Ok. A friend of mine has a 97 F150 almost identical to mine. The only difference is that he has 8" wide rims on 285/75/16 all terrains, and he does not have an exhaust. He pulled up to about my back bumper at about 35, so of course I floored it. He pulled up even and passed me within 6 seconds! I couldn't believe it. How could his truck pass me if it has less on it? I'm getting 4.10 gears in a week or so, so that should help, but I am still baffled as to how this happened. Was it tire design? Wheel width? Is my exhaust actually hurting performance? Whats the deal??

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1997 Ford F-150
4.2 L V-6
Thrush Turbo Tube catback exhaust
K&N Air Filter
Window Tint
Pioneer 7000R CD player
2 Rockford Fosgate DVC HX2 10's
Rockford Fosgate 500a Amp
Lund bug shield
Vent Shade Vent Visors
GTS headlight blackouts
Bedliner
Chrome Toolbox
3" Body Lift
305/70R16 ProComp Muds
16x10 Eagle 589
Chrome Westin Nerf Bars
Custom Key racing stripes down both sides thanx to some a**hole in the HS Parking lot.
My WebPage

 

One thing you have to be careful with, is that the diameter of the exhaust pipe, can actually hurt low end performance, and won't really be good until higher RPM's are being used. Now, usually the bigger the tire, the slower the acceleration, which is why people get bigger gears when they either drag or get their trucks lifted. It increases acceleration dramatically but kills mileage just as bad. Back to size, if you are using 3" that might be what is going wrong. If it is stock 2.5" you shouldn't be having a problem. Well good luck!!

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SpliT



2000 Work Series
Deep Wedgewood Blue
Standard Cab 5-Spd
4.2L V6 3.08 Gears
Mean Streak Cat-Back Exhaust(Anyone else have one, I hate mine)
Weld Super Single Wheels
Pioneer Deck DEH-P7200
Tinted Windows
Clear Corners
Superchip
AutoMeter Tach(Not Installed Yet)

Future Mods: FIPK, Bedliner, Billet Grille w/ Painted Grille Surround, Color-Keyed Bumpers, 6.5" Fabtech Ultimate Suspension Lift!!!

Email Me at: F150v6@Aol.com

 

Hey Mav,
just curious.. when you did the lift kit and bigger tires on your truck, did you notice a loss of power off the line or at highway speeds?

thanks
pat

p.s.(to answer your question, we need a little more info on the truck.. was it all stock? maybe the bigger tires and lift slowed ya down a bit?)

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Green & Tan
97 F150 XLT
V6 4.2L auto 4X4
MODS :
K&n air filter
Superchip
Ravin Z55 exhaust
GOODIES:
12 disk cd changer,
jvc 4ch 560watt poweramp (waitin on the speakers)
Tinted Windows
What's next?still thinkin):
FIPK(already ordered),Tornneu cover,
headers?, Jacobs ignition system?

 

split- the exhaust is hard to decipher. I didn't put it in, my dad had it done. The reciept shows this:

FAUX Dual out including
DBL Turbo Tube w/
Dual 2.25" tailpipes &
2 3.5"x18 Chrome tips
installed
2.5" Exhaust piipe fr y

-Thats exactly how it reads

patrick - I noticed power loss all across the band! High end, low end, the works! Also, his truck was all stock engine excpet for a K&N. It had a 3" body lift with 16x8's and 285/75R16 AllTerrains. Thats about it!

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1997 Ford F-150
4.2 L V-6
Thrush Turbo Tube catback exhaust
K&N Air Filter
Window Tint
Pioneer 7000R CD player
2 Rockford Fosgate DVC HX2 10's
Rockford Fosgate 500a Amp
Lund bug shield
Vent Shade Vent Visors
GTS headlight blackouts
Bedliner
Chrome Toolbox
3" Body Lift
305/70R16 ProComp Muds
16x10 Eagle 589
Chrome Westin Nerf Bars
Custom Key racing stripes down both sides thanx to some a**hole in the HS Parking lot.
My WebPage

 

I hate to bring up the obvious, but, when's the last time you had your injectors cleaned? I got mine cleaned after 30,000 miles and gained .3 seconds in the quarter mile. Just a thought.

