Hey folks. I'm planning on pulling the trigger and getting in on the Troyer Group Buy. But I'd like to get the most out of my purchase, and am at a loss on what else to do the the vehicle. Be aware I don't really know that much about truck tuning, just enough to get myself into trouble.

Heres the truck: 1999 Ford F150 xcab 4x4 with 4.6 V8 auto trans with 70K miles. I have kept up on the routine oil and fuel filter changes. I'm in the process of replacing the shocks with new Blisteins; and getting new tires. The only "mods" I have done are to put in a K&N replacement air filter and an Optima battery.

Everything not mentioned above is factory stock.

I'm kinda unhappy about they lack of responsiveness on the truck and I loathe the "mushy" shifting feel of the transmission. I don't know if a xcal tune can fix those problems by itself or if more drastic action is needed. I'm going to be changing the trans fluid soon, so I am debating installing a kit and cooler while the pan is off.

So what else should I do? Electric fan? Air intake? Pullys? Coil packs and wires? O2 sensors? Exhaust? Something I didn't mention?

I basiclly don't want to spend the money on a custom tune and get mediocre results because of some component that I didn't replace because I didn't know and no told me about.

 

How much do you want to spend and how fast do you want to go? Bolt on mods such as intakes, cat-backs, e-fans, under drive pulleys, s/c, etc, etc, etc all add the ponies but the number one bang for the buck mod is custom tuning. That’s what I started with and it made a colossal difference in power and drivability. Since then, I’ve added exhaust and intake and I’m extremely happy with the overall results. Mikes’ tuning is definitely worth it IMO

 

I'm gonna disagree with JP here a little, and say the best bang for your buck aftermarket performance wise is the blower. But that comes with a little * after it, with a side note that says "the blower can best be optimized by a good tune"

I have beating battered and abused several cars with bolts ons and what not "ideas" over the years, and finally made it to where I could afford an entry level blower and got one. You can add an entry level powerdyne blower and a custom tune for mike and if you swing it just right, still be at or under $2000. (and with those, have more power than the boyz with all the little things like pullies and intakes etc...)

The SCT tune by Mike will edit the trans specs to make them whatever you feel comfortable with, from slightly better to rattle your teeth hard and fast. (Side note, I have rattle your teeth hard and fast but I am changing to a medium shift point, its to rough) I haven't recieved mine yet, but after talking to him I really feel he has educated himself in the respects of tuning due to his own interests in it, not just as a job. Alot like myself, he was bitten by the bug at a young age, and has continued his education of himself for many, many years (he's as old as a dinosaur, twice my age--sorry mike, had to do it)

 

Hi Gentoo,

Actually, that is an *excellent* question, so let's talk about that a bit......

The only thing you need to do is to have the vehicle in a proper state of maintenance - as long as that is done, then you will get the proper results from our custom tuning and that tranny will have *must* better shift characteristics - there is nothing "special" you have to do.

However, the automakers idea of "proper maintenance" isn't what these vehicles require to get the best performance, fuel mileage, and especially service life - for example, they do stupid things like never tell you to replace the upstream O2 sensors, which are in fact a 30K mile maintenance item - but if they told you to replace them before 80K miles, THEY would have to pay for it as it's an emission item, and that is soon to be extended - so no automaker lists the O2 sensors. Now they can be pushed to maybe 50K on a non-supercharged engine, but that's it, at that point they do not operate as well as they could, and that affects idle quality, MPG & performance. So at a minimum, at 50K miles the 2 upstream (front) O2 sensors need to be replaced, and use only Bosch brand name units - that is what Ford uses, and you can get them from Auto Zone for under $50 apiece.

Another item is fuel filter changes - Ford says every 30K miles - we say every 15K on a non-supercharged engine, and every 5K miles on a supercharged engine - anything more and you risk clogging *any* fuel filter - and use the original factory Motorcraft filter, as it's an excellent unit.
Also, spark plugs - there is no such thing as a 100K mile spark plug - no spark pug has any business being left in more than 50K miles, no matter what it's made out of - so those with 80K mile spark plugs, replace them.

These things are all done by the automakers, meaning stupidity like claiming 100K mile spark plug life, long ago removing grease fittings from suspensions, etc for 1 reason - so they can falsely claim a much lower cost of maintenance, which is what fleet buyers like construction companies and car rental companies make their buying decisions based on, in part - funny how I've never seen a 100K mile spark plug that looked like I'd want it in my engine, nor any suspension that benefited from *never* being lubricated, or any automatic transmission that got it's longest service life by *never* being drained of all fluid - but that didn't stop Ford (and most others) from removing torque converter drain plugs by 2001 in the F-150, for example. And it's NOT just Ford, it's basically all automakers, so I don't want to appear to be bashing our beloved Ford, I'm not.

So it's really quite simple - maintain your vehicle properly, meaning at a level that is a bit above what the automaker's schedule says, and you;ll be better off - like automatic transmissions - don't' just drop the pan and change the filter, and thus replace only a few quarts of tranny fluid - have the transmission properly flushed every 30K miles, and it will last FAR longer (though that has virtually nothing to do with the slushy shifts, of course, that is a tuning issue).

So simply do routine maintenance on your vehicle on your will get proper results, both in stock trim and especially from our custom tuning.

Now if you were going to install a supercharger, or always wanted the transmission to shift hard enough to actually spin the tires on the full-throttle 1-2, then in that case I would advise installing a shift kit - and a very specific unit, installed in a very specific way - so you would need to call us for that info - but unless that is your desire, there is no need to do anything "special" to the tranny, just flush it, then put in a new filter, and it's fine!

If you'd like to go over any of this in more detail, please feel free to give us a call at our number listed below, & we'll be happy to go over this with you!

 

Superchips,
Thanks for the info.. Looks like I have a lot of maintenance to do on my '98 before my XCal2 shows up. I have just tried to stick with Ford maint schedule, which I questioned but thought, "they built it, so they should know"

 

HI Nomad,

You;re very welcome, and I know what we tell people about the *real* level of maintenance these trucks need sometimes comes as a shock - all we're interested in is getting the best performance, mpg, idle quality, and the longest service life - which, unfortunately, sometimes does not agree with the automaker's maintenance schedules!

Thanks for your post, & good luck with your truck!