Engine upgrades - anything I'm missing?

[Mahu24]

Catless down pipes, as you have planned, remove the 3rd cat as well. I run an X pipe in place of the 3rd cat, and also deleted the resonator. However on a flex I would not advise removing the resonator.

Intercooler, this makes a very large difference once you are tuned. I run a Gearhead intercooler.

Upgraded HPFP, I run the XDI35 on 94 octane pump gas.

Turbos. The best bang for your buck turbos are from CR Performance, they are all new except the exhaust housings which have a core charge. They are substantially more affordable than the Gearhead or Turbo Bay Performance turbos, but definitely do not perform as well. For example, the CR Performance turbos can be maxed out without any risk to the rods. The Turbo Bay Performance and Gearhead turbos, can, make enough power to risk the rods. I am saving up for gearhead turbos OR, when Turbo Bay Performance comes out with their stage 4 turbos.

Other than that, there is also intake manifold porting, a ported throttle body, which I run both.

After that, you're pretty much as far as you can go without pulling the engine to port heads, exhaust manifolds, and building the internals.

Of course if you want ethanol, for ease of use you would want to go E85, and that requires a lot of upgrades. XDI-60 HPFP, hellcat or dual LPFP, XDI injectors, and an ethanol sensor. Not worth it to go that far for me.

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

Catless down pipes, as you have planned, remove the 3rd cat as well. I run an X pipe in place of the 3rd cat, and also deleted the resonator. However on a flex I would not advise removing the resonator.

Intercooler, this makes a very large difference once you are tuned. I run a Gearhead intercooler.

Upgraded HPFP, I run the XDI35 on 94 octane pump gas.

Turbos. The best bang for your buck turbos are from CR Performance, they are all new except the exhaust housings which have a core charge. They are substantially more affordable than the Gearhead or Turbo Bay Performance turbos, but definitely do not perform as well. For example, the CR Performance turbos can be maxed out without any risk to the rods. The Turbo Bay Performance and Gearhead turbos, can, make enough power to risk the rods. I am saving up for gearhead turbos OR, when Turbo Bay Performance comes out with their stage 4 turbos.

Other than that, there is also intake manifold porting, a ported throttle body, which I run both.

After that, you're pretty much as far as you can go without pulling the engine to port heads, exhaust manifolds, and building the internals.

Of course if you want ethanol, for ease of use you would want to go E85, and that requires a lot of upgrades. XDI-60 HPFP, hellcat or dual LPFP, XDI injectors, and an ethanol sensor. Not worth it to go that far for me.

The XDI-35 just allows for E30+ I'm assuming, but to run E85 you need the XDI-60? Seems like a ton of work and cost to run E85. Has anyone run E85 on the stock turbos to see how much power you'd get out of it compared to just running 91? It's sounding like the only other upgrade that would be "worth" it for me would be the intercooler as long as it fits the Flex fine.

 

[Mahu24]

The XDI-35 just allows for E30+ I'm assuming, but to run E85 you need the XDI-60? Seems like a ton of work and cost to run E85. Has anyone run E85 on the stock turbos to see how much power you'd get out of it compared to just running 91? It's sounding like the only other upgrade that would be "worth" it for me would be the intercooler as long as it fits the Flex fine.

You will max out the stock pump with bigger turbos, since I am going that route, I went ahead and put the bigger pump on already. I don't plan to run anything other than pump gas and 113 race gas.
Going to E85, like I stated, requires a lot of upgrades.

I would for sure do the intercooler and bigger turbos.

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

You will max out the stock pump with bigger turbos, since I am going that route, I went ahead and put the bigger pump on already. I don't plan to run anything other than pump gas and 113 race gas.
Going to E85, like I stated, requires a lot of upgrades.

I would for sure do the intercooler and bigger turbos.

Yeah, I figured the stock pump was maxed on bigger turbos, that makes sense. I'm just referring to if the upgraded pump was needed for anything besides E30+ on stock turbos. It's making sense why I'm not seeing much for E85 setups on this vehicles due to the cost to run it. Again, I'm curious how much more power it actually would make over 91 on stock turbos. I do plan on upgrading the turbos down the road once I lose one, but I figured getting all the supporting mods in place to start with would be a good idea, that way it's much cheaper when it comes time to purchase them.

 

[kryptto]

Yeah, I figured the stock pump was maxed on bigger turbos, that makes sense. I'm just referring to if the upgraded pump was needed for anything besides E30+ on stock turbos. It's making sense why I'm not seeing much for E85 setups on this vehicles due to the cost to run it. Again, I'm curious how much more power it actually would make over 91 on stock turbos. I do plan on upgrading the turbos down the road once I lose one, but I figured getting all the supporting mods in place to start with would be a good idea, that way it's much cheaper when it comes time to purchase them. They charge a flat $79 to customize the bucket with their pump. I just thought this might help ya I am looking to go e85, and get sn XD.

