My Dad's 88 Chevy Van/future camper.
 

This is a van my Dad bought to convert into his tractor show vehicle. He plans to stay in this at swap meets and tractor events. 4.3 V6 and a 4 speed manual shift.

Van sat in a barn for 12 years so alot of work has gone into the mechanicals. Currently engine smokes some yet. I think we should drop in 6.2.

He needs power to run a flat screen and a computer and probably an air conditioner or ceramic heater. Thinking some solar panels with some deep cycle batteries and an invertor will run the computer and tv. He is looking at a honda generator for the ac.

The show transportation.

When you say tractor show vehicle, will he tow a trailer or carry a tractor inside?

That last picture looks like a postcard for Kansas! LOL!

That van has a lot of potential. I would imagine it's asking a lot of a tired V6 to pull it around though, especially loaded. The manual will help :-)

The plan is to tow a trailer with the tractor. The manual transmission helps, but the gearing is tall. 4th is an overdrive.

That cub weighs about 800lbs. Would need to tow about 2500lbs.

I wonder how a 6.2 would do with that gearing.

Have you considered just changing the valve stem seals and the rear axle? That 4.3 makes decent torque.

That's a nice van, Allen. :tup: I'm sorry I can't help with your technical questions, but I'm sure the others will continue to assist you. :)

It smokes mostly under load. Would valve stem seals cause that? Right now his plan is to just drive and add oil. I doubt it will be used much in the winter unless he drives it down here. Maybe 5K a year. If we do a swap it will probably be a 350 or a another V6.

Most of the trips for this van will be within 150 miles of home, but he has talked about driving it the 500 miles to Kansas for the winter. We don't have much road salt and winter is mild.

We could do an engine swap here or perform some engine work.

Valve stem seal leakage will be most obvious under high vacuum, like right after sitting at a red light. It would present itself under high load as well, but so would rings.

Valve stem seals are cheap and relatively easy to change, so it's a worthwhile exercise, assuming the engine passes a vacuum and compression test. How many miles on it?

I know what a nuisance vans can be to service, but you'd only be changing 12 seals, instead of 18. As well, you could do most of the work from the driver's seat.

It has about 110K I think. Not that many. Valve stems seals would be worth a try. Maybe if he gets it here we can take it apart. Most of the engine sits inside the van.

I did notice that it seemed to have a could after we would rev it and then idle for a minute or two.

The smoking is not a big concern to him.

Next project is electrical power. I am thinking solar since it will be parked away from grid power. Two deep cycle batteries and a 100watt panel may be able to run what he needs.

All you need is an air hose fitting that will thread into the spark plug hole and a good compressor. Beyond that, your trusty valve spring compressor will get the job done. I use a Lisle.

My Dad is thinking engine swap. His mechanic recommended a new 350 crate engine, but there is plenty of good TBI 350s in rusted out farm trucks.

If we are going to stick a 350 in then we should probably do some towing/mpg improvements. Probably a new cam and injectors. Do the valve seals with the engine on the stand.

One of the best motors to start with is a 350 with Vortec heads. They can't handle 0.500" cam lift (probablt closer to 0.420"), but you don't need that much lift for an RV-style application. I'd recommend that you grab a Vortec and the associated computer.

Probably best to find one that had a manual transmission for the computer. He wants to keep the 4 speed. Simpler the better.

Do you know if we could keep the TBI setup and put it on a vortec engine? He doesn't need lots of power. Van already has a new computer and it would save us from lots of wiring and other things. I think I will have him drive the van to KS and do the swap here. More space and he plans to come for the winter.

I think we need to go ahead at put a cummins 4bt in it. Should be good for high 20s maybe even 30mpg then. Plus the cool factor.