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Not your typical build. 50 metro on an E350 powerstroke chassis

27K views 58 replies 29 participants last post by  Corey@CNCFAB 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey Everyone, New here. Just wanted to catalog my build i'm currently working on and see what you guys thought of the project. If this sub is an incorrect place for this just let me know. Ok the plan..

Take a 1950 international step van, remove the questionable chassis and 90 horse inline 6 and replant the body on a 7.3l powerstroke chassis and have the worlds only (to my knowledge) turbo diesel metro van.

seems simple enough.

First step was to find the coveted international harvester (1938-1964) shorty van, because the 7 1/2 ft body style will look all the more awesome on top of a heavy duty chassis with oversized off road tires.

These things are getting much harder to find these days and especially for a decent price. I roamed CL for a few months before one popped up that was in my price range and I drove the 250 miles to pick it up from a fellow that was thinking of turning it into a taco truck, and if I had not showed up, said he was about to trade it for an older teardrop trailer!
Bringing it home. It had 1/2in to spare on each side of the trailer. Sooo glad it fit and we didn't have to make another trip.

Here it is in all its 65 year old glory

The previous owner tried to retrofit it to be a camper and sadly threw the rear doors away to make space for an attached rear camper made of formed shed siding :(
They also made rear windows from square bathroom sliders, which totally clashed with the round body lines.




First Step. Clear everything out. This thing was gnarly inside. Rat poop littered every crack and they kept the original cancerous insulation within the rusted sheetmetal walls.




I underestimated the amount of junk you could pack into that tiny shell.


After hauling a trailer full of junk to the dump, I powerwashed the inside a few times. Caution, don't wear anything you want to wear again while doing this.



Pulling the body off




In 1950 this bad boy produced 90 hp at 3600 rpm. Dope.


The square windows had to go, I did like the idea of having siding that hinged open but when closed didn't disrupt the natural look of the van. So it was time to fabricate.
Planing out the shape.



Hand shaping the window frame.




Now this needs to be replicated on the opposite side exactly.. somehow.

Not shown: The framing on the window themselves and the hundreds of hours to get the gap a perfect 1/8 in on both sides.






This whole process took a few weeks and then was put on the back burner until i was able to find a donor vehicle in a decent price range.

I managed to score a 95 E350 Powerstroke with 270k miles in good running condition for less than 1K!



The width was 6" wider than my trailer, so it looks like were driving it home on these tires!


The teardown!

It was used to transport crates on a winery and everything was welded together. The only way to get to the body bolts was to cut it out.



As luck would have it the red dirt that built up on the bolts was corrosive enough to make the bolts almost impossible to loosen. Ended up grinding them out anyways. Oh well.


Removing the rest of the interior


Time to pull the body.
The plan was to seperate the cab from the body to make it much more manageable to work with, plus I could use all the stock mounting points for the steering, brake etc!


Wasn't sure if this would work. Turns out its a pretty effective way to remove a body if you have a man lift laying around.


The 1950 international chassis paired next to the new powerplant! Looks like theres some serious cutting that needs to be done.


After dropping the tank, driveshaft, exhaust, and moving the fuel lines out of the way it was time to cut.

The two wheelbases I'm working with are.
Metro shorty: 101.5 in
E350: 137.5 in

36in had to come out of the frame. I'll worry about the gas tank relocation later.



Wooo. Starting to look like a proper swap now. Next up welding the frame together.


That brings us to where i'm currently at now!
Hope this isn't too odd ball for what's appropriate here. Any thoughts, i'd love to hear them.
 
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#2 ·
Definitely an interesting build!
 
#5 ·
Oh awesome insight!

To be honest the lateral cut never even crossed my mind. I was just anxious to see what it would look like shortened up ha.

Went to the local scrap yard today and bought 1/4 steel plates about the width of the frame rails to sandwich together on either side. Should do the trick.

I'll post some updates soon after it's all welded up! Thanks.
 
#6 ·
That is so cool.. What are you going to use this thing for?
 
#7 ·
That thing is awesome.
 
#9 ·
Ok, I got the frame tacked into place using 6"X14"x0.25" plates and made a hexagon shape on the sides for diagonal structure.
These two pieces sandwich the frame together on either side and I'm going to wait until I have the body mounts complete and all other metal work done then pull the body and finish the seams.

