Just purchased a 2002 F150 with the 5.4 Triton. Has 3.55 gears, 255 tires, and ~11K ticks on the odometer. I want to build more low-end and mid-range punch since I bought this truck to tow my boat / hunting Jeep.

I am thinking about the following modifications in this specific order and would like to know if I am on the right track.

1) Hypertech or Superchip programmer: I'm still researching the Superchip features / gains for the 5.4 compared to the PPIII. [This seems like the best mod to do first.]

2) FIPK / cold air intake: The Airforce One looks good under the hood but the K&N puts up decent HP numbers and is the Industry standard. Comments from folks with the Airforce One unit?

3) Catback exhaust: I had good luck with the Gibson side-swept unit on another truck. Expensive but a really good fit. I am considering swapping the muffler-only, since my past experiences suggest that the muffler is the main restrictor in the exhaust.

4) Other suggestions welcome.


Thanks in advance for your help.

JPTEX

 

1. I'm going with a Superchip ! mine should be in early this week !
2. The general consensus is that the Air Force One is the best, followed closely by K&N FIPK Gen II.
My Air Force One is on the way also.
3. I went with a FlowMaster 40 series Cat Back, but I agree that most of the restriction is in the muffler.

 

Hi JPTEX,

Well, overall it looks like you're pretty well heading down the best bang for the buck path, so to speak, with your proposed modifications..............

Here's the Top 3 specifically...................

1.) Optimize the powertrain program with the Superchips Micro Tuner - this will net you a 20+ HP gain as compared to about half that (at best) with the Hypertech PPIII unit - Hypertech is "generic" (I.E., 1 same program for all 1998 4.6 F-150's) and only tunes basically at full-throttle - while Superchips is individual vehicle specific (tuning for each individual different PCM revision)and tunes for max power all the time, at any throttle position and at any rpm, so there is a significant difference between the 2 in terms of results. You'll also have 3 programs with the Superchips Micro Tuner instead of 2 in the PPIII, and the Micro Tuner also has the built-in OBD-II code scanner. Frankly, I don't really care much about the additional bells & whistles so much as the bottom line *performance* improvement - that is what I'm after - the rest is just icing on the cake as far as I'm concerned, but it's nice icing to have.

2.) Reduce restriction in the air intake tract with the Air Force One - this intake kit adds the most power in our experience, it is made of the highest quality materials (aircraft grade T304 Stainless steel that is then mirror-polished by hand), and IMHO, looks the best under the hood. I'm not a fan of paying $$$ for cheap plastic, and the cost of the AF1 is basically about the same as the plastic intakes.

3.) Replacing the muffler is basically a waste of time in these trucks unless altering the *sound* is your primary goal. The best muffler swap will net you about 5 more HP as compared to roughly 3 times that gain with a properly flow-engineered cat-back system - and the best is hands down the Magnaflow. Again, all aircraft-grade T304 stainless, and *NO* loss of torque - in fact it's the only system we have tested that actually shows an *increase* in torque at any throttle position and at any rpm. If you are going to go with Gibson, the Gibson Swept-Side system gets the best results in terms of torque among the 7 different Gibson systems for this platform - you'll see about an 8 HP gain and it loses less torque at lower rpms than say, a Flowmaster or a Gibson Sport Truck or a Gibson Super Truck, etc. But if you're going to spend the $$ for any Gibson stainless steel system, I'd recommend going with Magnaflow instead as you get a better result and better quality.


We do performance packages, combos & Stage 1 thru Stage 5 kits for these vehicles, so you will probably want to take a look at our web site: www.TroyerPerformance.com - click on "Shop" once the home page loads, & then you'll see all the various sections - Intake, Exhaust, Superchips, Ignition, Performance Packages, etc., etc.

Please feel free to give us a call to go over any of this, & best of luck whatever you decide!

 

I got the Diablo chip, then ordered the Magnaflow/ BBK throttlebody/ Airforce 1 from Mike. I love all these mods, made such a difference. I just need to toss the Diablo and go with a troyer tuned Superchip.

Thanks again Mike...


