Is the 5.4 underpowered?

[JWA]

You did very, very on the price---a driveable E150 even with the 4.6 for $1500 ain't bad at all.

My own approach to buying a used van (especially in my climate) is the condition and rust level of the welded body structure, anything bolted-on of minor concern. The best thing about our E-Series is the bodies are mostly 100% swappable from one chassis to another, "ease" being a highly relative term though.

Bodies from '97 forward to EOL are so similar its almost unbelievable in this day and age of major changes every few years.

[winmag4582001]

I just did a 6" lift on my 2010 E350 EB 5.4L and added 34" tires.

With factory tires and the 3.73 gears the van moved well.

Adding the 6" and 34's, I'm going to bump my gearing from 3.73 to 4.10 to bring it back to more of the factory ratio.

No van, regardless of motor is fast or quick. Driving through the mountains with my new tires and lift last weekend (still 3.73 gears) I pulled the passes in Colorado at 55mph, down from 65mph with the factory size tires and 2" lift.

[1der]

Winmag, was the 55 vs 65 mph reading per GPS, or was the Speedo corrected for the change in tire size?

[winmag4582001]

Originally Posted by 1der

Winmag, was the 55 vs 65 mph reading per GPS, or was the Speedo corrected for the change in tire size?

65mph was the speedo reading with factory tires, 55mph is the current gps.
The speedometer is almost 5mph off with the bigger tires. I haven’t hooked up to change it yet. I’ll tune it after the gear change.

[SteelheadJones]

Originally Posted by JWA

You did very, very on the price---a driveable E150 even with the 4.6 for $1500 ain't bad at all.

My own approach to buying a used van (especially in my climate) is the condition and rust level of the welded body structure, anything bolted-on of minor concern. The best thing about our E-Series is the bodies are mostly 100% swappable from one chassis to another, "ease" being a highly relative term though.

Bodies from '97 forward to EOL are so similar its almost unbelievable in this day and age of major changes every few years.

Thanks JWA. Even my penny pinching dad said, "For $1500, how could you go wrong?"

I looked everywhere for rust and found nothing beyond the surface stuff that shows up a month after you drive off the lot.

Really excited (and a little apprehensive) to pick it up and rip out the filthy carpet and wall coverings. Hopefully it's as clean underneath as I think and I can dive right into insulating it.

[JWA]

Originally Posted by SteelheadJones

Really excited (and a little apprehensive) to pick it up and rip out the filthy carpet and wall coverings. Hopefully it's as clean underneath as I think and I can dive right into insulating it.

Not to be a party pooper but its possible there could be rust under the carpet, that amount being highly dependent on where its lived most of its life. Here in Ohio most any van that keeps the factory-type rubber floor mats with typical automotive backing "insulation" finds those soaked with water over time---they absorb humidity and for some reason it never evaporates back out. Those soaked mats laying against the floor sheet metal cause a lot of rust we never see until/unless they're removed.

If you do have any surface rust its best to use nothing less than POR-15 applied to their directions. That gives you another barrier between absorbed humidity and the body sheet metal---good for longevity.

Good luck with this----you're in it for the right money!

[boywonder]

Originally Posted by winmag4582001

65mph was the speedo reading with factory tires, 55mph is the current gps.
The speedometer is almost 5mph off with the bigger tires. I haven’t hooked up to change it yet. I’ll tune it after the gear change.

Please let us know if you are successful recalibrating the speedo.

I have a 2008 with 33s and 3.73 gearing. The speedo is off by 7 mph at 65mph; I've tried to use 1der's auto Enginuity OBDII programmer to change it without success....called them and they mentioned that in later model years (perhaps starting in 2008) the speedo gain data is in the ABS module and Ford does not give the aftermarket access to this.