Need some suggestions for performance mods, trying to keep it reliable but dangerous as well, what upgrades will make the best power. I also want to lower it, what’s the best stance and wheel dimensions for a street truck that won’t rub on the tire but will still be low?

 

The single best performance mod is a good quality programmer with custom tunes from a reputable tuning house. If you want to spend more money, supercharge it.

 

A tune and some 4.10s in the rear diff. That will perk it up. If that ain't enough, do what glc says and supercharge it.

 

Would upgrades like a cam or a throttle body help it? What size wheels would be ok with lowering it?

 

Hotter cams and larger throttle body will only help at high rpm. The truck will feel slower and will be slower 0 to 60.

 

Stock cams, stock throttle body, stock intake. Put an exhaust on it if you want it to be louder, but no true duals unless you use an X-pipe, you will lose bottom end if you don't use one. A GOOD custom tune will definitely wake it up. Gears will help with low end torque and acceleration. Why no intake? The stock air box is actually a pretty good cold air intake the way it sits, you can do a Gotts mod to it.

Gotts mod: https://www.f150online.com/forums/ar...3-f-150-a.html

 

Is there any that’ll help me low end speed? Like off the line? I also have an unrelated question, do y’all know what the 2 and 1 gear do?

 

Off the line? 4.10 or 4.56 gears (I wouldn't use 4.56's if you do much highway driving) and a good tune, plus Gotts mod and exhaust if desired. Figure around $800 for gears (assuming 2 wheel drive, double that for 4 wheel drive) and $500 for a good programmer and set of custom tunes, check out 5 Star and MPT for good tuning houses and SCT for the programmer, buy it from the tuning house. They will ship the programmer with canned tunes, you install them and send them an info sheet, they will then email you custom tunes, download them to the programmer with a USB cable. Most people get 3 tunes - 87 octane performance, 87 octane towing, and 91/92/93 octane performance. More are available.

2 is manual 2nd gear. 1 is manual 1st gear. If you downshift using the lever at too high a speed, the PCM delays the downshift till it reaches a safe speed, to keep from overrevving the engine and causing transmission damage. If you accelerate in 1st or 2nd up to the redline, I think it will upshift anyway. The engine does have a rev limiter to protect both the engine and the transmission, the torque converter doesn't like it over 5400 rpm. It also has a top speed limiter, which can be adjusted with a tune, as can transmission behavior.

 

Great, thank you. I appreciate all this information, is there any other recommendations you have to increase performance?

 

Horsepower cost a lot of money these days. If you have to have a lot of hp increase, it may be cheaper in the long run to buy a newer truck with the 5.0 or ecoboost.

I suspect you will really like what 4.10 gears and a tune will do for you.

 

I went from 3.55 to 4.10 in my truck and it was the best thing I ever did.

On the highway unloaded doing 55 mph, I get 18-20mpg with a v6 5 speed '07 F150 with knobby tires.

When I was running highway tires, I was getting 20-22mpg.

With the 3.55 gearing I was lucky to break 16-18mpg.

 

Or supercharge yours.

https://www.procharger.com/truck-sup...f-150-54-46-2v

MSRP is around $5500.

 

do gears FIRST...if they are in the budget....
because....once you get a tune...set-up....you will have to PAY again if you change the gears. It's aesy to driv earound with a wacky speedo for a few weeks.

 

Even with a custom tune, can't you change gear ratio and tire size yourself after the fact?

 

no...once they "set" the tune....after a few days it is LOCKED! 5 Star did my tunes....when i first loaded them YES...i tweaked out the speedo (per tire revs) ..then noticed a few weeks later when I went to take a couple degrees of timing out that ..."NO ACCESS" tune is locked.