I had posted a couple of days ago about going to look at an Excursion with the V10. That deal ended up not working out. Found another one that I really like our chances of getting. It is a V10 also with 162,000 miles. We pull a 7,000lb camper, what are some must do performance mods(if any)that we should do? 5 star tuner, cold air intake, etc?

 

Tap Tap Tap...is this mike on lol. I will start, I have some Michelin LTX A/T2 tires on my truck that I plan on trading in. The tires are still in really good shape and I would like to keep them. Gonna try and work out a deal and get the guy to put them on the X. They are rated for a combined weight of 10,404 lbs. I should easily be good there shouldn't I?

 

I have those tires. My camper is about the weight you're pulling.

I have the rear sway bar installed. Rear camera over the license plate for hitching up. Scanguage 2 for monitoring the trans temp.

Other things to upgrade when $$$ and time present itself:
6.0 trans cooler
headers and Y pipe
maybe a tuner

You may want to see if your Ex has 4.30 gears. Mine came with it.

 

Thanks man, it's the V10, do I still need trans cooler? Does it not already come with one? What tuner, 5star?

 

It already has a cold air intake. .....not much you can do.

 

Good luck, I hope you are able to get into an EX soon, we really love ours!
Is that TT weight you gave of 7,000 lbs an actual scaled weight, the TT's listed GVW, the listed Dry weight or a good guess? I'm not just curiuos, the answer may influnce the recommended mods to make the EX a good solid tow rig.
* 5 Star Tuner. Not cheap but in my opinion these make enough of an improvement to be well worth it if you tow a decent amount. On our EX the 97 Octane Tow Tune didn't mesh well with my style of driving while towing, I'm not racing anyone to the top of the next hill. The 87 Perf Tune compliments my driving style perfectly while towing, it actually improves my towing mileage. And 5 Star is THE V-10 tuner leader and has excellent customer service.
* Cold Air Intake. Save your money, the factory paper air filter and piping will flow enough air to keep the V-10 fed up to the redline.
* Michelin LTX A/T2 tires. Great tires with a lot of faithful users, good reputaion. I am curious as to what size the ones are on your truck though, combined weight rating of 10,404 lbs is only 2601 lbs per tire. The EX stock size of 265/75R16 is rated at 3415 lbs per tire according to the Michelin website. Make sure whatever tires you eventually use on that tow rig Ex are Load Range E.
* 6.0 Trans Cooler. Nice upgraded unit, almost twice the size of the stock V-10 unit. It can get pretty hot in the Carolinas and you guys do have some hills, your stock cooler should keep things under control but the 6.0 one will buy you a bit of extra insurance. Either way you should look into a way to monitor the trans temp, lots of option here, ScanGuage, SmartPhone apps, stand alone guages and higher end tuners. Too much heat kills a trans and towing in hot weather could present issues, having a trans temp monitor can keep you out of trouble.
* Rear Sway Bar. Very few Exs came from the factory with one, they make a big positive improvement on a tow rig. Hellwig makes a very nice unit that is adjustable and is a direct bolt-in, the one from a SuperDuty truck will also work with all of the truck hardware.
* Tow Mirrors. Hopefully your new ride will have the larger mirrors, if not they are an easy upgrade and make towing a whole lot safer. The '08+ style is much larger and is also a direct swap, I love mine!
* Trailer Brake Controller. There are several available, I use and am very happy with my Tekonsha Prodigy P3, it was plug and play using the Ford harness.
* Weight Distribution Hitch. You may alreay have one, if not you should most definately use one while towing with an EX. I my opinion safety, not price should be the main focus when buying a WD hitch, their function in a safe comfortable trailering combo is very important.
* Suspension Mods. You may not need any. You will need to pull with it to really make that call, and again you have several options. New springs, used springs, either of those stock or modified, RAS or air bags. They all work and there are members here using all of the different choices. How your EX handles the TT will determine if your suspension needs help or not. Don't worry, we can fix it!
* Gears. The V-10 EXs came from Ford with either 3.73 (most common) or 4.30 (better for towing). If your TT is only 7k then the 3.73s with stock sized tires should be fine, taller tires or a heavier TT will have you wanting the deeper gears.
* Headers and Y pipe. The Y pipe can be done by itself pretty cheaply and it will uncork the exhaust, the stock T pipe on most of the V-10s is a joke. Headers can get expensive but they do add some nice seat of the pants performance across the entire RPM range. My Banks headers made a noticable improvement while towing.

 

+1 to what he said ^^^^

I decided against the cold air intake after joining FTE. Seems like the noise increase outweighed any performance increase for many here.

I'm definitely looking into the tranny cooler upgrade because my Ex was constantly pushing 185+ driving empty according to my tuner that logs tranny temp amongst other things. My Ex is currently in the shop with tranny issues, so it is probably not the best example, as yours may not run that hot, but something worth monitoring.

The tow mirrors will be a great upgrade, as I still have the stock ones and backing into tight spaces can be a little irritating when trying to use the lower mirrors. Definitely want to upgrade.

I also have a Prodigy brake controller. I've yet to talk to someone who disliked theirs.

Another suggestion, although maybe not exactly a performance mod: Additional lights on the back for reverse lights/utility lights. Brightens things up when backing up and also helps when you are doing things behind the rig after dark.

Hope the deal works out for ya!

 

5 star tuner and a little free flowing muffler and call it good! the tuner made mine into a beast.

 

The stock Ex V-10 already has a cold air intake, I never could figure out why anybody even mentions getting one.

 

Other than changing the trans function, what does that tuner do? Change air-fuel ratio?, change cam timing?, change spark timing? change spark curve?

 

all of the above, the biggest and best change though is getting the transmission to do what i want when i want...going back to stock tranny programming would be like asking someone to kick you in the nuts...repeatedly

everything from air/fuel,timing..blah blah blah is adjusted and played with and Mike @ 5Star does it the best with the V10 IMO.

it pulls a lot harder through out the whole power band vs stock.

 

Have all your Spark plugs Time-serted....these V10's love to spit them out. Mine just coughed up one yesterday.

 

That's not a good idea, yours came out for a reason. There are millions that don't come out.

 

Yea, poorly designed heads...

 

So that means the plugs have to be done just right. They come for for a reason; too tight or too loose.