Micro Tunner Gurus? Mike T and others !
#1
01-06-2003, 08:11 PM
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Micro Tunner Gurus? Mike T and others !
I have a 98 F150 4x4 4.6 auto. My questions are: I have the Micro Tunner and installed it with the default setting for the engine tunning and for the shifting and pressures it is set on MAX. I'll also be installing a Transgo Shift kit with Sonnax valves set up for maybe Stage 2 and will shortly be installing a 6" FAbtech Lift with 35x12 tires on 16x10 rims along with a set of possibably 4:56 gears. Have already installed a cat back exhaust dual out the rears and on its way is a cold air kit from Airforce one! What will be expectend with all the above? Any suggestions on any of the components? How about how thw Micro Tunner is set up for the tranny on MAX? What are all your ideas on what I'm about to do? Are the gears too much 4:56? Other then listed above its all stock! What ignition products to us? Coil packs wires plugs etc? This will be a daily driver and maybe some mud trips too! Feel free to E-mail me at jessesmustang@hotmail.com
#2
01-07-2003, 07:05 PM
Former Sponsor
Hi Blu98,
First, whatever you do, *PLEASE* get that line pressure turned back down and never run the Micro Tuner's line pressure all the way up like that. That's a good way to overwork a stock transmission's front pump, and it *not* the correct or a particularly safe way to get really hard shifts.
The best way to get the kind of shifts you want are to use a combination of the Superchips tuning with the line pressure *slightly* raised to take care of the various program issues like shift delays, retards, etc., and then install the Transgo shift kit to take care of the mechanical issues, such as not enough fluid volume flowing to the Overdrive band, and allowing the rest of the transmission to get enough fluid volume to fill the clutches much quicker & get a shorter shift duration, etc. Normally we recommend using the Transgo kit on Level 1, but in your case I'd recommend installing it as you mentioned in your post, at Level 2, that sounds fine.
The 4.56 gears are the correct gears to use for 35" tires, that should be fine.
In terms of ignition components, we carry it all, & we have great upgrade combo packages for all these trucks, just give us a call at our number listed below for details.
We carry everything from the Transgo shift kits to the Superchips products and everything else, from air filters to superchargers and everything else in between. Just give us a call & we can supply it all, do package deals, etc.
First, whatever you do, *PLEASE* get that line pressure turned back down and never run the Micro Tuner's line pressure all the way up like that. That's a good way to overwork a stock transmission's front pump, and it *not* the correct or a particularly safe way to get really hard shifts.
The best way to get the kind of shifts you want are to use a combination of the Superchips tuning with the line pressure *slightly* raised to take care of the various program issues like shift delays, retards, etc., and then install the Transgo shift kit to take care of the mechanical issues, such as not enough fluid volume flowing to the Overdrive band, and allowing the rest of the transmission to get enough fluid volume to fill the clutches much quicker & get a shorter shift duration, etc. Normally we recommend using the Transgo kit on Level 1, but in your case I'd recommend installing it as you mentioned in your post, at Level 2, that sounds fine.
The 4.56 gears are the correct gears to use for 35" tires, that should be fine.
In terms of ignition components, we carry it all, & we have great upgrade combo packages for all these trucks, just give us a call at our number listed below for details.
We carry everything from the Transgo shift kits to the Superchips products and everything else, from air filters to superchargers and everything else in between. Just give us a call & we can supply it all, do package deals, etc.
Last edited by Superchips_Distributor; 01-07-2003 at 07:24 PM.
#3
01-07-2003, 09:27 PM
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I actually haven't driven the truck with it installed to the Max setting! I set it up like that last night and diddent frive it today at all! Should I set the shift pressure somewhere in the middle of Min and MAx on 1-2,2-3,3-4? What do you recomend it be set at? Also Is it ok to leave the shift point set to Max or should I set it at ST which is in the middle of Min and Max? What do you recomend I set it these paramaters to from 1-4 shifts? Also, is it ok to set the speed limiter to Raise or leave it at Stock? Mike I appreciate all your info that you can spare so I wont damage anything in the process! They say your the best when it comes to the tranny part of things and other parts for our trucks. As you can see I'm pretty new to this site and don't know much about mods for the F150 4.6. If it were a 5.0 then thats another storry which I can help others on! One more question, if I use the 4:56 gears does it matter if I install a different gear in the tranny to correct the speedo. Will my speedo be correct due to the tire size? Actually I'll be using a 315/75/R16 tire size which is pretty close to a 35". Do you recomend a 16x8 or a 16x10 rim on our trucks? Please get back to me ASAP. Mike, thanks agin for the heads up on the Max setting!
