Super charged?

So has any one ever super charged or turbo charged a 60s econoline? I have and 66 with 240 inline six and I need more power!!!! But trying not to kill my gas mileage with a V8 or go completely crazy with a Cummings. Any ideas?

There's a guy on fordsix.com, rich, that's low boost turboing a 200 in an Econoline to make it easier hauling his stuff over Donner pass. Looks like it's going to be a really awesome build. Fuel injected turbo 200 in a 65 Econoline.

http://fordsix.com//viewtopic.php?f=1&t=74438

I've done turbo projects on other vehicles and they can be surprisingly expensive and complex. If you have a 240 already, it would be simple and cheap to drop in a 300. That would give you a nice boost in hp and torque. Lots of folks have done the small block V8, which is also a fairly easy upgrade for a van that came with the 240 engine. Gas millage wouldn't suffer that much with a V8, compared to a SC or turbo six. Just my 2 centavos...

I am the guy building the turbo 200 Seth G linked to, with the 240 you would have a lot more options then i have with a 200.

Hey Seth I read your whole post one Fordsix it's sounding awesome. I can't wait to hear what kind of power you get out of that thing!!!! Are you going to dyno it? Yeah my dream is a direct port efi off of a 300 and a turbo. I am looking for torque and gas mileage. I know I know I'm looking for the white unicorn. I want to tow a lot of weight a long ways lol. As far as just throughing a 300 or a V8 in there, guys I'm afraid of doing all that work and still not being happy. Aka still not enough power and worse gas mileage. My 240 is pretty built already headers, dual exhaust, hight torque cam, head is ported and polished, cold air intake, and anewer nicer card. Yet it's still not even close to what I need. Basically I want to do one more mod and been done with it. And I'm thinking turbo is my best bet? Please chime in and correct me if I'm wrong anyone with a v8 or a 300. Thanks guys!!!

ramian09 wrote:Hey Seth I read your whole post one Fordsix it's sounding awesome. I can't wait to hear what kind of power you get out of that thing!!!! Are you going to dyno it?  Yeah my dream is a direct port efi off of a 300 and a turbo.  I am looking for torque and gas mileage. I know I know I'm looking for the white unicorn.  I want to tow a lot of weight a long ways lol. As far as just throughing a 300 or a V8 in there, guys I'm afraid of doing all that work and still not being happy. Aka still not enough power and worse gas mileage. My 240 is pretty built already headers, dual exhaust, hight torque cam, head is ported and polished, cold air intake, and anewer nicer card. Yet it's still not even close to what I need. Basically I want to do one more mod and been done with it. And I'm thinking turbo is my best bet? Please chime in and correct me if I'm wrong anyone with a v8 or  a 300. Thanks guys!!!

I am not seth, he just posted a link to my build on ford six.

Just some thoughts... That cam you have, may, or may not play well with a turbo, especially if it is not one of the very new, low back pressure turbos, you really need to keep the cam overlap small. I am going to run a custom ground schneider cam, 256H with a 114 deg LSA, which give 28deg of overlap (about the max for old school turbos)

The 300 EFI manifold won't fit in the dog box, so if you want to go multipoint injection, you will have some work to do. I am using a TBI setup, from a t-bird. (holley 2bl mounting flange)

As for power, I am only planning to run 5psi or so, and should make a bit over 1/3rd more power then stock, more could be had, but that brings us to the next point.

Heat will be your enemy, do everything you can to reduce it. These vans run hot as it is, so you will need to do something. (I am running an AL radiator, electric fan, plus stock fan).

