the van Bill - 2003 7.3 E350 4X4 Build

[furbucket]

Excited to start the build of this van and to share the journey with anyone interested.

Bill is a 2003 E350 with a 7.3L diesel! Formerly a fleet service vehicle for Sysco Foods in Washington. I'm not one for naming vehicles, but this van came with a name- If anyone knows what Bill's might mean in the Washington state area I'd be curious to know.
Bought it in 2019 with just under 260,000mi on it. It's an empty cargo van that we've been using to renovate our house, and now that the house is almost done we get to build a 4x4 camper van!

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2021
Decide to get the oil leak fixed and also the a/c - ended up pulling the motor for a re-seal and a long list of things but now this 7.3 should do another 250k with no worries. Repairs included:
Complete Re-seal
New HPOP
New Injectors/sleeves
New water pump
New oil lines
One new fuel line
and lots more...

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Didn't do much other than use it to haul things for the next few years. Once planning for the camper van conversion started I decided we needed to remedy the drip rails, the only place on the van there was really any rust...

 

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2025
Drip rails had surface rust and the seam sealer had seen better days. Needed to fix this in order before the planned on high top gets installed.





Various wires wheels were used to clean out the old seam sealer and rust. The tool that worked the best though was an old rounded off flat-head and a hammer





Eventually the drip rails were shiny and clean

 

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The bare metal was cleaned with POR15 cleaner/degreaser, then POR15 metal prep, then brushed on gray POR15


After POR15 it was time for new seam sealer. We scuffed up the shiny new POR15 and then used two tubes of SEM#39777 High Build Self Leveling seam sealer (ends above the windshield and the inside bottom corner where the metal edges meet). and three tubes of SEM#39387 Self Leveling seam sealer to fill in the drip rails. I parked the van's front wheels on some wood pads to help level the roof before we started. Apologies, didn't take many pictures of this step, we were stressed trying to get the two part epoxy in before it started to set, and for some reason I didn't take many after.



Next up was two coats of POR15 2K Urethane Top Coat. This was also brushed on (and it was a warmer day). Unlike the beautifully smooth POR15, the 2K urethane ended up fairly orange-peel-y. It only bothers me a little though as this will all be covered when the high top goes on. And eventually one day I'll probably Raptor Line the whole thing and then it will be forgotten.

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This brings us current. In two weeks we'll be taking the van on a road trip north. It will be getting a Tufport hightop and then will be dropped off at Quadvan for the 4x4 conversion. Clydesdale was also a consideration.
I thought long and hard about doing it myself, was talking to Tim at Timberline about the kit (he no longer offers) but decided that my lack of a lift combined with a gravel driveway would be less than ideal. Plus I didn't want to lean [heavily] on a car guy friend as I am definitely a novice when it comes to suspension work... I'm sure I would have [eventually] been successful but there's a lot to be said for warrantied work by professionals who have done these many many times. Not to mention my back and knee...

 

[furbucket]

Almost forgot - the rear end on my van is a semi-float Dana 60, not ideal for taking a heavy van off-road, and there are very few limited slip or locking options for the diff. I went to Hooper Rear Ends and now have a rebuilt 2005 Sterling 10.5 with a TrueTrac that will be installed when the 4x4 happens.