 

Well, your diameter should be fine, but I didn't even look at your signature. You have 305's which are bigger than his. That will hinder performance, and you also have a 3" lift which patrickjb brought up. I would definitely make the next mod 4.10 gears

 

at the risk of sounding stupid here..

how can I clean my fuel ingectors?

 

To clarify a point by split, your tires are the same diameter as your friend's, just different width, so that is not it. Does your friend have a body lift too? That could be what's hurting you, you have 3" more of wind resistance.

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2000 Silver F-150 XL Sport
Reg. Cab, Reg. Bed, 4.2L V6, 5-speed, 4x2

mods:
Tailgate lock, Generic bedliner, coyboy antenna ball
285/75r16 BFG AT ko (33.1x11.4)
Sony CD player, Blaunpunkt 5.25" speakers
Crimeguard alarm, Power locks

future:
1" coil spring spacer
new rims

dreaming:
true dual exhaust with flowmasters
RCD 5" lift, 315/75r16 Yokahama Geolander MT(34.9x12.6)
---------------------
Never let your schooling interfere with your education --Mark Twain

 

r0land - he also has a 3" body lift on his truck, so thats not it!

Tiron- I am not sure what his ratio is. I assumed it was 3.08, but I could be wrong. I will ask him on Tuesday about that. As for the muffler, Its one muffler with two separate tubes, if that makes any sense. It's got basically 1 inlet then there are 2 separate tubes going out to the tailpipes.
Y-connection

Dual Turbo tube

Pipe Bends



It's got a muffler type fill on one tube, and straight through on the other! How can I tell if the pipes are bent wrong?? I figured that a muffler shop would be pretty generic in the way they bend the pipes!

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1997 Ford F-150
4.2 L V-6
Thrush Turbo Tube catback exhaust
K&N Air Filter
Window Tint
Pioneer 7000R CD player
2 Rockford Fosgate DVC HX2 10's
Rockford Fosgate 500a Amp
Lund bug shield
Vent Shade Vent Visors
GTS headlight blackouts
Bedliner
Chrome Toolbox
3" Body Lift
305/70R16 ProComp Muds
16x10 Eagle 589
Chrome Westin Nerf Bars
Custom Key racing stripes down both sides thanx to some a**hole in the HS Parking lot.
My WebPage


[This message has been edited by Mav07 (edited 02-02-2001).]

 

i think its your exhaust. contrary to popular belief i believe duals, whether it is true duals or dual out is not for this engine. they may sound nice but as performance goes and gas milage your better off with single in single out with no more than a 3 inch tail pipe. i would reccomend a CGS muffler or cat-back. they are made for low rpm performance and enhance it around 1500 to 3500. this is what this engine needs because it does not wake up till 2500.

 

Your picture made it perfectly clear. Seems like two turbo mufflers should flow plenty so I'd bet they're not the cause. As for the tailpipes, they could be hurting a little, but I'd say very very little. The bends are normal muffler shop bends, the problem is a when you bend a 2.25" pipe with a normal pipe bender that crinkled pipe you see gets bend down into the curve taking away some of your pipe diameter. For a bend that mantains the pipe diameter you have to use a more expensive manderal(sp?) bending machine. I believe it stretches the metal as it bends the pipe and allows for a smooth bend. None of your bends look terribly severe so that they would hurt the inside diameter too much.

My main problem was they tied my 2.5" exhaust pipe to 2.5" glasspack. Sound okay until you look down a glasspack and see all the little ridges that jut up into the air flow taking away precious volume. I could actually here the restriction as air "whooshed" through the muffler. Making it worse were some almost 90 degree bends in my tailpipe thay effectively cut my pipe diameter in half. Still the glasspack was most of my trouble.

