 need abs/winter help also power
Hi all! i'm new here. my name is Paul, and i live in wisconsin. as some of you may know, wisconsin is not the place for regular weather patterns. take yesterday for example. i woke up, it was freezing. by noon, it was snowing, by 3 it was sunny and warm (warm in wisconsin at this time in the season being 35-40 degrees F) and so around 315 i went to wal-mart. (currently my 1987 E-150 is the only transportation i have because i'm selling my small, very fuel efficient, and very unreliable, newer car.) when i got out to the parking lot 35 minutes later, it was a blizzard, and i couldn't see 75 yards in front of me! i somehow found my van, had to wipe off the windows, mirrors, and so on, got in, drove away, and promptly understeered past a turn (at 5 mph). then driving down a side street (with a moderate arch in the road) i tried to accelerate and the back end slid to the right, followed by the left, then finally i got it after a block or so (still blizzarding at this point) then going 15 mph someone pulled in front of me and i was already slowing down, but the tires locked, no ABS (which the manual says is equipped on my van) and i nearly sllid into him if it wasn't for me pumping the breaks and the thing sliding to the right because of the crown in the road. now i'm worried that my ABS (if equipped, i don't know, this van is as old as i am it was my father's that i inherited) doesn't work, and my tires suck. i don't think it should snow anymore (but then again it did yesterday) this season but can anyone recomment a good set of snow tires, and perhaps some reasons why my abs wouldn't work? perhaps any other concerns? would a limited slip diff help me climb a hill in that snow? of course it was some of the slipperiest snow i've driven on, or is it because my other car had snow tires and was amazing in the snow that i'm just not used to this boat. i plan to keep it until it dies so any future advice would be greatly appreciated.
also i haul alot of stuff around in this thing and i've been noticing it is kinda slow. it has a 5.0 EFi and a 4 speed overdrive automatic transmission. i have the following power modifications done to it: gibson 3" exhaust, headers (i think gibson, not sure cant see) a stronger ignition coil, some other ignition thing (i think msd) which may or may not work right now, a hypertech chip and a k&n filter. is there anything else anybody has tried to get more power out of it? i see that summit has a bunch of top end kits (heads, gaskets, cams, all of that jazz) that comes up when i search but it all seems generic 302 windsor and i don't know if the econiline has the same 302 as the ones that these kits are meant for. if there is any extra info anybody can give me about this engine (codes, specs, ect) or where i can find them it would be appreciated.
does anybody know how long these engines last anyway? my dad used these for work trucks and said he would get 180,000 with much abuse (work truck) and still run with atleast 7 cylinders left. mine has 110,000 but has been cared for extensively and runs terrific. it was only a work truck for 1 month and then turned into a conversion van because it sucked so much at turning into driveways and was (take a guess) terrible in the snow. since then it has served much time as a highway/road trip machine and had a bit of heavy towing in its life, when it got the power mods and a full towing set up. also i hear that the transmission (4 speed overdrive auto) isn't a sturdy one and more power would probobly tear it up. it seems to be working great right now and i don't plan on abusing it like i said, i'm stuck with it untill it dies, and i like it so i plan to make that a while) but does anybody know anything about this transmission or if another one would fit in there? again, info would be greatly appreciated.
thanks!
Paul Rufledt | 
Linear Mode
