With my luck this is probably a very old and tired subject so please bear with me.

As is obvious I have a 2001 Super Crew with a 4.6. I am looking for maginal gains in power and torque. Which is the best way to go? Cat Back or full blown duals. I don't want to miss around with the computer at all what-so-ever. Looking for some advice.

 

You will see the most gain with Headers, hi-flow cats, and a racing/performance muffler in true dual set-up

 

That is way further than I want to go. The truck is my daily driver. The hi-flow cats are part of my plan but headers and loud pipes are not. I want a real basic system that will offer nomial gains.

 

The cheaper places to start are with regular cat back duals. Maybe a Single in Dual out Flowmaster. Then get a cold air intake. I like the True Flow brand myself just because it retains the stock air box. I like the cold air coming from outside the engine bay.

Then, personally I'd look into an electric fan. That'll gain a few HP and maybe a few MPG.

Lastly, you'd be talking about a tuner. $300+ range

I think there was just a recent thread on a guy upgrading his 4.6 for better MPG. He bought used and Ebay and didn't spend something like $350. I would think you could apply the same principals if you wanted to go really cheap.

 

Here was that thread.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...d.php?t=490367

 

How hot does it get where you live. Want to save money? Forget the cold air intake, waste of money. You're truck with that v8 gets a whopping 3 hp difference between running a K&N filter vs a entire cold air set-up. Just buy the filter. Want it only 1hp difference, where your air box goes into you're fender wall, take-off the airpipe that nossles down to about a 2.5 inch opening into youre fender well and throw it away. Take the end half of the air box that your filter is in and cut it with a hack saw in half so that when it is on and holding youre filter in place you can see about half of the filter showing when the box is on. Where your box is located, it is potected already by the coolant overflow and washer fluid box, only time this isn't good is if you sit at a lot of lights in heavy non moving trafic all day. If you are dirving forward at all the disigned airflow of your truck is bringing air in the front, down past the block and out the bottom anyway. Or spend $300 for a shinny tube, air filter and a piece of sheet metal.