Community thoughts

[Tmugz88]

In between packing and digging through our garage my wife and I got around to installing thr carrier on the E350. Due to the move it can't be permanently installed. However once this move is completed it will be installed
Any additional suggestions would greatly be appreciated.

[Blacktree]

Putting the cargo box behind the van instead of on top is a smart move, much better for aero.

If you're looking for something cheap and simple, you could grab some garden edging as mentioned earlier and make yourself a front air dam. If you can encourage air to go around the van rather than under it, that will improve aero.

You could also grab a piece of pipe insulation and stuff some of it into the front grille. Once again, encouraging air to go around the van instead of through the engine bay will improve aero. Just be careful not to block too much of the radiator. You wouldn't want to overheat the engine.

[Caddylackn]

First, get rid of that passenger step, that is a real aero killer and causes a lot of turbulence.

The modular 5.4L and OD, is a good high torque truck motor with reasonable gas mileage for big vehicles. You can get a SCT tuner and get a custom tune with more ignition advance to run on only premium fuel, which will bump your gas mileage maybe 10%. With currently premium about 5% more than regular gas, this is a small savings. Long tube headers would be your best add on, if they make them for the van. They won't be cheap though $1000, but long tubes add quite a bit of torque through the cruising range and better mpg at cruise.

You can do what is called a J-mod to your trans. I assume you have the 4R70W. The J-mod removes a couple of springs in the control body that eliminates slow 1 to 2 and 2 to 3 shifts and also drill a few holes in the control body plate larger. So basically a shift kit that gives you a faster and harder 1 to 2 shift and a 2 to 3 shift.. You will save fuel accelerating since you minimize clutch slippage and gets you to cruising speed faster on the same amount of fuel.

Your mirrors are huge but IDK if there are better easier options for you.
If you could lower the vehicle 3", that would help, and add a front air dam off a suburban or other vehicle.

Then run about 5 psi less than the maximum tire pressure. Since you probably have 120 load rating tires, that would be 75 psi or so.

[aerohead]

If this link works, this will be a concept for something attached to the cargo carrier.
It's an aerodynamic boat-tail, one of the few things which will add significant mpg on the open road.
https://ecomodder.com/forum/showthre...ail-29754.html
The tail is shaped to help the divided streamlines to come back together, minimizing the drag-inducing turbulence behind a squareback shape.

[redpoint5]

I was thinking the easiest mod would be to taper in sides and bottom to the cargo box. The roof looks more difficult.

[aerohead]

I found some of the original road test reports for the 'all-new' Econoline when it hit the market as a 1992 model.
* 7-12 passenger
* nine different powertrain options
* 200-265 horsepower
* Curb Weight - 5,138 - 6,261 pounds
* Length- 211.8" - 231.8"
* Width- 79.5"
* Height- 80.9"
* Ground clearance- 8.2"
* Tires: 235 / 75-15
* Cd 0.39
* Frontal area approx. 38.9 sq-ft ( 3.6139- meters-squared )
* CdA approx. 15.171-sq-ft ( 1.409 meters-square )
* 35-gallons ( range: 350 - 539 miles to fuel starvation )
* 10-mpg to 15.4-mpg depending on powertrain
* 27-horsepower Road Load at 50-mph ( CAR and DRIVER coast-downs )