I don't know if the Flex uses a saddle gas tank like the Explorer or like the Taurus just a single low pressure fuel pump. If interested, I just inquired for myself, upgrading the in tank lpfp, with DW. I can share the email I received if you want to see the upgrade procedure.

 

[Mahu24]

Yeah, I figured the stock pump was maxed on bigger turbos, that makes sense. I'm just referring to if the upgraded pump was needed for anything besides E30+ on stock turbos. It's making sense why I'm not seeing much for E85 setups on this vehicles due to the cost to run it. Again, I'm curious how much more power it actually would make over 91 on stock turbos. I do plan on upgrading the turbos down the road once I lose one, but I figured getting all the supporting mods in place to start with would be a good idea, that way it's much cheaper when it comes time to purchase them.

If you plan to upgrade turbos, then definitely get at least the XDI35 HPFP.

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

If you plan to upgrade turbos, then definitely get at least the XDI35 HPFP.

Oh for sure if I upgraded the turbos it would get the XDI-35 at minimum. I know it would be useful for feeding a larger turbo setup. For the stock turbos though it seems to only be useful if you're wanting to run E-30+, which I won't be as I don't want to mix fuels. My question was more if there are any real gains on E85 on the stock turbo setup, especially with it requiring thousands of dollars to run.

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

I don't know if the Flex uses a saddle gas tank like the Explorer or like the Taurus just a single low pressure fuel pump. If interested, I just inquired for myself, upgrading the in tank lpfp, with DW. I can share the email I received if you want to see the upgrade procedure.

Pretty sure it's the saddle tank. Also, I'd assume if I'm not changing the HPFP there's not a reason to change the LPFP?

 

[kryptto]

Pretty sure it's the saddle tank. Also, I'd assume if I'm not changing the HPFP there's not a reason to change the LPFP?

My thoughts were this, not using a gas blend, fine. However you are considering replacing a failed turbo with bigger. Aging OEM lpfp, with a newer pump to deliver constant pressure to the stock hpfp , as well as the extra demand from bigger turbos. Staging a low cost yet more constant pressure might be a consideration.

 

[Mahu24]

Oh for sure if I upgraded the turbos it would get the XDI-35 at minimum. I know it would be useful for feeding a larger turbo setup. For the stock turbos though it seems to only be useful if you're wanting to run E-30+, which I won't be as I don't want to mix fuels. My question was more if there are any real gains on E85 on the stock turbo setup, especially with it requiring thousands of dollars to run.

Possibly, I'm not sure. You'd have to ask your tuner if you would see any benefit

Pretty sure it's the saddle tank. Also, I'd assume if I'm not changing the HPFP there's not a reason to change the LPFP?

Big difference is the consistency of the DW pump, the OEM pump is not very good lol

 

[kryptto]

Possibly, I'm not sure. You'd have to ask your tuner if you would see any benefit

Big difference is the consistency of the DW pump, the OEM pump is not very good lol

https://www.fortheworkshop.com/a-guide-to-understanding-the-fuel-float-arrangement/ @The_Auto_Tech

 

[Mahu24]

https://www.fortheworkshop.com/a-guide-to-understanding-the-fuel-float-arrangement/ @The_Auto_Tech

Very good writeup, that's exactly why mine has a DW pump lol

 

[kryptto]

Very good writeup, that's exactly why mine has a DW pump lol

Gonna pay DW to do mine, I don't have all the tools - they will do it correctly. That was wrktten by from the infamous @Ecoboost_xsport

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

Does the DW pump replace the factory fuel pump then or are you guys adding a transfer pump to replace the siphon side?

Also, if I am going to upgrade the turbos eventually, wouldn't it be better to just hold out for the XDI-60 pump to run E-85 if I'm not going to do E30+?

 

[kryptto]

Does the DW pump replace the factory fuel pump then or are you guys adding a transfer pump to replace the siphon side?

Ha! For the Taurus we don't have a saddle, so read that article closely. For us it's just one bucket with pump.

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

Ha! For the Taurus we don't have a saddle, so read that article closely. For us it's just one bucket with pump.

I just assumed that article for for a Taurus since you linked it, but I see it's for an Explorer. The Flex has a saddle tank yes. The Flex would be setup the same as that article then.

 

[kryptto]

I just assumed that article for for a Taurus since you linked it, but I see it's for an Explorer. The Flex has a saddle tank yes. The Flex would be setup the same as that article then.

Yes sorry I wasn't more clear.

 

[The_Auto_Tech]

Yes sorry I wasn't more clear.

No worries. Are the Taurus guys having starvation issues then or what's the deal that the DW pump corrects?

 

[Mahu24]

Gonna pay DW to do mine, I don't have all the tools - they will do it correctly. That was wrktten by from the infamous @Ecoboost_xsport

Yep he has lots of great information. It's easy to install I found. But I had it on my bench for a while to just get it right

 

[Mahu24]

No worries. Are the Taurus guys having starvation issues then or what's the deal that the DW pump corrects?

Starvation issues when running larger HPFP, and in some cases, even with the stock one. Also inconsistent output from the OEM pump.