#4
01-08-2003, 05:40 PM
Former Sponsor
Hi BLU98,
OK, glad to hear you didn't drive it like that, though short term it would probably be OK. That's definitely not something you want to do long-term of course, as not only does that overwork the front pump but it's also kinda like trying to drain a swimming pool thru a straw, as all the various orifices, etc. in the tranny's valve body are still stock.
What I would do to start off with is to just accept the Superchip defaults for the tranny stuff. If you like, you could go back in and manually set it just 1 or 2 "clicks" (notches, or lines) to the right of center, and try it there. In many of the more common codes, the center is what you get with the standard Superchips defaults (not teh stock factory settings, but the standard Superchips defaults, which are already optimized), so you could go a couple of notches above that if you like. Me personally, I wouldn't go further than maybe 2-4 notches above center, and I would only do that with a shift kit installed so I could really get the full benefit, but that's me.
You do it however you want, just don't run it on MAX line pressure, that's all.
We do NOT recommend that you set the shift points manually at all in most cases, and not for at least a month in all cases, so you have adequate time behind the wheel to get to know where the Superchips shift points are, and thus actually have some experience driving with them already being optimized before attempting to change what Superchips has already determined to be the appropriate WOT upshift points for each code/vehicle.
In other words, you do not have to manually set either the shift ponts or the shift firmness level in order for those to already be optimized (changed) from stock. Remember, the Superchips tuning you get by taking all the defaults is still the full Superchips performance program for both engine and for your automatic transmission, too. You only go into those manual areas when there is actually a *need* to do that, when there is an actual problem or deficit; it's not something that needs to be done to get any change from stock, or that should be just played around with casually, or by guessing without already having some experience with the default shift points, etc. Those default WOT shift points in the Micro Tuner are already optimized for the use of an intake kit and a cat-back exhaust system, which most people using Superchips tuning either have aleady done or are going to do. Take advantage of all that R&D, testing & work that's already been done and run the default shift points from the Micro Tuner before playing around with that, ok? You need to run it like that for at least a month before even thinking of changing the WOT shift points from where Superchips sets them automatically for each code in the Micro Tuner.
With regard to the Top Speed limiter, that's just a question of your tires, basically. As long as you have tires installed that are rated for sustained triple-digit speeds (and the factory tires on these vehicles are *not* rated for nor are they safe for sustained 100 mph or higher speeds), then you can go right ahead and let it rip, raise it all the way!
When you change the speedo gear in the tailshaft of the transmission, that just changes the speedometer's calibration, however, if the speedometer has or being being corrected from significant error, then the shift points in automatic models can be affected too. In the 1997 & 1998 F-150's that's the way to correct for speedometer error due to gear ratio and/or tire size changes, and will not affect engine rpms for a given speed, etc., it only affects the speedometer's (and odometer) calibration.
Changing the speedo calibration can also affect the shift points in automatics if there is significant speedometer error induced, or when you are correcting a significant error. If you have much more than about a 5% or so speedo error rate, then you can start picking up shift characteristic issues, improper upshifts & problems downshifting, etc. Once you correct the speedometer in the late-model F-150, then the shift points usually fall right back in line, too.
You have a lot of questions and I'm happy to help, but at this point we'll really need to do any more by phone, it's too detailed & long for these message boards.
OK, glad to hear you didn't drive it like that, though short term it would probably be OK. That's definitely not something you want to do long-term of course, as not only does that overwork the front pump but it's also kinda like trying to drain a swimming pool thru a straw, as all the various orifices, etc. in the tranny's valve body are still stock.
