Hey Fella's,

Just got back from the track tonight. Over all Im pleased with the performance of my truck.

Keep in mind.....

04 F150 Screw (2wd)
4.6 3.55 open rear end
K&N CAI
DI/DO Magnaflow
GatorBack Belt
2" Leveling Kit
1.5 Rear Blocks
265/70/17 AT's
LOADED DOWN TOOL BOX!!!

My best was 16.91 @ 81.56mph w/ VMP 93

Swapped over to the old SuperChips 1714 on 91+Tune and she ran 17.89 @ 76.82 mph

I noticed one thing.... Each run made after I put the VMP Tune on it was a little quicker. Just curious if that's normal? Last year with my 1714 I could reflash, and change certain paramaters and it never improved over time. It seem's like the more miles I put on the Custom tunes, the better they get.

Am I crazy, or is that normal?

Here's the best thing.... Had a guy there with a 05 Screw 4x4 5.4 with
3.73 LS. He only had exhaust, and CAI and I was taking him by a truck length. He was running 17.01 and 16.98et's. Most of the margin of victory was off the lights I was hitting .03's and he was only mustering .35's but it was his first time, and we had some good fun. I was glad to see my little tuned up 4.6 jump up and run with the 5.4.

Also beat a non-driving dude in a Camaro RS..... he was a day late off the start and couldnt hook up for crap. Beat him by half a truck! That was the win of the night!! LOL

Tom

Not bad times for a heavy **** truck with the 4.6 and 32s

From what I have read and heard, right after you install a tune, it takes a few drive cycles for the pcm to fully 'learn' itself again or something. Im not sure exactley what Im talking about, something along those lines though I dont think you are crazy or have anything to worry about with the truck getting a little quicker every run after the flash

There are many things that affect track performance.

As the night gets cooler, the cars and trucks get faster. Air is more dense and it tends to lean out the ratio, usually adding some hp. Cheap simple truck is to watch what others are running. If they all pick up a bit each round, its the weather. Dont forget about track conditions better hook = better et.

Your reaction time does not affect your ET (elapsed time). It does affect who gets to the other end first and thats the key to drag racing. Cross the line first without going below your dial-in (bracket racing).
Were you hitting .003 or .030 reaction times? If you can get consistent .003's in your truck, you could take home some money.

Glad you had fun. Drag racing is addicting. Try completing in the street or truck class one night. You may be hooked. With your truck, you dont need any non-stock safety equipment.

My first time out to the track this year, so my R.T was off a bit, I started out at .078, and improved each run to my last .003. Dman near perfect. Its amazing how quci before green you have to react so that the lights green the instant your truck reacts.

Drag Racing is addictive, grew up going, and watching NHRA, met, and was be-frinded by Joe Amato, in the Top Fuel. Hit several Races with him a year up until he retired few years ago. Im in the process now of finding a little beater to play with at the track. I like my truck to much to use it all the time. I basically just went out there last night to see what my gains, ect..ect was since going custom tuned. Last year, after one to two session, I had a pretty consistent RT at about .005's with the truck. Just never did anything more than Test/Tune.

Bartak touched on it a little. It is the adaptive learning settling in. As you put miles and drive cycles on the new tune, it learns the driving habits and the truck's mods/airflow/other parameters.

If you were to Dyno right after loading a tune, then dyno again after a few hundred miles on the tune, you could see increases of several HP/TRQ, very noticeable.

So to get the most out of it, I just need to tune it, get it where I like it, and leave it alone. Give the computer time to learn everything, and allow it to adjust for optimal settings? Reflashing between runs was probably hurting me then? Correct?

Another thing I noticed, when getting to the finish line I was showing 87-88mph on the spedo, but the track mph was 81. So I am reading faster than I am going, that means I need to down size the revolutions per mile to bring the speedo back to the correct settings???

I've given my truck quite a long time for the Xcal to "adapt" to my driving styles but I'd be very surprised if I saw any difference in the 1/4. You're doing WOT at the strip whether it's adapted or not. I can't see much changing there.

2007 F-150 XLT Supercab 4X4,5.4 and 3.55 LS.I raced it 5 times last year best time was a 16.653 at 83.231 mph and worst was a 16.858 at 81.769 mph.

Later Mark.

Not bad #'s

What hurts me is having the 4dr (supercrew) and bigger tires, More weight, and with the bigger tires regears my truck lower than 3.55's.

I just like playing around, she's far from a race truck! but a great daily driver, with enough Ummph, to get what I need done, and to have fun with!

Nice times man, on the fence about some tunes, intake, and exhuast for my 4.6 ride before my lift goes on. Might have to jump in and do it.

*PUSH* Now that your off that fence you can Get you some man! Best dang thing I have ever done was custom tunes!

LOVE IT!

I would have picked up quite a bit more if I hadnt changed to larger tires, and lifted a 2x4. But I like the lifted stance better!


www.vmptuning.com
Check it out!!

my 03 -same as your truck-16.2-mac cai, maggie 15609 3" siso catback, troyer 93 perf tune

Glad you had fun at the track. Seems like some decent times with your 4.6 and the 3.55's. The gears are what's killing you.

I went to the track once. My 20's are what's killing me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsaqjMyRfLM

Ohhh Yea.... I remember that vid! Im Lineman278, in the comments! You killed the guy in the explorer off the line. That's my favorite thing to do at the track. I just wanna bust some killer lights and shame them from the start. All though the lead usually diminishes pretty quickly, I know, if I had a race car, I would have smoked them all the way down the track! As it stands... im in a close to 6000lbs underpowered (4.6) mileage geared (3.55's) race brick!:o

But... It is what it is! and Im out to have fun!

Tom

I think the gears attributed to the quick take off. I was also brake torquing a lot in that vid and I floored it on the last yellow so that when it hit green I would have already reacted. It didn't always though.

Next time I'm dropping the full spare and taking out my hitches in the bed. I'm hoping for high 15's. Which is sad enough in itself. lol I was just reading last night the new Sequioa (sp) runs a freakin 14.7 in the 1/4. And the Nissan SUV ran a 15.3. I was like damn! Gotta watch out for those soccer moms.