> Jon Stanton wrote:

>  Of these ads for Vanagons, a rather large part of them refer to
> having a "Ford V-6" in them.  It seemed that this was the conversion of
> choice over there.  Can anyone offer any comments or explanation on this.

I've never come across any Ford-converted Transporters/Vanagons over here (I
live
in Holland), so I'll have to guess a bit. The Ford V-6 they probably used is
the
engine used since the early Seventies in Fords Consul, Capri, Granada,
Taunus,
Sierra, and Scorpio. It's a pushrod clunker, available in 2.3 l and 2.8 l
capacity, that was specific to Europe. It was known in the UK as the
'Cologne
V-6'. Some British sports car makers, like TVR before they got professional,
also
used it. It was finally pushed to 2.9 l, and died a few years ago when Ford
Europe stopped producing the extremely ugly Scorpio. It's not a very smooth,
powerful, or economical engine, but it's very reliable.

I had this motor in a British spec 2.8 CIS injected Capri. It is a strong
motor and I believe (looks the same) the cologne motor was the same as the
Ranger and Mercury V6s sold in the states during the mid 80s. The carb and
emissions on the vehicle in US trim don't make it worth while for a  swap
however. It's also got solid lifters, I like them, many don't.

Mikey