my 78 Tradesman 100 van (the thing is the grandfather to the minivan, you know the type, shorter than a 2 door aspen) originally came with a slant and auto, however the main bearings were gone to the point the ...oh what do you call em, bearing rests? (i cant remember proper names unless i have the manual in front of me) were grooved up, totally shot. however i happened to stumble across a 360 auto in a garbage dump that the van it was in was rusted out. after bringing my freebee prize home, i pulled the slanter and dropped in the 360. i wish i had it on video, ever try to youse an engine lift in a gravel yard? i had to pull it out with a chevy 4x4 and use a bobcat to put it back in!

My questions are that, while this is NOT by any means a performance vehicle (the highest ive ever had it is 75mph, and thats at 4500+RPM), is there anything suspencion i should keep my eye on and possibly look to upgrade? (it has manual brakes disc front, 10" drum rear, actually stops damned quick) im especially concerned with front suspension, ive heard of and seen horror stories of original slant six vehicles getting trashed from the weight increase. (if i had a slant id put it back in, the 360 costs too much to fuel, lol) anything in paticular to look out for?

4500+@75mph? What rear setup do you have...5.38 gears and little lawnmower tires? Any engine that has to run that many R's is bound to suck the gas.... A long stroke slant especially is happier at lower revs, so I am left wondering about the accuracy of your tach... is it an aftermarket one with the little switch in back on 4 cyl? Then it would read twice your actual RPM's..... But as a front end alignment guy that has swapped slants for 8's before, my 79 D100 busted a front spring about 15K after the swap, I have changed many sets of springs in my job, and I remember Moog only showing 2, possibly 3 options on springs for Dodge trucks/vans of that vintage, regardless of engine or 1/2,3/4, or 1 ton rating... You gotta remember when you load down the back, where does the front end go? UP! Do not go with the Heavy Duty listing in this instance unless you run something like a big block dually with a plow or a tow truck with a huge front push bumper, the standard will work out nicely for you. Catch ya later,Don