Best overall performance upgrades 03 v10
 

Seems to be alot of experts on here relating to v10s so I thought i would post here to get recomendations on what i should do to my truck for performance improvments. Not that i am on an unlimited budget, but lets pretend that i am and $ is not an issue.......simple bolt on stuff, no forced induction. I have a 03 CC srw f350,4x4, with 63,000miles with 3.73 gears( dont want to change gears either). What would give me the best performance increase. Looking for exhaust(headers-tail pipe) cat/no cat, air intake,TB upgrade, tuner/shift improver, ignition upgrades, full synthetic fluids upgrade, or anything else you experts can think of. I pull a 28' enclosed tag trailer with a 3200# drag car, golf cart, tools, fuel, etc. and my estimation is around 10,000-12,000# fully loaded. I race with a friend who has a 7.3 with some goodies CC,2wd and a stick, and he pulls a 32' goose and has a larger fuel tank than I and the fuel milage is a little better that mine but not much. I am not looking to compete with him on fuel but would just like to be able to keep up to him better on grades. We pull 70-80mph range most of the time. Thanks so much for you help. Damon Dais

Searching through this forum will find lots of opinions and data points. To summarize MY experience and all available objective data (not marketing BS):

- I know you asked not to hear it, but deeper gears are far and away the best bang for the buck for towing.
- An new custom tune is well worth the investment. Mike at 5 Star has made many of us quite happy.
- Preliminary data says SPD's y pipe appears to provide some benefit on early 2V PI engines, and it's pretty low $ if you can weld it in yourself.
- Replace "snorkel" on the front of the airbox with larger diameter one from 3V equipped trucks.
- Good tune up (fresh plugs, 02 sensors)
- Fresh air filter

After that, most of what you mentioned isn't going to improve your towing performance unless you do major $$$ upgrade and do a lot together. Some report some gains if you do headers, BIG FM muffler (50 or 70 BB), larger TB, gauze air filters, and a custom tune. But from what I've seen on actual dyno tests, each by itself has shown limited bang for the relatively big bucks.

Things that do very minimal bang for buck or actually hurt towing power include the TB upgrade, TB spacers or any kind of swirly things,, aftermarket coils or hoo-haws, gimmick spark plugs, eliminating cat, bigger exhaust pipe, "cold air" intakes.

Hi 8secpace
Welcome to FTE , thanks for joining us in the V10 forum. mwsF250 has given some great advice. Tuner, headers with some sort of ypipe you will have some solid improvements to your 03 V10. Check out here for some before and after results on our V10. Got a V10 Ford F250/350/450/550?
If we can help at all with more of your questions just give us a shout at mike@5startuning.com

Mike

umm why not gears ???

its the absolute best increase in performance bar none.. and its easier on ur trucks tranny to boot..

if that is def. not a option, then a tuner from 5Star is the best option...

I think you really REALLY need to re-think your upgrade path.

No bolt-on mod is going to do more for you than gears.

I've done the muffler, intake, synthetic everything, but the only real performance enhancer I've done has been changing my gear ratio. Throw the other mods out the window and save up for new gears. Saving up for gears may not be instant gratification but a new muffler or intake is not going to give you any gratification when your buddy continues to waste you on the hills. V-10's love gears that get them into their sweet spot.

New 4x4 gears ~ $1500 - $1800

Swap gears to 4.30s (if your running stock tires) and get an SCT tuner with a good towing/performance tune. You can swap out the factory muffler because its fairly restrictive.

I have long tube headers/y pipe, custom exhaust, tuner and intake all the mods combined will not compare to the proper gears. 3.73s suck and I'm going to 4.30s as soon as I can.

+ whatever on gears.

I know you said that you did not want to get into those but I have 4.30s on my 09 and I came out of a truck with 3.73 you can and will tell the difference. All other bolt on mods are not going to give you the improvement of a gear swap.

Sorry you asked:confused:

just bought a F-250 sd supercab v10. awsome truck. but cant seem to get the gas mileage .. anyone know about what thise truck gets city and hwy, with no load..? thanks in advance.
i think it may get 25 mpg but dont know!!

Viper this has nothing to do with the original post but are you really serious? Your average MPG for a V10 will probably be around half of 25. From my research it would be extremely rare to hit 15mpg with the V10 unless your cruising on the highway at 65 for hours without stopping and have about a 30mph tailwind and going downhill. ;)

There isnt any full size truck let alone heavy duty 3/4 ton that will get 25mpg currently on the market that I am aware of, a 2wd 4 banger ranger might.

There are mpg threads here in the V10 section (Should have a sticky, hint, hint) Getting 25mpg is a stretch for even a 4 banger ranger.

v-10, 25 mpg?, not right away...
 

I have records from years of Crown Victoria ownership (yeah, it's a car, but V-8), hundreds of thousands of miles at or around 25 MPG (even the older, boxier '88 w/302 got that).

But trucks are less aerodynamic, for sure.

To the thread, what difference will the deeper gears make in mpg when empty, which is how many of us drive most of the time?

I get 9/11 city/hwy with my relatively stock 03 supercab, 315's on stock wheels, 4.30s (stock)... I do 75mph @ 2200rpm (corrected via gps) with this combo and get a little over 11mpg on the higway... have a magnaflow muffler with stock tubing... did not do anything other make the truck sound nicer and MAYBE a couple of ponies more (able to keep the truck in overdrive longer on steep grades)... the next mod I do will be the SPD y-pipe, then a drop-in air filter from AEM, and definitely a tuner from 5-star at the end... I hate downshifting the truck, as that is what kills mpg (75mph @ 3300rpm in 3rd gear)...

Joey

Steeper gears would help your truck with 35's as far as downshifting goes. 4.30s with 35s is pretty much the same as stock tires and 3.73s.

If you are towing, definitely look into gears. Otherwise, I would point you over to Gale Banks Engineering for a total performance makeover. They sell their upgrades as a complete package that includes your intake, exhaust manifold, y-pipe, muffler, and exhaust. They also offer a tuner specifically made for a truck with these upgrades on it.