2001 F-150 XLT ext cab, short bed, 5.4L auto trans,
3L55 gears, 265/75r16 (31.6) on factory alloys, camper shell, usually carrying about 600lbs of gear, occasional towing. 168K miles.

I have experience w/ EEC-IV MAF pushrod 5.0's...
if my '01 was an early '90's F150 w/ a 351W, I'd be doing pulleys, CAI, bigger MAF, throttle, intake manifold, injectors, cam, roller rockers, headers & exhaust... great thing about the EEC-IV was it used the MAF & O2 sensors to tune itself - as long as you stayed n/a, it could handle pretty much anything.

- BUT - I'm a total newbie to mod motors!! I've been looking around the forums, here is what I *think* I know, so far: my '01 has 2v PI heads.
it does not have VVT, cam phases, or anything else besides guides & tensioners on the timing chain.
there are not really any high performance intake upgrades available, unless I want to shell out big bucks for trick flow heads & hardballer intake
(I don't. modest budget)
there is no reason to put a bigger throttle or MAF, since they're pretty well matched to the OEM intake manifold - just remove the silencer & enlarge the fenderwell inlet. maybe match the elbow outlet to match the upper intake inlet.
the OEM intake manifold is probably going to crack sometime soon, and if I want midrange & top end power (I do!) then the OEM intake is the best replacement.
the exhaust manifilold studs are a b*&@%!!
some kind of aftermarket tuner will be needed when mods are done.

that's ALL i *think* I know!! please chime in w/ corrections & additions!!

- now - here's my situation: rolled the 150 about 5 years ago. sat in the driveway 3-4 years (warm climate). replaced fuel tank, pump & filter, changed oil, new battery. started right up. got new tires, glass & mirrors, drove it a few months. started running rough, losing power on freeway, seemed similar to cars I've had with clogged cats. started making a huff-huff-huff sound under acceleration, thought maybe head gasket, or something major...
parked it for about a year.
few weeks ago, changed oil, cleaned batt terminals, started right up. drove a bit - maybe 90min total. checked codes - nothing, except drive cycle incomplete. looked for huff-huff, found exhaust stud broken on #4 cyl., meaning I gotta pull both exhaust manifolds & replace all the studs!!

that's a lot of work - might as well put headers on it if I'm gonna do all that!! 😉
...and I think it might need new cats, too! so I looked on eBay & found stainless longtubes
w/ 1-5/8" primaries + cats that bolt right to the headers. up+downstream O2 binge on the cats, EGR bung on #8 primary - about as plug&play as you can get w/ full-length headers, and cats, and all stainless steel, and all for less than the price of 2 new cats!! so, that's arriving next week 😀
planning to run 2-1/2" duals from cats to bumper.
haven't decided on muffler(s) yet, but I saw a dual in/dual out that looked like they took an x-pipe and made it into a glasspack - but that may be a little louder than I want. comments? suggestions??

anyway, after the headers & exhaust, and enough drive time to work out any bugs, I'm thinking it's really gonna need some gears!! it was already pretty sluggish compared to my mustang, and bigger tires made it worse. the longtubes on my mustang gave it a nice broad torque curve, and it was still pulling hard when I hit the limit for the valvetrain, so I'm expecting to get similar results with the 5.4, and thinking it needs enough gear to let it rev a little. also, I'm thinking eventually maybe stage 2 cams, and maybe 33's some day. so I'm thinking either 4.30's or 4.56's, and really leaning heavily to the 4.56's... comments? suggestions??
Richmond & Yukon gears are a little pricey, but I'm a little wary of the other brands - elite, motive, some other cheaper ones on eBay.

so that's where I'm at - mod motor newbie, want to do all I can, short of supercharging or pulling the heads. ...ok, if I had a bad head gasket, I'd probably look into milling the heads for higher compression, maybe get some nice undercut valves & better springs, and a little touch-up porting. but that's it!! and a good valve job, of course.

comments & suggestions??

 

The only thing way your going to make power out of any mod motor is by forced induction. But like you already know gears wake up the Mod motors. There's a guy in you tube by name Auto Detour with a budget minded boosted f150. Check him out if you really want to make power.

 

thanks, I'll check that out!
what about cams?? I've seen stage1 & stage2 cams that are advertised to work with stock heads, meaning no piston/valve issues, but also implying that the specs are suitable for stock compression ratio, un-ported heads, stock rev limit. I've been reading that the OEM intake actually flows pretty decent, along with the PI head ports, so cams that are designed to boost torque in the 2-5k range ought to be just the ticket. I'm not looking for Lightning power levels, and I kinda enjoy a slightly lopey idle 😁

 

BTW, longtube headers & dual tailpipe have arrived!! the "high flow cats" are actually just empty "resonator" shells - perforated tube straight thru, like a glasspak without the 'glass... basically just a place to mount the o2 sensors, and *maybe* quiet it down a little. less restrictive than cats, but almost certainly louder, and I'll need adapters for the sensors to keep the computer happy.