Van Restoration Project

[yARIC008]

Pretty cool Eric! Did you have all the front seats out still while doing this work?

Sure do. I'm keeping them out until I finish all the dirty work with the engine and what not. It also made it alot easier to work under the dash on this bracket and on replacing the steering gear and steering shaft. Will post picks of that too soon.

 

[F350camper]

thats makes it almost luxurious to work under the dash. I hate working under there with the seats in..

 

[yARIC008]

So, i changed out the U joints on the drive shaft. First time I had done that. I've got to say, if anyone does this job, forget the MOOG u joints, just get the Spicer. They're about the same price but they for whatever reason are WAY better. I got my old joints out, which pretty well looked fine, but figured I should replace seeing I had the driveshaft out for the rear tranny seal repair. So, I get new Moog joints and they seemed to measure out almost exactly the same as the OEM, but I battled those ******** for TWO days trying to get them in and correct. They just wouldn't go in and let the clip rings in too. When both sides were pushed in ALL the way to where the joint wouldn't even move hardly, I stilll couldn't get the snap rings in. After F'ing with it for a whole day i finally decided to grind the clips down slightly so they'd fit. I read however, that was just not a good idea, but I didn't have a choice. Anyway, on the last bearing I was pressing in, one of the needles fell and got jammed up then snapped when I pushed it back out. So I had to get at least one new one at this point. I did some research and found the Spicer U joints and saw some good reviews so went for it. I pulled out the Moogs and literally within 15 minutes I had the Spicers installed with no grinding and they're perfectly free moving.

I measured it all out and they seem exactly the same, the only thing I can figure is that the Spicer seals are slightly smaller or have less friction under pressure or are more flexible or something. Anyway, they look and feel great and have the full size zerk fitting on it, unlike the moogs that had the needle zerk on it that I read is a ***** to use.

 

[yARIC008]

Here are some update pictures...

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all new door seals

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more door seal action on the body side

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new weather stripping around windows. This is the new style from like 2008 on wards or something. I don't really like it compared to the older style, but it isn't all gross and old looking now at least. You can't get the old style that I could find anymore.

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upper window weather stripping.

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New Borgeson steering shaft and bearing. Also new accelerator cable and pedal which you can kinda see here. The rusty back mounts really other me in these pictures, really doing to have to redo those with powder coating soon.

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New Borgeson steering shaft at the steering gear side with the vibration damping U joint.

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Red head steering gear installed with new correct pitman arm finally. Can also see the new steering pump and hydraulic lines with filter here.

 

[F350camper]

looking good man! I really need new window weather stripping. My original ones are like bread cutter knives.

 

[yARIC008]

So I've got a question for everyone. Do you think it's possible to completely remove the oil pan in frame on the van? It wasn't on my list of things to do, but I'm seriously considering it now. My oil pan on the engine has developed a leak, it's not very big, but it's very consistent it would seem. Just sitting in the garage an oil spot quickly forms, so now I'm considering resealing the pan in frame. It's not really feasible for me to pull the engine with my current resources, one of those being space, the other time. Pulling the engine out of the van isn't some 2.5 hour task, it's a several all day long adventure which requires removing everything off the top of the engine to get enough room to lift it. I am probably saving that for another year once other things are more taken care of on the rest of the van.

Anyway, currently I can drop the pan about 2 inches, I know this for sure because about 13 years ago I had to reseal the pan as the gasket I used on the install leaked like a sieve (which is probably why it's leaking now). In looking at the situation, if I pull the transmission off and most of the tall stuff off the engine down to the injector lines or so, I think I can get another 6-8 inches out of it. Will 8-10 inches total be sufficient to completely pull the pan past the oil pickup?

From what I remember and have read the oil pickup tube is bolted to the mains somewhere toward the middle or the back, so if the pan won't completely clear the pickup tube will have to be removed with the pan on, think 8-10 inches will be enough to remove the tube and reinstall later too? Aside from all that another thing that keeps worrying me is how to support the engine safely. I mean my arms will like be all up in the pan and underneath it, if she were to give way i'd basically be dead... I've seen in videos people support the front on the front pulley, I'm thinking a jack stand for that. Then probably two bottle jacks on the rear bell housing somewhere or something.

 

[yARIC008]

looking good man! I really need new window weather stripping. My original ones are like bread cutter knives.

Replacing the window stripping is a *****, to say the least. I'd really like to see how they do it in the factory. You have to get like 3 or 4 things all aligned simultaneously and get it all contorted and in the door AND not bend the damn thing. Just a hair too much pull and it bend/kinks and looks like crap. No easy way to fix it either after its bent as the rubber is easily damaged.

 

[yARIC008]

So decided to hold off on pulling oil pan. After further investigation and cleaning ALOT of crude out it could be other things, so needs more work on that. Oil leaks like this suck. Kinda everything gets covered so it's hard to tell. I guess it's possible multiple things are leaking, gah... One suspect thing was my fuel block off plate so tightened the hell outta that.

I am redoing the valve cover gaskets and exhaust manifold gaskets. Going back with Nord lock washers to keep them hopefully from never unscrewing on me. Seems to happen a lot, even with lock tite.

Anyway, got some new sway bars. Only had a front one from the factory, going back with a heavier front one and a new rear one. These sway bars are like double the factory thickness.

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Also got a deeper transmission pan along with a filter with a deeper pickup.

