I drive a 2001 2wd f150. Looking to do some work under the hood but I'm not quite sure what I can do. It's a V6 4.2L...suggestions needed! Thanks in advance!

 

sell the truck! buy a v8 f150 and then throw some parts at it. trust me you will never get the performance you want out of that motor.

 

Sounds about right to me ! Don't waste your $$$ on mods to the V6.


Why did ford axe the straight six ?

 

The problem with that is I've already put a good little bit of money into as far as lifts and wheel/tire combo plus more. Done a lot of external work to it and I'm not quite ready to sell it yet. So I just wanted to find out what I could do to maybe add a little hp and possibly increase gas mileage

 

Do a V-8 swap then, I don't believe that there is any performance related parts for the v-6.

 

Don't listen to them. Electric Fans and Gotts mod would be first in my opinion. I immediately noticed a difference when I did the electric fans. increased my gas mileage too. The electric fans ran me 80 bucks total for the fans from a junkyard and the controller from Autozone. https://www.f150forum.com/f72/my-efa...p-w-pics-7032/
The Gotts mod is just a simple intake mod. Similar to a cold air intake. http://www.fordf150.net/articles/idx...ification.html
Also, with the lift and larger tires you have, I would suggest re gearing.

 

I agree, regear to 4.56, and get a tuner. I think SCT's are the only tuners available for our v6 engines.

 

The thing is, the 4.2 can be a little unpredictable. Take for instance, my lower intake manifold cracked at 94,XXX miles. That was a $1000 part and another $800 worth of work. Why did it crack? A poorly designed piece where there is a pressed steel fitting for coolant that is in an all aluminum manifold. The steel and aluminum expand and contract at different rates. Where I live, more 4.2's are sent to the junkyard because of this failure (eventually it starts dumping that coolant right into the intake) than the ones that are crashed or just wear out from over use. On a truck I paid $5000 for with 67,000 miles on it, I've spend $4000 keeping running to the point where it has 125,000 miles on it 3 years later. The problems with this motor and other American V6's has gotten me to the point where I will never buy another 6 cylinder unless its a straight. Today that basically means buy a Jeep 4.0L (stopped making those in the last decade), the Ford 300 (stopped with the 96 body style and was the best 6 cylinder engine Ford made), a 5.9L Cummins (found in 88-06 Dodges), or the current 6.7 Cummins (haven't seen those get 28 mpg like the more recent 5.9's). Frankly, your going to get the power and torque you want much easier if you swap for a V8, or a I4 Cummins 3.9. If your not afraid of swapping manifolds for a 3.8 blower then that is always an option. But still, you'd only be running about 5 psi of boost with that.

 

The 300 was such a great motor. Saw a 95 5-spd for sale in Lubbock a while back with only 55K miles on it. A bunch of guys I know had that in their first trucks back in the late 50's and early 60's. Ford supposedly got rid of it cause it was getting old and wasn't as efficient...I know plenty of them that get better mileage than my 4.2. When Ford dropped it, why couldn't they at least made a 3.9 Cummins an option like it was in South America back in the 90's?

 

iagree why hasnt ford offered a disel in the half ton yet or for that any of the big three