Installing 7.3 IDI into E350 Cutaway van: Tough Clearance Issues

This weekend is the big day. I will be installing the new motor into my ambulance van (cutaway style van). These thing were shoehorned into the van's to begin with, and I've been contemplating the easiest way to do it. I've come up with the ideal of dropping it in butt first and using a come-a-long to hoist the back end and guide it in. See pic below.
Anyone try this before? Seems much easier than trying to deal with the horrific clearance that you have between the engine and the top of the engine compartment.
Or am I just overthinking it. Most of my issue when removing seemed to be the fact that the angle on the hoist was downward and I just couldn't get in and lift at the same time. Perhaps this could be alleviated by jacking up the front of the van more. Dunno.

What is wrong with pulling van front components, removing motor mounts and going straight in the front?
May have to raise the front end a little if puller is too tall.

You will have to remove front clip to get that engine in a van. That method looks good on paper but wait until your doing it. There's a few van members that might be able to chime in & elaborate.
I've dropped my engine in truck without removing any front clip components, but then again....it's a truck lol.

That's how I pulled it (pulling everything off from the grill forward). However when I pulled it, I had the injector pump off and even with that, it was tough getting the hoist boom in there. Raising the front of the van will help, but I would literally need to raise the front end of the van an additional foot or so. It doesn't help that I'm doing it in a driveway with the boom at the top and on level ground in the garage. Why Ford didn't just give 2 inches more or even a convenient tunnel for a boom (ya, I know, wish in one hand, and something else in the other).

Holy smokes. I had no idea it could be done that way in a van.

Here's a decent view of when I was pulling the old motor. I've got that chain as low as possible and the injector pump and lines off of the top. That hook is damn near in the valley.

@Dieselcrawler or @idi_econoline have vans.... They will be along and should be able to give some tips.

Thanks guys. I just really hate the idea of that I might have to pull everything off of the front of the motor before I can stuff it in, and then go deal with re-installing front plate, injector pump, water pump, balancer, etc. once it's in place. Not a huge chore, but just a pain in the butt.

Remove the pan. Clean everything up on the pan and block. Set pan down in the engine bay, set engine in place. Rtv the pan on. I removed a 6.0 out of e350. You can do a 6.9. Lol

http://www.derjackistweg.de/engine-swap/

It´s a horrible job.
It´s possible though. And it´s possible with the oil ON - which I strongly recommend. The oil pan will NOT give much more room - though can cause if you get in contact with something very, very bad things ....!

I got an 4x4, as you can see and almost no clearance. Trans was NOT possible to do connected.
My (stupid) mechanics did it with a fork lift.

With an engine stand, like yours you should be better! BUT you need kind of a bridge that connects the intakes with a plate that is connected via chain to the crane. This way the "arm" of your engine stand can be no higher than ~ 2" over the valve covers. You need that clearance.

good luck

Hydro-idi said:

Holy smokes. I had no idea it could be done that way in a van.

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It can't in practice. At least I've never been able to do it and I've got two of them one with multiple engine swaps.


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In your picture of the cherry picker, you don't have the boom as low as it can go. Remove the hook and run the chain over the top of the boom. This works. I've done it two or three times. If you don't already have one, drill a fairly small hole and drop a bolt in it (5/16 should be big enough). It doesn't matter if the bolt goes all the way through as long as the head of it sits flush on the boom. This is just a safety precaution in case the chain tries to slip forward off the end of the boom. Since it's been over 15 years, I can't remember if the bolt's needed on the way in, but it needs to be there on the way out. You may have to rotate the engine to one side a little bit so the oil fill clears the boom. The forklift idea isn't a bad one at all. When I worked at a shop swapping these out, We would use a cherry picker on a 7.3 so we could rotate the engine, but on a 6.9, we'd use our forklift. We'd remove one fork and the oil fill for clearance. It was a lot less work that way. Of course the front end was all off. other than the 6.9 oil fill, the engines were complete, including injector pump.

don't remove the oil pan. Remember the oil pump suction head is about 1/4 inch above the bottom of the oil pan. So what type of extra clearance will taking off the pan do for you... Nothing.

icanfixall said:

don't remove the oil pan. Remember the oil pump suction head is about 1/4 inch above the bottom of the oil pan. So what type of extra clearance will taking off the pan do for you... Nothing.

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Or don't listen to the guy who did it. I figured they would be smart enough to pull the tube to. Takes 10 mins to unbolt pan and pickup tube. As I stated it does work and makes it much easier to get in and out.

I put one in an 84 E350. I stuffed it in the front. It scraped the paint off the valve covers. Not a big deal.