2006 Ford E-350 Ambulance Race Car Tow Rig
- Thread starter Liftedwrx
- Start date
Liftedwrx
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Over the summer I was on a project with my job where I was on site out in South Carolina. I was working two weeks at a time and coming home for my races. They all worked out to be about 3 weeks apart so I would work two weeks, come home, work on the ambi and get the car ready for the weekend, race, then fly back to site on Monday. So after the last trip to Road America I went back to site and just left the ambi behind my shop. When I flew home I attempted to replace the fan clutch with the one from my buddy's truck since he had upgraded to a mechanical 7.3 fan clutch in his. It was at this point I really wish I had bought a truck cab ambulance instead of a van. Everything is so tight and hard to get to in that engine bay. Anyways, I got it out and put his on, I also made a shield for the wires out of an old license plate in case the wires decide to get close to the fan again. I never ended up putting another belt on to drive the second alternator as it charges fine on the main one.
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Liftedwrx
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That's fast for a NA dorito! That sounds like it'd be a lot of fun. We do some drag racing with two 98 Jeep Grand Cherokees, one is still AWD while the other is RWD. The AWD one has just gone 9.54 at 142 while the 2WD has gone 10.7 at 124. With a different torque converter we think the AWD has an 8 or a deep 9 in it.
Liftedwrx
New member
My next race was back to Brainerd so a much shorter drive. The ambi did great on this trip, no overheating and the fan was ripping. I don't think the fan ever went into high speed before putting the new fan clutch on because now it is much louder in the cab and you can feel the air its moving come through the dog house seal. The day before I left I did the blue wire mod so I can kick the fan into high speed when I want which helped a lot in slower traffic. On the freeway the temps normally get up to around 225-230 before the fan would kick on and bring it down to about 210. If I keep the fan on with my switch the temps sit around 185-190 with outside temps at 95. I also purchased a windshield cover to attempt to keep the inside of the ambi cooler while parked in the pits. This made a significant difference and I would highly recommend purchasing one. But even with the sun shade the inside of the ambi was still too hot for me during the night so some form of AC was next on the list.
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Liftedwrx
New member
Once I got back I started thinking of ways to add an air conditioning unit to the ambi. I had a few ideas which included cutting a hole in the rear door or taking one of the windows out and mounting it there, but I didn't like the idea of having that stick out the back and how it would look, also thought of just taking out the ac/heater unit that was already in the box and putting one there but I couldn't come up with a nice way to get the fresh air these units need. So I ended up putting it in the spare tire outside compartment, this way I can just close the door when I am driving and open it when I want to use it at the track. It also is out of the way inside of the box and fits perfectly with the bed. I really wish I had added this sooner because it really brings the temperature down inside of the ambi, I am having second thoughts on the size I got because it takes a while to get the temp down and in the middle of the day it still gets a bit hot in the ambi. I am thinking of making some covers for the windows and some sort of awnings for the outside of the ambi so I can keep the walls shaded. I have also heard people putting the rooftop fans in and those make a big difference so I might try that as well. Only concern for me with doing that is I would have to cut out a section of the frame in the roof as its smaller than the 14" the fan would need. And we like to sit on the top quite a bit.
While I was tackling this job my girlfriend was working on putting some carpet in. She had just carpeted our 1978 Honda CVCC and really enjoyed it so she bought some more carpet and did the ambi. I think it turned out really well.
I also added this little key holder thing I found on Amazon to clear some of the clutter from our tiny counter that gets very messy very quickly.
While I was tackling this job my girlfriend was working on putting some carpet in. She had just carpeted our 1978 Honda CVCC and really enjoyed it so she bought some more carpet and did the ambi. I think it turned out really well.
I also added this little key holder thing I found on Amazon to clear some of the clutter from our tiny counter that gets very messy very quickly.
