Hello,

After being a 20+ year Chevy man, I bought my first Ford. It is a
2004 F-150 Heritage (Great Truck ! ). It has a 4.2 5-speed manual.
About these chips, can you run regular gas, can you install it and forget it
or do you have to program it as you go? I want to get a little more power
for trailering . I was thinking about a K&N air system plus the chip.
Also are Throttle Body spacers an option?

Thanks,

Doug

 

As far as the chip goes, I think you are actually referring to a tuner. Yes you can set them for whatever octane gas you want to run. I am not aware what throttle body spacers would do for a 4.2L but most people here will tell you save your money rather than getting them for a 5.4L.

 

It doesn't matter much on your application sence you have a manual transmission. You might be hard pressed to find a hard chip sence they have fallen out of favor. I would recommed a tuner every time.

The cold air is really your best bet at power, after the CAI you should do some exhaust work. The theory for power is, Air in, air out, add more fuel. I wasn't impressed when I tried a spacer on my 5.4L. I lost some mileage and it made the intake whistle, but the big downer was I didn't feel any power difference with my other mods.

So get the intake, do a decent exhaust (I like single out, easier to figure pipe size) then get a tuner.