Not So Subtle E350 Shuttle - 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Jsweezy

Explorer
Congrats on a sweet van! I love the story and as soon as I saw the "Satisfaction Guaranteed" I knew this was going to be good. Your photos are amazing, you obviously aren't using your smartphone.

Those wheels, while cheap and good looking (I liked them) do require some grinding off of extra metal on the calipers of 2013+ brakes. Those wheels were only made for 2011-2012 F250/350 trucks. When they made the brakes bigger they also made a new style of 17" wheel to go along with it. I unfortunately had to learn this the hard way. It didn't affect any performance of the brakes, it was just kind of annoying.

If I were you I would go with some 18" rims that way you can go up in size if you want later. With 18s you can also have 35" diameter tires while keeping the width down which could be a plus if your like me and like them that way. A lot of the newer stock 18" wheels look really good and I have found multiple sets locally that include tires for around $800 lately.

I look forward to seeing more updates!
 

sakurama

Adventurer
any recent work on this?

have you decided on a tire brand?

Coils or leaves for the front lift?

I assume the shop replaced all the fuel filters while draining the tank? Dirty/old filters can cause many driveability issues.

Actually there have been updates but I haven't been posting as I've been waiting for my title from Oregon. Because the van came with a mechanics lien paper work I was sort of holding my breath. TN wouldn't give me a title because I lived out of state. Oregon went over the paperwork with a fine toothed comb and pronounced it "all in order" and gave me plates. I felt good about that and proceeded to start making some investments (which I'll detail coming up) which included an extremely large payment to MG.

Anyway, two weeks ago I got a call from Oregon saying they made a mistake and they don't accept the paperwork and wanted the plates back. I'd asked TN about that possibility and they said they'd issue a title to me if I gave them a letter from OR saying it was rejected. I called TN on Monday and they said, "Actually no, we can't give you a title" which, as you might imagine, left me in a state of panic. I was stuck between two states who refused to cooperate.

Oregon's suggestion was to "find a state the will take TN's paperwork" and give me a title. I then remembered VT who will issue plates to anything over 15 years old. They won't give you a title (because they don't title anything over 15 years old) but the registration they give you counts as an "official ownership document" and I double checked that OR would accept that. So I've sent off the application to VT along with the $300 in registration fees and should have the plates this week.

If that falls through I have no idea what I'm going to do. Oregon doesn't issue bonded titles so that option is out so, as you can imagine, my progress has ground to a halt as I work this out. Fingers crossed that VT comes through.

Gregor
 

dcguillory

Adventurer
I blame all your trouble on TN. On the last row of seats not ever being needed: I have 8 children and I never regretted getting rid of that back row of seats. Good riddance.
 

RVflyfish

Fishing is life. The rest is details.
The van leaks a fair bit of oil - a quart every 200-300 miles. I have been told: 1. it's pretty normal (uh, no) 2. it's a cracked oil return line on the turbo 3. it's a cracked timing cover.

The mechanic that picked 3. suggested just JB welding it to which I was appalled until I discovered that the timing cover requires the body to come off and the engine out. I am praying that it is not #3. If so I may be in favor of JB weld until the times comes for work that requires the body off.

Were you able to trace the leak? I have a '99 7.3 that leaks a quart every 200 miles too. Would love to hear what you found.
 

sakurama

Adventurer
Were you able to trace the leak? I have a '99 7.3 that leaks a quart every 200 miles too. Would love to hear what you found.

Yes, it was the top of the high pressure oil pump reservoir. The part was ordered but haven't gone ahead with the repair as I'm waiting on VT to come through. Once I get plates again I'll reschedule the appointment to have it fixed.

Gregor
 

RVflyfish

Fishing is life. The rest is details.
I have the MG coil kit and 18x9" wheels. I think this is the same size as MG's wheels on his E350, but I think my wheels have more backspacing.

Not to hijack, but do you know what your backspacing is? I was shooting for 4.53 but I found a set of 18's I really like that are 5.71. Does anyone know if they'll work? (I plan to do an MG conversion.)
 

sakurama

Adventurer
So the title limbo sort of put me in a tailspin but I believe that Vermont will be solving all that for me. I've spoken to them and they have assured me that there's no reason they won't give me plates so with a bit of trepidation I'm plowing forward...

In talking to MG I decided to go with the bigger front brakes of a more modern 2016 F-250. I used to have a older Land Rover Disco that I took wheeling and the only thing less powerful than the engine was the brakes. I can vividly recall numerous times of standing with both feet on the brake as it hurtled towards some kind of collision. In the end I started just aiming it off the road at the first sign of danger. Now I have a family so that option is off the table.

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MG found a front axle and it showed up so it was time to start the process. I had taken the van into Vision Diesel and had them fix the leak and the AC which was disconnected. I picked it up from them and drove straight over to MG's to drop it off. Three weeks to go before we leave for our family trip to Colorado. Two weeks is how long it will take according to MG to get this built out. That gives us a one week slush fund.

Did I mention that this is the first 7.3 that MG has built? That I'm going to end up spending $15-20k to convert a van that I technically don't have any paperwork on? That I'm planning on driving to Colorado towing a trailer in two weeks? What could go wrong?

