Personally.. I have an AF1 3.0" intake, custom true dual exhaust, and an X3 from VMPtuning. All in all, I spent close to $1000.

If you dont mind spending a little bit of extra cash, a tuner combined with an intake would be the best place to start. The X3 works well enough for.. but if your looking for something that has a bit more substance, the Gryphon from PHP has some flashy gauges, and I've heard nothing but positive reviews from them. The X3 will cost you $400 with free shipping, while the Gryphon will cost you $400-490 depending on how many tunes you want/need. In hindsight, I almost wish I would have went with the Gryphon.

As far as an intake goes, I think an S&B would be your best bet, it's only about $200 dollars from modbargains.com with free shipping.

So yea.. if you don't mind spending about $600-700 you could easily walk away with a tuner/intake combo.

You can worry about an exhaust and e-fans afterwards. A decent exhaust setup might cost you an additional $400-500, I have a custom Magnaflow setup, and I love it.

As far as actual gains.. it's hard to say.. I fixed my truck up almost as soon as I got it.. everything was done within the first 100 miles, so I have little to compare it to. lol.. but I get about 12mpg city and 15mpg hwy.

 

Yep! My bad - thought you were @ 125,000 miles. That was another user on page 1. Disregard.

 

I checked out the "Gotts" intake online. It seems to make sense and is within my abilities. The principle looks the same as all the CAI's I have seen.

I am thinking about trying this with a K&N drop in filter. I have been reading up on these and some concerns have been expressed by users about filtration and engine damage. Some folks got worse mileage/performance. That may be related to not resetting the computer. With $150 more I could buy an S&B. I also checked it out online. It looks good and simple.

Any thing I should look at there?

Any insights?

 

accodring the some info PHP posted in another thread the "gotts intake" was good for 8hp while the S&B only made 10 hp (unknown engine at this point in time and I am not making the claim just pasing on some info)...

Troyer did a lot of info and data logging the factory intake system gets in cooler air than all the CAI's except for the AF1,

that being said you can probably remove the silencer for a bit more airflow on top of the "gotts intake" mod, I sold my K&N CAI (on the road to forced induction) and I liked the performance of the gotts intake - I never removed my silencer either and I was running 24# injectors and the truck liked it alot better in the Texas summer heat

 

Would the Gott's be worth it on a 4.2? Because I really don't know if I could just up and sell my K&N....spend too much dang money on it.... And who would buy a used CAI?

 

several people would, I am unsure of the engine used in the PHP post but I imagine it was a 4.6 or 5.4

like i said I sold my K&N and then I needed an intake waiting on some parts so I ran the gotts for a few weeks and it was a good trade...

dirtyd88 - try it and it all else fails you're out $8-$10 and an hour of work if you like it better then sell your K&N or run the K&N in the winter and the gotts in the summer

 

I might look into this...I mean, since Texas see's no cold weather in the winter anyways....

 

I tried the gotts intake mod on my 4.2 and ran into a couple of snags. I see how it works on the 8cyl engines. However, my airbox is different. The rubber boot that goes into the fender well looks the same. I had an ideal piece of pipe lying around to fix it. When I went to connect my airbox, the 3 inch connector boot(from Lowes) was too big on the airbox end. I looked at my bro. in law's 5.4 and they are made different. His airbox fits over the fenderwell boot. Mine goes inside the boot, and is tapered. It would be hard to get a good seal, but I might be able to make it work. This is another restriction and is not much larger than the fender boot. Airflow being the goal, I think I need to look at some additional things to really gain a benefit.

Since I couldn't get it to seal easily, I left the fender boot off. Since it is cold weather this should help some on airflow and still have cold air.

I thought about a couple of options. I could get a 2 1/2 x 3in connector and use it like it is. I may check on getting a V-8 airbox filter side at a junkyard and see if it will work.

Idea. Would it be feasable to take an entire intake from a 4.6 or 5.4 and modify it to work on my 4.2? I could achieve a larger volume and use the gotts mod at the same time. Are the factory intakes the same for both 8cyls?

Any ideas are appreciated.

 

SWEET truck Zeruin!!! Got an '02 that I am workin that way...sorry for the interrupt.

 

I'm surprised that no one mentioned an aftermarket performance chip. Ebay ads claim they add 20 HP and improve mileage and cure cancer, all at the same time....and only $30 or so.

Aren't the F150s chipped properly from the factory? Are there really any documented improvements?

 

redtruck, go find a K&N Series-77 CAI. They are perfect for the 4.2L. Comes with a million-mile warranty and is 50-state CARB legal.

To aid in the thread, I just repacked my 11 year old bearings and I just saw an extreme MPG improvement! Ride is also smoother.

 

red-truck, try a local wrecking yard and see if the V-8 filter cap will interchange. it may be worth a try




go ahead and buy one of those joke chips, buy a throttle body spacer while you're at it, maybe stack 3 throttle body spacers for the ultimate boost in power


a good tuner can tune an Xcal2, Xcal3, Gryphon, diablo or sniper software to gain power and mileage (if driven accordingly)

 

 

If eBay could sell you $5 for $20, I'm sure you would fall for it...

F-150s are tuned by a computer to last a long time and suit everyone. Ford doesnt want a farmer with 350hp spinning tires while hes trying to tow a trailer....

 

I guess I'll just leave my F-150 engine as it came from the factory.

Your statement reminds me of something an old guy from Tennessee once said, "I'd give a thousand dollars to be a millionaire!"

H2