"Then there is the ones who don't believe that the OEM has their "best interest" at heart and believe their "rights" to "roll smoke" have be trampled on..
OEMs like Ford, take a lot more than HP/TQ and mileage into account when they design, build and execute the design. That means a fine balancing act between HP/TQ/EMISSIONS and longevity.
Once you decide that you know all and more than the OEM knows and hack and rewrite the code you have now tossed all caution to the side and one or more items will end up being thrown into the waste can..
For what it is worth, Ford did a good job with the design of the V10, it can be capable of more HP/TQ, but consider a few things.
Once you move to the Super Duty platforms Ford does intentionally "derate" the engines and drive train. It is done for a purpose and not to be a fun buzz kill.
The idea to derate is to save and protect the engine and drive train under industrial continuous heavy duty use. In other words the duty cycle increases as you derate.
If I remember correctly Ford did an additional derate to F and E450 and heavier platforms and that is due to the commercial customer use aspects of those platforms in order to get the highest longevity with the least breakdowns. The engineers are not stupid..
Tuners remove the derating which in turn does indeed reduce the duty cycles, reducing it's over all life if you continually flog it..
If you tune it, it isn't like your gonna drive it like a little old lady who only drove it to church on Sundays.. No, your gonna stomp on it, a lot.
Ford did a lot of homework on the modular series and other than a few tarnishes like skimping on the sparkplug threads and a few yrs of a weak oil pump they are decent engines with very long service lives.. I had a 2003 5.4 for 16 yrs, when I sold it, there was just under 250,000 miles on the engine. That engine purred like a kitten all of it's life. Oil changes, one plug change and one set of COPs was all it needed while I owned it. Never used a drop of oil, never had cooling issues..
I just leave things bone stock and things tend to be very reliable for me.
Contrast that to my Dad who was constantly trying every little moonshiners tricks under the sun to make more power and get better mileage while towing.. Very often the hop up mods left him stranded somewhere along the road.. Higher compression (shaved heads, decked the block, different pistons), more aggressive cams, over advancing the stock timing settings.. Multiple times took the ends right off of sparkplugs, multiple under hood fires, burned up wiring harnesses and plug wires, boil overs and the worst was shattered holes right through 6 out of 8 pistons 10 hrs from home with a 5th wheel in tow..
Leave the tuners to the teeny boppers trying to prove they are better on main street and the midlife crisis guys trying to relive their lost youth again.. "
Wow, what a well written spot on post...Thank You!
The after market industry has some of the best advertising on earth... but the truth all too often gets lost in the BS. From suspension modifications that could be avoided with proper alignment and psi to chips and tuners promising to turn your Motorhomne into a high performance race car the nonsense goes on and on.
The placebo effect feeds their marketing as they know that if you spend several thousand dollars on improvements that are at best measured subjectively you will believe they work.
Then it's off to the RV Forums to tout the huge improvements you were able to gain by merely writing a check. :S
Sorry if I seem a tad cynical but leaving them stock has been working real well for 50+ years as I have yet to meet any individual who knows more than the engineers who built the vehicle. Now when it comes to creature comfort accessories that is a different matter altogether.
As always... opinions and YMMV
:C
