I am wanting to put in a chip on my 1999 F150 supercab 4.2L V6 and would like to know which is the best upgrade, I've seen the micro tuners and the superchips, and other programmers but don't know what would be the best. I don't do very much 4 wheelin or tow anything, this is my toy. I will be lifting it 7" and puting probably 285/75-R16 or 305/75-R16 might go up to 17" wheels. All the information possible would be very helpful.


Thanks in advance

Mike

 

the chip is gonna give you the power you need to turn those 33's. i'm running 35's right now (chipped) with no problem. however i just sent my chip in to reprogram and i have no idea how long i'm gonna last without it!! that thing is putting some serious b@lls in my ride.

for the price...it's the best mod. unless you want to spend $800+ to re-gear to 4.10s or something

 

Hey F150Y2K just want to thank you for the info on the chip, Do you have a 4.2L V6 2WD and if so which one are you using, also will the chip recalibrate the speedometer for the larger tires. One more thing, you have to have the chip programmed how do you know how you want it to be programmed or are they preset just pick one.

Thanks again

Mike

 

Hi Mike,

It can be tough trying to pick between all the various products, but you came to the right place to get good info -

Most of the people here use the Superchips products like we do, simply because they do the best job. Though my screen name says Superchips_Distributor, I don't work for Superchips - we have our own company, and we test all the various "name" competitors products, using only what works best - and every time, that has been the Superchips tuning. It's individual vehicle specific instead of generic like almost everyone else's product, it tunes the engine for max power all the time, on part-throttle as well as full-throttle, and it's still 50-state emissions approved - nobody else does all of that, other companies may have 1 or 2 of those attributes, but nobody else has all 3.

Since you have a 1999 model, I would recommend using the Superchips Micro Tuner instead of the traditional Superchip module - it will give you 3 different programs, the best power gains of any such product on the market, as well as the most thorough optimization of the powertrain programming - and will also give you the ability to recalibrate your own speedometer any time you want! Installing 33's - no problem, just recalibrate the speedo with the Micro Tuner. Installing 35's - same thing. Decide to install 4.56 gearing? Same thing, just recalibrate the speedometer with the Micro Tuner at your leisure. And you'll also have control over your shift points and shift firmness levels, too.

Yes, we *can* custom program a traditional Superchip module to take care of recalibrating the speedometer in the 1999 & newer trucks, but what happens if say, you decide you want to go up from 33's to 35's? Or when you realize that running 35's on the stock 3.55 gears is a real drag, and you want to install the required 4.56 gears to get back up into the power band? Well, with the traditional Superchip module, you have to send it back in to us & [pay us to reprogram is once again, whereas with the Micro Tuner, you don't pay *anyone*, you just go out to your vehicle and do it yourself in 10 minutes - big advantage.

I would suggest doing a couple of things - drop by our web site at www.TroyerPerformance.com - click on "Shop" once the home pages loads, and then you'll see a page with all the individual sections on it - Intake, Exhaust, Superchips, Performance Packages, and so on - Go into the Superchips section and read up on Part# 1100 (the single program Superchip), Part# 1300 (the 2-program Superchip Flip Chip), and then finally, the Micro Tuner for these specific trucks, which is our Part# 1715. That will give you some very specific info.

And of course, please feel free to give us a call & we'll be happy to answer any questions, etc. that you may have - go over all your modifications, both present and planned, etc.. to make sure no mistakes are made.

Best of luck with your truck, & hope to talk with you soon!

 

Want to thank you for that info will calling soon to order one from you soon, very soon.

Thanks again

Mike

 

The tuner is out for the 4.2?

 

I think Mike may have missed the fact that mmkmizell
has a 4.2L. If in fact a tuner was available for that engine (I have the same one), I'd order one in a heartbeat.

In the meantime, I'll happily settle for a regular SuperChip.

 

METO! But the 1715 may included the 4.2 soon. I waitin on that...but for the time being I just order a superchip off of ebay and will have it reburned once I get it.

 

The 1715 will include the 4.2? Any ETA as to when? If it's going to be soon, I'll hold off on buying a regular superchip.

 

Hi Mike (mmkmizell) & others,

Thanks for catching that pd417 & others!

I sure *DID* miss the fact that he (meaning Mike, mmkmizell) has the 4.2 V6, & Mike (mmkmizell), please forgive me, as I gave you some bad info - for some reason, I had it in my head that you had a 4.6 V8 instead of the 4.2 V6 (don't ask me why...........)

However, hang in there, as I WILL make this up to you - I'll make you a specific offer in a minute, down lower in this post.........

The Micro Tuner does not yet support the 4.2 V6's, as was quite correctly pointed out by pd417 & others, and as you can see from Chris's post for example (Hazard269), there are a number of 4.2 V6 owners who are waiting to see if the 1715 Micro Tuner is going to be changed to add support for the 4.2 V6 in the F-150.

What this means for Mike (mmkmizell) is that at this time, he would need to use the traditional Superchip module instead of the Micro Tuner - unless he wants to wait to see if the 4.2 V6 is going to be added to the Micro Tuner, as others are waiting to see.

