Any one else have a 4.2L thinking of installing a chip
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 1998
Posts: 420
Likes: 0
From: Tulsa, OK
well Bill,
just follow a ratty looking dodge caravan down an interstate and wait for him to run over an alligator (blown tire). and then you watch the tire roll across your hood, slap the windshield and go up and over the roof. and walla (sp?) (aka presto) you'll have a tiny crack. then 8 months later you will have a foot long crack taking up space on your windshield.
and its guaranteed to grow atleast 8 inches during the winter months.
just follow a ratty looking dodge caravan down an interstate and wait for him to run over an alligator (blown tire). and then you watch the tire roll across your hood, slap the windshield and go up and over the roof. and walla (sp?) (aka presto) you'll have a tiny crack. then 8 months later you will have a foot long crack taking up space on your windshield.
and its guaranteed to grow atleast 8 inches during the winter months.
Member
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 96
Likes: 0
From: SAN DIEGO!
I am waiting to buy a superchip--
i have ordered HEADERS for my 4.2.
can i put a chip in now-- or should i wait for the headers and let the chip see the new mod!??
or does Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
HAVE to go back to the drawing board on re burning the flash for the superchip
since superchip has never seen a 4.2 with headers..
thanxz!!??
------------------
97F150/xlt/Blk/FLARED/regcab/auto/4x2/4.2/k&n/40flowmaster/Xenon H.I.D..
Platiums4/blueStrob/92octain/
i have ordered HEADERS for my 4.2.
can i put a chip in now-- or should i wait for the headers and let the chip see the new mod!??
or does Mike Troyer
Performance Products, Inc.
National Distributor of Superchips
(540) 862-9515
HAVE to go back to the drawing board on re burning the flash for the superchip
since superchip has never seen a 4.2 with headers..
thanxz!!??
------------------
97F150/xlt/Blk/FLARED/regcab/auto/4x2/4.2/k&n/40flowmaster/Xenon H.I.D..
Platiums4/blueStrob/92octain/
Former Sponsor
Joined: Mar 1998
Posts: 13,385
Likes: 4
From: Virginia
Dear Xenon,
Having headers available for the 4.2 V-6 engine in the late-model F-150 is pretty new, but headers for that engine when it was the 3.8 are not, so this is nothing new for Superchips. Headers are not actually an engine modification, they are still a simple exterior bolt-on part. What we have found is, when an F-150 has the airbox elimination kit, the Superchip, and a free-flowing exhaust, and then headers are added, 15% of the time we'll see that this pushes the total airflow just outside of the total effective adjustment range of the MAF & O2 sensor systems, and you'll pick up a little bit of detonation under heavy load at high rpms, due to a slight lean condition. If that happens, then we need to add just a bit more fuel to those tables to compensate.
Because this happens such a small percentage of the time, and generally only in that particular configuration I listed, we generally recommend using the "standard" Superchip for your vehicles computer code first, as it will usually work just fine. And if it turns out that you need the custom program adjustment for the headers, then it's not more expensive just because you do it later rather than at the time of purchase, the custom programming fee for that adjustment is the same regardless of whether you do it now or 6 months later, and the Superchip is a flash module design, so it can always be updated for your vehicle.
It doesn't matter if you install the Superchip now or after your headers, there is no reason that you need to wait to do the Superchip. Most people go with the Superchip first simply because it adds more power and does more for the vehicle than the headers will, though I do not mean to slight the use of headers in any way, as they are the 4th most cost-effective modifition on these trucks!
I hope that answers your question, and please feel free to give us a call if you'd like to go over this or any other issues in greater 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
Having headers available for the 4.2 V-6 engine in the late-model F-150 is pretty new, but headers for that engine when it was the 3.8 are not, so this is nothing new for Superchips. Headers are not actually an engine modification, they are still a simple exterior bolt-on part. What we have found is, when an F-150 has the airbox elimination kit, the Superchip, and a free-flowing exhaust, and then headers are added, 15% of the time we'll see that this pushes the total airflow just outside of the total effective adjustment range of the MAF & O2 sensor systems, and you'll pick up a little bit of detonation under heavy load at high rpms, due to a slight lean condition. If that happens, then we need to add just a bit more fuel to those tables to compensate.
Because this happens such a small percentage of the time, and generally only in that particular configuration I listed, we generally recommend using the "standard" Superchip for your vehicles computer code first, as it will usually work just fine. And if it turns out that you need the custom program adjustment for the headers, then it's not more expensive just because you do it later rather than at the time of purchase, the custom programming fee for that adjustment is the same regardless of whether you do it now or 6 months later, and the Superchip is a flash module design, so it can always be updated for your vehicle.
It doesn't matter if you install the Superchip now or after your headers, there is no reason that you need to wait to do the Superchip. Most people go with the Superchip first simply because it adds more power and does more for the vehicle than the headers will, though I do not mean to slight the use of headers in any way, as they are the 4th most cost-effective modifition on these trucks!
I hope that answers your question, and please feel free to give us a call if you'd like to go over this or any other issues in greater 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