Vehicle summary
Fresh out of build this 2008 E-450 4X4 custom platform. This rig has been part of our family for the last several years and has been worked on periodically until a few months ago when we got to work and brought it up to speed. This is a turn-key platform that’s had all the complicated work done and just needs the buildout finished to your own specification.
We are a vetted member of the 4X4 conversion van community and have been building 4X4 vans for close to 10 years now with several hundred on the road. This van was professionally assembled with tested components and thoughtfully constructed to be both durable and enjoyable.
Chassis
We purchased this rig several years ago as a stripped ambulance body with the hard to find “extra cab”, good for about 12” of extra cabin space between the front seats and the cab. From there, we mounted a 10 foot box stretched to 12 feet with components provided by Supreme, the original box manufacturer. Next, we reinforced the box superstructure with 1.5” square aluminum tubing studs that are tied together by a long stud at the top of each box size, which ties into the whole aluminum outer box frame making the box far more rigid. Most recently, the box was separated from the body, all the body mounts under the box and the oak spacer beams replaced with new ones, new hardware, many new U-bolts, custom rear bumper, and the cab was re-sealed to the box to prevent any leaking between the two.
The van has a 5” coil spring 4X4 conversion that we just completed fresh. We actually converted it to 4X4 several years ago, but it was one of our earlier vans completed by a previous employee, so we just pulled everything out, including the axle which was replaced, and completed the work with our most current offerings. Essentially everything serviceable is new or rebuilt, tie rods, ball joints, drag link, u-joints, front driveshaft, (rear driveshaft done during previous build), the t-case was gone through. It has new Bilsteins all the way around, the 4 link, track bar, Fox pitman stabilizer we build, new brake calipers, pads, rotors, etc, everything is all fresh.
Exterior
The body on this setup is in good overall shape. It’s user grade, meaning if you scratch it or get a ding, it’s not going to break your heart, but it looks nice enough most people will think it’s very clean. I’m not going to stand here and tell you it’s perfect. We had the body painted when we bought it, van was white from the factory, then maroon for the ambulance company, then back to white. It has some rock chips on the hood edge, and a few small runs in the clear coat, some chippy spots on the clear on the roof of the van, etc. The windshield is fine but the trim is a little weak in places. We can replace it for $175 if you like.
The wheels are in good shape, they’re 8×6.5 all the way around, custom adapters in the front, factory size in the rear. The van has a Dana 80 in the back and a 60 in the front, 4.10 gears. It has mud terrain tires and would ride a bit quieter if it had all terrains, 285 70 17. We can install AT tires if you want them.
The box is fair as well, it has some paint chips in spots, scratches, and the front extension is a slightly varied shade of white you can see in direct sunlight only. If you really wanted to do it right, I’d say spraying the remainder of the van in raptor, maybe white, maybe another color, would be a really sound idea and although the rivets attaching the aluminum to the body don’t seem to be leaking, they were not sealed and painted in the way that the original ones are.
The van has a nice custom roof rack we built for it, roughly a hectare of use your imagination up there. The fiberglass roof was completely re-sealed with rubberized membrane, and a good bit of the trim was sprayed in raptor liner and looks very presentable. The white membrane will help keep the van cool in the summer. We built a reinforced frame for the fan, so if you wanted to put an A/C unit up there in the future, it has the weight capacity to hold it.
Interior
The cabin is nice and clean. It doesn’t smell off, van is well equipped, power windows and mirrors, it has carpet and nice custom canvas upholstery we did a while ago. There’s one small tear on the drivers seat upper side. We did a fair amount of sound deadening, the whole front floor pan, doors, the doghouse was done with fire-wall sound deadening material, quiet for a 6.0 4X4 inside.
The van doesn’t currently have air conditioning, the rear a/c lines are cut. We can plug these and charge the system at cost, probably $350-$500. Everything else works fine. We’ve done the full bit of trim in this area where the ambulance design it had before kind of left us a lot of empty holes and exposed bits. It looks great now, and you could foreseeably build quite a bit of additional storage and usage into some of these areas.
The box was well thought out as a platform and with something like 6 foot 3 of interior height, it has quite a bit of head room for a box van. It originally had a roll up door on the side which we removed the whole track. That space was then framed out with steel to accept a standard size RV door which we sourced. The aluminum framing inside makes it very easy to attach things and a structure you could hang quite a bit of weight from.
