What kind of weight, 1/4 mile times am I looking at for my stock truck in my sig?

It feels a tad slower than my last 2wd F150, thats for sure. Could I expect possibly a 17 flat in the 1/4? Its got ***** off the line, I left a 5 foot strip of posi today

IF I got a magnaflow DI/DO muffler and Superchips microtuner, what kinds of HP gains could I expect?

Thanks

 

Hi 03,

Curb weight (no fuel & no driver), 5500 lbs. Add a tank of gas & a driver, and you're at 6000 lbs. pretty quick, more with a hard tonneau cover. In short, you have a 3-ton truck there.

Since it has the ORP (Off Road package, now called FX4), you also have the 265/70/17 tires, which are very tall, to the point that at 90 mph in Overdrive, with the 3.55 gears you're only turning 2400 rpm, which is not enough at stock power levels and causes terrible performance and fuel mileage isn't great, either.

We have an identical 2001 5.4 Lariant 4X4 w/ORP & the towing package, w/3.55 gearing posi front & rear, and it's bone-stock ET was 19.4 seconds @ 80 mph. Yours won't be significantly quicker than that, and don't count on getting anywhere near the 17's in stock trim, it won't happen with that configuration. Even with the optional factory 3.73 gearing you'll be *very* lucky to break anywhere in the 18's in stock trim.

On the mods, I'd suggest forgetting about doing a muffler-only change to the exhaust, as that won't get you any significant power gain, 5-7 HP on a 5.4 is about the max, at best. Count on doing a proper cat-back exhaust system instead of just a muffler change, changing only the muffler is for *sound*, not power. It's the difference between at most, a 5-7 HP gain for a muffler, versus 21 HP gain for the Magnaflow cat-back system. Not much of a contest.

As far as how much power you'll be making with the Superchips tuning and the complete Magnaflow cat-back exhaust system, nobody can tell you that precisely as there are too many variables, like your vehicle's individual performance, your altitude, atmospheric conditions (temperature, humidity, baro, etc.), fuel octane & fuel quality (energy content), etc. So that will vary, significantly.

Ideally, using 77 degrees (F) for a baseline, at 260 HP stock (5.4's rating) and under *ideal* conditions, you could potentially end up as high as say, 309 HP with those mods, *IF* the planets were perfectly aligned & the good Lord was smiling on you. I'd say count on more like 295-300 HP, and be pleasantly surprised if it's more.

The Superchips tuning can provide a maximum of 28 Hp & 46 lbs./ft. on the 260 HP 5.4, and the Magnaflow cat-back can give 21 HP, but I wouldn't count on seeing more than about 295-300 HP on average as a result of those 2 mods (you may well make more, many people do), just because rarely does *everyone* always make the absolute maximum numbers in all situations.

The Superchips tuning will give you about a 10%-12% power gain over whatever you're making now, and the Magnaflow exhaust is very consistent; overall, it's primarily a matter of conditions & fuel quality as to what you actually make in reality.

Those are 2 excellent modifications to start off with, they are the #1 (Superchips tuning) & #3 (Magnaflow exhaust) best bang-for-the-buck mods for the F-150. if you'd like to give us a call, we'd be happy to quote you on this package, or any other.

Doing just a muffler change alone is not worth doing in these trucks if you're looking for power, as that would get you, at best, about a 5-7 HP gain on the 5.4 motor from the highest-flowing Magnaflow muffler. The exhaust restriction is only partly in the muffler, far more of it is in the rest of the exhaust system, so if you want to get any real power out of the exhaust, plan on saving up & doing it right with the complete Magnaflow cat-back system, unless you're just looking for sound.

Good luck!

 

Its possibly that I'm a newb at exhaust systems, but whats the difference between swapping out the muffler and getting a whole new catback system?

 

Not tryin to step on your foot here Mike, I'm just a man of questions

 

Hi, Mike

I liked your answer to "03."

I have a '99 Lariat @ 3tons, w/373 rear axle, Michelin 265/70/17's and a K&N injection "kit" (not just the stock replacement filter element).

I'm looking for more hp and torque for towing my 30-ft camper - I'm not into great sounding pipes and fast 1/4's.

Would the "performance module" by JET Powertech, along with JET Underdrive pulleys, improve my lousey gas mileage while giving me some added towing power?

TIA,

John
150RVer

 

I can answer your question.


