White block in a 71 Dodge panel van!?!?

[turbobrick211]

Sorry if this is the wrong forum, but here goes.

Friend of mine has a nice 71 Dodge panel van that he uses for work, and he drives alot of miles in it. Currently has a 318" V8 that sucks pretty bad on gas, and is pretty dang tired. He could put in a rebuilt 318 and use injected manifolds with MSnS, and probably get close to 15mpg. But that still isn't all that great. So we were talking about using a 850 T5 motor mated to the 960 auto tranny, and see what we can do. The tranny should fit pretty easy, as it is a bit smaller than the Turbo400 that is currently in there. The engine is quite a bit smaller, and lighter weight than the V8, and has easily as much power, while getting 25-28mpg. The van weighs a couple hundred pounds lighter then his 850 turbo, so it should get even better mileage, and even more performance.

So, what do y'all think? Has anyone heard of or seen anyone putting a whiteblock into a Dodge, 'cause I'd like to talk to them. Seems that if we could get the complete engine w/harness and computers, intercooler, and all accessories attached, along with the 960 tranny and harness/shifter and computer, we could probably run the whole setup on the stock computers and harness, for the most part. I'm sure it would need a custom header built for it, and of course some nice 3" chrome side pipes. This van is going to become the company van with the company logo on the side, but it is getting a big phat gold flake paint job and matching rally wheels to boot, so a turbocharged 5-cylinder with side pipes sounds pretty darn fitting to me!

Thoughts?

Opinions?

Worth it?

Thanks all.

Eric

[mr.volvo]

:omg: :omg: :omg:

[stylngle2003]

the t5 still wont have the off idle torque of the 318...but could be a fun swap.

[Two 87s]

I've got no whiteblock specific suggestions, but I think you should do it! I put a B21FT, running on LH 2.2, with a Ford T5 transmission, into an '88 Mazda B2200. That little truck loves its Volvo motivation!

Basically, if it can physically fit, there's no reason not to do it.

FYI, I cut down the 240 engine crossmember and welded it between the frame rails on the Mazda, which allowed for stock mounts. The transmission crossmember just needed a little widening of the mounting holes for the new transmission mount.

Wiring can be a headache, but if you've got a carbed engine with very little wiring in there right now, it'll be easier to swap over a whole harness.

You'll need to upgrade fuel lines as well, and there's the gas tank issue. If it was a carb engine, the gas tank probably doesn't have an in-tank pump. In my case, I adapted a pump to the stock sending unit pretty easily. I used a stock 240 turbo pre-pump and external pump setup, but a Walbro would be an easier solution if you're going aftermarket. Also check to see if some models came fuel injected--with the Mazda, one option would have been getting a sending unit for a different model with fuel injection, which would have meant even less adapting on the sending unit.

Aaron

[dhallilama]

Sorry if this is the wrong forum, but here goes.

Friend of mine has a nice 71 Dodge panel van that he uses for work, and he drives alot of miles in it. Currently has a 318" V8 that sucks pretty bad on gas, and is pretty dang tired. He could put in a rebuilt 318 and use injected manifolds with MSnS, and probably get close to 15mpg. But that still isn't all that great. So we were talking about using a 850 T5 motor mated to the 960 auto tranny, and see what we can do. The tranny should fit pretty easy, as it is a bit smaller than the Turbo400 that is currently in there. The engine is quite a bit smaller, and lighter weight than the V8, and has easily as much power, while getting 25-28mpg. The van weighs a couple hundred pounds lighter then his 850 turbo, so it should get even better mileage, and even more performance.

So, what do y'all think? Has anyone heard of or seen anyone putting a whiteblock into a Dodge, 'cause I'd like to talk to them. Seems that if we could get the complete engine w/harness and computers, intercooler, and all accessories attached, along with the 960 tranny and harness/shifter and computer, we could probably run the whole setup on the stock computers and harness, for the most part. I'm sure it would need a custom header built for it, and of course some nice 3" chrome side pipes. This van is going to become the company van with the company logo on the side, but it is getting a big phat gold flake paint job and matching rally wheels to boot, so a turbocharged 5-cylinder with side pipes sounds pretty darn fitting to me!

Thoughts?

Opinions?

Worth it?

Thanks all.

Eric


Turbo400? you mean Torque Flight 727?.... (i've never seen a TH400 behind a mopar)

my suggestion would be rebuild the 318 if it's really tired, late 70s intake & factory 2bbl (yup, from a smog motor)... should be able to do better than 15mpg.

i had that setup, with over 300k miles on the motor... and pulled 21mpg on the freeway @ 70mph in a 1/2 ton full size dodge truck, regularly. around town, as long as i was mindful of my right foot, it would average 15mpg.


side note: the volvo 850 has far better aerodynamics than the panel van.... so despite the similar weights, no way will the van pull the same mileage with the same motor as the 850


edit: not knocking your idea.... it'd be pretty damned cool, me thinks...

[Hank Scorpio]

the t5 still wont have the off idle torque of the 318...but could be a fun swap.

