not sure if this is the right place but...


I have been offered a one owner 1984 E350 extended body ambulance chassis (raised roof) 65,000 original miles on it… I think it is a 460cdi… he said it uses a lot of gas… will it run on regular???
It was bought new then sent to a custom conversion builder, and a custom painter flown in from Calif. For the paint work
The conversion company is naturally out of business…
Owner say it has bee plagued with electrical problems and has a huge parasitic drain that kills the batteries quickly…
All five tires are original equipment and any time something needed fixed it was…
It has been stored in a warehouse from new until two years ago and outside in his driveway since…
It spent a month at a ford dealer because of electrical problems that they couldn’t fix and they installed a dual battery cut-off to prevent the batteries from being drained… (of coarse clocks and all memories are lost when turned off)
Body and interior are supposed to be good, seats were imported from Europe and are leather…
I haven’t seen it yet, but will this weekend…
Any thoughts or comments will be appreciated… is a van this old even worth the look???

 

First off the electrical systems in ambulances are crazy complicated and quite often have electrical issues. That is why most ambulances have a battery switch and a shore power plug in. I have a 1984 F-250 with a 460 and a C-6 with a 4.10 rearend. When I got it, 7.5 mph was the best it would get. With a carb change, a 3" exhaust and a dist. recurve I now have it up to 10.5 mpg, keeping it under 60 mph and with an empty truck. Well that is not quite true, it will do the 10.5 mpg with a quad in the truck bed too. 7.5 is about what it gets with camper or trailer or both.

 

thanks

I thought when he said ambulance chassis he was referring to the suspension heavier anti-sway bars, a huge alternator, and maybe the raised top… I thought the wiring and interior was done by the custom van converters in Elkhart he hired after purchase… I don’t think it was actually equipped as a ambulance ever…
I could be wrong about this and will find out more when I go to see it…

It has the optional HD tow package, what ever that includes… my Excursion had the tow package and it didn’t even include a rear anti-sway bar…

I am attempting to find all the information I can before going to see it… haven’t found anywhere how the ambulance chassis was different…

Thanks again…

I had hoped I would get more information here but maybe I am posting in the wrong forums…

 

What you need to understand about this site, lot of hot rod truck, car & boat guys on here & not many vans owners.
I'm in the same boat, cause I have a motorhome with 460. Still though, I read what they got to say & then see if its something that will work for what I'm trying to do. If what they say has something to do with the engine or trans, more than likely it will work on that part.
Some imformation is better than none, you just got to take what they give & try to transfer it to your needs.

Has the Alt been replaced, or is it the same one came with the van.
Being an ambaulance chassis, could be it has a different Alt than what Ford normaly puts on them & could be the built in regulator is stuck keeping the system hot, even after the key is turned off.

A cheap way to check for a battery drain, will take a few days checking, but pull a fuse & let sit over night see if it stopped the drain during that time.
Neil