472 or 500 in an astro van

[sizanjdf]

Ive been trying to decide what vehicle I want to put my engine in. Ive thought of the mustangs or the montecarlos...even a coupe caddy and a 62 rambler that I have. Suddenly this thought of a mini van popped into my head. I know 350s have been put in them many times, but realisticly could a 500 fit in there??? If anyone has any ideas please let me know. I know it sounds stupid, but think how YOU would feel if you got beat by a 13 second mini van....!!!

[Modly]

I'm sure you can fit it in somehow, but you will need to fabricate quite the shopping list.

You may want to setup a hinge to lift the body off the frame, like a semi, because when it comes time for any maintenence, you'll be in agony. I used to have an Astro, and it was a pain just to do spark plugs.

I've seen somebody with a 454 stuck under the hood once, but from the looks of it, he had his dog house pushed back about a foot and a half.

[DOC]

sizanjdf,
Man you must be a mind rider. I have an 87 Astro cargo van (no rear glass), and am about to start my installation of a 512 Cad. I aquired the engine out of mid ninties class 4 desert race truck, 10:1, shaft rockers, steel rods, 76cc heads, Edelbrock, etc. It looks like i will have to modify the engine cover for width, but, other than that it doesn't look any worse than the Astro 427 Chev we did. I'm looking forward to this thing being a rocket. A real strong 406 SBC in a budy's Astro runs 11 flat!

Motor mounts, trans mounts, crossmember, is all available from Al @ MTS. For a street setup, a Ford 9 in and slapper bars on the factory leaf spring works pretty well. With the factory differential, I think any kind of traction well grenade it.

DOC