I have a 98 f150 with a 4.6L and i want more power out of it! i already have a k&n cold intake for it, airaid throttle body spacer also. so, is a power programer the way 2 go, or are there other things i could do?

 

i fixed my itch with a 5.4L Lightning build.

 

True duel exhaust, edge evolution programmer, nitrous (since you've got the spacer), cams, etc. There are a lot of ways to beef up your 4.6, but it all depends on how much you are willing to spend.

 

All you've done is a whole lot of nothing IMO... I'm sure that K&N cold air thing looks good, and you can see that spacer wedged in there...

Have you done anything with the exhaust? An internal combustion engine is just a large air pump, so what goes in, must go out... As long as you still have the stock muffler and tail pipe, anything you do up front is still getting chocked down the line.

I've not personally done the programmer thing, but that does seem to be the thing to do if you are looking for some real world increases... You might have to run Premium fuel and depending on what else you do, you can even customize the tune to your specific mods (even that spacer thing!).

But, you are starting out with the smaller V8 out of the box, and even with your mods and a programmer, you might get to the level where a stock 5.4 of the same year would be, at least torque wise.

What RPM range are you wanting more 'power'? If you are towing or hauling, you want as much as you can get in the lower RPM range, which the 4.6 does not really have to begin with.... If it's WOT and ***** out running, then you will be able to do more with the 4.6...

This is only MHO, as I don't have the 4.6 and don't have a programmer and have not done much in the way of mods on my 5.4 for that matter, but I don't seem to have much of a life, and I've been around here for some time and read a lot of posts on here, as well as my own experience with a 190,000 mile 5.4 that tows my #5000 pretty good and does pretty good all around and all I have done is a K&N drop in and a 3" cat back exhaust... It's much better even now, then when it was stock with only 65,000 miles on it....

You still are trying to move a #5000 brick, so torque is what you want to get moving and then HP will get the top end... At least that's how I understand the whole deal...

Good luck!

Mitch

 

Mitch is right on a couple areas:

however a tuner doesn't always require the use of 91 octane or better but you can get more power and performance when your timing is tweaked for the higher octanes

get rid of that worthless throttle body spacer or smooth it out with a dremel tool and tap it for a NOS port.

a supercharger or a turbo will get you some good bang for the buck power and torque.

do a search on this site: e-fans, custom tunes, re-gearing, long tube headers, worked heads and cams are all advised.

why does everyone buy a truck with a 4.6 then complain when it doesn't perform like a lightning or harley truck?

 

A 4.6 makes a great work truck. If you are looking for a truck that will keep up with the big boys, you have the wrong engine.

 

i have dual exhaust, out of the 4 cats, i took the rear ones out then it runs stock back and to a y pipe, no muffler.
And the throttle body spacer increased my acceleration greatly, and the intake was on the truck when i bought it. i use this truck for everything, towing driving every day and hauling stuff in the back of it. iv got a 3 inch lift and 285 destination mt tires. i want my truck to be able to beat those f--ing chevys when at the stoplight. lol

 

heres the thing about tb spacers. they move the tb to take the slack out of the throttle cable and gives a better throttle responce which makes people think they are getting better acceleration. your just opening the throttle more than you did without it. you didnt get much better acceleration if any.

for your 4.6 to beat the bigger engines, you'll need 4.10 gears, custom tuner, e-fans, and supercharger/turbo will blow them away. and that tb spacer always helps when you run nitrous.

 

could do a stroker kit, a turner doesn't do much for the 97-98 f150s, it a waste of $$ if you ask me, on 99s and up they help alot

 

ohhh yea. i always forget the 97's and 98's and some 99's dont have pi heads. i'd do a full swap then. but i also agree about the stroker kit.

 

TJ - probably because they bought the truck assuming a V8 aughta have enough tq to do the jobs. i did that myself.

 

its "ought to have" lol did u ever get ur engine swap successful?

 

the motor runs good enough to scare me. the trans is still down. although i have seen a reversal of charges and confirmed that its permanent tonight.

 

E-fan, Longtubes, nitrous * if you really want do a small shot for stock motor 50-75 shot at most* regear to 4.10's, Supercharger/Turbo, Cams, PI swap...Built 54 has a complete PI swap in the classifieds with comp cams and all. donno how much he wants for it prob around 1,000 or so. id start off with E-fans most bang for the buck i belive with bolt ons. and it makes life ALOT easyer when changing pulleys. theres alot of things to do.

 

alrighty, you guy know alot more about this stuff then i do, i just know how to make the truck look good. thanks for all of the sugestions, currently i am attending tech school, and dont realy have enough $ for a supercharger kit which would be cool. mabey soon ill try sum electric fans tho, sound like a good place 2 start. thanks again.