$4500 bugout van!!--powerstroke in running order

[dhally]

Well, I'm sorta with the OP. This van has the Holy Grail of vans, the exalted 7.3l powerstroke! And it's only a '96! If you listen to half the talk on here, this engine alone is worth $5k over the value of a gas van! Which makes the price, if not a steal, at least reasonable.

[pontorelli]

hey guys i just looked the short bus over that was posted this morning..super cool!!they are talking about how you could sleep in it,etc!!they are correct and for 12k you can buy it then start building your van from there!!either way these are not very cheap trucks at all.one day i build one and i hope it has a duramax or powerstroke in it!!from what i have been reading that 96 diesel is a steal...im not too far from going to get me a Christmas special present!!maybe i need to get rid of a project first though!!would keep me in the warm house!!

[BrianW]

Originally Posted by pontorelli

they are talking about how you could sleep in it,etc!!they are correct

Well, you can pretty much sleep in *any* vehicle if you want. Just depends how comfortable you wan to be! :-)

[carringb]

My take: It looks very poorly taken care of. Generally folks who can't care of the outside and interior rarely take care under the hood. Has it had all its scheduled maintenance? Has it even had coolant additive put in? If that owner has not been using coolant additive, that engine is quickly approaching boat-anchor status. I've seen other power stokes blowing coolant steam out the oil cap for this reason exactly. I wonder when the last time the transmission was serviced?

For those that don't know why coolant additive (aka "SCA") is necessary, basically it prevent cavitation of the cylinder walls, which causes coolant to enter the cylinder through tiny pinholes. At first, it just burns the coolant off. Eventually, it will leak bad enough if will hydrolock and at that point the engine is worthless. You can't even use it as a core block most of the time.

Finally - how much us it going to cost to address the rust? At this point, it doesn't even have matching door panels, so they didn't exactly put any real effort into addressing it.

[pontorelli]

hey,i got ahold of this guy finally and he seems to know alot about those powerstrokes i didnt ever know.coolant additive supposedly was added at 30 bucks a bottle??he also said he puts revex in the oil every other oil change to help injector performance.from what he told me the prior owner used it primarily as a hunting and fishing van so he said it sat alot but was well maintained.i know someone said on here about the upkeep on the van and it concerns me but this guy is reassuring me this engine is a good runner.he said the tires cost him 1500 but im sure you could get those cheaper than that cause they are only 35 inch tires!!maybe ill wait and see what happens over the holidays as it probably wont sell at least til after the holidays.he told me that the oil gets changed every 3000 due to hydraulic injectors??i never knew that til now but he said he gives the oil to his neighbor to use in his cummins??lol..sounds crazy but i think he said something about bubbles or foam in the oil after 3000 miles.has anyone else on here ever heard this??he is also suppose to send me some pics of the undercarriage and says the body mounts,etc are all good.im thinkin maybe even slappin a different body on it.there is one down the road from me in great shape with a 302 in it for 1200 obo...that may be easier than doin body work on it.ive moved bodies before but not on a van.cant be much worse--what do you guys think ??im looking for positive reinforcement here!!LOL---i DO NOT have any here from my girl AT ALL!!but it is my money is it not??lol

[carringb]

Yes, diesels with hydraulic injectors need more frequent oil changes. If most to the drives are short trips, than 3000 miles is reasonable. SCA is $12/bottle at NAPA but I'm sure some Ford dealers charge $30 for it.

Doing a body swap probably is the best course of action for that van. You can find nice conversion vans on for cheap on the E150 chassis, and the body is the same so you could even swap one of those over!

[TheYeti]

^How does the body swap work wiring wise? Can you throw the entire wiring harness from the old body into the new/old donor body or do you have to merge the two? Any body changes between 92-07 that might require fabrication or they all literally the same?

I also really appreciate your "for those who don't know" part of your posts as i'm one of those who don't know. I'm still very new to ford/diesel and this was the first time i've heard about this additive.

[carringb]

Body harness are pretty much same across chassis and power trains, with the main changes occurring in '92, '97, '03, and '09. The easiest way to do it is to swap on a body with the same dash, which for that van would be a '92-96. A '97+ body would require either merging wire harnesses or swapping the old dash with dash harness back in.

[JackTuppVan]

pontorelli....the guy with the 1996 E350 powerstroke 4x4 van seems like a motivated seller and i would bet you could buy the van for less than 4k. The other van with the 302 has to be a pre 1997 in order to have a 302 which makes it a good candidate for a body swap. Then you can sell whats left and recoup some of your investment . If you're a pretty good mechanic and have the time and a place to work i would say its doable.

[pontorelli]

hey thanks again for the help.i am going to hear the van run this afternoon and take a test ride.im feeling good about the van body-it is sweet and runs smooth-only has 120k on the whole van so that motor should be solid.ill keep you all posted-thanks again!!