What I would do to start off with is to just accept the Superchip defaults for the tranny stuff. If you like, you could go back in and manually set it just 1 or 2 "clicks" (notches, or lines) to the right of center, and try it there. In many of the more common codes, the center is what you get with the standard Superchips defaults (not teh stock factory settings, but the standard Superchips defaults, which are already optimized), so you could go a couple of notches above that if you like. Me personally, I wouldn't go further than maybe 2-4 notches above center, and I would only do that with a shift kit installed so I could really get the full benefit, but that's me.
You do it however you want, just don't run it on MAX line pressure, that's all.
We do NOT recommend that you set the shift points manually at all in most cases, and not for at least a month in all cases, so you have adequate time behind the wheel to get to know where the Superchips shift points are, and thus actually have some experience driving with them already being optimized before attempting to change what Superchips has already determined to be the appropriate WOT upshift points for each code/vehicle.
In other words, you do not have to manually set either the shift ponts or the shift firmness level in order for those to already be optimized (changed) from stock. Remember, the Superchips tuning you get by taking all the defaults is still the full Superchips performance program for both engine and for your automatic transmission, too. You only go into those manual areas when there is actually a *need* to do that, when there is an actual problem or deficit; it's not something that needs to be done to get any change from stock, or that should be just played around with casually, or by guessing without already having some experience with the default shift points, etc. Those default WOT shift points in the Micro Tuner are already optimized for the use of an intake kit and a cat-back exhaust system, which most people using Superchips tuning either have aleady done or are going to do. Take advantage of all that R&D, testing & work that's already been done and run the default shift points from the Micro Tuner before playing around with that, ok? You need to run it like that for at least a month before even thinking of changing the WOT shift points from where Superchips sets them automatically for each code in the Micro Tuner.
With regard to the Top Speed limiter, that's just a question of your tires, basically. As long as you have tires installed that are rated for sustained triple-digit speeds (and the factory tires on these vehicles are *not* rated for nor are they safe for sustained 100 mph or higher speeds), then you can go right ahead and let it rip, raise it all the way!
When you change the speedo gear in the tailshaft of the transmission, that just changes the speedometer's calibration, however, if the speedometer has or being being corrected from significant error, then the shift points in automatic models can be affected too. In the 1997 & 1998 F-150's that's the way to correct for speedometer error due to gear ratio and/or tire size changes, and will not affect engine rpms for a given speed, etc., it only affects the speedometer's (and odometer) calibration.
Changing the speedo calibration can also affect the shift points in automatics if there is significant speedometer error induced, or when you are correcting a significant error. If you have much more than about a 5% or so speedo error rate, then you can start picking up shift characteristic issues, improper upshifts & problems downshifting, etc. Once you correct the speedometer in the late-model F-150, then the shift points usually fall right back in line, too.
You have a lot of questions and I'm happy to help, but at this point we'll really need to do any more by phone, it's too detailed & long for these message boards.
#5
01-08-2003, 07:28 PM
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Mike, thanks for all the detailed info and for the given suggestions on what I should do with the Micro Tunner. I set it back to Superchips default setting and will install the Transgo kit when I get it should be by Friday it will be here> Yeah you are right about too much details on the boards here! I'll try and call you tommorrow as I'm also looking for some package deals and I'm sure you can help or give info. Mike, once again thanks for your help and I'll try and call you sometime tommorrow! Thanks alot. Jesse..............
#6
01-09-2003, 04:44 PM
Former Sponsor
Hi Jesse,
You're very welcome, as always, & I look forward to speaking with you whenever you get a chance to call.
We can always do nice combo deals, packages, etc., whatever is needed for each individual vehicle based on it's current mods & what the owner wants to do next, and/or how far they want to go, etc. We carry just about everything to improve the performance of the engine, transmission, suspension etc., from air filters to superchargers, shift kits to shocks to you name it & more.
Have fun & talk to you soon!
You're very welcome, as always, & I look forward to speaking with you whenever you get a chance to call.
We can always do nice combo deals, packages, etc., whatever is needed for each individual vehicle based on it's current mods & what the owner wants to do next, and/or how far they want to go, etc. We carry just about everything to improve the performance of the engine, transmission, suspension etc., from air filters to superchargers, shift kits to shocks to you name it & more.
Have fun & talk to you soon!
Last edited by Superchips_Distributor; 01-09-2003 at 06:47 PM.
