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Boosting Power in the 2023 Ford Maverick: Easy Upgrades for Big Gains

BRANDON BURRELL . October 24, 2024 . Feature Stories
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Adding HP to a Modern Mini-Truck

When upgrading any truck, big or small, one of the first things people tend to do is add some extra power to the engine. 

In this case, our ’23 Ford Maverick XL with the 2.0L Ecoboost came with very little power from the factory. Being a 4-cylinder turbo engine, I knew I could squeeze a little more power out of it. The Ford Ecoboost platform has become one of the most popular Ford options. Most of the company’s vehicles, including Mustangs and all ST platforms,  have this option in various sizes. With the Maverick, you either have the Ecoboost or hybrid option. I was more interested in adding some upgraded power versus having a few more MPG, so I opted for the Ecoboost.

With Ford already having this platform on the market for a while, I knew there had to be several aftermarket companies offering upgrades. I reached out to the crew at aFe Power to see what they had to offer. I picked up their Momentum GT cold air intake system (Part #50-70079R, $410 MSRP) to let the engine breath a little better. To get the spent gasses out more easily, I also grabbed the aFe Power Vulcan Series 2-½-inch 304 stainless steel cat-back exhaust system with black tip (Part #49-33145-B, $788 MSRP).

We will install this aFe Power Momentum GT cold air intake, Power Vulcan Series 2-½-inch 304 stainless steel cat-back exhaust system and a COBB Accessport Tuner.

Once the bolt-on parts were in hand and installed, which was a quick afternoon job with standard hand tools, I reached out to COBB Tuning for one of its Accessports. It not only allows a tune to be added to the truck, but also allows for custom tunes to be loaded into the Accessport and then loaded into the truck. This design gives the end user way more variety as to how the truck is used (Part #AP3-FOR-009, $625 MSPR). This unit not only allows you to load the tunes on the truck, but has a full color screen that lets you monitor up to six parameters while driving the truck when either mounted on or laying in your console. This way you can always keep tabs on how the truck engine is performing.

I wanted a little more out of the truck. So after the intake and exhaust was installed, I took it to 5 Star Tuning in Florence, South Carolina, for a full custom tune. I waited to install any tunes so they could do a base run with just the hard parts installed and the truck running 93 octane gas to see how much upgrade just the hard parts gave. They then created a custom tune for it when pushed the truck to 267 whp and 334 lb-ft of torque, which for a small, lightweight turbo truck was a huge step above factory. Granted, this is no race truck, but it is so zippy now and drives totally different than in its stock form. Changing lanes and merging into traffic is a blast in this truck now. These upgrades are 100% worth it if you’re looking for a fun truck to drive.

Follow along at how the parts and the tune were installed.

01. The stock Maverick engine bay is pretty basic, as Ford cut back on trim panels to  keep the price down.
02. First, we removed the retaining clips from the front intake scoop and removed it from the truck.
02(a)
03. Next, the air tube clamp on the air box was loosened and the tube was removed.
04. Next, we unpluged the IAT sensor from the air box inlet.
05. The factory air box was then removed from the truck completely.
06. Next, the hose assembly was unclipped and removed from the intake tube.
07. We then removed the factory intake tube once all electrical plugs and hose fittings were  undone.
08. We then set the new intake box into the factory mounting holes then install the filter.
8(a)
09. After installing all supplied fittings, the new air intake tube was installed into the factory tube with supplied fitting and clamps. Be sure to leave all clamps loose until everything is installed.
10. The supplied barb fitting was then installed into the rubber coupler at the end of the larger intake tube.
11. The factory IAT sensor was placed into the smaller intake tube.
12. We then installed the small intake tube between the rubber coupler and aFe air box ensuring the sensor was  facing the right direction.
13. Using the supplied clamps, the new aFe exhaust piping was installed starting in the front and then to the  back. The new piping and muffler utilize the OEM exhaust hangers. Once the piping was  aligned correctly, starting at the front, all clamps were tightened including the one with the supplied tip. You may need to go back once you let the truck run for a couple minutes and tighten the clamps to ensure there are no leaks.
14. With the new intake installed and the factory scoop reinstalled, the engine portion of the install was  complete.
15. Next, we marked the factory exhaust 8.5 inches from the rear CAT weld.
16. The factory exhaust pipe was then cut at the mark and removed the rear section of the OEM exhaust.
17. 5 Star Tuning did a few base runs with the truck to get a baseline of what kind of power the truck put down before the tune was created.
18. Once a custom tune was created, it was loaded into the COBB Accessport.
19. The Accessport was then plugged into the trucks OBD ii port, and the tune was loaded into the ECM. There are simple instructions throughout the process that makes the installation easy and straightforward.
20. Once the tune was loaded, the truck was run on the dyno a couple more times to get truly accurate numbers.
21. As you can see, the stock numbers, the numbers with the intake and exhaust (running 93 octane) then the final numbers with the custom tune installed all show the difference made throughout the process.

SOURCES

aFe Power

COBB Tuning

5 Star Tuning

 

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