@Ripped: Yes I agree, I think a diesel would be by far the best too. I realize that I am never going to get good mileage with a rv.
@topwrench I think I could get a DT360 or a DT466 by buying a whole school bus on ebay, cheaper than buying just the motor. The motors alone are very expensive but the whole schoolbuses can go pretty cheap surprisingly. Depressing tho, the thought of ripping one out of a perfectly cool schoolbus tho dang it. My girlfriend really wants one... She has alot of stuff and it would be a welcome addition of space, plus she is a tattoo artist and a painter, so she likes the idea of all the windows... My van is made for security, with alarm system and just the way it is made, which I like. Also I can fit in a parking space, and I look like a work truck. We can sleep in a parking lot and nobody nobody knows its really hippy van command central. We try that stuff in a scool bus and get hassled by the man 15 minutes into it sending our dusty butts packing. Plus we are hippies so they are going to wanna search for marijuana and alll that crap. I'm going to get her a scool bus tho one day.. maybe. I would have to get a custom driveshaft made tho wouldn't I tho to run DT360 in my van? That can't be cheap. I like the idea of 700 ft/lb of torque or more and I could run on bio diesel. Convert my trailer into a little refinery..
Another option might be a gm 6.2l v8 diesel would bolt right in tho and the been selling them pretty cheap pulled from humvees as military surplus since they are all switching to super expensive duramax. But my old ladies mom has a van that she paid over 6000$ for several years ago for her flea market booth she has. She only got part of a season out of it and it died. It has been sitting for four years behind her house ever since. I about have her talked into trading me since our vans are the same ex snap-on tool truck style step van. Hers might not run but it is alot nicer than mine. Chrome wheels, big lift gate on the back I could use as a back porch and as a stage to play guitar and sing. Even has a Honda liquid cooled propane power rv generator that can put off 220 for welding... My onan is just 110volt and I still need to fix it even. And it has the 6.2 liter diesel. I just need to get her to trade me for this 454 gas hog that runs great but no lift gate and no good genset. She will trade tho I'm pretty sure.
@turbolover yeah if I get 12 mpg in this thing it would be great especially since that would be a 33% increase over 9mpg
@ripped I dont see how a 383 would really be any different than what I have now, except it would be wimpy compared to the mighty awe and splendor of the 454. Might do worse on gas if what you guys are telling me is true about bigger is better. I was wanting to try something completely the other opposite end of the scale. I like the 500lb/ft of torque right off idle, don't get me wrong, but at a stop light but if I just floor it at a when it turns green 400 lbs of tools and stuff on shelves go flying back to the back of the van. Kinda overkill. 500 ft/lb of torque is nice on a mountain side, unfortunatly I don't thing it has that much torque at 3500 rpm or more. It always wants to settle back down to 40 mph on a big hill no matter if you floor it or stay in the idle circuit, because the torque peak is in the wrong place for the gearing I have and the speed I want right?
It has been suggested in some things I read that a motor achieves its peak volumetric efficiency at the rpm it puts out the most torque, I can try to find where I read that if you want. Peak volumetric efficiency equals better gas mileage right? So if I can live with 350 ft/lb of torque, I can get better gas mileage if I can build a motor that makes the peak torque at the rpm range that I drive alot. 4000rpms. To do that I could get a cam and headers for my 454 that made the power at 4000 rpm, or I could get a stock 283 chevy and try it out!! Torque peak 4000 rpms in stock form!! Well as soon as I had completed that thought, motors fell in my lap from the universe.. 2 283s, one runs, a 307 and a 327. Of course i am going to try to make a legendary obscure old 302chevy I kinda have to... I really always wanted to anyways. Why not right? Who cares if it doesn't work? I'll still have a cool engine on a run stand! Maybe you guys are just jelous...
Really tho, the 307 crank in the 350 with 327 pistons would be a better ticket for this big beast if I insist on doing this because of the extra grunt. You all are all right about that. There I said it... But only because a 327 is a bit stronger than a 283 and can still turn 4000 rpm comfortably and in the torque peak with mild cam and vortec heads.
