Drag Racing my F-150

VMAX  Forum

Help Support VMAX Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Itgoes

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2008
Messages
2,221
Reaction score
492
Location
NY
I took my truck to the track Saturday. I couldn't stay long so only made 3 passes, but had fun while I was there.

I've got 54,000 miles on my truck, I've been running a "tune" (re-flash) in it for about a year now. It has tons of TQ which makes it real fun to drive on the street.

Real happy with my results, I'm just a tick off a high 12 second 1/4 mile. I think with a little practice and couple of adjustments I can get there. I think I may have hurt some feelings in my 3 runs. Not bad for a heavyweight crew cab pickup!


 
Sounded like that 2nd Stang missed a shift. Pretty fast for a pick up. Should try a few runs in 4 wheel, help get out of hole a little faster, might drop your 1/4 mile time though. Maybe loose the tail gate next time, any other excess weight, spare tire, bed liner, tonnue cover, floor mats, every little bit helps. May even try making a run with 1/4 tank of fuel. Drain the windshield washer tank lol that's just over 8lbs. A gallon itself. Might help achieve that high 12. Pretty cool seeing a pick up beat a couple stangs on the track
 
Ha ha....good minds think alike!
I had most of that stuff covered. Launched in 4 wheel drive, bed mat out, floor mats out, a little over 1/4 tank of gas.

I wanted to remove the spare cause it's pretty heavy but didn't have time to do it.

It was a nice day (in the high 60's) but even cooler air might be enough to go faster.

If I could hook in 2 wheel drive that would give me some more HP that the front differential and wheels are robbing.....for sure I would trap. at a higher speed. I do have a locker rear but the truck has so much TQ that spin and bad wheel hop usually ruin things. I will try that though if I get there again.

Yeah I think that poor fella in the black Mustang may have panicked when I left a little early. He spun, then missed a shift.
 
If you have the 4 on the fly, you could shift to 2 high after the 60' should help you gain the top end. Yeah, I think you caught him sleeping.

My wife has a 07 gt500, it's hard to launch without spinning, I've only done it on the street at lights. 3,900lb car, but most of the weight is in the front. My 2500 Dodge gets out of hole pretty quick, 5spd. Manual, 4.10 gears limited slip 5.7 hemi,but it weighs 6,860 full tank gas with me in it, lol. If I can catch the rpms, and the synchros just right I can grab gears, but if I miss I'm done lol. I can start in 2nd gear, I get most cars in the first 20 feet or so, but it's just so heavy lol. Not on a track, I just like messing with people at lights lol. I was messing with a suburu wrx one time, he had to get serious to beat me, lol. He looked pretty upset, he sped away in a hurry lol.
 
What engine is in the truck? Any mods other than the tune?

It's a 3.5 twin turbo..... Ecoboost.
This is the 3rd truck I've had with that engine. From 2017 forward F-150's have 10 speed transmissions that improved performance across the board and especially help the 5.0 liter because it makes a lot less TQ than the 3.5.

The truck is completely stock.... the Ionly thing I did was pull the air filter for the those 3 runs.
 
I worked with a guy that had the Ecoboost. Had a small lift with 35s. Claims he put on an exhaust, with a tune and it added over 100 hp. Says he could smoke the 35s with no problem. He's since traded it.
 
Yeah, it's amazing the gains you can get now-a-days with just a tune. Especially with forced induction. The bang for the buck is off the charts. For a few hundred dollars, gains of 50-75 HP and 100+ lbs. of TQ are possible with no other mods.

Takes 10 minutes. Imagine the cost and time involved years ago to make gains like that. .

The engine is 375/470 stock, tuned around 475/570.
 
Forced induction is a great thing.
My brother worked for Ford and had a young kid kept coming in for blown turbos under warranty, they would get hot and crack, or burn the impeller out of them, along with the bearings But he had a huge lift with 37" tires and it was just too much for the Ecoboost to handle. Hopefully forced induction will become a regular thing for car manufactures. I love the supercharger whine on my wife's gt500.
 
I've got a stock 2018 3.5 ecoboost. Super cab w/long box. Few inches longer and a few pounds lighter than the CC w/short box.
I'd like to do a tune on it but I'm afraid to void the warranty. I have a ford premium care warranty for 8 years/150,000 miles.
 
I've got a stock 2018 3.5 ecoboost. Super cab w/long box. Few inches longer and a few pounds lighter than the CC w/short box.
I'd like to do a tune on it but I'm afraid to void the warranty. I have a ford premium care warranty for 8 years/150,000 miles.

I've tuned my 3 trucks that I've had since 2011. I did all my service at the dealership. I've only had 1 major warranty repair and that was on this truck for the cam phasers. This is a known issue with the Gen 2 3.5. Mines a 2017.....I don't know if it was fixed for 2018 and later.

Anyway I've never had an issue at the dealership with the truck being tuned. I can't remember an example of someone being denied a claim because of a tune, on any of the forums I've poked around on over the years. I'd think if you went overboard with for instance ab e85 tune and a bunch of mechanical performance parts.....and then put a rod through the block, you might be up shits creek.
I usually pull the tune out when I take it to the dealer but that's mostly because sometimes they have a flash update from the factory and if they install that over my tune it would disable my tuner device because it knows what's supposed to be in the truck. They do that so people can't use a tuner to tune multiple vehicles. Also if they're performing a service that would require a test drive anybody driving the truck with know right away that it's not stock..... and they don't need to know that.
If it's just in for an oil change I don't even bother.
I met a guy at the track with a Taurus SHO. He's had a pretty aggressive tune in it since the car had 700 miles on it. He's now at 55000 with no issues and it runs 12 flat in the 1/4.
So these engines are pretty stout...the Raptor is now making 450 HP from the factory and I believe that's accomplished mostly all in the tune.
But I understand your trepidation, nobody wants to be denied a warranty repair nowadays with the cost parts and labor.
 
My old Silverado with the 5.3 LS engine has some decent giddyup. In stock form yet. I've had some stop light fun over the years with it. With some weight in the bed it's a terror off the line. I'd be a perfect driveline for an old Chevy deuce.
 
Back
Top