1984 Ford Econovan MWB van review from Australia and New Zealand

After installing the NGM TO4 turbocharger in June 1991, and fabricating intake plenums, manifolds and cooling plumbing, on the first test run, running boost at 10 psi the engine saw some 8000rpm action and the stock crankshaft snapped and was replaced with a cryogenically strengthened item

A new exhaust had to be made to suit the extra power

Everything for this van had to be fabricated as there were no off-the-shelf kits available then.

Custom boost-referenced pistons and conrods were made, but the engine was overall unreliable as a turbocharged engine

Head gasket blew out at 75,000 in '92, due to the boost, inter-cooler cracked, blow-through setup was extremely unreliable and flooding was a big issue. Was replaced with a boost suitable gasket.

The engine seized in '93 as a result of a cracked sump, starvation of oil from the housing also saw the turbo seize from overheating.

The van was retired to my carport where it sat until November 1998 when I decided I should tow it away. I ended up selling the cylinder head with all valvegear and custom cam, custom pistons (all they needed were to be machined after the seizure) turbocharger/intercooler setup, with all the custom parts, custom clutch and diff gears to someone with a 1980 Mazda 323 with the same engine and gearbox.

It was a fun van to drive, dangerous, but fun, I managed to get it off the clock at probably 190km/h, and the speedo only goes to 160km/h.

A truck intercooler was cut-down and used, with better results in hot weather and less detonation. Mounted up under the front bumper it was hidden from view as to not show that the van was turbocharged.

A custom grind camshaft was made to increase lift (by about 100 thou) to be more boost friendly.

Interestingly enough, apart from a custom single-plate heavy-duty clutch, the gearbox and differential never failed on me, the only thin g I did was drop a new gearset (3.90:1) in place of the old one (4.90:1) into the stock diff housing for more top-speed friendly gearing. But it would still smoke the rears if you gave it a bit from the lights.

It just had too many problems and eventually it just cried enough.

It used to be an Electrodry carpet cleaning van, until 1991, when the performance bug bit. I left the Electrodry paint scheme on the van instead of painting it, it was a great sleeper van, the looks on some people's faces taking off from the lights, and back in the early 90's it was quite a sight! Even with all the equipment in it, it still got up and went.

With the dual-wheel rear axle it had excellent traction, which was handy with the extra power.