I recieved my tuner today in just two business days (Thanks Mike & Anita) and read thru the instructions then went at it. As someone posted before the install is easier than the instructions make it apppear. I installed the "max" program and took it for a spin at lunch today. I can deffinately tell a difference, less than I expected but I only drove it for 5 minutes. The shifts are a ton better and you can feel a little more pull. I look forward to playing more but so far I think that it was worth it! One question to any of you tuners? If I bypassed the adjustments option so I got all of the superchip defaults correct? Has anyone come across the settings that they think are on the money that may be nmore agressive than the defaults? Just curious.

By the way my truck is a 2001 Screw 4x4 3:55 with 32,000 miles.

Later

 

Hi CF,

Glad to hear you're enjoying the Micro Tuner!

The "max" performance tune delivers solid 20+ HP gains, but it's still a very heavy vehicle, of course.

If you want to see what it's *really* doing for you, do properly controlled before & after timed acceleration testing - you'll see you just knocked off anywhere from 1/2 second to a full second off the 1/4 mile times, and nothing else for that low cost can deliver those kinds of gains - it won't feel like a supercharger of course, it's just the best bang for the buck, which is why so many people use it.

Also, it will take roughly about 350-500 miles over a dozen or more drive cycles for you to get the full 100% effects, so it'll feel a bit stronger as time goes by.

Yes, when you do not go into the Options menus, you get the Superchips "defaults," and for 95%-98% of these vehicles, that actually gives you the best performance. Most of the time, raising shift points even higher just slows the truck down. With an open intake & exhaust, a WOT upshift point somewhere between 5100-5400 rpm (varies depending on vehicle weight) generally delivers the quickest acceleration.

Have fun!

 

Chicago, Mike's right on here with this..

I just came back from a 50 mile round trip for dinner and I noticed that it seems to be "settling in." This was actually one of the first long trips (more than just a few miles) with actual highway travel and without towing a boat or trailer. Even my wife commented that it pulls harder and really gets up and goes when getting on the highway. I also think since we are in our first bit cool weather where it's actually in the 60's and dry, it's just rarin to go!

I m really liking it now.. Accidentally laid some rubber earlier too!

 

Superchips_Distributor,

I have some questions about the WOT settings. I have a 2002 Expy EB, Flowmaster exhaust, K&N Gen II and PowerRaid Throttle Body Spacer.

When I installed the Superchip I did the default program. Would I benefit from doing a custom? I am a bit lost on some of the settings in the custom and the manual does not clearly break them out. I was eager to get it installed and test it out so I jumped the gun a bit and just used the defaults. Makes a nice difference but would like to make sure I get everything I can out of it.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Mark

 

Good to know Reelwork! I have only 30 miles on the tuner and am looking forward to feel the full effects as time goes by. I have a number of meetings today which will result in at least 100-150 mile getting me closer to the full cycle. Thanks again Mike!

 

Hi Mark,

Nice to see another Expy owner doing some mods!

Actually, I addressed that in my last post - here's the last paragraph again:

"Yes, when you do not go into the Options menus, you get the Superchips "defaults," and for 95%-98% of these vehicles, that actually gives you the best performance. Most of the time, raising shift points even higher just slows the truck down. With an open intake & exhaust, a WOT upshift point somewhere between 5100-5400 rpm (varies depending on vehicle weight) generally delivers the quickest acceleration."

Mark, this applies to your vehicle too, just like virtually all the rest here that don't have mechanical engine modifications - meaning the cylinder heads, camshafts & intake manifold are all stock - so your engine's power band is basically the same as any other F-150 or Expy with a free-flowing intake & exhaust - which makes things nice & easy.

The way to really figure all this out for yourself would be to do properly controlled timed acceleration testing before & after each individual change - and you have to allow cool-down time in between each run to let the powertrain cool back down to normal temps, otherwise power & performance drops with each successive run - but that's a lot of tedious work, so most people generally don't bother.

For those who do like to quantify those types of things, or who like to see the actual before & after results of their modifications, there's a very nice tool available to do that with - the GTech Pro Competition model. It's very affordable & an excellent informal testing tool for 0-60, 1/4 mile & many other performance parameters that just plugs into the cigarette lighter & sticks to the windshield - takes all of a few seconds to install. We carry it on our web site over at www.TroyerPerformance.com in the Accessories & Appearance section.

Overall, my advice to you is the same as to virtually everyone else - just stick with the defaults for shift points & shift firmness levels, as that usually delivers the best performance because that has already been pretty well optimized. But if you do decide to play with that, I'd strongly suggest doing the timed acceleration runs to make sure what you do actually improves the performance instead of hurting it.

Have fun & give us a call if you would like to go over any of this in more detail.