Hey guys, this is Zach with 8020 Media. Here today with a video
on the best Ford F-150 5.0 Coyote engine upgrades. So we recently filmed a
video and discussed the best
upgrades for the 5.0 Coyote engine in the Mustang GT. If you're looking to mod or tune your
F-150 and you're looking at dynos and numbers from the Mustang GT, you might be a little bit disappointed
at the end result on the F-150. That's not to say anything bad about it, but we'll circle back to those power gains
and talk about what power numbers you can expect out of the 5.0L in the
F-150 from these mods we discuss. So jumping right in, number one best mod for the F-150
5.0L Coyote is going to be a tune. This can offer power gains of
around 10 to 25 wheel horsepower. The higher end of those power gains is
generally be seen with custom tuning and higher pump gas, like 91 or 93 octane instead
of the typical 87 lower grade fuels. Solid power gains for just a tune.
But really one of the biggest things with Attune is not only do you
get those power gains, but that's also the foundation for
building a more powerful 5.0 Coyote. A tune will help maximize the power and
performance gains from other mods like an intake, headers, intake manifold,
again, running better quality fuels. The tune is really going to help bring
out the life and all of those other modifications and upgrades. Custom tuning is going to be your best
bet for maximum power gains. However, the downside to custom tuning is
if you then do go back and add more modifications and upgrades
to the truck in the future, then you'll have to go back and have a
couple revisions done on the tune if you want to maximize the benefits
from these additional upgrades. So generally custom tuning is one of
those things that's best to save. Just start off with one of the
base off the shelf maps, and once you have your
truck in a good spot, you're done with upgrades and
modifications for a while, then that's a good time to
circle back to custom tuning. Get things dialed into your specific
5.0 Coyote and try to extract that extra 5 or 10 wheel horsepower
through a custom tune. Moving on to number two on the list. This also ties into tuning and
that's converting to 100% E85 on the 5.0L Coyote. E85 generally offers the biggest power
gains on forced induction engines, but the Coyote does respond
very well to ethanol fuel, and that's especially true with the third
gen engine with its 12:1 compression ratio. Higher compression engines definitely
love E85 forced its knock suppression, and it really allows your
tuner to maximize the ignition advance and get the most power out of
that. So with an E85 tune and no other mods, you can expect to pick up
about 30 to 50 wheel horsepower, with those higher numbers mostly being
seen on the Gen 3 Coyote engine and some of the older 2011 to 2017s might only
see power gains on the lower end of that, about 30, 35 wheel
horsepower. But nonetheless, still very impressive power gains. One downside two E85 fueling is
that it does increase the fuel flow requirements. It's
a lot more demanding. Running full E85 requires
about 30% to 35% more fuel flow on the first and second gen 5.0L V8. You should definitely upgrade the
fuel injectors at the very least, and a fuel pump upgrade is a good idea. It might not be absolutely
required to upgrade that fuel pump, but it's kind of a case by case
basis. Depends on your other mods, what kind of power you're
expecting to make after it, but still a great mod to go ahead and
just make sure you have that extra safety net built in and that you're not running
the 5.0L Coyotes fuel system to the very edge. Little bit less of an issue
on the gen three since those engines do have the direct and port injection combo
makes fueling a lot easier for these full E85 setups and conversions. Moving on to number three on our list
for the best F-150 5.0 Coyote engine mods. We have a cold air intake and this is
one of the least impressive mods we're talking about from power gains
and a performance perspective. Probably expect to pick up about
5 to 10 horsepower from an intake upgrade. Nothing super impressive. It's a very common and popular
upgrade just because it is so cheap, so simple to install, and
it really doesn't take much. So if you're just getting
into modding your 5.0 Coyote, then a great starting point is just
going ahead and comboing a tune with an intake.
Again, with minimal mods like that, the intake isn't going to really
add much for power or performance, but as you start adding additional
mods like long tube headers, intake manifold upgrades, especially
if you move to forced induction, then an intake upgrade can really
start to show much better power gains. Just an easy mod to recommend
because it is super easy to install. You shouldn't have to go to a shop pretty
much anyone should be able to do at home in their driveway.
