casserole

Gentlemen,


Upgrading from a sport trac to an F150 soon, and have decided to go with the 3.5L Ecoboost. Doing some study on turbos, I am finding confusing information. All the turbo sites specify vehicles with MAF sensors need a bypass while all I am hearing elsewhere regarding the ecoboost you just need blow off valves.


So which one? I plan on getting a catch can (if not already installed), cold air, exhaust and Livewire. But this one has got me stumped.


Casserole

TJPlatinumEB

The terms are virtually interchangeable. The 2011-2012 EB trucks have a Blowoff/Bypass mounted to each turbo. The 2013-2014 have an electronic BOV mounted to the intercooler in the front of the truck.

And FYI, intake and catback exhaust make almost zero difference on the EB. Factory stuff is plenty good for 90% of everybody. Tune is where it makes all the difference.

casserole

TJ, from what I have been reading and seeing, there appears to be upwards of 50 HP and 100 torque when using all three. So if I wanted to increase horsepower all I would need is a tune? I would be surprised that those elements wouldn't make a difference.


No, I am not looking at beating every ricer I run into, but I do like mashing the throttle once in a while. And knowing my truck can move when I need it and how I need it is always a comforting feeling. And I have a few chevy friends that always give me a hard time about being a Ford guy, so it would be nice to continue to give them a run for their money.


Casserole

antony1103

Intakes do make the truck sound good, but if you look at it from a pressure drop stand point, the stock intake isn't coming close to starving the engine of air. Gasoline engines throttle power by restricting the intake air (via the throttle plate). The throttle plate accounts for the vast majority of the air resistance in the intake, thereby producing engine vacuum. With modern drive-by-wire, the ECM is operating the throttle based on the input from your right foot. If the piping losses were causing a power reduction, it will just open the throttle a bit more. Even at WOT, the throttle plate is accounting for a 80-90% area reduction, making any piping losses negligible.

Exhausts are another thing that sound awesome, but really don't restrict the flow of exhaust gasses as much as you think. The real hit comes from the cats (yes, even hi-flow cats). These are basically a mesh screen which does a great job at producing turbulence, crappy boundary layers, and vortex shedding; all of which cause some major back pressure. However, it does produce a nice uniform flow field which helps reduces losses through all the piping beyond the cats. Not to mention the turbos on the ecoboost intrinsically cause some back pressure since you're stealing some exhaust energy to make boost. Speaking of back pressure, I did a back-of-the-envelope calc a while back. Assuming you increase the back pressure on the exit of your exhaust by 14 psi (a gross conservatism), that equates to only a 0.25 HP load on the engine running around 2000 RPM.

So after boring you with that nerdy explanation, I would just go with a tune if you want performance. The intake and exhaust do sound nice though, which is why I have one myself.

jdunk54nl

Also if you look at the location of the stock air intake, it is about the best a Cold air intake is going to get. It sucks the air from the headlight area (maybe the tire area) I haven't looked that close at the design but performance wise you won't beat that. I remember airraid did a test on the chevy and their similar location and determined just their pipe made a little bit of a difference, more sound than anything though.

Also the exhaust on these trucks is pretty non restrictive. All an exhuast is going to do is change the sound, not much performance gain unless you do a full exhaust system and even then not a whole lot gained. Especially if you have emission requirements in your state and emission checks, those limit what you can actually do with an exhaust.

casserole

AND that's why I come to you guys instead of mechanics or other sources. The owners are the real pro's around here.


I guess tunes it is!


Now, I went with cold air, exhaust, throttle body and Unleashed tuning (thanks Torrie!) on my sport trac, do you have any recommendations on who would provide the best tunes?


I am on the East coast, so max fuel octane is 92.

antony1103

5* and MPT seem to be the two that you can't go wrong with. After researching it myself (for the 5.0), I'll probably go with MPT for their performance tow tune.

I've heard great things about 5* customer service though. The guy will literally do anything to keep you satisfied.

casserole

Since were on the subject of performance, how about protection. are catch cans vital?

jdunk54nl

I will be going through stage3 (who uses 5star) and offers some other benefits. They are also local for me so that is always nice too.
http://www.stage3motorsports.com/F15...om-Tuning.html

edit* call them they can tell you what would best suit your needs as far as how you run the tune and what you need.

antony1103

In theory, yes. They work in two ways, one is to physically separate out any oil/moisture from the crankcase gasses, and the other is to condense out any volatile vapors. Supposedly they help keep your intake clean and provide a more stable charge or air/fuel for a turbo engine. From what I see, most people have some degree of luck with them, getting a few oz. of liquid per 1000 miles. I'm just not convinced how well they work (are they really getting ALL the liquid out or is it worth only removing some of the gunk). To work effectively, they need to have adequate physical filtration (i.e. a large reservoir and small mesh screen) as well as cool location in the engine compartment to effectively condense hot vapors.

I'm 50/50 on the subject since I don't know much about them. If its cheap enough for you to splurge on one, it wouldn't hurt.