.
I will be doing all the work myself with the exception of any heavy machining. I have a motorcycle shop and know my way around an engine. I guess my biggest questions were about performance headers and intake. I will cruise around this forum and see what I can find but this is all a great start.

X2 Sounds like a rare option for an Econoline if you can, take some pictures of it showing those details. Lots of ways to build that 64 Van, do you want to go towards the all vintage looks for the engine Mod's or go for the most power you can get? Good luck (y) :nod:
 
A couple of other thoughts, the HEI/DUI type distributors don't fit into the doghouse w/o some modification to the doghouse. The DSII *just clears. You're better of w/ a DSII and TFI/E-coil type coil triggered with an HEI module anyway, imo. And I had a thought about this van being a 64, you might have an issue with clearance between the engine hangers and the forward header bit, but maybe not. I know they come in at an angle from the back which *may interfere. Stanyons truck is a 65 so he didn't encounter that. And one last thing, he got that bubbled out part for the header clearance from a spare doghouse. It's the part where the battery cables go through, hence the hole with the 2 bolt holes.
 
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