Starting from scratch

[gargoyle666]

I'm hoping to buy in the next few months a late 90's early 00's E 450 or F450 ambulance and firstly I wonder which vehicle is the better choice? which one is a better built truck? what would be the primary differences?
this is likely to be a stock standard vehicle but I don't want it to stay that way for too long. Where do I start? After I upgrade the engine what else needs strengthening? I assume being an ambulance conversion it is likely to have uprated springs and may possibly have air ride suspension will that be enough to cope with more power. and what about the brakes and transmission?
I see that there is a lot of different upgrade paths will they all basically do the same thing?
what kind of max hp can I hope to achieve and what is that likely to cost. As I am overseas I will also need to source mostly diy or local mechanic type upgrades as there is no market over here for large personal vehicles. Toyota Hilux is the best seller here.
I'm actually brand new to the truck scene so I have little or no knowledge base to fall back on so any help will be greatly appreciated.
Garrett

[sirnunya]

Go F450. More room under the hood, more airflow, etc. Tranny will need to be upgraded with much more power added(same with all auto trannys). All the E-series came with a detuned engine, so an F-series is a much better place to start IMO. Only the 6.0 E-450's came with intercoolers, the 7.3's did not. I would think the brakes would be adequate. I'll let some others chime in on how much is costs for X amount of HP. You're probably good for around 400hp, but again I wouldn't know how much it would cost to get there.