The low-end torque is awesome; better than the 5.4L. It does not have the top-end HP that the gasser had. For example, we took a family trip to southern CA to visit the worlds greediest mouse (aka Disneyland). With all seven of us and our luggage, the Expy weighed in at 7200 lb. So no doubt some of you will want to make a joke about 7 dwarfs. Go ahead, I can assure you we are not small in stature nor insecure. Going over the Siskyous on I-5 I would have to shift down to 4th and the speed would drop to about 55-60 mph at full throttle; so I'm still basically keeping up with traffic but I could not whip out in the passing lane and pass anyone I wanted. Then going south on the Grapevine, the bottom part is the steepest and I dropped to 50mph at the steepest part. But mid-grade the slope decreases and I could shift back into 5th and go 65mph again.

I have pulled a couple of small utility trailers and you can definitely tell they are back there when going up a hill.

I think this problem could be solved with some of the common mods: smaller turbine section or turbo change from a 1st gen 6BT, turn up the fuel, advance the timing, etc. it is possible to get close to 200hp with these simple mods, and the torque goes up accordingly. So that would let me change my final drive ratio from 3.73 to 3.55 and drop 100 rpm to go the same speed. This means that instead of turning 2000 rpm at 65mph, I would be turning 1900 which puts me closer to the sweet spot for lowest fuel consumption. In most of Oregon, the speed limit is 60, so I would be right at the peak of torque and fuel efficiency.

I found my engine on Craigslist, from a guy that bought a bunch of bread vans at auction some years ago. This was the last one he had and he was done with projects and decided to sell it. I bought it with the starter and Ford transmission bellhousing.

As for your descision about a 4 or 6BT-- it depends on what you will be doing with it and the price of 4BTs in your area. If you are towing, I would lean towards the 6 cyl. In my area the 6BTs are easier to find and cheaper as well.