Hello Everyone
I have seen a few people on the forum asking about 90s E 150 vans as potential camper vans.
Most people have discouraged it and suggested finding an E 250.
And if I could I would.
However…I’m looking for a conversion van with the turtle top.
#1 They already have a turtle top.
#2 They already have storage built in and paneling, floors etc.
You can find those E 150s like that all day long. Converted E 250s are as rare as hen’s teeth.

I believe the payload on the 150s are around 2,000 lbs.
What I’m wondering is, is how much payload you would gain once you take out the 2nd row captain seats and the bench seat in the back. That could be a couple hundred lbs or more.

It would be a light build for just one person.
Over estimating for the build plus solar, water, gas, food, toys etc would be about 1500lbs.
That’s over estimating. After removing the seats that would possibly bring the payload closer to 1.000 lbs.
Don’t want to be driving all around at near payload.
Front rotors can be upgraded and suspension (but that may also add to the payload).

Anyway, I’m looking for some thoughts on all of this.

Thanks in advance

Mike

 

A fully equipped camper van with a raised roof and all the same amenities you find in an RV will put an older E150 over it's payload rating, but that didn't seem to stop owners and aftermarket manufacturers from doing just that. However... a minimalist build with just a bunk and storage would be fine, my dad built one of those on a '78 E150 that we toured around in quite a bit when I was younger, and it did the job just fine.

 

I've been using a '93 E150 Companion Van conversion as a camper for the past 4 summers. It has a mid-high top on it and the conversion adds about 900 lbs. Removing the rear seats offsets about 200lbs.of that. That leaves a payload capacity of about 1100 lbs. For the first two years I owned it I hauled a 300lb. dual-sport motorcycle on the back plus all my other gear. I've driven it to Alaska and thru Colorado and other mountainous states with no problems. My camping setup consists of 2 deep cycle batteries (130lbs) with 2 solar panels, 900W LP generator + 5gall LP tank, (50lbs), a Swing-Away carrier w/Contico cargo box, ~20 gallons of water, a small 12v fridge,toolboxes, plywood platform bed,camping gear,etc. All that plus my weight adds up to no more 800 lbs.or so. Next year I plan to haul a motorcycle again and will probably add Hellwig helper springs.

 

Thanks
I'll keep the Hellwig springs in mind.

 

I've had 2 Turtle Top vans, a '74 Flatnose E200 and an '86 GMC 2500. Although these were both "3/4 ton" vans they were on car tires but were lighter unit body vans to begin with. Do you mean a brand name Turtle Top van with the folding fiberglass cap? My experience in Michigan was that the fiberglass broke down after about 12 years and the top would sag and go concave. This was keeping them outdoors in Michigan.

Edit--aha, I bet you are talking about passenger conversion vans with the fixed raised fiberglass caps. I would be wary of the fiberglass decomposing--because those vans are so tall, very few would have ever been garaged.

I also had a '96 Savana (1500) and an '02 E150 done as passenger/luxury conversions with low roofs. Although these were half ton rated they were pretty heavy. I usually drove them lightly loaded (we are musicians and bicyclists) but drove them on family vacations and Boy Scout trips full of people and with enough cargo that I was probably a bit over. The 350 in the Savana was great; the 4.6 in the E150 was marginal but got the best mileage of all the big vans.

My '86 GMC Turtle Top had a 305 and was useless/gutless with the stock axle ratio of 2.73--I changed it to a 3.42 posi and that helped but it was still pathetic with the camper stuff. You want a 350 in a Chevy over a 305 or a 4.3 V6. Oh yeah, I bought and flipped an '84 Chevy conversion van from a co-worker...that had a 350 and was also nice and gutsy.

In a Ford, you probably want larger than a 300 or 302 unless you're a patient and slow driver. You do NOT want the 4.2 V6 ever. (My '74 E200 was a pre-emissions 302 with a C6 and was surprisingly gutsy even with the camper stuff.)

