Hey guys, I've got a 92 class c motorhome with a puny Ford 351w engine. I've towed my XJ on a trailer and flat tow. Both ways it's really gutless. Going uphill sucks at 20 mph. It really seems to bog down in 2nd gear. Any power mods that will actually help? Headers will be a PITA as its got air injection; hard to find compatable ones (and yes I do live in Cali). Was going to redo the exhaust and get an intake, but doubt that will do much. Any power programmers? I hope the answer isn't "you are screwed, the motor sucks, ditch it and buy a new one," because I'm broke. Thanks for any ideas.

My wife and i are trying to avoid this from happening to us..we are thinking buying a step van and building it.Outside of that it would be a powerstroke swap with a donor van or truck..anyways

id look into a high flow exhaust and a used blower from a stang.Get a whipplecharger if you can and meth injection..Centrifigulls need rpm..You will have to fab some shit but hey your on pirate arent you.:smokin:

Comp cams sells a few camshafts that are torquey and still smog legal.

Also look into shorty headers with air tubes on them..They may be legal if they are sold for trucks/vans..Boy i dont know how you mofos do it..Fucking commies in cali.

I guess a craigslist van with a powerstoke is outta the question?

Ya, I'm trying to avoid a complete engine swap. Too bad I couldn't just borrow the 496 from my yukon :D

I can understand that..Really look into the blower..Maybe score and intercooler for it as well..www.turbomustangs.com is a good site..

They helped me with a few off the wall combos before..Also have good used parts..Stangbanger swap parts like crazy and sell them resonable.

Gears. If it doesn't have at least a 4.56 gear, then I'd swap some in. It should have an overdrive. I'd gear that thing to run 3000 rpm at 65 in O.D. You don't need to run more than 70-75 in that thing, especially towing, if it took 4.88 gears, that's what I'd run.

If you have to have more power, swap in a 4" crank, some better heads, bigger valves, more cam and a monster exhaust. Headers will work, but you'd have to talk to a referee about that. They may only be legal in an F350 truck, not the E350 van chassis.

Get a programmable PCM kit and tune that thing a little fat to keep the motor happy at full load.

I'm not a big fan of a blower on a tow rig. They spend too much time at WOT under 100% load.

That 351 is a good engine, just underpowered for what you want to do with it. There are lots of things you can do to get air in and out of it faster.

I'll second the deep gears thought, but getting more air into and out of the engine will make a noticeable difference in performance.
Travis..

Why not have a screw compressor on a tow rig?Most real tow rigs or work trucks have forced induction..Am i missing something.

Screws work like a raped ape with a dildo stuck in its ass..A meth kit and the proper fmu would be a good way to go.Its a pretty much bolt on ala lightning trucks of the 1st gen..Not being in that commiefornia im not sure of legality of it though.Lucky for us on the east coast we can still find a guy named mortamer or pookie and pass him a few hundred to get a sticker.:smokin::flipoff2:

Thanks for the ideas. It currently only has 4.10 gears, so I'd like to go up to 4.56s. Been having trouble finding smog legal headers with air ports. Found one set (jba i think), but they were over a grand!

If you can't or don't want to afford headers, skip them. You should however build a new low restriction exhaust system. Use a flowmaster "Y" collector and build a nice 3" system with the muffler and high flow cat of your choice.
Also come up with a low restriction intake that will take cold air from the grill area.
Travis..