i was reading on the page the "duke" install guide that mike said not to use chevron gas and exxon and bp at all cost.. i use chevron gas from day 1 ive never noticed any problems. now with mobie and shell and texxaco which he recommmends i have had pathetic and smelly success with..
could anybody tap some light on this subjecT?

 

I can't exactly shed light on this other than to share what I've experienced. Pre-chip I used to run Arco. Since installing the chip I've tried (all premium) Arco, Exxon and BP with not-so-great results. I still had some pinging so I tried a tank of Chevron Supreme. If I didn't know better, I would have sworn that I pumped 87 octane instead of Supreme - it was horrible. I've since had the timing advance backed off a touch (thanks again Mike) and run '76' since it performs well and seems to be a good value for the price per gallon.

Tom in Tacoma

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1998 F150 XLT S/C 4.6L Auto, 3.55LS, 4X2, Moonlight Blue, all the factory bells & whistles except for leather seats. Lund Deflector, Lund Premier Tonneau, K&N, Body-color painted Throttle Cover, blue wire-looms, Pentaliner S/R, Window tint, factory side-steps, Infiniti component speakers up front, Polk Audio speakers in back, Superchip, Flowmaster 'Delta-Flow' w/ 3" pipe. Tom in Tacoma (Washington not Toyota)
Go check out http://communities.msn.com/SS97FordsPics for the second best website for F150's

 

Can you get a chip programmed to run on 87-89 octane only? I know you get the best results with premium but I would like better tranny shifts and better (5-10%) performance but with 87 or 98. Is this reasonable?

 

Dewayne,

I'm sure Mike will be along shortly and explain it better than I can, but I'll give it a try...

The performance gain you mention is a result of recalibrating your engine management system to take advantage of higher octane fuel. If you are after better tranny shifts and performance gains without having to buy premium fuel - you might want to check into a tranny shift kit as well as a cat-back exhaust, headers and/or an air intake system.

Hope I didn't screw up that explanation too much....

Tom in Tacoma

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1998 F150 XLT S/C 4.6L Auto, 3.55LS, 4X2, Moonlight Blue, all the factory bells & whistles except for leather seats. Lund Deflector, Lund Premier Tonneau, K&N, Body-color painted Throttle Cover, blue wire-looms, Pentaliner S/R, Window tint, factory side-steps, Infiniti component speakers up front, Polk Audio speakers in back, Superchip, Flowmaster 'Delta-Flow' w/ 3" pipe. Tom in Tacoma (Washington not Toyota)
Go check out http://communities.msn.com/SS97FordsPics for the second best website for F150's

 

Dear Dewayne,

Every Superchip program is originally developed only for use with premium gasoline, so anything different from that requires custom programming, and an additional custom programming fee. Superchips doesn't like to do those kinds of chips, because you never can tell when somebody will run that chip on a dyno and publish the results in a magazine, it's happened, and people think that it's representative of all Superchips, and all performance chips in general for that matter. Programming for anything less than premium will cost power, and a good bit of it.

The way we make a Superchip program for regular gasoline available is with the Superchip Flip Chip. That chip can store any 2 programs, and allows you to select which one you're running on by flipping it's attached switch. We set it up with one program for regular gasoline, along with all our normal performance modifications, and the other program will be the normal performance program for use only with premium gasoline. By the time you add custom programming fees to the standard single-program Superchip to make it compatible with regular gas, you're at the higher price of a Flip Chip, so that is the way to go. If you might have interest in this, or would like details, please shoot us an email or a phone call, and we'll be happy to go over that with you so you can give it some thought as to it's potential suitability for your purposes.

------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Online Superchip ordering system:https://www.f150online.com/scpp/index.html

 

Mike and TColegrove, thanks for the info. The flip chip sounds like the solution.

 

Super chip is the only way to go but the differance in price verse power is little the differance between prem and ger here in MI is about .15 cents the power increase is huge you really notice it. diffently worth the extra pennies a gallon, also i got a really nice increase in my mpg see my other post here "superchips=mpg" i am not sure if you will get the increase in milage with the reg fuel chip? ask mike, he is a great source of info. I would not go back to using ger fuel i like the extra power and gas milage, my chip wil soon have paid for itself that equals free horsepower in the long run.

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*2000 blk xlt f150
*5.4 4x4 3.55 ls
*sc orp pkg
*tow pkg, 17 inch wheels
*herculiner,remote start
*flowmaster, air box mod
*bfg ko's A.R.E. cap
*sony 10 disc cd player
*k&n air filter
*superchip

****mods to come*********
harley davison hitch reciver plug.
removing stock cab steps& installing westins.

 

How much more is the flip-chip for F-150 members?

Is there even much of a difference when it is set to use 87 Octane...is it worth the extra cost?

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2000 F-150 XLT, 4x2, 5.4L Supercab, Styleside, Black with silver two-tone, 3.55, class III towing package with heavy duty cooling package, 4 wheel disk ABS, overhead console, sliding rear window, keyless entry, dark graphite interior, in dash CD, Pendaliner bedliner, K&N air filter, rubberized undercoating, cabin filtration system, Bugflector II, 5W-30 Mobil 1, engine build 10/4/99

 

I was wondering if the sunaco ultra 94 is to high of an octane for the chip,I was putting in citgo 93 but I can get the sunaco 94 for less money.Just finished installing the K&N fipk you should hear this engine when I lay on it sounds like a jet coming down the street can't wait for the gibson split rear to arrive from UPS.By the way does any one know how to change your profile no longer have the lightning would like to post my new truck with all its mods.

