Now that I think we have my excessive fuel consumption issues solved, I have been thinking about the following for my 5.4L F350:
1. Gibson headers & super truck exhaust
2. BBK 75MM throttle body
3. K&N cold air kit
4. 5 Star Tuner (or any tuner for that matter)
5. SPD Y-Pipe
What are the opinions out there of these upgrades? Are they worth it?. Does anyone think their are better options? Keep in mind most things I am able to do here need to be done in a driveway, I do not have a garage to work in.

 

About the only thing in my opinion that is worth spending the money on would be the Y-pipe. The rest is a waste of money and will not gain you anything in power or mileage departmant.

 

The headers will give you a slight increase in horsepower, I have a set of Gibsons waiting to be installed on my truck. Be careful of the exhaust, too big of exhaust pipes can reduce your torque, so do your homework. If done correctly, you will see an improvement. I'm not sure about the throttle body. If you are referring to a throttle body spacer, don't waist your time. I have a throttle body spacer, and it didn't do anything for me. The cold air will increase your gas mileage for sure. That was the first mod I did to my truck, and I got one more mile per gallon. I don't know if it increased my horsepower, because I had no way to check it before or after. The tune will increase your horsepower, but will more than likely do nothing for gas mileage. And the y pipe will be a big help as well. Good luck.

 

What he said. ive done them all (minus the throttle body) and they were pretty much useless besides the y pipe. definitely got some power from that

 

I appreciate this info for sure. I have reservations on the K/N hype. This is what I am thinking, and correct me if I am wrong. The K&N claims that there is increased airflow through the filter to the engine. More air, more fuel, more power. That makes sense to me. BUT if you are ramming more air through the filter and the K/N cold air duct that is mounted to the factory Mass Airflow Sensor that feeds into the factory 70mm diameter throttle body in reality you are feeding no more air into the engine. There is still the restriction on the 2 components. I think Bernoullis principle applies here. So I was thinking installing the larger diameter throttle body, not a spacer to increase that airflow and try to locate a high flow MAF if such a component exists. I am new to working on the newer engines, my last real truck was a 79 bronco w/ a 351M & 4speed on 33's. She was easy to work on and alot of fun to play with. I sure do miss carburetors and Caps & rotors.

 

More air = less filtering. And its not like were feeding a forced induction engine here, just a N/A one so i imagine the factory intake flows more than enough. i got sporadic and did the zoodad mod, which involves drilling a hole in front of the intake for more air... but really it was just free and i was bored

 

The stock system is already a cold air intake and the 5.4 and the V10 can not use anymore air in stock form than the factory intake already flows. The only thing you will get with a K&N system is more dirt in your intake and maybe a some oil to.

 

Great, sounds like I will get the Y pipe, and install a nice throaty sounding muffler. She is a little to quiet, I like a deep rumble tone. One of my friends has a BullyDog tuner that he offered to sell me since he sold his 05 F150 w/ a 5.4. I am not quite sure if it will be compatible with my 02 f350. I was not able to locate my truck on their application charts for the gas tuners. What I am looking for are firmer more positive feeling shifts and less searching. This is the 1st automatic vehicle I have owned in 14 years, I have always felt automatics were sluggish and lazy.

 

Get an mbrp muffler mine sounded awesome

 

The wife is talking about getting me a tuner for fathers day, I was thinking about the Superchips Flashpack. I am really looking for better shifting. I know the Bully dogs are not compatible. Anyone running these things like what they do? How well do they adjust the transmission shift points and firmness?

 

If you want to go that route, get a custom tune from 5 Star.

 

I second the 5 star tunes. Give mike a call, he was very helpful to me and the tunes are the best I have seen on a 5.4 SD. I run the 93 octane performance tune primarily and I love it. The SPD Y-pipe is also a great mod, but if you are running anything over stock tire size I would also recomend deeper gears.

 

I think i like the look of the Livewire TS Mike offers. I like the idea of having a nice display of everything. What are you using, The X3 or livewire?