New Adrenalin and a question or two

[H Moses]

Good evening everyone,



After lurking here for a short time I pulled the trigger on a new V8 AWD Adrenalin in Colorado Red. I've put about 1200 miles on it in the past couple weeks and overall am very pleased. I think I'm ready to order exhaust and a programmer soon in the hopes of giving it a bit more bite (it replaced both an SUV and an M5 for me so it can't have too much power!). Thanks to the many forum entries, much of that research was simplified.



I am going to go with Magnaflow exhaust, and I don't expect that to impact fuel economy much as it is getting better than I expected already. I am hopeful it improves sound markedly and performance at least marginally. Research here seems indicative that tuning is where the bulk of the performance increase lies - is that accurate? I am truly surprised there is not more on the internet about performance mods for these trucks as I thought they were very similar to the Mustang power plant. It seems there was a lot of discussion last spring and then those references went dry (ex - Blow By Racing had one they were going to mod early last year, but I never saw any follow up on their success). It is possible I haven't looked in all the right places though. It seems limited to cold air kits, exhaust and some tuning. Are there not superchargers available for the ST(A)s yet?



One last simple question - mine came with the front plate bracket already installed and I'd like to remove that - any advice on how those come off?



Thanks in advance for reading this lengthy post and I'm happy there is a place to come get answers. Looking forward to participating in the forum.



Also - does anyone know where one can get production figures for the Adrenalin. I'm just curious as to how many were produced in '08. I have yet to see another on the road and like that they are a bit exclusive - at least around here.



Best regards,

H

 

[Jason Cronin]

I cut my front plate bracket off by pulling on that little plastic things that hold it in and broke them off. But I'm sure there is a better way of doing it. I just got tired of messing around trying to find the less aggresive way.



I didn't damage anything that was important.

 

[EddieS'04]

Welcome to the site. You will have a wealth of folks chiming in to help. We have several members that have been moding their STA's.

Here is a link to the sound of a magna-flow on a V8 trac.

 

[Shaun Tucker]

Welcome and congratulations on your new Sport Trac !!!



You will love the truck, I'm sure. There are some very proud Adren owners on this site You should be happy that you found one of the best Ford enthousiast web forums around. Lots of very helpful advice and opinions (as long as you stay away from the political threads) :lol:



Here is a link to a project a member wrote on how to get rid of the front license plate bracket.



Hope it helps

 

[kevinbakon]

Congrats!

As most of us STA owners do, I'm sure you'll love it.

It seems to be unanimous that the best bang for the buck is the exhaust and CAI, then Zabteck's (sponsor) modified TB, and lastly the Xcal III from Unleashed (sponsor). Personally Ive gotten as far as the exhaust and CAI. Soon to do the TB and Im waiting for the SCT Touchscreen Xtreme to become available (should be any day now). . . . the TB and Xcal seem to be the biggest gain from what Ive gathered.

Correct, exhaust = very little fuel benefits (if any), some performance, and mostly sound.

There are several CAI post on this site. Do a search and I think youll find that most go with K&N as a default, but would recommend going with a KKN dry filter with some modding. The oiled K&N seems to trip the MAF sensor.

No superchargers that Ive heard of yet, but my buddy who works at a mustang performance shop has a Saleen one in mind that he thinks will work. Im going to wait until my warranty is out for that mod personally.



Here is a post I responded to for another member regarding the license plate removal. It seemed to work for him:

 

[kevinbakon]

. . . . and my original inqueries and follow up on exhaust:



http://www.mysporttrac.com/shared/msgboard9e.asp?BOARDNAME=MSG&VIEW=1147601&REPLYCOUNT=31&sitename=mysporttrac



and the follow-up:

http://www.mysporttrac.com/shared/msgboard9e.asp?BOARDNAME=MSG&VIEW=1152475&REPLYCOUNT=5&sitename=mysporttrac



Hope that helps!

 

[Carey Frennier]

If I was to do it all over again or could only do one or the other, I wouldn't have done anything to my stock exhaust. Instead, I'd have just put a DMH electric cutout in with the Dynomax dump. The DMH cutout sounds freakin amazing and I find the Magnaflow boring now lol. Although, the Magnaflow I use doesn't crackled when not under load which I like. The cutout bypasses the entire catback exhaust system and you can tune it from inside the vehicle with the press of a rocker switch. You can shut it completely off when you don't want it. You can be stealthy when driving around or you can let lose some window shaking exhaust. It's especially nice if you have a high end aftermarket audio system that you don't want competing with your exhaust.



