FordJeff150

Thanks for the ideas Locker. I am interested in the sway bar, but upon researching have seen mixed reviews, regarding fitment, not performance. Do you happen to have the part number for the specific one that fits the 04-08 bodies? Did you have any gotchas you had to overcome when getting yours installed? Also think I will be proceeding with the tuner, exhaust, intake, and potentially the throttle body upgrade. Also plan to have the tunes redone to factor in all of these components once they are all installed. Excited to see what impact these will have.

scobar

iTrader: (4)

https://www.sdtrucksprings.com/index...oducts_id=3713

This sway bar for the rear. The rear bar has no issues regarding fitment provided you pay attention to the docs. Fitment issues on a stock truck where none. The issues came with running non-stock components, namely cat back exhaust. The sway bar did not clear my MBRP exhaust nor did it clear the dual 3" over the rear axle all to well... If you have a welder it might be a good idea to tack the brackets on, I could certainly see things shifting if you do not tighten the hardware down and recheck it.

https://www.sdtrucksprings.com/index...oducts_id=3714

Front sway bar does have some quirks, the instructions indicate that you are allowed to use your stock end-links which is a LIE. If you use the hardware they provide then it seems OK. It will eat the stockers like penny candy

The best mods I did for my truck:

• Supercharger
• Long tubes/exhaust
• LSD w/ 4.56's (stock tire)
• Sway bars and Shocks/struts
• Topper
• Linex rockers/bumpers/grill

It has been lowered 2/5, and is now raised slightly over stock. It def, felt better lowered and without the topper!

For exhaust, if you are remaining NA there is no real advantage other than sound on the 5.4(Not sure what motor you got) and I would advocate to find the sound you like and swap in a muffler in place of your factory unit, this will be the path of least resistance and get you nearly the same damned thing for the least cost(spend that cash elsewhere!). If your exhaust needs to be replaced, then that is something else. I believe your truck has 4 cats and it is often recommended to remove the rear most set.(check local emissions laws) I've had a number of exhaust setups on my truck and think I finally found the one I love. Currently running long tubes Y'd to 1 pipe with a pair of Borla XS, all 3" and exit at stock location. Its VERY mellow which is nice, a nice blend of blower whine and exhaust note! Headers on 5.4 is a chore.

Tune on NA 5.4 was OK, mostly cleaned up slop in shifts/throttle delay(drive by wire, ugh!). I have done CAI, catback, and tune on my truck all NA and there was not a lot of real big gains. Sure, it sounded better but it really did not come to life until doing the blower, then doing the gears. TB upgrades/spacers will do nothing other than drain your wallet. If you are set on larger wheels then you might want a tuner to adjust shift points, many complain it shifts prematurely.

I have remained on a stock sized wheel for a number of reasons. This mostly has to do with the fact that larger tires generally cost performance/MPG especially when you remain on stock gears. Most folks who are NA and stock geared on lifts and big wheels complain about performance/mpg, then after that often the cost of suspension parts. On next tire swap I will probably move up to a more over sized tire, though.

Having owned the truck now for about 7 years, most of those miles/time the truck has been heavily modded and don't really have any major complaints nor do I drink the koolaid of the 5.4 3v hateclub. It's used as a truck, it road trips, it goes camping, it rips nicely through the mountains and was build with smiles per miles in mind. For the record, it gets like 12mpg but I live at 9300' elevation, terrain does not help!

Hopefully, some of this info helps and have fun!

Locker258

timetravellingpirate

While mine aren't stock wheels, I agree. My '08 came to me with the pocket-bolt style flares, and I'm thinking of removing them for the simple OEM style low-profile ones.


Between the fact that my truck looks like it skipped leg day at the gym, and the tires not being wide enough to match, I'm not in love with the look of the flares.


Also, this one blew off on the highway, so it's been my catalyst for finally changing them.

elricfate

Anecdotal evidence aside, actual science disagrees with you. Your truck already comes with an OEM cold-air intake. The air comes in from the wheel well, outside of the engine's sphere of influence in terms of heated air. It's a 3" intake, with a 2" displacement tube, and then a 3" further intake with a baffled muffler to quiet and calm the air before being pulled into the throttle body. The only things that a CAI do are increase the temp of the air being pulled into the vehicle and increase the sound it makes as it enters.

You could do ram air, which would be the equivalent of the OEM in terms of air flow and temp, it would just look cooler and be louder. Or you could do a Gotts and remove the 2" displacement section, making it a full 3" intake the entire way down. A section of Spectre duct works well for that purpose and fits into the two rubber pieces that are already provided by the OEM setup.

elricfate

Replace those rear speakers too, a complete set of Punch speakers will give you a much better response than the OEMs.

Why not have them rhino-lined? I bet that would look killer on your truck.
Please please don't get the pocket bolt style. It looks funny on our vehicles. Though since you're going for big 35s, assuming you space them with the appropriate parts, it could look great.


You already have a cold air -- if you do ram air, you're going to need to either fabricate the scoops, or get a hood with them built in. It's a bit of a bigger project, but looks great. Having said that, if you want to do a GOTTS mod - I won't stop you. I did the same, alongside my tuner, and while I know it didn't do anything performance-wise, it does sound pretty great.

This will have minimal effect.

With the appropriate tune, this will do good things, but your MPG is gonna literally suck.

Power Hungry Performance Gryphon -- pretty much the standard other than SCT Livewires. Also PHP provides really great tunes.

I would not advocate for this, at all. Not only is it technically illegal, it's also dangerous and the look isn't worth it. If you want to go ***** out, retrofit your headlights with projectors and black out the reflective parts of the reflector bowl/trim. It would still give you tons of usable light and also provide you with the "dark look" I think you're going for.

Same as above. They're less than useful blacked out. And they really do have a purpose of low and bright light.

I like the ones that are tubular with a pronounced step down, but they're crap for trail running. If you plan on doing any off-roading, OEM style or boards are the go-tos

I would 100% get behind this. I think the ones I run are Husky and Wade? The combination I have of the Husky back and Wade fronts work really great for my purposes. You can see it in the link in my sig.

I would avoid in-channels only because most of them will end up dragging the windows. AVS makes some really great looking low profile seamless ones for our generation, though. You can see them on my truck in my sig link.

Oo, are you doing this for sound or the couple extra horsepower it has the potential to generate with a good tune?

I'm a huge fan of the 2015+ sport wheels on our generation of truck.

Locker258

elricfate

I'm gonna need you to cite me some evidence that a replacement CAI provides any advantage vs the OEM design, please. It has been discussed for years and years, and there has been proof of combustion rates, oxygen usage, temperate fluctuations, etc. All presented, cataloged, and accounted for, and nothing has shown CAIs are any different in terms of any improvement to engine performance for this generation of F150s.

Locker258

I installed my intake before I purchased custom tunes, and ran the truck with the Gryphon-included 87 tow tune before and after the install. I received a noticeable increase in throttle response and high RPM pull, as well as a decrease in intake temperatures all on the same tune. If I had the equipment to measure this I would. Is it everything they claim on the package? Heck no. Was it worth the money? For me probably not. But there was a difference. Obviously we're not going to change each other's minds, but if you have data to share then I will happily take a look.

elricfate

The data debunking any appreciable change in horsepower or torque is freely available on this forum. The reason I am asking you to cite data to the contrary is not to barb you, I am seriously asking you for the data because I can't find anything that proves out what you're feeling in your butt.