Wanted to start a thread for the beginning of what I hope is a pretty fantastic project, starting from an interesting base. I know the wife and I are both pretty stoked.
The backstory is that I started my search for an E-350 about a year ago. Doing my due diligence on the drivetrain options, I landed on a V10 van. I had originally wanted turbo diesel but the 7.3s are aging (and $$) and I wasn't a fan of having a 4 speed trans again, and the 6.0s are well...6.0s. Bought a cherry 2005 V10 van with a Camburg kit on it out of SoCal, loved it, wasn't planning on upgrading, and had purchased a radius arm coil spring conversion kit to do over the next winter.
Fast forward 7 months and a local auto enthusiast group member chimed in on a FB page stating that they had a weird 4x4 van they wanted to sell that had a Cummins swap so I decided to go check it out. Turns out it was a youth group that inherited this van from a guy who built it out for use on his ranch, went bankrupt, and then donated everything including his land to this group. They didn't use it, knew almost nothing about it, and just wanted it gone.
The first thing they showed me were receipts for over $45k from Destroked, a local shop specializing in Cummins swaps. In 2013 it got a 0 mile 6.7 Cummins engine + built up 6 speed Allison transmission, EGR and DPF removed, and Borg Warner turbo to replace the factory Holset. It uses a factory 6.0 intercooler. They are using a 2008 wiring harness to run the engine to sidestep the need for CAN bus. The trans is largely standalone, getting only a TPS and speed input.
The 4x4 appears to originally be from Advanced, but someone has massaged it with some Alcan springs and unknown yellow shocks. It's running the NV271 transfer case at least. Front is a high pinion 60 from the looks of it and the rear is a semi-floater.
The interior is a little spartan and rough from starting life as a school bus/shuttle, then acting as a snow cat (the PO that did the conversion used it on his ranch with Mattracks attached), then to a group of folks that aren't exactly mechanically inclined. The chassis has 96k on it. The youth group has put 6k miles on it in the 5.5 years they have owned it. The PO only put about 4k on it after the conversion in the year before he went bankrupt. So the engine/trans have about 10k miles on them at this point.
My plans are to sort out the interior starting with the dash, swap the front end to coil spring, get rid of the 20" rims to run some actual rubber, and then slowly build out a minimalist camper interior with a focus on mtb'ing, backcountry skiing, and some overland style trips. At some point we'll also either be pulling dirt bikes, a side by side, or a crawler, but that part of the budget comes after we finish building out our basement.
Current known issues are that the 4-5 shift needs a recalibration (appt set with Destroked to address), the intake air heater doesn't have an indicator light on the dash, the a/c is inop (but was confirmed working after the swap), the battery is mounted inside of the cab by the passenger rear door and needs relocated, there's a pinhole leak in a coolant hose running to the rear heater, and there is some light surface rust that I'll wire wheel when I do the front axle work. It's also not 100% clear to me if the rear blower assembly a/c lines running to it our not so I need to dive further into that. It's not the usual rear unit as this was built out as a shuttle.
Initial pic attached. More to come this weekend as we are moving into our house + garage (finally). The room in the engine bay is awesome, more than any of the V shaped motors. Also, driving a van with 370hp/800lb-ft is rather intoxicating, and that's just the factory tune.
The backstory is that I started my search for an E-350 about a year ago. Doing my due diligence on the drivetrain options, I landed on a V10 van. I had originally wanted turbo diesel but the 7.3s are aging (and $$) and I wasn't a fan of having a 4 speed trans again, and the 6.0s are well...6.0s. Bought a cherry 2005 V10 van with a Camburg kit on it out of SoCal, loved it, wasn't planning on upgrading, and had purchased a radius arm coil spring conversion kit to do over the next winter.
Fast forward 7 months and a local auto enthusiast group member chimed in on a FB page stating that they had a weird 4x4 van they wanted to sell that had a Cummins swap so I decided to go check it out. Turns out it was a youth group that inherited this van from a guy who built it out for use on his ranch, went bankrupt, and then donated everything including his land to this group. They didn't use it, knew almost nothing about it, and just wanted it gone.
The first thing they showed me were receipts for over $45k from Destroked, a local shop specializing in Cummins swaps. In 2013 it got a 0 mile 6.7 Cummins engine + built up 6 speed Allison transmission, EGR and DPF removed, and Borg Warner turbo to replace the factory Holset. It uses a factory 6.0 intercooler. They are using a 2008 wiring harness to run the engine to sidestep the need for CAN bus. The trans is largely standalone, getting only a TPS and speed input.
The 4x4 appears to originally be from Advanced, but someone has massaged it with some Alcan springs and unknown yellow shocks. It's running the NV271 transfer case at least. Front is a high pinion 60 from the looks of it and the rear is a semi-floater.
The interior is a little spartan and rough from starting life as a school bus/shuttle, then acting as a snow cat (the PO that did the conversion used it on his ranch with Mattracks attached), then to a group of folks that aren't exactly mechanically inclined. The chassis has 96k on it. The youth group has put 6k miles on it in the 5.5 years they have owned it. The PO only put about 4k on it after the conversion in the year before he went bankrupt. So the engine/trans have about 10k miles on them at this point.
My plans are to sort out the interior starting with the dash, swap the front end to coil spring, get rid of the 20" rims to run some actual rubber, and then slowly build out a minimalist camper interior with a focus on mtb'ing, backcountry skiing, and some overland style trips. At some point we'll also either be pulling dirt bikes, a side by side, or a crawler, but that part of the budget comes after we finish building out our basement.
Current known issues are that the 4-5 shift needs a recalibration (appt set with Destroked to address), the intake air heater doesn't have an indicator light on the dash, the a/c is inop (but was confirmed working after the swap), the battery is mounted inside of the cab by the passenger rear door and needs relocated, there's a pinhole leak in a coolant hose running to the rear heater, and there is some light surface rust that I'll wire wheel when I do the front axle work. It's also not 100% clear to me if the rear blower assembly a/c lines running to it our not so I need to dive further into that. It's not the usual rear unit as this was built out as a shuttle.
Initial pic attached. More to come this weekend as we are moving into our house + garage (finally). The room in the engine bay is awesome, more than any of the V shaped motors. Also, driving a van with 370hp/800lb-ft is rather intoxicating, and that's just the factory tune.