To bolster my confidence MG calls me after a day with my van to ask if I'm sure I want to go through with the conversion, "It's not the cleanest van, the body and interior are a bit rough..." I appreciate the honesty but I remind MG that this van will be used. If you look at any vehicle that I own it should be clear that I am not the person preserving them for the next person. I am the person that uses them as they were intended. My all wheel drive KTM is on it's second motor and has been hucked off cliffs, raced, ridden and generally abused. My BMW cafe racer was put on the track in pristine condition and crashed while leading it's first race. So while in the end it might seem crazy to dump $15,000 into a $3,800 van I look at it the other way. I wanted the cheapest solid package that included all my bullet points: 7.3, extended wheel base, passenger, high roof, big windows and white. Check, check, check, check, check and check.

With my blessing the van was delivered to Jsweezy's shop to start the transformation and the first order of business was to pull the transmission so it could go to MG's guy to... what exactly are they doing to the transmission MG? I can tell you anything about a motorcycle but trucks are a black box to me. I'm planning on learning as I go so I'll try to enlighten along the way.

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So that's the transmission and I'm pretty sure they're supposed to be silver. The oil leak was getting to the point of a quart every 2-300 miles and it filled the galley between the cylinders. I chose to look a the bright side: that provided a layer of corrosion protection for the undercarriage.

With the tranny out it was time to attack the front end.

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Josh's shop is something to envy - the space is amazing and clean. MG's shop is a bit smaller but way more crowded. My shop is so crowded that I have to go outside to change my mind. With the van on the lift the wheels come off Josh begins the process of stripping the van's front end. Here's where my plan of dumping a dozen or so quarts of oil all over the under carriage started to bear fruit; Josh said he'd never had an easier time stripping a van down. Would that have been possible without a generous soaking of motor oil? No, I don't think so.

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And there you have it - front end stripped and ready to go.

Once the rear wheels came off and the van was elevated (not as high as normal as Josh doesn't work out of his wheelchair for the most part) I thought I'd just take a quick preview of the wheel situation. You might remember I'd sourced a set of used F-250 wheels. I wanted to powder them black but the cost was getting out of hand with estimates getting close to $100 a wheel to blast and powder. That plus the wheels cost me was, at this point, more than new wheels and the width of the rims (7.5") would limit me to 33" tires at the outside. After a lot of hemming and hawing I pulled the trigger on a set of new wheels and tires.

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I want the van to look all business, no flash, so that meant black wheels. I considered steels as they're the most business you can get but opted for aluminum to offset the fact that, in the end, I felt the van had to be on 35's and any unsprung weight I could save was probably for the best. It's a big van and as an artist my world revolves around balanced proportions and proper aesthetics. 33's felt a bit small, 37's start to look cartoonish and 35's are the "right" size for a lifted 4x4 van. I came this conclusion after reviewing about 10,000 photos over the course of a year so I'm good with it.

It was at about this point that MG discovered that the front axle we'd purchased had a slight bend in it. Something you wouldn't really see unless you put a straight edge to it. It's unfortunate but MG has a few leads on a replacement already so fingers crossed we find something because the van's front end is already gone - no turning back now. The clock is ticking...

Gregor
 

mgmetalworks

Explorer
... what exactly are they doing to the transmission MG?...

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The first thing they did was clean it...

Then it gets a new tailshaft and tailhousing from a 4x4 truck so the transfer case can bolt up to it. This trans requires that the whole thing comes apart in order to do this.
 

ujoint

Supporting Sponsor
Looks like the transmission was painted black, replaced at some point? Looks like a reman unit.
 

Bikersmurf

Expedition Leader
Looks like the transmission was painted black, replaced at some point? Looks like a reman unit.

X2

With the amount of oil it was being bathed it would look more silver if it wasn't painted. Being a shuttle bus it doesn't surprise me... hopefully they beefed it up in the reman process :D


From the pics your van doesn't look bad... just broken in like your favourite baseball glove. Mine was downright nasty when I bought it... 10 years as an Ambo and then +/- 7 by contractors (the last of which went under). On the 200 mile trip home I had to wash my hands several times because almost everything I touched on the rig turned them black. The plus side was that by the time the contractor grime was scrubbed down and hosed off, I didn't need to worry about MSRA or any other superbugs. 7 years took care of any nasties left over from its first life.
 
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86scotty

Cynic
I can't speak for shuttle buses except they have lots of idle hours on them. I CAN definitely recommend that any dreamers out there don't ever buy a retired Fedex vehicle. We don't retire em until 8.5 lives are over and they are driven with 2 speeds, throttle to the floor, brake to the floor. I did 15 years of this and loved it, and I babied my trucks, relatively speaking, because I hated it when they were down for maintenance, but just remember that though the maintenance was kept up on a fleet vehicle that doesn't mean it was treated well by the driver.

A black tranny, I've never seen that! Nashville isn't a huge city. I bet if you did a little calling around and asked who services the shuttle vans for the few outfits that run em you could find out who paints trannys black. It might be a sign of some kind for a repair shop. Quick peek underneath and "yep, that's ours and we've worked on it."
 

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