worthwhile 4.2 upgrades
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worthwhile 4.2 upgrades
Is there anything short of a supercharger that will give me noticeably more power for the 4.2?
I have already wasted the money on an intake(mac cai) and exhaust(flowmaster 40) for no noticeable gain.
Its a 2002 5spd 4.2 and i am looking to get a lil more outta it. Can i expect much from a chip? What else is out there?
I have already wasted the money on an intake(mac cai) and exhaust(flowmaster 40) for no noticeable gain.
Its a 2002 5spd 4.2 and i am looking to get a lil more outta it. Can i expect much from a chip? What else is out there?
Former Sponsor
Joined: Mar 1998
Posts: 13,385
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From: Virginia
Hi Kurt,
There is PLENTY you can do to that 4.2 V6 F-150 - we have many of them putting a hurt on V8 F-150's, actually, so don't despair.
By the way - Flowmaster is just about the *worst* thing you can do exhaust-wise, as due to the reduction in flow velocity you lose lower rpm torque, and due to their baffles & chambers which restrict airflow at higher rpms & heavy throttle, you don't really gain a lot in the way of peak HP. There is *some* gain, but not as much as you can get with a properly designed exhaust system. Same thing goes for the intake - MAC is not what I would choose, though it does *** *some* power.
The basic problem here is using the cheapest possible parts - that virtually always assures you of getting the worst possible results. Between your intake & exhaust, you have probably gained about 8 to maybe 10 Hp at most on that 4.2 V6, for example.
With all of that being said, another mistake most owners make is trying to guess at their results by the seat of the pants feel - WRONG! You simply CANNOT do that in a 2-3 ton truck - that never works. Those with experience modifying heavier vehicles know that you have to do properly controlled before & after testing, such as 0-60 times, 1/.4 miles, etc., and that kind of testing needs to be done on the same day, within a tight time frame (say, 90 minutes or so), as even a small 3-5 degree change in temperature affects power output in these computer controlled engines significantly - just like a 10% change in humidity will make a real difference. There's a lot more to this than meets the eye - most of us grew up in an era when you DID make those kinds of evaluations by the seat of the pants, but that was in lighter cars - that method does NOT work in heavier vehicles, and really never worked well even in lighter vehicles. For example, in a 2-ton truck, you cannot feel a 15 HP gain via the seat of the pants in most cases - but that does NOT negate that 15 HP gain really happened.
Another way to evaluate performance results is to do before & after informal testing, like taking your vehicle to a known spot, and nail it full-throttle from a standstill, and see what speed it reaches by the time you hit a certain landmark - not really scientific, but if done correctly, you CAN identify an increase in speed - and just a 1 mph increase in speed over the course of say, 1/8th mile clearly shows a power gain in such a heavy vehicle with a big aero profile. But once again, you DO have to do it within a very tight timeframe, as otherwise you will not have the same atmospheric conditions and thus will skew the results. This is why you cannot ever do the before testing one day, and the after testing on another day - so if you are *really* interested in identifying what each modification really did for that vehicle, plan your mods and testing on the same day, within a 90-120 minute timeframe, and that can easily be done with a little bit of planning.
Now on to your question of a chip - yes, our custom tuning for your F-150 CAN give you a very nice result - now it's not going to turn a 2.5 ton truck into a fire-breathing 400 HP rocketship of course - but our custom tuning WILL wake that truck up nicely, and is in fact the single best bang-for-the-buck modification you can make for these vehicles as nothing else for the same or less cost will delivery as much performance gain. You can use the SEARCH feature here to search for posts from 4.2 V6 owners who have had us tune their vehicles, and see how they feel about their results, if you like.
I suggest giving us a call at our number listed below to go over this in proper detail, so you can get a good idea of just what exactly you can expect from our custom tuning, so you can give that some thought & see if you'd like to really wake up that nice 4.2 V6 F-150 of yours - trust me, that *can* be done with the right parts - we've specialized in F-150 performance longer than anyone else, and are well known for our results.
I hope this brief info helps a bit - thanks for your post, good luck with your truck & hope to hear from you!
There is PLENTY you can do to that 4.2 V6 F-150 - we have many of them putting a hurt on V8 F-150's, actually, so don't despair.
By the way - Flowmaster is just about the *worst* thing you can do exhaust-wise, as due to the reduction in flow velocity you lose lower rpm torque, and due to their baffles & chambers which restrict airflow at higher rpms & heavy throttle, you don't really gain a lot in the way of peak HP. There is *some* gain, but not as much as you can get with a properly designed exhaust system. Same thing goes for the intake - MAC is not what I would choose, though it does *** *some* power.
The basic problem here is using the cheapest possible parts - that virtually always assures you of getting the worst possible results. Between your intake & exhaust, you have probably gained about 8 to maybe 10 Hp at most on that 4.2 V6, for example.
With all of that being said, another mistake most owners make is trying to guess at their results by the seat of the pants feel - WRONG! You simply CANNOT do that in a 2-3 ton truck - that never works. Those with experience modifying heavier vehicles know that you have to do properly controlled before & after testing, such as 0-60 times, 1/.4 miles, etc., and that kind of testing needs to be done on the same day, within a tight time frame (say, 90 minutes or so), as even a small 3-5 degree change in temperature affects power output in these computer controlled engines significantly - just like a 10% change in humidity will make a real difference. There's a lot more to this than meets the eye - most of us grew up in an era when you DID make those kinds of evaluations by the seat of the pants, but that was in lighter cars - that method does NOT work in heavier vehicles, and really never worked well even in lighter vehicles. For example, in a 2-ton truck, you cannot feel a 15 HP gain via the seat of the pants in most cases - but that does NOT negate that 15 HP gain really happened.
