This Ford Maverick Tune Can Make 325 HP From an Otherwise Stock Truck
The Ford Maverick is the King of the small pickup trucks. Its massive popularity makes perfect sense; it’s affordable, efficient, and sharp. However, what’s a bit more surprising is that it can also be quite powerful. Livernois Motorsports turns $600, and a willingness to burn ethanol into a Ford Maverick tune making 325 hp at the crank.
Are there tunes for the Ford Maverick?
The folks at Livernois Motorsport released a new tune that turned a bone-stock Ford Maverick into a powerful little pickup truck. According to The Drive, this crew is well-known for heating up stock-friendly turbocharged Fords like the Ford Bronco Sport and now the Maverick.
The Drive says that Dyno measurements of a stock 2022 Ford Maverick Ecoboost show that our favorite little truck actually makes 201 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque at the wheels, as opposed to the 250 and 277, respectively, at the crank. Livernois’s 93-octane tune fixed those powertrain losses and was further improved by its newly released ethanol tune.
The Livernois Motorsport Maverick tune is badass
Livernois already offers a tune that makes more power by more effectively burning 93-octane fuel. This new ethanol tune makes 12 hp and 19 lb-ft of torque to the wheels more than that. The Drive explains that most of this new power is felt on the top end of RPM.
Assuming the nearly 20% drivetrain loss stays even across both tunes, the ethanol tune makes about 325 horsepower at the crank. The Drive points out that that is 54 hp more than a 2023 Subaru WRX. While comparing a sports sedan to a midsize pickup truck isn’t exactly apples to apples, it is something to note. The part that keeps the Ford Maverick in such a strong position is that all this extra power comes for only $600.
Can you buy E40 fuel?
There is a bit of a catch here. When Livernois says ethanol, they don’t mean the regular shmegular E85. This tune is calibrated to burn E40 due to the truck’s fuel pump’s inability to deliver enough go juice to reap the same benefits from E85. Unfortunately, E40 is a tricky fuel to find. The Drive notes that, fortunately, there is a workaround.
Instead of searching endlessly for E40 fuel, Livernois says that Mavericks with the tune can get nearly the same effect by using half a tank of E85 and half with regular gas to dilute it. If the truck could get a tune for proper E85, it could potentially make even more horsepower.
If you build them, they will drive them
The Ford Maverick is such a breath of fresh air in our current world, crawling with massive, lumbering trucks. Not only does the Maverick exist, but it is crazy popular. The hope is that the Maverick’s success will lead to more small pickup trucks with better aftermarket support. Livernois working out this tune is a strong step in the right direction. More small pickup trucks with more cool tunes, please.
