Typo on my part. I meant the 6.4

 

The 6.4L engine was never put in an E-series van.

 

I was meaning I didn't want to run into problems with a van like they had with the 6.4 in the truck. .

 

Good for you. I hope I did not come off as being judgmental at all and applaud your choosing a lifestyle like this; I would bet that your kids will grow up with a larger skill set and a better appreciation for material things than the norm as well, and the 3-5k miles makes a lot of sense as an occasional use vehicle for the whole family where I assume you will be driving smaller vehicles for commuting, etc.

I prefer rubber mats in utility vehicles; I carted around a lot of bicycles, Boy Scouts, etc, in my vans, slept in them, and kept mats on the floor a lot.

I came from a poor family (dad died when I was 6 and I grew up on gov't cheese, got Goodfellow baskets, and we had no car at all for many years). I believe it made me a better person (although I wish I'd had my dad around longer).

Good luck with the van and the family,
George

 

George, you didn't come off as judgmental at all. I am just so used to having to explain to everyone why we do things the way we do that I sometimes get long winded when explaining it. We don't like the direction society is heading when it comes to things like family time, moral values, school systems, tv shows, music, food, etc. This isn't a "social" forum, so I won't go too in depth on everything. We just want our kids to appreciate the relationships in their lives and not just material things and we feel this is the best way to do that. Sometimes it's a little more hard work, but it is definitely worth it to us

I am sorry to hear about your dad though. I couldn't imagine growing up without mine and the best memories from my childhood were the father/son things we did together. We never know when we may be taken from our kids or them from us, so we try to do as much as we can with them and to make sure they are loved and grow up right

 

It might not be a society discussion forum here necessarily but your thoughts on family time together out in the bigger world is still a great idea. It just so happens to tie into the vans forum so should be okay?

Kudos on going your own way and making the effort to broaden some horizons---we could use that all over the USA these days!

Hope to see an update on what you end up with in the end.

 

I would suggest taking advice only from previous 15 P owners in this area ....

I've run a 15P since 1999. 6 kids myself. It was my wife's daily drive. We simply loved it and I've kept it even now but rarely drive it.

The versatility of a 15P cannot be underrated. It can haul 15 people, take out the rear seat and you have the biggest trunk available. It can pull a nearly 5 ton trailer. It can hold over a ton pallet on the inside (I get salt by the pallet, 2,500 pounds). It can hold 40 sheets of drywall and 12+ feet of lumber. It was simply awesome owning.

The negatives - Costly to operate daily. If you have 6+ kids, you have no real options but a 12-15 P van. The V10 will only get about 10 MPG tops, as they age, it gets worse.

Once we didn't need seating, I bought a full size car for the wife, the cost in fuel savings alone paid for the car. No kidding at all. Would be spending $120+ per week in fuel for the van.

With the V10, replaced most of the cops by now. I do one at a time when needed. A OBD II reader and a eBay purchase of 10 COPS for $100 was the best decision ever. I replace the COPS "blind" now. As in, I can't see the screws (one per COP), but I can feel them and it takes about 10 minutes to replace a COP by feel.

Roll Over - This was a huge concern of mine. Watching a J-turn maneuver was all I needed to see. I put dually wheels on my van to lessen the chance of roll over. Well worth the money in the "cool" factor only but safety was the real reason.

Life Style - 15P seating allowed us to do many things with our kids and their friends. Each kid could bring a friend and we still had a seat left over. Never had to worry about enough seating.

Wheel Chair access - Never thought I would need it for this, but I now care for an elderly parent. I can push a wheel chair up ramps into the van and strap the chair down (all legal straps and safety belt). The headroom is just adequate for a transport wheel chair (small wheels, not the big rear wheel type) patient without modification.

Long Term Engine / Transmission durability - We've had great success with our van. Other than COPS, I needed to replace the alternator, radiator, and FDPE.

Long Term Body - Exterior body and paint are still pretty good. I loved that the van didn't change too much over time in styling.

Long Term Rust - Sadly, after 14 years the underside is rusting badly and needs to be tended to. The rear bumper also rusted through.

Conclusion:
Would I buy another one? Yes, I think I would. I would probably go for a V8 though instead of V10. I never needed all that torque and V8 fuel mileage is better. If I could afford only one vehicle, a 15P van would be it.

