My mods: MPG/Performance
 

Here's the lengthy post I promised describing my individual experiences with my modifications on my truck (to date 3/13/09)

I'll start off first by stating the obvious, I know not everyone will have the same results, some may be better some may be worse. It all depends on driving habits, geography, weather etc.

When I bought my truck new in 05 my daily commute was approx 90 miles roundtrip to and from work (Savannah to Hilton Head). I averaged very close to 20mpg on that commute and as low as 14-15 in the city. I made no modifications to my truck until I moved to South Georgia.

I moved to South Georgia and started the modifications around 30,000 miles. First I installed a leveling kit and put on larger tires, 265/75/R17's. My fuel economy suffered, dropping to 17 hwy, but I lived in a rural area and didn't do much "city" driving, not a lot of stop and go.

I added my S&B Cold Air Intake kit around 32,000 miles and my fuel economy shot back up to 19mpg hwy. I was pretty impressed. I felt like I had a little more "getup" in the higher RPMs, over 2800-3500 especially, can't honestly say I really "felt" much difference at lower RPMs.

I moved to Valdosta, GA, a small city, and the miles had racked up. At 85,000 miles I was getting about 16 hwy and 13 city. I swapped out my stock muffler for a SI/SO magnaflow muffler. No noticeable performance or mpg gains, just sounded a little better.

At 87,000 miles I added the Edge Evolution programmer. Fell in love. It REALLY woke my truck up, better throttle response. My truck felt a LOT more powerful at any RPM and once my “need for speed” subsided, my fuel economy went back up to about 18 hwy and 14 city.

At 95,000 miles I changed my exhaust setup to true dual Magnaflow exhaust, x-piped with high flow cats. I can't really promise much for performance gains, I'm not sure if I felt more horsey or just sounded like it, :giggle:. My fuel economy went up again to about 19 hwy, not much of an increase at city.

Shortly there after around 98,000 I cut out my rear cats (the high flows) The only difference at that point was the sound a little louder, no performance or mpg differences.

Right at 100,000 miles I upgraded to a Gryphon with a custom 87 octane performance tune, right after my 100,000 mile maintenance which included the plug change. LOVE the Gryphon, my throttle response increased, my CAI didn’t sound like a sheep on sterioids anymore and my fuel economy is better than ever! 20.4mpg on my last highway tank and I’m steadily getting 16-17 on my weekly driving to and from work, grocery store, church etc.

I hope this helps some folks, my underdrive pulleys are sitting in the garage to be installed tomorrow and I’m ordering an eFan kit from Troyer today (if Crystal ever calls or emails me back). I’ll update after I’ve got some miles on those mods, planning to wait a while to install the eFans so I can see how each effects my truck independently.

Any questions, comments, or requests for more info I’d be happy to oblige!

Neal

Lengthy??? Apparently you've missed some of my posts. :ROFL:

Good write-up, Neal. It nice to see everything in stages and to get a feel for what worked and what didn't.

Keep us posted on the pulleys. :2thumbs:

Yeah, I was planning to be a lot more lengthy than that, then I realized we're dealing with a much more "mature" and eduated crowd over on these forums. Not to mention there's not a herd of people who "know everything" and jump at every opportunity to bash your mods and testing. Shortened things up when I didn't feel like I had to enroll at the University of Phoenix online to get a degree in engineering, meteorology, physics, chemistry etc before posting. :)

:rofl: That's way too funny! :smiley_roll1: :hehe:

Cool write up. I wish I had installed my mods in stages to see what each did.

I would like to know about the OPs experience with the under drive pulleys and e-fans. I am looking at doing the same thing eventually and just so happen to have the same 2004 xlt 4.6.

Any information about them would be helpful to me. Thanks.

Believe it or not, I STILL haven't installed the efans. Now that I've sold Dixie Design, I think I'll have time!

LOL Having to have a degree.... :smiley_roll1:

I know what you mean, I have seen that quite a bit on other forums.

As far as the mods I have done:

Started with a Magnaflow SI/DO exhaust. It definitely improved the feel of the truck; it felt much lighter on its feet, and accelerated better. Not to mention, it certainly sounded much better too!

Next I installed my CAI, AEM Brute Force. I can't really recall how that felt, but if I can recall, it did help it out.
I also installed a 180 degree stat, and added some water wetter to the coolant. I do not like running my engines hot. Perhaps it's me....I'm old school, and prefer to go with what I knew from years ago when I wrenched and assisted friends on their race cars.

The last mods I have done were with the programmer. I ordered an Edge, but quickly sent it in for the upgrade and custom tunes (about a month after getting it). It felt good right out of the box, but I thought I could hear a hint of ping, so rather than risk damage, I had the tunes done.
The tunes are great! I have lowered the shift points a little bit, but bumped up the firmness to 18. As it shifts 1-2 at about 45, it's pretty good. It hits quick, but I'm not chirping the belt where it's currently set.

Furthermore, if I do more highway diving, the mileage comes up quite a bit; despite my lead foot. Around town, to and from work, I have been averaging about 14-15. I'm only 3 miles from work, so it doesn't get to operating temps very long before I'm there.

Next on my list is going to be UD pulleys and a Gator Grip belt too. Hopefully in the spring I can manage to swing for a set of gears (4.10-4.30:1). These darn trucks are just too heavy making them very polite when it comes to leaving the lights. Besides, 17 second 1/4 miles are just way too slow....we're talking getting beat by my mothers old Chevette slow.

Black stx, i saw you mentioned chirping the belt, mine does this going from 1-2 good or bad? i have a 4.6 cai & flowmaster catback

MPG Mods
 

Thanks for your post! I have two F150's and I am in the MPG hunt.

Sorry, I don't tow much, and I don't do burnouts anymore, but I damn sure need to pass on 2 lane highways. I think 2000 to 2200 rpm is a good place to cruise.

The 05 5.4L has 122K miles on it. Lifetime average of 15.3. Put Michelin highway tires on it, stock size 265/75/R18, and it took me to 15.8. mpg. Really. I ran 105K miles on 2 sets of stock tires before that change. Next, I installed the Troyer electric fans and the underdrive pulleys at the same time, and the gator back belt. That took the truck to a solid 16.8 mpg average. (I have seen a low of 16.7 to a high of 17.1) OK, so the next thing I did was the Gotts CAI mod. Damn, looks like it is taking my mpg down or no improvement. But the pedal seems so touchy now. Lots of pep, but no mpg improvement. So, I have just ordered a gryphon with NO custom tunes hoping I get some benefit from the CAI. I intend to go to HHO and perhaps an exhaust system change? Anyone care to tell me what to do next? What brand(s)?

I will wait for all my mods before I get custom tunes, unless I hear otherwise from y'all.

The 06 5.4L has 52K miles on it. Lifetime average of 15.3. Put an Amsoil air filter element in it a 18K miles and it took me to 15.7 mpg average. OK, but maybe I just needed a new air filter? I also changed out the trans fluid with the Amsoil synthetic but I did that just to keep the truck for 300K miles. I put Wrangler tires (265/75/R18) on at 50K miles, and they took my average mpg down to a solid 15.0 mpg! dammit. Made the Gotts mod CAI just two days ago, and it took me down to 14.3 mpg! Arghh. No tuner ordered for this truck yet, but I want to see what the first gryphon does.

What mods do I need to improve mpg? In what order?
Is it time to change the plugs in the F150 with 122K miles? What kind of plugs?

What custom tunes are the best on the gryphon?

Please be kind, I am an old fart, and a computer nerd.