Gentlemen,

I've been a lurker in this forum for quite awhile now and have learned to respect your opinions. I finally decided to stop sponging and join the fun with a couple questions.

I have an '03 Excursion V-10, 4.30 gears, & fully stock except for a K&N replacement filter. When pulling my 10K lb. travel trailer through the mountain passes of Alaska, which are 2500-3500' (surprising I know, but they were smart enough to go around the big ones). I occasionally hit the 7% grade but mostly just long hills. It is also never flat for more than a half mile or so.

Gas prices are killing me and even though I trust the v-10 at high RPMs, my wife does not. I would rather not scream up every long grade in 2nd gear and when I do, I'd rather not have my wife scream at me in unison with the truck. I told her the only way to prevent the high RPMs was significant mods to the truck and to my astonishment she OK'ed it "sometime before next Spring."



I need torque and some HP so I can drive less in 2nd & 3rd gear and more in 4th & OD. Based on what I've been reading here and my own research, I am strongly considering the following:

1. Banks Power Pack with Torque Tubes and Monster Exhaust.
2. Factory Tech Valve Body
3. SCT X3 tuner with custome tunes from 5 Star Tuning

Finally the question (a 2-parter).

Is this combo going to help much and is the 3.5" exhaust overkill (is there a suitable substitute?

Sorry for the long post.

Thanks in advance for your opinions,
Ex03AK
aka Stew

 

The Banks Powerpack with Torquetubes is everything as promised. Will make a good upgrade there. However, you may want to sub out the intake for a Volant, it's up to you. I think honestly, with good intake and exhaust work, the tuner will really rap it up nicely. Ask 5 Star for a good towing tune on higher octane fuel.

 

Hi Ex03AK
thanks for posting up always good to have new users..
Like you mentioned already i would sugggest headers, a tune, intake, free flowing muffler.. I would skip the valve body and 3 1.2 " exhaust..... if it were me...

 

The Banks powerpack with the headers/y-pipe and exhaust will help as will the monster exhaust. The banks monster exhaust has a 3.5" tailpipe after it exits the muffler only so the 3.5" after the muffler is fine IMO. 5 Star can sell you a good tow tune taking in account the mods you have on your truck, they sell the S&B intakes also so you can get a package deal with the tuner and intake. The Banks Power Pack in conjunction with the intake and tuning will make a very healthy difference but the truck will still pull some rpms over the mountains, just the nature of the beast.

BTW if you have the Auto (4R100) in your truck you have 4 gears. 1st, 2nd, 3rd and OD(4th)

 

Q1: Yes
Q2: Yes

Since the 3.5" is only after the cat, it won't hurt much, but it won't gain much, either. Some find the Banks muffler a bit annoying.

Since cost and noise are considerations for me, I will be using a Flowmaster big block 50 series with 3" pipe. The Banks is pretty, but pretty spendy as well.

 

Your wife will hate the Banks Monster muffler (ask me how I know ). But my wife likes the extra little MPG gain, so it's an acceptable trade off. At 70 MPH you can hardly hear it, but at 55 it gets old fast.

 

Thanks a bunch for the input!

So far I am sold on the tuner, headers, and a cold air intake.

None of you recommended the valve body. I am curious as to why. What are your thoughts regarding the concerns about adjusting the transmission settings with software as discussed by Gregg Evans on the Factory Tech web site? Legitimate issues? http://www.factorytechtransmissions....WPROD&ProdID=9

For the headers: My local muffler shop recommends Banks, Thorley or Gibson, in that order. What do you say?

I have heard from several sources now that the Monster Exhaust is a little on the obnoxious side and I'm not convinced the 3.5" piping is really all that helpful. One alternative I am looking at is a Flowmaster 70 Big Block II or a Magnaflow with 3" piping. Same price locally. Your thoughts and recommendations?

Thanks again,
Ex03AK

 

Am I the only one who loves the Monster at all RPMS?

