The Whipple Stage 1 Performance Kit, in my opinion, offers three great parts that when
used together really wake up the performance of the EcoBoost powered 2017 and 2018 Raptor.
Now, these parts do include the cold air intake kit here, the upgraded intercooler and finally
the calibration and Tomahawk device all for around the $2,000 price point.
Now the kit will be 50 state legal but will require the use of 91 octane fuel or higher.
Your installation will vary depending on the part you're working on but let's call it a
middle of the road two out of three wrenches on the difficulty meter with a little bit
more detail to come later in the video.
So if you've been in a hotrodding or muscle cars for any amount of time, then you probably
know the name Whipple from their awesome supercharger kits along with some of their other automotive
accessories designed to make your car or truck a little bit faster in the process.
Well, with the focus on these smaller displacement turbocharged engines as of late, Whipple thought
it would be a great idea to take what they've learned over the years and apply that to platforms
like the EcoBoost F-150 and of course the Raptor.
But what do you say we break down these components one by one and let's start with the most basic,
in my opinion, and that is the Whipple cold air intake system.
Now the intake was CAD designed and does feature a rotomolded plastic intake tube along with
that reusable high flow filter which Whipple claims is gonna outflow or outperform your
stock filter by over 130%.
Now the end of the filter does feature what Whipple likes to call their velocity end,
and that's gonna function as a bell mouth to increase the airflow and the velocity over
a traditional panel or drop-in style filter.
And while not nearly as important to performance, the intake will most certainly deliver a little
bit more of that turbo noise once installed which a lot of owners including myself really
dig.
But moving on to part number two, and this is something I'm going to highly recommend
to any Raptor owner out there as it's something I've done on my personal gen 2 with fantastic
results, and that is upgrading the stock intercooler on your ride.
Now, Whipple includes what they call their Mega Cooler bar and plate style intercooler
with their Stage 1 kit here which does feature this massive core and fully welded aluminum
[inaudible 00:02:19] setup that will still exist in the factory location.
Not only does the Mega Cooler here greatly outflow that stock intercooler but it's also
gonna deliver 54% greater volume in addition to more surface area, in fact 8% to be exact.
Now that's gonna be vital in achieving the lower intake air temps when compared to the
stock intercooler.
And that's gonna be the biggie here, guys.
Listen, the stock intercooler, in my opinion, is a bit undersized for this particular truck
and therefore once these things get a little bit hot and heat soaked, the performance really
tends to fall off fast.
So by keeping those intake or charged temps down by nearly 80 or 90 degrees with this
installed, power is gonna be more consistent and very repeatable.
Now one thing to point out here with this kit and that is for owners who might be considering
a winch or winch mount bumper, that maybe a cooler from Whipple will not be the way
to go as it will ultimately be in the way.
And at that point, you will need to start looking into a different kit that moves the
intercooler into the grille area from ADD, full race or aFe .
Now regardless I am a big fan of Whipple including the upgraded intercooler with their Stage
1 kit as I feel it's very, very important for performance on a stock truck but even
more so on a modified truck, which leads us into our third and final part of the Whipple
Stage 1 kit and that is their Tomahawk flash tool along with the included calibration.
And listen, guys, this is really what's gonna be responsible for cranking up the performance
on your second gen truck.
Just how much performance?
Well get this, Whipple claims peak gains of around 70 horsepower and 150 pound-feet of
torque over the baseline numbers and gains of as much as 200 foot-pounds of torque underneath
the curve on at least 91 octane fuel or higher.
But of course, guys, those are just kind of ballpark figures as different dynos and different
conditions will ultimately have an effect on your final power output.
But massive power gains aside, the Whipple calibration will also make some tweaks to
the transmission settings which, according to some owners out there, will make the truck
more enjoyable to drive.
In fact one guy, in particular, his review really stood out to me when he said he no
longer feels like he has to put the truck in sport mode anymore because normal mode
just feels a lot more pumped up, and that is certainly worth pointing out as this calibration
will be more than just power gained.
And on top of that the Tomahawk device here is also good for more than just delivering
that calibration.
In fact, Whipple claims this thing will also be able to read and clear those diagnostic
trouble codes or check engine lights in addition to giving you some real-time monitoring and
data logging capabilities, all of which by the way are always good to have with a handheld
device.
But again you have to keep in mind here, guys, this thing is designed and built for 91 octane
or higher fuel, so using 87 or 89 octane once the calibration has been flashed is simply
out of the question.
But switching gears, let's talk about the installation briefly here, guys.
And again we did call this a two out of three wrenches on the difficulty meter due to the
sum of all the parts and maybe a few hours from start to finish to get everything installed.
Now the cold air intake, well, that can be accomplished with a basic socket set or screwdriver
as you're simply just gonna remove the factory intake piping along with a top portion of
that factory airbox before dropping in the new Whipple intake and tightening up all of
your clamps.
Now the intercooler on the other hand will be a little bit more difficult, however can
still be done with the bumper in place but will require the removal of that lower skid
plate and factory intercooler.
This will definitely be the more time-consuming part of your installation, but as long as
you follow Whipple's detailed instructions you should be able to move that factory charge
air cooler, swap out your factory bypass valve and install the new Mega Cooler in about an
hour or so tops.
We saved the easiest part for last here, guys, as the calibration will simply flash your
truck's PCM through plugging it into your OBD2 port.
Now once you do plug it in just simply follow the onscreen instructions and you should be
good to go in a few minutes.
It should also be noted, guys, that Whipple does recommend closing the gap on your factory
plugs to about twenty-five thousandths to help prevent any misfire situations or spark
blowout with the increased boost that you're gonna see here from the calibration.
So wrapping things up guys, if you're looking to totally transform your gen 2 Raptor from
a company who knows a thing or two about making some power, then you'll wanna check out the
Whipple Stage 1 Performance Kit right here at americantrucks.com.