Nate

2002 F150 Scab
5.4L
3.31 Rear
AF1
BBK Throttlebody
Magnaflow Exhaust
Factory Tech Valve Body
17x8.5 polished SEC Wheels
Kuhmo 265/70/17 Exsta STX

 

So far all I have done is the K&N Gen II FIPK. I plan on going with either a JBA or Magnaflow exhaust in the next year though. I have always heard that the FIPK didn’t do much, but I can notice a little improvement in response and it is definitely louder

 

Hi there Nate,

I must have missed your post here a while back, sorry about that!

You've got a very nice setup on that '02 truck - very nice choices - those wheels & tires must look nice.

And while we'd *love* to have you using our Superchips tuning too, I'd be the first to say that if you're happy with what you have now, there is no pressing need to change it - that's strictly up to you.

Have fun & keep in touch!

 

Hi PROxac,

Actually, while the Air Force One intake makes a bit more power than the K&N FIPK kit, that K&N kit is not a "bad" intake by any means - figure that on the 4.6 motor F-150 it's worth about 12 HP, and on the 5.4 about 14-15 HP.

So it's certainly a worthwhile mod you can & should feel good about!

These are very heavy vehicles, and we always warn people that they need to change how they judge the results from performance parts because of that - in these heavy vehicles, you can't judge performance mods by the "seat of the pants" feel like we could in Mustangs, or your average musclecar, etc. - you have to do timed acceleration testing with something like a GTech, etc., as you can easily knock a full second off your 1/4 miles times in these trucks but still not really be able to actually *feel* much (if anything) in the seat of the pants! Modifying these heavy vehicles is quite a bit different from modding a 3400lb. Mustang, or a 3600 lb. Camaro, etc. in terms of the results and how the vehicle feels, etc. You may already know that, just FYI in case..........

Have fun!

 

i am alway amazed that the f150 is the #1 in sales yet i see very little testing of aftermarket parts for them. that being said, i was very excited to see the January 04 , 5.0 mustang & superfords magazine.
they have installed a 260 hp 5.4 in a mustang and are now seeing the rear wheel hp gains of bolt ons. the chip is not a factor because they had to do a custom chip to get the mustang computer to "talk to the larger 5.4, big gain were made in the december issue but i have no idea of how to seperate the added power. the 5.4 kicks the 4.6 in the low end but the higher the rpm the closer they get.

uderdrive pulleys - gain at 2600 rpm - hp=2.5 torq = 4.7
- - gains at 3600 rpm hp=2.4 torq = 3.2
- gain at 5000 rpm - hp=5.1 torq = 5.3
best improvement- for hp is 7.8 at 5400 rpm

intake tube -gains at 2600 rpm - hp=4.3 torq = 9.2
- -gains at 3600 rpm - hp=6.6 torq = 9.7
- -gains at 5000 rpm - hp=1.4 torq = 1.6
not sure but i think the baseline test had a K&n filter so add 3 to 4 hp to it if going from a stock filter.
best improvemnet- for hp is 6.6 at 3600

the tube is a little different than the f150 tube but it is close.

remeber those are rear wheel numbers (i have no idea what crank hp would be (15 to 20% more?), so an intake and pulleys could pick you up 13.9 ft lbs of torque at 2600 and 7.8 hp.

 

i was a ram owner as well as being a fellow member of yours on another board- my truck is the same- i went with the magnflow 3" ss exhaust- #15609, mac air intake, and diablo chip improved driveabilty 100% everywhere as well as twing- unloaded- holds od without downshifting on hills- i will be going to a superchips as i will be getting a SUPERCHARGER FROM MIKE TROYER, for comparison -on my 01 ram- with mufffler swap , rami air box and mopar pcm- the mods on my f150 are a night and day differnece than what i experienced with the ram- in mixed driving i get 16- 17mpg, any more ?'s email me -openclasspro@cs.com

 

HI BrotherDave,

You make a good point about testing - which is why do have done so much over the years specifically on these trucks.

