cheap upgrades/performance mods!

ok. so i live down in florida and i was wondering if theres any free or cheap things i can do to my mounty to make it better? i wish i had the money for a lift and everything but im a student and extra money is hard to find or maybe if you want to give any parts away? i just really want to do extra stuff but dont have the money. i do have some time though. thanks yall.

-cheap
-fast
-reliable

Pick 2

dang. its hard to just pick two. i wish i could do all three. but i'd probably have to choose cheap and reliable. or maybe a little of all three. im looking around for some headers and exhaust kits but their all too expensive right now.

first thing change to synthetic fluids if not done already. motor, trans, rear end. good set of plugs and wires. cat-back exhaust. like you said, headers. cold air intake. tune from james at henson performance, but that unit is almost $400. but well worth it!

You could also check out electric fans. Switch all of your ugly green switches and instrument cluster to blue or red leds. It doesnt cost much, just time consuming.

But as far as free mods are concerned. You could always
-Swiss cheese (drill holes) air filter box.
-Check your throttle cable isnt stretched out. If it is, throw some zip ties on it by the throttle pedal.
-Adjust your TPS so its at .96 volts.
-Port your maf housing and throttle body using a sanding flap wheel.

Thats about all i got for you right now.

How do you change the bulbs in the switches?

ahodges said:

How do you change the bulbs in the switches?

Click to expand...

Do a search for Led switches. MustangP51 and vroomzoomboom(sp?) have a couple how to's up with pictures that make the job really easy.

First, you mention a lift. If you want performance, than a "lift" is not what you want. If anything, you should lower it little bit. (very easy on these). The lower ride height will improve handling, as well as reducing wind resistance/drag on the highway. That will give a very small improvement in performance and fuel economy. Lifting the vehicle will do the opposite of all the above. In addition, when people lift something, it usually result in bigger tires too. Again, that will lead to worse handling, performance and fuel economy, as bigger tires weigh more and have greater "rolling resistance"

As for mods:

CAI (cold air intake kit) - If your on tight budget, make your own with PVC Schdule 40 pipe (home depot) and a universal K&N style cone filter (There are cheaper brands)

Exhaust- Headers are nice, but work your way from the back to the front. Cat-back exhaust first, then high-flow cats, then headers.

Electric Fan - If you do your homework, and have some light fabrication ability, you can do this very cheap with a junkyard fan. Older Ford Taurus 3.8L-V6, Lincoln MarkVII and VIII and Chevy HHR's seem to popular donor vehicles.

SCT XCAL 3 programmer w/custom tuning (A little under $400) One of the best bang-for-the-buck mods you can do. Talk to James at Henson Performance. He's also on this board.

As other's said, def. switch to synthetic fluids. Not blends, full synthetic.

Of course, befoe you do any "mods", make sure all your maintenance is up to speed, and make sure all your suspension/steering components are in good shape. No sense trying to go faster if you have, say, a bad tie rod, and you dragging a tire "sideways" down the highway!

XLT said:

Do a search for Led switches. MustangP51 and vroomzoomboom(sp?) have a couple how to's up with pictures that make the job really easy.

Click to expand...

thanks for the tip

thanks. i want to have performance but also be able to go off-road. thats where the lift kit came in to place. i saw a video about the zip ties on the throttle cable but in the video, they put them on the side thats connected to the throttle body. i'll probably do that and swiss cheese the air filter box. i would change the dash lights to blue led's but i dont know how to solder and stuff. i can do basic things like combine wires and cap them but i saw that you had to solder it all in. the exhaust already sounds good on the truck even though its stock but if it weren't illegal, i would just straight pipe it from the cats back. i might see if a buddy of mine can do that. thanks so much!

where are you from that you can't run no muffler? if you want something that is straight piped but still technically a muffler you should get a red-hot, i think the brand is holly, it looks like a cherrybomb glasspack but it has little louvres in it so, unlike the cherrybomb, you can flip it one way so that the muffler takes in the exhaust, flip the muffler around though and its a straight pipe.

I Live down in forida and I've always been told that i have to have a muffler. I may check the laws to see if it's 100% true or not. Because if I can straight pipe that 5.0l, it will sound real nice

bart_mcilroy said:

I Live down in forida and I've always been told that i have to have a muffler. I may check the laws to see if it's 100% true or not. Because if I can straight pipe that 5.0l, it will sound real nice

Click to expand...

"Because if I can straight pipe that 5.0l, it will sound real nice"
Uhhh, no it really won't. It will sound cool for the first day or so. After that, it will become a headache-inducing, teeth rattling nightmare. After your first trip down the highway, you'll want to get out and walk.

