Hello fellow Safarians from Ontario

[Mark7]

Hi, we are a big family of 8 that loves to travel...I'm on the forum to try to make this a better experience for us. Need more power to haul all of us, a 4200lb trailer and our gear.

Best trip ever was from Ontario to the Texas/ Mexico border with the trailer, then 8 days into Mexico through the center without the trailer, back out to Texas, hooked up the trailer and went home via the East Coast, with a 4 day stop on North Carolina's Outer Banks beaches - total time on the road 28 days.

Too bad it wasn't all downhill, because that part was pretty easy haulin'!

I've been a-lurking here awhile, and am especially intrigued with the V8 option.

[Smiliesafari]

Welcome, Mark. The V8 swap is the way to go. It's been done a bizzilion times. Every detail has been worked out. It could probably be done in a weekend if you have everything at hand. The general consenses is that the 350 is the way to go. Although, the 305 is also a viable choice. IMO there isn't that much difference if your goal is daily driver use. The 305 could be a bit less expensive as they are not as popular as the 350.
Nice trip you had. Cherie and I use our Safari for traveling also. We've been all over this country. The van is about the most perfect travel vehicle I've owned.

[mdmead]

Welcome!

Wow, that sounds like it was quite a trip!

As stated, you can't go wrong with a 350 V-8 swap. In your case, there are two critical areas you wouldn't want to take any shortcuts with due to your heavy load: Cooling and the transmission. Both can be overcome though. Many folks use the stock cooling system for the V-8 swap, but I'd suggest finding a bigger radiator. It's tough to beat the factory fan system, but a good electric system will work too. The factory trans can work, but with 180K miles, I'd go with an upgraded V-8 spec replacement or rebuild and make sure it has a big tranny cooler.

[LiftedAWDAstro]

Another quick (relatively) and cheaper route to go would be to swap 4.10 gears in. If you have 3.42's now, this would be a BIG improvement as far as power and towing ability goes. Look on your RPO code, located in the glovebox, for a code or 2 that start with G such as G80 and GU6. A gear swap can be done for around $500 to $750 depending on your local shop rates. Of course, if you do plan to do the V8 swap, 3.73's would be better.

[Mark7]

Thanks for the advice, I hadn't thought of gear changes. I'll look through the forums for more info as this is not something I know a lot about. How does this affect towing mileage?

I turned off the trip computer on the overhead console during this vacation because seeing an average fuel economy of 9 mpg was just too depressing.

[LiftedAWDAstro]

You will see a little better towing economy as you would be able to use OD on the flats and 3rd the rest of the time. The van won't be down shifting into 2nd to make the hills at 40 - 45 mph! Yours being a 2WD makes the gear swap reasonably cheap.

kinda off topic a little...

How does your van handle the camper? We had an 03 AWD and found with out Jayco 232 hybrid, I could not get the van to pull the camper where it felt safe. It was way under powered but that wasn't the main issue I had. Our camper has the torsion axles and it tends to bounce a lot. We even feel it behind the 3/4 ton truck. What suspension does your camper have, leaves or torsion? Does it sway and throw the van around? What WDH do you use?

There is a thread in the towing section for posting pics of your van towing trailers. Please post up many pics! We love pics.

[Rileysowner]

Hi back from a fellow Ontarian. Where abouts are you located. I am in Southwestern Ontario not too far from London.

[Mark7]

How does your van handle the camper? We had an 03 AWD and found with out Jayco 232 hybrid, I could not get the van to pull the camper where it felt safe. It was way under powered but that wasn't the main issue I had. Our camper has the torsion axles and it tends to bounce a lot. We even feel it behind the 3/4 ton truck. What suspension does your camper have, leaves or torsion? Does it sway and throw the van around? What WDH do you use?

The van NEVER felt safe towing, every time a truck passed us the whole rig got pushed violently to the side. Eventually it became manageable by increasing the tension on the tow bars leveling system to a very stiff setting. I'm planning another trip with the family to the East Coast of Canada, Halifax area, and I have ordered a Timbren Suspension Enhancement System http://www.timbren.com/ses-kits.htm Check out this product and let me know what you think. ***Edit - I did a search on this site and found out a lot of you have tried these with success*** It works like an air bag rear suspension support but is entirely rubber, seems easy to install, pretty foolproof. With this I should be able to reduce the tension on the tow bars to a safer level. I will be happy to post my experience with the product after the trip.

[Mark7]

Nix the Timbrens, I bought a pair of Monroe Air Max - half the price - I will report on effectiveness after next trailer trip