Good morning Gents,

I'm seeking advice on a project i'm building. I recently bought a 1997 E350 Cutaway Passenger Shuttle Bus, 7.3L powerstroke, 4 speed auto tranny, 149,xxx miles. All vacuum lines and fuel lines have been replaced. Engine runs great and transmission shifts great, other than that the engine/exhaust/intake are all stock.

I've stripped all the seats out, and I'm building it into a small RV. NOTE: the vehicle is a E350 which means it doesn't have the dually rear end. Vehicle is already pretty heavy as it is, not to mention I'll be adding another 500-1000 lbs after the build out. I'm building the van primarily for weekend adventures/traveling, but I'm planning a cross country road trip for this summer (7,000 miles++++), I'd like to get decent gas mileage and have some decent power when I need it. Currently before buildout I'm getting roughly 12.5 mpg

My question is:
1) should I buy chip/exhaust/intake?
I'd rather not have to put aftermarket injectors in, would just chip/exhaust/intake suffice? engine runs great now. would doing the aftermarket mods decrease longevity of the power train up to/over 200,000 miles? I plan to sell it sometime before 250,xxx miles
2) does anyone know an approximate range of cost for a good chip, not preprogrammed, custom programmed chip?
3) If this were your van, what would you do for $1000-$1500?

any feedback is greatly appreciated

 

If you have a powerstroke with only 149k miles, leave it stock! I am converting a 1992 E350 Cutaway Ambulance with single rear wheels (non dually). The engine is the predecessor to the power stroke and is non-turbo. I am right now in the process of replacing the motor. The last one had a valve guide failure on 1 cylinder and was blowing a lot of smoke at low speed. I probably could have just put new heads on it, but I opted for a replacement.
That motor had over 400,000 miles on it and it still pulled hills in 4th gear with ease. Mind you, this is an all metal ambulance weighing over 8,000 lbs, no turbo, 400k miles, running for the most part on 7 of 8 cylinders. As soon as you start trying to get more power out of it, you'll also be adding stress and wear.

Good luck with the build. You can check out my work at https://www.facebook.com/TheManbulance/