Conversion vans in the 90's were often built as loss leaders and might have had the small engines. I bought my '96 Savana new with a 350 (Imperial conversion) and my '02 Ford new with a 4.6 (d'Elegant conversion, factory glass). The dealer had some Ford vans with the 4.2 as real loss leaders.

Another suggestion is to try to get a conversion with factory glass all around. (All of my vans had factory glass except the Savana.) Anything non standard means you won't find replacements, and where the factory cut out the windows is a rust source. Conversion vans were also often packed with fiberglass insulation that was not helpful with regard to rust-thru, and they were all kind of crummy, made to look fancy in the showroom but with cheap fabrics, seats, cabinets, toy TV's, etc.

Vans and pickups have been overloaded since they were invented but especially with an older one, I would not want to go above rated payload unless I had redone the suspension with all new shocks, bushings, and maybe even springs. One limitation on these vans was the P rated tires and the 235/75x15 in the XL rating was the highest they'd put on a "half ton" van. For the 3/4 and up, Ford used C, D, E rated tires and you could use those on a half ton van for a bit of extra capacity.

Good luck,
George

 

Thanks George,
I'll have to pay attention to the engines.
One I've been watching (it was listed 9 weeks ago and the price has come down once) has a 4.9 Inline 6 and a 3.55 rear end.
It looks in great shape with very low mileage but I still don't like his asking price (and it's in another state).
Anyway, I'm starting to feel better about an E 150 because I really won't be loading it up.
Like I said I can upgrade the front brakes and the suspension.
The one good thing is that I can always find an E 150.
The E 250s are hard to find.

 

I drove full size vans from 1986 to 2016 and now am in a "tiny" Grand Caravan, retiree with no grandkids (yet)...still carry bicycles and guitars and amps

The gorilla in the room here is car vs truck tires (4 ply rated vs 6+ ply rated). In the early days, starting with the '68 Ford Supervan, big vans were all unibodies and were light-ish, like under 4000 lbs empty Maybe under 3500 for shorty half tons. With a 6000 lb GVW allowed by car tires like 235/75x15, you could put 1/2 and 3/4 ton vans on car tires. Ford could not do this starting in 1975 as the base van got heavier with separate body/frame. Or maybe they went a few years with an E200 or E250 with car tires but they got too heavy. GM had 3/4 ton vans on car tires thru 1995 and conversions would have been on those. Same with Dodge as long as they built their full size vans. Savana came out in 1996 with a separate body/frame and got too heavy, so conversions dropped down to the 1500 half tons to keep the car tires.

Nobody would buy a luxury passenger conversion on C/D/E rated tires. I drove a low top Sprinter in 2002 before I bought my 2002 E150 conversion but the 60-80 lb tires would crash over everything in the road and that is not luxurious when the thing sounds like an old school bus.

GVW on my '02 E150 and my '96 Savana 1500 was 6800-7000 lbs I think, and they were on 235/75XL tires. Empty but with the conversion stuff they would have been 5400 lbs maybe, leaving 1400-1600ish lbs of payload. This would have been reduced by fiberglass tops.

Ya know, if you look at GM/Chevy vans pre-1996, there will be a LOT of 3/4 ton conversions and they will have more payload because they are lighter boxes. If you can get a non-rusted early 90's one this might seriously be your best bet. I really liked driving my '86 GMC conversion (same body as a 1995); with the 3.42 posi I had it over lots of fire roads and some really rugged terrain. The big unit bodies really were nice and tight handling vans. You really want a 350 engine, though, not a 305.

And yeah, get a larger engine if you can. I had a '78 Flareside F100 with the 300 inch six (4.9) with 4 speed overdrive and that was way too long geared to get up a hill...2.75 with a .7 overdrive or something putting it under 2.2!? I drove stuff like 12 foot box trucks with the 4.9 and it would move them around, probably faster than a VW bus still.

 

Good info.
Not sure why I've been stuck on Ford.
I'll have to do some research into Chevy and GMC.

Thanks