So since my return to Ford world and having been completely immersed in the GM world for the last ten years, I have no idea where to start with upgrades for the new wheels. For the most part, I am driving factory everything, save for the wheels and the leveling kit. My main concern is getting a little more kick in the pants when I hit the gas. These pigs are fat when it comes to acceleration of the line and even worse when trying to pass.

Aside from the obvious cold air intake and exhaust, I wanna know what everyone thinks is gonna make this happen. Bearing these couple of things in mind of course.

I don't have endless supplies of money. I am pretty mechanically inclined, meaning I have done all of my own work on my vehicles save for the major tearing into tranny's and engines. I have everything the normal joe would have in his garage. With all that said, READY, SET, GO!

 

This is simple...get a tuner.
I have an edge with canned tunes and it really woke up the motor, especially with the throttle response. Most will recommend a custom tune but its not necessary.

 

I will say a tuner is the fastest way to feel a difference. Also the fastest way to ruin your truck. I have nothing good from my edge. I have talked to people who run 5-star and PHP (uses an edge tuner with custom tunes) tuners and can't say anything bad. I tried air filters with no results. I did the "gots" mod and can feel it but not anything to write my grandma about. You can also just drive your truck like a madman. Your truck will learn from your inputs so the harder you drive the harder it will try.

 

Honestly the tuner is the easiest. $400 for immediate performance upgrades.

The cold air intake is NOT necessary. In fact if you have an 04-05 it could hurt the engine due to running lean. If you absolutely have to have one then call Mike @ 5 Star Tuning and have him sell you a CAI and Tuner package that he'll build tunes for. They'll work together safely. I still don't think the CAI is needed though. I run Mike's tunes without any intake or manifold work. 93 Octane performance tune is definitely noticeable.

The exhaust alone, without headers, high flow cats, etc, won't gain you much on these truck besides some additional sound. To each their own though.

I highly suggest Mike Butler's work @ 5 Star Tuning.

 

The cold air intake seemed to help the MPG a little bit (maybe 2-3 MPG on my old truck) which was a welcome. Combined with the exhaust, I had a 3" cat back put on, it gave the growl with the kick.

So I gather a tuner would be good, probably best. I kind of figured that would be the most popular answer. However, I am hoping to find something that won't void the warranty. The tuners that you are talking about, do they restore stock mapping and what not so I could restore them before I had to take it into a dealer? And does the computer show anything that would reveal whether or not the computer had been reprogrammed?

So I have also seen some things on some other forums from guys talking about a cam shaft change. These guys are talking about the Raptors, but they have the 5.4 also. So I was wondering if anyone has done a cam shaft change?

 

The dealer will be able to see that you put a tuner on it. But most mods that you can do will void the warranty. If you are worried about warranty coverage I would wait to do anything. You must be close to the end of the coverage anyways

 

Actually, I paid to get it covered to 98,xxx whatever. So it still has that or another four years. Whichever is first.

I kind of figured that I would be pretty limited. The stuff I was talking about for cam change had a guy saying that if you put the Ford brand camshaft in it, that it wouldn't void the warranty since it was genuine Ford parts. Don't know how much truth there is to that. Kinda sounds like I may be limited to exhaust at this point then.

 

I am thinking that any internal engine changes like cams will void the warranty with the possible exception of Ford brand cams installed by the dealer... So will a tuner if you break something and there is any evidence of your having messed with the calibration.

Likewise, an exhaust or intake change will give you a subtle improvement at very high rpm's, which you will rarely see while driving the truck in a normal way. These things will improve power at 5000 rpm or more. How often do you rev your engine that high? A truck simply is not a race vehicle...

If you want something fast, you should have bought a Mustang which weighs more than a ton less. If you want a good performing truck, you have one already. Don't go too big on the tire diameter or wheel weight, drive it and enjoy it.

George

 

Most noticeable performance improvement on my truck was when I went down in tire size from 285 70 r17 to 275 65 r18.

 

I guess I was hoping to recreate the "go" I had with my GMC. Where I have seen a huge improvement in the steady power of my Ford over the GMC has been in the hills. Less shifting and more steady rpm's have been the big difference there. But one thing that I have noticed also was the serious lack of response when I do need to get on the gas if I want to make that pass on the highway or byway. So I was hoping that I would hear better things about CAI and exhaust. Those two things made a huge difference in power delivery on the GMC. It doesn't sound like that is the case with the Ford.

As far as wanting something fast, that is def not the case. I just want to know that when I want to hit the gas and go, it will and quickly. A programmer will or sure be in order once the warranty is up.

Fast is not the objective here. But power on tap is.

 

Your GMC might have had a throttle cable. Your Ford is drive by wire (computer controlled). The tuner can take out a significant amount of that throttle lag, almost all of it, but there will be a small amount of it still.

Do the tuner first, I did, and then determine whether you want the exhaust. I didn't mention the CAI on purpose, you don't need it.

The tuner won't void your entire warranty in fact. But if you have a transmission claim, or an engine claim, there is a chance you'll be denied coverage. If you take it in for something like a bad blend door motor (HVAC system) that claim would be covered. See the correlation there?

 

Pug, I think the very thing that is causing you discomfort is the same thing that is allowing recordings of 400,000 and 500,000 miles on these engines.



John

 

Sounds like i am pretty much stuck with what I have until a lot later. Not a bad thing necessarily.

The recordings you are talking of for the trucks, my brother cracked 300,000 recently on his F150. But he is also a mechanic and can take care of his stuff. I don't know that the mellowed use of the power by ford can talk all the credit for the longevity in its vehicles. I do think that a knowledge seeking and willing to work owner has a lot more to do with it. When I traded in the GMC for the Ford I had 170,000 on it. The only work I didn't do on it was the timing chain replacement. And a good buddy who is a GM World Certified mechanic did the valve change for me as well. He wanted to do it since I got ripped off by the writer for the timing chain. So I had to oblige.

So no CAI, not necessary. Exhaust is questionable unless I am looking for a good sounding truck as opposed to power from what I gather. So it sounds like I will be just buying a new muffler to uncork it a tic and gimme some grunty sound. For fifty bucks I think it might be worth it.

Has anyone else done anything that has been deemed absolutely necessary for the life of these trucks? I have a lot to learn about the new trucks and would like to have a jump on what to do when things arise.

 

I have a trans-go shift kit in my truck. Firmed up the shifts nicely. Really happy with it myself. What year and engine is your truck?

 

Talk to Eric and Innovative Diesel for tunes to... He does a good job for diesel trucks and his tunes are known to be as good if not better then Mike's on the F150's...