Some Ford van questions

[arz]

Just want to throw some questions out there and thought this would be as good a place as any.

1. 7.3 powerstroke vans have no intercooler. Anyone installed one? I'm thinking of shaker style with something like a WRX scoop. Probably need to change the air intake, or offset it to one side.

2. anyone flip the rear shackles?

 

[ujoint]

I've seen one guy install an intercooler like you described, think there's a thread @ the diesel stop in the van section.

I've personally never done a shackle flip. How high do you plan to lift it?

 

[arz]

I'm not planning on changing my setup any time soon, more of a curiousness.

The intercooler however, is something I'm trying to figure out. I don't want to crank out stupid power, but if I could get it up to where a mildly chipped F series truck would be, it would make towing my TT much better.

 

[r_w]

Well, no reason you can't do a shackle flip, except they usually suck towing...

To get F series power out of a van, you need to figure out how to dump the heat. I figured (during my daydreaming) that a small body lift (like from a handicap van conversion), fender exhaust ports like the new superduties, coated and wrapped exhaust, and a custom radiator to fit the full height available after the lift. How many of those you need to do depends on how many HP you want to add.

 

[hobietony]

As far as dumping heat, I ordered a set of hood louvers from RunCool, got the medium size hi flow, fits the hood well. Badgertrek did it to his van as well, he seems to think they work well. I havent installed them yet, and it seems retarded to pay almost 200 bucks for a sheet of aluminum with some louvers punched in, but who has a louver press laying around their shop?

http://www.hoodlouvers.com/products.html

 

[nely]

Ive been contemplating the same performance things as you. Id like to shoot for 450whp on my 7.3 van.

I might have found a good intercooler to fit and the tubing would be the hardest portion. Figuring out where to route it. Youll defenitly have to relovate the air filter.

I contemplated the wrx scoops but i went with the lil hood scoops from a thunderbird on my van. I want fender vents aswell. Just trying to see what i like out there as far as vents.

I saw a lifted van with the shackle flip, but i dont wanna add 4.5" on top of my 6" springs. Maybe flipping the factory shackle might yield a small or no lift, but i have no experience with it. And other vehicles came with the shackle flipped, how is it bad or suck for towing?

 

[arz]

Like I said, the shackle flip was more of a curiousity. Dont plan on doing any real lifting on it, though 285s would be nice.


I spent a few minutes under the hood with a measuring tape this afternoon. One could:

1. Move main battery to a box under the frame rail, like the second, then
2. swap to a cone style air filter where the battery used to be, or even 2, the second behind the driver side headlamp, then
3. mount up a shaker style intercooler using the factory grill insert for the fresh air intake to move air over it

Or, I could take advantage of my stupid big bumper.



Behind that lower portion, I could pretty easily put a 30x12" intecooler of whatever thickness I want. It would be quite well protected, and if I went with only 10" tall, it would be entirely protected from anything but a direct hit from straight up.



6.0 powerstroke intercooler is 26x21 (ish) by 2.5", or 546 sq inches, vs the 360 I could fit, so it wouldn't be as good, but it's better than what is under there now. I could also angle it back to allow for a taller intercooler, and would get plenty of airflow at speed.

 

[nely]

The intercooler ive been eyeballing is 33x18x3 and has both inlets in the upper corner (or lower if it was installed upside down)

If you space the radiator 1" twords the engine, and (cut and modify the core support) move the a/c condensor outwards twords the grille, it looks like you could fit a 3" intercooler inbetween the rad and condensor.

The piping should be easy and short since both inlet and outlet are in the top sides above the radiator(it looks like itll run this way, but i still havent bought said intercooler) I was thinking of running a pipe from the turbo to the front for a cone filter where the factory filter is and build a heat shield around it. Also add more vents to let cool air directly into the shielded area where the cone filter will reside.

And i believe i could keep the battery where it is.

 

[dsw4x4]

I to have thought about this over and over. My plan was use wrx hood scoop and run the shaker style IC but I was looking at running a air cleaner out of a v10 in place of the battery that would allow me to then run a snorkel up the pass side a pillar. either way piping is going to suck there is not a lot of room in there to work with or around. I would love the extra hp but being able to leave a camp spot where a creek flooded overnight is more of a priorty. So in the mean time a chip and some exhaust will have to keep my hp bugs tame. I too looked at doing a shackle flip, the one from ruffstuff rocks.
http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/UNFLIP.html
without a doubt the beefiest one I have seen. I am also curious as to why they would suck for towing? I changed my mind because it would of given me more lift than I desired in the rear. I run 37s but I like to keep my vehicles as low as possible without clearance issues. I find that unneeded lift just increases the pucker factor when wheeling and with a van is will cause you to rub your roof rails on trees in narrow off camber situations.
Derek

 

[spencyg]

Ive been contemplating the same performance things as you. Id like to shoot for 450whp on my 7.3 van.

450hp in a 7.3 equates to something like 725+ Ft-Lbs of torque....

#1: Why?
#2: What kind of transmission, X-Case and axle combo do you expect to hold up to that
kind of torque?

Just curious.

As to intercooling, Has anybody considered liquid to air? They are much more condensed in package size, and though maybe not quite as efficient, they might be a good option. Forward facing hood scoops on any vehicle bound for the unknown are just begging for problems under the hood. Maybe given the height of a typical 4x4 van this would be less of an issue, but I splash / cover the hood of Boomer all the time and the top of the hood stands around 62".

I like the idea of rearward facing louvers to release some heat.

 

[nely]

450hp in a 7.3 equates to something like 725+ Ft-Lbs of torque....

#1: Why?

Just because.

#2: What kind of transmission, X-Case and axle combo do you expect to hold up to that
kind torque?

The 4r100 & e4od can be built to hold that power.

Im not going to run that hp full time. I can switch between tunes, limit the power, and keep control of my right foot.

But, the parts tuning and other things needed to get there would be $5000+. As of right now there are way better things to spend my money on my build. So thatll be last. Im completely content with my dp tuner setup now.

 

[zimm]

i recall years ago seeing a product that was a vent fan for the hood of defenders.... i could never figure out if that would move enough air from the engine bay to make a difference... or if it was like an "electric" supercharger...


wrapping headders can reduce engine bay heat... and make tubular ones rust. just a thought.