Not to mention that yes the van might be a bit lighter, but its tall and unaerodynamic. I say buy a fresh 318 and MS it (since the original is probably carb'd).

And this is coming from the guy who wants to build a whiteblock powered blender.

[945ti]

For work duty, keep a truck simple. If you want better econ, go EFI, 6cyl EFI or diesel. Doesn't usually get much simpler or low maintenance than an american V8 or 6 or a diesel.
If I were interested in putting a foreign motor in a van, it'd probably be a foreign diesel of some sort. Probably a benz or VW...something cheap and easy to maintain.

[Mesoam]

my god the blasphemy would be completely insane...on that note it would be neat however i'd bet more on people having done a cumins swap than a whiteblock

[Hank Scorpio]

my god the blasphemy would be completely insane...on that note it would be neat however i'd bet more on people having done a cumins swap than a whiteblock

now that would be awesome. Watch cummins torque twist that van in half.

[Nemesis]

440-6pack!! seeing how it is a compnay van wright the gas off on tax's!! wright the,,,"EVERYTHING" off on his tax's!!!:cool: I love morpar's (old morpar's):cheers:

[the poi]

I approve simply because it is beyond absurd. The cummins is also good.

[Mueller]

Sorry if this is the wrong forum, but here goes.

Friend of mine has a nice 71 Dodge panel van that he uses for work, and he drives alot of miles in it. Currently has a 318" V8 that sucks pretty bad on gas, and is pretty dang tired. He could put in a rebuilt 318 and use injected manifolds with MSnS, and probably get close to 15mpg. But that still isn't all that great. So we were talking about using a 850 T5 motor mated to the 960 auto tranny, and see what we can do. The tranny should fit pretty easy, as it is a bit smaller than the Turbo400 that is currently in there. The engine is quite a bit smaller, and lighter weight than the V8, and has easily as much power, while getting 25-28mpg. The van weighs a couple hundred pounds lighter then his 850 turbo, so it should get even better mileage, and even more performance.

So, what do y'all think? Has anyone heard of or seen anyone putting a whiteblock into a Dodge, 'cause I'd like to talk to them. Seems that if we could get the complete engine w/harness and computers, intercooler, and all accessories attached, along with the 960 tranny and harness/shifter and computer, we could probably run the whole setup on the stock computers and harness, for the most part. I'm sure it would need a custom header built for it, and of course some nice 3" chrome side pipes. This van is going to become the company van with the company logo on the side, but it is getting a big phat gold flake paint job and matching rally wheels to boot, so a turbocharged 5-cylinder with side pipes sounds pretty darn fitting to me!

Thoughts?

Opinions?

Worth it?

Thanks all.

Eric


I'd go with a slant 6 instead...oh yea, and Megasquirt it.....

parts for the whiteblocks are not that economical...I just replaced my alt. yesterday and the darn thing was $220 for a rebuilt unit at the FLAPS

[dhallilama]

... 3" chrome side pipes. This van is going to become the company van with the company logo on the side, but it is getting a big phat gold flake paint job and matching rally wheels to boot...

just noticed that part!

patterned and/or scalloped, with a white roof heavy on the flake... and hand painted logos... teh sex for a work vehicle!

i had a '68 dodge custom sportsman a-100 van (previous body style from the '71), converted (very well) to a single cab drop side truck... that was about what i wanted to do with it for a company truck, but had too many projects going on, and in the middle of a divorce... so had to get rid of it (along with a whole bunch of other projects and toys :( )

if interested in keeping the 318 in it, search the HAMB (jalopyjournal.com/forum/index.php) for some pretty good in-depth knowledge of the wee mopar motor, and what some guys are getting as far as mileage. just make sure to search and search for a while, before posting a question... think TB can be hard, they'll straight rape ya folsom style, there :)

[95'850GLT]

15 mpg with a 318?! what the hell is wrong with it? I used to get 16 city and 21 highway with my 318 jeep. I'm gonna go ahead and say why swap a volvo motor into a dodge van? Unless you have a built up 5 cylinder and a load of cash and fabricating equipment i'd say rebuild the 318.

[hudson]

Is the transmission a 3 speed? That would go a long way to having terrible gas mileage. Other than that lose the carburetor. If the engine's tired then give it a rebuild.

It's been already mentioned.. it's a van so it's not aerodynamic, and you will miss the low end torque if you put some 5 cyl in.

[242turbo9]

your gas milage is gonna be no better with the volvo motor.

[mymomswagon]

440-6pack!! seeing how it is a compnay van wright the gas off on tax's!! wright the,,,"EVERYTHING" off on his tax's!!!:cool: I love morpar's (old morpar's):cheers:

+1 6packs kick-butt! my dads 41' dodge pick-up has a mild built 318 with a factory 6pack. it gets 20 plus mpg on the highway due to just running off the center carb, but would kick the snot out of a modded t5. Price might be a problem you could rebuild the 318 and the whiteblock for the cost of a six-pack set up.

[EricF]

Is it a gimmick van or a utility van? If utility, keep it OEM or at least close to it... If it has to be gimmicky or cool and there are other vehicles to handle errands and moving parts around, make it as weird/cool as possible :)