Liftedwrx
New member
With the AC and carpet installed it was time for another trip. We would be heading back out to Road America for a very special event. We got invited to share the weekend with IMSA, we would get to run a qualifier Sunday morning and 60 minutes race once the IMSA stuff was done. For this trip we decided to stay out at my grandparents property again with some of the other MN Spec Miata guys and cruise to Road America the next day. My girlfriend came with on this trip again as well as one of my buddies. Made it out to the cabin Friday no problem, unloaded the dirt bike and ripped around for the rest of the day while waiting for the other rigs to show up. The next day we were off to Road America, the drive went smoothly until we were about an hour away when we were climbing a decent sized hill and a boost pipe blew off. Here I started to fall back in our convoy and struggled at stop signs/lights and any hills. Instead of trying to fix it we said screw it, its making like 5 lbs of boost and we are able to cruise just fine. Once you get close to Road America there is a super steep hill you have to climb and I normally hit it head on with a bit of a run up, but the guy leading our convoy took a different route than I normally take. Instead of going the way where you can accelerate before the hill we ended up turning up the hill from the base. This ended up with me going about 10 mph and freight training black smoke out the exhaust, but we made it up without too many cars behind us haha. Made it to the track and got all setup, then it was time to test out the AC. We weren't parked next to any power this time so I had to use a generator which was easily able to run everything we were using. It was really quiet and you couldn't even tell if it was running from inside the ambi. The AC worked great as we had some cloud cover and the inside didn't get super hot from the sun. The next day we were up bright and early for our practice session then we got a few hours to fix the boost leak on the ambi and watch the IMSA races. Towards the end of the IMSA race it started downpouring and they paused the race for about 30 minutes, once there was no lightning they resumed the final IMSA race then we were up. This was my first time racing in the rain and it was a lot more fun than I was anticipating, besides my wipers and defrost not working that turned out to be very scary as there were a few laps where I couldn't see anything but brake lights in front of me. After the race we got all packed up and hit the road back to Minnesota. Drive went good for about 3 hours and then we popped another boost pipe off. This time we pulled over behind a restaurant and fixed the leak, about 45 min later we had it fixed. Stopped in the restaurant for some food then back on the road. Rest of the drive went smoothly with no more boost issues. We did stop at a truck station and I weighed the ambi with the trailer. Came out to be basically what I expected, I would like to weigh it without the trailer and see the actual weight of it. I didn't take any pictures of the ambi this trip but I got a few of the IMSA cars and the miata.
Liftedwrx
New member
Next trip was back to Brainerd. This time I didn't do any work on the ambi before our trip. Just loaded the trailer, hitched up and headed on our way. Once there we were able to plug into an outlet so we didn't need a generator again and the weekend went great for the ambi. Unfortunately things weren't so great for the miata... The morning practice and qualifying sessions went great. Race came around that afternoon and I qualified in the mid pack behind my buddy who got me into the spec miata racing. Once we got the green flag we went into turn one 3 wide with me in the middle and my buddy on the inside. The problem was he didn't see that I had someone on my outside so he starts tracking out and hits me, this push sent me straight off the track and into the wall. The wall was very close to the track in this location without any tires to absorb some of the impact, and we were doing about 85 mph at this point. I ended up hitting the wall head on and totaling the miata 
?. Fortunately I was wearing a Hans device so I was able to walk away. I did have to be taken off the track in an ambulance (hahaha) so they could verify I didn't need any further medical attention. So I took the short ride over to my pits in their ambulance while they checked me over, nothing was broken and I didn't get a concussion or anything, just a very sore neck and shoulder muscles. Once I was back I had people help me drag the miata back into the trailer and just tried to enjoy the rest of the weekend.
