Torque, HP, gas mileage upgrades

There are two things that can help your mileage. The first is between your ears and the second is on the end of your right leg.

Shayne k wrote:
All great informative post guys, thank you so much. It is what I expected, more money for minimal results. I absolutely love my truck and have no plans for replacement but when the time comes and she falls apart I will upgrade to a heavy duty.

I had really good results from upgrading my CAI and exhaust and having Black Bear create a custom to for my truck.

http://blackbearperformance.com/

All great informative post guys, thank you so much. It is what I expected, more money for minimal results. I absolutely love my truck and have no plans for replacement but when the time comes and she falls apart I will upgrade to a heavy duty.

Completely agree that it will not be worth your time and money, and I have done a lot of research into this, but if you are just talking about the K&N air filter, not CAI, that's something I would do. I put these into my car and TV. They do give just enough extra performance that you can barely notice if you drive it every day, they're cheap, and pay for themselves in reuse.

Some of those things will improve power, but not at 2200-3000rpm where you spend most of your towing time.

Gears will be the most effective, which is why the modern 6-spd+ trans absolutely kill the older 4-spds. Save your money for when you are ready for a newer truck with more gears. You could spend $1200-3000 on 4.56 gears for more power, but you'll lose highway non towing fuel economy. And you will never get that money back at time of sale.

I would not bother. Perhaps in combination with a new tune you'll see more improvement. It will still be small.

Sorry there is no "free" lunch and as a result the only thing they do is lighten your wallet.

I changed mine out in my F150 and went back to the OEM air intake and paper filter. PITA cleaning and re-oiling all for not.

A good tuner should net you 150-200HP. A CAI will add another 50HP. Simply running premium gas will give you 40-75% more TQ/HP. Any of the engine oil additives should net about 30% more mpg. Fuel additives along with all the above will get you around 525HP and close to 600TQ.

That should be enough HP/TQ to tow a 14,000 5'er with your 1/2 ton:)

You vehicle's computer is programed to be most efficient using the stock air/fuel/exhaust systems. Straight through pipes, K&N filters, etc will only provide benefits if you have the PCM tuned to take advantage of them. Even then you will not really increase HP/Torque very much, more just change how your truck uses them. People who have had this done rave about the results. YMMV.

I agree with downtheroad.

You could see some improvements, but you'll pay for it (cash, droning sound at highway speeds, etc.). When I bought my 2004 Expy with 5.4 in it, the previous owner included an almost new K&N intake. Box said, "Adds 9.7 HP at 4,100 RPM!" That's less than a 4% improvement.