Steeda Autosports has a well-deserved reputation for building sturdy, high-performance Fords, backed by years of motorsport experience. Although the bulk of Steeda's business is manufacturing, producing components for FoMoCo and the aftermarket industry, the true-blue company also transforms hundreds of bone-stock Fords into personalized, fire-breathing street demons each year.
We recently toured Steeda's immaculate south Florida facilities and sampled their latest project vehicles at nearby Moroso Motorsports Park, including this comprehensively upgraded F-150.
The suspension was tweaked with a sport package, including springs, shackles, shocks, and an uprated front anti-roll bar. The trick here is moving the rear axle above the leaf springs with flip brackets, U-bolts, and wedge spacers to create a cost-effective solution to axle hop. An expensive upgrade, pizza-pan-size, 14-inch Brembo disc brakes were added, effectively filling up the space behind the 18x9.5-inch Steeda Forgeline wheels.
Output from the 5.4-liter V-8 was boosted through a Steeda/Vortech S-trim supercharger, along with a K&N Filter Charger, mass airflow meter upgrade, ceramic headers, and Bassani cat-back exhaust system. The automatic transmission is enhanced for a sporty, crisp shift feel, and the stock 3.55:1 axle was discarded for a more aggressive 3.73:1 cog. Peaking at 9-psi-worth of boost, the supercharger elevated rear-wheel power from 215 horses to 355, as measured on the Steeda dyno. Hitting 300 horsepower at 4100 rpm, the blown engine reached its heady peak at 5300; torque also rose from a dyno'd stock 279 to an impressive 387 pound-feet at 4500 rpm.