Vannin' Community and Forums Forums General Discussion General Discussion What Did You do To your Van Today?

Lol!

I’m working on it. I’m going to collect parts over the next year. Ideally, I’d like to stroke it out and get a 9” locker for it. All it takes is money. 😂

Finally got her started and running. The timing is pretty close, can’t be fully adjusted due to the HEI hitting the heater hose outlet. I’m gonna play with it a bit and see what I can do.

I’m concerned because there’s still a bit of water and white smoke coming out of the pipes. I’m hoping it is residual water in the pipes and not a blown head gasket. That would totally upset me. We’ll see what what happens. The temp maintained a steady 170/180 and it held good oil pressure and vacuum.

All I've been doing is parts shopping for the Econoline. Bought a couple of fuel filters and a new cam for the wonky turn signal arm. Got a wiring kit for the up coming rewiring job, and we're going to replace the coil and dizzy at the same time -- but I am having a hell of a time figuring out which distributor I should get for a '78 351 Windsor. We need a non vacuum advance. I think this one 'may' work....

https://speedmaster79.com/Ford-351W...dy-to-Run-Electronic-Distributor-Clip-On

I've had great luck with MSD stuff in the past. I know this one is WAY over the price of the one you posted, but I've never heard of "Speedmaster" or "PCE Distributors" so I can't personally vouch for them. This one I spotted on MSD site is for a 78 E100 with 351W, non vacuum advance.

MSD Dizzy Link

I still haven't actually done anything to either of my vans, but I did begin the VERY daunting task of cleaning my garage out today. THANK GOD! We had so much going on at the end of summer and through the fall trying to get the renovation house finished enough to move in, then moved in, then wife deployed for a year with military, then virtual school with 3 kids (me trying to homeschool?! HA! What a joke, I bombed everything but match, shop class, and art when I was in school).

Anyway the garage got wrecked, then because we've had such a cold winter and no heat in the garage, I've just left it sit all winter. Hopefully get it done by the end of the week and I'll post some pics then. Then we can FINALLY get to work on the Queen Anne's Revenge. YIPPEE!

I know I can spend hundreds more on Gucci parts, but other than the name, these 2 seem really similar spec wise.....what am I missing?

I ran the el cheapo HEI in my van. It uses the same components as a Chevy HEI in any chain shop. I’d do the cheap one to see if it is what you like before splurging.

Yep, what Charlie said.

As with everything in life you get what you pay for though. Typically those super cheap ones are Chinese knock offs of the originals, so it's probably just a copy of an MSD or Accel. Sometimes the cheap knock offs are just fine. I tend to lean on name brand when I can just because technical service seems to be so much easier if you do have a problem down the road. BUT, I do buy the cheap parts too, it's all a crap shoot anymore as most of the name brands are outsourcing to the same Chinese companies that make the knock offs.

Give the cheap one a shot, it's so drastically less cost, and you're not out a fortune if it flops. I want to put one in my van eventually too, so I might actually buy one and give it a shot if you have good luck with yours.

Hey Charlie, Would it may be possible to solve your distributor clearance issue, by switching all the plug wires ahead or behind by 1 or ? distributor terminal positions? And then adjust the timing accordingly. 🤔?

Not sure if you'd need to move the distributor so much you'd need to pull and reinsert, or?
Thinking you could move the obstruction to a different position out of the way by the doing the above? Even 180 degrees if you needed too?

You can make #1 anywhere you want, right?

But I'm a Used Tilesetter and it Always the Tilesetter's fault. So... 😆

I could do that but I have the latches every quarter of the distributor, plus a vacuum advance port and then the HEI wiring itself. I have seen a few forums just saying to file down the water outlet a bit because that would give it enough clearance. Next time, I swear to any spirit that will listen, I AM STAYING STOCK AND GOING PERTRONIX.