So this is what i do to my F-150 4.6L Triton. I realize i need more horses runnin after a 4.3L chevy wasted me off the line. Do i know if it was modified at all no I dont but it was still very discouraging. So I purchase myself a beautiful Air Force One air intake and a Superchip. I installed the intake first to see what happened. I felt a little something. then i installed the Superchip which for the most part was very simple more time consuming scraping that crap off the connector. Anyway after installation i didnt notice what i thought i would have noticed. But i thought since i was told it rocked i just assumed it was doin its job. Till last nite when my little brother with his automatic 6 cyl. mustang freakin wasted me. Here i was talkin my truck up and a "6" beat me and bad. And mind you he has not made any mods at all. Its all stock. Somebody please tell me what the hell is going on. After dropping damn near $500 on two mods i would hope to hell my truck would be able to do sumthin. Oh and by the way it only has 40,000 miles on it....so please someone tell me what the problem is?......thanx

 

It doesn't help your vehicle out ways his by almost twice. Did you reset your computer?

 

I doubt a truck with the 4.6 would ever keep up with a 6 cyl Mustang (assuming the Mustang is a newer model) unless you throw in a Supercharger!

 

Hi Schlappi,

Yes, I can tell you what a couple of problems are.........you're expecting too much from a heavy pickup truck with a couple of simple bolt-on modifications, basically, and perhaps not being fully cognizant of the performance capabilities of your "prey," (the vehicles you're racing) and I'll try to explain a bit.................

You're racing vehicles that obviously have superior power-to-weight ratios, as well as smaller aerodynamic profiles, and as long as you continue to do that, you will continue to lose. It's basic physics. The amount of power required to overcome the load your engine is carrying quicker than your opponent can requires getting more power to the wheels than you are making, it's just that simple, ultimately.

The Superchip is doing it's job, just as the Air Force One intake is, that isn't the problem. Neither one is going to make the kind of "big" impact on performance you seem to be expecting, and that you will need to beat that Mustang. Between both of those modifications, you've got about a 14%-17% total power gain, depending on altitude & fuel quality. That is not enough to turn a 2-3 ton pickup truck into a performance machine capable of dusting anything you run against, though it's certainly enough to make a noticeable difference.

You've got (assuming your 4.6 is making it's full 220 SAE Net HP rating stock) somewhere in the neighboorhood of 245-260 hp at this point, hauling around somewhere between 2.5-3 tons of vehicle with a huge aero profile.

It would benefit you to get more familiar with your prey as well; for example, that Mustang with the V-6 has 190 horsepower in bone stock trim, and *far* less weight to carry around than your truck, the Mustang is about 3400 lbs. at most in a loaded V-6 model. In bone-stock trim, those little 190-hp V-6 Mustangs can rip off mid-to-low 15-second 1/4 mile times. It's no wonder he dusted you!

If you want the ability to dust 15 second cars with that heavy truck, you're going to need far more than Superchip and an AF1. $500 in mods is *nothing* compared to what you will need to get that heavy 4.6 F-150 quicker than low 15's, and that is the root of your problem, expecting a couple of simple bolt-on mods to give you what you would need to beat that Mustang. WEIGHT Remember, he's a *lot* lighter than you are, so he needs less pwoer to go significantly quicker than you do.

In stock trim, that 4.6 F-150 of yours, depending on it's configuration, weight & gearing, could be anywhere from as slow as 20 seconds+ in the 1/4 mile, to as quick as the low 17's, maybe a high 16 second 1/4 mile time on a good day with the lightest possible 4.6 F-150 configuration. Most of them (stock 4.6 F-150's) are in the 18 second flat range. You would need to knock off a good 2 full seconds off your 1/4 mile times to have a chance of beating that Mustang. That will take a good 75-100 more horsepower and maybe even more over stock in your 4.6 F-150 to do.

My friend, you have a very nice truck there, but there's just no getting around the basic power-to-weight ratio disadvantage you are at in racing something like that V-6 Mustang.

A very important [point to remember is that it doesn't matter whether your opponent has a 2 cylinder putt-putt engine or a 10 cylinder behemoth; there are street-driven 4 cylinder Hondas running 10 second 1/4 mile times! What matters most is the basic power-to-weight ratio, and you're racing vehicles that have superior power-to-weight ratios than yours. A Superchip and an AF1 aren't going to change that in one fell swoop because it's not a matter of you only needing another 25-40 more horsepower to keep up with that Mustang. You need a minimum of at least 75 hp to 100 hp or more over stock to keep up with that Mustang.

I understand your frustration only too well, and I know exactly how you feel. Don't let it bother you, let this simply be a motivating factor in learning the basic facts about vehicle performance, and which opponents your vehicle will realistically be able to beat at it's current power levels.

If you would like to go over this in detail, I'll be happy to spend some time with you going over this, just give us a call.

I wish you well,

 

Very well said mike!!

 

Ok guys thanx. I am new at this if ya havent noticed. Its the first truck ive ever had and i guess i had just expected way to much. I know i was thinking very clearly but now i see the point...maybe i need to go up against my own kind huh....Again guys thanx....and i will be sure to read up on sumthin or at least know what i am doing before i complain.

 

Hi Schlappi,

Welcome to the club!!

Every single one of us on this site, and any hot-rodder alive, if they are honest (and most are brutally candid!), will tell you that they had to go thru the exact same basic "leaning curve," for lack of a better term, when they first get started modifying vehicles, or a particular type of vehicle, and when they first started street racing for fun or drag racing at the track, etc. Every single one of us has had our butts dusted by a vehicle we though we should have been able to keep up with or maybe beat. All of us.

