Hey guys I have been browsing over the forum for a bit but haven't really found exactly what I am looking for yet. A few threads have been close and gave me some good insight.

My dad just bought a new 08 f150 and is giving me is 97 5.4L 4x4

First off its 100% stock with 185,000kms roughly 115xxx miles.

I was thinking about doing exhaust, cold air intake, tuner, a lift of some sort, roll up hard tonneau cover and that should take me a couple months of playing and saving to get all done.

I was also thinking about swapping in an eaton but reading I saw that the 97 f150's suffered from the same plaguing NPI heads that mustangs did. So that would raise the compression quite a bit doing a Lightning top end swap and adding the blower on top of that. So I was wondering cost wise would a KB or whipple (if the make one?) would be a better choice? or could I get away with the lightning top end and blower but keep the boost low?


So what would be the best hard roll up tonneau cover, CAI and tuner to pick-up to start off with? I figure I might just weld in one of the flowmasters off my mustang for now until I get around to a full new exhaust kit.

With the lift I would like to keep it low, so I was thinking a 2" body or maybe 3" suspension lift if such a beast exists. I was looking at 2" body lift kits and was wondering if that kit would also take care of leveling the truck or would I need a leveling kit as well? Any pictures of lower lift kits would be much appriciated.


Thanks a lot in advance guys!

 

honestly, I would do a PI head swap. user built54 did one on his 98, ask him for his write up. then, I would do the L swap.

you can level your truck by cranking the torsion bars, but beware, you will increase ball joint and cv axle wear by doing so.

 

RIght a body lift isn't gonna level the truck. It's just gonna lift the entire body 3 inches. Also, go with the 3 inch kits. It's taller and everything lines up better than with the 2 inch kit. Just crank up your torsion bars enough to level the truck. There is no need to waste money on a kit.

 

won't the pi swap bump up compression by a couple points though, or will a stock pulley combo be fine at the approx. 10:1 comp you get?

what kind of increased wear are we talking about with the leveling kit? Double the mtce sched or what?

 

if you get a "leveling kit" for the 97-03 4x4 F150's its just a set of reindexed torsion keys. They allow you to put way too much lift with out having drop down brackets. This will cause premature ball joint and cv shaft failure do to extreme angles.

Now if you want to get level then use the stock torsion keys just crank them till its level.

A body lift ontop of the torsion key crank and you can fit 35's

 

So I can level the truck using stock torsion keys and then just add a body lift?

Also do you guys know if anyone makes a 3-4" suspension lift?

 

Rancho, makes a 4'' suspension lift for our trucks. it is an excellent kit. however, i would consider a 6'' lift. it only costs a little more.

yes, the PI head swap will alter your compression ratio, thus necessitating a custom tune.