I have a 2004 f150 lariat. Im intetested in making it faster. Where should i start? I have the 5.4l engine. Should i start with a super-charger or what? If so, where can i order one from?

 

trade it in for a GT40, that's about as fast as you'll get with ford

 

Trade it for a Ecoboost

 

Supercharger would be a hell of a start

 

12 y/o engine needs forced induction for one reason guys, to make it explode and leave the owner walking.
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I'd supercharge a 5.3 Chevy but not a modular Ford that is known to be plagued with cam phaser issues.

 

Well here's the issue, it's not as simple as it sounds to just throw a supercharger on an engine. Sure you can hop on American muscle or late model restoration and buy a kit for 5-6 grand. But depending on a lot of factors, will depend on what issues you are going to have. If your engine has higher miles, it's possible the boost will slip right past the piston rings and come out somewhere else. Like your main bearing seals, head gaskets, oil pan gasket, you name it. Again if you have a higher mile truck, it's possible your transmission won't be able to handle the added power. This is all of course not mentioning once you put the supercharger on your truck and it's all installed correctly and you have all the parts that don't come in the popular supercharger kits like a boost controller for example. Which brings up the next topic. You can install almost everything. But how are you going to reprogram your computer? Are you that knowledgeable about these trucks ECU. Are you going to get a tuner to make that supercharger even worth the money?


I think I've made my point. If you want a supercharger, trade in your truck for one that came with one from the factory or an older truck with not as many electronic monitoring systems. A used supercharged Harley Davidson f150 with a little over 100k will run anywhere between 12-15k

 

Buy a car... agree with 2100

 

Always fun to log in and read the post from guys who think they know about supercharging a truck. LMAO!

Badbylaw2000 tell us more about the truck. How many miles are on it? What maintenance has been done and how often? How do you plan to use the truck? What are your goals? What's your budget? And yes every sc thread ever has the guy who says trucks aren't meant to go fast, buy a car. To which I say, making a car go fast...anybody can do that. Making a truck go fast, that requires skill.

The supercharger will have no impact on the cam phasers. However since yours is an 04 are your phasers stock from 04? If so you may want to spend some money freshing them up before modding. No point spending big bucks on mods just have the phasers start ticking and needing money to repair.

Also sc kits come with tuning and everything needed. So yes you can shop at american muscle or wherever, order a kit, bolt it on and drive. If you want to push it past that point you will need to make some other upgrades. The factory sc'd trucks don't have anything different about them from a natrually aspirated truck. They have an sc added and a tune to run it. That's it. Transmission, engine, etc exact same. With that said custom tuning will really make the truck come to life with an SC.

With that said I'm pushing over 500rwhp through my 2007 5.4 3v. Never touched the motor. I have made numerous other improvements to support this level of power. A little over a year ago i picked up a 2007 GT500 shortblock to swap in so I can push her on up to 600-650rwhp. But the stock block is serving me well at 102,000 miles.

If you are serious about an SC for your ride keep your eyes open for a used kit. Ebay, google, forums, etc.