I've given up on finding a 460 or V-10 van. All the V-10s are 15 passenger and the 460s have tons of miles. So can a 351 (1982) be built to say 375 - 400 foot pounds of torque?
Or what would it take to convert to a 460? I would like to pull at least 5000 lbs. And where I live we have some hills. My 150 is a super nice van so putting money into it wouldn't bother me too much. I've been using it for 10 years to pull my car trailer.
Is there a web page for that type of conversion? Book?
Thanks

 

Based on the fact that you are keeping the towed gross weight to around 5K you should be good with the 351. I have a "88 with a 351 and it will tow 5000 lbs stock.

If you built a modified 351 you will be OK. Look at changing the rear axle ratio to improve hill climbing. Also if you are going to replace the engine in your present van with another 351 then start searching for a 1994-1995 model 351 out of a Ford truck. This block is cast to take a roller cam and that's will go a long way to your power requirements and be more efficient too! Get the complete engine and get it rebuilt. Do some reading in the 289,302,351 forum section to see what kind of cam to get.
Replacing the heads with cast iron GT40's or some other performance head that is similar will also help, but just reworking the stock E7 heads on a mid 90's 351 is good too

If your van is a 1982 then it has a carb. You can get an aftermarket dual plane intake and a small 4 bbl carb, add long tube headers and aftermarket Y pipe into a 3 inch exhaust, you could also go dual but if you have the saddle tank you shouldn't.

 

You can easily do this by building a stroker motor based on the 351W block. This is something I may do in the near future with the 351W in my 96 E150. I currently have done a GT40 head swap with a set of Cobra 1.7 roller rockers along with shorty headers and a new full 3" exhaust. Adding a stroker short block under the GT40 heads will greatly improve the torque output without raising the powerband in the rpm range. I improved the rear gear ratio by going from 29" tires to 28 inch, this effectively changes the 3.55's to 3.67's in the final drive.

 

I've worked for a company that ran 'Tupperware' buses ('81-'85 E-450's and the like) and while the 460's would get these things to come off the line well, tuneups were really a pain, not enough room to change all the spark plugs without unbolting the motor mounts and lifting the motor.