?. Fortunately I was wearing a Hans device so I was able to walk away. I did have to be taken off the track in an ambulance (hahaha) so they could verify I didn't need any further medical attention. So I took the short ride over to my pits in their ambulance while they checked me over, nothing was broken and I didn't get a concussion or anything, just a very sore neck and shoulder muscles. Once I was back I had people help me drag the miata back into the trailer and just tried to enjoy the rest of the weekend. Wow, that's gotta be a lot of work. Any car or truck that runs quicker than 9.99 needs a competition driver's license, SFI spec fire suit, current Snell-rated full-face helmet, SFI Spec 16.1 driver's harness, NHRA-approved full roll cage (not just a roll bar), SFI spec roll cage padding, window net, parachute, current NHRA chassis inspection sticker, SFI spec 18.1 harmonic damper, SFI spec flex plate, SFI spec 30.1 flex plate shield, SFI spec 29.1 transmission planetary shield, external master battery cutoff switch, aftermarket rear axles, driveshaft loop, windows with no aftermarket tint, and on, and on, and on...
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Liftedwrx
New member
Yea it really wasn't too bad, there is so much room on the inside of a Grand Cherokee that making the cage was pretty simple. And we still have the stock axles, I don't think it is a requirement to have an aftermarket axle. With a stock motor and nitrous we were in the low 11's, but stroking the 360 out to a 387 really helped alot. We were able to hit a 10.7 NA and the first pass on spray it went 9.87. It's been a fun car to bring to different events and see peoples' reactions.
Liftedwrx
New member
After using the ambi this season I have made a list of things I would like to get done before next season.
Add the secondary alternator belt, replace the idler pulleys and tensioner
Backup cameras
A battery bank for the back that is not connected to the starting batteries
Curtains and Reflectix for the windows
An awning
Add some cabinets above the bench seat/bed
Take the emergency lights off the sides and add flood lights
Take out the carpet in the cab, add sound deadening and new carpet
Change out the radio to one with Apple Carplay
Swap out my 120v fridge for a 12v one
Add a rooftop fan
Take out the original ac/heater unit
Battery Monitor
Maybe some solar
Get a spare wheel and tire and find somewhere to mount it.
Add the secondary alternator belt, replace the idler pulleys and tensioner
Backup cameras
A battery bank for the back that is not connected to the starting batteries
Curtains and Reflectix for the windows
An awning
Add some cabinets above the bench seat/bed
Take the emergency lights off the sides and add flood lights
Take out the carpet in the cab, add sound deadening and new carpet
Change out the radio to one with Apple Carplay
Swap out my 120v fridge for a 12v one
Add a rooftop fan
Take out the original ac/heater unit
Battery Monitor
Maybe some solar
Get a spare wheel and tire and find somewhere to mount it.
Liftedwrx
New member
A few weeks ago I had a weekend back at home and was able to get a few things done on the ambulance. While I was gone I ordered a bunch of stuff to quiet down/cool down the cab. I got a kit to insulate the doghouse, some sound deadening, and new carpet. We were able to get the seats and old carpet out which was long overdue of being replaced. With these out we were able to clean up the floor and get it prepped for the sound deadening. We did the entire floor and as much as we could see/get to up in the foot well areas, as well as both of the doors. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures after with the new carpet installed or of the insulation I added to the doghouse.
Liftedwrx
New member
After a quick week trip for work I was back to working on the ambulance for another weekend. I didn't get too much done this weekend but I was able to clean up a lot of stuff and fix an electrical issue I created the weekend before. Last weekend while we were doing the cab stuff I also decided to thin some more of the wiring that wouldn't be needed. In doing so I removed a wire that gives the signal to allow power to go to the box. So I spent most of the day trying to figure out why nothing in the back was turning on. Eventually I found the issue and supplied the wire with a new ignition power wire. After this I installed a back up camera and screen/mirror. This was pretty straight forward, just need to clean up the wiring for it a little bit as well as add some silicone to plug the hole for the wires. The last thing I did was install a shelf for more storage while we are driving. I also plan on adding a CB radio and the PA speaker box up on the shelf. I realized I didn't have any pictures of the back with the bed so I took a few of those as well.
