wait.. somewhere along the line one of my original points got twisted around. the truck intake is actually too much and hurts low end power. the mustang intake would have been a better choice on fords part. the aftermarket intakes are based on the truck lower because it produces more high rpm power than the stang lower. im not too familiar with the lightening stuff so i cant comment on that. as far as gearing, i havent experimented with these overdrive trucks but... imo 373's work best in 5-speed 'stangs and 430's are great in auto cars. i would assume 430's would work well with these trucks. 430's in an auto car ran around 2800 at 65mph if i remember correctly.

 

Lightning intakes were based on a mustang upper with the single throttle body, and I know what you were getting at about the truck upper, the mustangs and explorer uppers were made for upper rpm power. And 4.30s? Man I used to run 2.73 in my mustang w\c6 and a big block.

 

Pay attention to conanski's post.....Paul is literally THE man when it comes to these type of questions. Please take reference to what he says about runner length.
http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/83...et-intake.html

Hope this also helps...... http://www.fordtruckfanatics.com/for...ad.php?t=17153

 

thanks for the links. i guess that proves my point. the pic reminded me how bad***** the gt40 intake looks. i always steered away from them in the stangs. i always went with tfs intakes due to how well they fit and performed even though i hate the look. not to turn this into a mustang discussion but, you have to run a special strut tower brace with the tfs. on second thought on the truck, i may just do an explorer intake to keep cost down.

 

to address the gear thing.. the 430 is only good in an aod car. it would be miserable at freeway speeds without overdrive. 273's huh? you run that thing on the salt flats? 0-60= 10 mins. top speed 600 mph. sorry, just had to give you about that high of gear.

 

If there's any way you can do a before and after on the power difference between the factory truck intake and the Explorer please do, I've got one sitting here collecting dust and can't make up my mind because I haven't seem any numbered proof. BTW, EV6 injectors smooth out your idle and give you better take-off.

 

Thats what the rear came with, I am cheap no money to buy lower gears, I still could spin tires down the road, besides my big block was not a high rpm engine but anything less than 5000 would stomp on anything. I had an 80 F100 2wd w\ worked 429\c6\2.73 gears, it would out pull many vehicle in a quarter mile, I even towed race cars with no problem.

 

its going to be a few months before i have the cash to do the swap. i usually dont have much work in the winter so that limits the cash i can dump into my toys. im not going to do a before/after dyno session with it or anything but i'll keep you updated on the swap and let you know my opinion. i guess i could make a graph based on how much ive pi$$ed the neighbors off. that would be pretty accurate. 0 being not mad, we're currently at a 5. bringing the truck home probably got them up to a two (this was the 3rd f150 in less than a month). exhaust probably earned me a 3 or 4. doing doughnuts in the snow with the new exhaust... id say we're at a solid 5. locking/welding the rear should be good for a couple points. test and tune with the new intake set up should earn me a point or two. okay, for the gear thing... a gear swap is by far the best bang for your buck mod and should be the first thing you do to increase performance....