Which is more worth it?

[littlejth]

So, I want to modify my truck a bit. I have already done the intake, which cost about $60 for the MAF adapter and filter. Now, I'm curious to know which of these two options is better:

Flowmaster Single In/Dual Out system
Stock Manifolds
Cold/Ram Air Intake
Custom SCT tuning.

or

Flowmaster Dual In/Out system
TMHs
Cold/Ram Air Intake
No tuning at all.

or something different?

The reason I ask is because I have a limited amount of money I can spend on my truck and I don't know if I feel comfortable dumping more money into it than the whole thing is worth. It's a very rusty 5.0L with ~150k on it. I don't know how long I'll be keeping it.

Another quick question, is it worth getting any other headers? I need to replace my stock manifolds as at least one of them has rusted out and created a huge exhaust leak. Thanks in advance!

 

[96ex5.0]

Second one with tune.

I'm running dual in and out stock manifolds and can. Headers soon and maybe toon after lower intake porting 1.7 rockers or I may just do headers and carb conversion.

 

[littlejth]

I'd like to do that but I don't know if I want to spend that kind of money, that's the problem and the reason why I'm asking if one of these is worth it. I suppose I could save up and do both headers and tune but like I said, I'm a bit uncomfortable spending well over what the truck is worth on performance. TMHs are big $$! Appreciate the input though

 

[istroo]

I am in the same boat littlejth, you must be in or around Michigan. The TMH are crazy expensive in my opinion and the wait time appears to be ridiculous also. I am hoping for a less costly header option when I need to replace my factory manifolds.
By the way, how much does a tune cost?

 

[littlejth]

I'm in MN. Haven't looked into actually purchasing them but I know what the price is generally at, which I do not want to pay, not to mention labor. As for a tune, I know SCT (especially the X4) is highly recommended around here and that people used to recommend Henson Performance but his last activity was a few months ago. Idk what people really recommend now, but the tuner price is $400 on eBay and I saw $79 for a tune from Henson, but again, a lot of these recommendations and prices were years ago. I'm not up to date with current ones.

 

[masospaghetti]

I did the SCT tuner on my 4.0 OHV and am a bit underwhelmed at the result - subjectively speaking, I can't tell any difference. The benefit of a tuner is that you can take it with you, should you decide to dump the truck.

 

[littlejth]

What other mods did you have done to it when you got it tuned?

 

[96ex5.0]

I'm working on a header option but I'm short on time and money at the moment to finish, but the headers and having the lower intake port mached and the runners cleaned up seams to net big gains on the 5.0. The tune should be the last thing you do.

 

[littlejth]

So what I'm gathering is that, since I don't want to spend too much money, I should just get my exhaust system done and not bother with tuning? TMHs are out of the question at the moment because of how expensive and rare they are, so should I just get my exhaust done and be done with it? No tune?

 

[96ex5.0]

So what I'm gathering is that, since I don't want to spend too much money, I should just get my exhaust system done and not bother with tuning? TMHs are out of the question at the moment because of how expensive and rare they are, so should I just get my exhaust done and be done with it? No tune?

Exhaust and Better air filter then you could alway Chang gear ratio to a lower one that alone makes a huge difference.

 

[2TimingTom]

The reason I ask is because I have a limited amount of money I can spend on my truck and I don't know if I feel comfortable dumping more money into it than the whole thing is worth. It's a very rusty 5.0L with ~150k on it. I don't know how long I'll be keeping it.

Looks like you answered your own question to me.

 

[MercuryMullet]

I did a tune and it helped but I recieved the tuner itself from a friend for free so I only paid the $75 for tune. I wouldn't pay the full price for the results I got. If you already have an exhaust leak I would get that fixed and do intake/exhaust. These three will help resale as well. My merc just has a K&N cone with the stock air ducting for an intake.

 

[J_C]

Get the exhaust fixed (or don't) then sell it, then buy something lower miles & less rust to dump money into for upgrades so you have longer ownership to get the value out of upgrades.

 

[littlejth]

So I guess my last question would be if it is worth it to do a tune at all on just a CAI and different exhaust without putting on headers?

 

[96ex5.0]

I'm going carb myself