Picked up another van

[SafariRob]

Nice catches, Rockster, I'm envious. Seems the vans I find are all shorties. While that's okay, I'd like to have a long butt van just for the extra space--would make it nicer for hauling sheets of plywood and drywall.

Stewart, dare I say this, it might be best to leave the van stock when you re-motor it. Maybe it's just me, but it seems that there are always issues when doing a V8 swap, no matter how much planning has gone into the project.
Having said that, I must admit though that the 267 V8 does fascinate me. Like yourself, I think the stock ECM and EFI parts (maybe not the V6 knock sensor) from the 4.3 might just be happy with the V8.

[Rockwerx]

Nice catches, Rockster, I'm envious. Seems the vans I find are all shorties. While that's okay, I'd like to have a long butt van just for the extra space--would make it nicer for hauling sheets of plywood and drywall.

Stewart, dare I say this, it might be best to leave the van stock when you re-motor it. Maybe it's just me, but it seems that there are always issues when doing a V8 swap, no matter how much planning has gone into the project.
Having said that, I must admit though that the 267 V8 does fascinate me. Like yourself, I think the stock ECM and EFI parts (maybe not the V6 knock sensor) from the 4.3 might just be happy with the V8.

Thanks Rob! Once I get it running this will be our first "long butt" van. My wife already mentioned liking the extra room. It would have been great to have one of these vans a few years ago. More room for our camping gear, coolers and rockhounding gear. We shall see what happens...it might just get a lift also. Lifting them is one of the cheapest and easiest mods for these vans. We shall see what I can get away with!

The 267SBC came out of my 1981 Olds Cutlass. It used to be my youngest brother's car. My brother wanted more hp so we replaced the engine with a more powerful one. The 267 was preped for storage and sat in the corner of the shed for years. One of my friends was joking around that it might be better than the V6 he had in his 81 Malibu. So we flashed it up with some new parts and some porting work on the heads. It worked better than the 229 V6 but it did not realize it's full potential till we installed a four barrell intake and carb.

Now the engine revs freely to redline (5500rpm). It makes around 225hp, runs smooth and gets great fuel economy. We installed a 1970 300hp cam so it should respond well to the TBI system. I also read that the V8s use a different knock sensor. I bet that it will do better on fuel economy with the TBI setup but I wonder if it will loose power. If it gains low end torque and looses some top end then we will be happy.

[Rebel]

An the beat goes on. That's some list of vans you're getting on your sig.
All I've got to say about the motor swap is,,she'll never know,,whatta ya think ?

[SafariRob]

Stewart, I've been out driving the 88 Astro I picked up last week. Its got a miss, so the engine isn't running right, but the first thing I noticed was the low end grunt the V6 has. The 305 in my 89 Astro isn't cammed for low end torque so it's rather anemic at low RPM. Make that really anemic. I'd much rather have the low end torque--it really makes the van feel 'alive'. I've been kicking around the idea of replacing the cam in my 305 with one from Crane that's advertised for use in 305 equipped vehicles that cruise at 1700 RPM at 60 MPH. I guess the cam brings on the power at the low end.

[Rockwerx]

An the beat goes on. That's some list of vans you're getting on your sig.
All I've got to say about the motor swap is,,she'll never know,,whatta ya think ?

She will know! The reason...she will be helping me do the swap. Basically she wants a turn the key and drive away machine. So if I can make it work then she would be okay with a V8.

Stewart, I've been out driving the 88 Astro I picked up last week. Its got a miss, so the engine isn't running right, but the first thing I noticed was the low end grunt the V6 has. The 305 in my 89 Astro isn't cammed for low end torque so it's rather anemic at low RPM. Make that really anemic. I'd much rather have the low end torque--it really makes the van feel 'alive'. I've been kicking around the idea of replacing the cam in my 305 with one from Crane that's advertised for use in 305 equipped vehicles that cruise at 1700 RPM at 60 MPH. I guess the cam brings on the power at the low end.

I wonder if you converted your 310 (see, I remembered!) to a TBI if it would be snappier on the bottom end. You would have to get a TBI to 4 barrell adapter plate to hook it up. Which cam did you use? Roller cam? Maybe you can change the timing advance curve or adjust your carb to make it perform better in the low end.

[SafariRob]

Rocky, I initially had the EFI bolted onto the 305 when I did the V8 swap. It was horrible; the cam and the EFI had a terrific fight and the performance of the engine was the first casualty. The cam had been selected by the engine rebuilder with no regard for compatibility with EFI. The engine ran so lean that it would stall between shifts; I finally got it to run halfway decent by installing TBI injectors from a 350. But the ECM would go into open loop at idle and the injectors were then too big for the engine--that puppy would puff out the black smoke while waiting on a light. I should've re-cammed it, but I didn't know enough about what was wrong to do that. I carbed it instead and the van became drivable.

