any ideas for realistic, relatively inexpensive mods for my 2001 4.6 4x4? my bro has a lightning and is talking mess about how slow i am... i know i wont be that fast, but i need something! any help would be appreciated

 

Got a credit card with a high limit, or a bunch of cash laying around?

You've got a heavy truck for that little V8. Don't even try to measure up to a Lightning. I've got thousands into my truck and am thousands away from even touching a Lightning.

Lower you expectations a bit. Start small and work your way up. That's how most of us end up doing it. Start with a chip, air filter and exhaust system. Then get ready to max out the credit card. That's what ended up happening to me. I've never had so much fun. No regrets!

Good luck!

 

thanks Tom, i already started lookin for some of that stuff... this is what i have in mind: K&N GenII FIPK, Helix PowerTower Throttle Body Spacer, gutting my cats, and i bought a resistor chip off ebay (99 cents! thought i would give it a try)... eventually some headers and a real chip or tuner... thanks again for your help!

if anyone has some specific mods in mind, throw the idea my way... i dont have much experience with these new fuel injected, wire-cluttered, computerized engines. my dad and i get a little more fun out of rebuilding older stuff and tooling w/ his '63 vette... gotta love it

 

In sequence to your writings:

K&N is a good deal but use it together with the 1715 or 9100 programmer and a cat back exhaust system.
Do not get the Throttle Body spacer. It's only use is as a paperweight.
If you install headers you will need a custom retune of the Superchip/programmer.
Don't gut the cats, it will totally screw up the computer and performance will be worse. Get some Hi-Flow cats instead.
Regearing will give a big performance boost for U$1000 or so.
Electric fans help with cooling and power for U$400.
Turbo/Super Charger with custom superchip will help with power but will kill your visa.
Hi-Flow MAF and Injectors and chip retune will add a little.

Remember, this is a computer controlled engine with about 30 sensors. Mess any of them up and performance will suffer.

Fritz

 

Don't mess your truck up. If you want Lightning performance, buy a Lightning. It's cheaper.

There's 2 ways to go with your truck.

1) cheap reliable easy performance upgrade. You'll never catch the Lightning. chip and exhaust. Intakes are gimmick. $800

2) $5000+ SC plus other crap. You still won't catch the Lightning.

 

I think I see where your coming from but I wouldn't totally agree. I do agree that it's not cost effective to try to get a 4.6, especially a 4X4, to the power levels of a Lightning. Modding to increase the perfomance of your truck is not a waste. If I believed it were than I have wasted a bunch of money. My truck is so much better than it was stock, and the fun quocient has increased ten fold. It has not messed up my truck at all. In fact it has required me to learn a lot about it. It's taught me to know which parts can handle the increase in power and which ones need to be upgraded. It does require a commitment but when I drive my truck I know it's well worth it.

I would not agree that intakes, or FIPK's are a gimmick. If you look at the factory intake there are all sorts of things that will slow the air down. Also it draws air from a 2" opening in the fender. The one down side of the FIPK is that it draws air from under the hood. That air will be hotter than ambient when standing still but people here have done tests that show once moving the air under the hood is basicly the same as ambient. I have the Air Force One which is very smooth allowing air to move through with ease. Most people will say that if your going to upgrade to a freer flowing exhaust, you should also go with a freer intake. Chip (tuner), intake, and exhaust usually run about 1K.

For about 4K (that's supercharger and basic related componants) you can gain around 100 hp. Is it worth it? I think so. Will it compete with a Lightnning? No way. A Lightning may not be practicle for everyone. So we have the alternative of modding. If people learn about thier truck and get the right componants for a reliable set up then modding is a good alternative to buying a high end, high cost performance truck.

I know that your trying to help this guy out. I'm not bashing you. It's been my experiance though that modding is worth it. Not with the expectation that you can catch Lightnings but with the expectation of better performance and more fun.

 

Oh yeah I'm not saying bolting SC on along with the other parts is not a good way. It's 1 of the 2 viable ways to go. But at the end of that he's got to realize that he still won't be there with the Lightning.

As far as intakes go there's plenty of debate. I would think just opening up the 2" inlet would be enough. The rest of the system is pretty good.

 

thanks a bunch, guys. i definately needed some input from y'all that have done this stuff before. now, i know i will never catch a lightning, thats a given... but by doing some of these mods, maybe my baby will have a little more kick which is all i really need. all the specs for these mods written on paper isnt worth a damn, but y'alls input helps a lot. thanks again, wittom, medvader, and fritz!

 

As for opening up the inlet that runs from the inner fender to the airbox, use 3 inch ducting . I bought some of this at Menards a while back and it works pretty good. It takes some coaxing to get it to fit in the hole thats in the fender, and some more to slide it into the end of the box(I had to file some little knobby things of that are in there-these are the things the stock inlet snaps to) I slid it in untill it was at the end of the tube on the inside.

The stock one is real close to 1.5 inches and this 3 inch tubing makes a big difference in the air it sucks.

Also yank out the silencer tube thats in the stock elbow and put a K&N in.

Another thing I did was take more ducting(its good stuff ) and ran it from the airdam over the frame and right up behind the head light, It gets a little more air up there, however I still need to make a box that will connect it to the inlet tube.

This is WAY cheaper than an aftermarket intake, and once I get the box made it will be almost as good.

As for other mods-
Chip, exhaust, efans, underdrive pulleys, valve body(doesnt add performance but it makes it feel quicker)

And if you got the money a turbo or supercharger-or the guts then nitrous.

 

if ur gonna put that much money intowhy not just buy an L engine? oemfordparts.com sells them for about $6k ? if ur like me..and your truck was given to u.. well then it wont cost u all that much.. but if u bought ur truck then wanted to make it as fast as a lightning wellt hen itsjust cheaper to buy the lightning itsself.

-TJ

 

Hi gradaddy44,

As you clearly stated right up front - you're not looking to go as fast as a Lightning, you simply want some more power & performance at a reasonable cost in the vehicle you own - just like 99% of the rest of the F-150 owners here.

To get a good feel for just what performance parts really do what in these vehicles (we do more testing in this regard than anyone else we know of), and at what cost, you can spend some time reading thru the info in our Stage 1 thru Stage 5 packages in the Performance Packages section of our web site. (I'll give you a link below in just a minute) - that will give you a good idea of what can be done and at what cost.

It's very easy to add significant power & performance to these vehicles - and you don't have to have a supercharger or own a Lightning, or spend thousands of dollars to get a nice improvement in performance. We have many of these trucks running in the mid to high 14's (& even a few in the 13's) in the 1/4 mile without a supercharger or nitrous oxide. Now that level of performance (14-second times or quicker in the 1/4 mile) costs of course, but that's just an example - the point being, there's plenty of room for improvement in your 4.6 F-150's performance, and a number of things you can do that don't cost an arm & a leg.

Here's a link to take you to the Performance Packages section of our web site so you can read up on this: http://www.troyerperformance.com/cgi...edition%20Etc.

I hope that info helps, & feel free to give us a call at our number listed below to go over any of this in more detail, talk about which parts will do what power-wise, discuss our custom tuning (the first and single best bang-for-the-buck), etc.

Best of luck whatever you decide!