So I just got my hands on my 01 this past week. I'm new to the 4.6L engines scene and was wondering what are some good engine mods to start with (engine is still stock)? It's my daily driver so I'm not looking to kill its gas mileage but i'm also looking to put a few more horses under the hood. I was thinking about starting off with CAI, TB, and plenum....or something along those lines.

I'm ballparking my initial budget around $600. What would you have done with the money?

Thanks.

 

Welcome Standard,

From someone who's spent money on trivia things i would pass on all 3^ ESPECIALLY ESPECIALLY CIA. Your not going to be happy for what it's worth starting out since those bolt-ons are what we call supporting mods. (You maybe might get 10 hp tops for those 3 together). The CIA your looking at is the exact same as the oem version you got now. If you want to, the only thing you'd need is a: Drop-in (reuseable K&N filter).

For 600 buck your best thing to buy are 3.73's or 4.10's gears + a handheld tuner. You won't regret it, it's something that will make an impact right away in terms of acceleration & set of your pants horsepower (WARNING: no actually HP gains can be had from gears, just quicking lauch times).

Travel on over to the 4.6 section & read up

 

Agreed! the CAI is a good mod, but not a lot of performance gain. the best way to improve horsepower and still have gas mileage is some gears. I say 4.10's but it's up to you. Good Luck!

 

Im not trying to nitpick anything because we're both agreeing about the samething here but, the OP has a 01 which doesn't respond as good to bolt-ons then later years such as 05-09's. Getting a CIA for 99-04 is pointless because the oem is a CAI, all it needs is a reusable air filter.

Gears DONOT improve horsepower. Yes, it may feel faster but no HP gains can come from gears. Gears are for faster acceleration off the line only. Also gears don't improve GAS mileage.

Depending upon your driving style you may loose 1 or 2 but most likely mpg will stay the same.

The only true way to getting better mpg is a) a custom tune b) drive like a little old lady (lol)

 

I'm not aiming to get better gas mileage, just trying not to lose all that much haha. but after looking at the 4.6L forums and some other stuff I decided to start off with some 3.73 gears. I'm actually getting them installed tomorrow (friday). It's my daily driver so I didnt want to bump up to 4.10s. The car has a custom tune on it but i dont know anything about handheld tuners so im hoping they can just use my SCT to calibrate the speedo without charging me an arm and a leg.

 

DON"T FEAR THE GEAR!!!!

4.10's are okay for DD

 

^what Sonic said. I have 3.73s, and I really wish I woulda gone with 4.10s (my 1/4 times are killing me)

 

I have 4.10's also and i DD it. I dont regret a thing.

 

My first engine mod was a Steeda CAI with a Steeda tune. Although it's changed a lot since then.