cheapish power mods

[jlo82585]

hey y'all got another question for you guys. I have been looking at squeezing a bit more power out of my 5.4 but with my abysmal salary its looking hard to do. I have found a few options I want to run past you guys and get your opinion on.

1.) Cold air intake system
from what I have been able to find the aftermarket CAI system pull air from under the hood which to me would be less efficient than my gotts mod I already have, any opinions?

2.) Under-drive Pulley kit
These look like the best of both worlds, freeing up some power from the engine to use at the rear wheels while producing less wear on your belt driven components. They can get pricey but they would be worth it if they actually produce noticeable results. Anyone here have any experience with these?

3.) PCM Upgrade (chip)
I have seen these as low as $70 and as high as $550. The plug and play design of these is alluring and I know some people on this forum have chipped there 5.4's so what are the results / is it worth the money and which one do you guys recommend?

There are a few other items that look nice like upgraded COP's and MAF sensors but buying those items gets expensive fast and other than brand recognition I really don't think a different MAF could change performance without the PCM knowing what to do with it. I could be wrong and please correct me if I am but 90% of the parts out there for "performance" ( throttle body spacers) are absolute B.S. so if im missing any options ( other than forced induction which is expensive ) let me know.

 

[DetroitDarin]

1.) Cold air intake system
from what I have been able to find the aftermarket CAI system pull air from under the hood which to me would be less efficient than my gotts mod I already have, any opinions?

Hot air is less-oxygen-dense than cooler air. You're right, sucking in hot air will be less efficient - but if the engine can suck in more volume of air, it may give benefits. The problem is you really will never know. Your gotts mod didn't do anything to help your engine make more power.

2.) Under-drive Pulley kit
These look like the best of both worlds, freeing up some power from the engine to use at the rear wheels while producing less wear on your belt driven components. They can get pricey but they would be worth it if they actually produce noticeable results. Anyone here have any experience with these?

...and spinning your alternator/ac compressor/etc slower, making them less-efficient.

3.) PCM Upgrade (chip)
I have seen these as low as $70 and as high as $550. The plug and play design of these is alluring and I know some people on this forum have chipped there 5.4's so what are the results / is it worth the money and which one do you guys recommend?

I'm unaware of anyone making a chip for the ECU - however hand-held programmers can give a bang-for-the-buck increase, but 90% of the data of those increases are subjective at best. Unless one measures the power on a dyno, back-to-back gains are speculative. Even then, there's some normalizing an ECU may do that reverts back to the factor baseline after time. So...there ya go.

There are a few other items that look nice like upgraded COP's and MAF sensors but buying those items gets expensive fast and other than brand recognition I really don't think a different MAF could change performance without the PCM knowing what to do with it. I could be wrong and please correct me if I am but 90% of the parts out there for "performance" ( throttle body spacers) are absolute B.S. so if im missing any options ( other than forced induction which is expensive ) let me know.

COP changes will only benefit if your current COPs are performing less-than ideal. It's not as easy as saying x-many volts stock + new COP with X+ means more power - IF the x-many volts were all the entire system could use. Dumping more voltage/power into COP doesn't translate to more power if the ignition system is already at peak. Make sense? Same with a MAF "upgrade". Chances are your engine is sucking in all the air it needs and can effectively use. Short of forced induction I doubt the OEM MAF could ever be maxed-out. Another trap people fall into: They add the 'gains' together.

So - if an intake promises 10hp, exhaust promises 50, and programmer promises 60, that's not to say all three equal 120hp gain. And there's that word - peak gains. Peak gains are pointless. The area UNDER the curve - the average gain across the powerband is the best way to measure performance increases. Said another way, what good is a 10hp gain at 5500rpm when the truck operates from 2500-4000rpms 99.5% of the time. Make sense?

You have three options when wanting to add power to any car.

You can have cheap power-adders. You can have reliable power-adders. You can have power-adders with great gains.

You may select only TWO of those, however. If it's cheap and reliable it won't make a lot of power. If Its big-gains and reliable it cannot be cheap. If it's cheap with big gains there's no way it's reliable.

 

[Yudaman]

Nice response Darin!
Pretty much the same thing I would have written. So, ditto!

 

[69Hcode]

I'm pretty happy with my SCT and custom tunes. I leave it on economy and get a couple mpg better. Seems to have some more low end with this setting. I'm too cheap to run high octane for the performance tune.

 

[98EXPnSRQ]

I'll second the SCT programmer. I run their 87 octane tune and can tell it's less sluggish and I picked up about 1 mpg.

 

[69Hcode]

I'm up to 18 in town and 21 highway. With the tunes and exhaust. Gotta give the e-fans a chance and see if I picked up any more.

 

[thewishkah]

Not sure about your 02, but my 97 has a clutch driven fan that connects to the water pump, If you ditch that fan and run electric fans that should free up some existing power. It shouldn't be hard to do either, just a matter of finding the right fan/fans and then tap the water somewhere to put the thermal probe to tell the fans when to kick on and off based on water temp. Ive been thinking about doing this for my truck. I see in you sig you have a custom cat back is it true duals? that could also help a little I'd imagine.

 

[GAINMOB]

CAI...search GOTTS MOD on here...programmer i suggest talking to 5starttuning in the vendor section...pulleys...i have no clue...i want to do that too

 

[Canadian Expy]

I'm happy with the add-on power I got from the things I've put on. The EDGE programmer was far the best. It might help with all the others also.

 

[JAES1]

so on a longblock what would you recommend for added power?
I have to swap the engine out of my 03 5.4, its worth keeping and would like to get more HP/ torque with this job. thanks in advance\;]

 

[AWD EXPY]

Also understand that a higher rated octane fuel, alone, will decrease power made, unless timing is advanced. A higher octane slows down the combustion so pre-detonation is less likely.

 

[AbbadonTD]

A few points on Physics, and air flow.

Opening up the airbox (a CAI mod of any kind) does not help your engine by pulling different or better air, only more air. and its not so much an increase, as it is a removal of the decrease. Most air intakes on cars are designed to pass emissions in California, where you have to be very careful. Us in the rest of the 49 states however...

My point is that any air mod will help. Without a full blown change in your engine, where its pulling does not matter. My small cars all pull from inside the engine chamber, the air temperature of the intake is moot in any consumer engine.

Higher octane burns cleaner (assuming your gas station does not suck) and thus it is a more "complete" burn, and thus the engine likes it more and it makes performance go up in some situations. Here in Colorado, high octane is meaningless from a burn standpoint, because there is less o2 in the air to burn. You will not get more MPG or Horsepower from higher octane. Over time, you will have a cleaner engine, and it will perform better, but it is not the gas directly.

Best cheapest fastest mods on cars or trucks are
-CAI (get the restricted one off that vehicle!),
-Make sure your plugs and wires are within use range (they dont break down until 10000's of miles, but they do break down),
-Cooling of any kind (engine, trans, even better radiators or fans)
-good tires (will help mpg too).

I have played with chips in the past, and I have only like cheaper ones that reboot your OBC regularly, so that it never "learns" your patterns, and always drives like 'new'.