When I am asked about the Chevy High Performance stickers on the side windows of my '97 Ford F-150, as in, "Bud, shouldn't you be driving a Chevy?" I confess that I made the deal on it before I became editor of CHP, and I truly love this truck. It's practical, comfortable, fairly economical to own, and it had less than 34,000 on the clock when I traded for it two years ago. I saw it as fertile grounds for a little bit of foolin' as well as an avenue to combine pragmatism and function and swap some new parts for ones that would inevitably need replacement.
In CHP, we ran a three-part series on Jeff Smith's and Tim Moore's early-'90s GM 1500 trucks, one powered by a 350, the other a 305. Reader response was loud enough that I offered a similar deal for the Ford. As the best-selling vehicle in the United States for 15 years or more, the F-150 has become the primary transportation mode of many households, so finding an audience for the changes I intended wouldn't be difficult.
The way the relatively small (281ci) 4.6L engine performs, especially when encased in 4,000 pounds of full-frame blubber, has always amazed me. Naturally, I wanted to improve the torque value (300 lb-ft stock) though not necessarily up the power, and certainly didn't intend to reach for anything above 5,000 rpm. It's a work truck, a hauler, not a street gremmie. I wanted more low-end grunt and knew that the computer could be mildly reprogrammed and that I could clean up the exhaust system with aftermarket devices.
Perhaps the worst things about the '97 F-150 are the OE brakes and tires. From experience, I knew that the disc/drum brake combo would be adequate, but it is controlled by an antiquated ABS that, when invoked, doesn't do anything for the first second of hurried pedal application; then the front tires chirp and the antilock feature begins to "work." Certainly not confidence-inspiring and not at all a comfortable feeling when a sea of freeway taillights suddenly begins burning bright. I was immediately suspicious of the tall and skinny OE BFGoodrich Long Trail tires, ones that never failed to emit a low squeal around ordinary turns and were downright unnerving on wet, running pavement. I wanted to add nominally larger tires and wheels as well.
A smooth ride and good handling mean more to me than going scary fast. By nature, the truck's suspension was designed to handle a loaded extra cab and 6-foot bed rather than sticking to the tarmac like a spider, so the center of gravity is naturally high and naturally anathema to the notion of meaningful handling. I'd change the ride height, increase the spring rate a bit, add aftermarket dampers, and finish up with some anti-wriggle polyurethane bushings and links for the front sway bar. Since the thing is already too light in the back end, I thought adding a rear bar would be overkill. I wasn't looking for a corner carver per se, but rather a vehicle that I could steer out of trouble before it began.
Even before I imagined this article might ever appear, I wanted to enhance the sleek lines of the F and make it more agile, too, without going to dropped spindles, lowering blocks, or a Z'd frame. Roush Performance delivered its three-leaf rear spring bundles (which sit on top of the axle); shorter, stiffer coil springs; and Bilstein shock absorbers with valving to suit the combination. All of this is a bolt-in procedure providing a 3-inch-front and 4-inch-rear drop.
I did no racetrack instrumentation but rather let the butt end of my Levis read the changes in a 20,000-mile-long real-world setting. Let's just say the package is very well engineered and lends itself equally well to ride comfort as it does to cornering ability. No bottoming out, no bumpstop interference, and no tangible detriment to moderate load-carrying ability. If there is a sore spot, it's that the shocks need a tad more rebound control as the suspension unloads from dips and bumps at freeway speed. It pistons up and down just one stroke too long for my liking. Otherwise, wheel control is brisk and predictable, and the turn-in feels just as crisp, despite the numb-gum rubber. There is one major caveat with this lowering business-it diminishes the F's payload by half, dropping the 1,000-pound maximum to about 500, though the times I carried an all-aluminum 632-inch Rat and a supercharged iron small-block snuggled close to the rear window, the F behaved admirably.
To provide a smooth ride, a manageable combination, and a high rate of adhesion when needed, I opted for Hankook Ventus ST RH06 rubber and mated their 275/55VR dimensions with forged Center Line Sting Ray III 17x8 rims. The Hankooks are an all-weather design and virtually the same diameter as the BFGs (28.9 inches versus 29.0), so there is no noticeable change in the speedometer calculation. Their V-rating means they'll sustain 149 mph, but that's way more than the F will ever see. The stock 235/70SR16 tires and 7-inch-wide aluminum wheels are relative flyweights at 42 pounds. Though the Hankook/Center Line plus-1 combo tips in at 57 pounds, the increased unsprung mass isn't readily apparent, the corner-carving squeal is gone, and the 55-series sidewall is cushy enough to provide a comfortable journey.