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[yARIC008]

So I've been at it pretty steady. I actually back tracked a bit back to the engine bay. After seeing all the amazing thorough rebuilds going on in here I decided I needed to do more than I had. I've basically pulled about half the front back off to access alot of things. I hadn't actually replaced the AC compressor yet so went to do that and replace the condenser along with the evap and accumulator. To do that had to pull the rad and alot of other things. The new rad I hadn't installed either as I was waiting to pull it. Anyway, i get in and clean everything up good and pull the compressor. That's when I notice while working on trying to flush the AC lines that there is some old crappy repair I never noticed on the AC line. Someone had put hose clamps on a replacement hose. So... that wasn't going to fly, i don't want any hose clamps on a 200 PSI system. I ended up spending the next couple days yanking all the AC lines and getting them rebuilt. I sandblasted them and painted them too after I had the rubber replaced. The actually turned out really nice, basically like brand new now. It's a good thing i decided to do that too, the suction line where it had sat up against insulation was rusting really badly and probably about to fail. I had the place rebuilding my lines replace that with all stainless so it wouldn't rust again.

Here are new lines.

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While I was screwing around decided to basically replace all the other connectors. Alot of the old plastic connectors had broken, and broken even more messing around with them this time. Below are just some of them. I've actually found all new motorcraft connectors for almost the entire harness on ebay.

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Here is new aluminum 4 row rad.

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When I get engine compartment done I will post up that. Right now it's still a mess.

 

[The Warden]

While I was screwing around decided to basically replace all the other connectors. Alot of the old plastic connectors had broken, and broken even more messing around with them this time. Below are just some of them. I've actually found all new motorcraft connectors for almost the entire harness on ebay.

Do you by chance have any links? I'd love to get my hands on a new plastic engine wiring harness connector for a brick-nose...

BTW, looks very good so far!

 

[F350camper]

...
While I was screwing around decided to basically replace all the other connectors. Alot of the old plastic connectors had broken, and broken even more messing around with them this time. Below are just some of them. I've actually found all new motorcraft connectors for almost the entire harness on ebay.
...

Wow, that must have taken a while to figure out all the ones you need and find them all. Nice work!

 

[yARIC008]

Do you by chance have any links? I'd love to get my hands on a new plastic engine wiring harness connector for a brick-nose...

BTW, looks very good so far!

Sure, here are links... these connectors might not be all the same on the F series, especially if it's different years.

Friction tape for wiring harness, works much better than standard electrical tape
http://www.ebay.com/itm/190823047174?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Tach Sensor connector
http://www.ebay.com/itm/291693597493?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Throttle position sensor connector (one linked is not motorcraft, will need to look around a bit to find motorcraf if you want it)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Throttle-Po...ash=item4d2d20d3c8:g:~QsAAOSw9N1VjsYJ&vxp=mtr

Accumulator mounted AC pressure switch connector
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Motorcraft-...ash=item48811de802:g:N3IAAOSwHnFVp8Li&vxp=mtr

Blower motor resistor connector
http://www.ebay.com/itm/172285940910?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Blower motor connector
http://www.ebay.com/itm/291767301115?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

AC Compressor connector
http://www.ebay.com/itm/BRAND-NEW-O...ash=item54181a2332:g:Xj8AAOSwbPxXP4Fc&vxp=mtr

Alternator connectors
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-Altern...m2c882c8e12:m:mLln4dmGnmm2Pml0cwH5zUA&vxp=mtr

E4OD drivers side connector (not motorcraft)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Standard-Mo...ash=item4d44d2f585:g:QOYAAOSwd4tUELNK&vxp=mtr

E4OD gear shift position connector
http://www.ebay.com/itm/E4-OD-Trans...ash=item19da569275:g:wyAAAOxy3NBSjA-j&vxp=mtr

E4OD solenoid connector (not motorcraft)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Transmissio...ash=item3f5fc1fbff:g:eMQAAOSwLpdW-C9O&vxp=mtr

That about covers it. Here is a resource to find more connectors for your particular year too.
http://ecatalog.smpcorp.com/STD/#/vehicles

I might be a little mixed up on the E4OD connectors as I haven't finished with those yet. But just looking around real fast I found those.

 

[The Warden]

That about covers it. Here is a resource to find more connectors for your particular year too.
http://ecatalog.smpcorp.com/STD/#/vehicles

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!! I need to do some exploring on this site...this could REALLY come in handy!

THANK YOU!!!

 

[yARIC008]

So was sick for a few days and didn't work on anything. Here are some pics

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Flushed the long AC lines that run from front to back, they were loaded with grit and rust and crud. Not sure how the AC even worked before....

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After a quart of flush was coming out clear.

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Battery trays powdercoated and installed. This one in particular was heavily rusted and in really bad shape. Hopefully it decides to stop rusting now. I also need to find some new bolts, couple of the old ones were so rusted I couldn't reuse.

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Here is new location of windshield washer filter thing, much more accessible now. Also can see the new location of the low pressure port on the AC system.

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Here is the valve attached, fits just perfect. A hair bit further rotated around and I would have been shafted... This port used to be over next the compressor in a horribly inconvenient location..

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New booster, cleaned up everything in general and coated with lizard skin and some hush mat, and cleaned up wiring harness, still not totally done with the wiring.

 

[79jasper]

I've never seen one of those windshield washer filters.
Is it a check valve? Lol

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