#7
01-09-2003, 05:39 PM
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Mike, what's your hours there? Do you guys have a parts catolog of sort? I tried calling from work today but I was unable to call out, long distance I guess. I'll try one night from home as I have some other questions for you and would like to get some parts from you too! You should hear from me soon.
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#8
01-09-2003, 06:54 PM
Former Sponsor
Hi Jesse,
Sure, our hours of operation are Monday thru Friday from 10am to 7pm, Eastern time. Our hours are set so that people who can't make a long distance call from work on the West Coast can call us before they go to work, and people on the East Coast can call us after they get home from work. At least, that's the theory.
No, we don't publish a formal catalog per se, in reality our prices are just too low to do that. But we will have a lot of what we carry up on our web site here very soon. It's taken forvever, but we finally turned over the first 500 or so parts to the web site developer a couple of weeks ago, and each day I look at it (the public can't see this part yet), more and more is going into place. So soon you'll be able to see & read about a lot of this stuff.
We will also put out a .pdf electronic catalog in the future, that people can download from our web site, making it easy to browse our inventory even offline.
Talk to you soon!
Sure, our hours of operation are Monday thru Friday from 10am to 7pm, Eastern time. Our hours are set so that people who can't make a long distance call from work on the West Coast can call us before they go to work, and people on the East Coast can call us after they get home from work. At least, that's the theory.
No, we don't publish a formal catalog per se, in reality our prices are just too low to do that. But we will have a lot of what we carry up on our web site here very soon. It's taken forvever, but we finally turned over the first 500 or so parts to the web site developer a couple of weeks ago, and each day I look at it (the public can't see this part yet), more and more is going into place. So soon you'll be able to see & read about a lot of this stuff.
We will also put out a .pdf electronic catalog in the future, that people can download from our web site, making it easy to browse our inventory even offline.
Talk to you soon!
#9
01-09-2003, 08:51 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Anderson. South Carolina, CSA
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I like that idea of the downloadable .pdf catalog! Looking forward to seeing it! also looking forward to your website being finished. I go there from time to time to see how it is progressing. Your developer seems to be taking an unusually long time to get a website up and going. Hope it is up soon
#10
01-10-2003, 03:19 PM
Former Sponsor
Hi RebelYell,
>>>Your developer seems to be taking an unusually long time to get a website up and going...<<<
It's taking a long time, but we really can't blame the *current* developer. It feels like *forever* on this end, and I'm sure it has to feel like even longer from your side of the fence!
In reality, part of the delay has been on our part as well as problems with numerous previous developers we hired. Though we all know the parts we carry, and any considerations such as tuning, compatibility with other parts, etc., we've never before sat down and written all of that out in a format that we feel would be appropriate to publish on a web site. Sure, we could have rushed out a quick & dirty deal I suppose, and added parts piecemeal, but that's not our style, & we weren't happy doing that.
Overall, it's really a scary transition/addition for us............for so many years, we've talked one-on-one with each customer who is doing significant modifications, going over everything thoroughly, making sure no mistakes are made, getting the best bang for the buck solution from any point of modification, etc. Transitioning a lot of our parts to a web site is quite an undertaking, and will never be as thorough as we'd like, but we spent months putting all of that together for the developer. And that had to be done *in addition* to everything else we normally do around here taking care of our customers, answering hundreds of emails & posts daily, along with the phones ringing all day, vehicles to modify, and all of this going on thru all the holidays as well, and the annual SEMA show (that alone usually puts us a month behind each year) right in the middle, etc.
We also went thru numerous different developers over the past 15 months (the site shoud have been up March of last year by our original schedule with the first developer!), some crapped out & couldn't do what they claimed, one tried increasing the original price by a factor of 5 (!!) after we accepted their porposal, etc. We've gone thru just about the worst-case nightmare scenario a couple of times with getting this web site up, we went thru Hades getting a developer we could work with, like a lot of companies do. Finally we settled on two companies a few months ago, one to do the basic site design, and another to do the e-commerce implementation.
I'd say we wasted a solid year with inept companies who claimed they could do things that in reality they could not do without bringing in outside talent, all of whom had *seemingly* impressive portfolios. During the time we've been talking about this here on the boards over the past 15 months, we've checked out over 3 dozen different developers, and have actually hired 4 different developers to do the site.
