Forrest - 2002 E350 7.3L Build

[BenJJ]

Alright I think its time I start an official build thread. Some background first:

About 5 months ago my wife and I decided that we wanted to upgrade our junkyard restored SMB pop-top to a high roof CCV pop-top. First van build thread here:

https://www.sportsmobileforum.com/fo...ild-19704.html

We loved that van and were ready to commit to it long term. There were however a few things that were undesirable. No power options, no cruise control, slider instead of barn doors, etc. Pretty standard cargo van vs passenger van issues. So we agreed to move forward getting a quote from CCV but if a passenger van with all of those options popped up we would buy it and start over with the new van. I was not willing to swap to a different engine so that made the search challenging.

As luck would have it, just as we were finalizing our quote with CCV on Vanna White, I found the one. Enter Forrest, a 2002 7.3L passenger van with the Traveler's Package and only 118k miles. Only box it didn't check was it had a slider and not barn doors but I was willing to compromise. The leather chairs, power windows and doors, cruise control, and double captain setup was too good to pass up. It was also just immaculate inside and out for its age.

I just picked him up from CCV yesterday! I had them install a new floor, high roof pop top, two 100ah batteries and raptor liner both the top and the bottom rocker panels. I think it turned out incredible!

As far as the name goes my older brother came up with it due to the color and my favorite movie being Forrest Gump.

[BenJJ]

More Pictures

[tedujam]

Looks great!

[arctictraveller]

Nice.............

[Twoxentrix]

Run Forest, Run. Thats all I'm gonna say bout that.

[BenJJ]

So CCV was the first phase of the build. Phase 2 is Weldtec where it will get their 6" Baja Grocery Getter lift, front and rear bumpers, on board air, re-gear to 4.10 with rear air locker, and some 17" method wheels with 33" BFG KO2s! That starts tomorrow!

Once it gets back from Weldtec I will start working on installing my wheel well cabinets. Details for those are in a separate thread:

https://www.sportsmobileforum.com/fo...ets-26866.html

Plan is to make a removable bed platform to go across for the kids to sleep and then have a slide out kitchen underneath with fridge, stove, and sink on it. Fridge is a Dometic CFX3 100... its big.

[Twoxentrix]

Your cabinets look great - worthwhile project.

[mothgils]

Following along for sure! You had me with the cabinets. Excited to see it all come together!

I wish I would have found the van you did. Looks like a great 4 person setup!

[Otter]

Looks terrific! Enjoy!


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[Timerider]

Nice project and a great engine, but be ready to swap out the up-pipes on between the headers and the turbo, if that hasn't been done already. Our 2002 7.3L needed them at 140k miles. (Look for black soot and/or burn marks on the aluminum-faced insulation on the inside of the "dog house".) It's not a hard job to swap these exhaust pipes out in a van (harder in an F-250), and ProSource Diesel has the 409SS pipe kit on sale right now, for about $140, I think.

Great-looking van - enjoy!