It's only about $200, $300 depending on exactly what
intake upgrade you go for. So a good mod just to throw on in the
early stages when you're getting familiar with the F-150 and the 5.0L V8. Combining that tune with an
intake is a great starting point, not something that's absolutely needed, especially if you're just sticking
with lighter modifications, but still a good upgrade
to have in the long term, especially as you continue adding more
power and more mods to the truck. Number four on the list here, we have long tube headers and this
is debatably the single best upgrade that you can do to a naturally
aspirated 5.0 Coyote. Outside of major, more expensive upgrades like
camshafts, or excluding the E85 tuning, this is up there as one of the best bang
for your buck bolt-on mods for the 5.0 Coyote and the F-150. One thing to keep in mind when you're
going with long tube headers is those will remove the OEM catalytic converters. So the main two options you'll come across
will be catless long tube headers and then high-flow catted. Long
tube headers In most states, both of them are technically
illegal. However, high-flow catted headers will have a
better chance of passing any form of emissions inspections. You should still pass an actual sniffer
test and when it comes to visual inspections, they'll see that the catalytic converters
are still in place and so that should be good for a pass there. Of course, with
the catless, those are likely to fail, even visual inspections since
they'll look under the truck, see that there aren't any
catalytic converters in place, and that will likely be an instant fail
for your emissions or visual inspection. One major downside to
long tube headers there. The other downside is if you're not
capable or don't want to install the long tube headers on your own, you'll probably end up spending about
$500 to $800 at a shop to get that job done. And it can also be tough to find a shop
that is willing to do the job just since these mods can be considered illegal and
the shops don't want to be held liable or get in trouble for that, so can be
a little hard to track down a shop. And again, $500 to $800 in
installation costs. If you DIY the job, it's nothing too complex, but it does take some time
and take a little patience. It's kind of a tight area to work with
while getting those headers in there. So it could be a little bit of
a pain. Ultimately, again, this is one of the best bang for your
buck mods you can get for the F-150 with the 5.0L Coyote. Very worthwhile
upgrade if you can get it done. Last but not least on the
list here for number five, we have two different upgrades.
When you get to this point, it becomes a little more questionable
and down to your personal goals and preferences with the
F-150 and the 5.0 Coyote. So a couple different options
you can go with at this point. One great mod is a catback exhaust. This isn't gonna be the
biggest power mod around, probably expect about 3 to 5
horsepower from a catback exhaust, not including the gains from the headers
or that initial part of the exhaust system, but for the price of a catback
exhaust, which can run $1,000, $1,500, even $2,000 or more.
Obviously, 3 to 5 horsepower gains
are nothing impressive. So the biggest thing for doing the
catback exhaust is for those sounds, which obviously the 5.0 Coyote
with a proper exhaust setup sounds incredible. Some people might think that's
money well spent and very worthwhile. However, if you are mostly chasing the
best bang for your buck and going after horsepower, performance, then probably skip over the catback
exhaust and those minimal power gains and look to spend the money on other
bolt-on mods like an intake manifold. An intake manifold can show power gains
of about 10 to 20 wheel horsepower, so another great upgrade
right there. Otherwise, there are tons of different routes
you can go with the Coyote. Of course, camshafts are another great upgrade. The only downside to cams is
you can end up spending $2,000 plus just on the cams and associated
parts and then labor and install on that can add another $1,000 $1,500 onto that
total price point. And so at that point, you're getting up into the
$3,000, $4,000 ballpark, which a lot of people don't do
cams on the 5.0 Coyote or the F-150. Mostly on the basis that
once you're getting up to that cost, you know you're talking
about cams adding 20, 30, 40 plus horsepower for
$3,500, if not more. At that point, it's generally best
just to save up for forced induction, spend the $6,000 to $8,000 maybe a
little bit more depending on exactly what setup you go for. But at least
with the forced induction, you can see power gains of a
100, 150 plus wheel horsepower. So generally money much better spent
than on cams unless you're diehard into maximizing your F-150 without moving
to forced induction. Ultimately, that wraps up our video on the
five best upgrades for the F-150 5.0L Coyote. As a quick summary here, I know we kind of talked about it being
a different variant than found in the Mustang GT. So just to wrap this up
with rough areas you can expect to end up power-wise from doing these five
modifications on the first gen engine, 2011 to 2014, you can expect to land somewhere
around 360 to 380 wheel horsepower. If you're not going with E85, then it's gonna be a little bit lower
than that of course. On the gen two, you can expect to land somewhere
around 400 to 425 wheel horsepower. And finally on the newest gen three
engine with the higher 12:1 compression ratio and all of those upgrades, you can expect to land somewhere
around 450 to 475 wheel horsepower. So still very impressive results
for the F-150 5.0L V8. But again, just don't go looking at
Mustang GT numbers and
necessarily expecting the same. Since with these mods, the third gen
engine in the Mustang GT, for example, can see end power in the range
of about 500 to 520 wheel horsepower and compare that to
the 450 to roughly 475 for the F-150. So in the end, mod for mod you'll probably end up
about anywhere from 30 to 50 wheel horsepower lower than the Mustang
GT equivalent 5.0L Coyote. So that said, if you guys like the
video, please hit that like button, subscribe to the channel, and check out the description below for
more awesome content on the Ford F-150. Thanks guys.