Now one thing that is important to remember is that the gains on a Mustang 4.6 from the mods you listed are not comparable to what happens with a 4.6 in the F-150. For example, the tuning in the 4.6 Mustang is significantly more aggressive than it is in the 4.6 trucks, even though both are for 87 octane - just for one example, the Mustangs go open loop quicker, which makes a significant difference on the dyno.

Also, the gains seen from underdrive pulleys on these trucks are significantly higher as well - for example, with our 2-pulley set for the 4.6 or 55.4 F-150/Expedition, we see a minimum of about 11.5 HP at peak on the stock factory program (average is just under 12), and as much as 13.6 HP with the Superchips tuning (due to slightly higher WOT upshift points). Now of course that's on a good eddy-current dyno that can compensate the load properly for these heavy trucks - where we don't have the limitation of the maximum of only 3600 lbs. of static load as in the typical Dynojet.

Now the numbers you are quoting are apparently for a truck 5.4, but as installed in the Mustang's bay - so I wonder exactly what the pulley diameters were as well as any potential differences in the routing of the accessory drives, etc. - to say nothing of potential dyno differences. Your numbers show a max gain of 7.8 HP @ 5400 rpm, where we normally see about 13 HP @ 5400 rpm.

I did not see that article in 5.0 I don't think - is this the one that they used a Steeda timing adjuster on and that Chris Johnson (then of Chris Johnson Motorsports, now of Superchips Custom Tuning) then tuned? I ask because an article just like that (truck 5.4 motor dropped into a 4.6 Mustang) ran in MM&FF just a coupla/few months ago, and I wondered if that might happen to be the same vehicle - in that one, Chris got another 10 HP at the wheels from tuning that vehicle, and that was in addition to the 14 HP that was gained from the Steeda timing adjuster adding 6 degrees of timing over stock - giving the typical 24+ HP total gain we can typically see in good tuning on a 5.4 truck motor for premium gas, for example. Now I do not remember what all other mods that particular car may have had on it, I just remember the main thing was the 4.6 to 5.4 swap...............

Very interesting, at any rate..............

Thanks for your post as always, & enjoy your Thanksgiving!

 

Mike the magazine is 5.0 mustang & superford and the best way to describe the issue is that it compares a yellow 03 cobra to a 00 red cobra R (great test)
the testing on the 5.4 also ends up putting then Reichard intake on the 5.4 (with custom adapters to allow a 4.6 manifold).
to throw another wrench in the test, the test was done with the convertor locked up so the dyno number are not the same as they usually are.

cams and ported heads are coming up in the next couple of issues. big gain where made in the beginning with computer tunning.
the 5.4 is actually out of a van, but it has custom fabricated adapters that allow it to use a 4.6 gt intake.

 

I also tow a boat and that is actually what my truck has been getting primarily used for. You're looking for the same thing I was and now mine tows quite well now.

What I have done is added a Magnaflow Cat-back, S-Chips Max Tuner and replaced the stock air filter with a K&N and modded the air box. Check out my pics for the airbox and Magnaflows.. I have very good power and I noticed that especially in the mid-range (~1.9k-~2.9k RPMs). Highway driving is much more fun now and that dude wants to haul **** now..

 

nate can i get some feedback on that factory tech valve body and throttle body- those were 2 mods that i was going to do next-thanks-phil

 

Hi BrotherDave,

Ahh, ok - different vehicle & article then.

From all that additional info in your last post, those numbers from your earlier post make a bit more sense now - it's all in the total combination of exact configuration & conditions, etc. - thanks for the additional info, sounds like an interesting project.

I liked the one MM&FF did, it sounds like the one you're talking about is going to take the car (engine) further than what MM&FF did - all they really did was drop the 5.4 truck motor in, let it breathe & tune it - which worked out nicely, of course, but that's as far as I think that one was going, if memory serves. Should be interesting to see how the project you're talking about turns out!

Have fun,

 

I found this formula in the 5.4 article.
hp=.257 x cfm x # of cylinders (this is the max power level profiding the cam, intake, exhast and tune is dead perfect, which is impossible)
at 163cfm @.500 lift the current 5.4 and 4.6 could make a maximum of 335 hp.(naturally aspirated)

have you ever heard of this?