Horsepower ideas. 2003 XLT 4.6

looking for a few ideas to increase horsepower for my expy. Got flomaster 50 series, had cold air intake but removed because not very noticeable. Cats have been "slightly deleted". Looking into headers, programming, tune up, and other options. Anyone that is pushing some horses and has tried different things are very welcome to give advice. New to the forum so any advice is good. Don't want a drag suv but id like to blow past a dumb kid is daddy's money truck hahah.

Reduce the weight of the truck. Take out unnecessary things. If you can, have the intake ports polished and racing cams installed.

Welcome to the Forum

Hello and welcome to the Forum.

There is only one real substitute for total Cubic Inches and that is Cubic Dollars!!

Having said that, how much are you looking to spend and how much bang for the buck are you looking for?

CAI is only good for about 5HP in the daily driver RPM ranges and about 10 to 15 additional ponies in extreme driving range. Truth be told, the OEM intake is not overly restrictive when one looks at the real breathing bottle necks such as heads, headers, and exhaust system. The basic function of horsepower is total flow IE throughput. Air flow isn't everything of course, but if one is getting as much air and fuel in the cylinder as possible that will efficiently burn as completely as possible, flow restriction (both in and out of the engine) is controlling the most bang for the buck after the basics are all taken care of.

Now all functions of that have several areas that interface as well as react with each other. Yes if you install a wilder cam and adjust timing, port and polish the head (intake and exhaust), change out the headers, and open up the exhaust, one will get to the point where the stock air intake IS overly restrictive and affecting usable horsepower.

So if you are worried about intake air flow, reinstall the CAI. Then buy a performance chip or buy a chip programmer (don't know which would be better for a 4.6). Then see if that is enough since you have helped the exhaust already. After that I believe you are are looking at engine parts and labor intensive things for any real gains.

If you want it all at one time and don't mind a permanent daily mileage drop, then upgrade to a 5.4L 3V. It is sometime worth it to see if replacing the engine with more cubic inches could end up costing less then what all is needed to gain 30BHP in the 4.6L.

Last but not least, if you want to keep the daily driver the way it is as well as keep the daily mileage, its time to go on the Bottle! Especially if this is just to put away some daddy provided kids SUV. For $1300 to $1500, one can have 75 to 150 extra ponies at the push of a button. These systems are dual fogger per cylinder NOS so there is no fear of 4 lean and 4 rich cylinders as there is with a single plate system. Single plates are fine for carburetors, not good for fuel injection.

Awesome advice! Thanks for the welcome. So my cats are gone. And as i said I have a flomaster 50 series on the trucks I will need to change o2 sensors and try and make my expy run a little more lean I believe haven't really noticed a change in fuel but I do notice a change in pickup from a stop to about 40mph. I had a spectre cold air intake and it did not inspire me. Now driving on the interstate it did seem to improve fuel efficiency but not the HP. I'm hearing a lot about the cams and just don't really know where to begin or what to expect or if I need a lift to do it myself or just drop it off to my mom and pop shop. I'd like to keep my vehicle. And eventually I'll have a newer truck and can actually one day pull this apart and make it a "sleeper grocery getter" lol. I'm not opposed to labor or even spending money but right now I'd like to be able to do a few things in the driveway on the weekend button it up and get to work Monday.

Transporter hit it on the head.

You kinda need to set a HP goal. Then sit down with a tuner and get the parts to reach it.

Look into the tuners preferred intake. They can tune better with that one. Warm and fuzzy!

Cams next. Are you ok with shifting the power band up high in the rpms? Or do you want the TQ down low? There are several cams to choose from.

The cams and heads need to work together. If your going high lift then look into porting the heads.

Headers are not a bad idea on these vehicles. The stock cast are a big choke point.

The stock Y pipe is another big choke point. Where the two sides merge it chokes the exhaust big time.

From there back choose your sleeper exhaust.

JMHO

CJ

If it were me and I am JUST looking for a Sleeper SUV Grocery Getter that can put the young "Daddy's SUV" kids in their place plus want to keep my current mileage and daily driver manners, I would do it the quick and easy way by adding a Two Stage Wet NOS kit with individual intake runner Foggers (about $1500 for 75 first stage HP and 200 second stage HP). With proper planning the kit can usually be installed and tested over a weekend. Your exhaust is fairly open already and with NOS you will not be forced to invest in all the Flow improvements needed to take full advantage of a Cam Swap.

The only real drawback is swapping NOS bottles when the one in the truck gets low IE there is a reoccurring cost with NOS. The up side is you keep all your daily driver mileage and manners when not on the Juice. Another advantage is if you don't like the way it drives on the Bottle, don't mash the button. If you don't like the way it drives after changing the cam, headers, and head work, its really expensive to put it back. Plus if the bottle is not enough, you can still do the cam etc and keep the bottle also. NOS is always extra horsepower. If you have 230HP now, you have about 305HP at stage one using NOS. If you change the cam etc and get to 280HP, you have about 355HP at stage one on the bottle.

Just some thoughts........ YMMV!