1987 Sportsmobile with 77k original miles -- $1800 OBO

[DetroitDiesel]

Dont you have to remove the body to remove the motor in these vans? I feel like that could be a lot more than 10 hours of labor.

No you just take the front bumper and grill and rad support out. The thing is you can't use a regular cherry picker. Yes it may be more than 10 hours in labor but less than 20. I may have been lowballing a bit but not too much I'm just trying to say he can get it for way less than quoted, and on top of that the motor is the cheapest part. So a motor for 600 and then its just about finding someone to work with doing the labor. He was in the worst possible situation when he went to the shop. We had flood that had 14ft deep water on i75. So insurance companies wanted to make a group claim and the repair shops wanted all that insurance money. I think its well worth the motor replacement instead of taking 1500 for it.

 

[grampswrx]

Put the new motor in it and it's worth $8k at least. So as long as you spend less than $6200 on the motor and install, you've got positive equity over selling it for $1800. And for that price, I'll buy it and have you take it to a place for a new motor!

 

[spencyg]

Unless the van was running at moderate to high RPM when it came into deep water, I'd bet this is just an electronics issue, and a minor one at that. The air pickup on these vans is right below the passenger side headlight, so it is feasible that water could have been ingested. I would first pull the engine dipstick and see if there are coolant bubbles in the oil. This would indicate a problem. If you don't see any problem there, open the radiator reservoir and see if there is any oil mixed with the coolant. You probably won't see anything since the engine would have stopped immediately after potential damage occurred. The next step will be a compression check on all 8 cylinders. Anything over 100psi on each cylinder is "good enough". A compression tester is $50 and threads into the spark plug hole. You'll need to remove the passenger seat and the dog house inside the cab. Accessing the first 2 spark plugs on each side of the engine will be the hardest part. The rear 2 on each side are easy to get to from the back. Basically, you remove all 8 spark plugs at the same time, remove the gas supply and pull the electric fuel pump fuse (if it has one) or pull the fuel line from the inlet side of the engine block mounted mechanical fuel pump and plug it temporarily (the fuel line, not the pump). Install the compression test plug into the first spark plug hole, hook up the pressure gauge, and crank the engine over half a dozen times. Note the pressure on the gauge and write it down. Move on to the next cylinder and repeat for all 8. If you've got good compression than you've got an electrical issue which, on an engine that old, will only consist of the ignition system or possibly the fuel system if you've got an electric fuel pump. At this point you may want to find a garage that can sort those minor issues out for you.

If you find 1 or more cylinders that are under 100psi than chances are they will be down near 0 psi if you actually hydro locked. In this case, it may be best to find a decent used motor and a reputable shop to get the job done. As was mentioned previously, the sequence for removal isn't too bad. I have a '86 Econoline and removed my 6.9L diesel a few years back. If you paw through my build thread (link in my signature) there are a bunch of pictures of the engine removal process. I took a hell of a lot longer than 10 (or even 20) hours to do mine, but the 6.9L diesel is 2x the size of the 302, and I'm an amature. A good shop should have a 302 out and a new one back in with probably 2 days of work. 16 hours x $60/hr = $960 labor. A used engine and the required parts (new belts, hoses, filters, fuel lines) shouldn't run more than another $1000 at the most. If you had $2k in mind for a full replacement engine that will get you off safely and reliably than you'll probably have a little left over in the end. While they're in there, I'd have them do the front input seal on your transmission (assuming you have a C6), as the stock ones tend to leak if/when the transmission gets too warm.

And lastly, if you get this all sorted and find yourself headed toward Nova Scotia, look me up as I'll be on the way.

Very best of luck.

SG

 

[DetroitDiesel]

Unless the van was running at moderate to high RPM when it came into deep water, I'd bet this is just an electronics issue, and a minor one at that. The air pickup on these vans is right below the passenger side headlight, so it is feasible that water could have been ingested.

SG

I wasnt buying the hydrolocked either I think its lazy diagnosis and I already mentioned why. The shops knew insurance was paying out and wanted as much insurance money as possible. Now that you say the air input is that low its quite possible the water was ingested. But that would mean water was flooding about as deep as the driver seat so I haven't seen him mention the inside was flooded. A lot of these cars that were dying were electrical and they were moving at a crawl so it wasnt a high rpm dunk like would require. I think it just cut out electronically. I am offering him to bring it to my house we can get anything we can before a motor. And we can pull the old motor ourselves and have the new one done professionally. It will be more than 60/hr I think more like 75/hr but thats where I am going to make some calls because these shops need the money not the other way around. I know the second I clicked on this ad and saw this truck 3 miles from my house for 1800 I thought just replace the motor dont sell it. If he wants to sell it I will buy it within minutes for 1800. Then ill get it right.

 

[Vaga]

A flooded engine is a non-issue. Drain it, flush it, run it. No big deal.

 

[MikeCG]

Do you really think the motor and replacement could be done for around a grand? If this is the case I will be really bummed that I didn't go that route, but the repair shop I went to estimated 3-5 grand in total. If its really that cheap I might fix the van even after buying another car.

For 2 to 3 grand, that better be a new crate 302. 302s are a dime a dozen. Ford dropped them into nearly everything. You could most likely find one in a scrape yard for between $250 and $500 depending on mileage. Some scrap yards out here where I'm at will even do the install for you, at an additional cost.

 

[Bluedog225]

Bump. Any update?