performance mods for a 4.6
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Junior Member
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 4
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From: spokane, washington
performance mods for a 4.6
My f150 has 180,000 miles on it and still runs great. I was wondering if there are any mods I can make to get more power out of it. Would it be wise to do anything with that kind of mileage? I bought it when it had 80,000 on it so I know everything that has been done to it. I would like to put a chip in it but am not sure what type to buy. Any help guys?
Thanks,
Jared
p.s. love this site!
Thanks,
Jared
p.s. love this site!
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 115
Likes: 0
From: Vidalia, GA
well.... lets first start off the question how much are you wanting to spend. I say this because if just want a little better performance, a chip may suit you just fine.
Option 2 would be if you were wanting a good bit better performance and were willing to pay a little more...If this is you and you have about $1,000-$1,500 to drop into it, i'd take your motor out, rebuild it, and put a set of PI heads on it. This would require a good bit of work but would yield a goooood difference. Top that off with a custom chip from Mike and you'd be moving on and still be safe.
Option 3 would be in the $3,000 range.... supercharge it. Not as safe as the other two but massive performance gains. BUT with that kind of milage, i dont' think i'd supercharge it.
Just figure out what kind of gains you want and how much you are willing to spend. Hope this helps.
justin
Option 2 would be if you were wanting a good bit better performance and were willing to pay a little more...If this is you and you have about $1,000-$1,500 to drop into it, i'd take your motor out, rebuild it, and put a set of PI heads on it. This would require a good bit of work but would yield a goooood difference. Top that off with a custom chip from Mike and you'd be moving on and still be safe.
Option 3 would be in the $3,000 range.... supercharge it. Not as safe as the other two but massive performance gains. BUT with that kind of milage, i dont' think i'd supercharge it.
Just figure out what kind of gains you want and how much you are willing to spend. Hope this helps.
justin
Former Sponsor
Joined: Mar 1998
Posts: 13,385
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From: Virginia
Hi Jared,
Drop by our web site at www.TroyerPerformance.com and you'll see the very best tuning available for the Ford F-150 - bar none. We've specialized in them for 12 years, and most F-150 owners that actually want the best come to us for their tuning.
In comparing the commercial chipmakers, nobody else has 50-state emissions certified tuning that is individual vehicle code-specific and that removes the top speed limiters and all the things that the Superchips tuning does - others have bits & pieces of those aspects, but only Superchips has it all, and they have more R&D into this platform than other chipmakers - by far. We've worked with them for over a decade on F-150 tuning.
Here at Troyer Performance, we've been specializing in improving the performance of these F-150's for 12 years, with core emphasis on tuning. We can also provide in-depth custom tuning (even on bone-stock trucks) that will get more power & performance gains than any "standard" performance tune will.
If you just want to have a decent performance tune via a chip or PCM flasher (and we can supply the tuning either way) and you are sure all it's maintenance is done and the truck is not going to suddenly start being driven significantly harder than it gets driven normally - then you could do very well by adding the tuning, these Ford modular motors usually provide a long, long life. Just don't think that you can start adding a number of performance mods and add 75-100 HP and start driving it harder too, and still have it continue to live a long time - that may or may not happen, so you don't want to start thinking about putting thousands of dollars into performance modifications before the engine is rebuilt - but as long as it's basically healthy & treated with respect, a few simple bolt-on mods like a good tune, intake kit & a cat-back exhaust should serve you well.
There are plenty of stories of guys who took their 150K-mile motor and even slapped on a supercharger, and they are still going strong at 180K miles - that can't be guaranteed, just be aware.
The motor deteriorates very gradually, so the driver may not realize that while it seems to run fine, it's really not making the power it used to - for example, at 180K miles the entire ignition system is probably worn out as well as the O2 sensors, etc. - so unless all of that has been replaced at some point, it needs to be replaced before you start doing performance mods - there is no such thing as a "good running" engine with 180K miles on original O2 sensors, for example - and I'm sure you've had to have done some maintenance in those regards. If not, then on high-mile engines with worn ignition components & years-old O2 sensors, the best performance mod is sometimes just to give it some TLC & maintenance, by replacing the obvious maintenance parts that are worn.
