I worked out a funky deal earlier in the year. Sold my 7.3 Excursion to a coworker and took his 03 Expy on trade. Wife was driving a 2010 Explorer and I had plans to get a new f150 in a few years and drive the expy until then. Well, the wife ended up liking the expy and i traded the Explorer in on a 2012 FX4 with the 5.0 back in Feb.
Fast forward several months. The 03 expy had the head gasket leak and a rusted out core support so I convinced her to trade it on a newer expy. So we found the 08 at a local dealer. It is an EB 4X4 with quite a few options including the power running boards, captains chairs, HD tow, skid plates,DVD etc. It had a new reman Ford motor in it when we bought it. That said, we traded for it at 53,000 miles (just turned 60K) and the only thing I have done to it is put a new set of Michelin MS2's in a 275 65 18 size (same size as my F150).
Anyway, we just took a mini vacation to Gatlinburg TN from WV. Trip is 350 miles one way and through the WV mountains. I reset the trip fuel mileage at the beginning and never touched it. The trip included all traffic, 75-80 mph speeds on the interstate including alot of hilly driving. Total mpg was 17.4. I am really happy with the mileage. Now I need some input. The 5.4 3V and 6 speed is a good combo. My 5.0 eats it up in outright acceleration (we tried them out on an entrance ramp) and the 5.0 gets better fuel mileage. But, the expy has 3.31 gears. With that, the thing downshifts all the time on the interstate. The smallest of hills has it immediately in 5th and sometimes 4th. I really wish it had 3.73's. So, for those of you with the 3.31's, do you recommend a specific tuner? CAI? Exhaust? I would venture to say it has plenty of airflow as the show is over by 5,000 rpm. But I could be wrong. I really like the 5.4 3V so far. I have had several 5.4 2V's. All good motors. Any input appreciated.
Fast forward several months. The 03 expy had the head gasket leak and a rusted out core support so I convinced her to trade it on a newer expy. So we found the 08 at a local dealer. It is an EB 4X4 with quite a few options including the power running boards, captains chairs, HD tow, skid plates,DVD etc. It had a new reman Ford motor in it when we bought it. That said, we traded for it at 53,000 miles (just turned 60K) and the only thing I have done to it is put a new set of Michelin MS2's in a 275 65 18 size (same size as my F150).
Anyway, we just took a mini vacation to Gatlinburg TN from WV. Trip is 350 miles one way and through the WV mountains. I reset the trip fuel mileage at the beginning and never touched it. The trip included all traffic, 75-80 mph speeds on the interstate including alot of hilly driving. Total mpg was 17.4. I am really happy with the mileage. Now I need some input. The 5.4 3V and 6 speed is a good combo. My 5.0 eats it up in outright acceleration (we tried them out on an entrance ramp) and the 5.0 gets better fuel mileage. But, the expy has 3.31 gears. With that, the thing downshifts all the time on the interstate. The smallest of hills has it immediately in 5th and sometimes 4th. I really wish it had 3.73's. So, for those of you with the 3.31's, do you recommend a specific tuner? CAI? Exhaust? I would venture to say it has plenty of airflow as the show is over by 5,000 rpm. But I could be wrong. I really like the 5.4 3V so far. I have had several 5.4 2V's. All good motors. Any input appreciated.
