My boss bought a raptor. Pretty awesome truck, except it didn't seem to have anywhere near the power he expected. A small, but ever present shortcoming in an otherwise very capable truck.

So the search began for a solution. Since the engine was so new (6.2) at the time, there were very few options.

A pro charger kit was found and installed, (horribly) by a less than reputable source. Only reason we went with him was because he had a dyno to tune it.

The immediate difference in power was absolutely mind blowing. 1st to 3rd gear on dry pavement were useless. Mashing the throttle under 70km/h resulted in a hectic spin/shift/shift/bog/shift/spin combo. 4wd drifts with advancetrac turned off in a muddy field at insane speeds are a thing to behold.

A couple of unexpected pros: first was a great deal of drivability. No awkward surging ahead at green lights, no hiccups, just good truck. Second was the fuel economy. It nearly doubled! It went from 15mpg highway(tested it myself) to 26mpg highway.(also verified by moi). In time, a supercharger could pay for itself???

Cons: noise. Tons of it. The constant whine of the pro charger was ever-present, wether at idle, part or full throttle, Windows up or down, music on or off.
Also, an eventually blown up motor. I know, I know, it seems stupid to try it with such a bad end result, but hear me out.

The installer and dyno tuner, got an incorrect tune for our altitude. Rather than waiting for a correct tune, the customer(my boss) decided he needed it badly, and had me pick it up(against my advice, and the advice of the tuner).

The installer recommended that it not go over 6000 rpm, because at that rpm the engine leaned out badly, and would melt down. I promised I would follow this practice, but the same could not be said for my boss.

A few weeks, a melted motor, and 21,000 later, new motor, and no pro charger.

It was fun while it lasted.

 

Another one bites the dust. I've heard of about 6 raptors with pro chargers failing.

 

6.2 has cast pistons. Not real good for boost.

 

Ummm..... Riiiiiiiight

 

What? The 6.2 does have cast pistons. Cast pistons will not survive long under boost. They aren't hyper, they are old school cast.

 

so why not get it tuned for a safe amount of boost so you can pound on it whenever you wanted?

my truck isn't stock but i'd be damned if i couldn't enjoy it

 

It had only 4 psi, but the piston theory is correct. Found out(much) later that they don't take boost well. More research would have been in order.

Hindsight.

 

They 'can' be boosted but the tune has to be dead on, not the mail order crap. The biggest problem with F/I Raptors is that they are heavy and have so much rotating mass. The load factors are WAY higher than say a Lightning.

There are several guys running Whipple, Roush and Procharged F/I systems on stock block 6.2s but they are street queens - no track time or high speed desert runs. IMO, if I were going to do it, I'd run the Procharger setup because you have a little more control over heat management vs a top mount.

Edit:
I just noticed you said 21k for a new engine, I hope that is fully forged since you can get a Livernois 6.6 forged stroker for that amount.

 

That was a ford dealer price. I suggested a motor that would handle whatever he wanted to throw at it, but he regretted the poor decisions he made in the first place, and is now running it stock

 

I guess I can see that.