Hey y'all.

I usually hang around the 6.0 and 5.8/5.0 forums. New to this whole 5.4 jazz. its my little brothers (16 years old) truck that he inherited from the passing of my grand father. I have purchased his old 6.0 from him two years before he passed and he would always go with me to the truck pulls and watch the diesels. He then bought the truck in question with the 5.4. He loved going to these things. So I started building the 6.0 so he could be apart of the diesel world. Kind of dedicated my build in his name and my brother wants to do the same.

With that being said, we want to start with a basic tune up with fresh filters, fluids and the dreaded spark plug change... the specs of the truck: 06 f250 4x4 with 130k. its all stock and we want to work our way up the power band. its been sitting for awhile as he didn't drive much dealing with the cancer. So my brother drove it for about a week and fell in love with it. since then he has replaced pads, rotors and calipers. Put on new tires and is on the hunt for a newer bed as this one is shot. He has also added a tool box and back rack with lights. He also did a side swept dual exhaust straight off the cat. Sounds good, IMO. Everything else is all stock on the truck.

my questions are:
1. whats the best way to change these plugs without breaking them? From what I know, im not sure that they have ever been changed...

2. What can we do to increase the power and driveability of the truck? Ive been looking into getting a tuner from 5startuning.com with some custom tunes.

3. WHY ARE LONG TUBE HEADERS SO EXPENSIVE

4. What about a "cold air intake"? is it worth it on these trucks?


Thanks for your help in advance. For what its worth, the old man is an army vet, as well as my father. We kind of have an army theme going on with with the trucks in his honor. If only he could see them now and all the work that's been done with all his projects... Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to give some background to the trucks and the reason to wanting to give a 16 year old a fun truck to drive. the kids got a good head on his shoulders and I want to help him out.

 

1. Our resident Ford Technician offers this video:


2. There isn't a lot of room for improvement on the 3V 5.4L engine with bolt on parts. Most gadgets will just make your wallet lighter. A custom 5 Star tune will help a bit, but don't expect miracles. Best way to increase torque output is to change the differential gearing.

3. They are made from unobtanium.

4. You already have a CAI from the factory. A new CAI kit will only increase intake noise and make your wallet lighter.

 

Thank you for the video. They make it look easy!! ill definitely get that tool before hand. hopefully it goes well. im going to try and do it this weekend if at all possible. Thank you for your input. I think I am going to get him the tuner for his birthday at the end of the month. He'll like that. He's appreciates the little things even if it doesn't do much. He does tow a lot hauling wood for my dads tree company. he took over my job after I moved and got a job with BMW. I used to be the heavy hauler LOL. I did put a trailer brake controller on the truck before I left to use with our 12k dump trailer.

 

Call 5 Star Tuning. The custom tunes are the only way to go, and not as expensive as you would think.

 

I plan on it. They have a hand held for $419 with 3 custom tunes. I'm thinking a street tune, tow tune and their 93 octane. I'll talk to them and see what they have to say.

 

Another vote for 5 star. Best bang for your buck by far. For upper rpm help you can delete the little air flaps at the end of the intake manifold runners but that won't add a ton of power. Put some super low gears on it and you'll be burning tires off before you know it.

 

common approach for more power is starting with the engine and often money put there is mis placed. you need to ask why you need more power and if the question is for more towing capacity then you might want to look into changing the rear drive ratio.

 

I believe his truck has 3.73lsd and this is a descent power to mileage ratio. 4.10 would benefit little and 4.56 would have the truck screaming on the highway. I do agree that gears would make a world of difference, he will be driving this truck for the job and to school. And at $3-4k for a 4x4 gear swap I don't think that's going to happen any time soon.

 

What about the transmission? Are there any shift kits and/or valve bodies out there that are worth the money?

 

The five star tune will help the transmission in shift pressure and shift schedule. I for one am not into electronic pressure increase so i would install a TransGo shift kit, i did this on my 04 F350 and its a huge night and day difference!

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