I am all about losing weight to but you can get a custom skid plate to cover the bottom then get a grille guard to solve the bumper weight

 

So a quick update now, currently I'm thinking a K&N Air Filter and K&N Cold Air Intake, Rancho QuickLift for the front suspension (possibly Bilstien 9000s on the rear, not sure yet), a Frontier Grille Guard and some Magnaflow dual exhaust.

Anyone have any comments on oil? I usually change my own and I usually get the Penzoil 5 quarts and filter deal for my last truck.

Any thoughts on tint? My back windows are but not the front and I'm wondering what % to do. I want to be able to see out fairly easily but I don't want people able to see what all is in my truck while walking by

 

Skip the K&N crap and do the Gotts Mod (just search Gotts mod with the search function). It will be adequate for any power level you want short of forced induction.

The Magnaflow exhaust will be fine, I prefer their 18" SIDO muffler to keep the noise level reasonable.

Oil is purely preferential, just make sure it meets Ford's specs for 5w-20 oil. I use Mobil 1/Wix Filter with 7,500 mile changes as per the Ford owner's manual (the interval not the oil brand). Motorcraft synthetic blend is also fine.

Factory tint for the rears is ~20%, so if you want the fronts to match, that's what you need.

 

Not a K&N fan either, they only work "well" if you maintain them which most people don't, they put them in and "let em ride". Eventually your just letting crap in to your motor because of the bigger holes in the filter.

For the oil...I'll admit it...I bring my truck to the stealership. For the money they can actually do it cheaper than if I go out and buy the materials and the truck is getting exactly what your supposed to be putting in there..A motorcraft filter and oil

 

The dealership does your oil for less than $30?

 

$45 With a tire rotation, meh, I can't complain, I've bought all my vehicles through the same dealer. Plus when I was doing my own oil changes I was running Mobile 1 with a Mobile One Filter, so I was kind of making it expensive on myself anyway haha.

 

Oh I understand, lol. The $30 was based off of Motorcraft oil. I spend $45 altogether for the Wix filter and Mobile 1 myself. If I wanted the dealership (or any other lube shop) to use Mobile 1, I'd be paying $60+ out the door. Doing it myself gives me a chance to inspect the underside of the truck while waiting for the oil to drain, which is primarily why I do it myself. That and me not trusting some high school kid.

 

Hey I started changing my oil as a high school kid, my truck didn't have any complaints lol so Mobile 1 or Motorcraft oil would be the best for my truck now? And I'm going to do the Gotts mod thanks for the tip and I still my do the K&N air filter later on.

 

You can't go wrong with Mobile1, its all about what you want to spend. Personally like I said I have no issues with my Motorcraft stealership changes. Second the Gotts Mod suggestion by Sooner, its the fastest, "cheapest", easiest "Mod" you can do. Low Tech is sometimes the best tech.

 

Any other little tricks like the gotts mod that might be useful later on down the road? I know one guy said he had a K&N air filter and K&N says they will always replace or repair your engine if they are at fault if its properly oiled and maintained so what he does is when he cleans the filter and reoils it he uses his stock paper filter for a day and lets the oil thoroughly be absorbed and spread out before using it again and that seems to work for him.

 

Basically, the onus is on you to PROVE it was the K&N filter that caused your engine problem/failure. Good luck with that.

Also, why use the filter if it doesn't do anything for you?! There isn't any real performance increase, and the only thing you gain is the somewhat real possibility that you are going to get filter oil on the MAF sensor that will cause you all sorts of problems. All for what? Not changing out a paper filter once every 30K miles? Not a very good trade off. I would seriously just avoid the problem entirely since it doesn't give you any real horsepower.

 

I just had a thought and haven't looked yet but thinking about the quicklift set with coil and shock. Do they sell just the shock that would raise it the 2"?

 

Go with Motorcraft oil / filter

Get the exhaust, intake, programers, etc because you want them, not to save money. You will probably be in a different truck before you even reach the break even point.

If you need a leveling kit, you don't need a truck. . . get a Mustang instead!