New here and new to the van scene. Hello from Houston, Texas. Picked up a super clean 1993 E150 StarCraft conversion van for $1200.00 Building a Surfing/Safari Van out of it. I'm attempting to see how nice of a van I can build for as cheap as possible. Total cost so far is about 2800.00 and almost finished. Has near perfect body and interior, 5.0 motor, AOD and 8.8 rear. Guy I bought it from had already put new radiator, brakes, intake/gaskets, exhaust and new headlight assemblies in it, then his wife decides she does not like it. So I grabbed an opportunity. Needed new carpet, so my fishing buddy owns a tradeshow company and gave me a roll of the super plush carpet that he rents and has a warehouse full of. I put a set of Summit Racing black powder-coated 17" rims and Goodyear tires on it. Just put in a new windshield for 140.00. Pulled the throttle body and replaced TPS and Idle Motor, 110.00 from Autozone. It now runs perfect. Picked up a used Surco Safari roof rack for $125.00 from a guy on craigslist. It is white powder-coated and has 4 KC Daylighters on it. It will be perfect to haul surfboards. It priced out new at about 800.00. I also had to replace all new door latch cables from Ford for around 300.00,...that sucked. I'm going to paint the lower rocker panels and wheel wells with black spray-on bed-liner this week. It's going to my friend's shop for AC upgrade from R-12 to 134A. Oh, also I put a Weston Safari Bar on it, $100.00 from ebay and I fabricated/welded brackets for it from box tubing. I going for a mostly white with black trim look and painted the grill and bumper inserts. I'm also hunting for a receiver hitch tray, a military gas can, a Honda generator and a small gas grill. It will be used for road trips along the Gulf of Mexico from Texas to Florida, parking on the beach and staying in State parks to camp out and go surfing (when I am lucky enough to catch decent wave action). I (and my wife) can't wait to be finshed and head out for an overnight on the Gulf of Mexico. Here's two pics of it. I photoshopped in the blacked-out lower side, stripe and Quicksilver window graphic.

Help me decide. Red or blue version? BYW,...interior is blue.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3698/1...719e60cb_o.jpg

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2832/1...f7ffc152_o.jpg

 

The 1993 Starcraft conversion I am restoring has about 120K on it. Do I need to drop tank and replace fuel pump?

Thanks,

Larry
Houston, Texas

 

Welcome to the site..

Could go either way on the trim color, looks great both ways. Nice look'n wagon BTW!

Fuel pump,, may depend. Usually you start to notice the pump making more high pitch noise/s, or growling as they start to time out. Should only be a faint whine/hum. Anything louder may indicate an oncoming repair..

 

Hayapower,

I was mainly concerned about about a failure that would strand me while on a road trip, that I could not repair. Many places I want to go, like the Padre Island National Seashore, are somewhat remote and tow-truck service would be hard to get.

I am wondering if I should just replace it for peace of mind.

Thanks for the thumbs-up!

Larry

 

Passed emmisions and safty inspection today,....woo hoo! Getting ready for road trip to the Gulf of Mexico.