This is for us who are cheap. I've read and seen some 'tweaks' that you can do for a small performance gain...for cheap! I'm willing to try some of these:

-Throttle body coolant bypass
* Anyone know the actual size of the hoses that are used there. I tried using the stock one, but it wasnt long enough, so I ended up with a lot coolant on me.

-Bump timing to 12*
*How big are possibilty of pinging?

-There was one about relocating PCV valve hose....Anyone remember it? I don't.

Please feel free to post some more of these 'mods'

 

I remember the pcv hose one, you need to splice it into the brake booster vac line with a T fitting (and a length of hose, forget which size). My truck seemed to idle smoother after doing this. I have my timing set at 12 or 14 and it doesnt ping, everyones engine is different, you could set yours to 16 and it could be fine. The tb coolant bypass I have also done, no great gain but the throttle response seemed to improve a bit. I just cut the hose and connected the in/out hoses with a fitting. Cutting off the 2nd cat and a having a straight pipe(also done) give great performance improvements. I guess you could count that as free/cheap. Cutting the restrictors(???) out of the airbox or hoses I're heard will give some gains. Also using the 250 airbox intake tube instead og the sotck 150 version I've also heard will give some improvements too.

 

Ahh nice...oh yea, I did the 'chop of your cats'. Its louder and noticeably more powerful...guess mine were clogged.

 

Ok guys, explain the TB coolant bypass thing. What's the idea? Keep the air cooler by not having hot coolant around it? Any possible negative effects to the throttle body?

As for the PCV setup....have the vacuum coming from the brake booster instead? Is this because there is a stronger vacuum coming from the booster?

Thanks.

-Jeff

 

coolant bypass did not give one ounce of power or savings to my corvette, so i doubt it will help a f150 truck.

 

Try side gapping your plugs. Also on the intake side of your air box you can drill about ten 1/2" holes. This helps let alot more air in. Also ditch the part that goes under your hood. Clean the distributor cap arc/contact points from time to time to get rid of the carbon.

CJ

 

A few places to get ideas and stuff to try.

http://performanceunlimited.com/projectmpg/results.html (very interesting article and some of it can be done cheaper)]


http://performanceunlimited.com/projectmpg/about_mpg.html (the actual article)

http://www.roguesecurity.com/WelcometoFredland.html (all the mods were don on a Ranger, but will mostly apply to F-150's aswell)

I also must dissagree with cpnhgnjnky. If you do that, you'll be pulling in warmer, less dense air. Doing that will just make you hear the intake noise and "think" its more powerful. Infact, its taking away power.

 

Did the TB bypass thing last night. No noticable difference, but we'll see how it does in different weather situations.

Had one small problem, when I pulled the bottom coolant hose from the TB, the tube from the TB came with it. Maybe I'll be buying that aftermarket TB sooner than I thought....

 

I wouldn't worry about that tube. I have had my cooling lines disconnected for years and it get cold as hell here in PA never had an issue. Didn't notice any improvements but makes it easier to take off when cleaning three times a year.

Running the PCV to Brake booster line never heard of that.

Drilling holes in air box is not going to do anything except if your tube is clogged. Also You would run too much hot air to engine which = less power. Keep the air cooler is the best. I spent about $25 on insulating my air intake and another $30 K&N drop in. Noticed slight improvement but mostly better throttle response. Adding oil coolers is a great mod- Saves money if you think about it. cooler parts= less friction=Less wear= keeps peak performance.

Marc150-What restrictors are in the air box?? I don't see any. I have heard about using F250 box but haven't seen what one looks like to compare.


Size of hose on throttle cooling lines are 3/8 ID.-Bob

 

Slickerthanyou, good to hear about the coolant tube. I live in PA as well (just outside of philly) and I was a little concerned about the temperture issues

 

Running the PVC to the booster line is to keep it from dumping mostly on one cylinder (was it #8?) and spreading the fumes more evenly. It will help your 5.o idle a little better too.

Cheers,
Popa Tim
ps - don't forget to plug the old line going to #8 (?)

 

hey guys, I wouldn't recommend the coolant bypass if your truck has a functional EGR valve... The EGR puts hot exhaust gases through there and believe it or not your intake charge is cooler with the coolant running to it than without. Foxbody 'stangs run a similar setup and there's been a lot of debate, but the dyno's and ACT temp sensor readings all show that the coolant is best left there. You can also cause yourself some pinging issues as Ford's fuel tables normally add a ton of timing when they expect the valve to be open.. What you want to do is get cooler coolant, I.E. 180 degree t-stat, or if you're really ambitious, build a separate heat exchanger. An additional benefit of a 180 T-stat, if you keep the coolant temp below 200 degrees it prevents the computer from pulling timing out...or you can run a resistor in the ACT and ECT sensors to fool the processor...

I would also recommend against side-gapped or cut plugs in a truck, they usually foul easily with a lot of part-throttle driving, not good for a truck. Try indexing your plugs instead, you want to point the opening of the electrode at the exhaust valve on a Ford..This can be worth 2-5 HP on some engines.

Also, if you JY shop and end up with extra Fuel injectors around, try building a setup to run fuel through them, then sort through and get 8 that flow equally, this will lead to a smoother running engine and a couple of HP too...

There is a bit of work involved in this one, but if you remove your TB and knife-edge the leading edge of the throttle blades carefully and make sure the bolts holding the blades are filed flush, and make very sure they open 90 degrees when the gas is fully pressed that's about all you can do with a stock TB.

For you MAF guys, all 94-95 Mustangs have a 70MM MAF sensor that is cal'ed for 19 lb injectors...

 

The air intake restrictors are inbetween where the two pair of rubber lines meet in the center of the engine bay. At least that's what it's like with my F250 w/460

 

I was wondering if thats where the restricrors might be, I wasnt sure myself. I dont know what kind of gains one could get from removing it. Maybe I'll take a looksy down those tubes sometime. First I gotta replace the rear leaf spring shackle-frame bracket, rusted out on me but I gots new ones ($60 for both).

 

The EGR is after the Throttle Body I can't see it having that much of a warming effect. - I haven't had any increase/loss in power but I did it for less clutter as I need to clean it three times or so a year. And I agree sidegapping is a bad thing -I don't side gap just open up the gap to .054 and bump timing to 12*BTDC. A little more throttle response but how much? don't know. I don't think you can feel 1-5 extra HP without it being dynoed and it saying that on a piece of paper.

The restrictors- you mean coiled wire in the hoses? I don't have the wire or anything else.