This is just an experiment tho people, I wanna see what happens with the other extreme end of the scale compared to a 454 in a big truck! I don't think anybody has really ever tried it because it is so ludacris. You guys probably are right that it won't be worth a crap in town and only would run right at 75 mph on the expressway but I think I better just try it and find out anyway just to make sure... Cheapest way to do it is just stick the running 283 in here one day and see what it feels like, then I will have a ballpark idea on if it will work at all or not. 302 would be just like an overgrown 283 right?
@ tiretracks: Thanks for the info on the 454, I didn't know a stock 454 had all that manly beefy torque. 500 ft/lb sounds pretty impressive. I feel a little proud of having a 454 now.
@duntov That's awesome man, building a 267 might be fun, or even a 288... yeah thats right... 400 crank in a 267 block... Undersquare!! That would be great, use the stock 400 rods too, put in a super low rpm rv cam and see if it will idle at 50 rpms. I would love to see it, that sounds like something I might try if i had the parts, Might get good mileage too if you had nice tall gears!
@turbolover, I think my moms 99 s10 with the 4 banger musta got the wrong rear end gears mixed up at the factory or something... To me it doesnt have enough low end torque to use overdrive unless I am going better than 80mph. Its a real dog.
@old bogie: man thats an interesting read there Thanks! Before I got the 283s, I cam very very close to buying a good running pontiac 287 with tranny on craigslist for 300 bucks. Oh how I wanted it so, a big old pontiac motor with only 287 cubes and a extra super great rod ratio! Those motors are famous, they even put them in big GMC trucks at one time! I was afraid I would have trouble getting it to fit and hooking the driveshaft up to it. I could have simply gotten a bop to chevy v8 bellhousing adapter tho I think and made it work. I chickened out, chevy parts are cheaper.. Big ole 400 pontiac block with a 287 crank could squeeze some big ole long rods with that kind of deck height... Mhhh.. oh crap there I go again..
Ok in summary, motor get best efficiency and gas mileage at the onset of the torque peak unless I am wrong, so it is ok to run at 4000 rpms if that is where the motor is made to run and get power.
Unless I am wrong and tell me if I am, a 300 cube motor spinning at 2000rpm only can pump half as much air/fuel mixture as a 600 cube motor at 2000 rpm. Right so far?
ok so
Double the rpms means double the pumping volume of air and fuel right? So a 300 cube motor can pump twice as much air/fuel at 4000 rpm than it did at 2000rpm. Right still?
and so
a 300 cubic inch motor at 4000 rpms can potentailly pump the same amount of air and gas as a 600 cubic inch motor spinning at only 2000 rpms. Right?
Now there is the whole crank arm lever effect and that the bigger piston has more pontental pressure exerted on the crank thing on the 600 cube motor. But the smaller 300 cube motor has twice as many smaller pulses of energy transmitted in the same duration of time. And wouldn't that make up for alot of an advantage of some crank arm leverage factor?
Like that 350 that chevy shoulda built article, 398 ft/lb at 2400 rpms with a 3.25 inch stroke crank. Now we could compare that to a 700 cubic inch motor making 398 ft/lb at 1200 rpms. Sounds about right to me...
That makes a 302 motor not seem like such a bad idea. At least to me anyway. I could build a 604 cubic inch motor, spend lots of money on it, spend lots of money on the overdrive tranny, and on new rear end gears, and hopefully get the headers to fit in that tight motor area, not to mention adding another 500 lbs of weight, and finally get to cruise in style at 2000 rpms and holy mother mary... if I ever did step on the gas, look out! A real beast for sure! The gas stations would really love me then as I'm afraid I would never be able to keep my foot out of it. Or.....now get this.. I got an idea..... Wait for it..... (drum roll please)..... I could just take the 150$ running 283 that I already have from craigslist and stick it in there and see what happens. Did that help you guys understand why it kinda makes sense especially for me on a budget with a baby and baby mamma to care for and my own mom have financial troubles and me with not much income? You guys wanna sponsor me, Ill build any motor you want I promise...