Hey,

So I have a 1990 Ford Econoline E350 Shuttle Bus gas engine (I believe it's 7.3 L) and the head gasket blew around August, attempting to drive it from LA to Portland. We wanted to convert it into a mobile home of sorts and drive it around/live in it. My question is how much can anyone estimate an engine rebuild would cost for this? Is it worth it just to sell for parts and buy a different shuttle bus with a Diesel engine? I've heard a lot of opinions on it but this forum seemed the best place to find out what we should really do with it. Also if anyone knows where to sell a bus like that for parts I would love to know! Kind of new to all this and learning as I go along. Please and thank you!

 

The only way to find a repair cost is to ask the person who is going to do the work, A ball park number if it is the head gasket is 1500 to 2000.

some of The questions you need to ask yourself if the repair is worth it is as follows.

1 How long do you plan on keeping it
2 Is the rest of the vehicle in good shape or is this the tip of the repair iceberg.
3 you say it is a project do you plan to do some of the work yourself or pay for all repairs and modifications.

If you plan on selling or parting it out craigslist and or ebay work.

If you want old man advice it sounds like a romantic adventure you are looking for( LA to Portland is my hint ) but you may find lots of repair bills a buzz kill,

dont let me talk you out of it but it sounds like you should by something that is in better shape and already closer to what you desire .

good luck and best wishes

 

Tagged for interest for the possible mobile home conversion part.

 

If it's a gas engine it's either 5.8L ( 351W ) or 7.5L ( 460 ) . If it's a diesel it's a 7.3L IDI.

If it just blew a head gasket it shouldn't need a full rebuild unless it's been sitting since August with water in the cylinders. If you can do the work yourself a head gasket job is pretty cheap. If you can't do the work yourself, then a crap load!


If you can't do the mechanical work yourself and really want a diesel powered bus, buy one. You could probably pick one up for around what it would cost to have your current one repaired at a shop ( depending on the shop ) . If you can do the work yourself fix the one you've got. If the bus itself is in good shape it would be worth fixing.

 

Best Advice right there!

 

Not sure this is helpful but about 2 years ago I began thinking of a reman'd engine in a later model E250, 5.4 gas motor to be exact.

From Ford the long block would be right at $2,700 exchange and I was lucky enough to find a respectable shop to do the swap for $800 labor. Additional parts or operations not directly related to R&I'ing the engine would be extra which is to be expected.

I thought it would run about $4,500 for the whole job, several others who've done this say that amount is just about right.

As already mentioned mileage before the issues began, the time sitting with possible coolant in the cylinders all bear greatly whether this is a good idea.

 

I got quoted 2400$ for a head gasket job on my '85 E350 6.9 Diesel van.

I did it my self, for under 400$.


That includes all parts, and having the heads machined down, valves checked, and crack checked. All passed.


It's a big job doing this in a diesel van, but doable nonetheless. Give your self time, and don't rush.


I did my injectors and injector pump while I had them all off to.