Good news and bad...

[The Warden]

I'm sorry; I mis-spoke. When I said that the headers were the same, I was referring to how they mount to the engine. Internally, there IS a difference. The 6-ring headers have two grooves inside for the small O-rings, whereas the 4-ring headers either have a single, smaller groove, or don't have one at all (not sure which; haven't really played with a 4-ring header), which is why you have to put the O-ring on the bundle on the 4-ring setup instead of in the header with the 6-ring setup (the 6-ring bundle doesn't have grooves for the O-rings at all).

Certainly, though, you can't interchange headers between a 4-ring and a 6-ring setup. Sorry for inadvertently implying otherwise...

 

[Diesel Fly]

All's well that ends well! I managed to put together one good cooler out of parts from the other ones. Got it back together and was able to make Jimmy Cone. The truck ran great! Had it up to 75 a couple of times with good oil pressure and, more importantly no drips whatsoever!!

Thanks to everyone for all of their help.
I guess I've earned my "oil cooler merit badge"

 

[Agnem]

Yup! And here is a pic to prove it.

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Is that paint original? Love the colors.

 

[Diesel Fly]

Is that paint original? Love the colors.

The paint scheme is but I'm not sure about the color. I did find the same color in some hidden away areas. But, when I look at exterior paint chips for the year, I don't see the exact same thing.

Who knows - it's a pretty old truck... After taking a close look at the cooler that came off the engine, it was pretty obvious that it had been off before. It had orange silicone gasket stuff on the headers and on the oil pan. The cooler that came off the engine was also a 4-ring with 2 black and two red rings.

 

[IHWillys]

...You can't install the van headers on a truck motor and get it to fit. ...

Due to block differences or the motor mounts or some such?

I ask because I've been pondering swapping a 6.9 into my '97 E350 where a 351W currently resides. It's obviously much easier to get truck engines than van engines. I was hoping to be able to just procure a van oil cooler to swap onto an engine from a truck.

Ken

 

[Diesel Fly]

There a couple of differences between the van cooler and the truck cooler.

The van cooler has different headers on both ends. The headers are smaller than the truck ones and make the cooler bundle sit closer to the block. On top of sitting farther from the block, the truck headers make the bundle come off the block at a different angle to clear the cross member/motor mount area.

The other main difference is that the oil filter head on the rear header is cast so that the filter sits at a different angle than the truck filter.

The bundles of 4 ring coolers are all the same as are the bundles of 6 ring coolers. So a four ring bundle fits any four ring headers and the six ring bundle fits any six ring headers. The headers have to be used in sets (2 van or 2 truck)

There is another difference in that the van cooler front header attaches to the block with 3 bolts while the truck front header attaches with 4 bolts. If you get the Felpro gasket set, it will include both of the gaskets for the front header (1 van and 1 truck) and the gasket for the rear header. If you get gaskets at the dealer, you'll need to know which one you need for the front (3 or 4 hole)

The mounting area on the block is identical since the block doesn't "know" whether the engine will be mounted in a van or a truck (or a bus).

I added an attachment that hopefully will give you a better idea (stickman figures )

All you really need for your application is the cooler off of a van (really just the two headers since the bundles are the same). Just find a nice engine and we will take care of the rest. There's enough people on the list that have van pieces for you to finish your project

 

[IHWillys]

Thanks Diesel Fly, it's now clear. Terms as well. Those were new uses of 'header' and 'bundle' for me.

I'm working on the engine bit. I just sold my '85 F250 with 6.9. I decided it was better to sell as a runner than part it out. The 6.9 seems to be an easily found and for very cheap(atleast for diesel) engine. I've been collecting parts for a rebuild as I've seen how tight the van app is with the IDI in it and so I want to put it in and leave it for a long time.

Ken

 

[JourneymanD]

could use a little help here if you please...

I have a "van from hell" project that has pitted hell's fury against me every step of the way. I lost my engine to cavitation and found a good one with 76K miles on it out of an ex-city truck. pulled the oil cooler off of the original van engine to put on the truck engine, and found out the front header had rotted through and had leaked at one time. someone had used some leak-stopper crap in it which did plug the leak but it also mostly plugged up the bundle too. I am looking for another cooler to replace my junk one. anybody got a spare van set-up that isn't all rotted out?

Also, in addition to the oil filter orientations and the headers positioning the bundle closer to the block and lower on the van cooler, the exhaust manifolds are different truck to van. the truck cooler runs into the van exhaust manifold cause it's too high/too far out. also the motor mount(the solid steel bracket that bolts too the block) on the van is different too. it puts the bracket a little higher on the driver side then the passenger side. the crossmember has a taller pedestal bolted to it that the truck doesn't have to accomodate the higher mount location on that side.

anyway, my 2cent$. If anyone can help with a cooler, I would appreciate it. Thanks.