I have been all over this site for the past week and man, can a dude get overwelmed ! I think I've decided on PHP for tunes, but have alot of questions about mods to make to my truck ('04 5.4 3v). From what I've read, I need to tell them my mods before I order custom tunes, right ? I have seen alot of $ spent on mods to members trucks to raise hp, torque, lower et, etc. Well, you know the saying " to each his own". I didnt buy my truck to drag race and see 4-5g rpm every time I'm in it. My main goal is to increase my mpg. I have read some members say the best way to do this is leave it in the driveway. What about mods that free up strain on the engine like underdrive pulleys, elec fans? I guess my question is what mods are best bang for the buck? I don't think I cant justify $500/600 for one mod for a 3% power gain. Like headers/ cats/ mufflers. From what I've read, exhaust mods kill low end torque, right? I dont want my truck to be loud. But I understand that an increase in hp and torque can keep the truck from downshifting on hills. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, yes if I decide to tromp down on it, I can live with the trade-off of performance for mpg, as long as I get some mpg if I stay around 2g the rest of the time.
I have already purchased K&N cai. What other mods would you recommend?

 

You have an 04. DO NOT put the K&N on without custon tunes. If you have done much reading, you will see that the 04s are subject to run lean with a CAI and no custom tune. If fuel ecomony and return for your money is your quest, an economy tune is what you are wanting. PHP can assist you with that. My recommendation is to get Bill at PHP on the phone and let him give you some info. None of the other mods will save enough fuel to pay for themselves.

 

True Duals without an X or H pipe will kill low end torque. A chambered muffler like flow master will kill low end torque.

under drive pulleys and electric fans don't need a tune to work properly. You can add them after your tuned with not one ill effect.

intake, exhaust, under drive pulleys, electric fans, tune, that just about covers all the basic bolt-ons.

Best bang for the buck would be tune, pulleys, electric fans, of those that you listed.

Long tube headers will gain you 15+ rwhp, shorties will not gain anything. headers and high flow cats do require a tune though.

 

I have an 04 5.4 the E-Fans and pullies along with an Airraid CAI have gained me about 3-5 MPG if I drive sanely, I tried the SCT XCal-3 and now have an Edge Evo that will be going to PHP for conversion to Gryphon and a couple of custom tunes, hopefully that will gain me a little more milage as well.

 

UtahFX4. What brand fan/pulleys?

 

I got ASP pullies, from ASP, and the Fans are Flex a Lights off of E-Bay, got both for less than elsewhere!

 

Hey greg! You're getting some great advice from the members on here! Feel free to give us a shout at 678-963-9913 if you'd like to run anything past us or get advice from Bill.

 

best bang for buck-mpg gain for $ invested
1-no jack rabbit starts
2-keep speed 65 or under on highway
3-keep tires properly inflated-this will cost you ZERO $ and yield the best gains...

 

UtahFX4,
How easy was the electric fans off ebay to put on? I have been thinking of doing the same thing and was looking at the system Troyer has, but really don't want to pay over $400 for it.

I was also thinking of getting the custom tunes from PHP, but didn't know if I should get the fans switched first or if it didn't matter for the tunes. Seems from the post above this doesn't matter.

 

Generally, it's a CAI and/or full dual exhaust that REQUIRE custom tunes... was just talking with Billy about this tonight, actually. Power pulleys and e-fans shouldn't require custom tunes. Adjustments can be made using the custom options on the programmers.

 

The Flex A lite fan kit had everything in it to install it, it was just finding the right wires under the hood to connect them to, the pullies took longer, Ford still has Guido the Giant installing them at the factory LOL!

 

Even if you see 1 mpg gain for a $300 bolt on you will get that back eventually. It depends on gas prices and how much you drive.
Math for a truck going from 16 mpg to 17 mpg @ $3.00 a gallon
$3.00/16mpg= $.1875 per mile
$3.00/17mpg= $.1764 per mile
$.1875-$.1764= $.0111 difference per mile
$300/$.0111= 27027 miles for recovery
If you drive 5,000 miles a year that will take 5.5 years
If you drive 15,000 miles a year thats is 2 years

say the numbers are 16mpg to 18mpg @ $4.00 a gallon the recovery is
10,791 miles

Can someone with as much time on their hands as me check my math?

 

man thats awesome you did the math for us and everything and im not trying to be sarcastic, i hate math

 

Since every one else covered the bolt on's. As far as programming goes I would use 87 performance and if you tow I would use 87 tow. The difference between the 87 and 91 performance tunes is usually small. From what I have read on here and other forums is the gain from 91 is balanced out with the extra cost of the fuel.

Just my cents

Ty

 

Exactly! That's why people go for power, because you'll pretty much never make back the investment in trying to increase MPGs.


Pretty good, except there are no $300 mods that will give you +1 MPG. (People will say put on a CAI, but that won't give you the increased mileage you're looking for.) If you want to boost MPGs you need to reduce power, and if you want to do that, you can get a custom tune to do so. Even that's going to run you more than $300

Plus you're looking at gas that's only about $2/gal right now, so double the break even time/distance.

- NCSU