I spoke with TP this monring about a Stage 1 and I have a couple of questions.

Has anyone ordered a complete stage 1 from TP, and had good success with the xCal2? I guess I'm just confused how they will custom tune my truck since my order will be all via mail.

I'm not sure if I want the whole stage 1 or just exhaust and an intake. $$$ if you get my drift.

I know I am ordering the Magnaflow 16616 "Lightning Style" exhaust, but I am a little worried about the Air Force 1 intake. I have been reading alot about the 5.4 3V engines running very lean, and I can atest to this.

I have a 2005 F150 SCrew 4X4 with the 5.4. When I first got it, I bought a hypertech tuner, and I have blown out a total of 4 injectors.

I really don't want any problems with the AF1, but my past exp. has made me pretty leary about going with an aftermarket intake.

Any advice would be great.

jrab

 

I am running a full Stage 1 (3.25 AF1, Magnaflow-16614, and Xcal2 Custom Troyer Tunes)...

The full stage one is a GREAT way to go.

While I understand your concerns, the custom tuning is something that I don't think you're taking into total consideration. You see, the custom tuning will dial in the air/fuel ratios so that you don't have to worry about the lean condition (because you're right - factory tunes have been throwing some to the lean side and, the addition of 'some' intake kits will do the same). Once you get your tunes, you'll need to datalog your truck and resubmit that information back to Mike and his staff. It will be reviewed and, if it looks like you're lean -- or any other way -- you'll get a tweak and be able to upload your new tunes (tweaked of course) to your Xcalibrator via your PC and a USB cable. It's that simple. They certainly don't just toss you to chance -- you have the ability to get those tweaks to ensure that you're not swinging one way or the other on the pendulum. There is a time frame in which you need to get them that data but, from the sounds of it, you're like me and you'll be ready to rock and roll to ensure that you're dialed in from the start.

If you are considering just the AF1, you're limiting yourself to a smaller diameter (3") kit. The 3.25 and 3.5 kits require tuning to keep it off of the 'lean' side.

As for the Magnaflow -- I promise you can't go wrong. It was literally my first mod and the IMMEDIATE difference in the feel of the pedal was unreal. I know that the motor is a pretty simple 'air pump' (in and out) ... I never realized how 'plugged' the out was in the system until the Maggie opened it up. Seriously, it was an impressive difference....

Impressive; but, not nearly as impressive as going to the Xcal tunes from Troyer...

In a nutshell, you have some options. You can start with a Maggie or start with a XCal... My suggestion is to go ahead and do the kit. I assure you that you won't be sorry.

 

Thanks for the solid advice RockPick.

I very well may order the exhaust first just to see what type of performance I get from that.

I'm still on the fence about the tuner though. FoMoCo did warranty all of my injectors, but since I blew my 1st injector the hypertech has collected dust in its box.

What kind of gains are common at the rear wheels with the setup? I am guessing rightnow my truck is between 200 and 205 hp.

jrab

 

With my full stage one, I'm right at 260 RWHP with 325 Torque.

Remember, the injector problem is one that is very common on untuned trucks... it's almost definitely not the tuner - especially on the 05+.

Just speaking an opinion here... knowing what I know about the Stage One and how much I truly enjoy driving my truck -- I'd go with the full kit. You really can't go wrong.

 

Hello jrab,

If you have questions, I would suggest that you call us and ask us, as we're the ones that can answer that - not anyone else - we're doing the tuning, nobody else is.

Custom tuning is very easy for us to do without ever seeing your vehicle - see, we have been doing that for many years, and specializing in doing this for the F-150's for 15+ years. So we have custom-tuned thousands of them, far more than anyone else has ever custom tuned by many orders of magnitude. Nobody knows these vehicles and their tuning needs better than us, as this is what we specialize in. You know, kinda like I probably don't know a thing about whatever it is you do for a living, and would starve if I tried!

When we tune your vehicle for the intake kits we use, that truck is going to be pretty well on the money, and we give you what is needed to datalog it as well, if you want to do that, and that is also included in the price of our tuning.

It sounds like you simply do not understand what we do or how we do it (most people don't, of course, until they talk to us in detail), so I would suggest giving us a call and going over that so you do understand it - those kinds of questions cannot be answered here, that has to be answered by us, and gone over in proper detail.

Just give us a call & ask for me personally - mention your screen name to our staff and tell them that I asked you to call me personally, OK? That way you can get thru to me if I'm not on another line or working on a vehicle - and if I am, then I'll return the call as quickly as possible, and go over all of this with you so that you have a good feel for just what it is we do and how we can do it, OK?

Thanks for your post & your interest, and I hope to speak with you soon!