I would skip on the JET performance and stick with the Superchip. The JET only improves performance on WOT applications, and WOT only. When towing, you need the power down in the rpm ranges, because you arent WOT when towing. A superchip tunes at all RPM ranges and all throttle positions.

A superchip, catback exhaust, and intake would definitly improve towing ability. Also try the dual electric fans.

 

If this

Does this (as car# 130)

I should be doing this?
I have even added a hard tonneau and skid plates before the above run. My truck is a 2001 with the 5.4 and has the trailer towing package with the 265/70/17 tires and 3.55 gearing. The only modifications I have are a Superchip microtuner and dual electric fans (my own design). No other modifications or changes.
The truck was never slower than 17.4? bone stock and that was on a 95 degree day in the Indiana humidity.

Did I get a fast one?

Darrin

 

Well, thats about the time I observed of a 02 FX4 like mine at the track but wasnt sure if it was stock. I guess it was.

 

I'll get to Darrin's post first.............

Darrin, your truck may indeed be one of the "quicker" ones, that 16.7 is a darn nice time, to be sure!

Wow, that's a mighty quick time to only have an 81.91 mph trap speed. We got an 80 mph trap speed on a 19.4 second ET in ours, yours is almost 3 seconds quicker but less than 2 mph faster, hmmm............converting to electric fans helps ET more than it helps trap speed, but still, with a 16.7 second ET, I'd have expected 85+ mph trap speed......................... oh well, you get what you get, especially in 95 degrees!

Your truck isn't a Lariat ORP 3-ton beast like those we've been discussing, it's a bit lighter and it/s lower too, so your truck is naturally going to be able to accelerate quicker (though you're still carrying a good deal of weight, of course!). The configuration I was discussing previously is heavier & higher, like we have with one of our F-150's here, a 2001 5.4 Lariat 4X4 SuperCab with hard tonneau cover, Towing package, with the OffRoad package, the running bars, & every other factory option except the CD-changer (don't ask me why it wasn't there!), basically. It's a 3-ton+ lifted Lariat ORP, whereas your truck is lighter and it's lower, too.

You don't have the OffRoad package for openers, which involves more than just a skid plate or two, it adds about 300-400 lbs. to the vehicle depending on other options. It also lifts the vehicle 2+ inches all the way around, significantly increasing the drag coefficient; a real killer in the 1/4 mile. Not having the ORP alone generally gives about 4-5 tenths improvement in 1/4 mile ET from the combination of those factors.

If you had a Lariat ORP configured as we've been discussing, you would never have run 17's in bone-stock trim in summer heat like that.

The bottom line is, your 4X4 Supercab is indeed turning some very nice ET's for it's level of modifications, congratulations, thosse are results to be proud of!

That also means that 15's will come easier, and then 14's won't be quite so hard to hit as they will be for those of us with these lifted ORP monsters!

Have fun & thanks for your data!

 

Hi 03F150,

It's a *BIG* difference, it's the difference betweeen a muffler and an exhaust system.

With a muffler change, that's all you're changing, just the muffler, nothing more. That only relieves a very small amount of the restriction in the exhaust system, and does next to nothing to get it's basic flow capacity rate up, so you don't get much power gain, you mainly get a sound change.

Replacing the cat-back system means replacing *everything* from just behind the catalytic converters all the way to the back of the vehicle, so you toss the intermediate tubing, the muffler, and the tailpipe, replaced with the compete bolt-on cat back exhaust system.

The factory exhaust systems in the 1997 & up F-150 and Expedition, etc., are only 2.5" in diameter, where the Magnaflow cat-back exhaust system is 3.0 inch, and it's mandrel bent so that the ID (internal diameter) is not reduced even in the bends. This gets the basic flow rate *way* up compared to the stock 2.5 inch non-mandrel bent aluminized system, and this is what helps, along with proper flow engineering & alloy use, to achieve much larger power gains than just a muffler change alone.

That's just quick & basic, to go over this in more detail give us a call, as always.

 

This will give you an idea of how consistent she is. Here is a whole night worth of runs. I am car# 121 on this set.






