Texas Torque

[expo5.0]

saleenexp- have you ever been to new mexico, colorado, or arizona? towing a trailer at altitude on a long grade is very different from towing one around florida. the torque output of his truck at very low rpms is the most important thing possible here.

 

[SaleenEXP]

Yeh, in Colorado, I went to visit my best friend up there, and he has an Expedition with mods on it, and he always towed his friends parents boat to the lake when he and his friends wanted to use it. There was 5 of us in the Exped. towing a 23ft boat, and it had no problem accelerating on hills or passing (if you get a chance to pass up there, damn roads ). And driving w/o the trailer and boat, I didn't notice any differance except when he floored it, then it was just slightly a little slower than when he's in Fl. here.

The only reason I said that before was b/c some people make it seem like if you lose back pressure your gonna lose like 25lbft. of torque, your only going to lose very little in the low-end, basically un-noticeable.

He could lose a little back pressure and have no problem towing with the 5.0 Ex, if it was a sohc or really a ohv V6 than it would be a differeant story.

Using my 94' to tow our 27ft Fountain w/ twin 300 outboards on a triple axle trailer (definitley no light-weight) a few times would be more of a strain than towing a 3800lb trailer at a higher altitude. And I towed it in the city and on the highway at about 65, it didn't really want to go any faster

 

[MikeTEC]

Saleen: Thanks for your comments. I would like to have quiet both inside the cabin and outside to match the OE sound as is. Over 35 years of towing, I have towed a lot of things, including large boats. Towing a travel trailer is different than a boat, in that you have a large frontal area, wind resistance, and aerodynamics to deal with, similar to dragging a large piece of plywood down the road. This is where good torque comes into play.

Torque and pulling power is what I am after, not necessarily speed and as previously mentioned. Most folks like me tow between 2000-3000 RPMs, so that is the torque band/range I am trying to concentrate on.

Loud noise never impressed me, but practical, useable torque and pulling power does. Thanks Mike

 

[expo5.0]

wish i had your boat... but then i'd need another one for wakeboarding too. but i'm sure if i could afford the fountain i could afford another boat too.


depending on how high you are in the mountains the air can get very thin and torque can become extremely important. i love being able to drive up the mountains into northern az faster than all the other cars on the road, but even my truck when towing our huge uhaul home from school last year (it was bigger than my truck and had all of four peoples possessions it it probably weighed as much as the fountain boat) was really sluggish going up the passes and we struggled to maintain 65 or 70 at times while just hammering on the engine at like 4,000 plus rpm's.



Mike- after rereading all of the posts here and everything, i think you should get the borla kit. I know some people have complained in the past that it is too quiet and they can't hear it. i know it will provide the warranty build quality you are looking for and i'm certain it won't resonate in the cabin or anything like that. who agrees with me here???

 

[james t]

for your own personall preference, stay away from all things Flowmaster. i have seen repeated recommendations to the Flowmaster 40 series, and COME ON GUYS, we all know thats a loud muffler! i personally think the 50 series delta flow is very quiet, but may not be quiet enough for you. so, stay away from the 'flow all together.

i agree with expo5.0. get a borla muffler, and just look at their muffler line and buy the quietest one they have. have a shop intall it, as a bolt on catback is not needed. you will come out much cheaper getting the muffler of your choice and having a shop install it. the 40 series 'flow may not resonate on a 4.0, but take it from someone with one on a 5 liter, at idle, mine sounds like a 15" sub playing one long tone at 40 hz.

 

[MikeTEC]

Thanks, folks, for your recommendations. Looks like a Borla muffler is what I need.

James: I had to order the FMS stainless headers. Ceramtic, which I wanted, are no longer available from Ford Motor Sport as someone has indicated. In fact my supplier said they contacted FMS, in my behalf, and was told said they were going to stop manufacturing stainless in the near future. So I took what I could get.

Thanks for your help! Mike

 

[james t]

yea, seems someone else here has found that they are making the 97-up 5.0X headers again. they made them for a while before, then discontinued them, while maintaining production of the 96 only's. seems they want to make either 96, or 97-up, but niether at the same time.

 

[SaleenEXP]

Originally posted by expo5.0
wish i had your boat... but then i'd need another one for wakeboarding too. but i'm sure if i could afford the fountain i could afford another boat too.