 

We had planned on trading in our Bronco for the 15 passenger van but have decided to keep the Bronco for the wife's errand running vehicle and just buy the van outright. We are going to look for one with a 5.4, but will post an update and pics as soon as we find what we are looking for

 

Well that didn't take too long. We found a van that we really like, but it isn't a 15 passenger. It is only a 7 passenger, but I am going to add another row of seats and make it a 10 passenger. I will be going to pick it up on Monday. It is a 1998 e150 with a 5.4 and has 132,000 miles on it. Thanks for the advice!

 

Nice looking van although it's clearly more of a "car" than the SD vans, which I actually like. I've got an '02 E150, mild conversion with factory windows like yours, bought it new, and it's happy with 112k miles on it. I've got the 4.6. Yours is a nice color and I like the 2-tone and lack of running boards.

You're probably gonna have to move the existing rear seat forward. I don't know what it would take in terms of floorpan mods to get the mounts in--or where the harnesses would go, but could you get the seat package out of a Club Wagon?

Good luck,
George

 

Some friends just sold a same color combo E350 Chateau. They replaced the foldabed with a 3 seater bench and added a 4 seater bench behind that for an 11 seater. Our '93 Chateau came with 3 rows of buckets, the third row replacing the foldabed. We added a 4 seater bench behind that which meant some work because this E150 wasn't preconfigured for a fourth row. We opted for a later model 4 seater bench with middle position shoulder belts. FWIW, later vans come with single piece left and right fourth row bench brackets. Earlier van brackets are further split forward and aft which means more measuring and aligning before drilling. IIRC early benches will clamp onto later brackets and vice versa. The downside is at my height the taller backrest further restricts already limited visibility out the back windows. Legroom is tight in the fourth row but not [much] worse than in a 15 seater. Fitting the bench required drilling 6 holes for each bench bracket and two for the outboard seat belt lower anchors. There are upper anchor fitments behind plugs in the headliner trim. The side trim panels have to come off enough to fit the retractor units. Again, fittings should be in place. Note that there are specific belts for specific seat positions. You'll need escutcheon plates to replace the seat belt blanking plates on the side trim panels if aesthetics matter.

We wanted to set the fourth row bench against the back doors as in a 15 seater van to maximize legroom but the side trim panels limit how far back the bench can be placed. I didn't see any markings on the floor but there are cutouts in the carpet padding for the bench brackets which give a rough indication of where the brackets go on the floor. We took measurements from a 12 seater E350 for guidance. The seat belt lower anchors aren't quite where they are in an E350 for better tool access and to keep the drill bit away from rear heater and AC lines.

A possible hitch in your van is the foldabed doesn't allow access to a fourth row. You might have to get a conventional third row that's offset to the left. OE 3 seater benches are available with and without a folding armrest on the right.

Sixto
93 E150 Chateau 5.8 185K miles

 

Congrats! Please take the comment suggesting a FORD E-150 Club Wagon is more of a "car" with a 50 pound Salt Lick. By every reasonable measure the nearly 5000 pound E-150 Club Wagon is a FORD Truck through & through.

The, soon to be yours, Club Wagon looks almost exactly like the one a pastor sold out from under me 2 years ago.

What happened to your BIG PLANS?

 

"More of a *car* than the SD vans" is what I typed. 5 lug wheels, P rated tires, and a 1600 lb or smaller payload, which with 7-10 passengers may not leave a lot of capacity for cargo. I've owned 5 lug vans for 27 years running now; I understand that they are trucks but they have their limitations.

I have also driven these vans as my daily drivers for years at a time and they are easier to take than vans with 65 or 80 lb tires and thick sidewalls. (Hint: Michelin LTX M/S's ride better than anything else ever could--they were OEM on my van and IMO were designed by God for these vans.)

 

I don't know about that. Greybeards in Town Cars drool over how softly sprung our E150 is. Can springs get too rusty?

Sixto
93 E150 Chateau 5.8 185K miles

 

The third row seat is a three seater and it looked like their was plenty of room to add and access a fourth row seat. The conversions with the foldabed only seated 7 and didn't look like there was enough room to add an extra row of seats.


We really wanted a 15 passenger, but my wife really loved the color of this one and adding the extra row of seats will give me a fun project to do with my son. It would mean taking a second vehicle when our parents went with us somewhere on vacation, but they said they didn't mind that at all since we may have days we do different things and need the extra vehicle. I think we found a good one and that it will do just fine even though it has less seating than we had planned on getting