A bit of a drive from the Twin Cities, but I used F&W Exhaust in Sauk Centre 23 years ago for the 2.5" Stainless on my '51 Ford Pickup.  That system has been trouble free for the entire time, and I probably have over 70,000 miles on that truck over the past couple of decades.

Lot's of viable alternatives out there in research labs, the challenge is finding something that scales economically and can be mass produced on the millions of barrels per day scale that is required to offset gasoline consumption.  Ethanol is the furthest along, but needs a better feedstock than corn.  If cellulosic based ethanol ever comes on line, it probably has the best shot.

It is fairly simple to convert an FE, especially a high compression engine.  Change the jetting and timing, make sure your soft parts are alcohol resistant and away you go.   

Personally, I am waiting for Ford to revive the Nucleon concept.  Uranium power, Baby! 

The best tip is to just get outside and do your thing.  It get's alot easier to handle if you just treat it like any other day.  The cold to you is just like the heat you OKies get in the summer, that us Minnesotan's wouldn't come near if our lives depended upon it. 

Lot's of fun can be had in the winter.

I built the 390 4V in this guy ('75 F-250 Camper Special) a few years ago before I sold it.  Re-used the stock intake and heads, but did some light port cleanup and a 3 angle valve job.  Bumped the compression up to 9.5:1 with new pistons.  Added a dual pattern Howard's cam and long tube headers.  That thing would haul that truck along like no-bodies business.  I am sure it was putting down well in excess of 400 ft-lbs.  The stock manifold did fine given the application. 

I have posted this on here before, but I run an Advance Adaptors Ranger Overdrive Gear splitter between the 6.9 IDI and T19 in my '85 F350.  It works great with that diesel and it's narrow RPM range.  8 forward and 2 reverse gears come in handy, plus rowing 2 sticks really confuses the millennial set.  I treat it like a 5 speed most of the time, start out in low range (1-2-3-4), upshift to High range when up to speed. My truck was a 2wd, so I only needed to shorten the rear driveshaft about 8 inches to make room for the Ranger unit and cut a 2nd hole in the floor for the relocated shifter.  Also had to extend the speedo cable, but that was minor.  With a 4WD unit, obviously there is a bit more work, 2 driveshafts and all.  I have been very happy with it, and have made multiple trips between SWMO and NW Minny with a 24' Pace enclosed car hauler hanging off the bumper.

Knowing what I know now, I would have put a Ranger Overdrive between the 390 and New Process 435 that was in my '76 F250 rather than dinking around for 2 years with an AOD conversion and still never getting that to work right. 

The 337 is very underappreciated from a performance standpoint.  Remember, at the time, the 337 was competing directly against the OHV Cad 331 and was very comparable in power output (154 hp vs 160) and torque (265 ft-lbs vs. 292 ft-lbs).  That said, there is lots of room to improve.  I would start by studying the Harley Davidson KR engine.  Harley coaxed 60+ hp out of 45 ci in order to exploit a loop hole in the flat track rules at the time that gave flatheads a LARGE displacement advantage.  HD achieved this incredible 1.333 hp/ci with only 6:1 compression.  This would be perfect for a highly boosted application.  Imagine a 337 Lincoln with this same hp/ci ratio would produce 450 Hp!  The other place to look would be to get ahold of Rick Schnell up in Anoka.  He has the word's quickest flathead powered dragster.  The "Slider" is a 950 Hp+ Nitro huffing FED.  Obviously Nitromethane and a 4-71 blower will cover up a lot of sins, but I guarantee you Rick has a few flathead tricks up his sleeve.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-OXWC7Ufv4

On the other end of the spectrum (drivetrain...). I run an Advance Adaptors Ranger overdrive in my '85 F-350.  It fits between the trans and bellhousing.  Easy install, required shortening the driveshaft and lengthening the speed-o cable.  Works really well to be able to split gears with the old IH oil burner.  Bit more work for Ross on his 4x4.  Only down fall is the main 4 spd shifter got pushed back 7", which prevents the bench seat from being pulled all the way forward.  Prevents short legged folks from driving the truck.

It is sad news.  Over the years, I have become much more of a car person, perhaps to the point of even having an unhealthy love affair with big sedans. I still have an '85 F350 6.9 IDI Dually for hauling the big stuff, but a new diesel with all the emissions bits and pieces scares the crap out me, despite the obvious performance advantage.  The wife and I have a 2015 Taurus Limited and a 2016 Focus.  The Taurus is a great car, quiet, powerful, good handling, but get's terrible mileage (3.5 V6 + AWD = 23 mpg hwy) and the AWD system can't hold a candle to Subaru's drivetrain, especially in Northern Minnesota winters.  The Focus is a great commuter car, gets 40 to 42 mpg and has been problem free through the first 90K miles.  However, it does have a clutch recall that needs to get addressed.  Ford can build a quality car, and there is obviously still a market for full size sedans, I just don't think they want to take the time to properly understand the market and feel the profit margin is too tight compared to SUV's and Trucks.  It is a lack of long term vision, the judgement get's clouded by the fat profits on trucks and SUV's.