The Ute II: E350 RB 7.3 ZF6

[naterry]

Greetings Gents!

It's time for round 2! Some of you guys might remember round 1, the Ute, which I stupidly sold. I then tried to pull off importing a U1300L and it was an awful experience of broker and customs calamities. Long painful story... The good news is that I'm stoked on building another van!

This time I'm going small. I found a single owner ex-goodwill janitor van from Texas. It's a 96 RB 7.3 with 65k on the clock. Unicorn! Chris's kit is in the mail and the axles and ZF6 are sitting on pallets in the shop. I figured this warrants a build thread because a documented MT conversion van is either beyond google spiders' reach or top secret.

So far I've installed a 4" exhaust, hitch, and some gauges. Should be a fun build!

Here's my starting point:

 

[hobietony]

Good to see you back! Your rig, and a healthy dose of Morphine, were the major influences in starting the AmboVan. Maybe round two will be a bit easier.

T

 

[SoCalChaos]

nice starting point!
tell me about your exhaust. i have a '97 and i'm looking for one.

 

[bknudtsen]

Welcome back!

 

[naterry]

Good to see you back! Your rig, and a healthy dose of Morphine, were the major influences in starting the AmboVan. Maybe round two will be a bit easier.

T

Cheers! I remember your kick off. Beautiful rig BTW!

nice starting point!
tell me about your exhaust. i have a '97 and i'm looking for one.

This one fits with a little "massaging": http://www.diamondeyeperformance.com/product_info.php?cPath=17_39&products_id=200

Welcome back!

Cheers! Feelin' the van love already~

 

[TBS]

Big fan of your old minimod. I'll be following as I have since acquired a 7.3 SB cargo. Lets get this bad boy moving!

 

[Abitibi]

Good to see you back! Your rig, and a healthy dose of Morphine, were the major influences in starting the AmboVan. Maybe round two will be a bit easier.

T

X2,

I'm one of those that wish they had seen your "for sale" add before the "sold" one... Since that didn't happen I ended up buying my own ambo after seeing all the potential you unleashed with your 1st rig! Glad to see you in the van section again, looking forward to your project.

 

[Slicks]

This will be a good thread, I have a ZF5 and all the hardware. I was going to use the factory F350 hydraulic clutch assembly and move the ECM to under the driver side seat. Curious to see what you do.

 

[naterry]

Big fan of your old minimod. I'll be following as I have since acquired a 7.3 SB cargo. Lets get this bad boy moving!

Thank you! That was a great rig. I talked with Chris and he said the new owner still has it and is slowly building it out. I haven't seen him post anything though...

X2,

I'm one of those that wish they had seen your "for sale" add before the "sold" one... Since that didn't happen I ended up buying my own ambo after seeing all the potential you unleashed with your 1st rig! Glad to see you in the van section again, looking forward to your project.

Cheers! The boxes are beautiful aren't they! -All aluminum and fully welded for roll-overs. Can't beat the value there.

This will be a good thread, I have a ZF5 and all the hardware. I was going to use the factory F350 hydraulic clutch assembly and move the ECM to under the driver side seat. Curious to see what you do.

Nice. It shouldn't be too bad. The clutch mounting and hydraulics are the only unknown, but no biggie. My plan is to relocate the batteries to the frame rail with the OEM ford boxes and then see what kind of space that frees up. If it is too cramped I plan on using an under hung reverse mounted pedal. Something like this: http://secure.chassisshop.com/partdetail/272-S-3-4/

 

[naterry]

Greetings Gents!

Finally a little progress to report. Unfortunately my momentum ground to a halt with two broken ribs a couple weeks ago. They are slooowly setting and I'm finally able to put in a couple hours/day...

I think I have all of the req'd parts with the exception of the final pedal assy. Here are some pics:

Obligatory "before" shot:

The ZF6 is huge, I didn't realize just how much bigger it was until I stared at it for a bit:

Paranoia drove me to replace the ball and U joints in the front axle, here it is all dirty, 04 Dana 60:

Removed most of the track bar bracket and gusseted the steering damper clevis:

LOVE Por 15:

New Moog U-Joints with zerks pointed in-board:

Assembled, Por 15'd:

*special tools* I had a hard time finding the right tool to press on the stub axle seals. An old unit bearing sitting on a rotor worked well in the end:

All fresh and ready:

Sterling 10.5 cleaned up and ready for perches and shock mounts:

All of the old suspension removed:

Next we have tank shortening, tranny R&R, springs, and axles!

 

[ujoint]

Nice! Moving along!

 

[bknudtsen]

With sore ribs, too! Well done!

 

[chadlanc]

Congrats on the van, would've sold you our 1300 thats registered in CA

 

[naterry]

9 Months Later, she lives!

Gents,

Finally got some time to get her running, I love it!

I'll fill in the details later but here are some shots after her first wash:

Obligatory Easter lunch:

Glad to be back rolling in the van!

 

[bknudtsen]

Pretty cool! What's it like driving a manual diesel van?