Engine Builders talk.
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 2,333
Likes: 273
From: Northern CA
Serious question. You have an 11 second F150 and you're asking us for advice? Lol.
Ok. I'll try.
Why would you want to run stock exhaust piping with headers & MagnaFlow? If your doing headers go ahead and redo the entire system. Otherwise it's a waste. Get rid of the Y and run either an x pipe and 2 SISO's or run both sides into a DIDO. You can run 2.5" without affecting your torque.
Search for the GOTTS mod in the 97-03 (this) section and save your money. Your not going to see much power from an intake.
I currently have a MPT tune and I am satisfied with it. Although I'll be going with Woodbine Performance for my next tune which brings me to my final point. If you want to make any real power out of these trucks you have to go boosted. Yeah, you can throw money at ridiculous little odds & ends like throttle body spacers, intakes & other shiny sales add BS, but your wasting your time & finances thinking you'll have anything more than a glorified sled puller. Go find yourself a Lightning setup & do her up right. Just my advice. Hope it helps.
Ok. I'll try.
Why would you want to run stock exhaust piping with headers & MagnaFlow? If your doing headers go ahead and redo the entire system. Otherwise it's a waste. Get rid of the Y and run either an x pipe and 2 SISO's or run both sides into a DIDO. You can run 2.5" without affecting your torque.
Search for the GOTTS mod in the 97-03 (this) section and save your money. Your not going to see much power from an intake.
I currently have a MPT tune and I am satisfied with it. Although I'll be going with Woodbine Performance for my next tune which brings me to my final point. If you want to make any real power out of these trucks you have to go boosted. Yeah, you can throw money at ridiculous little odds & ends like throttle body spacers, intakes & other shiny sales add BS, but your wasting your time & finances thinking you'll have anything more than a glorified sled puller. Go find yourself a Lightning setup & do her up right. Just my advice. Hope it helps.
I want headers for three reasons:
1. I'm looking for torque and the proper headers will help do that. I'm not looking for ultimate HP which is why I don't need a lot of flow but keeping velocity up is nice.
2. I like the look/sound/just knowing I have headers.
3. I borrowed a set of stock cats/y-pipe section for emissions purposes (as opposed to baying out the nose for someone to hot smog it) and need to return them sooner rather than never.
For tuners, I wanted advice as to whom you guys have had good experiences with. I'm not paying $600 for a dyno tune like I did with my 12'. I want all my other mods done before I tune it so I don't waste money on tunes like I have before.
I know many things are wasted money, but some aren't and there's people out there with experience to know what works on each application.
Ultimately I need everything to run on 87 octane. Guess I forgot to say that before. The reason being is that I get fuel for free as long as it's 87 from work. This is one of the reasons I'm not driving my 12', that, and I'm going to be driving 30-40k miles a year and plan to get a different rig in about 2 years.
Senior Member
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 20,710
Likes: 229
I did months of research to get it where it is. I am patient and like to do things right the first time. For example, I know about the Gotts on of the 04+ intakes, but didn't know it applied to this year, but it makes sense, I'll probably tweak it a little bit.
I want headers for three reasons:
1. I'm looking for torque and the proper headers will help do that. I'm not looking for ultimate HP which is why I don't need a lot of flow but keeping velocity up is nice.
2. I like the look/sound/just knowing I have headers.
3. I borrowed a set of stock cats/y-pipe section for emissions purposes (as opposed to baying out the nose for someone to hot smog it) and need to return them sooner rather than never.
For tuners, I wanted advice as to whom you guys have had good experiences with. I'm not paying $600 for a dyno tune like I did with my 12'. I want all my other mods done before I tune it so I don't waste money on tunes like I have before.
I know many things are wasted money, but some aren't and there's people out there with experience to know what works on each application.
Ultimately I need everything to run on 87 octane. Guess I forgot to say that before. The reason being is that I get fuel for free as long as it's 87 from work. This is one of the reasons I'm not driving my 12', that, and I'm going to be driving 30-40k miles a year and plan to get a different rig in about 2 years.
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 2,333
Likes: 273
From: Northern CA
My work vehicle is the 98' F150 I'm inquiring about mods for. It's an extended cab 4x4 with 03' 5.4 XL.
Last edited by mechanicboy; Feb 4, 2015 at 12:48 AM.
Senior Member
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 20,710
Likes: 229
I work in agriculture. After 7 years working at the same company I recently was promoted so iIm getting a few nice perks. They are paying my $600/m for use of my vehicle and free fuel in said vehicle which means I'll be driving it everywhere. Being as I'll be driving it so much I want to make it more enjoyable.
My work vehicle is the 98' F150 I'm inquiring about mods for. It's an extended cab 4x4 with 03' 5.4 XL.
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 1,733
Likes: 56
Same as [MENTION=52877]4x4dave[/MENTION] right? You or Todd may want to pick up that remote filter kit. Even if it's a single, you know how much of a pain it is dripping oil all over the front diff and having to contort to get at the filter. At least that's why I'm doing mine.
Thread Starter
Senior Member
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 1,733
Likes: 56
Senior Member
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 20,710
Likes: 229