Dunno what "normal" mileage is for a 4BT, but I've seen guys who swapped them in to Jeeps and other rigs post that they were getting 28-30 mpg. Though people do have a tendancy to inflate their mileage a bit...

Yes I know a Ranger and a Areostar van are not an identical vehicle. But there is a lot of similarity's between the two. They run the same engine, trans, and other stuff all bolted in a similar lay out one is bolted to a wimpy frame and the other is bolted to a uniframe. As far the Areostar not being able to handle the weight,power and torque. The weight would concern me. Not that the "frame" couldn't hold it because most of the weight should be for the most part balanced in the sub-frame but that putting a few hundred more pounds on the front end you will sooner or later need to get it back up off the ground.. The power and torque don't concern me. He is only putting a 4bt in it. It only has 130hp and 355 lb-ft of torque and if you are not pulling a big heavy trailer you will probably never load all of the torque to the frame. So no I would not pull a big trailer with it you will could run the risk of doing some serious damage.

The Areostar and Astro are similarly sized vans. Yea I know there not identical the name on the front of them cleared that up. The first Astros where built the same way as this thing with a bolt in sub-frame. As for the second Astros I don't know what they put them on but my guess would be if they used a frame it would most likely be a S-10 frame. Which looks the same as a full size but is not it is both narrower and shorter than a full size. An Express van which is a full size did use a short full size frame. The only thing I am trying to show is that they are putting them in smaller vehicles like this van and maybe he could look to some of the for some ideas on what to do. This will most likely not be the easiest swap and will require you to make most of your own bracket and bracing.

I would say that it would probably get in the mid 20's mpg.

The 4.0L is rated at 155hp and I saw that for a 4.0L Ranger that output was 160hp, 225 lb-ft torque. I figured Ranger might have a little more power but from what I can tell its the exact same motor.

I imagine this would probably be the most difficult swap. There's less room under the hood of a van than there is under the hood of a jeep or similar vehicle that these motors are being put into. And to my knowledge, its never been done before. I know of people putting like 1.something liter VW motors in vans but I don't think anyone has done a 4BT and that is the reason I want to do it. Also, all newer minivans are front wheel drive, I think there are some that are full time all wheel drive but I'm not sure, so a swap like this on a newer van would be impossible. And as for custom fab work, it seems that every swap needs it and even swaps where there's kits available, people still just tend to do their own fab work then buy the kits, at least that's what I get from what I've read on here.

Yea I would have to say your probably right on it being a very difficult swap it's really to the point you just want a mini van with a diesel in it. Your going to have to completely re engineer the whole front of the thing. I think if it was me I would find a Ranger and see how close the frame would come to the Areostar and see if it would work under the body of this van.

For some reason I think that a Ranger frame will be too short in length. This is the extended version of the van. And with finding a frame to put it on, even a ranger frame, its going to sit higher. Driving it as is it feels like its going to tip over on corners, so the lower I can get the better. That's why I thought a custom built frame would be best. To me, its just one of those things that the build and overcoming all the obstacles to come out with the finished product that makes it so cool, even if I didn't drive very often. I mean, I think it would be awesome to be able to say that I have a 4BT Cummins powered minivan. Any custom vehicle is cool, but to do something that's never been done before is way cooler. I know that this is going to take some major work and probably some long term research, plus I would either have to come up with money to have stuff built or learn how to build frames and such. From what I've read, it seems like it takes a couple months with every extra minute of time to put a 5.9 Cummins in a truck. This would definitely be a long term project just by its nature. I just wanted to throw it out there and get any input I could. Now because I put the idea out there, someone with the time and money will probably do it before I could...