Hello everyone, just joined this forum the other day and I have been looking around a bit. I just bought my first car at the age of 16 this weekend and i'm already making plans for it. I got a 2002 6.8 V10 XLT Ford Excursion with 128,000 miles for $4500. Its in pretty good condition for what I bought it for, basically just the ball joints need to be replaced, and minor stuff. So the reason of this post is to ask some questions about the first truck I bought.
1. Lift kit and tires: My reason of really buying this truck is because I really wanted to lift it. Now, what are some 4-8 inch lift kits out there that would be the cheapest, middle range, and the best that money can buy. Since i'm going to need new ball-joints what would be the best route for those too. Also what size tire and rim wouldn't look stupid on such a lift.
2. Performance: Almost everyone is looking to squeeze a little more performance out of their vehicle. What are the best C.I.A's, tuner/programmers, and exhausts out there for the v10.
3. Accessories: Is there a key-less entry kit out there. What other ford parts are compatible with the excursion. I have heard some of the f-250 parts are but I am not sure.(Like mirrors)
Sorry for the long post and all of the questions, really don't have much time to really search through the whole forum for all of the answers I need. Hope somebody can help me out for what I need.

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There is hours upon hours of info on here you're looking. Nice looking Ex, I have the same model and have millions of dollars worth of stuff I want to do to mine. I've seen some of the best looking Ex's on here, all having some degree of lift and different tires and rims. Good luck

 

Welcome to the family of Excursion owners! Congrats on your truck man. I remember my first truck... aaaah, 'twas a '78 F150 on a lift and 35s.

Anyway.. you do not need to search the whole forum to find the info you need. Just read up in the Tech folder in THIS part of the forum. Many of the answers you seek are in the tech folder.

Beyond that, you can search within the Excursion part of the forum for unanswered questions.There is nothing wrong with putting in a little sweat equity into gaining the knowledge you seek for your truck.

Beyond THAT, we are glad to help you out by answering questions.

 

Thanks guys, I do think it is a very good car for me to start in. The best part is no one around here has anything like it. I did just notice after reading the sticker(From when the car was first bought in 02) that it did have key-less entry. It seems to be that I had an aftermarket key with out key-less. If I get a new set of ford keys, don't I have to bring them to ford so they can calibrate them with the car?

 

Congrats and nice buy. For lifts i ask the same thing a while ago for 6in lifts and u are looking around $2200 for a good one. And performance the v10 is pretty much tapped out as in exhaust and intakes done do much more hp. Have seen turbo kits and supercharger kits on them but are pricy. And i have a aftermarket keyless entry/alarm from viper that is great. Any pics of the truck

 

Added some pics, are they not visible to you?

 

As long as you have two programmed working keys, you can program extra keys. The key less entry key fobs are very inexpensive, ordered two from amazon for $8 and you can program them yourself also. I think there is a tech folder for this. Easy to do.

 

Ok thank you. I'll have to read up on that. Just noticed that folder and there is ALOT to read

 

Nice! Other than the paddle mirrors that's the same exact truck as mine!

Whats your budget to get these things done to it?

 

No i dont see any. Im missing out

 

Hey, that truck looks familiar!

Congrats on that being your first vehicle. Mine was a rusty 67 Caprice. I hope you have a job for care and feeding, any spare cash you have we'll be very happy to help you spend around here!

Here's the latest thread about tuners. The 5star is the consensus choice for the V10. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...my-ex-v10.html

I'm not a fan of CAI, not much bang for the buck on a V10. The factory air box flows pretty good.

At 16, you have time my young friend. Lot's of it! You can learn a LOT about these trucks just by reading on here, which in the end will actually save you time. Have fun and most especially be safe!

 

Nice buggy Turtle! And welcome!
If looking at lifts remember that EXs started out 2" lower than SuperDuties, so a 4" SD lift will be 6" on an EX and so on.... Exs and SD trucks share suspensions so a lift for either will work. With a 4" lift 35"s will fit and 37"s will fit with 6", anything over that in lift or tire size is beyond practical in my opinion. However those big tire3 will effectively reduce your gear ratio (and make the big EX a dog ). Do you know what gears your EX has? That info should be on the door sticker under "axle", most were 3.73 with some of the V-10s getting the deeper 4.30 gears (much better for towing and taller tires). Having a shop regear your axles will run at least a grans per axle, so consider that when planning on lift and tires. Mounting 37" on a rig with 3.73 gears will put the trans under a lot of extra stress as well as make it pretty sluggish around town.

