Hi all. Great forum, lot's of info.

My Ford is a 1997 F-150 XLT Supercab 4x4 with the 4.6. It’s stock except for a K&N drop-in filter and a pair of Monroe Load Adjusting shocks . It’s my everyday driver and recently I’ve been occasionally pulling a 18’ car hauler trailer with wood rails I made to haul firewood. I would like a ¾ ton (or 1 ton) truck to properly pull the trailer fully loaded, but for now I’ll use my ½ ton and not load the trailer fully.

My next addition to my truck is to change my worn 245/75-16’s to 265/75-16’s (Cooper Discoverer ST). I want to add Timbren springs, an Outlaw CIA (decided on after lots of reading here), and a Magnaflow muffler (5x11, 22”, SI/SO, O/O) - either the 2.5” (12577) or the 3” (12578). After lots of reading here, I decided that I cannot afford a cat-back system and that a muffler swap will be enough (I think) for me. I’m choosing a Magnaflow muffler because for what I’ve read about the sound they make, and not losing low-end torque.

My question is regarding the exhaust pipe sizes. Should I simply have the old muffler removed and replace with the Magnaflow with the stock piping. Or get 3” piping (is aluminum what is used normally? I’m not sure on what type of tubing is used) going in and out of the new muffler? Someone might say that if I want 3”, then go with the cat-back system – but it’s stainless (piping also? please excuse my ignorance) and I believe the tail pipe is mandrel bent (keeping the same diameter through the bends?) – which I like, but can’t afford it. With my truck as I’ve described and the near future mods/additions, am I going to get any gains performance wise from going to 3” pipe over the stock 2.5”? I’ve read here that a 3” pipe bent (not mandrel) incorrectly is worse than a properly bent 2.5” pipe. I don’t know if I could find a muffler shop around here that has the right machine to mandrel bend exhaust pipe. And if they did how, much for custom 3” pipe (in and out of the muffler). I’m guessing it would be close to a proper cat-back system. With the addition of a true CAI and a more free flowing muffler, I’m hoping I can pull the loaded trailer a little easier. Is that realistic? I don’t want to get into tuners and whatever else is available – I have to put my money to other things.

One other thing, is a Y-pipe used for dual exhaust pipes into dual mufflers vs. a muffler with SI/DO outlets?

Sorry I am so long-winded. Hope someone has some answers and/or comments.

Kevin

 

So if I understand correctly, you're looking for more towing power and you're thinking that changing the exhaust will do that for you. If you read through this forum you'll hear alot of the same, Adding a CAI and a low restriction exhaust is a good thing to do but it will not get you very much performance. You will gain a little but you probably won't be able to feel it even when towing. Save your $$$ and just do a muffler swap. Put more of your $$$ into bigger gears. Look into getting 4:10's, that will make a huge change in your towing ability and you'll feel it. You can also retune your PCM with an SCT Excal II for better towing. You can change your shift points and shift pressure and reset your speedo after changing the gears. Most guys go for sound when choosing a muffler, not performance. The gains are minimal.
And to answer your ? on the Y pipe. That is for a single exhaust system, be it a SISO or SIDO. True duals us an H or X pipe, X being the better choice. My set-up is a Flowmaster SIDO w/3" mid pipe and 2.5" tips out the side in front of the rear tire, 4:10 gears, and a Procharger S/C to help me pull my 9000# boat where ever I want to go. Good luck with your choice.

https://www.f150online.com/galleries....cfm?gnum=7238

 

adt,

Thanks for your reply. Some good advice. BTW, nice truck. Can't imagine what kind of $'s you've put into it - especially the S/C. That's way out of my league! When I bought my truck, I was living 2000+ miles north of where I am today, and in the city. I had know idea I would be needing my truck to pull decent size loads. Had I known, I would of went with a 5.4 with the trailer package for the F-150 or went to the light duty F-250. That's the way it goes.

Bigger gears (4:10's) - I don't think I will be doing enough towing to warrant swapping gears (stock 3:55's). I know that fuel mileage isn't great at all on my truck, but I don't want it any worse. Wife and I do a lot more regular driving on the highway as we live in the country.

