Hey guys, I've been prowling around this forum looking for mods to consider putting into my truck over the summer and I have finally decided to pull the trigger. I have a fully stock 1999 F-150 4.6L and I am wanting to put in $2-3k worth of upgrades. I am looking to get increased mpg as well more mid range hp, my first question is if that is reasonable to both expect increased mpg and hp? The upgrades I am considering are the following:

- Cat-Back exhaust: As I understand I can expect about ~1mpg increase and a nice tone, I am looking for a nice deep rumble, nothing poppy or too load, and still pass emissions... Any suggestions?

- Long tube headers: Since I am gonna work the exhaust why not look into these too? I know than can be a lot of work and I am ideally looking for a set that would mount easily onto the truck and interface with a cat-back exhaust. Therefore I would greatly appreciate any experience someone would have mounting these and a cat-back exhaust on this type of truck. Also, should I expect 10-20HP out of this upgrade?

- Programmer: Should I consider dropping $350 on one of these guys? I know they can definitely change the engine performance to increase HP and mpg, but at what cost? Do they induce more wear on certain components? Am I better off getting a tune-up at a local shop? The programmer I am currently considering is the SCT X4.

Any other worthwhile upgrades you guys would suggest? I have looked into E-fans and underdrive pulleys and am no too convinced... Should I look into superchargers or turbos, or are those not worth the cost and extra wear they add on the engine? I have also looked into re-gearing and getting new tires but that doesn't seem cost effective at all. Any advice/pointers are greatly appreciated so comment away!

 

Welcome to the forum!

I also have a 1999 4.6, talk about one tough truck! I've had it for years and never had any trouble out of it; I hope you have similar experience with yours. Now as for your questions:

Catback? Sure go for it! Don't expect a huge HP bump tho, the exhaust on this gen. trucks were really restrictive. Replace the 4 cats with 2 Hi-Flow cats if you can.

Longtubes?? If you have the cash on hand and a Saturday you don't mind devoting to it, do it! Replace the y-pipe and cats while you're there! Check out OBX longtubes, they come with a y-pipe and bungs for your O2 sensors.

Programmer?? ABSOLUTELY. Mine paid for itself in fuel savings the first year I had it tuned by 5StarTuning.

Check out the Gotts Mod on this forum and look into getting electric fans, all the above combined might get you 30-40hp if you have a healthy engine.

Consider doing a PI head swap for the work and money you want to invest.

 

Hi Apgreen,

Thanks for your response, great information in there that I am definitely going to use in this project. I had a few follow up questions about the headers:
Looked around for those OBX headers, I think you are talking about these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/OBX-Header-F...38.m2548.l4275 I have a local exhaust shop here that I would like to get a X-pipe plumbed into the exhaust from, do you think they would be able to replace the Y-pipe that comes with these headers with their own X-pipe?

 

Yeah those are the headers I was referring to. They might be cheaper on OBX website, but to answer your question, yes. Any decent exhaust shop shouldn't have any trouble running an x-pipe off those headers.