how to get more power out of my 99 5.0 v8 xlt awd

[fixitshp]

I have a 1999 ford explorer xlt 5.0 liter awd. I tow a 6500 ultralight camper with it. I took it to the mountains and I had to get up to 65 down the hills so going up the hills I would be down to 50 and got a wooping 9 mpg!!! I want to get some advice of how to mod my car to get around 50 more horsepower/torgue but making it affordable. She ony has 80,000 on it so I don't want to do much internal work on the engine if I can....
Any advice???

 

[aldive]

Good intake and headers followed by a good computer tune.

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

welcome

 

[techieman33]

Torque monster headers, MAC cold air intake, cat back exhaust, and a computer tune should get your desired increase in power and probably a little more. For the computer tune I would suggest www.hensonperformance.com, the owner is a vendor here on the forum. He goes by Jah81592, and has tuned countless explorers on this site.

 

[Dopler174]

As cold as it has been, be glad that you got the 9mpg. It will be better as soon as the weather breaks in march.

 

[fixitshp]

Getting more power out of my 1999 xlt v8 awd

Thanks for all of the cool information. Just to update I have already installed a cold air intake on my explorer. Also the towing and getting 9 mpg was during the summer going to Dollywood tenn. and I had to always step on the gas pedal all the way to the floor to get up some of those steps hills in the mountains...That's why I want to get some more torque. The car is paid for with only 80k on it and I love it and don't really want to trade it to upgrade to something with more power. There has to be a way to upgrade it with what everyone has suggested. Alot of places have told me to buy a chip but I tried one that had a resister that you put on and my explorer hated it and the other performance I found was $400 which I didn't buy...I think that's a little high for a computer chip which I know most not cost them much to produce...
Any more recommendations?

 

[Cobraguy]

Alot of places have told me to buy a chip but I tried one that had a resister that you put on and my explorer hated it and the other performance I found was $400 which I didn't buy...I think that's a little high for a computer chip which I know most not cost them much to produce...
Any more recommendations?

The resister is not a chip. It's a gimmick piece of junk idea that "tricks" the PCM into thinking the engine needs more fuel and timing.

You aren't paying for the chip...you are paying for the software (tune). If you go tune it yourself, you will find that the price charged is a bargain.

Finally, chips are great...and flip chips are REALLY slick to use. But for ease of use and programming, a hand held programmer is the way to go these days.

 

[eXcali]

If your looking for the quickest cheapest fix, I'd advise looking into a high performance air intake such as the K&N setup. If you want to keep it under $100.00 it reduces your options a TON. If this is what your looking for get a K&N filter, Lucas Oil Additive ($9 most places even walmart) replace 2 quarts of oil with 2 quarts of lucas as your next oil change and run a clean K&N air filter. This is about your only options for under $100.00.

You will see an increased performance in both MPG and Power. Also it may sound silly, but make sure your load in the trailer is balanced above the trailers wheels, and rather than putting it to the floor hold a steady RPM as you go up the hills, you will drop speed, but save gas.