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Old 12-14-2012, 02:20 PM   #1
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Dude With Van's First Homebuild

Like many of us, we cannot thank those who have helped us enough on this forum. So now it's my turn to start returning the favor. I will do my best to describe what I am doing and feel free to chime in. This build has been a whole lot of fun and has seemed to take over every bit of my free time!

Here is my 2003 E350 7.3L Diesel
127,000 miles
Cargo van


The very first thing I needed to do with it was put a couple racing strips on it to boost the horsepower, lol


Eh, I didn't like it so I peeled it off. Thank goodness for plastidip!
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Old 12-14-2012, 02:26 PM   #2
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Re: Dude With Van's First Homebuild

One of the biggest reasons I bought a diesel was to run on alternative fuels. Were are very lucky to have such an amazing biodiesel company here in the Florida Keys and can't thank Jeff enough for doing what he's doing. He actually has some of the best recorded biodiesel on the market right now. Check him out sometime, he's a great guy!


In case you didn't know, the great thing about biodiesel is that you don't have to do anything different to your engine. Some people mistaken it with just pure veggie oil, but the difference is that biodiesel has different types of alcohols added to it, giving it the ability to combust without any added production to the engine.

Check out Jeff's website for more info on biodiesel. It's truly an amazing fuel! http://www.marathonbiodiesel.com/
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Old 12-14-2012, 02:33 PM   #3
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Re: Dude With Van's First Homebuild

Now that I'm all hopped up on biodiesel, it's time to work on the interior. The first thing I did was seal the floor from rust.

This is how it looked from the inside. I was very lucky to get a van with such little rust. But, unfortunately, those ridiculous floor mats just love to hold water.



Rust wasn't too bad, but it was there nonetheless



I first sprayed it with a primer and then coated it with an oil-based paint

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Old 12-14-2012, 02:36 PM   #4
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Re: Dude With Van's First Homebuild

First coat...




I forgot to mention, I used Ospho to kill any rust on the floor as well as to prevent it from coming back. Wow, that stuff it powerful!

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Old 12-14-2012, 02:46 PM   #5
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Re: Dude With Van's First Homebuild

Here is the finished paint job...



Once the floor was dry, I started patching any holes that I saw with this stuff. I ended up using marine calking 5400? I think? but this stuff worked well too...





I then insulated the floor with EZ Cool Insulation using 3M Super 77 spray adhesive

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Old 12-15-2012, 08:12 PM   #6
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Re: Dude With Van's First Homebuild

Looking good, Dude!
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Old 12-16-2012, 12:37 PM   #7
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Re: Dude With Van's First Homebuild

I decided to get rid of the stock exhaust system and get a 4" turbo back from Diamond Eye. The model number is K4324A in case you are interested in doing the same. I had a pretty hard time finding the part and even Summit couldn't help me, so I hope this reference makes things a bit easier for some of you.

I would highly recommend a heat shield (see pic below) if you are going to put that size system in. It is very close to your transmission and it's better to keep your tranny fluid away from picking up all that extra heat. I also wrapped my pipe with performance heat wrap that you would wrap an exhaust manifold with. It helps keep the noise down and I believe is well worth the cost.

The install is very simple and took my buddy and I about 1.5 hours to do. Make sure you wear goggles because you're gonna knock a bunch of dirt in your face when doing the install. The brackets worked well until the last hanger, where we had to take it to the shop and modify it a bit. Though it only cost $25 to weld it together.

As for performance, I feel a bit more power, but did it mostly for MPG which I didn't really gain much either. Believe it or not, the front cab is quieter, maybe because the air is less restricted, but the back has a slight drone noise that stops after you get out of 2nd gear. I think it sounds good.

Here is the link to an install video I watched before did it myself. Should help a bit. Thanks to the guy who put it together by the way!



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Old 12-16-2012, 01:37 PM   #8
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Re: Dude With Van's First Homebuild

The stock exhaust on the 7.3L works fine flow-wise, until you add a programmer. That's when you really benefit from the larger exhaust. But even stock, you will see lower EGTs which is important when towing in the mountains.

The 7.3L can see some great gains with a programmers, and holds up well. However the transmission won't last long in stock form once you start adding power.
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Old 12-16-2012, 02:17 PM   #9
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Re: Dude With Van's First Homebuild

Thats good to know. I'm still stuck getting only 16mpg when I hear all this hype about 18-26. Do I need to get a chip? I still have the stock air intake and stock tire size. Thought about getting a DP-Tuner but wasn't sure if it was worth the money. I don't tow much, but when I do it's 4,000#. I'm more interested in the MPG
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Old 12-16-2012, 04:59 PM   #10
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Re: Dude With Van's First Homebuild

26 MPG won't happen. Even the 6-cyl sprinter vans won't to that.

18-20 is possible if you have 3.55 gears. But if your van has 4.10 gears 16-18 is more realistic.

One part that does seem to affect fuel economy is the Camshaft Position sensor. Ford finally recalled them due to the high failure rate (most owners carry a spare) but most owners also reported losing 1 MPG with the newer grey or dark blue CPS. The Black CPS, which you can only get from an International dealer, maintains the best fuel economy.

On edit: Apparently the Delphi CPS, which is also black, is good option since the IH/Ford black sensors are hard to find now.
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