That's right, I just bought myself a '02 7.3 Ex. It's a salvage rollover with 150k. I've been watching it for about a month now and it finally came up to auction today.

Diesel swap time! It looks nice and stock too, so I get to pick and choose my mods. Already been thinking about a DP tuner, MBRP 4" exhaust, and 6637 filter kit.

Here's a few pics:










Jon

 

You Crazy Nut!! I love It!!

Jon, I need some small trim parts, let me know when your ready to sell them to me.

 

Definitely! I'll have a lot of extra parts to sell...

The '05 is getting the swap, so that it'll be the only true '05 7.3. I'm not planning on selling any V10 parts just yet though. So I need anything engine/wiring harness wise for the swap.

Also, I'm planning on keeping the lower bumper valance and running boards so I can put them on the black one, which the plan is to sell that eventually. This way I can move the lights to the '05 and keep the '05 parts untouched if I decide I don't want the lights anymore or some crazy law prevents me from having them.

Oh, on edit, I also plan to keep the wheels too, and hopefully get a new tire for that flat one. I'll put those on the black one to sell so I can keep my nice new Michelins. I really like these stock wheels and I really don't care for the '05's stock wheels, but I don't want to part with them.

 

Excellent, the parts im looking for are the plastic covers for 2nd row of seats where they meet the carpet. and 1 of my rear (middle Row) seat Small grab handles is missing a bolt cover.

That would make my EX perfect

I like your thinking, 2005-7.3 best of both worlds!

 

[quote=Sunline Fan;11180983]

or some crazy law prevents me from having them.

Dont even say that, I just bought the lights!

 

If the front cup holders in the center console are the deep one's, I'm interested in those.

When you do the swap, start a thread and take lots of pics.

 

Damn, wanna share the love? You're hogging all the X's

Good score. Sounds like a very cool rig once your done. Next you need to find a wrecked 05-07 Superduty and convert the front axle to coils

 

Sounds like a great project, but when you are through I too could use some of your leftover interior trim pieces. let me know if you want to get rid of some.

Little cover for the cruise control button
2nd row overhead vent
overhead console door

 

Was thinking of something like this myself except to find a high mileage v10 and then a wrecked diesel sd to swap...

One thing, do the laws in your state allow an engine older than the vehicle to go into said vehicle? Like in my stat if I was to get a 2005 Ex I could only put a 05-up motor into it.

 

Jon,

I was doing a search for antenna mounting locations and found this...

"Ideally, I would love to keep one to drive and tear one apart to convert to a 7.3. The '05 would have been my choice for it and I think an '05 with the 7.3 would be pretty sweet. It doesn't look like that'll happen for a long time now..."

That was on your first post 12/18/09

guess you been thinking of this for some time.

 

Lol! Yeah, I have been... Actually, I was bummed that the '05 wasn't a diesel from the factory, but on 9/2/05 when we bought it, they couldn't place any more orders for them and that's all they had. Plus my mom was against diesel at that time. So it's been from the very beginning, really. I had hoped to get one as my first instead of the black one, but the ones out there all had 150k+ and were over 20k at the time.

It really started last February when I sent my dad to look at a Mineral Gray '02 with 155k on it here at IAA Belleville. It had some rear axle issues where it broke away from the springs, but that was it. It ended up selling for like $7800 to a guy from Middlebury, IN who fixed it and sold it. I've been looking for a while, and there's a few constraints. Here were my criteria:
- Had to be '02 or early '03.
- Had to be Limited to get EATC
- Prefer for it to have steering wheel controls to eliminate more potential harness issues
- Had to have lower mileage
- Prefer no engine area damage that would complicate things.
- Had to come with a clear title since I don't have a repair license.
- Would prefer it to be close by.

This one meets all of that, other than the mileage is getting up there, but I can live with it for just the engine. Finding a clear title one with enough damage where it really wouldn't be in a repairable condition is tough. I feel this one was just meant to be. The fact they announced the auction to be just a couple days before Christmas meant probably fewer people would want to deal with buying right now, as the sales from today have to be paid for by Friday and picked up by Tuesday. Plus it was raining down there last night and this morning. I just got back from taking a check down to IAA Belleville and arranging the shipping...

With the lights, yes I sure hope they don't come up with any laws. I'm planning on this Ex being with me for the next 50 years or so, so I'm just thinking really long term. I'm sure someday the running board plastics will be hard to come by.

I should clarify from my last post for those interested. I'm just keeping the running board plastics, not the frames. So if someone has rusted frames, these are available.

I will take plenty of pics, no worries there...

It should have the deep cupholders. My black one was built 1/30/02 and this one 3/5/02, and my black one has them, so this should too. Will check when it gets here.

Bluzilla, I'd like to try to sell the console as a whole first if I can. If you're interested, my black one had a broken latch, so I bought a console off eBay last year. I still have it sitting in my basement, and while missing a latch, the door and hinge is good. It's just a shade darker, but size and shape wise it'll still fit. I put it in mine but decided to make a latch housing instead, so it's still on the eBay console.

Scotty, I'm not sure. Never even thought of that, but we don't have vehicle inspections in Michigan. It seems like at some point they wouldn't care (maybe after like 10 years) if they did earlier on. A higher mileage V10 would be smarter, but I have a strong emotional attachment to this truck that's hard to put a value on.

Oh, one last note. I stopped at Atchinson Ford on my way home since it was right by IAA to get the OASIS report pulled:
- Built 3/5/2002
- Sold 4/17/2002
- 3.73 Rear
- Has a detailed history, but nothing real significant. Mostly all stuff under warranty with the first owner, including three separate machinings of the front rotors.
- Since then, there's only three more things. One issue and then the two recalls taken care of (yay!)
--The issue is "Customer States check engine light is on, check injectors, engine is missing, wife ran out of fuel". The solution was "UVC harness, ran diag, install UVC harness repair kit".

Jon

 

Hey Jon!

That grille would look sweet in my 99 dually! What kind of condition is it in overall?

 

Hey Gary!

I don't know, I haven't seen it in person yet. I will update when I do.

 

Thanks Jon!

Too bad I'm not closer... I'd love to help with the swap!

 

You're right up the road from me.