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Well the Livernois black friday sale was just too much to pass up. I ordered the tuner, airaid cai, plugs and 170* t-stat.
I first started by changing the oil for the first time in the truck, I thought I had it level but was wrong when it came time to take off the filter (those who have changed know the square hole makes a mess if unexpected oil comes from there). Anyway, changed the oil and used Mobil 1 5w-30 6 quarts, definitely feel the next change will go a lot cleaner.
I wanted to do the plugs first, it was pretty straight forward with the passenger side rear being the only one I needed to change extensions on and use a stick magnet, not necessary just easier. Took me maybe 30-45 minutes taking my time but all in all a pretty easy job. I used the stock gaps that came on the plugs also.
Next was the fun part, the 170* stat. You will need to pull off the y pipe on your intake system regardless for this and if you're going to add the air aid so that's what I did. The t stat is located on the top dead center of your front part of the engine. I'm a bigger guy with long arms and big hands so this is where it became fun to get "in" and able to wrench. I didn't take off any of the other intake tubes mainly because I could get to the housing and didn't want to have to reach farther down and hook back up something else. I lost about a gallon of coolant, caught maybe 30 oz or so in cups and reused and replaced with distilled water (sure there are mixed reviews but i've done this in all of my fords and havent had any issues, runs cooler also). The fun part was bolting everything back up, at this point you're wet with anti freeze and aggravated after looking like you got in a fight with a cat on your arms. The front bolt went in great and I would suggest having that one in first and somewhat snug so the pressure from the lower radiator hose isn't causing the last bolt to cross thread, like mine did which turned into a headache. Just make sure you don't start tightening the bolts at the beginning if there is any resistance that finger tightening wouldn't do. After about an hour and a half of feeling defeated by this last fucking bolt I finally got it sorted out and installed. Now, i'm assuming there was air in the system or one of the belts was wet and slipping as after I filled up my res tank it was making a noise right at the housing while the truck was running with the heater at full blast. I let it run for about 10 minutes, shut it off, checked everything and then sprayed all the fluid that spilled off and then went for a test drive. Everything checked out and he noise went away.
I have stock exhaust, the sound from just the airaid increased enough to hear from inside the cab as well as even more with the windows down. It felt more responsive also.
I then came back home and loaded my Livernois 93 performance tune v10, certainly not as detailed as a SCT3 but it works and is easy to use once you use it once. I'm confident my wife who has never used any tuners before wouldn't have a problem following the directions and loading a tune. So after about 10 minutes the tune is loaded and I took it out for a test drive.
The first part I wanted to test was part throttle to see how well the truck will drive over stock in everyday situations. It felt more responsive and smoother. The truck felt like my previous lightning's did when you give it part throttle to accelerate, enough to be to the speed limit quick. The turbos spooled a noticeable bit faster and were also louder than before and louder than when just the airaid was on prior to loading the tune. I then did the meat and potatoes, a full wot pull from about 55. It felt a good bit faster than before, didn't feel to somewhat plain out after the shift and held the rpms about another 500 rpms. I then tested out a 30 mph manual 1st gear roll start, it was peppy. After a few more minutes to let things cool off a bit I turned around and headed home to do a very slow roll auto drop down. It took off, shifted crisp and didn't break traction. I was impressed and certainly exceeding the 55mph speed limit by some bit. On my street going home I did a half ass dig. Previously I tested once a 0-60 with all my pool gear in the truck and extra weight and it was 6.7 all stock. I did the same test just sort of taking off and I believe the gps was a tad behind as I had to slam on the brakes shortly after 60 to make my turn but the timer said 6.3 but the seat of the pants said a lot faster. I will be hitting my local dyno as well as the track to see how the times go. I'm no noobie to performance vehicles so I should have some pretty close to best times to expect for the mods with a 2x4 truck will do. Stay tuned!
I first started by changing the oil for the first time in the truck, I thought I had it level but was wrong when it came time to take off the filter (those who have changed know the square hole makes a mess if unexpected oil comes from there). Anyway, changed the oil and used Mobil 1 5w-30 6 quarts, definitely feel the next change will go a lot cleaner.
I wanted to do the plugs first, it was pretty straight forward with the passenger side rear being the only one I needed to change extensions on and use a stick magnet, not necessary just easier. Took me maybe 30-45 minutes taking my time but all in all a pretty easy job. I used the stock gaps that came on the plugs also.
Next was the fun part, the 170* stat. You will need to pull off the y pipe on your intake system regardless for this and if you're going to add the air aid so that's what I did. The t stat is located on the top dead center of your front part of the engine. I'm a bigger guy with long arms and big hands so this is where it became fun to get "in" and able to wrench. I didn't take off any of the other intake tubes mainly because I could get to the housing and didn't want to have to reach farther down and hook back up something else. I lost about a gallon of coolant, caught maybe 30 oz or so in cups and reused and replaced with distilled water (sure there are mixed reviews but i've done this in all of my fords and havent had any issues, runs cooler also). The fun part was bolting everything back up, at this point you're wet with anti freeze and aggravated after looking like you got in a fight with a cat on your arms. The front bolt went in great and I would suggest having that one in first and somewhat snug so the pressure from the lower radiator hose isn't causing the last bolt to cross thread, like mine did which turned into a headache. Just make sure you don't start tightening the bolts at the beginning if there is any resistance that finger tightening wouldn't do. After about an hour and a half of feeling defeated by this last fucking bolt I finally got it sorted out and installed. Now, i'm assuming there was air in the system or one of the belts was wet and slipping as after I filled up my res tank it was making a noise right at the housing while the truck was running with the heater at full blast. I let it run for about 10 minutes, shut it off, checked everything and then sprayed all the fluid that spilled off and then went for a test drive. Everything checked out and he noise went away.
I have stock exhaust, the sound from just the airaid increased enough to hear from inside the cab as well as even more with the windows down. It felt more responsive also.
I then came back home and loaded my Livernois 93 performance tune v10, certainly not as detailed as a SCT3 but it works and is easy to use once you use it once. I'm confident my wife who has never used any tuners before wouldn't have a problem following the directions and loading a tune. So after about 10 minutes the tune is loaded and I took it out for a test drive.
The first part I wanted to test was part throttle to see how well the truck will drive over stock in everyday situations. It felt more responsive and smoother. The truck felt like my previous lightning's did when you give it part throttle to accelerate, enough to be to the speed limit quick. The turbos spooled a noticeable bit faster and were also louder than before and louder than when just the airaid was on prior to loading the tune. I then did the meat and potatoes, a full wot pull from about 55. It felt a good bit faster than before, didn't feel to somewhat plain out after the shift and held the rpms about another 500 rpms. I then tested out a 30 mph manual 1st gear roll start, it was peppy. After a few more minutes to let things cool off a bit I turned around and headed home to do a very slow roll auto drop down. It took off, shifted crisp and didn't break traction. I was impressed and certainly exceeding the 55mph speed limit by some bit. On my street going home I did a half ass dig. Previously I tested once a 0-60 with all my pool gear in the truck and extra weight and it was 6.7 all stock. I did the same test just sort of taking off and I believe the gps was a tad behind as I had to slam on the brakes shortly after 60 to make my turn but the timer said 6.3 but the seat of the pants said a lot faster. I will be hitting my local dyno as well as the track to see how the times go. I'm no noobie to performance vehicles so I should have some pretty close to best times to expect for the mods with a 2x4 truck will do. Stay tuned!