Retuning my PCM with SCT Excal II - sounds more advanced (and expensive) than I want to go.

If I was towing on a more regular basis and heavier towing, I'd look into those options you've suggested. And that might happen, depends on how much I get into firewood. If it takes off, it'll be modding my truck for towing properly or sell it for a older bigger truck (and buying a car for the daily driver). I was at the Magnaflow website and saw that they sell a mandrel bent 3" stainless steel tail pipe. I priced it on ebay and other places on the web and it looks like the going price is $52.24. Add $89.54 for the Magnaflow 5x11x22, 3" in/out muffler brings the price to $141.78 from Performancepeddler on ebay. I'll have to call some local muffler shops for a price on an install and a 3" mid-pipe. I know I had mentioned that I didn't need stainless pipes, the mandrel bend is what attracts me. Is that price for that tail pipe to high for what it is? It's part no. 15038. Here's a link to a picture of it: http://performance.speedycarparts.co...6&brandid=2021

As far as the CAI, I hear what you're saying about minimal performance gains. But it might do enough for me. I guess it's my decision. Will it be worth the $209.00 I would put out for it? Again, it guess it's up to me. See, I'm guessing the heaviest loaded trailer of firewood I would be pulling MIGHT be around 3000 to 4000#'s - maybe more, maybe less. I'll have to find a scale at a truck stop, I'll probably be surprised about how much I'm pulling. So I'm thinking that getting the engine to breath in and out a little freer might help, even if it's minimal. I just don't have the funds for the serious performance mods.

Thanks again for your advice.

Kevin

 

I have a '97 F-150, and it sounds like you and I have a lot of the same situation, only I have a 5800 lb camper that I pull several hundred miles about once every 2-3 years, and a small, 2-place snowmobile, size trailer that I load up to about 1500 lbs about once every couple months.

I changed up from the factory sized tires to 265/75/16's (Firestone steeltex 10-ply's--which they no longer make because people were pulling 100k to 120k miles out of them) on a nice set of American racing diamond backs.

For intake I went for the 250$ range (OUCH!!!) K&N FIPK intake and the $100 Airraid throttle body spacer (cool, turbo-like whistle out of that).

I added the Bosch "4-point" spark plugs, and a nice set of the highest grade plug wires I could find from the local NAPA store.

Gas around here is currently headed back down off the $3.00/gal it was last week, and gas mileage was one of the main reasons I got rid of my '94 mazda navajo (Ford explorer sport with a different grill) with 160k on it for my 4x4 F-truck with 130k on it, but with a 4.6 v-8 and a 5 spd instead of an auto.

My first tank full got me about 18mpg. I was hoping to get better, as my navajo was getting me 19.5mpg with similar mods as I put into the F-truck. My mpg since mods has been between 17 and 17.5. I don't think the Airraid tb spacer was worth it, though I think the K&N filter probably was.

My most recent (and I hope greatest gaining mod) was to change to 5w-30 FULL (NOT BLEND) synthetic oil, because in my navajo I had about 3 mpg gain.

Some guys out there will say, "you cheapskates and your gas mpg!! Go get a yugo." Well, I like my truck, and want to be able to afford driving it. If I wanted to drive another little mpg machine like the subaru I was almost killed in a wreck in, I would get one.

I'm now hoping that a set of tuned headers (suggestions, anyone?) and a muffler will help additionally. I'm thinking of a freshened motor with gapless rings and extrude-honed heads will help my situation. The main reason I'm even considering the added expense is that I got a really good deal on the truck.

Hope I was some help to you.

 

HillsOttfam,

Along with the firewood hauling, in the near future I hope to be hauling 'my 4-wheeler' with how many more that can fit on a 16' tandem axle utility trailer. See, I don't have a 4-wheeler or the mentioned trailer...yet. I have the 4-wheeler picked out as well as the trailer, but not the money to get them yet. Right now I have access to a nice 18' tandem axle car hauler that I have adapted to haul firewood, but I want my own and lighter. My brother-in-law and 2 good friends of mine have 4-wheelers each and we're always talking about taking a trip to the mountains for a ride, but someone doesn't have a 4-wheeler yet...me.

