Build Thread! Mollusk- my 1 bedroom studio apartment (with a rooftop patio!)

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danifulltime

New member
I am a long time lurker and I have been planning on building a bus or van of some sort to live in for about five years ... that means five years of notes!! I hope you'll join me for the adventure / help me in building out Mollusk to my exact specifications for me and my fam.

About me: I am a kayaker, photographer, and river guide. I need something that will get me down the gnarliest put ins and take outs with all my gear (including a trailer, maybe) fit up to five or 8 butts on a river shuttle (and boats on the roof!) and also, you know, sleep me and keep all my gear safe.

About my van: She's a 2004 E350 6.0L Diesel RB. Cargo van, with a slider. Former electrical van... still has massive basket rack and ladder, divider, shelves in the back. (divider and shelves all going soon!!!!)

Planz:
- 4x4 **********! you know thats right. I sold my 4Runner for this beast, I already talked to Quadvan in Portland. I'm thinkin 4" and 33s, some kind of military style wheel, because she deserves combat boots.
- Interior: Cabinets and a bed / cargo shelf in rear that converts into a bench. Pull a convertible sofa bed from a junkyard van, mount on sliders behind front seats. 8 butts and 5 sleeping! Killer stereo, inc speaker bar mounted at door for maximum party. Solar, batteries, freshwater tap. some kind of kitchen out the rear.
- Powdercoat rack. Install ladder. Mount lights, inc party lights!!! and backup cameras
- Something to make this beast run on biodiesel or veggie oil without problem... I have worked in the wvo industry and determined to make this work without killing my motor!
- VAN MURAL! I dreamed a mural, then found an artist in bellingham whose style matched that in my dream. How cool is that???

This is a part time river festival van, capable of hauling many people and kayaks up and down the same 15 mile dirt road three times in a day and then pump the party all night. And then, when the festival is over, get lost on the trails and take and edit photos and get my boat trailer down to the most remote rivers in the world. I have lots of little details in my head and in my note books and I can't wait to cram as many little features in as I can. I hope you're all impressed!

Questions:
- 177xxx on a 6.0... What should I do to make it more reliable .. even with my penchant for unapproved fuels?
- Umm.. Bumpers? Something .. tasteful maybe? hmm... Ideas? I don't like the black plastic.
 
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Navi

Adventurer
Throw a coolant filter on it first off. I used a Mishimoto kit designed for a 6.4 and mounted it with the water seperator bolts under the drivers door.
EGR delete unless it has to pass emmisions. If you have emissions testing then take the egr cooler out and have both ends welded shut then reinstall or buy the bulletproofdiesel egr cooler.
A higher output alternator to help prevent ficm issues.
The larger Trucool 40k transmission cooler if you plan on towing a lot.
Complete coolant flush. Do it before the egr delete. Replace with an ex1 rated elc coolant (red). There's a chance you will plug up your oil cooler when doing this, so have a new oem oil cooler sitting there waiting, replace it while you are torn apart for the egr delete.

Monitoring the vitals is very important to catch things early and preventing it from getting worse.
EGT gauge.
I use an old Android phone with a bluetooth dongle and Torque Pro app to watch everything else.

If you get a tuner, keep it very conservative. A mild 80hp street tune absolute max.
 
goatherder

goatherder

no trepidation
EGR delete: you can buy EGR delete kits off Ebay pretty cheap; look for the kits that lots of people have bought. All the necessary seals and gaskets come in the kit. Along with a coolant bypass tube and block off plates for the exhaust pipe and EGR valve. But here's the thing; the up-pipe on the passenger side is designed to be supported by the connection to the EGR cooler. There are stainless steel bellows in the up-pipes. Without the support of that EGR cooler that up pipe will git-to-floppin and crack the bellows. Now we have exhaust leak...which wreaks all kindsa havok. So it turns out eliminating the EGR cooler is a bad idea. Better to just disable it.

The smart money removes the cooler, then welds a plug into the exhaust end (carefully...without dorking up the sealing surface). Then you can reinstall that cooler and the exhaust is properly supported, there is no longer hot exhaust gas next to your engine coolant (which was a DUMB idea), no more exhaust gas going into your intake (another DUMB idea), and the coolant is still flowing where it needs to go. Use all the seals and gaskets in the kit to reassemble, and toss out the bypass tube. Much better way to do this.
 
N

Navi

Adventurer
goatherder said:
EGR delete: you can buy EGR delete kits off Ebay pretty cheap; look for the kits that lots of people have bought. All the necessary seals and gaskets come in the kit. Along with a coolant bypass tube and block off plates for the exhaust pipe and EGR valve. But here's the thing; the up-pipe on the passenger side is designed to be supported by the connection to the EGR cooler. There are stainless steel bellows in the up-pipes. Without the support of that EGR cooler that up pipe will git-to-floppin and crack the bellows. Now we have exhaust leak...which wreaks all kindsa havok. So it turns out eliminating the EGR cooler is a bad idea. Better to just disable it.

The smart money removes the cooler, then welds a plug into the exhaust end (carefully...without dorking up the sealing surface). Then you can reinstall that cooler and the exhaust is properly supported, there is no longer hot exhaust gas next to your engine coolant (which was a DUMB idea), no more exhaust gas going into your intake (another DUMB idea), and the coolant is still flowing where it needs to go. Use all the seals and gaskets in the kit to reassemble, and toss out the bypass tube. Much better way to do this.
Click to expand...

Don't buy a cheap ebay kit. You're just asking for trouble. You cant cheap out on a 6.0.
Replace the stock uppipe with a solid one. Most kits have the option for $30-40 more.
Www.iprresearch.com


Also, keep to motorcraft filters and a good quality oil. Maintenance is unforgiving.
 
another_mike

another_mike

Adventurer
The person who started this thread hasn't logged back in since the thread was started in April of 2017... I wouldn't expect any updates or responses :LOL:
 
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