Current status, as I've been telling Chris & some others recently who have been so patiently hoping & waiting for it, is that Superchips recently asked us whether we felt they should add the 4.2 V6 F-150, or add both the 3.0 & 4.0 Rangers to the 1715 Micro Tuner - well, from a sales standpoint, adding the 2 Rangers would mean significantly more unit sales than adding the 4.2 V6 F-150, but we've recommended that they add the 4.2 V6 F-150 ASAP and then if possible, add Rangers later - and we've been asking them to get the 4.2 V6 included in the 1715 Micro Tuner for some time, ever since it first came out. It's a matter of internal storage capacity basically, each unit will hold only so many programs originally, the first 1715 held about 1200 programs, and each 1715 right now, in this latest generation, now has almost 4000 programs just to support the V8 & V10 F-series trucks. We'll see what happens, we're fighting for the 4.2 V6 to be added. Timeframe-wise, we really don't know for sure - at one point, Superchips had felt that the 4.2 V6 was going to be added by the end of summer, but Ford threw a few surprises at us in other platforms which meant R&D had to be shifted a bit, etc.

So right now we're just waiting to see which they'll add to the Micro Tuner - the 4.2 V6 F-150 or the 3.0 & 4.0 Rangers.

The bottom line is I made a mistake with you Mike (mmkmizell) in somehow thinking you had the 4.6 V8, and thus gave you some bad advice - you had clearly mentioned having the 4.2 V6 in your original post, and I just misread it apparently, somehow thinking you had the 4.6 V8 instead. Please accept my apologies, and to make up for that, if you like, I'll be happy to cut you a deal on the traditional Superchip module in either single or dual program form so that you don't have to pay anything for any future changes to recalibrate the speedometer for tire size and/or gear ratio changes - I'll do that for you at NO CHARGE for as long as you own that vehicle, no matter how many times you change tire sizes or gear ratios - I'll update the tuning in the Superchip FREE for you, to make up for my mistake in urging you to use the Micro Tuner because of that specific feature, the ability to recalibrate the speedometer at no additional charge as many times as you need to.

Now I can't tell you for sure that the 4.2 V6 *is* in fact going to be added to the 1715 - we've been asked and our vote is in, but it remains to be seen just what Superchips will actually do in this regard. If they do add the 4.2 V6, then everything I said to you originally stands, & you'd be all set - but if they *don't* add it, or if you decide that you just don't want to wait to see, I will make sure that should you decide to go with the traditional Superchip module, in either single or dual program version, I will update it for any changes to tire size or gear ratio to correct the speedometer at no charge.

You can get any of the 3 programs in the Micro Tuner in the traditional Superchip modules as well - there are 2 versions, one is a single program unit and the other is the 2-program Flip Chip, which is what I use - part#'s 1100 & 1300 respectively, on our web site over at www.TroyerPerformance.com

At any rate Mike (mmkmizell), give it some thought & please also call us if you'd like to go over any of this - the exact details, which programs, how you'll be using your vehicle, etc. - we'll be happy to go over all of that in detail with you.

Once again, my apologies to Mike for my mistake - oops! - & thanks to pd417 & others for catching what I didn't the first time around!

 

Damn....Sounds like one hell of a deal for Mike. The only reason I've put off getting a chip is because of changing the tires and gears, but if Im not mistaken if you go with 33 and you have 29s (stock tire size fo rthe 4x2 (265/?/16)) and go to 4.10s from 3.55s I hear it keeps the same ratio so no recalibration would be needed...or is this incorrect?

But now that I've actually gotten a chip Im not sure if I want to go ahead and use it or wait for the tuner to come out...choices, choices, choises...

 

Hi Chris,

There are *some* combinations of gear ratio and tire size that will end up being relatively close - like for example, going from 3.55's with the stock 16" wheels & tires to going with true 35" tires & 4.56 gears - that usually ends up being fairly close, with usually less than 6% error rate - and as long as you can keep the error rate low enough so you don't get shift point problems (like not more than about 3%-5% speedo error), then you don't get any symptoms (like the shift points being way off) and thus can do anything you want with the vehicle, without recalibrating the speedo.

It's all a matter of just how far off the speedometer is as a result of your changes - keep in mind that you'll really need to do your homework on exact tire size, brand & model - many times tires advertised as 35" tall are less - only 34 or 34.5" tall, for example - this happens rather frequently, so you'll want to be very careful in getting the exact specs, etc. You can call various tire manufacturers, starting with the manufacturer for whatever stock tires on that truck and get 2 things - one is the actual height of the tire, and the other is what's called the "revs per mile" spec - that is how many revolutions a given tire has to turn to travel exactly 1 mile. Armed with that knowledge, then you can do your homework and perhaps come up with a combination that is close enough to what you have now so you don't have to recalibrate.

So yes, that *is* possible, *if* you have the right combination - and that starts by making sure to get all the *correct* info on the proposed tires, especially their actual true *height* and the revs per mile spec.

Good luck!

 

That sounds great and there was no problem people make mistakes and so do I so harm done. I thank you for getting back with me and letting me know because that was the one I was going to be getting.

Thanks Again

Mike Mizell

 

Thanks for the info mike...

It looks as if you'll be getting my chip in a few days once I recieve it.

And Mike (mmkmizell), I'd be all over that offer like white on rice on a paper plate in a snow storm.

 

Thanks for your understanding gentlemen, it's greatly appreciated!