You have already read what else I want to do to my truck and I forgot to mention getting a set of step bars (DeeZee's chromed stainless steel) mainly for my wife. She has a bit of a hard time getting into my truck. We're trying to start a family and when she gets pregnant, she's gonna need step bars. So truck stuff before toys.

Sounds like you have, and are going to do a lot more mods to your truck than I will or can. I researched here on CAI (cold air intakes) and found some interesting reading on 'true' cold/cooler air intakes (enclosed air boxes that get air from the stock opening in the fender - at least in our trucks) and other intakes that don't have enclosed air boxes. It seems that the open air box intakes will get cooler air the faster the truck is moving, but at slower speeds and stop-and-go traffic, the intakes are sucking in more of the hot under-hood air. If I do get an air intake system (after my exhasut work), I've decided on the Outlaw system. Volant makes a similar designed system that looks good in the engine compartment but is more money.

Did you notice a big drop in mpg when you upsized your tires? And did you change your VSS (vehicle speed sensor) gear to get your speedo to read properly - after the tire size change?

Kevin

 

About the only real differences that I noticed on tires were that I have to recalculate for my speed (my wife took it to a local dorf garage and they said that my particular truck couldn't be re-progged for the tire size--I think it's a lot of bs) so I have to run a quick calcualtor process when I fuel up to calc my mpg, and I have the feeling that my ABS is geting confused, with the rear- end locking up, and doing some sliding on stops. As for the Airraid tb spacer--what I'm reading here, and the mpg drop that I noticed, SAVE YOUR MONEY!!! I'm doing what I can to make my F truck more driveable, and that stupid piece of aluminum didn't help any. I wish I could have done things a little more scientifically on the engine mods, you know, do them one at a time, to find out what did what, but as I'm a railroader, working way away from home, and living out of an apartment while doing so, opportunities top work on my truck are few and far between, so I had to do all of them (what few I've done) at the same time.

Back to the tires--they're only one size up, lt245/75-R-16 10-ply's, and when running the numbers, I've found there's no real difference in mpg to the very slight difference. I DO have some really nice looking rims now, though,

http://americanracing.com/wheels/det...ated&section=S

And along with the subtle "barbed wire" tape stripe" and the darker tinted front windows, I'm planning on (for my wife as well) the stainless or chrome side step tubes and possibly a tonneau cover for mpg. I think my truck looks fairly sharp.

Now, if I could just get it to give me more like around 20-21 mpg, I'd be a lot happier than I am with the 17.3 I'm getting now.

 

HillsOttfam,

I looked at the link for your wheels, they look pretty good. I don't know if it's called reprogramming, but the VSS (vehicle speed sensor) gear can be changed to get our speedo's reading correctly with a tire size change. I did some search's and found the info here and another F-150 forum. Put 'VSS' into the search function and you should get the info. If not, I can give you the calculation's etc that I found.

When it comes to truck mods, I don't do anything just to be doing something. Whatever is done has to have purpose. I like to handload, shoot, hunt, fish, cutting wood with my chainsaws - so I have to spread my little bit of money around. I would like some nice rims, but the money could be used better someplace else in my situation.

For step bars, I like the DeeZee's Elite Chrome bars. Chromed stainless steel, supposed to never rust. Where I am now in Arkansas I shouldn't have that problem, but if/when I move back across the line to Canada and the snow, it'll be a good thing. I was considering a tonneau cover (from Access Roll-up covers), for gas mileage purposes - as you are - and for more covered storage for stuff. If I'm not close to financing a car by the time a youngin' appears and I'm still relying on my truck, then maybe a tonneau cover. Step at a time.

Kevin

 

i have 1997 f 150 4x4 . will the catalytic converters off of a 97 2 wheel drive fit

 

do you mean the whole mid pipe or just the universal cats??