Rare 7.3 Powerstroke Expedition Build / FWC Hawk

[4 Corners Expeditions]

Document expedition build of rare Ford 7.3 Powerstroke with Four Wheel Camper Hawk

 

[jackattack]

Today, over two million 7.3L engine-equipped Ford Trucks are still in operation

What exactly qualifies a 7.3L PSD and FWC as rare?

 

[4 Corners Expeditions]

Here is photo of my 02 Ford F-250 Super Duty, short bed, extended cab,4x4 with 7.3 Powerstroke. I searched everywhere for a very long time to find this exact truck with the lowest miles possible (46,000) and original condition showroom condition. I wanted the 7.3 for reliability and to travel internationally.

 

[pugslyyy]

dunno, 7.3 is a great motor though. It's a blunt instrument (force over finesse) but we have well over 400k on ours. I see people calling them out as "rare" all the time, but at the end of the day it is a damn good motor regardless and with a little care and feeding will run forever pretty much.

 

[4 Corners Expeditions]

The first upgrade we just completed was exchanging the very small 7.3 transmission cooler for a new substantially larger transmission cooler for a 6.0. I had read about this swap online. The 6.0 mounting brackets matched the 7.3 mounting brackets. It bolted right in place.

 

[4 Corners Expeditions]

I agree it is a blunt instrument compared to today's diesels. Rare - I posted in reference to literally showroom condition and super low miles for a 7.3. The undercarriage is pristine with zero dirt or dust. The interior looks as good as the day it was delivered. The bed has always had a liner and hard tonneau cover. It was in pristine condition. All factory original like the day it was delivered. I looked for over a year to find a 7.3 in this condition. We are excited to share the build and learn from the community.

 

[4 Corners Expeditions]

I looked at a variety of shock options and ordered the Bilstein 5160 shocks.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Nice find

 

[4 Corners Expeditions]

I did some research on airbags and ordered a set of Firestone airbags. I also ordered the Daystar air bag cradles to protect the bags during articulation of the rear suspension.

 

[sg1]

For international travel the 7.3l makes a lot of sense. An unmodified 6.0 is not suitable for extended international travel. With a 6.0l you would have to remove the modern exhaust cleaning stuff (DPF etc.) and the 7.3 is well known in the 3rd world. Congrats on your find.
Stefan

 

[adam88]

For international travel the 7.3l makes a lot of sense. An unmodified 6.0 is not suitable for extended international travel. With a 6.0l you would have to remove the modern exhaust cleaning stuff (DPF etc.) and the 7.3 is well known in the 3rd world. Congrats on your find.
Stefan

That's true. The 7.3L is more common internationally. It is a nice find, he did good.

 

[jackattack]

I agree it is a blunt instrument compared to today's diesels. Rare - I posted in reference to literally showroom condition and super low miles for a 7.3. The undercarriage is pristine with zero dirt or dust. The interior looks as good as the day it was delivered. The bed has always had a liner and hard tonneau cover. It was in pristine condition. All factory original like the day it was delivered. I looked for over a year to find a 7.3 in this condition. We are excited to share the build and learn from the community.

Congrats on your find. Good luck.

 

[elmo_4_vt]

Nice... I needed a crew cab long bed and felt happy finding one with 80k miles. 46k miles is awesome assuming it was kept up well, which it sounds like it was. Good luck with the build. I have a 6.0 trans cooler on order and will be putting it on mine this fall once camping season slows down. I my mind, if the current trans ever sh!ts the bed, I'll move forward with the manual. Because of the diesel though, the auto is not as bad as I was fearing because I don't have to come out of overdrive very often on the highway unless the road is over 7% grade and I don't want to slow down. Neither of which are very common here on the east coast.

Don

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[4 Corners Expeditions]

Nice... I needed a crew cab long bed and felt happy finding one with 80k miles. 46k miles is awesome assuming it was kept up well, which it sounds like it was. Good luck with the build. I have a 6.0 trans cooler on order and will be putting it on mine this fall once camping season slows down. I my mind, if the current trans ever sh!ts the bed, I'll move forward with the manual. Because of the diesel though, the auto is not as bad as I was fearing because I don't have to come out of overdrive very often on the highway unless the road is over 7% grade and I don't want to slow down. Neither of which are very common here on the east coast.

Don

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Don, you are going to love the 6.0 cooler. I have a friend who owns a large commercial diesel truck repair business. He has done numerous conversions with great success. He also said with the larger cooler the automatic transmission should do great. Install was relatively easy. The only issue was hose size is different. We simply added an adapter. Good Luck

 

[4 Corners Expeditions]

For international travel the 7.3l makes a lot of sense. An unmodified 6.0 is not suitable for extended international travel. With a 6.0l you would have to remove the modern exhaust cleaning stuff (DPF etc.) and the 7.3 is well known in the 3rd world. Congrats on your find.
Stefan

That was the basis for our decision. International travel is our plan. Our first goal is drive the Pan Am. We have been reading, researching and following a variety of blogs and threads on Pan Am experiences.