I've considered buying a 2002. A note on the 53-block, most that were going to fail already have.
Absolutely true.
A note on the 02's.. many were "high ouput" which actually had a slightly turned up vp44, but smaller injectors. If you plan to swap injectors it's not a big deal. I put 75hp injectors in mine and they only cost $600 for the set and took me 3 hours to install (a month later my buddy with an 05 psd f250 spend $4500 for a shop to replace all of his injectors--ouch!).
An 02 would have the 6 speed which would be sweet.