i'm embarrased to say that a ford escape (v6, 200 hp) smoked me in a short race. got an '01 supercrew (5.4) which comes standard with 260hp. i think my engine is turned down or something because I should have left that thing suckin' wind. is there anything i can do to my engine to make it run like it has 260 hp (turning a screw or something)?

 

I don't know much about escapes but F-150s are big and heavy... Is your truck also 4x4? Because that addes even more weight to the trucks. They're not meant to be fast.

My 200hp/200ft-tq v6 toyota highlander ran 16.5s at the track and I'd probably expect the Escape to be close. Your truck could be high 16s, Low 17s.

For the money and most results I'd go with a tuner first. It seriously helps out a LOT!! Firms up the shifts and it woke my truck up in 2nd gear. It pulled seriously hard in 2nd.

Next I'd see about Electric Fans and Underdrive pulleys. A couple benefits of Electric fans is it'll help your gas mileage since the engine no longer has to spin the stock fan and your A/C will work better in stop and go traffic.

After those I'd see about a Magnaflow Cat-back exhaust. Magnaflow won't kill your low end tq and if you buy their kit, then you can install it yourself in your driveway.

I didn't really notice a big increase when I put an intake on my truck... Just made a sucking sound.

Also, expect to lose around 65 hp down an automatic driveline so you are probably putting down 195 at the wheels or so.

 

drv150 - listen to Intel, including the order in which he stated mods.
Unfortunately it all adds up to quite a bit more than turning a screw.

My neighbor always rags me about his Camry beating me between lights with my 04 F150. Funny though, he won't go for a race pulling a 5000 lb load.

 

Just remember this, your truck will accellerate roughly the same with that escape in the bed as it will empty.... I bet it can't say the same thing. The better horsepower to weight ratio will win every time.

 

HELL YEAH!!! I'm not sure but I would be willing to bet also that you have the 3:55 gears in your truck and that escape is most likely running a lower gear ratio then you. Sometimes the engineers at these automotive design facilities like to do that to make the weaker motors seem a little "peppier". I wouldn't be to embarrased though... ask the escape to run with you from exit to exit on the interstate. You will have him analyzing the sound of your exhaust....so long as your speed limiter doesn't shut you down before him...