I have a 2001 F150 4.2L and I was wonder what I can do to improve is power and fuel economy. I have $6,000 I can spend on this project. Any suggestions? I already have a AIRAID intake and CATBAK exhaust but more power/fuel economy would be nice. Does having 33" tires and a 3 1/2 inch lift kit in the front effect anything? Inputs would be nice on what items to buy and what they usually cost.

P.S. This may be a stupid questions but I am really liking those new V6 ECO boosts, will I be able to take my 2001 to the dealer and they can drop one in for me? Im thinking no because the bolt pattern may be different.


Thank you.

anything is possible with the ecoboost, but i would be willing to bet money that Ford Dealer will laugh at you. Dealerships tend to stray away from non-factory applications, for warranty/liability reasons.

for 6 grand you could build a pretty stout V8 and beef up the transmission

Big tires and a lift will KILL your gas mileage and power.

Start off with a programmer and custom tune.

The EcoBoost swap would max out that $6K and you'd have to have a shop do it. the EB is a totally new engine/drivetrain/tranny so I would imagine a lot of cutting/welding would have to be done. Compared to the 4.2L, the EcoBoost only averages 2-3 mpg more.

Power and fuel economy? Buy a car. Hondas have the V-TEC system which does both.

I need a truck were I live, I live in Oak Glenn CA and it gets pretty bad up here in the winter time. Thanks I will look into chips and programmers. Anyone have any websites were I can pick some up at? Price isn't really a virtue but low prices are always nice.

visit the programmers section. There are oodles of threads of info in there. Most are $400

This. Pick up a 5.4 block and built internals. You could have a very nice setup with 6k to use.

or you can do a 4bt swap. get decent power and mpg, but at the price of having to buy diesel fuel.

I'm sorry but a what now?

A 4BT is a 4 cylinder version of the 6BT Cummins Turbo Diesel that Dodge uses.

They are a very stout motor, giving you excellent HP and TQ #s while still delivering decent fuel efficiency.

Just do a search on Google for Cummins 4BT and watch a few videos. You will be impressed.

Yeah I just watched a few vid's.
Looks pretty cool but If I wanted a diesel I would grab me an F250
Good idea though but I think I would rather chip/program my gas engine and see how far that gets me.

No problem.

Electric fans and a good custom/dyno tune would be a great place to start.

I was told electric fans were extremely unreliable, (a bus mechanic told me this...) and I've been searching for awhile for tunes. You would suggest the Dyno tune? Were in Southern California could I find a good place that sells/installs them?

there is a bigger difference then that, and its in a truck that out weighs our body style by atleast 1000 lbs. So do the math, he'd have atleast a 8 mpg gain with that powerful of an engine in that light of a truck


Ive had efans for about 4 years now without any problems, but i built my own kit

as long as you don't cheap out on a set of 16" e-fans, and you don't cheap out on the controller for them, they will last a LONG time. Patman03sprcrw (post above me) has had his for 4+ years.

As for the dyno tune, any performance/race shop can do this for you, long as they have a dyno to use. But this depends on what kind of tuner you get, as you can only get a dyno tune from someone who is a licensed seller of that programmer, or they have the software to use with it.

Being your in SoCal, you should have no problem finding a performacen shop to do a dyno tune for you.