BTW I don't remove anything to race. I run it as I drive it. I even carry my work tools in the back.
My truck is a Lariat and I do have the trailer towing package, the big 265/70/17 tires and 3.55 gearing. She didn't come factory with the ORP, but I have added the skid plates for extra protection. I also invested in a painted LEER fibergalss hard tonneau, LINE-X spray in bed liner and Westin full length nerf bars. All of this was added in 2001 and I didn't take it to the track until mid 2002 so it was all on there for these runs.
I am curious about the 2" height difference. My friend has an FX4 version and I am equally as tall. I have a pic somewhere of them together, but I am taking up too much bandwith as it is. At her highest point at the back of the roof she stands just over 75" tall with 38" to the ground under the front wheel well and 38.5" under the rear.
I think the reason for my slow trap speeds is mostly the massive wind resistance, but it wouldn't hurt to free up the exhaust since I am still stock in that dept. It falls flat on it's face about 4 grand and can't recover after the 1/8th mile mark no matter the rpm. Maybe some Magnaflow treatment later this year...

Bottom line. I am happy with it. The Microtuner Mike T sold me was well worth the investment. It did wonders for making consistent runs. I didn't know about his fan kit until after I had built my own or I would have gotten them from him as well.

Later folks
Darrin

 

Mike -

On a different thread I read that the newer f150's have stainless steal exhaust. Above you mention that they have aluminized.

Which is it? Anyone know for sure?

 

Hi Darrin,

Your observations on height are very interesting, & I really can't tell you with certainty about height change in the 2002 FX4 setup (I haven't studied the 2002 build sheets nearly as much as I have the 1997-2001's over time, basically). It may well be that the FX4 package, which became available starting in the 2002 model year, is not actually the entire Off Road package. Thanks for sharing the info on height.

What I can tell you is that the traditional Off Road package adds 300-400 lbs. of weight to the vehicle depending on other options, and it also lifts the vehicle another 2+ inches all the way around, at least in the 1997-2001 F-150 ORP's. We've owned & worked on plenty of examples of both, of course.

It looks like the only significant difference between your truck and our 2001 6000+ lb. ORP is the Off Road package. Yours is a 4X4, it's a SuperCab, Lariat, has the Towing & heavy duty cooling, etc. We also have the hard lid, hard bedliner & other additional add-ons as well on our '01 ORP. So it looks like we're basically about 300-400 lbs. heavier than your truck, and 2+ inches taller.

It also sounds like your truck ran some darn nice ET's in bone-stock trim, it just may be a bit quicker than normal. That might have been a good race if we could have paired them up back then, you probably would have handed me my hat!

You can spot any ORP F-150 *instantly* by its height, you'll see that difference right away, there won't be any question in your mind when you see it. The ORP's have a much larger gap in the wheel wells too (distance between top of tire & bottom of wheel lip) with the same size tires, the 265/70/17 that comes standard with the ORP and that you are running as well. Personally, I'd like to see the ORP's get 33" tires & 4.56 gearing standard from the factory, now *that's* starting to approach an Off Road configuration & would give us the torque multiplication we need along with filling up those wheel wells a bit better.

It's nice to see that big heavy truck of yours running as quick as 16.7 at that weight with only the electric fans & the Micro Tuner for mods, I'd say that's an *excellent* result.

That stock exhaust (and intake, if it's still stock too) certainly is hurting your trap speed, absolutely, the motor can't breathe. We already have very small exhaust valves to begin with in these cylinder heads (a traditional Ford problem), and compounding that with a capped-up exhaust sure doesn't help, so you should see some very nice improvement once that motor can breathe, another 3-4 tenths and perhaps 1.5 mph in trap speed.

Once the intake & exhaust are both properly freed up, you should see your motor be much more willing to wind up to at least 4700 rpm, and perhaps as much as 5000 rpm before the motor really stops pulling. The opened up exhaust will not only relieve restriction but also move the power band up a bit as well.

Great results so far, & thanks for your posts & data!

 

Hi soooo,

I'll have to plead a bit of ignorance on that one, as traditionally they've always been aluminized, except for the Lightning. One of our 2001 F-150's came with aluminized exhaust, the other with stainless, but the stainless came on our Lightning, of course.

It may be that they went stainless in 2002-2003, perhaps, I should have that memorized but don't, my apologies! So far I only *remember* seeing aluminized on the F-150's I've been under, but then, usually the only time we look at the exhaust is when it's being stripped off in preparation for installing the new exhaust, go figure.

 

My 2001 F-150 had aluminum stock exhaust. So does my father's 97 F-150, both are 4.6's. They use aluminum piping so that it won't rust through as fast.