After looking through the extensive questions Troyer Performance asks to customize their chip I thought it looked like I should have a few things done prior to installing the chip. I had the tranny flushed & filter changed, new plugs installed. I noticed the question on when the thermostat was changed. At 61K I doubt it has ever been changed. Should I do it as preventative maintenance, or is this something that will effect performance? What temp rating should I go with? Is there anything else I shiould do to prepare? Sorry to be long winded, but I am also wanting to go with an Air Force One. Which one is best? Lastly, throttle body replacement. Is this a good move or would my money be better spent on a E-fan or under-drive pulley set? Thanks for any & all advice.

 

new plugs evry 30k miles- no more than 50k on upstream o2 sensors
tb spacer is a waste of money-electric fans and pullies will free up some power-phil

 

Hi dj88,

We recommend replacing the thermostat every 3 years or so, regardless of mileage - well, if you rack up 80K miles a year, I'd say to replace it every 2 years, but basically, replacing it about every 3 years or so of service is fine.
And just use the stock factory rated thermostat, which, depending on your model year, is generally 192-195 degrees.

Regarding the Air Force One intake system, there is no "which one is best" - it's the Air Force One, and there is only 1 model of Air Force One intake kit for each vehicle/model year/engine combination. Now if I misunderstood you and your actual question is, which is the best intake kit to have, then hands down it's the Air Force One brand, as it gains the most power, is made of the highest quality materials, and looks the best under the hood - and it's darned rare that you get all 3 of those qualities in the same part.

Now in choosing between putting on a 75mm throttle body or doing e-fans & underdrive pulleys, it's no contest - by far doing the e-fans & underdrives will net you much more power (about 25 RWHP) and some nice MPG gains, too.

One thing you also need to think about is when you will need to upgrade your fuel injectors - and that varies greatly based on which engine you have - for example, with the 1999-2003 5.4 2V engine, which makes 260 HP stock, when you add our tuning, the Air Force One intake and the best cat-back exhaust system (Magnaflow), at that point you have maxed out your injector capacity on those 5.4's (where if it's a 4.6, you still have a good ways to go, since they make only 220-231 Hp stock).

See, your stock 19# injectors can only support a maximum of about 310 - 315 HP SAE Net at the flywheel - so you can run out of injector capacity pretty quick when doing a number of mods on a 1999-2003 5.4 F-150. Now this is not expensive or hard to upgrade, just dropping in a set of 24# injectors will do the trick, & we keep those in stock all the time - and that must be taken into consideration in the tuning, too - which can easily be updated later via a simple email, or can be done right up front - it just depends on when you need the injectors.

What I really suggest here is to give us a call at our number listed below so that we can go over this with you and provide a proper consultation with you - taking a look at what modifications you have already, if any, and the mods you are contemplating, and thus let you know when you need to do exactly what, so no mistakes are made, and everything gets done when it needs to be to support whatever you are doing with your vehicle.

One good thing about e-fans & underdrive pulleys is that you get more power to the rear wheels and actually use a bit less fuel in the process.

At any rate, figure that in a 1999-2003 5.4 F-150, once you have our Stage 1 level done, which is our tuning, intake & exhaust, you need to upgrade the injectors to go any further, as that Stage 1 kit, when using our premium gas maximum performance tune, will put the engine at about the 315 Hp level or so - it is at that point that we recommend upgrading the fuel injectors to go any further in their modifications (again, using the 1999-2003 5.4 F-150 as our example), so before doing things like a throttle body, headers, ignition upgrades, or other things that will actually increase internal engine power once you have already done our tuning, intake & exhaust, the injectors are needed to go any further. Or, you can simply go with our e-fans & underdrive pulleys, as they free up power simply by reducing parasitic losses, so you'll burn a bit less fuel and still get nice additional power gains to the rear wheels.

I hope that gives you a bit better idea, and please don't let this confuse or overwhelm you, it's really very simple - and feel free to call us to go over this, OK? You can ask for me personally and I'll be happy to help you - if I'm on another line at the time, just leave me a message with your name & number and I'll get back to you ASAP, OK?

Thanks, & good luck!