Purchased a 2003 V10 6.8 2003 X 4x4

will be towing my 25' boat every once in a while for 10 miles or so and a car trailer when racing 1x per month under 50 miles.

Two times per year take 600 mile trips with either boat or cars in tow.

Any thoughts on what I can do to improve the performance of the engine.

Oil coolers, Air intake ??? Understand this will help diesels, but not sure gas engines.

This is not my area of expertise, but have gained an enormous amount of info here.

Thanks in advance

JP Petracco
SW Florida

 

Things obviously start with maintenance, fluids, filters, plugs and boots. After that most like to replace the y-pipe and 5 Star tuning. General belief is that CAI and exhaust doesn't do much for performance but does help sound (if that is your goal). I have done the y-pipe because I didn't like the factory design and I have the 5 Star tuning and really like it. How much has it helped? Hard to tell, it definitely helped the transmission...alot. Also most like to replace the trans cooler with one from a 6.0l. It is about twice the size.

 

Basically just get to reading. This has been gone over so many times that when you decide on what you want to start with (like a tuner) there will be plenty of people (like me and Vwags) that will say 5Star FTW!

 

Vwags....thanks

y-pipe and 5 star tuning ? Remember Im new to this.

 

Y-Pipe: The factory exhaust where the 2 banks come together is choked down. Most like to replace it so there is not a reduction but some complain that the exhaust now has a flutter. It didn't happen to me. I don't know if it helped anything other than my piece of mind knowing that my exhaust doesn't shrink down.

5-Star: They are a company that sells tuners to change the tuning parameters for your computer. They sell you the tunes custom built for you based on your vehicle and how you intend to use it. For me it made the transmission work alot better, shifting better, downshifting better (not dropping out of OD as early) and running cooler.

 

JP welcome to the forum!
The Y-pipe mod is so popular due to the nightmare Ford designed to get rid of a rare exhaust "flutter", basically an annoying harmonic that some early V-10 suffered from at specific RPMs. This pic illustrates the differences and obvious performance advantages of a good Y-pipe over the factory unit (T-pipe), this was taken during my Banks header and Y pipe install.


This thread from last night goes over the tuners some, it should get you started! https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...questions.html

Without opening the motor up and searching for some very rare aftermarket cams and performance goodies or bolting on equally as expensive forced induction systems the best bang for the buck V-10 mods are as follows:

Gears, at least 4.30 for good all around performance and as a minimum for any heavy towing (8k lbs + high profile enclosed car or travel trailer on a regular basis). the V-10 likes to rev and makes better power in the range that deeper gears provide.

Headers and or Y-pipe, The factory manifolds and T-pipe are pretty restrictive and opening up these choke points will wake the motor and throttle response up nicely.
Another example comparing the stock logs to headers, what do you think will flow better?


Tuner, Like all manufactures Ford had to leave some performance on the table to help ensure longevity under all imaginable conditions from all sorts of boneheaded drivers. A good tuner with well written custom tunes will allow you to get the most from your V-10 and the tunes can be tweeked to take advantage of any other mods done to it. The transmission performance will also greatly benefit from a tuner, and you can have the shop set it up exactly how you want it to perform!

Cold Air Intake, Hey lucky you! Ford already put one on your V-10! The stock air box, tube and paper filter will flow more air than the motor can pull at redline and offers better filtration than a washable filter. Save your money!

Exhaust, Always a debatable topic, and I leave cats where they belong. But take a good look at the 3" mandrel bent factory piping, it's a decent setup. Going to 4" or duals may unlock some performance but I don't know how much/little, maybe someone who has gone that route will chime in. Replacing the stock muffler is still a viable idea for whatever amount of performance it may give and for a desired sound change, just remember that the V-10 will never sound like a sweet V-8.

Basic maintenance, Just keeping up on oil changes, trans flushes, PCV valve, MAF and O2 sensors will keep the motor running at it's best and deliver the best fuel economy that a V-10 can hope for.

 

Ford 99-10 Super Duty 6.8L Archives - 5 Star Tuning

Tom and the others laid it out pretty well for ya.

 

Vwags-

Will be adding headers, tunes, y-pipe and exhaust to X, once back from new paint job.

Going to have a project per month for next 6 months to upgrade truck. Can 5 Star work with me in FL, or should I use another local tuning place ?

I like the sound of the flow master 44. Not as sweet as my Porsche 911 Turbos, but for my hauler it should sound nice.

 

If you have 3.73's the biggest noticeable change would be a swap to 4.30 gears! And then the 5 star tune!

 

5Star can work with you anywhere, You provide them with all of your mods and they tweek a custom tune for you taking those mods into consideration. The tunes are then emailed to you for you load into your hand-held tuner then into your truck.
And as I said earlier, for a 3.73 geared EX that is used for towing the biggest performance improvement will be deeper gears. And that's the opinion of a guy who has done gears, headers, Y-pipe and tunes.

 

https://drive.google.com/viewerng/vi...MGM2YzhiYTliZQ


Stewart, I didn't see this one in the Tech folder - Ok to add it?

 

Woodnthings page at the bottom has it available.