The wheelbase came out to exactly 101.5 in on either side after I welded up the plates which was a relief. exact same as stock.

Forgot to take a pic of it before I mounted the new body on but here is a blurry picture of it. Thanks for the advice on that Drunk On Diesel!



After I was able to roll the chassis around I went to town on the stock firewall to get everything off and wiring out of the way to see what I was working with.



I decided I reaaaally don't want to deal with the hassle of AC. ripping the lines, compressors, and ducts out makes everything so much cleaner. Not to mention the ridiculous firewall structure it requires to get it functional. No thanks, I have a window!



Seeing how the 7.3 is a bit wider than the original inline 6 on the metro. there was a bit of trimming to be done before I could drop the body on.

Luckily It was just flat sheetmetal on the metro that will be pretty easy to fab up a new inner fender once I get the body underneath.


The biggest modification I had to do is cut a 3" section out of the steps on the metro. Since the frame rails sit on the inside of the rails and the fords chassis is 5" wider than the metro it would hit the steps.

Not too difficult. just cut a strip out. move the side of the step in, weld, and repeat on the other side.



The only thing left before the drop was to cut the rear frame rails slightly. they were sticking out 2" past the rear sheet metal. Sooo close!

I only have a center lift, which are awesome for everything from sanding to tire rotation. but for body swaps they are not ideal.

I set about trying to ghetto rig a stand on either side that i could mount the body on, and still roll the chassis underneath it.

Don't worry. This is exactly as janky as it looks.


Nothing flipped when I let the weight off the lift. noice.


Rolling the body underneath



Checking the engine fitment


Since there is pretty much no firewall on these step vans there was clearance for days.



Ahahaha that stance tho.










Testing the stock radiator fitment. It somehow fits perfectly with not an inch to spare on either side!



Finally able to roll it in the garage to work on it. The stock tires have about a 2" wider wheelbase upfront compared to the rear. So with a different wheelset it will look a little less wonky.

I plan on increasing the front fender wells to accommodate the offset and make it look that much more beastly!

So far I am super happy with just how ridiculous this thing is turning out.

Next up is to fortify the body mounts and secure the original firewall with all the stock fittings for wiring, breaks, and steering. It should save a lot of time in the long run.

Also, I'm dealing with having to do a rear tank relocation. Anyone know where I can find a rear mount diesel tank with stock fittings that is compatible with the 95 chassis width?
I assume I'll have to nock out the rear x member wich isn't a big deal.

More updates soon!
 
#10 ·
I got around to taking a 3in strip out of the side steps so that I could weld in place the vertical walls of the steps where they needed to go.

Taking the strip out was necessary since the frame rails on the e350 ended up being a bit wider and unable to fit between the sidesteps.



The bad part about that was It meant I had to remake the center floor section that covered the transmission. It wasn't too big of a trouble since it came as a flat piece from the factory.



I had to fab up all the mounts for the gas pedal, brake booster and pedal, ebrake, steering column, and seat. I somehow got pretty lucky and it only took 1 try to get everything in place.

framing up the floor



Everything fits!


Afterwards I had to increase the size of the doghouse since the 7.3 v8 was a bit wider than the original inline 6. fortunately I could salvage most of it and only had to redo a corner section.





Next it was time to mount the radiator and since I had room, I ordered a cheap front mount of ebay. Should do a little bit better than the stock turbo to intake dump the E350's have.



After I removed the downpipe and fabed up a 3.5 in straight pipe directly out the side. ordered a 4in stack to continue the exhaust up and should arrive shortly.

 
#13 · (Edited)
new update. I got the stack mounted up as you can see below, and the last thing I needed to do before sandblasting was to modify the gas tank to fit.

I ordered a rear mounted f250 tank from the same year but it uses a different size sending unit and doesn't have a place for the vacuum lines.

So I decided to use the original tank and cut that to fit. Since I shortened the frame 36" I had to cut the tank down a bit less than half to fit.

The original is 35 gal so this should come out to around 20 gal. A lot of people would probably want something bigger, but with the straight pipe and stack beneath the old sheetmetal, not sure if i want to drive longer than a few hours without stopping anyways.





Cutting the fuel tank.