 

I had the factory tech valve body on my 04' for less than 4k miles before I removed it. I liked how the FTVB firmed up the shifts and increased clamping power in first but thats all it did. You still retain the poor stock converter lockup strategy and ecm lag. If you want to correct those issues you have to do it through tuning. After a lot of messing around and a dozen tunes with the FTVB I removed it because I couldn't get it to work like I wanted it to. Sonnex parts are supposed to work better with tuning than the FTVB. The tuner doesn't really mess with the line pressure which I confirmed with my scangauge 2. With tuning on the 4R100 you adjust the "Shift Slip" with the tuner and leave the line pressure alone.

The gibson headers are shortie headers. Shorties are better than the stock manifolds but are not near as good as long tubes like the Banks or Thorleys. I have the Thorleys on my truck and IMO the Tri-Y design of the Thorleys is better because Tri-Ys tend to produce more torque lower. Only problem with the Thorleys is they are plain steel and the Banks are stainless. For harsh winter enviroments like up in AK you will definatley want to go with the stainless Banks headers.

If you want an almost stock sounding exhaust the Banks may be a little loud for you. I would not recommend getting a local shop to bend up your exhaust unless they have a mandrel bender. Mandrel bent tubing is not collapsed at the bend and doesn't restrict flow. You can get a full Flowmaster Force II 3" catback with the FM70BB2 muffler from various online retailers like autoanything, summit or jegs. I have the Force II kit #17229. It doesn't come with a tip but the cat-back is like $240 shipped from autoanything.

Heres my exhaust thread. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...-fm70-mod.html

 

You'll pull that Banks muffler on the first hill...guaranteed. If she doesn't like the "high" RPMs, she'll hate the drone even worse.

I do believe the 3.5" tailpipe makes a difference. I removed my Banks muffler from my Monster exhaust and used a Walker Quiet Flow muffler with the existing 3.5" Banks tailpipe. I always felt a difference towing up hills with the Banks exhaust and still when I swapped mufflers.

However, unless you get it cheap it's a toss up. If you can get someone to bend up some 3.5" after the muffler like dkf suggested then I would before I had them bend up 3". Be wary of muffler advice from Super Duty owners. With the Excursion it's totally different sounding inside.

You didn't mention replacing the Y-pipe. You should put in a new Y-pipe. One comes with the Powerpack but I don't think one comes with the other two brands.

 

They Thorley headers replaces the entire header and y-pipe assembly in front of the triangular flange in front of the cat likes the banks setup does. Gibsons are shorties so they don't replace any of the Y-pipe.

 

ok maybe i didn't catch it in another post but this is just an idea......

what about gears. if the majority of your driving is in hilly areas, whey not re-gear to deeper gear to help maintain 3rd and 4th gear driving?

as for the banks kit, i have the torque tube headers/ y pipe combo and noticed a sizable increase in power, and better towing. i didn't get anything after the y pipe, but i'm running a flowmaster original 40 series.

as for the transmission up grades check into the BD diesel pressureloc (PN# 1060380) it made a good increase in lock up response and holding as well!! then also look into the TransGo shift kits. i still have a "tugger" kit sitting on the shelf i was going to install in my truck, but i think i'm going to put it in my Excursion.

and then of course the tune...... have yet to get one, but have been reading how awful the factory tune is, that i'm just itching to get a tunner/programmer.

 

Definently Torque-Tubes for the headers. The only real cold air option is Volant IMO. Unfortunantly though, you cannot get the Donaldson Powercore with the intake. (Big letdown to me!) Banks also makes one, but they only widen it out some.

 

I thought about gears but I have to consider MPGs as well. This is my daily driver and our main family vehicle when we all go together (me, the wife & 4 kids).

I checked out all your recommendations and I am going to go with this setup unless something changes my mind. I can't buy it now but will over the winter. I don't really need it until next Spring anyway.

1. Banks Torque Tubes
2. SCT X3 Scanner with custom tunes
3. Cold Air Intake
4. Flowmaster Catback with 70 Big Block Muffler

I appreciate all your inputs. You've helped me a lot!

It will be awhile but I will be sure to keep you posted as I get the mods done.

Ex03AK

 

save your money on the CAI....... cut the snooter off the front of the intake over, and call it good. the V10 intak is pretty stream line right from the factory. i installed one about 5 years ago for a guy, and it make little to no difference over the stock tube with a k&n filter on it.