It's not been fun at all going thru all of this, and had we known how it was going ot turn out, heck, we'd have just built our own site in Dreamweaver using JAC and been done with it. But the future is never 20-20, only hindsight is, we live & we learn (hopefully). And now we're finally approaching the home stretch, it looks like. I'll probably stub my toe again (as usual), but we expect a lot of the functionality to be there a month from now. I also expect having to re-do it all over again to get a look we're really happy with, but one thing at a time, right now we're working on the online store to get it up & running, the e-commerce implementation is a tremendous amount of work. And, that kind of work has to all be done behind the scenes, you don't see anything until it's *done*, so the site looks the same even though it's actually changing quite a bit every day.
Now you know more than you ever cared about our web site problems with all my rambling!
We're getting there, we're getting there.............
>>>Your developer seems to be taking an unusually long time to get a website up and going...<<<
It's taking a long time, but we really can't blame the *current* developer. It feels like *forever* on this end, and I'm sure it has to feel like even longer from your side of the fence!
In reality, part of the delay has been on our part as well as problems with numerous previous developers we hired. Though we all know the parts we carry, and any considerations such as tuning, compatibility with other parts, etc., we've never before sat down and written all of that out in a format that we feel would be appropriate to publish on a web site. Sure, we could have rushed out a quick & dirty deal I suppose, and added parts piecemeal, but that's not our style, & we weren't happy doing that.
Overall, it's really a scary transition/addition for us............for so many years, we've talked one-on-one with each customer who is doing significant modifications, going over everything thoroughly, making sure no mistakes are made, getting the best bang for the buck solution from any point of modification, etc. Transitioning a lot of our parts to a web site is quite an undertaking, and will never be as thorough as we'd like, but we spent months putting all of that together for the developer. And that had to be done *in addition* to everything else we normally do around here taking care of our customers, answering hundreds of emails & posts daily, along with the phones ringing all day, vehicles to modify, and all of this going on thru all the holidays as well, and the annual SEMA show (that alone usually puts us a month behind each year) right in the middle, etc.
We also went thru numerous different developers over the past 15 months (the site shoud have been up March of last year by our original schedule with the first developer!), some crapped out & couldn't do what they claimed, one tried increasing the original price by a factor of 5 (!!) after we accepted their porposal, etc. We've gone thru just about the worst-case nightmare scenario a couple of times with getting this web site up, we went thru Hades getting a developer we could work with, like a lot of companies do. Finally we settled on two companies a few months ago, one to do the basic site design, and another to do the e-commerce implementation.
I'd say we wasted a solid year with inept companies who claimed they could do things that in reality they could not do without bringing in outside talent, all of whom had *seemingly* impressive portfolios. During the time we've been talking about this here on the boards over the past 15 months, we've checked out over 3 dozen different developers, and have actually hired 4 different developers to do the site.
It's not been fun at all going thru all of this, and had we known how it was going ot turn out, heck, we'd have just built our own site in Dreamweaver using JAC and been done with it. But the future is never 20-20, only hindsight is, we live & we learn (hopefully). And now we're finally approaching the home stretch, it looks like. I'll probably stub my toe again (as usual), but we expect a lot of the functionality to be there a month from now. I also expect having to re-do it all over again to get a look we're really happy with, but one thing at a time, right now we're working on the online store to get it up & running, the e-commerce implementation is a tremendous amount of work. And, that kind of work has to all be done behind the scenes, you don't see anything until it's *done*, so the site looks the same even though it's actually changing quite a bit every day.
Now you know more than you ever cared about our web site problems with all my rambling!
We're getting there, we're getting there.............
#11
01-11-2003, 10:49 AM
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Anderson. South Carolina, CSA
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Sounds like a much bigger undertaking that I had imagined. I am sure that it is alot of work to compile a website that is up to the standards you exhibit here. While I imagine it is very frustrating for you during this time, I am sure that when it is ready to go, it will be something you can take pride in and will be a very popular place for ppl like me to go to purchase our mods.
#12
01-12-2003, 02:09 PM
Former Sponsor