Without tuning it or supercharging it how do you get more low end power out of a 5.4? I heard opening up the exhaust can go both ways. what works for you guys?

 

Most people on this form will tell you there's nothing you can do to get more power out of your 5.4. I've done some bolt on's on mine including cold air intake vortex throttlebody spacer stainless steel headers and I can definitely tell a difference pulling towing. Re-gearing to 430s will probably yield your best performance gains.

 

Considering I have almost 260k miles on it I Think i'll stay away from doing headers. Did you notice a difference with the cold air intake as far as low end power? I read up on k&n intakes adding maybe 12 hp at 4k RPM. would opening up the exhaust to 3" make any difference at all?

 

I also did the Y pipe conversion. I put the Gibson duel extreme exhaust on it. The air raid ram air I put on it will give you more mid to upper rpm increases. But this helps with towing. My 5.4 is no torque monster but it pulls like a diesel I have plenty of bottom end power. I can pull 8 to 10,000 pounds running in over drive all day long.

 

gears are still your best bang for your buck

 

I have the ZF6 speed manual transmission even when pulling my motor willl bounce off the rev limiter like it isn't even there.

 

I wish I could find an engine to replace the 5.4 but I do not believe you can put a new 6.2L in with the four speed auto/

 

There is always an option of getting a custom grind camshaft CNC'd. I know someone who did this and it is a little different in spec in relation to the duration and lift that is right around 30 thousandths so basically a little more than a stock spec OEM camshaft which boosted the low end power to help with towing that they were doing.

He was saying to me that he looked around at aftermarket camshafts but those were more geared to performance applications ( speed/racing ) not so much for towing, and for him he just wanted more power on the bottom end when towing. So far he say's it's performed well and the guys who did the custom CNC work were awesome to work with.

 

Here's some basic mods that will improve throttle response , I'll go from cheapest to more expensive.
1. Zoodad and Gotts MOD
2. Y pipe (you have an 02 so you got the bottle necked exhaust y pipe) will greatly increase throttle response.
3. Custom tuner from 5 Star (takes the sloppiness from the factory tune)
4. GEARS! GEARS! Far none the most noticeable feel in power. My wife's Excursion has these MODs and it sure woke it up specially towing. Good luck

 

Considering your rear end most likely has 3.55's going to 4.10's would be a huge difference and when not towing not rev you to every other gas station. At 70 mph with 3.55's your rpms are around 1950 with 4.10's they would be around 2250 and with 4.30's be around 2360 rpms. Changing the gear ratio moves the engine into it's power band but how far into it do you want to go? For what a cold air kit and exhaust work cost the gears will be the best bang for the buck by far and net the most amount of improvement then the other 2 combined.

 

Standard gears on any 99-07 Super Duty were 3.73 and jumping to 4.10 won't be that noticeable.

 

He's right.

 

 

A so called "Cold air" intake system wont do squat for your truck, nothing beats the stock unit.

 

No offense, but there isn't much help for the poor 5.4. Gears are the only way to make a real difference without going crazy with mods. They were great half ton truck motors. In a 3/4 ton... They're seriously underpowered.