If I only had the bucks, that Ramjet 350 from the GM performance catalog would be turning the rear wheels quite nicely right about now.

[Rockwerx]

Yesterday I pulled the wifes van out of a snow bank with the semi. Today was nice out so I boosted the van and brought it over to the shop. The van had not been run in over a year, but she fired up on the first cylinder that came up. I let it run for about 30 minutes before I shut her down. This van has always ran perfect for us except for a sticky starter at one point. I did not modify it in any way as it got over 30 mpg (imperial gallons). I will check the engine over and probably give it the regular tune up parts when it goes into the AWD.



I looked over the 1991 AWD for a few minutes today also. There is some extra room beside the jack for extra accessories if I want...maybe an air compressor. Same with the other side...room for an extra amp maybe. The engine bay looks similar to my 1990 AWD before I got it into the shop. Lots of stuff to clutter it up! So far it looks like I will have to swap just the accessories on the front of the engines. I may ahave to swap TBI systems though. When I get going on it I will have to take lots of pics to help me remember where everything goes!

[Rockwerx]

What year did the vans come out with rear air conditioning? Is this option only on the extended body vans? Has anyone retrofitted the rear AC into their van?

[phr1$k37]

Hey! Wow go missing for 1 week and so much happens here
That looks very nice and clean! 30mpg!? Double WOW!

[Rockwerx]

Hey! Wow go missing for 1 week and so much happens here
That looks very nice and clean! 30mpg!? Double WOW!

Thanks Frisket! I picked up the white 1990 panel van from my brother in Calgary a few years ago. I believe that the body kit helps the areodynamics of the van. That might explain how it gets such great fuel economy. I have gone over 900 kms on a tank many times with this van. The panel van is donating it's engine for the 1991 AWD SLT. The panel van has 3.73 gears and the AWD has 3.42 gears. I am hoping to get at least 20 mpg in the AWD once it is running again.

[canadavan]

Stewart, what color is your interior? I pulled the rear a/c setup out of an Astro to convert my van but didn't ever get around to it. The plastic is for a dark blue interior. I've got everything but the underbody a/c tubes. I'd be happy to pass it along (and my wife would be even happier).

[justice]

What year did the vans come out with rear air conditioning? Is this option only on the extended body vans? Has anyone retrofitted the rear AC into their van?

My 87 Shorty came from the factory with dual air.

[Rockwerx]

Stewart, what color is your interior? I pulled the rear a/c setup out of an Astro to convert my van but didn't ever get around to it. The plastic is for a dark blue interior. I've got everything but the underbody a/c tubes. I'd be happy to pass it along (and my wife would be even happier).

Thanks Todd! What is holding you back from installing it? Our 91 AWD has a dark blue interior also. Mine does not have the rear AC, but I have seen them in other vans and wondered how hard it would be to do the swap. I may take you up on those parts. Do you need any parts for your van?

What year did the vans come out with rear air conditioning? Is this option only on the extended body vans? Has anyone retrofitted the rear AC into their van?

My 87 Shorty came from the factory with dual air.

Interesting to find this out Justice. That makes at least two options that my 1990 Astro V8 AWD LT could have had from the factory. It did not have the passenger seat slide out tray either. My 1991 Safari SLT AWD has one.

[canadavan]

I don't need anything thanks Stewart as I'm selling my Astro. My van has the blue/gray interior si it didn't quite match and frankly, I've always been too crunched for time to cash the cheques my big plans kept writing. #-o

If you decide you want it I'll pull it all out and shoot you some photos.

[Mr_Roboto]

225hp from some ported heads and bolt ons? Wow, the 267 is the smallest bore SBC ever made that's pretty darn impressive. How is the MPG? If you can burn chips for it, I do not think that the TBI should be an issue. Otherwise, it may be. If you have a "W" VIN 4.3L there I'd pull the heads off port em and stick that motor in with a TBI setup on it, or just swipe the heads/cam. Would make something that was tame to drive, but a little more fun than a stock van.

If you are having lack of torque feeling with your 305 it sounds like it is in bad need of a tune. I bet if you found someone to make it run right you'd do a lot better. It could also be timing based, a typica L03 (305 TBI) if that's what you have likes more advance than the 3 degrees stock from the factory, 6 degrees is more like it. Also, if it's getting more fuel by the bigger injectors bumping 10lb/hr up is a lot. You may consider doing something like swapping to an adjustable regulator on the TBI unit and going back to stock 305 injectors. After this, you can slowly increase the fuel pressure at wide open throttle and figure out where it runs best. Personally, I would invest the $ into chip making stuff though.