90 F-150 4.9litre - Tow Vehicle How do I....

[rel3rd]

Get a little more power out of it??
I just got it a few weeks ago. It has the E40D auto transmission. So far, I have bumped the timing up to 12*, which seemed to have helped. I also added a Dynomax cat back exhaust system, the one that has a 3" pipe off of the converter, which goes into a turbo muffler, then splits into two 2-1/2" tailpipes. What else should/can I do to give it a little more towing power?? I was thinking maybe a gear change. It only has 3.55 gears in it...Maybe go with 4.10's, since I have 31x10.50x15 tires on it?


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You must be FAST...
cuz you wuz FLYIN'...
when I PASSED YOU!
My "BARNEY" car

[rel3rd]

Thanks for the replies....

Does it have a K&N air filter yet? That would help alittle, better gas mileage too. A performance tune up wouldn't hurt either.

[Maroon 5.0 LX]

I have a '94 Van with a 4.9. I put in a $42.00 K&N filter (only) in it, and it didn't do squat. If you're going to tow with it, you should consider a trans. cooler for the AOD.

Try http://www.ford-trucks.com and go to the forum that fits your vehicle. There are a lot of folks there with the 4.9 that could shed some light on your request.

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'89 LX 5.0 - 5 speed. Original Owner
'94 E-150 Conversion Van

There is noway the K&N didn't do squat, you may not have felt 20hp or ftlb but it lets the engine breath freely which gives more hp and better gas mileage. It comes with a 1 million mile warranty, so you never have to change it, heck you don't have to clean until 50k miles. With the price of gas its well worth it, I see no good reason not to have one. A K&N is the very first mod any car I own gets. Another 'little' thing you can do is pulleys. If I had a 4.9 and wanted more power though, I'd probably do something with the head, either the stock one or a new one. If you give it a good performance tune up you might be surprised.

Oh and the tranny cooler is a great idea but if the truck came with the tow package it should already have a heavy duty trans-cooler.

[Maroon 5.0 LX]

rbatson - Last November, I drove to Fla in my van. On the trip down, just about a 1,000 miles, the Motorcraft paper filter was used. On the way back, I put the K&N filter in.

There was NO noticable increase in power, and less than .010 MPG increase in gas milage.

This is using just the filter element, not the cold air conversion kit. Now, I understand the induction conversion makes a big difference, but in my situation, the K&N filter element alone doesn't do squat.... I haven't seen a conversion kit available for the van, else I'd put one on.

I'm not looking to make a dragster out of my van, just wanted to see if I could increase the 14 mpg figure a little. At this rate, I will have to drive 100,000 miles to make it pay for itself. LOL

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'89 LX 5.0 - 5 speed. Original Owner
'94 E-150 Conversion Van

[95GTS]

Hmmm...first I think the exhaust is getting a bit too big actually. With too large of an exhaust you'll lose hp and torque. That's an inline 6 not a 351W or a 460. 3 inch is by far too big and the 2.5" is pushing it. How big is it comin' off of the headers to the cat(s) on the Y-pipe? One or two cats? I'm assuming two cats on the Y-pipe coming off of the headers.
The gears will help. But you'll lose gas mileage if that's a concern. The 4.10s will definitely help out. Also make sure you pull with the O/D off. Do not pull with it on or you'll tear that tranny up. Too much strain on it when it wants to shift into O/D. Especially on hills or grades.
Is your truck two wheel drive or 4x4? Just wondering why you're running a 31x10.5 tire size. If two wheel drive I would back off a little on the tire size. Those larger tires will slow you down and decrease your truck's pulling ability. Even on the 4x4 it'll make a difference but I never cared on my 4x4 cause I needed them for 4 wheelin'.
The K&N will help it breathe better but I don't know how much of a difference it'll make on the 6 cyl.

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1994 Red SVT Lightning #2019

[rel3rd]

I think you're right about the exhaust. I am going to switch back to a stock type, with the stock 2-1/4" sized pipes. Maybe just add a turbo muffler for better flow. Also, I found out it only has 3.08 gears in it. I also put a set of the correct sized tires on it, which are 235/75R15's, which has gotten me a little more power back. The 31x10.50's were/are like brand new, off of my old truck. Mine is a 2wd.

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You must be FAST...
cuz you wuz FLYIN'...
when I PASSED YOU!
My "BARNEY" car

[95GTS]

3.08's? Yeah those suck for pulling. I'd go with probably a 3.73. Maybe 4.10s but that's pretty steep for that motor. I had 3.55s in my 90 F150 4x4 with a 351W and I pulled a 24 ft. gooseneck stock trailer. It did really well but it's now been replaced with a 99 F250 SuperDuty Ext Cab 4x4 w/a V10 . You cold probably get away just fine even with 3.55s and get good gas mileage. The inline six is a pretty good engine but if you really need the towing power I would upgrade to a V8 truck. At least a 302. The 351W is a great torque motor but not very good on the gas mileage. I get about 12-15 with my Lightning. Pulling a car or heavier is going to put alot of strain on the 6 cyl. The E4OD will do fine. That's what I had in my truck. The Lightning's use the heavy duty E4OD tranny that was used in the Powerstroke trucks. You oughta just get yourself a Lightning to tow that stang. You'll get to the strip/show alot faster and in style .

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1994 Red SVT Lightning #2019

[rel3rd]

Originally posted by 96GTS:
You oughta just get yourself a Lightning to tow that stang. You'll get to the strip/show alot faster and in style .

No shows for me. I prefer to drive my cars...Are you saying my 1990 F-150 6 banger P/U has no style...LOL!!

[95GTS]

LOL, hey I do know that there are some GEN 1 Lightnings for sale there in Maryland. There's some guys over on the NLOC website that have said something about them. If you ever decide to get one you could check out the National Lightning Owner's Club website. We've got a Truck classified's forum there. Also ask on the GEN 1 board if any are for sale in MD. Some guys were talking about a couple for sale there a week or so ago. http://nloc.org/

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1994 Red SVT Lightning #2019

[rel3rd]

As much as I like them, one toy/money pit is enough...


[This message has been edited by rel3rd (edited 08-14-2001).]

[95GTS]

I hear ya. That's why I got rid of my stang.

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1994 Red SVT Lightning #2019

[84LX89GT]

if torque is what you want, a towing camshaft (many companies make cams for the 4.9L (comp cams does, wolverinek, etc.) as well as small diameter headers or extrude honed stock manifolds (your truck has the dual exhaust manifolds each one for 3 ports, right?) with mandrel bent 2 1/4" exhaust with a low restriction muffler and catalytic converter, GEARS (should make a HUGE difference). The induction on those trucks in meant for high velocity, low volume so it should produce good lowend torque with it the way it is, but if you feel like spending money, extrude honing the intake/head or porting them yourself would increase volume and retain a lot of velocity as well. Good luck.
- i've heard that at best just a replacement type air filter like a K&N will give you like 2 or 3 horsepower. Me and a guy at work read the voltage coming from a mass air meter on a 5.4L expedition with a newer K&N compared to a brand new motorcraft filter and the output was almost identical even at part throttle (couldn't really test full throttle, but K&N claims like 20 HORSEPOWER on all vehicles which is very unrealistic).

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previous name: 84stangLX
'84 Mustang 5.0 LX
my LX
'89 Mustang GT
my GT