(My english was not as good as I swear, so forgive me to the incredible amount of spelling and grammatical errors I certainly will do... or already have done!)

... from you!

Hello everybody!

I'm from Belgium, a super small country (more like a village) of Western-Europe, stucked between France and Germany.

I'm 40 and, as far I can remind, I've always be a car/truck/plane/boat engine enthusiast... well, enthusiast with everything that has an engine, in fact!

My second love was your country... the movies, the series, the cars, couple of travels to (in Florida), every thing achieve me to fall in love, but life (and wife) don't allowed me to join you... but I don't miss the point, so maybe one day, the title of this topic will not be correct anymore...

But this is not a "Hey, that's my life!" forum, so I came with the real point... cars!

In my case, cars is not really the exact word... van is more accurate!

I'm a happy (till yesterday...) owner of a 1994 GMC Vandura 3500 Camper Van (from Pleasure Way, Canada), that I called Hannibal, because it's size and... yes, in memory of "I like when a plan..."

I buy it to his first german owner, in perfect shape, related with his age (the Van, not the owner, hey!) with less than 85.000 miles. The only 'weak' point to me, the first time I read the advert, was the engine... I swear it was loaded with the 7.4L, but no, only the base 5.7L, wich is a little bit weak to move as I want (I'm a bad and constantly unsatisfied guy..., so never enough power and torque, anyway the car I owned) the 7.700lbs that this beast weights.

Weak enough to break in my hands, yesterday, with a water gasket disclosure (is this the right term?)...

When I buy it, I've planned to swap a more powerful engine, but not so early... but as I always mean in life, things happens, so manage them as well as you can!

Well, now that you complete me (just a little bit... ), I hope we can discuss a little bit about the LS world and how he can give a new life to my little shower-on-wheels and make it lighter, faster and stronger... in one word, better!

Some pics now, for those preferring them to words... like me!





















... don't look at the Dodgy wheel caps or the Chevy fascia, previous owner was more good-looking orientated than right-matching, as I'am. But this is just a detail, wheels need an engine to rotate...

 

in for turbo 6.2L swap

 

I'm glad you mentioned the dodge wheel covers at the end haha otherwise I would've done done so. Otherwise it's a very clean looking van for its age. Not really sure how much weight you can really remove from a home on wheels though. If it was me I'd put a torque oriented 370 (for reliability as opposed to a 383 or 408) in it
I'd love to see a turbo 6.2 (or turbo anything in it for that matter) texasglock but I think that van is a bit more space challenged then our trucks...

 

twas a joke...

 

Hi Guys, thanks for your comments!

About the new engine, I hesitate between a LS3 and a Vortec 8.1L, both provided in a GM Performance crate, the first for it's power and lightweight, the second because it's the more recent truck orientated... but I'm especially here to listen and learn, because numbers and theory are too often far from facts and reality.
'
Also, the room for the next 'heart' is smaller than a truck/car engine bay, so it's another tricky point. Other way, if the 7.4L was loaded in in factory, why the two engines previously mentioned don't fit? But once again, it's only theory and I'm very surprised that, after having researched a lot on the web, nothing was showed about van engine swaps...

 

Haha that was lost on me through the Internet

OP I think the 8.1 is a good bit taller then the 454, but an ls shouldn't be much more problematic to fit then a gen 1 sbc as far as dimensions are concerned

 

I have been to Belgium a couple times, good beer.

 

The van weights almost 7000lbs...

Do you think an LS3 can hold that?

GM put a 6.0L (LQ4) in the last Express/Savana, wich can be an evident option, but if I can sort wich LS model have the best reliability/economy/weight (an all alu engine seems the right answer)/torque/price, I will be the happy man of the day!

I'm very seduced by the 8.1L torque numbers, but this thing must be really really heavy, and an heavy engine in a heavy van means a truck driver license to me, and no way for that.


And chocolate... but that are almost the only good things here... especially for car lovers that be hardly punished for, in many manners...

 

its a smallblock 350. so heads cam intake carb headers are all cheap. i work at motorville wholesale so i know that the 350 is the best way to go for the money. have it compression checked and start building.

 

It came out from servicing... so compessions were checked and good.

But this is not revealing that few miles further, BAM!

So I'm in doubt between a 'simple' rebuild, wich let me with same numbers, or upgrade with something more modern, to transform this bad experience in a good metamorphosis.

I know that prices will not be the same, but results also...