I'm a Ford man and always have been. But I don't generally like to bash other brands because all makes have their good and bad, but I love my 05 FX4. In 15000 miles so far, it has been rock solid ( knock on wood). True the 5.4 in stock mode doesn't feel very fast but the off the line torque is very good. The 5.4 responds great to a programmer, as I have drag raced 2 hemi trucks and beat them both with my programmer installed. If anyone happens to want an F150 but want more power, all it takes is a programmer of your choice. And as far as worrying about warranty issue, you can do what my Ford tech buddy told me to do when I went in for A warranty issue, and that is 1: PUT THE TRUCK BACK TO STOCK TUNE AND CLEAR THE CODES EASILY WITH YOUR PRAGRAMMER, or 2: PUT IT BACK TO STOCK TUNE AND DRIVE ABOUT 100 MILES AND THE DEALER WON'T DETECT THE PRESENCE OR YOUR PROGRAMMER. My dealer never new about it in my truck. As have been said in this forum, it's a truck and not a hot rod and the F150, in my humble opinion, is still the king of trucks.

 

There is some serious misconception here. Hemi implys hemispherical combustion chambers. There was legal action back in the late sixties against ford with the boss 429. Ford couldn't call that engine a hemi because it had a quench area on the heads. The chrysler hemi was a true hemi. Hemispherical combustion chambers are a dome combustion chamber that is unobstructed by anything else. That is the technical definition that chrysler won in court back then. Now they are saying that there old tech pushrod engine that they spent millions on developing is called a hemi.... right in the face of God and the world, that is the design they fought against way back then.It is two faced and deceptive. In fact the boss 429 ended up being called a "semi-hemi" So what they make more hp than the ford. They have .3 liters more displacement. If Ford's engine was a 5.7 it would make comparable hp. The Ford makes torque down a lot lower in the rpm range than the "hemi". The Ford is much more suited to towing. That is why Ford trucks are the best selling vehicle in the world. The new "hemi" is NOT a hemi. By chrysler's own definition. And by anybody elses definition.

 

I don't believe either Dodge or Ford should be using these names unless that vehicle actually has a real big block. Unfortunately, we'll never see the days of a big block F-150 or any other light duty truck. I can't imagine what my truck would do with a 427 in it with a little head work and a mild cam. That would be a wild setup for a Harley Davidson F-150 with its all-wheel drive
_____________________


Ford would be more legit to call something a boss. A boss is not a big block by definition. How about a boss 302? certinly not a big block!! nor a boss 351. But the boss 351 was the quickest mustang until the 1999 and up mustang GT's. The new cars would put most old muscle cars to shame. Don't get me wrong.. the old muscle cars rule with attitude. but reality sets in and new cars are far more capable and quicker. Sorry if I step on anyones toes... just that I was there (young.. but there) and waxing estatic isn't always accurate. Besides this is a truck forum.. for towing .... you know.....

 

I would like to justify that Muscle cars were heavy close to what trucks these days weigh. Everything was metal and most of it was steal. Back then the interior wasn't all plastic it was painted steal. So imagine your truck running 14's and thats closer to a muscle car than the new lighter sports cars.


The dodge hemi rams aren't the fastest things with four wheels but a stock hemi against a stock 5.4, the hemi will win. The hemi is basicaly a car motor. It makes peak power high in the rpm range. Great for a charger but not the best motor for towing.

 

Lets not get to caught up in the muscle era, big blocks were great and all that and I had my share of old ford muscle and love them. But I gotta to tell you guy's in all honesty, todays cars and trucks would run rings around stock muscle cars. The new mustang gt turns low 13's in the 1/4, my 68 gt, 428 cobra jet (a rare car, most had the 390) 4-speed with 32 gears, it turned high 14's in the 1/4. The hemie cars were good for high 14's, they were torque monsters for sure, but todays cars are faster out of the box. The 390 fairlanes were good for low to mid 14's, one exception would be the ac shelby cobra 427, it ran the 1/4 in the 11's I believe, it would go from 0 to 110 and back down to 0 in 11 seconds , or your money back, top speed was 225, an amazing car even by today standards. even my 2.3 4 cylinder focus st runs low to mid 15's, that would have beaten most street v8's in the old days and kept up with alot of the muscle cars to boot. I love the old muscle cars as well, but todays cars are fast and sometimes furious !!!

 

IF YOU WANT A RACE CAR BUY A RACE CAR IF YOU WANT A REAL TRUCK GET THE ONLY ONE THERE IS THAT IS THE FORD!!

 

dito here for me. the 2 dodge's could not be driven past the dealer with out breaking down, esp. the 2001 dakota and it's pos 4.7 v8 and 45rfe trans, heads,gaskets and the factory leaving 4 bolts out of the shift valve retainer plate on the valvebody which would allow the remaining ones to streach and break off bending the plate badly and blowing the trans apart.

yes you are so correct! the old ones were better before damlier. just wish i had kept my 70 hemi superbird now with what they are selling for

 

Semper P to you too, captchas- USCG active duty here, 16 years.

 

It seems this thread is at the verge of heading off into a couple different tangents... Please stay on topic fellas. Thanks