Mufflers help to control not just the volume, but also the tone/pitch of the exhaust sound. It's the muffler that gives that nice deep rumble everybody likes; and without any muffler at all, even a V8 will sound like a ricer with a fart can muffler. Lots of resonance, and a bad "tinny" vibration.

As for the legality, while it may or may not be a state equipment law where you live, you also have to consider noise ordinances in every town/local jurisdiction you travel through. Also, with no mufflers at all, plan on not being able to drive it at night, without really pissing off the neighbors.

As for "glasspacks", they have been proven to flow very poorly, compared to a "turbo" style or a Flowmaster type baffling system. "Glasspacks" and "Cherry Bombs" are only for getting a particular sound. They will hurt performance. The best choice is a complete cat-back system, like from Gibson or MAC,etc... However, if you're doing a custom system, and just looking for a muffler, then something like a Flowmaster, or something like a Dynomax Super-Turbo would work well. The key to minimizing muffler restriction, while still maintaining a reasonable sound reduction, is to size the muffler slightly larger than the incoming and outgoing pipes in/out of it. For example, if you have a 2.5" exhaust, then you might want a muffler labeled as a 3". Then just use adapters/reducers to connect it to your smaller exhaust pipes.

thanks, i know it wont sound that good all the time. i was thinking about getting a dual in/dual out flowmaster 40 for it and taking the 2nd set of cats out. do you think that a single dual in and dual out will sound better than two single in single out flowmaster 40's? because ive seen some with two of them and some with only one. i found one for like $150 and can get the pipes easy. what do you think about that?

The 5.0 is not a really deep sounding v8 on our trucks, straight pipes will make it worse, give it a higher pitch raspy sound, loud, but sounds like ghetto crap. The 5.0 doesn't have that very low deep gurgle that GM's ls/lsx engines have in trucks. Trust me get a muffler on the 5.0, will sound waaaaay better then straight piped. i don't know where you are but I had a shop on linton in Delray do my dual setup, honestly can't remember the name I'd have to search for it.

i'm currently running a glasspack on my V6 and it actaully sounds pretty good but i dont think its the best way to go for sure though, even go to autozone and get a cheap muffler like a thrush turbo or a cherry turbo, and yea like carguy said when you're in town its not too bad but when you hit the highway you actually want to die, i actaully considered buying a muffler in the town i went to just for the drive home, you'll definatly regret the straight pipe, and dont even worry about getting a flowmaster, in my opinion they're definatly overrated

Its a lot cheaper to lift then gain performance, for a lift you can do a TT and get some shackles that will put you around $25 with grade 8 bolts. Also you can do a 1in body lift for under $30 for pucks and the two bolts needed this will get you more clearance for bigger tires for under $50 easily.

QuietRiot25 said:

i'm currently running a glasspack on my V6 and it actaully sounds pretty good but i dont think its the best way to go for sure though, even go to autozone and get a cheap muffler like a thrush turbo or a cherry turbo, and yea like carguy said when you're in town its not too bad but when you hit the highway you actually want to die, i actaully considered buying a muffler in the town i went to just for the drive home, you'll definatly regret the straight pipe, and dont even worry about getting a flowmaster, in my opinion they're definatly overrated

Click to expand...

Some things are better the cheap way but nothing like investing in quality, though it may be a bit expensive. Lots of people like flowmaster but unfortunately i'm not a big fan of flowmaster.

XLT said:

You could also check out electric fans. Switch all of your ugly green switches and instrument cluster to blue or red leds. It doesnt cost much, just time consuming.

But as far as free mods are concerned. You could always
-Swiss cheese (drill holes) air filter box.
-Check your throttle cable isnt stretched out. If it is, throw some zip ties on it by the throttle pedal.
-Adjust your TPS so its at .96 volts.
-Port your maf housing and throttle body using a sanding flap wheel.

Thats about all i got for you right now.

Click to expand...

Interested in the Port MAF and throttle body---Will start searching. Anyone want to chime in if this is a good thing to do on a 4.0 OHV? Any benefits of upgrading to a bigger throttle body?

My 2cents for somewhat cheap performance, upgrade intake and get a cat back.

4.0 ohv ?

Truck: 99 Sport 4.0 OHV

Mods: K&N drop in filter,removed silencer
Magnaflow cat back exaust
Mobil 1 oil fully synth
Fully synth trans and diff fluid

What els is there to do on this truck? I came from many rangers but this is my first 4.0 and its the crapy OHV. I've read that headers are a waste on these motors. I can't find the golden BBK throttle bodie and 400 for a chip it out of my budget as of now. It this all I can do for bolt on performance with this powerplant?