Haha gotcha I was confused on the Seth thing sorry about that. Yeah I've already moved my rad to the front of the van which made a huge difference. I wasn't planning on using that cam I am going to rebuild the whole thing again with the most/ best parts money can buy. I thought I had seen a guy use the lower half of the direct port 300 manifold on one of these vans? That way you only have to fab up the upper half? Cause I think getting the injectors in the perfect spot would be really hard. Last I saw he couldn't get it tuned perfect. Which also worries me. Plus I'm not affraid to make my dog house a little bigger.

ramian09 wrote:Haha gotcha I was confused on the Seth thing sorry about that. Yeah I've already moved my rad to the front of the van which made a huge difference. I wasn't planning on using that cam I am going to rebuild the whole thing again with the most/ best parts money can buy.  I thought I had seen a guy use the lower half of the direct port 300 manifold on one of these vans? That way you only have to fab up the upper half? Cause I think getting the injectors in the perfect spot would be really hard. Last I saw he couldn't get it tuned perfect. Which also worries me. Plus I'm not affraid to make my dog house a little bigger.

You could look into using the same setup I am using, it is a CFI throttle body from a V8 ('83-'85 from t-bird/crownvic/mustang) it bolts to the same manifold as a holley 2bl carb, and would at least give you good AFR control, and as good of fuel distribution as a carb (helped a bit by the warmer air of the turbo)

Nice yeah I'll definitely look into that are you still using the stoke manifold? The old log style thing with a ton of right angles?

ramian09 wrote:Nice yeah I'll definitely look into that are you still using the stoke manifold? The old log style thing with a ton of right angles?

Yeah, on the small sixes (170/200) the log intake is cast as part of the head, and is actually the whole reason I am going with a turbo (easiest way to make that log head flow some air, is to force feed it)

Yeah I thought they were all one piece. Just wasnt sure if had gotten all crazy on her and fabed something up. Yep force feeding the old girl should help substantially!!!

If you don't want to kill your mileage then stay away from super chargers. The parasitic loss at idle and cruise with a supercharger is horrible.  Turbos are the way I think.  I turbocharged my 67 (but it has a Chevy V6 in it) and pulled the turbo because it just got too hot with all the necessary tubing for the turbo plus it was a tight fit.  That may be easier with a straight 6 but it will still get pretty warm. The most important question is your pistons and more importantly ring gap.  My 66 Pontiac was the first car I turbo charged. It had cast pistons and stock ring gaps.  I went for it thinking it's just a low boost (6psi) setup.  But I wound up cracking the piston around the ring lands. Either from the top ring ends butting together (not enough ring gap) or possibly from detonation while tuning even tough I was very conservative while tuning.  There are a lot of things to take into consideration besides the above mentioned you have to have the fuel system up to snuff. If it is a blow thru setup you'll have to make carb modifications.  And more importantly you have to retard your timing as boost comes in otherwise you wil detonate that 240 to death in no time.




https://i.servimg.com/u/f86/16/48/49/47/image10.jpg

Wow army of six that is mean looking machine!!! Is the picture where it's at currently or have you finished it since that pic was taken?

Thank you,   That's what it looked like with a fuel injected turbo setup.  Here is a pic of it stuffed in the dog house with the turbo and inter cooler plumbing.  





Since then I've pulled the fuel injection (megasquirt II) for my 66 C20  and pulled the turbo and kept it simple with a carb and HEI distributor.  Here is what it looks like now.  



It was cool when it was turbo charged.  It moved out!  But then I realized that it is my daily driver not to mention it's an old van... Not exactly the safest, best handling vehicle for flying down the road in.... Especially on the busy roads in SoCal.  And then there is the heat issue.  Even with a lot of extra insulation when it got heat soaked it kinda sucked to have your ass that close to a turbo. Lol.

Holly cow those are some amazing picks. I just don't know what to attempt. I'm not looking to fly anywhere I just want to be able to pull more weight with the at least the flow of traffic. Also like I said better mpg is always nice too. How is your power and gas mileage as she sits now?

Never really measured the gas mph. It's not too bad though. She moves out just fine. I had it loaded down with probably 500-650 pounds of people and camping gear on a 5 hour drive through the mountains. ( non-turbo set up as seen in the last pic). She was no Ferrari but she held her own just fine. I was very pleased.