[strokin2222]

Hello all, first post, so I'll throw a little intro out there. I'm Brian, ex Navy, now oilfield trash and proud of it! I just accepted a transfer in my company to work in Russia for some serious $$, start in a couple weeks so it's time to retire the ol' trusty 2000 F150 and move to a F250 crew.

I've been looking through these forums for a bit, and as much as I like the new trucks, but mpg/performance/reliability seems to all point to one place - the 7.3. From lurking around here, it seems you boys are getting 16+ mpg city with a few mods, where the 6.4 folks struggle to get that under any circumstances, so I'm seriously looking towards an '03. With the money I save getting an 03 vice a new one, I'll have plenty of $$ for mods, which I'm looking forward to learning more about.

That said, here's what I'm looking for, any advice on if I'm headed in the right direction:

1. I want the best mpg possible in a 250.
2. Limited to no towing (until I get my boat in a couple years)
3. Warranty shwarranty - I don't care, I'm the type that would drop my homeowner's insurance if the mortgage company would let me (after going through Katrina and doing the math on my damages, my houses could suffer a Katrina every 6 years and I'd be better off paying out of pocket to repair instead of having insurance).
4. Lots of aftermarket-ability - chips/programmers, pipes, etc.

Glad to have found this forum and looking forward to chatting with all of you.