Tiger5

BadCon

With all the horror stories I've been hearing about the 2018+ 5.0 engines, I'd drive it for a few thousand miles while covered under the Roush warranty to see if any issues crop up. After that, a tune is going to be the biggest bang for the buck by far as compared to the stock Roush profile. Any of the big tuners, 5 Star, OZ Tuning, Palm Beach Dyno, ID Motorsports, etc, should offer support for a 2018+ Roush truck. I know 5 start recently stated they achieved 620whp tune only on a 2018 Roush truck, though I'd imagine others are similar. I personally use ID Motorsports on my 2016 Roush truck and Matt has been great to work with, with excellent service.

The stock exhaust is rather free flowing, and none of the normal 3" exhaust upgrades is going to offer anything meaningful power wise over stock aside from sound. If you go true dual or upwards in size then you'll start to realize some performance gain over stock, but again the biggest bang for your buck right out of the gate is going to be a tune. I'm at the exhaust crossroads right now on my truck after adding the catless y-pipe, and am debating on going with something stupid like a single 4" or biting the bullet and going full headers into a true dual system.

rojizostang

What are the 5.0 related horror stories for 2018 year models?

BadCon

Ticks, rattles, and knocks, coupled with cylinder wall scoring, oil consumption, and engine failure. Leading suspect is just ****ty tolerances from the factory and oblong cylinder bores.They make thousands upon thousands of 5.0's, so its not like every single one is a turd, but there are far more reports of engine related issues with the current 3rd gen Coyote then I ever recall seeing before.

Tiger5

Glad to know now. Sheesh, I was ready to advance the cams, turn up the fuel pressure and woooosh, crank up the boost. And bam, clank boom. There she goes.

backwoodsmk

I currently have a 18 Roush and will admit my buddies 16 will walk me every time. I did get a tune just to see if the stock tune was just that bad. After driving for awhile now I noticed its a little more peppy but still nothing crazy. I was told to check my plug gap... After watching the timing and afr for the past 5 days like a crack head lol. What I've noticed at part throttle where the truck feels strong the knock sensors will show add timing but as soon as I go wot it wants to pull timing up to 9 degrees and afr showed 9.9 but the truck has stock cats so probably just keeping them cool. I notice no spark knock (pinging) so I think i'm going to switch back to the stock tune and watch it for awhile to just compare what is changing. I'm also still having part throttle issues with the truck feeling like its missing only under light acceleration and going up a hill or increasing load. Originally got the truck tuned to see if we could fix that but no luck. At first it seem to be better but once I started driving on the same roads I had issues on, its exactly the same. I don't race the truck I got it just for daily and pure fun. But as of right now I still couldn't light the tires from a stand still with either tune.

I do agree 3'' or 3.5 inch is more than enough for these trucks. I went all out on my past mustang with kooks LT and corsa 3'' exhaust. with basically VMP stage 2 kit with a few upgrades my car laid down like 23 hp more than a exact car and I mean exact even the color lol the cost of all the exhaust was such a waste. Another reason its bad to chase dyno numbers.

I will also admit my 18 is noisy you can hear the DI pump but also the tick people always post about. The tick comes and goes pure random so IDK. But when driving in a parking lot rpms say around 2500 ish the engine does sound just terrible like no oil in the valve train. But its covered under warranty so for now it will either live or fail.
I have grown to like the 10sd just wish the engine was as smooth sounding as my mustang was.

backwoodsmk

Oh almost forgot while trying to see how far we can push these new 2650's I did stumble upon smaller pulleys by VMP. I'm still trying to find more info like: at what point is a BAP needed, larger TB, injectors and so on. There is alot of info for the whipple guys and the 2300 guys but almost nothing I could find on the new style 2650 units. By all means if ya'll know point me the direction lol.

BadCon

Did Ford up-size the fuel pump on the 18+ cars? I don't think they did...there is obviously the secondary high pressure pump for the direct injectors, but the main pump in the tank is still the same size IIRC. If that is the case, then around 650whp expect to run out of fuel on 93, and probably sooner then that. The injector question is more complicated, and with the presence of the DI injectors the fueling capability is greater on 18+ trucks before the need for larger port injectors. That said, go with what your tuner recommends and is comfortable with. My tuner wanted me to upsize the pump for anything bigger then the stock Roush 47lb injectors and a 75mm pulley....that was around 550whp IIRC. I now have DW 95lb injectors and a DW400 pump and have enough fuel for more horsepower then I'll ever make on 93. I am very unlikely to ever mess around with E85, just too much of a hassle with fuel quality and economy....despite the fact I'm surrounded by ethanol stations.

Tiger5

First of all, I was being a smart *** with the advance the cams comment and such. So I apologize for confusing any one. But I am serious about maybe tuning it. I have only 630 miles on it. So I feel I have time. All input is appreciated.

backwoodsmk

Mine is tuned by 5 star, I was told Roush limits the throttle for the first 2 gears. Mine feels a little better than stock but thats it. I had them leave the trans alone. I like the factory shift strategy and I didn't want the truck to shift any firmer so I cannot comment on that. If you do get a tune and go with a ngauge make sure you get the version 2 if you ever want to monitor boost. I didn't know that going in. I'm sure you can use any number of sending units because the gauge will allow for a few anolog setups but I wanted the lund boost box.