I have have been told that if you have one of the tuners, that you are suppose to leave the truck stock. Example, if the tune is in, you should not put cold air, exhaust, ect. Any truth to this?

 

Well, not exactly. But it's not an easy or simple answer; depends on which "generation" tuner you have. I have a 1st gen tuner, and it's OK for minor mods: exhaust, FIPK. But not pulleys.

2nd gen tuners have a hi-per program which will tolerate some more sophisticatedf mods, like a 4 lb pulley (at least for the Lightning).

Mike Troyer will probably see this thread and reply in more detail.

 

Hi 03,

No, that is *not* true - however, there certainly are some limitations with regard to what performance mods you can do and still use the "standard" performance tuning in the 1715 Micro Tuners.

In general, things like a well-designed air intake kit, a cat-back exhaust system, a larger throttle body, electric fans, underdrive pulleys and even "shorty" style headers (like JBA) that do not change the location of the upstream O2 sensor can all be used in conjunction with the 1715 Micro Tuner.

Also, in the 1999-2003 Lightnings, there is another program in there for use with a 4 PSI pulley.

Now you CANNOT use the 1715 Micro Tuner and do modifications like: change fuel injector size, change the MAF, install a supercharger, use nitrous oxide, ported cylinder heads, camshaft changes, etc. Those kinds of mods *must* have true custom tuning to allow the engine to run properly (and safely).

And for those who want to have the absolute best power and performance, having us do custom tuning is always the hot tip - even in a bone-stock truck!

For those who want to have true custom tuning and STILL be able to use a Micro Tuner, we can now do that, too! We now have a NEW version of Micro Tuner that is custom-tune capable - and we are America's first Superchips Custom Tuning dealer. This new custom-tune capable version of the Micro Tuner (SCT) allows us to load any combination of 3 custom programs and still be able to store your stock program. In those units, *we* do all the custom tuning right here in-house, and can custom tune virtually any vehicle without ever even seeing it - we provide complete instructions on how to get the data we need for heavily modified applications to be able to dial them in properly for maximum safe power and performance.

You can drop by our website at www.TroyerPerformance.com to read up on that (it's our Part# 9100), and of course, give us a call to go over all the exact details, etc.

This new SCT custom Micro Tuner requires a lot more work on our part, as *we* do all that custom tuning from scratch - so it won't ship the same day it's ordered, of course (unless you come here in person). But it doesn't take long (currently about a week to 10 days from the time you order it until the time we get your custom tuning completed and it actually ships out the door), and it's by far the best way to get the most power and performance from your vehicle.

We even do this for a lot of bone-stock trucks, as we can get even more power and performance from our in-depth custom tuning than you can from the "standard" 1715 Micro Tuners - don't get me wrong, the 1715 units are fine and a lot of people are happily using them, as you can see here on the boards - it's just that for those who are willing to spend a little bit more, we can really get down deep into the program as in that unit we have complete control over virtually every function in the PCM - and no other manufacturer has that capability.

We're even making 4.2 V6 owners think they have a V8 under the hood with these new units, thanks to how much power & performance gain we can add even on a bone-stock base 4.2 V6 F-150.

Check out the info on our web site, and give us a call if you;d like to go over all the options on our custom tuning, etc. - we're happy to help.

Best of luck with your truck,

 

Hi there jaymz,

Nice to see you again!

Thanks for helping out a fellow F-150 Online member, & hope all is well with your "fleet" of F-150's there!

 

Thanks mike.

 

I hate to display my ignorance in front of so many people, but what is the defenition of a cat-back exhaust system, and what are underdrive pulleys? I've seen these on sights and talked about alot, but don't know what they are.

Thanks

 

It's easy. Cat-back exhaust kits replace the original exhaust from the catalytic converter on back. Under drive pulleys replace the original pulleys on selected accessories (alternator, crankshaft, etc) depending on what is available for your particular engine. The pulleys are smaller than stock, and run the accessories at a slower rpm. This reduces their output, but frees up horsepower. Alot of the newer ones are careful about lowering the output of the alternator too much though.

 

Hi 03,

You're very welcome!

MRG_86_AG,

This the Computer Chips section, so that really isn't an appropriate topic here - we'll get you some brief info for right now, and then for more details you can either give us a call at our number listed below, or take a look on our web site over at www.TroyerPerformance.com - briefly, the explanation that "bigblackford" kindly gave is right on the money - a "cat-back" exhaust, sometimes also called an "after-cat" exhaust, leaves the stock exhaust manifolds, downtubes, catalytic converters and Y-pipe in place, but replaces everything *behind* that assembly - it's designed to be a bolt-on type of system. This is relatively new terminology that wasn't around when many of us were growing up, as we didn't have catalytic converters then. You can see these types of systems on our web site as well.

Ditto on his explanation about the underdrive pulleys - they slow down the accessories to free up horsepower wasted on turning accessories faster than is actually required (with few exceptions). Now in the case of these vehicles, we have a special set manufactured to our specs that slows down the entire accessory chain with a smaller crankshaft pulley & integrated harmonic balancer, but also a larger water pump pulley that speeds back up the water pump so that engine cooling is not in any way compromised, you have the same as original net coolant flow at any engine rpm. And you still have plenty of power for all your accessories, as they are designed for street-driven vehicles, they aren't the more aggressive "race" style of pulleys. Our pulleys only require 850 rpm of engine speed for full alternator output, compared to the stock pulleys requiring 767 rpm - and we gain 12-14 HP at the rear wheels as a result.

Give us a call to go over this in more detail, & you'll enjoy dropping by our site to read our detailed descriptions on these & many other kinds of performance parts for these trucks.

Good luck with your truck!