Power boost for Ford 450 V10

ndlonedog wrote:
I plan on going to the Western United States next year to travel in the mountains. Is there anyway to get more power or performance on the V 10 Ford engine? Do they make a performance chip?

i bought a computer up grade from 5 STAR tuneing its works great. they are great people to work with.. cured my trans .shifting and gave me more power.. fuel milage is a little better buy that is because it isnt searching for gears all the time.
phone 843 536 1244 ask for MIKE
email sales@5startuning.com

Desert Captain wrote:

theoldwizard1 wrote:
The biggest complaint about the V10 is you have to use high RPM (>4000) when climbing hills. At that speed, it makes a lot of noise.

No, you don't. Again this comes down to the operator knowing how to drive a V-10 properly. I can climb at least 9 out of 10 hills {at +/- 5 mph of the speed limit} to include 6 percent grades running at 3,250 rpm which is max torque {420#}. About one long grade in 10 will require a further downshift increasing the rpm's up to 4,250 which = max HP {305}.

While this will briefly put a serious dent in your mileage rarely do such grades last for more than a few miles and then you are cruising down the backside burning zero {as in not a drop of fuel}, oh, you do use Tow Haul right? :h

Probably 90 percent of our travels are more in the 2,200 - 2,500 rpm range {which gives me 60 - 65 mph} and after 7 years I still a average 9.5 mpg like clockwork and that includes a little bit of generator time.

Keep in mind that my 2012 E-350 has GVWR of 11,500 and while I run at or near that number most of the time an E-450 will be humping an additional 3,000# {GVWR of 14,500} with the same motor and 4:56 rear end vs the 4:10 on my E-350. Yep, I love my V-10.

:B

That's straight forward advice above, DC, and about how we drive our 24 foot E450 Class C motorhome.

I can't emphasize enough the importance of keeping one's Ford E350/E450 motorhome in Tow/Haul transmission mode "a lot", or better still "all the time" when traveling.

Even though our small Class C vastly underloads it's E450 chassis, I keep it in Tow/Haul mode most of the time for much improved drivability and overall snappier response. That's why Ford added this transmission mode - for when a lot of weight is either being towed or being carried. The last time I thought about it, a motorhome chassis is carrying "a lot of weight" all the time. ;)

I have a 2002 26’ Class-C with 4-speed automatic and 305 HP V10 pulling a 3000 lb toad. I have made many trips out thru the states of NM, AZ and CA with many hills that have 6% grades. My overhead cam V10 will easily rev to 4500 rpm in 2nd gear going up those hills at 50 mph. You just have to put up with the roar of that engine.

I really hated the constant shifting and the lack of power from the V10. The engine was always either lugging in overdrive or screaming when it downshifted. I followed the advise on this forum and finally got decent performance out of my E450 with the Ford V10. Here is a video I made of what I found to are the best performance upgrades. Thanks again to everyone who shared their experiences and advise on the topic. My YouTube Video

Run it stock or buy a different rig with a more powerful engine.

You will get there just fine in a stock V-10. Start f’ing around with things in the engine / transmission departments & the risk/reward & cost /benefit is nowhere near where it makes sense (in my book).

I tow a car behind ours all over the mountainous west & don’t feel there’s anything lacking or wrong. I try not to run it 4K rpm for long periods but it will do it. I find that keeping it in the 3k-ish range is more than adequate speed wise, while being pretty easy on the girl.

Don’t try & fix something that isn’t broke.

https://www.jegs.com/i/Nitrous+Express/744/20421-10/10002/-1?gclid=CjwKCAjwmf_4BRABEiwAGhDfScgMaTQ87F0U2fKQzzkAkM1mtoeDNYCVFVPWZ5a6IGOSI7Ja1aY_5RoChtsQAvD_BwE

Horse power at the push of a button.

not a power boost but banks has come out with a throttle assist that helps cure the 'sponge' response on new vehicles. my v10 has a lot of dead pedal and I have sent for more info. I wrote motor home to see if they had ever tested and they claimed to know nothing about the issue. 1 Guy called and asked for more info as he has the same issue. so its not that you need a power asssit you just need to be able to control what you got when you need it. There are several others who have come up with something so give the banks site a visit.

Thanks for all the great answers and replies,I guess I will listen and learn how to drive my Ford. Thank you

I follow different truck forums regarding my trucks which are the duramax diesel in my GMC and the V-10 in the motorhome. Dozens of threads on issues AFTER installing enhancement devices yet few if any on stock vehicles.
The Ford V-10 will pull that "C" up any hill that you may come across, not at the speed of your car but at the speed a 7 ton vehicle should be going. Sure the engine revs, put in ear plugs or some Led Zeppelin cranked up.
The engine will not blow up, it is designed to rev. Turn off the air so the heat doesn't build up, roll down the windows smell the pines....

If you've got an older (05 or older) class C with the 4R100 (4 speed), the five star tune will make a noticeable difference in transmission performance alone. Can't say it did very much for the engine, maybe it did but definitely not huge, but the change in transmission shifting behavior was worth it in my old van (1998).

I have not modified my 04 (4R100, ~13k pounds loaded, and it does just fine out West), but I might just for the transmission performance improvement alone.