84 E350 been sitting a year

[broncoholic]

I am picking up this van tomorrow. Bought it for $400 for the engine and tranny to put in my trail truck. The guy said that the batteries were dead one day so he charged them but a few days later it did the same thing so he parked it. I'm guessing a bad alternator or batteries? Is there anything that I should do before charging the batteries and trying to crank the engine?I just want to hear it run before I stick it in my bronco.The engine has 160,000 miles on it.

 

[smoking89IDI]

If it has been sitting for a year the batts are shot, they have self discharged to the point of total sulphation and you might injure yourself trying to charge one (explosion, boiling electrolyte {whats left}). I also don't think the fuel in the tanks, lines or IP would even be good enough to fire on, this new ULSD seems to breakdown faster and has a shorter shelf life, BTW if you do try to start it always check to make sure the throttle does not get stuck at full throttle (don't ask how I know). Also I had a '70 Mustang 302 C4 auto that sat for about a year and all of the seals in the tranny dried up an puked ATF out everywhere, so if it is an auto be ready for any oil gushing from the bellhousing.

Good luck!

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Agreed, batteries dead for a year stand very little chance of holding a meaningful charge.

I have however jumped many vehicles with junk batteries and never had a problem.

 

[rickrat]

I too have jumper started many batteries that had sat over a year and had no problems.

 

[broncoholic]

Is there anything that I need to keep off of the van for the engine swap? I plan on putting this in a 79 bronco or shoehorning it into a 77 bronco

 

[Agnem]

I wouldn't worry about the 1 year too much. Just put good batteries in it, and make sure the fluids look OK. A van is much better at keeping water intrusion out, then a truck, so that engine should be nice and dry. I'd replace the fuel filter and fill the filter with Howes lubricity formula to get it running.

 

[Darrin Tosh]

shoehorning it into a 77 bronco

That would be cool, but I would think way too heavy for that truck.
A Cummins 4BT is ideal for an early Bronco, but that is just my opinion.

Either way let us know what happens.

 

[broncoholic]

Well, I'm getting a family cage from a friend of mine pretty cheap. I was thinking of widening the frame to fit the engine but am leaning towards building a frame into the cage that I bought using the early bronco firewall and front clip. Not worried about the weight, I'm going to be using military axles and 53" xzl's. They call these XXL buggies. I looked at propane and fuel injection kits for my 351 which were too expensive for me. I think diesel is the right choice. I can idle around on a used oil/fuel mix for alot cheaper than gasoline or propane. How much is offroad diesel?

 

[broncoholic]

Y'all are not going to believe it. I checked the fuel filter, put 2 good batteries in it and gave it a small shot of either and it cranked right up. Idles a little low after letting off the throttle. Had to feather it back to idle. Other than that, all the gauges read good. Can't wait to pull it but I promised the wife I would fix the boat first.