Reading thru this thread, I had to laugh... my only reply is that some of you take yourselves to seriously...
Case in point... I was talking to a fella yesterday at the job site, he's drivin' a '06 F-550 ext cab truck with the 6.0. Wants his 7.3 back, but the first thing he told me after I told him I had one, is "don't chip it, when I sold my old truck, with 206K on it, the person (I assume an uneducated driver) sold it to chiped it and blew it up in a few weeks." I'm guessing the person didn't watch the EGT gauge (if it even had one) and melted the pistons... this story gives the 7.3 a bad rap, and even 'chips'... but I will say as others have, all/any motor can have problems... but the driver can make a good thing bad.
I have my 2000 7.3 with about 166K on it now, with a chip (DP Tuner! love it!) and expect a long life from it... I drive smartly, watch the gauges, and have fun!
Best of luck finding a truck you like, and more importaintly, if I remember right, your off to the former USSR? Hope that works well for ya... are you getting this truck to take there? That would be cool...