There is no substitute for information shared and/or leassons taught by others willing to share, but also no getting around having to learn some things the hard way, and with motor vehicles it's always a combination of both in my experience.

The point being, don't feel bad about your post or about how you felt, we all understand where you're coming from. There aren't many of us who haven't felt their vehicle should be faster for the amount of work we put into them, including myself.

Hang in there, & don't hesitate to give us a call if you want to talk about this, or anything else ok?

Enjoy your weekend,

 

Schlappi,

I own a 1998 5.4L extended cab as well as a 2000 6cyl mustang std. trans (the wifes car actually).

As you know those two vehicals are totally different, not only is the Mustang very fast but you can throw it in any direction you want. Whenever I get back from driving that car I head to the internet or the truck mag. and start looking for the next power adder to bolt on to my truck. I don't think that my truck will ever realistically compete with a car like that unless a big brown box misteakenly arrives at my door with a supercharger in it......LOL.

 

He did not only race a mustang, he raced a chevy with a 6 also. I have the same mods as he with a K & N FIPK and superchip. I really don't think they make much difference at all in racing. The newer gm vehicles are sooo much faster than our trucks and that makes me sad to say, but it's true. I guess it's the 285 hp in their 5.3. I raced a chevy x-cab with the 4.8 which has 270 hp and I beat him by 1/2 truck length just barely. The Triton engine needs more hp. I thinks it's good on torque, but not enough horses. All these bolt on mods don't do much!!!

 

Hi Mikey88,

I don't agree with that at all, neither do most people here, those bolt-on mods work very well. In fact, in many of your previous posts here you've raved about how much your bolt-on mods did to improve your performance, and raved about how fast your truck is with very little done to it. You've changed your tune very radically just now compared to what you've posted before many times in the past.

You can't expect a couple of bolt-ons to be a $4000 supercharger, or to make up for the fact that you're trying to race vehicles with superior power-to-weight ratios, and *that* is the problem, not the bolt-on mods, they're doing their job perfectly. You just cannot expect a chip and a K&N to turn a 2-3 ton pickup truck into something that can beat everything you come up against. That's hardly realistic, nor does it jibe with any of your previous posts raving about the performance of your truck, all of which are still here on the boards, by the way.

Those GM's have superior power-to-weight ratios as well as better gearing, and expecting a few hundred bucks in a coupla simple bolt-on mods to change all of that will never work, you're goping to have to do some modifications, a stock to lightly modified F-150 like you have there isn't going to beat the quickest GM trucks out there.

Sounds to me like you just got spanked by a quicker vehicle and now you want to point fingers at your mods, which is entirely wrong and in complete conflict with your previous posts.

POWER TO WEIGHT, say it with me together, everyone.........

All kidding aside, good luck & have fun!

 

let me at dem 5.3's

 

Power to weight ratio?? Is a chevy supercab lighter than a Ford supercap? I never said that the mods don't make improvements at all, I just said they don't do that much. Mike, you said in a post about three weeks ago that an air force one makes 17.9 hp on a 5.4. I responded then and now if I had proof of that I would buy one today. Bascilly, I'm trying to say I know they help some, but not to the degree of 18 hp with a fipk. I ran my F-150 stock in warm weather here in south LA and ran 16.038. Most of my times after all my mods were in the 15.7 range in much cooler weather, so there is proof they don't do much. They all seem fast by themselves!! When I put a superchip R9 in my L, now that made a hugh difference in that truck, but not near that much in the normal 5.4.

 

Mike,

I appologize for the long post in advance. I read an article in Truckin' magazine where they were putting a Magnaflow cat back on a 2000 5.3 Chevy truck. They dynoed it baseline with no mods at 180 RWHP. The truck is rated by Chevy at 275 FWHP. That is a 95 HP loss or about 33%. In the June 2002 issue of Truckin' on page 20 they discuss a dyno of the Chevy 8.1 L rated at 340 FWHP that dynoed stock at 223 a loss of 117 HP again 33%.

I dynoed my 4.6 (see sig for mods) and got 195 RWHP. IF the drive train loss on my vehicle is similiar to the Chevys tested by Truckin', that would put me with my mods at about 295 FWHP.

I haven't raced any Chevys but my wife's vehicle is a 2001 Expedition with a 5.4 L and only a K&N filter (She won't let me mod her vehicle). My seat of the pants meter says my truck would take her Exp easily. While I know you can't compare figures on different dynos on different days under different conditions, I think you can get a general idea to compare vehicles and the effects of their mods.

If the Truckin' techs are accurate on these Chevys dyno results wouldn't the mods available to us Blue Oval guys bring us up enough to be competetive with their trucks?

War Eagle

 

I wonder the same things. People that race and mod their trucks say that a chevy will lose more through the drivetrain than a ford. I cannon comment on that due to lack of knowledge. However, if that is accurate and I think it is, why do they run so good. My sister has a 02 Yukon with a 5.3 stock and that thing will go. It seems like a fairly heavy truck also, but it seems so much faster than my F-150 with all the mods I've done.

 

IMHO, The only way to tell if a truck is faster is to race it. Put them side by side at the track and go. Sound, feel , impressions don't mean squat. Hell, the angle of your seat back can change the way the truck feels.

Regards

Jean Marc Chrtier