------------------
Barlitz,
99.5 Black Lightning,
Hinge mount tonneau,
cd player,
bedliner,
lojack,

 

Sorry figured out how to change profile thanks anyway.

Barlitz

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99 F250 XLT LD 4X4 S/C,5.4,3.73 Limited slip,Bright red clearcoat ,remote start w/keyless entry and alarm,chrome rims,tinted,westin nerf bars,factory tonneau,superchip,K&NGen II fipk,pioneer in dash cd,pioneer amp,infinity kappas all around,Lund front runner bug sheild...
coming soon Gibson split rear w/chrome tips,tires,not sure what to do with front grill any ideas?

 

OK ok guyz the thing i was really asking was Mike said he recommends against "chevron" gas this is really what i was hinting on i was curious what gas is good then since i have had nothing but horrible results with any other gas ... here in california orange county we basically just have mobile, shell , and chevron and thrifty gas HAHA
and arco YUKK so what gas do you recommend and "WHY" =) btw mike im ordering my super chip tonight ..

your dedication to answer questions on this board is enough to make me believe your a solid man with a solid product

 

I found a post from MIKE (a.k.a. Superchips_Distributor GURU) and I think this will answer your question (14th post down posted 02-19-2000 02:44 PM):
https://www.f150online.com/f150board...ML/000629.html

..."Make sure you are using a high-quality fuel, something like Texaco, Amoco, Citgo, those are my 3 favorites due to superior detergent additives and high energy content, which gives good performance and mileage. A dirty gasoline like BP can give you a noticeably rough idle; a low-energy gasoline like Exxon will deliver worse gas mileage. It may well have *nothing* to do with your gasoline, but it's somehting that at lerast has to be asked. Shell has recently been reported to give good results too, and there are others that can and do give good results, but I try to stick with those I already know to be excellent fuels. It can make a noticeable difference in idle quality."

I have had very good results with AMOCO and SHELL fuels. Never so much as a rough idle or hesitation.

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2000 F-150 XLT, 4x2, 5.4L Supercab, Styleside, Black with silver two-tone, 3.55, class III towing package with heavy duty cooling package, 4 wheel disk ABS, overhead console, sliding rear window, keyless entry, dark graphite interior, in dash CD, Pendaliner bedliner, K&N air filter, rubberized undercoating, cabin filtration system, Bugflector II, 5W-30 Mobil 1, engine build 10/4/99



[This message has been edited by Dustoff (edited 03-01-2000).]

 

Dear Dustoff,

The only way we will supply a Superchip for regular gasoline is to do it in the Flip Chip, because of the price structure for custom programs in the regular single-program Superchip. If you have an automatic, you will still see nice improvements in acceleration with the regular gasoline program, due to the transmission programming, and the removal of the transitional spark retards. There will be very little if any actual increase in engine power output however, that only happens when using the program for premium gasoline.

------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Online Superchip ordering system:https://www.f150online.com/scpp/index.html

 

Dear Barlitz,

No, Sunoco 94 Ultra, I think it's called, is not too high an octane level to use. Since you're reported that it's cheaper than Citgo in your area, and Citgo is traditionally one of the less expensive brands, I would want to do a close comparison of gas mileage between the 2 fuels, to make sure that the Sunoco 94 in your area has a good high energy content. But that aside, Sunoco 94 has been used with good results reported back here from a few of the guys that have been using it. If you do happen to try it, and track your gas mileage, we would love to hear your results.

------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Online Superchip ordering system:https://www.f150online.com/scpp/index.html

 

Dear Moose-man,

Let me try to clarify this a bit for you, if I can.

I do not care for Chevron gasoline myself, simply because it's energy content is not always consistently high all across the country. There are plenty of people who are very happy with the results they're getting using Chevron, and for anyone in that situation, stay with it! Don't fix what isn't broken, in other words.

Please remember that the reccomendations we make are from the standpoint of which gasolines tend to give the best results when using the Superchip. With the stock factory programming, you can run these vehicles on just about anything, it's not nearly as important as it is when you tune the engine to make more power like the Superchip does. Well, to me it actually is, but not to most people, I guess I should say.

The main things we look at are how the vehicle actually performs, it's idle quality, and the gas mileage. Different gasolines can vary in their energy content quite a bit, which is why we reccomend not using Exxon, for example. Exxon is now reformulated year-round, and while it's a clean fuel, it's energy content is low in comparison, so you get 8%-10% worse gas mileage using it compared to higher energy gasolines, and that's the only gripe I have with Exxon fuels. I have been in many Exxon refineries and tank farms across the country, and Exxon, believe it or not, is one of the cleanest companies and safest companies I have ever seen in this industry, and I've seen most of them. Their facilities are generally kept cleaner, they will spend more money than is necessary in a given situation if it means more safety or increased longevity, etc. The Alaskan oil spill notwithstanding, I like Exxon as a company very much due to what I have personally seen, and I commend them for it. Their gasoline is just low energy, so I won't use it and don't reccomend it. And a *lot* of people use Exxon, as they have an Exxon gas card, and will use only Exxon. So be it.

We simply try to let people know which gasolines are getting the best results with the Superchip, just to let you know where our perspective is coming from on this. One of the best informnal indicators of energy content in a given gasoline is to carefully and accurately track your gas mileage.

The bottom line is, if you're happy with the results you are getting, then that's great, stick with it! There are certainly enough differences in some brands that you can get a great result in one area, and not so good in other areas with the same brand of fuel.

I hope that clears this up a bit for you, and please feel free to give us a call if you'd like to discuss this in more detail.

------------------
Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
Email: mtroyer@compuserve.com
Online Superchip ordering system:https://www.f150online.com/scpp/index.html