As you can see, we framed out a bed platform with aluminum beams, and a galley frame as well. These are nice lightweight heavy duty solutions that are all tig-welded in place. There is very little deflection in the rear platform with a full-grown adult on it. Depending on what you do with it, you could put additional supports in, but the way it’s currently setup leaves you to your own design.
The floor in the van is oak underneath. The boards are in very good shape, we replaced one small section years ago by the side door where the wood needed done, and then the whole floor was laid with fiberglass cloth and poured epoxy to seal everything. Then we laid a subfloor and insulated between the sections and ran a bit of pre-plumbing and wiring just for the basics getting from front to back, side to side. The van is big enough inside, you should have no problem keeping all fresh water and plumbing inside the vehicle and insulated, with just grey or black water tanks underneath.
We did a bit more final prepping for the new owner, the van has nice laminate flooring laid on angle, 10mm MDF/ sanded ply wall panels that can be used to either finish on top of or wrap in landau and interweave. We also most recently knocked out the ceiling work. The ceiling has wiring run for the fan and 4x interior lights currently. It has been insulated with 600 gm Thinsulate, and is very well seated/affixed. The Cedar is a lightweight ¼” trim and it smells great and looks very professionally done.
The walls in the back have not been insulated completely yet, mostly because there’s build-out work that could be done before putting the insulation in. The windows are also not glued in, so you can kind of do what you want without getting in too much trouble. There are already a lot of chases done through the aluminum beams, and routing things around the existing structure won’t be difficult.
The van has a new Fiamma hard case awning, we built a custom ladder for the back, van has new fender flares up front, and we did some custom utility bed fenders on the box.
Engine, etc.
The van has had a fresh oil change, filter, and we did both fuel filters. It has 1 new battery and the other one is about 6 months old. The motor starts well and glow plugs work fine. I’ve driven it about 150 miles since the recent conversion was completed and a few thousand before that, really the motor sounds great and it’s always just been very reliable.
When I bought the van it had an oil pan leak and always has, and boy they aren’t fun to fix in something like this, so we did something I haven’t seen anyone else do, but it made sense..sectioning the engine cradle. It worked great, we made it serviceable for future owners, basically just a fully reinforced and boxed engine cradle setup that can be unbolted so the engine can be lowered or pulled out without messing with the body/box at all.
Now, we certainly hope you never have to pull the motor, but if you did, it wouldn’t be nearly the hassle as on a normal E-series. We replaced the lower and intermediate oil pans and they’re not leaking. There’s maybe just a very small amount of normal dampness like any used diesel, but it’s not leaving a puddle or significant drip. The van doesn’t smoke, trans shifts good, and motor sounds solid. I was told when I bought it, the EGR was deleted, but honestly I’ve never looked and it’s not really visible without removing a lot of components to get to it. It has the visible emissions equipment all in place, catalytic converter, etc, should pass emissions anywhere. We did just replace all 8 glow plugs and the harnesses. I started this van today when it was 6 degrees out and it fired up without fuss.
I don’t think there’s been any heavier work done on the van. I know someone’s going to ask if it’s been bulletproofed, etc, and E-series 6.0s just didn’t have the problems the trucks did because they came detuned from the factory. They don’t stretch head bolts like the trucks due and this being an 08, has all the 6.0 updates done they fixed from the earlier models.
The van isn’t a race truck, but it gets along pretty good. If you did install a tuner and delete the cat, let it breathe a little and watch your EGTs, you could safely get plenty of juice without too much risk.
Further
There just isn’t much out there like this ever, and it’s pretty rare for a fresh unit to come up for sale. Options are listed below and feel free to call. Questions can be directed to Tim @ 720 515 0427. Please leave a message if we don’t answer, we’re extremely busy right now, but happy to help you. Also, I don’t have time to do a build out on this rig right now, but we do appreciate the thought.
-We are a licensed Colorado dealer and will provide a 60 day temp tag as part of your purchase.
-Title delivery will be performed in approximately 30 days, though DMV can run as long as 45 days with current staffing.
-We do offer shipping/transportation on vehicle, this is a very large vehicle and would have to be shipped on a low-boy and with certain significant cost.
-Payment accepted: Personal checks (require clearing before vehicle can be delivered), cashiers checks, bank transfer. We can accept a portion of the vehicle payment via credit card. Anything over $15,000 will be charged a 3% fee. There is no financing available for this vehicle.
