1983 Ford Econoline E150 Manual
I don't know what years or engines had a manual available but my brother-in-law bought a new E-150 club wagon van back in the early 80's with a 302 & 3+1 manual trans. The trans started out as a 3 speed with a overdrive 4th gear added on. With a normal load it was fun to drive. It even would tow a light trailer with a boat. The only problem he had was he didn't know how to back his boat into the water or pull it out without slipping the clutch.
The OEM lasted 60K miles but the next two clutch discs each lasted less then a year. Finally we put in one of those 'puck' type discs which he couldn't burn up if he tried. The only problem was it engaged like a switch, either on or off. Changing clutchs on a van is so easy since you have such great access to the nuts & bolts. What you can't reach from below you get from above. I had a 76 and a 79 with a 3 on the tree, the 76 I still have. The 79 always had trouble with the tube lickage in the column, the previous owner didn't know how to shift and just rammed the gears, I eventually put in a floor shifter.
It had over 150,000 miles on the factory clutch when I changed it. The 76 has almost 400,000 miles on it now and its only had 2 replacement clutches in its life time. I had a 86 with a 4 on the floor.well 3 with over drive but shifted like a 4. We got almost 180,000 out of the clutch on that one. I loved the stick shift vans personally but then I live in wv where its up hill where ever you go so it was nice to be able to shift when you wanted without the aggrivating gear hunting of an auto. Years before I got 'The Oven' ('93) I had a little shorty '66 Econoline window van.
I always liked the look of the front ends on those and for $100, I had a mobile vehicle to keep some of my other parts in that wouldn't be an eyesore to my neighbors. It had a three on the tree with that spindly linkage and I was lucky to live in a harbor town Toledo, OR.
With shops that'd stock odd bearings, bossed flanges and so forth, so was able to firm up the shift considerably after tracking down a correct sized bushing. Another detractor of this old '66 besides being a window van was the P.O. Had painted it with traffic yellow, so bright that I got a call from the ISS that they wanted to use it as a land based beacon. No losing THAT van in a parking lot. The real concern was a terrible constant knocking in the bottom end. The motor would be turn key start up, rev up fine and run out to 60 mph, but I used it mainly for storage. I later saved up enough kazooks to get a 170 out of a '70's Maverick, whose shape matched the externals of the 140 residing in this '66.
Had a friend 70 miles distant that had a barn to do the transplant, so I motored out to Tangent OR. Clattering all the way, a sound that I had become accustomed to. He wasn't home when I arrived so parked it in front of the barn doors until the following weekend when I could have at it. Returning the next weekend, with my friend to unlock the barn, I fired up the van and started backing into the shop area when all of a sudden the motor knock ceased. The motor was still running as I was backing, so brought 'er in and shut 'er down. Peering out the windshield, I noticed a part laying in a puddle of oil, witha thin trail of oil running towards the front of the van.
1985 Ford Econoline Manual
I walked out and picked up the part and saw that it was THREE LOBES OF THE CAMSHAFT that had broken loose, two intakes and an exhaust lobe! Had found its way down the engine to the crankcase. Looking at my oil pan it looked like the old Ball Park franks televison commercial, 'plumps when ya cook 'em' the pan had several golf ball sized dents along its length, save for the gash that a counter balance lobe of the crank finally defeated the oil pan. Returning to the van and turning the key, she fired right up again, with what residual oil was left in the bearings. After all was said and done I considered getting one of those vanity plates 'TIMEX'.