Getting a 2020 F150 4x4 5.0 built, about to sign the paperwork, trying to decide which route is better/safer:
Whipple stage 1 with warranty cats in place vs Whipple stage 2 with cat delete and a good tune from reputable tuner. Just been hearing on fb page High Performance F150s page of so many engine failures due to melted cats. Please, the more responses the better idea of your experiences, thank you in advance!!! PS no smog test where I live.

 

That's more of a personal question you must ask yourself.
However to give you an answer, most people on here go stage 2 route knowing warranty is basically out the window anyways. Read any fine print on those warranty disclosures and your likely not covered one way or another.

 

The cats will melt, I don't think the stock Whipple tune does enough to keep them alive, they have leaned out the COT values more then they should have IMO. I'd honestly go headers with GESI cats father down stream away from the heat. Catless is a pain in the but, and you will get tired of the smell and fumes (I'm running catless and hate it).

 

catless is 100x better on e85.. fumes aren't nearly as bad..

 

does nobody remember the good ole days of muscle cars? Ah the smell of a muscle car......or my personal favorite, race gas.

to better answer this question, most people on here would recommend what BadCon said.

 

**** can the cats... it's a problem waiting to happen..

 

I went through the same thing. I ordered my stage 1 then changed my order. Because well screw a warranty lol. The stage 2 is worth it in my eyes. So what if I blow a motor. Least I had fun doing it. That said if you go that route be smart do the oil pump gears and sprocket. Also be aware you are more likely to break other things as well.
I went with catless headers and I got 678 rwhp with a custom tune done by the guys I had install it. I believe most whipple tunes run right around 600 rwhp. I have not seen a dyno run for a stage 1.
If I did it again I’d get it installed and have a guy who does a ton of Ford work tune it because they know the ins and outs very well. I’m not saying anything bad about my tune but transmission wise I don’t believe it’s as good as it can get. So now I’m having Oz tuning do a new tune for 93 and E85. I’ve had the whipple on for a month and I already want more.

 

Warranty all day long