Mike- after rereading all of the posts here and everything, i think you should get the borla kit. I know some people have complained in the past that it is too quiet and they can't hear it. i know it will provide the warranty build quality you are looking for and i'm certain it won't resonate in the cabin or anything like that. who agrees with me here???

Th Fountain is sick fast (actually presses you to the seat when to gun the throttles) and reliable as hell, not 1 prob. in 2 yrs. Our Dock is pretty cluttered, Fountain and waverunners are on lifts, and the jet boat (Yamaha LS200) sits in the water on a floating dock. We used to have a Nautique for when we go to our lakehouse, but had mad problems with it, so sold it and got the jet boat which is awsome for wakeboarding and much better on gas. Damn nautique could go through a tank in 1hr.

Mike - to me the 50 Deltas are quite inside with a nice rumble, but it might sound loud to you don't really know, I guess go w/ Borla, much better rumble than a gibson and quiter than Flows, their mufflers are pricey though.

- with the FMS headers, Borla muffler and pipe, just get a k&n filter and cut the air box, all this would most likely give you the extra power in that range you need it in and you probably get better mileage too.

 

[MikeTEC]

Guys: Who is the best and highest quality company to apply ceramic coating to headers? Mike

 

[MikeTEC]

Additional questions, guys, hope you don't mind. These stainless headers from Ford Motorsport I am getting, can I use header wrap them to hold down heat and if I do, will it cause them to rust out due to moisture condensation between the tape and stainless metal?

To reduce heat, is ceramic coating better than wrapping? Which would you do if any? The old OE headers coming off...are they stainless? Finally, the OE insulators on the factory headers, will they work on the headers I am getting? Thanks for your help! Mike

 

[X24]

Originally posted by james t
actually, flowmaster makes a dual in-dual out 50 series delta flow. looks like 1 big muffler, but is actually 2. in/out sizes are 2.25, and it would be PERFECT on a mild 5.0....... 98fordX24 has one on his 4 liter.

Great muffler! I love it.

Just to clear it up a little, it's not actually 2 mufflers in one. It's has dual inlets which go into one 3" and then splits back out for dual outlets. So its a muffler and X-pipe all in one.

 

[james t]

ahhh....... thanks for the clarification there, chris. i just assumed it was two mufflers in one case.

 

[MikeTEC]

James: Got to looking at the stainless headers I received a couple of days ago and it looks like a couple of the ports have excess tube material (1/8") that could have/should have been removed. Was this material intentionally left or just an oversight/shoddy workmanship? Does yours have this? Looks like it would be a simple matter to take a file and file it down to a perfect rectangle and will this disrupt designed flow of the headers if I do it? Thanks Mike

 

[james t]

yea, i already have plans to attack mine with the die grinder. pretty sad when you have to "port" headers.lol

mine are exactly like you said. monster welds in a few of the flanges. a die grinder/dremel tool or a file (if youve got some time) will take care of it. also, look down into the runners were some of the tubing joins other tubing. you will see the hole in the other tubing to be much smaller. some of those will be hard to reach.

 

[MikeTEC]

Yes, James, where the tubes meet the tubes, in two of my ports, there is excess material, (which in effect makes a smaller rectangle opening) that would reduce the flow in those two ports.

Wonder if they were intentionally made that way to maintain torque while still increasing HP output? Strange both of ours are that way. Don't suppose we would be altering engeered/computer flow/output as designed?

Are the gaskets furnished with your headers (paper type composition) the ones you will be using or are there better gaskets/copper gaskets available that will do a better job of sealing and be more durable? Once I have these put on I don't want to touch them for leaks again for the next 100K miles! Thanks James, for your input. Mike

 

[james t]

i figure they made them that way so it would be easier to line it all up-production tolerances. either way, mine are gonna get "hogged out".

i bought some copper gaskets, and i am not useing the fiber one that came with them. any stock 5.0 mustang style copper gasket will work.

 

[MikeTEC]

James: Do you remember what brand (company) of copper gasket you bought? I have looked at some Felpro composition/metal Ford gaskets, but the opening is not as large as the cheaper fiber gaskets supplied in the kit. Sounds like copper is the way to go if I can find one that matches. Thanks MIke

 

[james t]

i got Fel-pro's, and i never even looked at them. no matter, as they are just copper and will take to the die grinder just like everything else.