New owner here, have some questions

[SilverBullet]

Hi everyone, I'm the proud owner of a 2001 Eddie Bauer Explorer with th 5.0l V8 in it, 26,000 on the dial. My previous car was a Dodge Stealth that I modified the crap out of, and was a member of a similar message board (www.3si.org) for about 5 years until I sold it. I look forward to being a part of this new (to me) message board.

I've done some searching around, and I have a few questions about modifications for the 5.0. There aren't too many options out there though, that's for sure.

Intake: Which is better, the KKM or the MAC?
Exhaust: Looking for something that is nice sounding, not too loud while driving at highway speed, and gets better mileage. Gibson, Borla, MAC?
Chip: I've seen people talking about chips.. which is better, Apten or SuperChip and why?

I think that's about it. In the future I might think about getting a small lift and some bigger tires, but for now I'll stick with stock.

Any other suggestions you people have as to what I could do? I'm somewhat dissapointed that there's not an aftermarket header option. What could I do if I wanted some big performance from my 5.0, like that of the 5.0 mustangs?

I plan on getting my Ex dynoed stock, and then dynoing after each mod I do so I can keep track of what products give what gains.
Thanks in advance!

 

[glfredrick]

Welcome to the boards...

Rest assured - most of the same mods that make the Mustang what it is will work out for the Ex. Some things are out there, but a bit more difficult to score.

I'm one of the off-road dudes, but if it were me, building for the street, I would major on things that increase torque. With a heavy truck, it takes lots of torque to get it moving. Beware of typical car-type mods that only increase high RPM power - you might end up getting dissapointed.

Good idea to dyno everything - I'd also run it somewhere at a track where you could time out the 60 foot times to see if the dyno power increases actually improve off-the-line performance.

I have built a lot of trucks over the years and in the process I have learned that a lower HP engine built to work in the correct RPM range will always outperform the wrong combination - even if it makes double the HP in the real world outside of full RPM passes on a track.

 

[Flash]

I have built a lot of trucks over the years and in the process I have learned that a lower HP engine built to work in the correct RPM range will always outperform the wrong combination - even if it makes double the HP in the real world outside of full RPM passes on a track.[/QUOTE]


Exactly! I've shocked the hell out of a lot of people with my "nearly stock" cars.