 

If you are trying to say that the V-10 is tapped out for power in stock trim and expensive forced induction systems are the only way to improve them then I respectfully disagree.
I do agree that forced induction sounds like fun, but systems are rare and priced out of my budget, I also agree that "cold air intakes" are pretty much a wasted effort as these motors have very good factory cold air boxes on them as is.
I do think there are some decent gains to be had from opening up the exhaust side of the 6.8 though. Good long tube headers are a big improvement over the factory manifold, the interior dimension of the factory manifold immediately after the 5th cylinder dumps into it is only 20% larger than the interior dimension of each of my Banks header's primary tubes. Most V-10s also have the famed T pipe where the two downpipes join before the cat, a proper Y pipe will remove this factory choke point. Both of these changes will make noticeable performance improvements over stock configurations, a freer flowing muffler will also add to these gains. The factory 3" mandrel bent exhaust is actually a pretty good setup.
The factory "tune" is designed to be a compromise that will somewhat meet the needs of the entire spectrum of owners and demands that will be placed on the truck over it's life. Custom tunes that take any modifications into consideration and are tweeked to meet the owner's specific needs for their planned usage will deliver better results performing those duties than the factory tune. And whereas the factory "tune" is 'all stock, all the time' a handheld tuner can load a variety of custom tunes designed to perform in specific ways for multiple tasks. As well as improving several engine control parameters these tunes can also make changes to the transmission performance.
The V-10 also likes to rev, it makes it's peak power at higher RPMs so numerically higher gear ratios will greatly improve drivability. Many times the deeper gears will actually also improve MPGs (city mostly and highway towing) as well as providing better acceleration and increased towing performance due to operating at higher RPMs where the output is better. I know that gears aren't a motor mod but they do make the motor work in it's more efficient range, so I include gears in the performance mix for these V-10 motors.
To illustrate these various gains you can read the graphs (2valve V-10 graph #3 is torque and #4 is HP) on this page. Got a 1997-2010 V10 6.8L ? - 5 Star Tuning I understand that these graphs are provided by the shop that is selling tunes, I understand the possible influence that could have, I know, I know. BUT having added headers, Y pipe and tunes to my regeared V-10 I would agree with the illustrated improvements shown on those graphs. I feel that the very noticeable improvements to my EX's performance while towing (where it's working pretty hard, TT is 12k lbs) compared to it's performance doing the job in stock trim seems to match up fairly well with the graphs. Pulling at 65MPG (2350 RPMs) the graphs show an 18% increase in TQ and a 15% increase in HP, I don't have any data to quantify my improvements but those numbers "feel" believable to me.

 

First off I would like to thank everyone for the compliments and welcomes!
First thing I need to do is an oil change, and find a new oil dipstick that some jackass lost. My new key-less keys are already on the way!
Well as much as I get paid a week! I dont have a job yet, but i'm looking for one soon. Since I don't have any insurance or gas to pay, I can really spend as much as I want now. ( Don't get my licence till Jully.)
Thank you, that really clears up the lift question compatibility for me. I have 3.73 gears on my Ex. I most likely wont go taller than 35's on it considering my gear ratio. I know how expensive the gear swaps can be. My dad has a 2012 Ram 1500 with the 5.7 hemi in it and he wanted to switch from 3.9 to 4.10 or something like that. They wanted to charge him something like $1,500 just for the rear!
Thanks for clearing this up for me too. I do understand that these are not race engines and I'm not beating and records with them. But, I do agree that there can be some performance no matter what squeezed out of them. I'm just looking for a little more power too maybe, maybe keep up with that hemi. Doubt that is ever going to happen but who knows...(If you cant tell i'm kinda a dodge guy..) Ill keep that down a little since i'm on a ford forum. Haha So this might turn into a build thread, but who knows? Like I said before first things i'm going to do to it is an oil change, Lift, then performance. We will see what happens after that. Thanks again for all of the responses!

 

Congrats to you little turtle on finding and joining the best Truck Forum on the planet and the interwebs.


You have selected an excellent vehicle (at least it's not a 5.4) and it is 4WD.

I have shoes (Florsheim Royal Imperial) 2 X older than you and in better shape than you or your vehicle. Nothing personal just an observation.

Please try to pay attention.

Don't listen (or read) some of the crap that these gassers will feed you, and mind you, it has to be fed because they are all normally aspirated not injected like the diesels.

You are still young and full of vigor, not having been worn down by: taxes, ex-spouses, temporary restraining orders, overbearing moderators and the like.


Some advice for the young at heart.


Get your license.
Read the "READ FIRST" folders
Spell check.
Get your diploma.
Listen to your parents.
Live long and prosper.

Call BS on anybody over 70 (unless they are blood relatives).