Ford E350: shorten ext Van, Ambulance Type II or III possible?

derjack

Adventurer
Hi folks,

I am actually looking for a replacement this year. It should be again a Van and if any possible 4x4. A little Camper style interior and big wheels. That´s what I already have but what I need is more power! :Wow1:

So I looked for US Diesel Vans in 4x4- that are hard to find.
... and even much harder to find in Europe and almost impossible to find ONE in Germany

Via searching the net I found the Ujoint Conversion Kits- but they will be tricky or impossible to get street-legal via TÜV (kind of government technical service that checks every 2 years your car + every time you want to get a new plate for a car) in Germany. The first step will be find a E350 Diesel as in Germany and all over Central Europe Ford does n´t offer this series but instead the Transit :-(

What is possible to find, are Ambulances. I found 5 in total in Germany (funny to read that people in US have "trouble" to find a good one in the states!).


Getting back to the point:
The ambulances Typ II and III are too big/long for my project. My actual rig is 4,80m + spare tire and stuff it is around 5m. So my goal is to get near to 5m + but less than 5,5m. As you know cars and streets are very much tighter in Europe (German parking places are 5m x 2,3m per default! so if you park in the middle of that and you have a 2m wide Van, you got 15cm to open the door!).
The extended Van is 5,80m (the short one is with 5,40m ok). The Cutaway Ambo III is much longer. As far as I could find out it is, with standard wheelbase, it is 6,20m. I saw the pictures of Chris Van before the XP Top on V4 and the Ambo Van Build and the Six 13 build. These look like it´s possible to shorten a peace of the frame behind the leafsprings. The cab looks like made of an Aluframe.

I don´t care about the doors in the back! I would ideally final close the anyway and just put a window in the back. As these doors are never tight and dust comes in. I had my experiences with my Iveco Daily 4x4 40.10 in the Sahara. No need for doors.

http://www.act-specialcar.ch/de/detail.php?cid=A126-9539&pid=59 this could be an option for me.
the + are: already 4x4, 6.0 (possible to get an environment sticker for Germany cities what means it would be legal to drive into the city!), high roof (can save with a camper conversion several hundred euros/year insurance/tax)
the - are: As it this car is in CH the price to get into Germny/EU will be around 20.000 Euro!

So are there limitation in the back of the body? Will it loose stability that cannot be strengthen again?



btw my final goal would be a short 7.3 (as this engine will be much better/cheaper over time for african/east europe diesel quality) E350 with UJoint 8" + 37" GF AT + a light camper conversion. Weight will be big point in the list. Actually my 40.10 weights 3 ton and has 103HP/240NM, my Magirus Deutz 176HP/550NM vs. 6.5ton. As mentioned above power is the point as you cannot have enough in the sand :) and as you probably know 60% of German autobahn are without speedlimits IF your car is below 3,5 ton weight. So an Ambo like the six13 looks great, would be perfect for a trip but too big for a "daily" use. Going on the highway with 150km/h or 90mil/h would cost too much diesel as the front surface is huge on the Type III´s.
 

cwsqbm

Explorer
Oh the irony. Here in the USA, we'd kill to be able to buy some of the European trucks that we never see.
 

derjack

Adventurer
Oh the irony. Here in the USA, we'd kill to be able to buy some of the European trucks that we never see.

a little off topic but I know that. A UNIMOG or something like this is great (although no Van so I cannot enter the back easily). They cost as ex army 15t-20t eu as 20 years old used truck.
But at least 100ps less power, cost for a transmission can enter 10 grant (in euro!) and mpg is no really good. Remember 1,50 euro/l, 3.8l are a us gallon!

But most important I want a truck with a seperated frame, big engine AND below 3.5t.
 

cwsqbm

Explorer
a little off topic but I know that. A UNIMOG or something like this is great (although no Van so I cannot enter the back easily). They cost as ex army 15t-20t eu as 20 years old used truck.
But at least 100ps less power, cost for a transmission can enter 10 grant (in euro!) and mpg is no really good. Remember 1,50 euro/l, 3.8l are a us gallon!

But most important I want a truck with a seperated frame, big engine AND below 3.5t.

Once you add 4wd and heavier axles, you might be past 3.5t with a completely empty 7.3 van.

I wasn't thinking Unimog, but instead vehicles like 4x4 Sprinters and Varios.
 

cwsqbm

Explorer
a little off topic but I know that. A UNIMOG or something like this is great (although no Van so I cannot enter the back easily). They cost as ex army 15t-20t eu as 20 years old used truck.
But at least 100ps less power, cost for a transmission can enter 10 grant (in euro!) and mpg is no really good. Remember 1,50 euro/l, 3.8l are a us gallon!

But most important I want a truck with a seperated frame, big engine AND below 3.5t.

Once you add 4wd and heavier axles, you might be past 3.5t with a completely empty 7.3 van.

I wasn't thinking Unimog, but instead vehicles like 4x4 Sprinters and Varios. I understand why they don't meets your needs, but that doesn't make it less ironic.
 

derjack

Adventurer
Hi,

thanks.
Regarding Sprinter: They are good for ON road but not if want to go offroad. I meat someone in Mhamid - Western Sahara between Marokko and Algeria- with an "Achtleitner" 4x4 Sprinter (This is a company in AT that makes the conversion for Mercedes). He said he got no big troubles to follow the stock Landrover in the sand, as long as it was not too slippery.
BUT: As all-wheeler Sprinter are not directly manufactured by Mercedes Achtleitner is the one to get parts from, and I heard very bad reports out of that. + parts are very expensive. The whole front end with transfer case the axle is new and does not look like a workaround [they put on an additional frame below the car to carry transfer case and independent front axle].
It is impossible to get big tires on the sprinters. Meaning bigger than 275/75/16 more or less. Tires make the difference.
 

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