Another way to evaluate performance results is to do before & after informal testing, like taking your vehicle to a known spot, and nail it full-throttle from a standstill, and see what speed it reaches by the time you hit a certain landmark - not really scientific, but if done correctly, you CAN identify an increase in speed - and just a 1 mph increase in speed over the course of say, 1/8th mile clearly shows a power gain in such a heavy vehicle with a big aero profile. But once again, you DO have to do it within a very tight timeframe, as otherwise you will not have the same atmospheric conditions and thus will skew the results. This is why you cannot ever do the before testing one day, and the after testing on another day - so if you are *really* interested in identifying what each modification really did for that vehicle, plan your mods and testing on the same day, within a 90-120 minute timeframe, and that can easily be done with a little bit of planning.
Now on to your question of a chip - yes, our custom tuning for your F-150 CAN give you a very nice result - now it's not going to turn a 2.5 ton truck into a fire-breathing 400 HP rocketship of course - but our custom tuning WILL wake that truck up nicely, and is in fact the single best bang-for-the-buck modification you can make for these vehicles as nothing else for the same or less cost will delivery as much performance gain. You can use the SEARCH feature here to search for posts from 4.2 V6 owners who have had us tune their vehicles, and see how they feel about their results, if you like.
I suggest giving us a call at our number listed below to go over this in proper detail, so you can get a good idea of just what exactly you can expect from our custom tuning, so you can give that some thought & see if you'd like to really wake up that nice 4.2 V6 F-150 of yours - trust me, that *can* be done with the right parts - we've specialized in F-150 performance longer than anyone else, and are well known for our results.
I hope this brief info helps a bit - thanks for your post, good luck with your truck & hope to hear from you!
Thread Starter
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Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2005
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what intake would you recomend? i have a heat shield on mine so how is it any different from the k&n, airforce one, or any other intake? its just a filter and a lil over 2 feet of tube.
also what exhaust do you personally recomend?
i have searched and read about the other exhausts but i am wanna know your personal opinion.
thanks
also what exhaust do you personally recomend?
i have searched and read about the other exhausts but i am wanna know your personal opinion.
thanks
Former Sponsor
Joined: Mar 1998
Posts: 13,385
Likes: 4
From: Virginia
Hi Kurt,
OK, I'll let our people know to be on the lookout for your email - I hope you included your F-150 Online screen name, as that way we'll have a better idea of "who" we're talking to & what we discussed here. Also, if you'd like to include your phone number, we'll be happy to call you (with NO sales pressure) so we can really go over that info much better with you, as there are a number of details we'd like to get into to help explain all of this. We always prefer to do a phone consultation, as not only does typing take literally hundreds of times longer than simply talking, but more importantly we can cover so much more, much more thoroughly, by doing this over the phone as opposed to typing - just FYI.
Thanks for your post,
OK, I'll let our people know to be on the lookout for your email - I hope you included your F-150 Online screen name, as that way we'll have a better idea of "who" we're talking to & what we discussed here. Also, if you'd like to include your phone number, we'll be happy to call you (with NO sales pressure) so we can really go over that info much better with you, as there are a number of details we'd like to get into to help explain all of this. We always prefer to do a phone consultation, as not only does typing take literally hundreds of times longer than simply talking, but more importantly we can cover so much more, much more thoroughly, by doing this over the phone as opposed to typing - just FYI.
Thanks for your post,
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Senior Member
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i did in fact include my screen name and i will be calling sometime next week to get everything finalized. thanks again.
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Former Sponsor
Joined: Mar 1998
Posts: 13,385
Likes: 4
From: Virginia
As a registered member of F-150 Online, you get a special discount on our tuning products, and we go over all of that by phone - we can't discuss specific pricing here, that's against the rules of F-150 Online for us to do that here, so we have to do that type of thing by phone as we confirm each person's registered status here, etc.
In other words, we have to kindly ask that you please call us for details, your special member pricing on our tuning, etc., & we'll be more than happy to help you - & thanks in advance for your understanding on that!
By the way - just wanted to let you know - right now we are swamped with emails, so it's taking a week or so to get responses back out in some cases - so if you don't get a quick response (or a detailed enough response), please don't hesitate to just give us a quick call, OK? If you can't call us during the day, you can always call us after hours and leave us a voicemail with your name & number & we can always call you back, too - we'll find a way to talk with you so w can get you all the info you want & need!
Thanks, & talk to you soon!
In other words, we have to kindly ask that you please call us for details, your special member pricing on our tuning, etc., & we'll be more than happy to help you - & thanks in advance for your understanding on that!
By the way - just wanted to let you know - right now we are swamped with emails, so it's taking a week or so to get responses back out in some cases - so if you don't get a quick response (or a detailed enough response), please don't hesitate to just give us a quick call, OK? If you can't call us during the day, you can always call us after hours and leave us a voicemail with your name & number & we can always call you back, too - we'll find a way to talk with you so w can get you all the info you want & need!
Thanks, & talk to you soon!
Thread Starter
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Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2005
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spoke with a lady on the phone just now and its down to the xcal or xcal2. I dunno if i really need data logging but the code reading is cool. if i get off work at a decent time i will be placing the order today. THANKS
Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 748
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From: Long Beach
from my personal experiance, the 4.2 has some worthwhile mods. it just depends what your expectations are. i had:
superchip
AF-1
underdrive pulley
gibson cat back
and i def noticed a difference. it still wasn't my new 5.4....but it was a lot peppier.
superchip
AF-1
underdrive pulley
gibson cat back
and i def noticed a difference. it still wasn't my new 5.4....but it was a lot peppier.