Enough about me. Moral of the story, I personally think your exhaust setup is fine. Smooth, manderal bent pipes might gain you like a tenth or so in a drag race. I also don't think it "to big" and hurting the low end, but I'm not an exhaust expert by any means and my only experience isn't with this engine...

Either he has 3.55s stock which is a good possibility or maybe the wider, heavier mud tires coupled with him getting a truck built when Venus and Saturn were alighned made the difference.

One other possiblity. Y'all both have autos?
Were you in second? Did the tranny downshift when you floored it? Did his? If you were just starting out in 2nd and he was at the top of 1st that could make a whole lotta difference. Just another thought...

[This message has been edited by Tiron (edited 02-02-2001).]

 

Yes, the tires are the same height but yours are almost 1" wider and are a more aggressive mud tire versus his all terrains. So you are going to have more rolling resistance to overcome, but I don't think it would make to much difference.

Are you sure your current gear ratios are the same. If he has 3.55s and you have 3.08s it could explain some of it.

Otherwise you have to look at your exhaust. It's not opened up to much, you have the stock size pipe running to a double turbo tube, split out into 2.25" duals with tips. First thing, is the dboule turbo tube one muffler that splits into two outlets or does it have two seperate muffler chambers. If it's one muffler that could be a source of restriction if the turbo tube doessn't flow well enough. Another thing is if the tailpips aren't bent well it could cause restriction. I had a similar setup with a glasspack split out into duals. Turns out the 2.25" tailpipes were bent poorly and hurting me and the glasspack was too small and didn't flow well. Replaced it all with a Dynomax Ultra flow and turn down and gained about .5 second 0-60. Then again I'm working with a 4.6. I don't know that the 4.2 will react in the same way.

Just some things to think about...

 

When I got my exhuast done this is what I was told...3 inch pipes on the 6 is just gonna slow you down...if you get duals you gotta go to 2.25 inch pipes just to sustain the backpressure needed for the engine without losing power. Just my .02 cents

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Things to come: coil spacers, 4.10 gears, Grill
ilmagill@aol.com For Pictures :
www.geocities.com/ilmagill

 

Actually Tiron, what you said make me think about what was going on at the time. When I looked at my rear-view, he was already accelerating up to 45 or 50 but he was 50-75 yards behind me. I was still going 35, but floored it when I saw him. My tranny was in the middle of 2nd so it didn't downshift to give me the power. Which means, my acceleration was hindered while he started out with a big speed head start! That makes sense. At least now I'll be able to sleep at night!

hut - you think it's worth it to scrap the old setup and get like a Flowmaster 40 with delta flow, single in, single out going to where the old exhaust exited? If that'll help performance than it might be worth it. I've noticed a loss in low end power ever since that exhaust was put in. I was hoping the exhaust would just blow itself up and give me an excuse to have my parents pay for a new one!

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1997 Ford F-150
4.2 L V-6
Thrush Turbo Tube catback exhaust
K&N Air Filter
Window Tint
Pioneer 7000R CD player
2 Rockford Fosgate DVC HX2 10's
Rockford Fosgate 500a Amp
Lund bug shield
Vent Shade Vent Visors
GTS headlight blackouts
Bedliner
Chrome Toolbox
3" Body Lift
305/70R16 ProComp Muds
16x10 Eagle 589
Chrome Westin Nerf Bars
Custom Key racing stripes down both sides thanx to some a**hole in the HS Parking lot.
My WebPage

 

mav,
replacing your exhaust is up to you. i guess if it blows out you wont have a choice. as far as putting a flowmaster 40 on...well flowmaster 40's sound great, but as far as performance goes i would recommend cgs motorsports mufflers or cat backs. especially for auto's. they are designed for low rpm performance. around 1500 thru 3500 where this engine needs it. they also have a much better waranty. check them out at cgsmotorsports.com