Overall, I'd say that as long as it's not using a significant amount of oil between oil changes, and has O2 sensors and an ignition system (and I mean complete - coil packs, plug wires & spark plugs) with less than 75-100K miles, then sure - you should be able to add a performance tune to it via a chip or flasher and enjoy the results.
Give us a call to go over this in more detail if you like, we can go over pricing, gains, exactly what's been done to the vehicle in terms of all it's various maintenance, and we can advise you better as to whether it's really OK to start adding some power to it, OK? Our number is listed below & we're happy to help.
Good luck with your truck,
Drop by our web site at www.TroyerPerformance.com and you'll see the very best tuning available for the Ford F-150 - bar none. We've specialized in them for 12 years, and most F-150 owners that actually want the best come to us for their tuning.
In comparing the commercial chipmakers, nobody else has 50-state emissions certified tuning that is individual vehicle code-specific and that removes the top speed limiters and all the things that the Superchips tuning does - others have bits & pieces of those aspects, but only Superchips has it all, and they have more R&D into this platform than other chipmakers - by far. We've worked with them for over a decade on F-150 tuning.
Here at Troyer Performance, we've been specializing in improving the performance of these F-150's for 12 years, with core emphasis on tuning. We can also provide in-depth custom tuning (even on bone-stock trucks) that will get more power & performance gains than any "standard" performance tune will.
If you just want to have a decent performance tune via a chip or PCM flasher (and we can supply the tuning either way) and you are sure all it's maintenance is done and the truck is not going to suddenly start being driven significantly harder than it gets driven normally - then you could do very well by adding the tuning, these Ford modular motors usually provide a long, long life. Just don't think that you can start adding a number of performance mods and add 75-100 HP and start driving it harder too, and still have it continue to live a long time - that may or may not happen, so you don't want to start thinking about putting thousands of dollars into performance modifications before the engine is rebuilt - but as long as it's basically healthy & treated with respect, a few simple bolt-on mods like a good tune, intake kit & a cat-back exhaust should serve you well.
There are plenty of stories of guys who took their 150K-mile motor and even slapped on a supercharger, and they are still going strong at 180K miles - that can't be guaranteed, just be aware.
The motor deteriorates very gradually, so the driver may not realize that while it seems to run fine, it's really not making the power it used to - for example, at 180K miles the entire ignition system is probably worn out as well as the O2 sensors, etc. - so unless all of that has been replaced at some point, it needs to be replaced before you start doing performance mods - there is no such thing as a "good running" engine with 180K miles on original O2 sensors, for example - and I'm sure you've had to have done some maintenance in those regards. If not, then on high-mile engines with worn ignition components & years-old O2 sensors, the best performance mod is sometimes just to give it some TLC & maintenance, by replacing the obvious maintenance parts that are worn.
Overall, I'd say that as long as it's not using a significant amount of oil between oil changes, and has O2 sensors and an ignition system (and I mean complete - coil packs, plug wires & spark plugs) with less than 75-100K miles, then sure - you should be able to add a performance tune to it via a chip or flasher and enjoy the results.
Give us a call to go over this in more detail if you like, we can go over pricing, gains, exactly what's been done to the vehicle in terms of all it's various maintenance, and we can advise you better as to whether it's really OK to start adding some power to it, OK? Our number is listed below & we're happy to help.
Good luck with your truck,
Thread Starter
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Junior Member
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
From: spokane, washington
thanks
Thanks guys, I am going to take me truck in to get everything checked out on it to make sure everything is fine. I will let you know what I come up with so that I can add some power to it. I am sure that I have lost some power with all those miles on it.
Jared
Jared
