How to Build a 10-Second F-150

Let's be honest: building a 10-second F-150 is not going to be easy. There will be swearing, there will be tears, and there will probably be a few thrown tools. But stick with it and we promise you will be rewarded, we sure were when we set a record with our full-size F-150. Here is the recipe.

Exhaust

We kicked off the build by upsetting the neighbors with a set of long-tube headers and a free-flowing cat-back. If you are going to say something, say it loud. Long-tubes cut exhaust backpressure so the engine breathes better and makes more power, and a cat-back opens the path for gases to exit quickly while setting your truck's tone, aggressive or HOA-friendly, your call.

Suspension

F-150s are trucks, built for truck things, not race-car things. Suspension will not add horsepower, but it puts the power you do add to the ground, and a lowering kit makes the truck look a whole lot meaner. We ran the VA Specialties 3/5 lowering kit with a full set of Viking coilovers and shocks, and got our 60-foot down to 1.595 in a full-size four-door F-150.

Before and after our lowering setup.

Catch Can

Honestly, this should probably be the first thing you do to a new F-150. Blow-by mixes with oil in the crankcase and vents into the intake through the PCV valve, dragging oil, unburned fuel, and other junk into your intake tract. A catch can traps those contaminants before they build up on your valves and intake, keeping everything clean and running right.

Torque Converter

Your torque converter is like the clutch in a manual, using internal turbines and fluid to send power to the transmission, prevent stalling, and let it shift. The big win with an aftermarket converter is a higher stall RPM, so you launch at a higher, more effective RPM. Many are also lighter and smaller in diameter, so you get less rotational mass as a bonus.

Tuning

For a while the 2021-plus F-150 PCM was locked down and only tunable by a select few. HPTuners and SCT have since cracked it, and you can get custom tuning through The Tune Shop at Lethal Performance. Lund Racing, Shoemaker Performance, Palm Beach Dyno, Oz Tuning, and more can dial your F-150 in to run its best with the new mods. This is the step that ties everything together, do not skip it.

Boost

Some will say we saved the best for last, and we would agree. The final ingredient is boost. There are plenty of ways to get there, turbos or superchargers, and most will get you to the goal. We chose the Whipple 3.0L supercharger kit and never looked back. Superchargers compress air before it hits the engine, packing more air and fuel into the combustion chamber for more horsepower and torque.