I guess this is mainly for those that have more heavily modified trucks over and above tuners, catbacks and cold air intakes, but this doesn't exclude those with just these mods as well.

Do any of you wish your truck was stock again, or, are you still enjoying the mods you did?

The reason I ask this is because my truck is stock. It's also my daily driver so I need a reliable vehicle that will get me from point A to point B in a comfortable fashion when I need it to. That's not to say that you can't own a reliable modded vehicle, but the fact of the matter is, when you mod, you lose reliability. I have a fairly heavily modified Mustang, but the Mustang is a seasonal toy for me, so reliability is not as important, although it has never failed me since it was modded several years ago, other than a throwout bearing ( I still made it to the garage though) which gave me the excuse to get rid of the stock clutch and throw in a perfomance clutch.
For example, would I want to drive it with those stiff Eibach springs all the time as a daily driver? Probably not, but that's just one example of what I'm getting at.

There seem to be enough heavily modified trucks on this forum, so I'm looking forward to hearing some honest remarks about this.

 

I would never go back to stock....

 

Your comment "fact of the matter is when you mod you loose reliability" confuses me. How do you figure that??
This is my third supercharged vehicle and I have never been concerned in jumping in any of them and driving from coast to coast if I felt the urge to do so. Both my '01 Lightning 495/600 and '03 Cobra 475/515 were driven all over the country without concern, or an issue of any sort.

 

Um hell no, so much better all around modded. I use my truck to go on vacation every year and we do a trip from NY-SC that takes 15 hrs. one way. And its me, the wife and 2 kids. 2 years old and 4 years old.

 

I can name you quite a few people I know that would never modify their cars again, so I figured the same could be applied to trucks. I'm talking about friends with late model F-Bodies/Mustangs that went with heads and cam packages, as an example. I could give you the reasons and issues they've had, but I'd never stop typing. I feel fortunate that the upper and lower intake, cam, heads, exhaust, and all supporting parts I've done on my Mustang have been hands down reliable, but when I did it I also knew I was taking a chance because chaging a stock vehicle to a performance vehicle leads t other problems. It's an endless cycle that if you're not prepared to spend the coin n the proper supporting hardware, can turn into a disaster.

 

I think the OP meant, then when he modifies it loses reliability !

For me, my dingo *****, fuzzy dice and camo seat covers have not affected the integrity of my truck whatsoever. In fact, I even increased my mileage .

bubba

 

..... and the 20+ rwhp/torque they gave you is definitely an added bonus!!

 

Stock sucks.

 

Im confused, what is this stock you are talking about?

 

Ford stock.

 

head work, piston swappin and cams are more serious mods than bolt on look good parts, careful reasearch and selection is crucial to a relable engine build. not to mention possible supporting mods, most us f150 guys just do the intake exhaust and tuner.... some venture into the bolt on superchargers. very few (rafa26) are veturing into the unknown with the 04- f150, if you want a performance f150 that you can tinker with and make fast thats what the old lightning is for, there is a huge market for them and tons of go fast parts... the 04+ f150 doesnt have that kind of support so most are limited to the superchargers at best.... which given they are installed properly are VERY reliable

 

I guess it depends on how you mean modded. It sounds to me like you are talking about an entire lower end buildup. Which is fine, and as reliable, or more so than stock IF done right. IF done badly, you will have nothing but trouble. Just like if you mess up modding the suspension, or electrical, or whatever system.

If your friends are modding their cars, and blowing them up, they are doing something SERIOUSLY wrong in the buildup process. And if I had to guess since you mention F bodies (OLD cars by now) and Mustangs, they are most likely spraying nitrous, doing big compression, cams, etc... and are probably shooting too much nitro and tossing the heads off the things.

Generally speaking, with the modular engines, there are pre-designed kits such as Rousch, and Saleen that do some lower end stuff, stab a blower at it, some intake and exhaust mods etc... and keep it reliable. If you are going to start getting into picking each and every piece yourself, and building up by trial and error, well these engines haven't been around anywhere near as long as the old Cleveland and Windsor engines of old... Or even the GM Y blocks... so if you are going to experiment, expect to have expensive things blow up in your face.

Mods = reliable, efficient use of energy.
Stupid mods = entertainment for us!

 

Chicken stock?

 

No, I'm not talking specifically about internal engine work. I'm only using this as an example. I didn't touch the bottom end on my Mustang BTW. It's bone stock. The top end however, is completely changed.
I'm talking about trucks that have big lifts, big tires, leveling kits, etc etc etc that in some cases may no longer have great highway or possibly towing manners, as an example.
Either everyone that has done these mods are happy, or just unable to admit they would want to go back to stock. I certainly don't believe that absolutely everyone that has a jacked up heavily modded truck is happy with it. I'm quite certain there is somebody out there that wishes they never touched their truck in the first place, other than perhaps light mods.
I mean, nothing is perfect afterall.
I could name a few complaints about my car, but i would never want to place it back to stock. If it was a daily driver however? ...well that's a different story.

 

Unfortunately your assumption that a modded motor equals poor reliability is 100% false. All these people you felt compelled to type out if needed are either NOT mechanically inclined or just simply don't know what they're doing or both.

Your typical barstool racer will just poke through a Summit or Jegs catalog and start charging parts up and slapping them on with out any REAL thought as how these parts will work cohesively and in a complimentary way. When an auto manufacture builds a mass produced engine, they build it to handle a certain amount of power. If you start adding SC's, spray, cams, heads....then you are seriously rolling your dice depending on the amount of HP increase you end up with.

These parts alone will NOT do the damage though!!!!!!!! Your right foot and that gas pedal are the ultimate culprits. I personally would not simply throw SC's and what not onto a STOCK block. That's just a ticking time bomb, but most folks don't have the knowledge, patience nor the bank accounts to do it right. Build a solid forged foundation first. I believe rafa26 went this route, on the advice of JDM. His truck theoretically should be 100% reliable. The whole motor was built to live comfortably with 700+HP just like a stock Fox body can comfortably live with 225HP from the factory.

I happen to be good friends with Mike Post (www.dynotunemp.com). He has a 7 second race car, but he also designs and builds 9 second street cars that just happen to be 100% reliable. He will refuse to build a car with this sort of power if the customer insist on taking short cuts. If the customer isn't 100% committed to dish out the funds to pay for the RIGHT parts, then Mike will not do the job. This means starting with a $2000+ Dart block (or equivalent) and forged reciprocating assembly.

The simple truth is that there are considerably more people willing to take short cuts due to lack of knowledge, mechanical inclination, funds and/or patience than there are who have these necessary traits. Those are the idiots with the broke down cars. Plain and simple.