I bought a 2005 F-150 Screw with the main intention of towing my Mustang to the dragstrip. The truck does a good job pulling the car on the highway, but it sucks trying to go up hills and there are lots of them on the way to the local dragstrip. How much difference would an X-cal2 make as far as towing performance? Or does anyone have any other suggestions that make good power increases on this truck? I have considered exhaust, but I'd kinda like to keep the trucks quiet, comfortable ride (don't get me wrong, exhaust sounds good but thats what I have the mustang for. lol).

 

talk to mike troyer,,,

 

I'm going to watch this thread because I have the same truck and I'm interested in it also. I did put on a Mr. Green cold air intake. http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/pe...=112&year=2005 . This isn't what you get. You actually get a Green air filter that fits where the stcok one does. You take your big plastic intake that goes to the drivers side fender off. This one goes on and bends towards the same fender but about a foot before the fender it bends towards the headlights. I noticed a big difference in performance. I can't wait until I get exhaust.

P.S. The only difference between the Mr. Green and K&N that I know is color and that the filter is made with aluminum for K&N, and Stainless Steel for Mr. Green. I must say if you do smash it alittle it does go back to original shape unlike the K&N. (I have one for a carb also)

 

Gears.
What size tires do you have, and what is your rear gear ratio?

 

Hi Craigintenn,

This is a *very* common request on these vehicles. When Ford redesigned the F-150 for the 2004 model year, they made a wonderful truck, but it is heavier than before and a bit underpowered, especially when towing a load. We all are pretty well aware of that - but the good news is that can very easily be fixed, and done safely.

Our Troyer Performance custom tuning will make a significant difference in the power, performance, towing ability, and overall driveability of your 2005 truck. If you spend some time here reading the boards, or just do a search on our Troyer Performance custom tuning, you will see tons of posts here from people who are raving about their results.

Now don't get me wrong, tuning alone is not going to turn a 3-ton truck into a rocketship, but our custom tuning does indeed make a big difference, and it is the single best bang-for-the-buck performance enhancement you can make.

On the 5.4 3V engines we typically pick up, depending on the octane level we tune for and the quality of fuel used, anywhere from a low of about 25 RWHP (on 87 octane) and 45-50 RWTQ, to as much as 40 RWHP & upwards of 70 RWTQ. That is just to give you a range of worst to best gains, including the difference between 87 octane and premium gasoline, so that you can get a rough feel for what to expect. And we provide you with a set of 3 different custom tunes, set up however you want, so that you can have both performance and towing tunes, as well as tunes for different levels of octane, etc., for maximum flexibility.

However, those numbers don't even remotely tell the story - see, those are the gains at full-throttle, and few of us rally spend much time there. Far more important, especially for towing, are the increases in *part-throttle* torque, the improvements to shift characteristics, the improvements we make to throttle response by completely re-writing much of the ETC (electronic throttle control) system, and the many other changes we do in our tuning - it is very in-depth and extremely thorough.

We have specialized in thee F-150's for over 15 years now, and have custom tuned literally thousands upon thousands of them in anything from bone-stock to highly modified trim.

Just as an aside, you *can* do exhaust modifications that will still keep the truck quite but add both horsepower and torque, on part-throttle as well as at full throttle, so don't give up on that.

The basic order of bang for the buck in terms of performance modifications is:

1.) Our Troyer Performance custom tuning - nothing else for the same or less cost will do as much for the performance of the vehicle.

2.) The 3.5" version of the Air Force One intake kit.

3.) A good cat-back exhaust, and here we usually recommend Magnaflow in most cases. the exhaust is extremely important, as most cat-back systems actually *reduce* part-throttle torque, so you have to be very careful i what you choose here.

In fact, we offer combo deals on things like, for example, our tuning and the intake kit, or our Stage 1 package, which includes our tuning, the intake *and* the exhaust, so you can get all 3 of the Top 3 best bang for the buck mods at the lowest total delivered cost.

And of course there are many other types of performance modifications that can be made to add further power after you have done those 3 areas - we have performance packages that can take these vehicles literally as far as anyone wants to go.

The single most important part is the tuning, as that is what will best wake that truck up and help with your towing - again, it's not going to feel like a supercharger, but it is the single best bang for the buck modification.

I hope this brief info helps, & please feel free to give us a call at our number listed below to go over any of this in more detail, we're happy to help you with any of this.

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

 

I went with a custom tune from Mike over at Troyer and absolutely love it. I went the live wire route. Hindsight being 20 20 I may have gotten an Xcal II but it wasn't the tuner itself it was the tune that made a world of difference in my truck. The truck feels much faster. I never dyno'd it stock but I plan on synoing as soon as I get my livewire back from SCT I will post results here when I do

 

I don't want to say one is better or worse. But would you recomend the Xcal 2 for the 05 F150 5.4 3 valve? Also I live close to Kauffmans do you think they tune just as well? I don't mind driving for great work but I know Kauffmans also do great work. I also would like to say what else besides a cat back/ tune would or could I do to help either gas mileage or power? I have the Mr. Green CAI right now which I would say picked up atleast 1 mpg and alot of the line and half throttle operation.

 

I just read you power packages and thought they were really cool. I guess it is time for me to save some money.

 

the Xcal2 and Mikes tunes can't be beat! He has turned my truck into a beast!

 

HI FX4 Matt,

Yes, we have indeed turned that 3-ton+ truck of yours into an animal - it's been a blast stepping up it's performance at each level you have gone to and see the results.

It's come a long way since it first came to our shop, especially now that it's making an easy 500 HP SAE Net, with 400+ RWHP.

For Skip Nay - many F-150 owners deal with us because we have specialized in these vehicles far longer than anyone else, over 15 years - to the point that many people in the industry try to copy us because of our expertise on this platform. See, nobody else truly specializes in F-150's, but we do - that is what we do, it's what we own, and what we work on every day, for over 15 years - and this is why we know which parts do the best job, how to make trucks run quicker, faster, harder, etc for a given level of modification when people deal with us. I would suggest taking advantage of our expertise and call us for your F-150 performance needs. You can always start off small, doing one mod at a time as your budget allows. At any rate, give us a call when you get a chance, we'll be happy to help, and our number is listed just below for your convenience - good luck with your truck!

 

Mike I have a question for yah, and please don't think that in any way that this questioning your tuning skills. To many ppl are bragging about the quality of your work.

I went with the edge evo because at the time it was a 100 bucks cheaper and I liked the the gauges that you can use.

I had my truck on the portable dyno at road atl my 04 f150 with the 5.4 pulled 247 hp and 334 tq. I also have the airaid MIT and a 40 series SIDO flow master .

I'm pretty happy with the edge but other than getting some of your tunes what would be your recomendation on getting some more power , Would really like to get atleast 300 rwhp but not sure what route to take would a true cat back exhaust help any?? cai?? is there anything that I could change on the edge ? I assume since you sell them you have had some exp with them any advice would be appreciated.