Yea I know. not winning any awards with those welds. as long as it doesn't leak!


Set in place.


Next was sandblasting. I used 3 bags of walnuts before I realized it was going to take waay too long. Picked up about 10 bags of sand and by the time i was done I went through probably 50 bags.







Sandblasting took 2 days. inside and out along with the frame. word of caution. don't leave your car outside overnight after sandblasting. I had to go back over half the car after it rusted overnight ha.

After everything was blasted I had a buddy come over and finish the welds on the frame for me. Yea he's much better.


Next thing to do was prep and pain the frame. I used some thick high gloss black I had laying around.




Ready for the body drop!


Still unsure what color I'm going for. I want to keep a semi rat-rod look. If I start going down the road with body work, I might never come back. So something like this is what i'm thinking. Quick easy. and will seal the metal. Plus If I ever change my mind I can paint over the top.



More updates soon.
 
#14 ·
Damn man, looks cool and definitely unique. I can't wait to see the finish of this build! Keep it up!:beer:
 
#16 ·
in to see it finished :thumb:
I cant wait to see this completed :nod:
 
#17 ·
That's an awesome project! Can't wait until my kids are grown ugh....
 
#18 · (Edited)
Thanks guys!

An update from last time. I started framing up the floor pan so I could finally cover the gaping hole in the van bed. (the original was cut out to make room for a small storage space.) Since I didn't want too much movement in the floor I framed up about 1 ft square sections with some square tubing I had laying around.




Then I cut a piece of 16 guage steel to fit right in place. It was just a hair smaller than the precut 4x8



I finally got around to scrapping the van body since I scavenged every piece I could possibly use on it. Too bad the scrap yard isn't paying for metal right now :(





I got my driveshaft back from the shop. After $200 here it is in all its 2 foot glory. I think its quite cute.


I went around and finished the welding on the outside of the van and ground everything down. Since the bottom sides of the van had too many rust holes to make them repairable, I decided to just cut out the half circles that trimmed the bottom and bought a 5 foot section of tubing off amazon for cheap. I sawed it in half and welded each side in.





After searching ebay I found some original mini hatch hinges I thought might work for the side windows.
It took a LOT of cutting, including cutting a 45 degree in the top back of the windows so they wouldn't bind up when they opened.


Im just waiting on shock mounts and weather strip until they are completely done.

Since I don't have a front or rear bumper I decided to just make the body shaved for right now. Looking at the front I wanted to give it a bit bigger presence, So I cut each corner of the front fenders and added in a 2 in section that will drop it down.


I then used 16 guage steel in the center and rolled the bottom to match the natural curve of the body panels.



At this point I thought a lot about the paint . It would be easy to clear coat it but now having the mismatched panels everywhere I think it would take away from the overall look of the vehicle if they weren't blended together somehow.

Since Im about as good of a bodyman as I am a welder I decided on a compromise.
After searching pinterest for a bit I stumbled on this.

Such a badass car, but more importantly the paint is clean yet rat rod-y at the same time. it should blend everything together but give enough room to cover up my bondo mistakes.

A base coat and top coat sanded through with clear over everything. The color I went with is similar to this tiffany blue scheme here.



I got some aqua paint in and decided to test it on my tank, springs, and shocks, since I think those will look better if they stood out once the vehicle was mounted on top.






I ordered some retro style west coast side mirrors that should look pretty sweet sticking out a foot or so on each side. (these i'll paint body color)


And I picked up my exhaust from my buddy who helps out with powdercoat. He was shooting some matte black when I pulled up so matte it is!
haha yea thats the entire exhaust. May have to get a heat shield..


for wheels and tires. I really like the steampunky look that the rat rods use. I wanted a dually front and a deep dish rear since with my current offset My rear wheel is right at body line and my front is sticking out 3 inch.

These are the wheels I went with. 16x6 in the front with a 2in dually adapter and 16x8 in the rear. For tires I went with 285-75-r16 mud terrain and front 235-85-r16 mud terrain!





Thats it for now! I just laid down a coat of por15 underneath the body and will have to wait until next week when the rain stops to paint the interior and assemble the two halves back together!
 
#19 · (Edited)
Ok, since last time i've taken the body on and off a few times.
I Pulled the body off the original chassis I was using as a roller while I was painting the frame.