From there, I'd do a Zabteck TB, CAI (stay away from K&N filters), Most importantly, a SCT Xcal3 Programmer with a custom tune. Even the custom tunes are pretty generic but they make a huge difference and really bring your mods together.



Currently, there are no superchargers that fit well for the V8 gen2 STs. There is one that fits the V6 though.



I'd love to know how many 08 STAs were made. Maybe I can figure that out.



If you need some ideas check my profile. I've got the prices I paid and where I bought everything.

 

[H Moses]

Thanks for all the replies.



One more Q I haven't seen addressed - are there BBKs available for these vehicles? The factory ones are nearly case studies in criminally negligent under-engineering. Of course my view on braking standards is tainted by years of M3s and 5s, but these are arguably very weak. I feel like I'm always on the brakes. Its one thing I cannot find any references to in the after market.



Has anyone else had any luck in researching Big Brake kits? or are mine just in need of a TSB?



Thanks,

H

 

[Jon Richmiller]

Upgrading your disks and pads is about all you can do, no BBK's. I believe Dingo may have been working on new ventilated discs.

 

[D Potts]

There are no Big Brake kit's availabel as far as I know!



STEEDA does make a Kit for teh FORD-EDGE which has teh same bolt pattern as us and seems to be very similar....but that costs around $2k



As for Blow By Racing, I talked to Chris there last week and he is going to start tearing into the STA next week. They were going to do it last year but teh Trac was hit by another driver in a parking lot. Once they got that fixed they contacted a Performance Magazine that will be coming out next week to do an article on teh STA build.



Mods I recommend in order:



SCT X3 (fastpartsnetwork.com)

Throttle Body (Zabteck)

Flowmaster 50 series muffler (Remove resonator)



As for the CAI...I am selling my K&N kit...check swap & Sell



Performance wise these are your best bet. Also, I was told that GREEN FILTERS were going to make a "drop-In" filter for us!? DINGO knows more I believe!

 

[H Moses]

Thanks again for the replies.



Exhaust:

I had decided to do a Magnaflow 14416 "Resonator" (4" round by 16") and the 14336 (4X9X14) but am curious as to whether this will be suitably loud enough. I do think it will address any interior resonance, but want it to be sportier than stock. How do the folks who have a single muffler feel about the resonance?



Throttle body:

Is this really that effective?



CAI:

Is there a CAI that does not use the oiled filter element? Is the drop in GREEN filter for the K&N CAI or for the stock airbox?



Brakes:

The only kit for us is the same as a Ranger?! heh heh. 2k is not too bad for a BBK today, but it would be nice were it engineered for the weight, size, and (potential) performance of a V8 ST.



I really like this little truck - it perfectly suits what I was looking for in terms of size, tuning potential, looks, technology integration, etc. (and the wheels are the coolest factory rims I think I've ever seen). I really expected STAs to be embraced by the aftermarket but they may not have sold them in numbers to support these parts yet. I'm not certain how many stock, non STA owners are looking at BBKs and the like for regular STs so it may take a bit. Now if only it could be lowered more than 1.5"...



Thanks again for all the replies. I'm glad to hear others are actively looking for things to do as well. I imagine when Blow by Racing does their build and it is covered by a perf magazine, it will expose these trucks to more people. That will be good for parts availability but I do like not seeing one on every corner. I never expected this to turn heads the way it does!

 

[D Potts]

The BBK I am talking about is for the FORD EDGE....not the ranger edge!

Not even sure if it works....just know that the two vehicles use teh same offset/bolt patter & rim sizes.



The Throttle body is a great investment for Throttle respons...very noticeable.



There is NOT a Green filter drop in ...... YET! However K&N does make one for around $60 at Any auto parts store.



Here is a link to my Video of the Flowmaster 50s (<---- is a bit louder than the magnaflw I think)



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[Adrian Drenalin]

I had decided to do a Magnaflow 14416 "Resonator" (4" round by 16") and the 14336 (4X9X14) but am curious as to whether this will be suitably loud enough. I do think it will address any interior resonance, but want it to be sportier than stock. How do the folks who have a single muffler feel about the resonance?

Does it look something like this...





[Broken External Image]:





Check out my link... http://www.youtube.com/08drenalin

 

[Carey Frennier]

DMH cutout! Do it! It would be awesome with that setup.

 

[H Moses]

Adrian - it should look something like that. Yours is the one I am modeling from, except I went a tad smaller on the main muffler.



Is it still suitably aggressive sounding, without any resonation? You are still pleased?

The interior sound was great. I'd like to hear more of the exterior, but will likely just order this weekend and find out for myself next week.



H