Hi everyone! I am new to join but have been looking at the site for a while. I have just bought a 99 F-250, ext.cab, 4wd, with the 6.8. I am very pleased with the truck, but I always have to see what else I can do to one to make it a little more... I was wondering about headers; has anyone try the gibsons. Any tips are appreciated. Thanks

 

I have heard great things about the Banks system, and I am personally going to give it a try soon. The problem with the V10 is, it is already a pretty tight motor, so aftermarket will make a difference, but not as much as others. If you do do the headers, just do the whole damn system, as it will make a much bigger difference.

 

I'll give you a quick rundown from my observations from the V10 Forums. That being said, you really should do some searching on the Super Duty and V10 subforums. This question has been asked 500 times over.

Below are probably the most popular mods to increase V10 performance on a 2v V-10:

- SCT Programmer from Mike at 5-Star tuning.
- eBay Y-Pipe
- Aftermarket headers of some kind. (Borla, Ford Racing, Gibson, eBay brand)
- Air intake kit of some kind (I wouldn't install one on my truck, but the dyno results in Mikes sticky thread in the V10 forum do prove that it does increase HP.)
- Some kind of performance muffler. (Magnaflow, FlowMaster, Gibson, etc)

Headers might not be a bad idea for a first upgrade on a used truck. The factory exhaust studs on a 99 are likely broken given the poor initial design factored in with the age of the truck. Normally if the studs are missing you will over time generate an exhaust leak, warping the manifolds, thus forcing you to replace the manifold/headers.

I think the general consensus though is that the SCT Tuner from Mike will provide the best "bang for the buck" in terms of overall performance. It will net you more power, as proven by his dyno charts, as well as firm up the shift points in the transmission in order to give you a greater seat of the pants feel.

The Y-Pipe is a good upgrade seeing as it's considered restrictive, and does cause a fluttering noise on earlier models like your 99'. It too, will increase HP and TQ to an extent.

 

Edit: Double Post

 

Thanks for the heads up about the sub threads Mike. I am kinda new to the whole fourm board. That makes sense about the exhaust studs. I worked as a service tech for a Ford dealer for about 4 years and we saw a few with broken studs. We just had alot more powerstroke customers than V10ers. I will also look a the chip and y-pipe. The air filter kit I never liked either. I have saw alot of engines and MAF sensors ruined because of them. Thanks

 

I have gibson headers on my 5.4L and they are a fair deal. I'd suspect JBA and banks to be of slightly better quality, but you'll pay a premium for it and not gain a whole lot more.

I have a decent list in my signature. For the intake, I would like to put a trueflow filter on my K&N kit, but K&N, Green, S&B and the rest make decent kits as long as you properly care for the filter. Y-Pipe and exhaust would make for a little better flow and better sound. Tuner to get a/f mix better, but I would do a shift kit or valve body before using a tuner to mess with the line pressure. Shift points and dwells can be enhanced some with the tuner though. Gears if your running oversized tires.

 

By the way, Welcome to the forum! It's good to have members like you. People who are current and former ford service techs have a lot of quality insight and knowledge to provide. Again, Welcome!

 

HI Wrench Turner CB
Agreed, Welcome to FTE site. Its great to have you here. As Mike mentioned above look into some sort of tuner for your truck the stock factory strategies really limit the output of the V10 engine. From there a ypipe is a cheap mod. We now have SPD (ebay) ypipes and tuners packages that would save you some buck being an FTE member.
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thanks and welcome again
Mike