To enhance braking power, I opted for Power Slot rotors, Hawk HPS-compound brake pads, and Classic Tube stainless steel braided lines. The unidirectional rotors are the same size as the original discs (12.0 inches) but slotted rather than smooth to expel the gases that form under pressure. The brake pads contain a semi-aggressive compound that recovers quickly under repeated application yet isn't abrasive enough to cause premature rotor wear. Thankfully, they operate without a sound. Finally, to negate the swelling that often plagues OE rubber brake lines under heavy pedal pressure: stainless braided units, which telegraph a solid, positive feel to the pedal. I'm convinced that the effect they have on my psyche is as good as the actual mechanical benefit they provide.
The front brakes were serviced about two years ago (cut rotors and new OE pads) and operated normally. To gain a baseline, I tested the stock system with the usual 60-to-zero parameter. The seven-run average was 157 feet. Time Machines' Phil Somers and Mike Dear installed the equipment that marginally improved the stopping distance with an average of 155 feet, without fade, strong and die-straight. I frosted the cake with the Center Lines and Hankooks and recorded 149 feet.
All good projects begin with baseline numbers so you can tell how far you've progressed, when you're done with it, or how much further you have to go. When I got the F it already had a K&N filter in the stock airbox so I let it be. I took it to Richard Waitas at the Magnaflow chassis-dyno facility where it established 176 rear-wheel horsepower (flywheel rated at 220 hp) and 266 lb-ft, both values at 4,200 rpm. With the Magnaflow after-cat stainless steel exhaust system in place, the figures jumped to 187 rwhp and 275 lb-ft of torque. While I was thinking shorty headers, Richard eschewed the idea and said that high-flow catalytic converters would make more of a difference, and indeed they did. The 4.6L jammed out 190 hp and 282 lb-ft of grunt.
Though the stainless steel system maintains a stock diameter, the cats flow much better than the stockers, and that was something that I could really feel. Throttle response was demonstrably better from off-idle all the way to redline. I'd been recording an overall fuel mileage of 18 mpg, but the freer-flowing exhaust bumped that figure by an average of 1.5 mpg.
Since the F is nearing its eighth year, I respectfully replaced the original spark plugs and spark plug wires with Motorcraft AGSF32FM platinum-tip plugs and MSD 8.5mm Super Conductor wires. So I could sleep better, Time Machines replaced the far-from-crumbling upper and lower radiator hoses, serpentine belt, and upper and lower idler gears with Goodyear items. To bolster the electrical system, they snugged a premium Optima Red Top battery in place.
All this was in anticipation of the heightened performance parameters that the Hypertech Power Programmer would afford. Hypertech's Jim McFarland suggested an improvement of 0.3 to 0.7 second in the 0-60 spin, but that 93-octane fuel was required to get it. With a wisp of smoke from the 275s, the F pulled 60 mph in 8.55 seconds. Certainly not a wig-ripper, but more importantly, the idle was smoother and the low-end to midrange pull was stronger and came on quicker-just what I'd hope the programmer would afford. The computer upgrade took about an hour, and most of that time was waiting for the programmer to do its work. All of it can be just as easily undone by returning the tables to the original parameters.
So what we got is success for a change, a true utilitarian sporting a bit of flash, noticeable throttle response (17-lb-ft and 13hp increase), and better ride and handling, and it's a reliable daily driver. Everything works as advertised and there's nothing about the modifications that we wouldn't repeat.
Roush’s New Alignment Specs Left Front Right Front Min. Max. Min. Max. Caster 5.2 7.2 5.2 7.2 Camber -1.0 0.4 -1.35 0.15 Toe -0.10 0.16 -0.10 0.16 PARTS Manufacturer Product PN Classic Tube RF stainless brake hose 9002 LF stainless brake hose 9001 Center stainless brake hose 9003 Center Line Wheels Sting Ray III 17x8.0 201 Energy Suspension Sway bar bushing/link kit 4.5147 Goodyear Poly V-belt 4080990 Idler pulley 49008 Idler pulley 49231 Upper radiator hose 62201 Lower radiator hose 62202 Hankook Tire, USA 275/55VR17 tires 1004326 Hawk Performance Brake pads HB266F.650 Hypertech Power Programmer III 41037 K&N Engineering Air filter E-0945 Magnaflow After-cat exhaust system 15609 High-flow catalytic converters 15475 MSD 8.5mm wires 217420 {{{Optima}}} Red Top battery 34-1050 Power Slot RH 12.0-inch rotor 8555PSR LH 12.0-inch rotor 8555PSL Roush Performance Suspension kit 00-3K000.RC
