Ok first post so i will be brief with the brief
I am looking to purchase a E350 diesel extended Van in a couple of weeks .
I will be building a 2wd camper with plans to make it 4wd later.
I currently drive a 03 F250 triton 5.4 and love it .nearly a quarter of a mill on the clock and still going strong i do the plugs every 30 thousand use synthetic oil best rig i ever owned
so that's the work truck. i plan on doing some serious traveling down through Latin America so want as reliable as possible i have heard some horror stories about the newer 6.L diesels from Ford so need to get this right the first time i have a budget of about 15 grand maybe more if the right one pops up .
so back to the brief do i go for an older 7.3 engine or are the later diesels as good .This will be a heavy rig once built big fuel load potable water, black ,grey propane and a vw rabbit on a bar for the sight seeing once base camps set up . if there are any previous threads apologies i am not very tec savy

regards Paulanthony

 

Here on FTE there are several sub-forums for diesel engines, most every type and CID covered by those more in the know of such things. Typically vans in this forum will be gasoline making diesels a bit rare. I'd look further on FTE for the engine type you're anticipating purchasing and explore some of the issues under discussion about them.

I'll leave some info in your User CP's message area about building an E-Series into a combo vehicle as you describe.

HTH

 

Think about what parts will be available in Latin America. My guess is a 7.3L will be more servicable and better suited to lower quality diesel. They are much simpler than the 6.0L.

In a big heavy laden van the 5.4 would be underpowered. V10 is great except the mileage.

 

Based on public opinion, you'd think the 6.8L v10 drinks fuel like a Top Fuel funny car. It's not actually so bad. My 2003 v6 ford e250 got 13 to 16mpg and my 2007 v10 E350 superduty gets 11.5-13.5. That's not bad at all.

And the amount of cargo you described is going to require large fuel useage no matter which engine you choose.

With that said I believe a diesel is probably your best bet. Thats a huge load for any engine.