Just picked up and brought home our new to us rv with the V10. Mileage appears to be right at 9-10 but have not fueled to final check.

Anyhow has anyone changed the air filter to a free flow and the muffler to a free flow/catback system? Did it help?

Also, hypertech does not have a product for the van/engine. What do others have and are they any real help. Son had an edge attitude on his 5.4 but told me he got rid of it because it worsened the mileage not helped! This was he said even on the econ setting.

Will take a few trips to fully figure out but is there a way to improve the throttle? Seems to need to be pushed to floor almost to be effective then wants to go into passing gear! So as a result I found it hard to manipulate the throttle on hills start ups etc.

TIA Hank

 

I have a Superchip Microtuner on my 99 E-350 5.4, requires high test gas, no mileage issues if you stay out of the throttle.

 

If you visit the V10 forum here you'll see a tuner program by 5 Star Tuning that is pretty widely accepted and endorsed by all who've installed it.

Customer service is crazy great and for the same cost or very little upcharge you can change the ECM strategies to suit your current configuration and achieve better performance. Mike, the creator of 5 Star Tuning can also recommend other modifications too.

Its a visit well worth your time---take a peek when time permits.

 

I've visited the v10 forum, mostly all about pickups from what I saw. The pickups already have a different air filter setup, cat back exhausts do help. My question is van specific since the filter is smaller and not sure about the muffler on motor homes. Haven't really seen anyone addressing the same items for the van/motorhome!

 

I had a muffler shop build my exhaust, went with a Flowmaster 40 series, back when they were loud. The air filter, you could go with the K&N box, they have one for vans, it's expensive, not worth it IMHO because the intake portion, the elbow that draws it from in front of the radiator is the same, that's where it'll still be lacking. I removed the silencer from my intake tube, it necks down that 3" pipe to about 1 1/2" of actual air passage, it's to eliminate the drone like a flipped lid air cleaner on a carburetor, yet I hear no such noise, DO NOT go with an open element air cleaner, your mileage will drop, due to the air drawn in being from the heated engine bay.

 

You mentioned Hyperchips which was why I suggested the V10 forums to check out the 5 Star Tunings product.

Yes much of the V10 forum is seemingly F-series related however many of the performance and maintenance issues transfer to vans/motorhome chassis too. If nothing else post a topic specific to you needs at the moment and chances are someone will have a good answer.

Yes some parts are F-Series specific however the brand name or manufacturer of any given item warrants making contact to see if something E-Series or motor home chassis is available. Since the common element is the V10 engine commonality does exist---simply have to inquire there and here too.

Its all in the spirit of being helpful--sorry if it didn't hit that mark.

 

JWA, no problem, I understood exactly what you were saying. Its just that most of the stuff asI indicated was pickup related and I was told basically truck stuff will not interchange readily.

Thanks for the direction.

 

Hello Hank, most of the stuff probably is interchangeable but is just not listed, you mentioned that the intake plumbing on your r/v are smaller than the trucks and the trucks are seeing improvement with larger plumbing that would indicate their are even greater gains to be found on your r/v with the same engine.
Look under the r/v at the exhaust, you will probably find 2 large catalytic converters along with a huge canister muffler and i would venture to say it is very very quiet..
By slowing down the hot exhaust gases they create a system that is very quiet but when you slow down (restrict) the hot exhaust gases even a little you lose power, how much power you lose depends on how much you restrict the exhaust flow..
I had the same problem with my raised roof van and 5.8L when climbing hills it would just fall on its face and giving it more throttle would not help because the exhaust system was too restrictive, removed the secondary catalytic converter (closest to the back) and replaced the muffler with a Walker Megaflow and replaced the pipe from the primary cat converter all the way back with 2.5" pipe, needless to say it does not have problems climbing grades anymore and has a nice sound but is pleasant to the ears.
Depending on the pipe size for your r/v i would go to summitracing.com and find a muffler that fits your size pipe whatever that may be, you will most likely have to add some pipe to reconnect the tailpipe because a performance muffler is usually much less shorter than the factory muffler.
If the exhaust tubing after the muffler is smaller than the exhaust tubing before the muffler then replace it with the larger size.
You will notice improvement, the question is will it be enough for your situation, if not then remove the secondary cat converter and replace it exhaust tubing, if there is a O2 sensor installed in the secondary cat then reinstall it back into the new pipe in the same location, it will still function just fine since it's only purpose is to evaluate secondary cat converter operation.
When it's all said and done you probably won't need a chip or anything else because you did not realize how much the exhaust and intake systems were holding it back but most of the power will be found by freeing up the exhaust flow and creating some serious velocity, you effectively improved the V/E or volumetric efficiency of your engine by removing the restrictions to airflow and you had a great time doing it, now break out the sawzall and get busy..