Before I reassembled the two halves back together I undercoated the entire underneath of the body and all supporting frame.



Soooo nice to have a clean engine compartment and seeing the 7.3 in there :D


Next I finished the window struts so they would seat in the correct place before I started the body work.

Took a lot of trial and error to get them to work properly and not hit anything. They work beautifully and close over center so they pull them selves in at the bottom, That was not intentional but I'll claim it was :D

Repeat the process for the other side and hope they open the same!



After that It was time to get the wiring in.
This was the mess I started with.


The amount of dirt and old tape that came off it was incredible.

I went to harbor freight and bought 20 rolls of black tape, Cleaned and rewrapped the harnesses. It 6 hours of pure boredom.
All clean!


I started trying to lay the wiring throughout the car but after a few hours of getting nowhere decided to just pull the body back off and lay the harness out since the body was not yet bolted down and the only wirign that really needed to be in the cab were the dash and steering column.

I created new battery trays, since there was no room in front, and I was running a straight pipe out the side I put both batteries on either side of the driveline. The access panel on the metro would make it able to get to it if I needed and it was the original location of the battery back in 1950, not that that matters.

Both batteries in place.


Steering column and dash hooked up!
You can also see my sweet shifting setup haha. The stock tree was broken when I bought it and instead of buying a boring oem replacement why not just make your own! The screw on tap handle was a nice touch if I say so. But yes, it is an auto trans haha. strictly for style points.


Next up was plumbing. I remounted my front mount and got my radiator out of the shop. Also put the stack on.


I mounted my tranny cooling in front of the radiator and plumbed everything.


All of the connections hooked up!


I used the stock body mounts off the E350 and bolted the body to the frame finally where It should sit for the rest of its life!
After bolting it together I realized the drivers sde sat about 1/2 in taller (something I never noticed while making the mounts)

So I had to make some quick shims before Bolting it completely down. But it sits level now.

I wanted to make the mirror mounts before I started body work and since the mounts for big rig mirrors online are both expensive and probably wouldn't come close to fit, I decided to make my own. Plus I could get the exact look I wanted.

I took 5/8 diameter tubing and started cutting and flattening the ends to get the mirror position I wanted.


Since the Stack stuck out the side a considerable amount, I had to push the mirrors out quite a bit.
I think It adds to the badassness of the look anyways so i'm not complaining.


Mirroring the mounts to give the mirrors the same position on both sides was definitely the hardest part.



Before I started the bodywork, I needed to find rear doors, Since when I bought it, the previous owner had ditched them in favor of a sweet shed attachement.

I have actually been searching for the past few months for a set since I knew this could hold the project back and there isn't really an oem dealer for parts like this.

I got word that someone down in socal had a bunch of international parts laying around and was rumored to have a set of doors.

Finally got a hold of him and it turns out they are the exact model that came off the shorty I have! Sooo lucky. I'm an alright fabricator but not that good.

He had them shipped to me in 2 days for less than raw materials would have cost me!

They are beat up and delaminating but priceless to me.


I sandblasted them, rehinged them, and mounted them to see the fitment.

So dope.



At this point I'm starting the dreadful process of getting the body relatively straight before I paint. I'm terrible at it so it will take me some time and a lot of bondo.


Im about ready to mount my wheels and tires up and am currently trying to get it fired up.



This is where I'm running into trouble. I'm about as bad at electronics as I am bodywork, And Although I was able to wire everything up and get it to turn over. I haven't had any luck getting the engine to fire.

The wait to start light doesn't even seem to turn on on keyturn so I'm afraid I may had fried the pcm with a crossed wire somewhere but I have no clue.

If anyone has an easy guide of how to check glow plug heating, and fuel pressure So I can rule those out I would love to hear it.
 
#20 ·
Your pcm isn't turning on. Therefor you glow plugs won't work.
There should be a shrader valve on your fpr. Use a tire pressure gauge to check it

I would double check all your fuses. You need to get the wait to start light.
 
#21 ·
Great progress!!!
 
#23 ·
I know that the word is overused these days... But - in the truest sense of the word - this is awesome.

Edited to add...
The above post wasn't there when I went to type this. How funny.
 
#25 ·
I don't know why but this thing reminds me of the jeepers creepers van.
 
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